In late June, the Smith-Bentley’s took another wonderful and luxurious vacation to Mexico. This time, instead of Cancun, we went to Puerto Vallarta. Brendan and Mysti have been to PV, and thought it would be a great place to take Maxwell for a get-away for the threesome.
The Mexican vacation was great, even despite a few bumps in the road including hotel jack-hammering (Not cool. Not cool.), a little Montezuma’s revenge (Brendan), and a little ibuprofen overdose scare (Maxwell). The highlights include amazing sunsets, para-sailing, a boat ride with some snorkeling along Los Arcos. We also spent days shopping in downtown, and general strolling along the Malecon. It was a relaxing time, even with a 14-month old. It was just nice to be away from the day-to-day lives that we lead.
Upon our return, it was decided that Maxwell would begin a new daycare on July 7. Rabija (Maxwell’s in-home provider) was set to spend 6-weeks in Montenegro, her country she hadn’t been home to visit in 6 or 7 years. Brendan and I had been thinking about starting Max in a pre-school type setting anyway – so it was good timing for us. Maxwell and Mommy spent a morning visiting Action Day Primary Plus just before Barb & Warren arrived from Brooklyn for a long weekend. During the weekend that Barb & Warren were visiting we went to several beaches in search of sea glass.
On Monday, July 7 Max was set to start his new daycare. I brought him in later than normal because he didn’t seem to be feeling so well. He was quite fussy, and felt a little warm. Barb thought he may be tugging at his ears. I was so hesitant to bring him to his first day of new daycare while feeling so under the weather. After weighing the options with Barb, I decided to bring him. He seemed fine when I dropped him off. This began the long journey of sickness and missing work, which I will outline in date format to spare the details (and get caught up on the blog!):
July 7: First day of daycare at Action Day Primary Plus
July 8: Maxwell is sent home with Pink Eye. We went to the doctor to learn that not only did he have Pink Eye, but also a nasty ear infection. He started on oral antibiotics and had to miss his next day of school.
July 9: Max gets an “ouch report” at school. He fell and hit his head.
July 15: Maxwell spikes a fever. We bring him back to the doctor to learn that the antibiotics are not working. He starts a different oral antibiotic.
July 16: Still having fevers. We summons Grandma Nancy to come down to San Jose earlier than planned to help care for Max.
July 18: Max is still febrile. We go back to the doctor to once again learn that the antibiotics are still not working – and one of the eardrums has ruptured. He needs to start inject-able antibiotics. At this point, he’s a sick puppy – just wanting to snuggle and be held. He gets his first shot – and subsequently his first doctor office visit lolli-pop (you know – the ones on the string).
July 19: Office visit #5 – another shot. Ears still not really improving.
July 20: Office visit #6 – the third and final shot.
July 21: Sweet Lou (Maxwell’s Lovey) gets lost on a walk.
July 23: Max gets another “ouch report”. He got bit by another kid
July 24: We think Max is doing a lot better, but need to see Dr. Dennis to confirm that the injections did the trick. Unfortunately, we learn that his ears are not any better and that he needs to have surgery to get tubes in his ears. Suck!
July 25: We see the Ear, Nose, Throat specialist who confirms that Max needs tubes. They schedule him for Monday.
July 28: Max has surgery – which went great. We were in and out of the clinic within 2 hours. Max slept most of the day, and was back to himself by the next day.
July 31: Max gets another “ouch report”. He gets bit and scratched by another kid! Our poor guy can’t get a break these days!
August 1: Action Day loses Trammel (the Sweet Lou “Lovey” replacement) and are apathetic to the situation – and reluctant to even search for him. Seriously?
August 7: Max wakes up covered in vomit – and proceeds with diarrhea every 15 minutes for the entire morning. We’re scheduled for a flight to MN in the morning…and worry that we won’t be able to make it.
The worst part about all of this, was that in between being sick, we had to bring him to Action Day for his care. He hated it the entire time. He cried when we pulled into the parking lot. It was one of the worst experiences we’ve had. It is simply heart-breaking to peal your crying child from your arms – and then expect to have a good day at work. It was awful.
August 8: Maxwell and Mysti flew to MN with success. No bumps in the road – Max was a gem! However, that night, Max vomited 6-8 times. We were so grateful that this didn’t happen on the airplane!!
August 8 – August 15: Max and Mama spend a week in MN visiting all of Maxwell’s cousins. We take a trip to Duluth to visit Amanda, Niika and Ruben. We visit Maxwell’s Great Grandma Margaret and Great Grandparents Gerri and Don.
August 20: Maxwell reunites with Rabija! He is so happy to be back at his old day care. Each morning, she makes him Chamomile tea - and he plays with his friends Fiona and Floren.
August 30: Max is tugging on his ears, so we bring him to urgent care to learn that the tubes are intact, but they’re not working. He doesn’t have an infection, but he still has fluid behind his ears. He started on eardrops, and we see Dr. Dennis later this week. Our guess is that we (Max mostly) is in for a lifetime of troubled ears.
On the upside:
Maxwell is growing into a little toddler right before our very eyes! He is such a happy, darling boy. He is talking like crazy, and will try to say any word that you ask.
He is starting to identify with himself. When he see’s a picture of himself, he says “Max!”, and he will point to himself when asked “Where’s Max?”. He also says “Mine!”.
Max enjoys Mattie, and likes to go on walks with her. He’s still fairly social – and has more and more energy all the time. It’s a lot of work keeping up with him – but we’re enjoying it very much!
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