Being sick is no fun.

Kieran has been sick this past week and it hasn't been fun for him at all. The poor guy is a snotty, drooling, coughing mess. He's congested, fussy, and has been crying like all the puppy dogs in the world died. I feel awful for him. He had been congested for about a week or so and than his sleeping habits started to change. He was taking shorter naps and waking up almost hourly at night. This was not like him and we were all suffering because Sean and I were exhausted.

No mother or parent I should say likes to see their child sick. I'm one of those people that never gets sick. Seriously I don't. I think I missed probably 5 days of school Elementary-College and half the days were days I wasn't even sick. With Kieran being a preemie his immune system isn't as strong and with him being introduced to all the snotty nosed kids at daycare it was only a matter of time before he got sick. I'm hoping this helps build his immune system, so he can be tough like his Mommy and Daddy too.

There were 3 cases of the flu at his daycare and one case of strep, oh and the dreaded pink eye. Luckily he's still so little he doesn't interact with the other kids or their toys so I wasn't as worried about the pink eye. Since I am still not working I was able to keep him home with me. Kieran is too young for the flu shot but since he is breastfed he is able to get the antibodies from my flu shot and that helps to protect him a little bit. I am however annoyed that neither of his daycare providers received the flu shot. I never thought to ask that question before, but I would think working in childcare you would want to protect yourself and the little ones you work with.

I let him go back to daycare last Friday and he cried and was sad the entire time. He wouldn't take a bottle and he wouldn't nap. Sean went to visit at lunch and he told me he was very sad and I should come get him. I drove over and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I walked in the door he saw me and smiled. I love this little guy! Both our daycare provider and Sean were slightly annoyed since they had been working on calming him down and all it took was seeing his Momma. He's definitely a Momma's boy. I took him home with me and loved and snuggled him to pieces.

Sean and I had a date night planned for that evening and I was worried we'd miss it. Shawn Colvin was playing locally and Sean had gotten me tickets for Christmas. Our friend Jami was babysitting and I was worried that Kieran was going to be fussy. Luckily Kieran loves his Jami and he was very good for her.

We started putting him in his car seat or swing to sleep so he was more elevated and his sleep has improved 110%. I really think he was having a hard time breathing, not that he couldn't breathe but he just wasn't comfortable with all of that post nasal drip.

I took him to the doctor's office on Monday to get checked out and make sure it wasn't something worse. Kieran has been receiving monthly Synagis shots to help prevent RSV, but it's not a 100% prevention. The doctor listened to his lungs, looked in his throat and ears and everything sounded and looked normal. Not that something couldn't change but for now it's just congestion and she recommended we continue the sleeping upright. She also recommended saline drops in the nose and aspirating it out to help with the congestion.

These last few days I've seen an improvement in his mood and although he's not back to his 100% cheery self I did have lots of smiles with him this morning. The sleeping is great and although we may have issues when we transition him back to his crib, he's sleeping great and only waking once to eat in the middle of the night.

He turns 6 months in just 6 days. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. My little boy is growing up too quickly!.

And of course here are some photos from the last week or so of my sad little guy. We did manage to capture a few of his smiles.

I love this guy, but feel so bad for him when he doesn't feel great.

He was a drooly mess so I took off his wet outfit. He just looks worn out. Poor guy. At least he has his sippy cup and ducky, two of his favorite things.

I took the top part of the bassinett off his pack n' play so now he can sit on the bottom. He looks so big!

Looking extra stylish in his sunglasses on one of our daily walks.

This is the smile we all know and love, love you honey!

I took a video of him going to town on one of his toys his morning. He definitely loves his toys these days. I can't wait until he is even more interactive. This is getting more and more fun each week.