How to win my business

There is much talk of late about how to win business and customers (not that they aren't always discussing this, but it seems rather frequent lately). And I'll be the first to admit, I am one of those loyal and lazy customers. If I find something I like, it is going to take something pretty impressive to convince me to try something different. If I find a place I like shopping, you're going to have to work super-hard to talk me into visiting your store instead of the place I already know. But keep in mind that it only takes one mistake for me to jump ship in a heartbeat (ask Red Lobster).

However, Target won me over this week. I will now be having all of Luke's prescriptions filled there. Why? Because of nice employees and smart business practices. The place I had his current prescription filled gave me a syringe to use to administer the medication (whoever thought of using the syringe has my eternal thanks!). The problem? The syringe only reaches half way into the bottle! How am I supposed to get to the other half of the medicine? GGRRR! So I asked the pharmacy at my grocery store (where I get my own prescriptions) if they had the long syringes. No, they only had a long dropper (which they did give me for free, which was nice), but with Luke, I really need the control of the syringe.

So when I was in Target the other day for something else, I decided to ask if they happened to have the longer syringes. No, but they have this nifty little contraption instead! It is a stopper with a small hole in the top that the syringe fits into. Plug the bottle with the stopper, put the tip syringe in, turn the bottle upside down, and pull the plunger. No mess, no loss of medication, no contaminating the entire bottle with the body of the syringe, and they have different stopper sizes to fit different bottles. The screw-on lids even fit back over the stopper, so no need to put it in and take it out every time. And she gave me one *despite* the fact that she knew I did not get my prescriptions filled there. Good design, good service, nice people, and generosity. Is that really so much to ask? And it is standard procedure for them to provide the appropriate stopper and a syringe with every liquid medication they dispense. Yep, they just earned my business!

Currently feeling: grateful

Official Two Year Old Stats

Luke had his two year well visit today. Once again, he is literally off the chart in height, even more than last time. Using an online calculator, all it can say about his height is "above 97 percentile," followed by this remark: "According to the most recent federal guidelines, the height range appropriate for this age group is 31.9 - 37.1 inches." So once again, he is federally inappropriate in his height. Here are his stats:
* Height: 38 inches (off the chart; that is average height for a 38 month old!!)
* Weight: 31.5 lbs (85th percentile)
* Head Circ: 19.1 inches (45th percentile)

Per those numbers, he has actually gained a pound since Thursday. But when you consider that by Thursday, he was on day 5 or 6 of barely eating due to being so sick, and how much food he's been snarfing down the last two days to compensate, I guess that isn't surprising. He usually eats Eggo Frozen Mini-Waffles for breakfast, which come with four mini-waffles to a sheet to pop in the toaster. It is normal for him to eat 1.5 sheets or so (six mini-waffles). Today, with the exception of half of a single mini-waffle, he ate 3 entire sheets and drank 1.5 glasses of juice. Starving baby!

She said his ear is looking much better. There is a little fluid left in there, but not much, and all of the fluid is clear. She says it should clear up just fine as long as we complete the antibiotics as prescribed. Unless he starts showing symptoms again, there is no reason to bring him back.

And as I suspected, she is sending him for evaluation for speech. And as my mother suspected, she said that she thinks he is fine, but it is worth having a specialist check him out just to be sure. They will not even do a speech evaluation without an auditory (hearing) evaluation, so I have to call today to book that (probably 2-4 weeks out for an appointment). Once those results come back, assuming they are fine (and I'd be shocked if they were not), then he will be sent on for speech evaluation. And it is entirely possible that, by then, he will already be talking more just from being at daycare and stuff. Just this week, he has started *saying* yes and no, instead of nodding and shaking his head, so we are continuing to make progress. I'm sure he's fine, he just doesn't have much to say yet!

So, all in all, a good report. Now if I can just find pants for him that are long enough without being so big around that they fall off!
Currently feeling: thrilled

Two layouts posted

I actually finished them way back in August, but I never got around to posting them on my scrapping blog. Hope you enjoy.

Maybe if I can ever get my life to settle long enough to establish some kind of routine, I'll find the time scrap something new, like Luke's second birthday or my brother-in-law's proposal to his girlfriend.

Happy Birthday to Luke!

