Catching up

So it is January 29th and I haven't been in contact with anyone hardly. I haven't been checking email or getting on the computer at all really since before Christmas. I apologize to you all who have emailed me. I don't know what happened, I just couldn't find the time. I don't even know what happened to January. I can't believe it is almost over. I feel like I've been living in a cave for the last month. Let me catch up on what has happened so far this year.

Max has been sick the entire time. Just a runny nose and a little cough when he wakes up. He has been teething so I didn't think much of it. Well, last thursday I worked a 10 hour shift which I NEVER do. My mom watched Max for me and when I went to pick him up around 7:00pm he was coughing A LOT. I was at my mom's house for an hour about and Max never stopped coughing the whole time. So I took him straight to the doctor (I love Wee Care, they are open 24/7). It turns out he has a virus that has moved down into his lungs. So they sent us home with an antibiotic for an ear infection and a nebulizer to clean out his lungs. We give him treatments about every 7 hours except when he is asleep. It seems to be helping, he isn't wheezing anymore and he only coughs during and right after the treatments. His nose is running like crazy, poor kid, it is starting to get raw from me wiping it so much. So this weekend was just about the longest weekend of my life. Max had a fever of 101.9-103.2 for all night friday and all day saturday. It finally broke around 3:00pm Saturday. So he didn't really get any sleep that whole time, which means we didn't get much sleep that whole time either. We kept giving him cool baths, tylenol and water/juice. He finally fell asleep at 7:00pm saturday and slept until 8:30am sunday. He's still not feeling great and he is so tired he cries until I put him to bed, which for Max is bizarre. This is the kid that hates going to sleep and fights it every time. Today, he kept asking to be picked up and then he would have me take him up stairs into his room, he stops crying as soon as we get in his room. He drinks some milk and goes right to sleep. It's great!
Hopefully we can get him feeling much better by the weekend. I can't do another weekend at home. Last weekend I got home around 10:30pm thursday night from the doctor and didn't leave the house again until sunday. I went to sacrament meeting and left Nate and Max at home. Now it is tuesday afternoon and I haven't left the house since sunday morning. I don't do well being couped up for very long. I'm about to go stir crazy. Max and I are going to venture out to the grocery store when he wakes up.

So, what else happened this month. I have worked 7 days this month. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but for me it is. I don't work very often at all, one or two days a month so 2 days a week is a lot. They have been really short staffed and I have had babysitters so why not. Of course they have called me for the last 2 days to see if I can work, but I think I'll stay home this week. Nate has been gone to Chicago for the last 3 weeks. He is home on the weekends but leaves monday morning. That's never really very much fun for any of us. Plus it is freezing in Chicago, Nate says his feet are cold the whole time he is there. Max asks for "daddy" when he wakes up in the morning but gets used to idea of him being gone. So everytime I talk on the phone he thinks it is "daddy". He'll pick up my cell phone and hand it to me and say "daddy". It's pretty cute.

On to the fun stuff that happened this month. Max started walking!!! We kept waiting. he was toying with it for about 2.5 months. He has been pulling himself up on things since the summer. he would walk around the couch and fall down. In october he graduated to walking with someone holding on to his hands. and then he started taking steps by himself around his birthday, only a few steps at a time and only from one person to another. On January 16th my sister-in-law Stacy watched him for me. She was watching her other little niece that is 10 days older then Max. She was walking so Max just starting walking to follow her around. He's been walking ever since. So Max started really walking that day and she started to really talk that day. So it was good for both of them.

Max is talking like crazy. He learns a new word about every other day. He copies me all the time. I'll say something and he'll say it back to me. Of course we have to practice for a while before he really knows what he's saying but he is getting really good. He can say: mommy, daddy, hi, eye, ear, nose, teeth, moo, baa, camel, cracker, pretzel, cheerio, bath, kitty, doggy, bubble, Grandpa, Grandma, Rob bob, Jay, Sydney, Riley, ball, I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting. He is talking all the time. It is so much fun. He loves to read stories, we'll spend hours reading. He'll grab a book and bring it to me and we'll read it a couple times and then move on to another one. He loves taking baths, he'll sit and play for as long as I'll let him. He loves the water, last night he started drinking the bath water. It was pretty hilarious, I couldn't stop him it was so funny. He would stick his face down by the water and slowly lower it until he got some in his mouth. Of course it would also get it his eyes and he would pull back and rub his eyes for minute and then try again. Luckily he wasn't taking a bubble bath. He finally gave up and started drinking out of one of his stacking cups. Well, this is a really long entry. I will try really hard to post more often. Love you all!