Baby has a Fever & Daddy has Gout
This week was very testing for our family. I had to begin taking a lot of pain relievers and began a long bout with fevers and severe arthritis pain. Josiah began a high fever with coughing, colds, being unable to sleep, and needing to be held all day.
On a good note, I started my new day shift. It was a very good transition. I was so happy to be able to sleep with and wake up on the same schedule with my family, and to even see more of and interact more with my wife and son when I wake up and after I get home before I go back to bed. I've been very grateful for the changes, and look forward to the future ahead.
Since I got my glasses the end of January, my eyes have not adjusted. It's been very straining and I plan on getting my eyes reassessed whenever possible, hopefully the glasses store can do that for low to no cost, since I already paid so much for the glasses as well as for a set of sunglasses I still have yet to receive.
Rhea's been working a lot on organization in the house and finding ways to baby proof the house a little more since Josiah has been growing more curious. He's opening every cabinet and drawer and moving things he shouldn't be handling. We recently baby proofed a lot of cabinet doors and drawers to keep Josiah safe from certain cleaning products, choking hazards, or fragile glass containers.
In other news, I put in for many coming days off to use my holiday carryover, and I was awarded a full long week off! Which will give me 12 days off in a row! We're excited for that and hope we can make the most of that time together.
A few doors down from our house there was a house fire that brought in a number of fire trucks and police vehicles... a lot of weird things happen in the neighborhood, especially noticeable when you work dispatch and take 911 calls.
Josiah has been enjoying his wagon rides, and was caught trying to eat leaves that he's been reaching out and picking up from the grass. He's such a cute baby.
Josiah is learning more to climb things and climb over things to reach things all over the house. And he is even starting to learn to get down safely from higher up places like the couch or a chair, and working on trying to get down safely from the bed. He recognizes that he needs to reach one foot down until it can reach the ground, then the other foot, then he'll drop to his diaper butt as slowly as he can and then try to balance and not fall backwards. It's cute to watch. He's really learning.
We've been enjoying Hulu. Mostly watching reality/game shows. These days mostly survival shows like "Survivor" and "Naked and Afraid".
Since I switched to day shift and started a new gout flare, I sadly had to miss the Gate River Run that Rhea and I have already registered for. Josiah was also running a high fever, so it just didn't make sense. It was hard though to see many coworkers posting about the race in their t-shirts and medals, and knowing that we missed out on that great race... When we are all well, we will be able to race another day.
Lately we've been visiting a lot of libraries and book stores. I've been planning the ideal reference library to beef up our personal library that we have at home. Many of our books at home are dated, and many we do not read. I wanted to see what the core reference books were around different libraries and book stores, and to plan how I could update what we have at home, to always have access to the most up to date knowledge. I feel like planning and maintaining a solid home reference library is a lost skill and an art that people just don't appreciate since everyone now has a smart phone and access to google. But it's simple and beautiful and something I'd like for our home.
On a day off I got taro boba smoothies for myself and the wife and we watched movies that we picked up from the library for free. A sustainable and fun date suited for a couple with a young toddler.
All of the Paxon area was out of power for a 35 minutes, while Josiah was taking a nap and I was at work. So Josiah, already feverish and irritable, woke up from his rocker stopped rocking and the white noise stopped playing, the lights in the whole house and the air conditioning were out. It's crazy how big of a deal 35 minutes was, when while we lived in the Philippines we had similar experiences but for hours and sometimes entire days. Raising our baby here in the States though, we've come to be so used to reliable power with very rare blackouts.
The flare got increasingly unbearable as the week went on. I began walking with a cane. By Sunday, I couldn't get up and all even with the cane, and so I hobbled over to use my crutches and struggled to get myself ready for work. I always run an ongoing fever throughout a gout flare. My body was incredibly sore and I installed a temporary handle bar in the bathtub for helping me get in and out and put a shower chair in the tub since I couldn't stand in the shower. I was already sweating from my struggle by the time I got into my uniform. But the real pain came from driving to work with a flared out right knee, then crutching my sore self through the parking lot to the third floor of the police building, and by the time I sat down at my desk I was in immense pain. It was so obvious that a coworker took notice and advised I should be at home. I was stubborn and wanted to rough out the pain until I saw that people around me noticed I couldn't give 100%, so I put in sick leave after being at work for less than an hour.
As the weekend went on, Josiah's fever worsened and he grew weaker and weaker. It was so heartbreaking to see our ball of energy and happiness be so depressed and weak. While he usually loves playing in the water, he looked weak and over it while mommy gave him his baths. His favorite fresh fruit strawberry banana smoothies he would barely touch. He wasn't playing with his toys or messing up his books or neatly stacked clothes... he usually loves pulling everything out of the shelves and containers one by one until all his things are covering the entire house. While having his fever, Josiah wasn't crawling around the house and would cry unless being held by his mommy. While sleeping or napping, he couldn't sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time. Things were not looking good, so Rhea plans on bringing him to his pediatrician soon if he doesn't get well soon.
