One more thing...

It's cool for boys to have longer hair...and he just had a hair cut!

"Oh, isn't your sister pretty..."

If I hear another old woman say this to K. one more time I think I'll scream! We've been out running errands all morning and every place we went there was at least one old person that told me that I had beautiful girls or someone who told K. her sister was as pretty as she was. Luckily, I do have K. who isn't afraid to speak her mind or to yell loudly to those women who are hard of hearing. Several times she said, "He's a brother! I don't have a sister!" or "He's a boy, silly!" Isn't she great? Above is a picture of P. in his pink polo shirt (Hello, old women of the world, they do make pink shirts for boys, too!). It's not very clear. I'm sure I've told you 1000 times...digital isn't great when taking his picture; he isn't still long enough.

The adventures of P.

This has been one wild week. I took P. back to the doctor Thursday because his fever had not broken since Tuesday and he was admitted to the hospital immediately and we were told that he would have surgery soon afterwards (for the bump that has continued to grow on his abdomen).

A few hours later the surgeon stopped by to examine P. and made the decision to hold off until today to do the surgery. In the meantime he was put on IV antibiotics to fight what we thought was MRSA. But while I was home taking a shower the pediatrician showed up and told Ryan that the culture taken Tuesday at Children's Hospital did not grow MRSA, it was a different type of staph and it would be cured with antibiotics by mouth. He was discharged. (We're all so happy - I don't recommend a night in the hospital with any child, but especially one who likes to run, climb and bounce off the walls even when his fever is 103 degrees.)

So, here I sit, sleep deprived yet excited that my boy is OK, in my disasterous house that will soon be host to family and friends coming to visit for the weekend and attending K.'s big recital tomorrow. I'd better get busy... thanks for all of the prayers for our little man. We're so blessed that this turned out to be nothing more than it is.

Another night in the ER

P. seems to be racking up the frequent flyer miles for the ER. Last night we made our fourth trip in P.'s 17-month life, but last night we went to Children's Hospital (an hour drive) instead of the local ER where some crazy people work - not all of them are crazy, just a few. (The last time we were in there P. was having an allergic reaction to cashews - he licked his hand that had cashew dust on it (he got the can out of the trash) - and the nurse told me that we were going to have to wait because there were 20 people in front of us. Well, you all should know by now that her comment didn't go over too well with me and we were taken back promptly after I spoke with another ER employee. The child looked like he had been scalded from head to toe and I was about to freak out.) Anyway. I'll stop rambling and get on with it...

P. has a large bump on the right side of his abdomen and it seemed to get bigger as the night progressed. He was also running a fever of 101+ degrees. I made a call to the pediatrician and she recommended we go on to the ER.

We made it to the ER at Children's after P. vomited all over his almost-brand-new car seat (it's only 6 months old) and then waited 2.5 hours to see a doctor. He was diagnosed with MRSA, a staph infection that is increasingly more common and since P. has eczema he is more susceptible. His "bump" is small and the ER doc assured us it was nothing to worry about. He's on antibiotics now and seems to be feeling some better today, but he still isn't his normal, active self.

Just another day with the Armstrongs...I hope we aren't back to the hospital any time soon.

Allergies

We've known for a while that P. has allergies, we just weren't sure exactly to which things he was allergic. Now we know at least three - wheat, eggs and peanuts. We now carry an epi-pen. Poor guy, he's too much like his mom.

Could he be any sweeter?

Every Wednesday we attend a church program titled "Wacky Wednesday." I keep the nursery where P. stays. Last night one little girl was very tired so I rocked her. P., being the sweet boy he is, decided he would also rock a baby and give it "love." Thirty seconds later he was pushing around cars, jumping off the slide and beating on things and people with the pretend hammer.