Credit: Blinkies by Diane (site no longer active)

My baby is two!! How on earth did that happen?? I'm not sure where the time has gone. All things considered, today went *extremely* well. Was he his usual happy go lucky self? No, but he was obviously feeling much much better than he has for about a week now. We even got some laughs and giggles out of him, something that I hadn't realized had been missing for several days until I heard it this afternoon. Yes, he was very tired, and yes, he got quite cranky and fussy at one point, but all in all, given all the new people and all he's been through the last week, I could not have asked for things to go any better.

This is about the best photo I have of the birthday boy right now. There were four cameras going all day, so I didn't actually take very many myself, and I didn't get a chance to download from the other three cameras tonight. I'll try to do it tomorrow. But right now, I am going to bed!



Currently feeling: pleased

A little better

We did end up going back to the doctor today. His eye was a little less red, but significantly more puffy. She apologized for not telling me yesterday that being horizontal for any length of time (say, in the morning or after nap) can make it puff up so much, since the tissue is already angry and inflamed. That would have been good info to have, but I'm still glad we went. The eye is progressing fine. She checked his ear, too, and she said she is already seeing some improvement, so we should be good to go there. Just finish the antibiotics and we should be all done (with this one, at least).

He does seem a little better, but I'm not sure that is a good thing for my sanity. Yesterday, he was so sick, he layed around like a wet dishcloth all day. Just a little quiet zombie baby. Today, he is feeling enough better to be tired and grumpy and cranky, fussing and screaming about *everything.* >sigh< I am still running a fever of about 99 for no reason that anyone can figure out. Every time I sleep, either at night or for a nap, I feel like I wake up immediately after having *just* closed my eyes, despite the clock insisting that I have been asleep for 8 hours. I am just exhausted. Add in PMS, and I am really not a happy camper right now. I just want to crawl in a hole and sleep for the next three days. But I can't cancel the party because 1) half the folks are already on their way, and 2) one of them has to ask for time off 3 months in advance (seriously), so it's pretty much now or never for him to visit. But in the mean time, I get to stress that Luke will be miserable and everyone will have a horrible time. Not that anyone would ever admit that to my face, but still. And I still have to clean the kitchen, wrap presents, and decorate.

Is it November yet? I've already had more than enough October for this year.

Currently feeling:

His first ear infection

Not the thing I would have wished for him for his second birthday. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, at the age of practically-2, Luke has come down with his first ever ear infection. Now, I have been completely paranoid about his ears since he was born. I had horrid innumerable ear infections as a child, resulting in 2 sets of tubes. In fact, I still get them if I get any sort of water in my ears whatsoever, and yes, that includes in the shower and in the pool. I have to be extremely careful. So I have been extremely pleased that Luke has not had one. Until now.

I am not one of those moms who runs him to the doctor for every little sneeze and sniffle. As long as he's acting okay or it goes away within 48 hours, I'm good. Every time I have ever said "if he's not better by tomorrow, we'll call the doctor," he's been better. But he started daycare three weeks ago. And after only three days, he came home with his first cold that ripped through Luke and me, and that my husband is currently attempting to get over. But Luke was improving; he was almost well in fact. I figured he'd be totally fine by his party this coming Saturday (with the possible exception of a runny nose, which I expect to be practically permanent for the next several months).

Then I went to pick him up Monday from daycare. I happened to spot him peeking over the half-door in the infant room as I was on my way outside, thinking he would be with the other toddlers and two-year-olds. Odd, but the teacher said nothing to me when I picked him up out of the room. He was a little hot, but I didn't think much of it at the time. As I was walking out the front door, the director caught me. "Did she tell you he has a fever of 101?" NO! That would have been useful information, don't you think? The director said she was just looking up his file to call me to come get him. He has to be fever free for 24 hours before he can go back, so I knew he would be home at least Tuesday. I figured it was a 24-48 hour bug, and he'd be fine come Wednesday or Thursday. Little did I know!

He ran a fluctuating fever of 99-102 all of Tuesday and Wednesday. He clearly was tired and not feeling well, but I wasn't alarmed. Still, I felt it best to call to find out if and when he needed to be seen by the doctor. I called the nurse, and she said that 72 hours of an up and down fever was not uncommon, but if it went in to day 4, or if he started showing some other symptoms beyond fatigue and loss of appetite, I should call and make him an appointment. Good to know; we'll wait it out. By Wednesday evening, his temperature was normal and he was up and about playing for the first time in days, and I figured he'd be back to his tired-but-normal self by Thursday. Ha!

