Poor baby!

Sweet little Frankie is sick...AGAIN. This time, he has a double ear infection and bronchiolitis, which was most likely caused by RSV. He was up Saturday and Sunday night with a horrible cough and a lot of congestion, and then Monday night he had a low-grade fever. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday morning, and the doctor heard him wheezing a little, so she had him do a breathing treatment with a nebulizer. I have never dealt with asthma or any other breathing problems before, so I was completely unprepared for the breathing treatment. She put the little mask on his face, told me to hold him because he "might fight me and will probably cry," and then left the room. The machine blew medicine in a mist in his face, and he screamed, and cried and writhed and tried as hard as he could to get that thing off his face for the first five minutes. Then, he suddenly stopped fighting...and stopped moving at all. Of course this scared me even worse. It was like he fell asleep! I was just totally freaked out. The doctor finally came back about 15 minutes later and of course he was completely fine. She told me a lot of babies fall asleep during breathing treatments because the sound of the mist is soothing to them. She rechecked his breathing and said that he sounded better. So, we now have a nebulizer and are supposed to do these breathing treatments 3 times a day until his cough and wheezing are gone. There is about a 50 percent chance that he will have asthma, which really sucks. Hopefully this is just a one-time illness! He did seem to sleep much better last night, and his cough seems to be a lot better, so I hope that he will be feeling good by Christmas. I am leaving tomorrow morning to fly out to New Jersey for my uncle's funeral, so I am leaving Frankie with Frank until Saturday evening. I am sure they will be fine, but it is hard to leave when my baby is sick. Please continute to keep my family in your prayers.

Prayers

Today, my uncle unexpectedly died. We still do not know the cause of death--they are performing the autopsy today. He was 59 years old. He is my first close family member to pass away since my grandpa died more than 20 years ago. He was also my godfather. I already miss him so much.

Today, I pray for my cousin who will never get the chance to have her father walk her down the aisle. I pray for my aunt, who has lost the man she has been married to for more than 30 years. I pray for my Mammy, who has to endure the worst pain imaginable--losing a child. I pray for my mother who lost her older brother, and I pray for every single person in his extended family who has to deal with questions of "Why?"

My uncle Mike and my Aunt Barbara were some of the biggest supporters in my decision to go to law school. They came to visit me at Georgetown frequently, and I spent some holidays with them because they were so much closer than my parents. They came to my graduation, and they have always been extremely supportive. Please keep the Kevil and Proesch families in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Weekend with Mama

Frankie and I are in the middle of spending another weekend together without Daddy. It seems like we have far too many of these. We had a blast today playing at the play ground, going shopping, and playing lots of catch-me-if-you-can and hide-n-seek. Here are some pictures of Frankie hiding behind the chair in our living room. He is not supposed to go back there, but he thinks it is soooo funny when he does.

you found me Mama!

hey there bright eyes

I still see you

peek-a-boo

Like Mommy

Frankie is obsessed with my cell phone. He has a toy phone that he plays with in the car, and I gave him one of Frank's old phones to play with, but he REALLY wants the real deal--Mommy's phone. I only give it to him when I really need to distract him or when nothing else seems to make him happy, because he usually messes something up on it. Tonight, I was trying to get a picture of him in front of the Christmas tree, and he picked up my phone and started pretending to talk on it! I thought it was so cute. I never did get that Christmas tree picture, because he was too busy running around. Frank is out of town again--I am having flashbacks to 6 months ago when he was out of town all the time, and I DON'T LIKE IT! I will be happy to have him back on Sunday.

Someone had a traumatic weekend...

First a haircut...then pictures..and now Santa. As you can see, Frankie was NOT too thrilled to be sitting in Santa's lap. I took him over to Southlake and we waited in line, in the cold, for about an hour, before it was finally his turn. He was fine the whole time, until we put him in Santa's lap. I think the haircut yesterday traumatized him for life. Hopefully he will do better next year!

First haircut

Yesterday we had Frank's one-year photos, so we decided to take him to get his first haircut before we did the pictures. Despite my better judgment, we did not take him to a special kid's haircut place and instead took him up the street to Supercuts, where Frank gets his hair cut. It was a disaster! Frankie HATED the hair cut. He cried and screamed and squirmed the entire time. Luckily, the stylist was quick, and it only took about 5 minutes. And his hair looks so much better! It was getting a bit out of control. Next time I am definitely going to take him to a specialty hair place where there are cartoons, toys, and a much better chance that we can make it through the ordeal with no tears! Here are some pics of my little guy before, during, and after his first haircut. We did not get any during the meltdown, because both Frank and I had to hold him and sing to him to try and keep things under control.

pre-haircut

this is not so bad...

getting a little concerned

pre-meltdown

yay! all done, so handsome

No more bottles!

I think it's official...no more bottles in the Bernardo household! This is the third night this week that Frank has gone to sleep without a bottle. On Wednesday night, I tried to give him some milk in a sippy before bed, and he wanted nothing to do with it. So, I just put him to bed without a bottle, and he did great! I honestly don't think he much noticed or cared that he wasn't getting that bottle anymore which really surprised me. I am so happy to not have to clean those things anymore! That was definitely one of my least favorite of all of the baby-related chores.