27/31
That's how many days of January Henry was super-awesome and delightful. The other four days? The ones with the pathetic, whimpery, sick baby? Those were the four days Carol and Dave were here.
Sorry about that, guys.
They were also the four days that I was out of town for work. It was the first time I'd ever left Henry for more than a single overnight, and of course Karl had to be in Switzerland for the first two days, so we had arranged for me to hand the kid off to Elaine in the morning, then Carol and Dave to arrive in the afternoon and take care of him until Karl got back. I wasn't thrilled with the whole thing to begin with because the trip was for stupid annual work training that I dread anyway, and having to leave Henry, and leave him with anyone-other-than-Karl, and do a me-to-Elaine-to-grandparents handoff just made it worse. I was anxious and surly about the whole thing to begin with.
I was scheduled to leave early Wednesday morning. Henry had some minor sniffles but basically seemed fine on Monday and Tuesday. He slept terribly on Tuesday night, congested and coughing and snot-snoring like a tractor, and woke up Wednesday sad and lethargic and clammy. We've been through several bouts of colds before and I had never seen him just lie in bed and be mopey. Usually he stays pretty happy even when he doesn't feel well, so I was pretty freaked out when he just wanted to sit on my lap and stare at the ceiling. I might have been weeping on the phone with my secretary when I called to see if she could change my flight. That bought be another 10 hours at home so that I could at least stay with him until the grandparents arrived and I could take him to the doctor.
We couldn't get an appointment at the doctor's office -- the receptionist just kept helpfully suggesting I load my miserably ill baby into the car and come across town to sit and wait during walk-in hours at 8:00 the next morning, which also might have resulted in some choice words being hissed in her ear -- but the sainted neighborhood housecall nurse could come by in an hour. I love that lady. Diagnosis: 102 fever, ear infection, bad cold. Treatment: steady diet of amoxicillin and Tylenol. Carol and Dave arrived to find Henry listless and sad, but he had already perked up a bit by the time I had to leave for the airport.
This was a first major work-baby conflict moment. Of course the first time he gets really sick is the first time that I had to leave town. I suppose we're lucky that we've made it almost an entire year without a significant issue other than lack of sleep, especially when you consider that Karl is out of the country about 25% of the time. To my firm's credit, they didn't give me any grief about the $500 one-hour-before-the-flight flight-change fee. I still made it to the [insert expletive here] training and Henry had a good weekend with his grandparents. Could have been worse, though if it were worse, I probably would have just told work to shove it.
Henry is back to his usual self. More on his fabulous January tomorrow. C&D, sorry you guys weren't here to see it!
Sorry about that, guys.
They were also the four days that I was out of town for work. It was the first time I'd ever left Henry for more than a single overnight, and of course Karl had to be in Switzerland for the first two days, so we had arranged for me to hand the kid off to Elaine in the morning, then Carol and Dave to arrive in the afternoon and take care of him until Karl got back. I wasn't thrilled with the whole thing to begin with because the trip was for stupid annual work training that I dread anyway, and having to leave Henry, and leave him with anyone-other-than-Karl, and do a me-to-Elaine-to-grandparents handoff just made it worse. I was anxious and surly about the whole thing to begin with.
I was scheduled to leave early Wednesday morning. Henry had some minor sniffles but basically seemed fine on Monday and Tuesday. He slept terribly on Tuesday night, congested and coughing and snot-snoring like a tractor, and woke up Wednesday sad and lethargic and clammy. We've been through several bouts of colds before and I had never seen him just lie in bed and be mopey. Usually he stays pretty happy even when he doesn't feel well, so I was pretty freaked out when he just wanted to sit on my lap and stare at the ceiling. I might have been weeping on the phone with my secretary when I called to see if she could change my flight. That bought be another 10 hours at home so that I could at least stay with him until the grandparents arrived and I could take him to the doctor.
We couldn't get an appointment at the doctor's office -- the receptionist just kept helpfully suggesting I load my miserably ill baby into the car and come across town to sit and wait during walk-in hours at 8:00 the next morning, which also might have resulted in some choice words being hissed in her ear -- but the sainted neighborhood housecall nurse could come by in an hour. I love that lady. Diagnosis: 102 fever, ear infection, bad cold. Treatment: steady diet of amoxicillin and Tylenol. Carol and Dave arrived to find Henry listless and sad, but he had already perked up a bit by the time I had to leave for the airport.
This was a first major work-baby conflict moment. Of course the first time he gets really sick is the first time that I had to leave town. I suppose we're lucky that we've made it almost an entire year without a significant issue other than lack of sleep, especially when you consider that Karl is out of the country about 25% of the time. To my firm's credit, they didn't give me any grief about the $500 one-hour-before-the-flight flight-change fee. I still made it to the [insert expletive here] training and Henry had a good weekend with his grandparents. Could have been worse, though if it were worse, I probably would have just told work to shove it.
Henry is back to his usual self. More on his fabulous January tomorrow. C&D, sorry you guys weren't here to see it!
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