mandalei

Jack hasn’t had a middle of the night feed in the last three nights, and last night he slept from 7:45 or so until about 7:45 this morning.  No waking to fuss, or complain or anything.  It was so very, very nice.  And this morning?  He’s the sanest and happiest I have seen him in a while, so I think the uninterrupted sleep is doing good things for him.

And for us.  Hurrah!

At least, enough to have started eating crayon.

MMMMmmmmmm.  Crayon.

Jack was crawling around the foyer today, and came across one of the cat toys, a long bendy plastic rod with a long string and a feather on the end.  After I removed the feather, lest it be eaten by the wrong mammal, Jack has been amusing himself with it for almost half an hour.

Yeah ok, that’s everyday-cute. BUT.  Jinxy and Seamus the cats have decided to come down to see what all the fuss is about–and they’re playing with Jack as he waves the string around.  It’s pretty cute, especially when Jack laughs and laughs.

it’s his first time.

May I see the beer list?

Apparently, if Jack’s heart murmur had a face, that is the look it would have right now.

His EKG and his x-ray were both fine, and while yes, there was a heart murmur of some sort, our pediatric cardiologist said that heart murmurs are present in something like 80% of the kiddie population, and that unless something changes in a follow-up appointment in 8 months or so, it’s nothing to worry about.

On a different note, I wrote a post a while back about hospital procedures for babies. I am reminded of this post because Ben and I have been through enough of these sorts of tests that, when the nurse came in and said, “I need one parent to come along for the EKG and x-ray,” I turned to Ben and said “I guess it’s my turn.”

You see, when Jack had to be strapped down on a table for his catheterization when he was 6 months old, I felt my resolve crumple up and flitter away like tin foil that’s been folded too often once I saw Jack stretched out on a board, his legs strapped down, his arms lifted up next to his head and then all together bound down by a leather harness covered in soft foam. I bolted at that point, and cried in the waiting room until it was over.

But today, yeah, I owed Ben one. EKG was no sweat. X-ray… well, it’s a wooden platform with a hole cut into the center and a little bicycle seat thingy in the middle. Attached to it is a plastic cylinder, split in half, with a hole for the kids face and slight curves around shoulder height. What are these slight curves for you ask? Why, to hold his arms up above his head for the chest x-ray, of course, while the cylinder is closed around him and tightened up to a point where he can’t move! Awesome, you say? Indeed. It sure didn’t look as happy as this picture. In fact, it looked like this, except with hysterical screaming, clenching fingers, and wildly waving feet under the table.

We’re off to the pediatric cardiologist today to have Jack’s heart examined for the murmur heard at his 9 month appointment.  I’m not getting freaky until I’m told it’s something.

We owe great thanks to Ms. V for this awesome sweater!  Jack wore it the day he turned 9 months, and it has been worn pretty much every day since.

Pssst… I am going to tell you some very important hints to help your kid pass his 9 month checkup.  You will be tested on whether your baby plays pattycake.  If you don’t play pattycake with your child and he doesn’t know what the hell your doctor is doing, you’ve failed.  If you speak to your baby in the same hoots and vowels he uses and neglect to constantly repeat “mamamamamaaaaa” until he gets it and can do it back to you this is known as an “epic fail”.  If he’s not crawling around like a madman, but yet pulls himself up (even though crawling isn’t a milestone for kids because not all babies do it), then it’s a fail.

Oh yeah… and the slight heart murmur which will be re-examined on April 2, is also a bit of a stressful part of the exam.  At least we didn’t have any shots today.