Thursday dawned, and he clearly was feeling poorly again, though his temp was only 99. He was also crying a lot, something he had not done to this point in the illness. I got him to eat a little breakfast (yes, I bribed him with Cookie Crisp), but he was clearly worse today than yesterday, which was odd considering the drop in temp. He only ate about 2/3 of the cereal, then started crying again. He cried most of the morning, actually. I could get him to stop briefly while we watched Finding Nemo and some of Empire Strikes Back, but it never lasted more than 20-30 minutes, and he would then cry for a good 15-20 minutes straight. He had also progressed from mearly being tired and lethargic to extremely listless. My gut told me to call the doctor, but I put it off for a bit to see if I could get him to sleep some. I know he didn't sleep well; maybe he's just really tired.

I let him sit with me in the recliner, and that helped, but he still started crying. After I changed his diaper (which he screamed through), he was just inconsolable. Then he climbed up onto the couch, curled up into a fetal position facing away from the television, and just started whimpering and moaning. I was totally alarmed! He has NEVER done that before in his life. I took his temp again, which was now reading 101.5, and immediately phoned the doctor's office. He was booked for an 11 AM appointment. That gave us just enough time to get dressed and get there.

He seemed to perk up quite a bit in the car. Maybe he was just really bored being home with me for 3 days? He seemed significantly better playing in the "sick waiting room" at the doctor's office (our first time ever in that room). Maybe I was over-reacting? As we waited to be called back, I noticed some redness and puffiness under his left eye. It had not been there yesterday, and with all the crying he had been doing all morning, his whole face was too red and puffy for me to see it before now. I'll just ask her about it when we get back there.

We were called back, and I ran down his symptoms with the nurse. She weighed him (30.5 lbs), but didn't measure his height (his 2 year check-up is Tuesday, so we can wait). Then she took his temp. Still 101.5. Okay, at least I'm not totally crazy. The doctor then comes in, and the very first thing she asks about is his eye. How long has it been this way? (Just today; it was fine yesterday.) How long has he had the fever? (Since Monday.) Has he had pink eye recently? (No.) She was clearly much more concerned about his eye than anything else. She listened to his chest, which sounded fine, then turned her attention to his ears. She checked his right ear first. "This ear looks perfect!" Yay! Then on to his left year. "And this ear is totally infected!" Joy. It is also his left eye that is pink and puffy, which is probably not a coincidence.

She said that the eye thing is called "pre-septal or orbital cellulitis," and it needs to be watched very carefully. The antibiotics she gave us are stronger than what she would normally give just for an ear infection to help with the eye as well. If he isn't better from the ear infection by the end of the weekend, we should come back Monday. But, if his eye gets any worse, AT ALL, we are to come back tomorrow. I'll admit, being the daughter of a medical professional, this alarmed me quite a bit. It is rare that you are given such a short window for "if symptoms continue," and her extreme concern of the eye over the ear/fever makes me very uncomfortable. I truly hope it does not come to that. She did say that we should see a remarkable improvement in how he feels by Saturday, but there is also a possibility that the ear infection will not respond to the antibiotic she prescribed (it never worked for me; I had to use something different), which means he will still be sick for his party come Saturday. I truly hope it will work for him. I'm not sure how much longer I can watch him feeling *this* bad.

Please send any good thoughts you can spare his way. This is the first time he's ever been really and truly sick, and neither of us is handling it very well.

Currently feeling: concerned and helpless

Two sick men

We all know how men are when they're sick. One is bad enough, but two? Sheesh! I think the older one will be going to work tomorrow. We'll see. Seems that he has the same thing Luke had and that I am finally mostly over (no bronchitis, yay me!). The smaller one has been running a fever of over 101 for two days now (though it goes up and down during the day) with something new! Fun. I see another call to the pediatrician in my morning future. I also see another day of not getting any work done.

And I'm afraid we may have to cancel the birthday party, at least for the local folks (especially since they include two young girls). Not sure I could stop the out of town folks coming, though. We'll see how he's feeling tomorrow before I decide what to do. I just hope I'm not the one running the 101 temp come Saturday.
Currently feeling: