In the past 2 weeks we would appear not to have been the healthiest bunch, judging from the number of doctors we've seen. Although the first patient was our non-human family member, so maybe he doesn't count. I mentioned previously that the cat was having "issues", well, his issues meant I had to squirt a stool softener down his throat twice a day, and anyone who has ever tried to medicate a cat knows what a joy that is. Also, said stool softener is basically a sugar syrup that left sticky spots all over the floor each time the cat turned his head at the last possible moment (sticky spots which you couldn't actually see because the syrup is colorless, so you'd discover them the next day when your sock stuck to the floor). Thank goodness we're through with that now. He was also supposed to get antibiotics twice a day for a week, but I stopped those early because 1. they make him foam at the mouth, and 2. yeah right, like the cat is going to let me squirt two things down his throat at a time. I figured the stool softener was more important and we'd chance the risk of bacterial infection. :-P Anyhow, like I said, all that is now behind us. The cat is back to his normal self, and is getting a daily dose of Metamucil in his food to prevent this from happening again.
I was next... I finally went to the doctor about the "eczema" on my ears which was suddenly spreading to my face and scalp. And it turned out not to be eczema after all, but was actually a fungal infection, which I hate to admit because "fungal" sounds disgusting and like something that would happen to someone who doesn't bathe. And I do bathe. Occasionally. Anyway, the doctor prescribed me some cream and everything is clearing up nicely. Yes, to those of you (who know who you are) that have been nagging me to see the doctor about it, yes, I admit you were right and I was lazy. In my defense, 1. a doctor was the one who first suggested it was eczema, and 2. my current doctor (who diagnosed the fungal infection) saw me and my ears over the summer and didn't argue at the time that it wasn't eczema. Yadda yadda yadda.
Patient #3 was the little man, whose cold has been lingering. His temperature went up again on Tuesday night, a low-grade fever but a fever nonetheless. (And he slept all night that night... wish he'd keep doing that!) His nose started running more and he's also been drooling like you wouldn't believe. He went to see his new pediatrician on Thursday about it, although he didn't really need to go in, but at least now he's had an official visit with her. His fever was down today, but he was still a little cranky and tired (or was that me?). Hopefully he'll continue to feel better. In other news, he's finally starting to outgrow his 3-6 month clothes. He's not crawling yet (I never realized how much coordination crawling requires, but there's a real learning curve). I'm trying to encourage him to "cruise", ie walk along the furniture, but he's not interested. He wants to walk around holding my fingers. If I'm close by he'll turn away from furniture and grab me... but I don't want to keep my distance when he's standing either, because he has a tendency to let go and fall straight backward and hit his head. So I feel like I'm in a tough spot: I don't want to be hovering and not giving him the opportunity to do things on his own, but I don't want him to hurt himself either. Maybe I should get him a helmet. I'm only half-joking.
Other than that, things are good. Thanksgiving Break starts tomorrow! It'll be nice to have Joe around for the week, and I'm looking forward to the holiday. We're going to get a family photo taken (at JC Penney of course, yay Portrait Club), and possibly join the ranks of those dorks who send photo Christmas cards. (Note: I actually like receiving photo Christmas cards, so maybe they're not that dorky.) I'm also looking forward to the coming of Advent and starting our own Advent/Christmas traditions. I have all kinds of ideas, but I'm not known for execution, so we'll see what happens. John's not really old enough to appreciate the seasons quite yet, but I want it to be fun for him anyway. We do have almost all of our Christmas shopping done (seriously!) already. It was a little disconcerting to see the mall full of Christmas trees the week after Halloween, but such is life I guess. I was at least happy to hear that none of the radio stations were playing Christmas music yet. Until last Friday, when it started. Sigh.