Tummy Owies

We had an extremely busy weekend: 3 birthday parties, a playdate with the cousins, Super Hero class and a trip to Annapolis. In retrospect, I think Marino had an illness brewing throughout the weekend, but couldn't quite explain it to me. By Sunday night, he was having bloody diarrhea (2-4 times an hour), a fever and extreme abdominal cramping. He would fall to the ground and start screaming in pain, curling up into a ball and saying "my tummy really really hurts!" We stayed home from school on Monday, but it just seemed to get worse. His fever got up to 102, the diarrhea was happening more frequently, the pain was worse and he started refusing to drink.

After talking to his pediatrician, I took him to the ER around 6PM on Monday. The ER doctors acted like I was suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy and wanting to subject my child to unnecessary pain and suffering for no good reason (this is also how I was treated when he had bacterial meningitis, so I just let them think I'm crazy and keep pushing for the care I think he needs). They seriously handed me a Gatorade and told me that should sufficient, before even running any diagnostic tests to see if he was dehydrated. At this point, he was having watery, bloody diarrhea 3-4 times an hour and a fever of 102. Somehow, I was fairly certain a few sips of Gatorade was not enough to keep him hydrated under the circumstances. "He looks good to me" said the ER doctor, without bothering to take any blood to check his potassium or electrolyte levels. I insisted on tests and an IV. The doctors rolled their eyes and explained to me that it would be painful. I explained that, given the situation, I felt like his recovery without an IV was going to be much slower, and his body would be weaker for days. "Well, you're going to have to stay here longer" they said. "That's fine" I replied. After perhaps the 6th time he had diarrhea once the IV started, the doctors finally decided he was actually sick and offered to admit him.

Here he is after getting his IV. He was not happy.

Once we got to the Pediatrics Unit, our hospital visit greatly improved. We stayed until Wednesday afternoon and he had an IV the whole time. The doctors told me to just keep offering liquids and anything he lost using the potty he would get back through the IV so not to worry. By Tuesday overnight he was up to pee every hour (not so easy with an IV pole/machine). Clearly he was rehydrated, so they took out his IV Wednesday morning and he was tolerating liquids and food. Everyone in the Peds Unit was wonderful and we had a doctor this visit that we had when Marino had bacterial meningitis as an infant. He was really interested in hearing our perspective on that looking at it from the other side, with a healthy child. I thought it was really insightful that he even thought to ask about our thoughts on that experience. He was amazed Marino is perfectly healthy and has no long term effects of his illness (it really is an amazing blessing).

Here he is on Tuesday, starting to eat again.

They covered his IV with a diaper but he was fascinated by it and kept saying "I want to check this out for a minute" and unwrapping the diaper to look at it. He actually asked the nurses not to remove the IV because he wanted to show his friends at school.

I was very proud of him; he was very pleasant and nice to all the doctors and nurses. Tuesday morning, the nurse brought in some movies and a popsicle for him and he said "Mommy, this is going to be great!" Later they offered him a popsicle and he said "Yeah, can I just take it home and eat it?"

Wednesday we got home and kept him hydrated with whatever he was willing to eat/drink, like watermelon...

Thursday and Friday he was still having abdominal pain and some diarrhea, but 1-2 times a day, nothing like earlier in the week. We had a follow up appointment with our pediatrician and she said we'll probably never know what caused the illness (all the tests came back negative). The diagnosis was "acute infective gastroenteritis NOS" (in other words, "we have no clue"). Our plan for the long weekend is to rest and get our boy back to his old self again.

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:


5. The other night, I came home from a run. "How was your run, Mommy?" Marino asked. "It was okay," I said, "it was just really humid." Marino asked "And the humans were running with you?"

4. The other day, Marino asked me to sit with him as he used the potty. He read me every page of Hop on Pop from memory, but included himself in the story on every page. He would pretend to eat Mr. Brown and Mr. Black's picnic food or save Pat from sitting on the cactus. Then he kissed me goodnight and said "Mommy, you're the best!"

3. Last week, I asked Marino what his favorite color was. "Red" he said "like Lightning McQueen and Iron Man."

2. The other day, we went to the park after work/school. The gnats were EVERYWHERE! Marino said "These bugs are like a ridiculous monster!"

1. On Monday, after Mother's Day, Marino asked me "Mommy, what are you getting me for Boy's Day?"

Mother's Day 2012

We had a great weekend. It was gorgeous all weekend - 80s and sunny. Of course, I burned to a crisp, just an hour after I watched my friend Megan put on sunscreen! Our weekend started out at Fenton Street Market, where I did storytime this week. I LOVE the market and I enjoyed doing storytime outside and in a place with such a great vibe. Everyone at the market is friendly and fun, and its very kid friendly.

After storytime, my friend Andrea and her daughter Eloise, hung out at the market with Marino and I. The kids really enjoyed these bongos. The vendors welcomed the kids to try them out, which Marino would do and then run away like he expected to get in trouble.

We got some amazing drinks from Migue's Magnificant Mini-Donuts (oh, how I wanted to eat those donuts!). Marino had an orangeade and I had a lemonade and OMG! Its worth a trip to the market just for a drink!

We were on our way out, when Marino wanted to see Olivia Mancini play. We stopped and watched for a while. I asked if he wanted to go home but he said "No, I just want to listen." He went to give her a tip, but got too scared to go right up to her case to put the money in and just put the money in back of her. I told him he needed to put it in her case, so he picked it up and brought it closer (but still not in her case). She stopped and said thank you to him - it was very cute. You never know when he will be shy and when he'll be a wild man.
After a wonderful nap, we hung out outside and Marino went for a bike ride. Max was very happy to enjoy the sun in our comfy chairs in the backyard.

Today I woke up to my boys spoiling me - making me breakfast, letting me sleep in and giving me awesome gifts. The three of us went out to lunch at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. It was another gorgeous day so the three of us sat outside and enjoyed our meal.

The boy really loves his pho (and ordering at restaurants).

After napping, we went for another nice walk/bike ride and made some new friends at the park. Such a great weekend!

Busy Weekend

We had a very busy but wonderful weekend. Saturday morning we got up early to set up for our community yard sale. Marino and I left Evan and Aunt Chelle to selling while we headed to a really fun birthday party at Wheaton Regional Park. The first part of the party the kids were entertained by an amazing magician. They loved it! They were laughing, shouting, cheering - they really had such a great time. The magician was pretty cool - he lit things on fire, pulled a bunny and even 2 doves from a hat! Marino still talks about the party about 15 times a day.

My boy as a magician!

They really loved the bunny!

Marino with 2 of his BFFs - Ike and Dylan (the birthday boy)

My handsome boy, needing a haircut.

After the magician and treats, we headed to a private train ride. The boys (the 6 of them seen here) are thick as thieves and these guys play like wild men together every day. We rode several train cars back...they are really growing up!

After the train ride, we all rode the carousel. Marino initially told me "Mommy, you can go wait over there" but once he realized how high up he was, he changed his mind. The rest of the day Saturday, Richelle and I prepared for a surprise bridal shower we hosted for Evan's (and Richelle's) cousin, Monique. And man, was she surprised! We threw it at her house and she was shocked when she came up the stairs and saw us!

I had a lot of fun at the shower. The ladies who came were so much fun (starting off the party by handing out margaritas and cosmos helped) and everyone bonded.

This is Monique on the left, and Richelle and I, hamming it up.

Instead of the old "toilet paper wedding dress" we used Project Runway paper dolls to produce a wedding dress for Monique. Make it work!!

She loves shoes, so the theme was "Head Over Heels"

I was sooooooo tired on Sunday! Luckily, Marino took a 2 hour nap with me and let me be lazy the rest of the day.

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. All of us have been dealing with a viral cold this week, the primary symptom of which is a copious runny nose. While sniffling one morning, Marino announced "I have a lot of snorts in my nose."

4. Marino loves pretending to be a baby. The other night I was "rocking" him and singing "Hush Little Baby". Then Marino wanted me to pretend to be the baby, so he sang "Hush little baby......papa's gonna buy you a peanut butter toy."

3. Conversation with my boy outside of school this week:
"Look, Mommy! There's Sophia."

"Oh, is Sophia your buddy?"

"No, she's my girlfriend."

"EXCUSE ME!???????"

2. We read The Mommy Book by Todd Parr the other night. After we read it, Marino said "You're the best mommy in the world. And you and Daddy are the best family in the world."

1. The other day when I picked him up from school, he said "Mommy, I found a little teeny tiny worm on the playground today. It was so cute. Let's find it again!"