As my mobility worsened so close to my coming vacation, I was torn and having to evaluate whether I should use my 12 days off to recover from my severe arthritis pain and fever, or to do as much overtime as I could to bounce back from the many recent unexpected large yet necessary expenses.
On a good note, I started my new day shift. It was a very good transition. I was so happy to be able to sleep with and wake up on the same schedule with my family, and to even see more of and interact more with my wife and son when I wake up and after I get home before I go back to bed. I've been very grateful for the changes, and look forward to the future ahead.
Since I got my glasses the end of January, my eyes have not adjusted. It's been very straining and I plan on getting my eyes reassessed whenever possible, hopefully the glasses store can do that for low to no cost, since I already paid so much for the glasses as well as for a set of sunglasses I still have yet to receive.
Rhea's been working a lot on organization in the house and finding ways to baby proof the house a little more since Josiah has been growing more curious. He's opening every cabinet and drawer and moving things he shouldn't be handling. We recently baby proofed a lot of cabinet doors and drawers to keep Josiah safe from certain cleaning products, choking hazards, or fragile glass containers.
In other news, I put in for many coming days off to use my holiday carryover, and I was awarded a full long week off! Which will give me 12 days off in a row! We're excited for that and hope we can make the most of that time together.
A few doors down from our house there was a house fire that brought in a number of fire trucks and police vehicles... a lot of weird things happen in the neighborhood, especially noticeable when you work dispatch and take 911 calls.
Josiah has been enjoying his wagon rides, and was caught trying to eat leaves that he's been reaching out and picking up from the grass. He's such a cute baby.
Josiah is learning more to climb things and climb over things to reach things all over the house. And he is even starting to learn to get down safely from higher up places like the couch or a chair, and working on trying to get down safely from the bed. He recognizes that he needs to reach one foot down until it can reach the ground, then the other foot, then he'll drop to his diaper butt as slowly as he can and then try to balance and not fall backwards. It's cute to watch. He's really learning.
We've been enjoying Hulu. Mostly watching reality/game shows. These days mostly survival shows like "Survivor" and "Naked and Afraid".
Since I switched to day shift and started a new gout flare, I sadly had to miss the Gate River Run that Rhea and I have already registered for. Josiah was also running a high fever, so it just didn't make sense. It was hard though to see many coworkers posting about the race in their t-shirts and medals, and knowing that we missed out on that great race... When we are all well, we will be able to race another day.
Lately we've been visiting a lot of libraries and book stores. I've been planning the ideal reference library to beef up our personal library that we have at home. Many of our books at home are dated, and many we do not read. I wanted to see what the core reference books were around different libraries and book stores, and to plan how I could update what we have at home, to always have access to the most up to date knowledge. I feel like planning and maintaining a solid home reference library is a lost skill and an art that people just don't appreciate since everyone now has a smart phone and access to google. But it's simple and beautiful and something I'd like for our home.
On a day off I got taro boba smoothies for myself and the wife and we watched movies that we picked up from the library for free. A sustainable and fun date suited for a couple with a young toddler.
All of the Paxon area was out of power for a 35 minutes, while Josiah was taking a nap and I was at work. So Josiah, already feverish and irritable, woke up from his rocker stopped rocking and the white noise stopped playing, the lights in the whole house and the air conditioning were out. It's crazy how big of a deal 35 minutes was, when while we lived in the Philippines we had similar experiences but for hours and sometimes entire days. Raising our baby here in the States though, we've come to be so used to reliable power with very rare blackouts.
The flare got increasingly unbearable as the week went on. I began walking with a cane. By Sunday, I couldn't get up and all even with the cane, and so I hobbled over to use my crutches and struggled to get myself ready for work. I always run an ongoing fever throughout a gout flare. My body was incredibly sore and I installed a temporary handle bar in the bathtub for helping me get in and out and put a shower chair in the tub since I couldn't stand in the shower. I was already sweating from my struggle by the time I got into my uniform. But the real pain came from driving to work with a flared out right knee, then crutching my sore self through the parking lot to the third floor of the police building, and by the time I sat down at my desk I was in immense pain. It was so obvious that a coworker took notice and advised I should be at home. I was stubborn and wanted to rough out the pain until I saw that people around me noticed I couldn't give 100%, so I put in sick leave after being at work for less than an hour.
As the weekend went on, Josiah's fever worsened and he grew weaker and weaker. It was so heartbreaking to see our ball of energy and happiness be so depressed and weak. While he usually loves playing in the water, he looked weak and over it while mommy gave him his baths. His favorite fresh fruit strawberry banana smoothies he would barely touch. He wasn't playing with his toys or messing up his books or neatly stacked clothes... he usually loves pulling everything out of the shelves and containers one by one until all his things are covering the entire house. While having his fever, Josiah wasn't crawling around the house and would cry unless being held by his mommy. While sleeping or napping, he couldn't sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time. Things were not looking good, so Rhea plans on bringing him to his pediatrician soon if he doesn't get well soon.
As my mobility worsened so close to my coming vacation, I was torn and having to evaluate whether I should use my 12 days off to recover from my severe arthritis pain and fever, or to do as much overtime as I could to bounce back from the many recent unexpected large yet necessary expenses.
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