this just in!

we have been wanting to help donovan along on the walking front, and found a toy that we thought might just help. so we have been practicing all weekend. i have a hard time deciding what is the cutest thing on donovan and right now watching him walk from behind is precious!

10 months

and the stats are........

- wears 12-18 month clothes
- size three diapers
- he popped out 2 top teeth
- he is learning to dance and clearly has his father's smooth moves
- he got sick for the first time, and we all made it! on another note mom got the stomach bug for donovan's 10 month bday. this is the first time of me being sick since being a mom. dan carried us all through this dark time, and was even thoughtful enough to get a 10 month picture of the big guy.
- he eats 6oz bottles at 9am, 12am, 6pm--and an 8 oz bottle at 3pm
- he is still eating 3oz puree at breakfast with oatmeal, 3oz puree at lunch with grain cereal, and 3 oz puree at dinner......and supplements with finger foods of all sorts....although, his appetite has not been very good since being sick. i think he learned while being sick that he can turn food down for the first time.....and he is getting to be a bit pickier.
- he sleeps from 8pm to 9am, and usually takes 2-3 naps during the day
- we have been seeing some separation anxiety and clinging
- he is saying full on ma-ma finally!
- he loves being in our bedroom and bathroom...which we do not understand?
- he loves being chased anywhere he goes

lovely visit

this past weekend we had old friends in for the weekend. our friends carrie, matt and west moved to hoboken, nj this past september and this was the first time we were able to see them since the big move. west turned a year in january so we were also excited about having a baby sleepover for donovan to see how he reacted to baby house guests. we also had our old friend nicole swoop into town to knock out seeing both babies. she also has a hobby of picture taking so we were able to sit back and let our photographer catch the memories.

we had a great time getting to know west and watching donovan watch west. west is a confidant walker and is constantly on the move for a good time. donovan took on the part of "observer". he tends to do this around other children and i am not sure if this is a) his personality, b) scared of other children because i am too lazy to take him to playgroups, or c) playing mr. nice guy around company. i guess more will be revealed with age. note to self.....i will say that we have been amazed at how donovan's playing with his toys has changed since watching west. it is like west showed him a whole new way to do things, and he has been more interested in trying to walk......they really are sponges!

the weekend did start to take a downward turn when donovan fell and got his first fat lip. the picture does not show the fat lip but it does show the blood on his left shoulder. then by midnight sunday night i got hit with the stomach bug.........more in the next blog.

anyway we had a great time. there are no friends like old friends. you know the song all you girlscouts out there make new friends but keep the old one is silver and the other gold!

valentine's day

ahhh love is in the air at the murphy house. i took a shower this morning AND dryed my hair with a hair dryer. donovan and i ran errands today and took advantage of the beautiful weather. .....and we made dad a valentine. donovan's valentine was bubbles that we played with......he did not go as crazy as i had hoped. maybe i will re-gift them at easter.

dan came home from work for a quick card and chocolate exchange before heading off to hockey. maybe i should have put some make-up on and changed out of my sweat pants. this is a couple pictures of my valentines. buck is shooting love lasers out his eyes....he is kind of like a cupid.

ok ok i was going to totally throw dan under the bus for choosing hockey over his #1 valentine, but we are actually taking advantage of the hired help (gram and grandaddy) and going to dinner tomorrow. i think he can be my valentine.

sick baby :(

February 7, 2011
i have dreaded this day since somewhere around 4.21.10. i tend to be on the....ok ok i am on anxious side of well everything and therefore sick baby for me = very scary. i try to talk myself down from thinking things are the end of the world, but alas this is a constant struggle for me. that is where dan comes into play to talk me down from whatever disease i have donovan diagnosed with.

so monday afternoon donovan slept longer than normal and when he got up he was out of it. by out of it i mean he sat quietly in dan's lap and watched tv. dan recognized he felt hot so we took his temperature for only the second time in his life....so dan and i are not experts. we found donovan did have temp but of course in my mind, although the reading was low grade, did we take it right? was it really like 107.9 but we just miscalculated? by this time donovan is in meltdown mode in the middle of dinner so he is now covered in food. i of course am for sure that this is the onset of ecoli that my mother has so graciously alerted me to since donovan is often caught chewing on buck's bones. and for those of you that were wondering.....no he did not have diarrhea, an anxious mind is not rooted in reality.

after researching dosage guides for fever reducers we gave him some meds and put him to bed. i sat wringing my hands wondering if had had overdosed him on the meds? or if he was having a seizure that my mother also graciously educated me on. we all slept through the night.

February 8, 2011
donovan woke up the next morning seeming a bit fussy and tired. he still had a temperature that was rising. after a call to the doctor it was determined to keep him comfortable and continue trying as many fluids as possible.

luckily, my mom and granny were coming into town to keep donovan while i went to work so i did not have to worry about leaving him without family. i did however have to warn granny to not get mama's worries wound up, and mama to not get my worries wound up or else dan might send us all to a hotel for the night. part of the vows dan took when we got married was to help balance out my anxiety......but it is just too much to ask and a set up for failure to expect that for the whole fox clan.

donovan spent the day napping lots, eating little and battling off the fussies. he had puffy eyes and looked sad. i guess that is why i always hear moms say, "he does not feel good. i can tell by his eyes".

Febuary 9, 2011
i checked donovan's temp first thing and it was still at 103 degrees. so off to the dr. we go. the waiting room was full....i mean FULL of sick kiddos. a traumatic check over including a flu test and a strep test concluded the visit with a negative on both. so i quickly rushed home to drop the d-man off with gram and gigi so i could get to work. i came home to what i was sure would be a baby on the upswing.....no such luck....still sick. eating little, sleeping lots, and sad eyes.




February 10, 2011
this morning no temperature which is a relief since it is babysitter day. our sitter is lovely, but my baby is sick. a new symptom today....a rash. after yet another call to the dr. to check on the rash i am relieved to find it is fairly normal after having a virus. the sitter reported a good day, but we finish the night with an increasingly large rash and little to no appetite. as i have written earlier donovan has never turned down food, and we are having problems getting him to eat anything. i realize that based on symptoms the dr. is not worried, and donovan is having some good moments in the day, but i am afraid that i am not going to explain a symptom well enough and in the end when he sprouts his second head someone will say, "but you did not tell us his rash is on the left side of his body under his ear!" ....or something like that. i know i know that is the crazy in me talkin' but i cannot shake it.

February 11, 2011
today i get to be home all day with my boy. we are going on day two of no temperature, but the rash seems to be taking over. today i took matters in my own hands. you can call me dr. megan, because after a day of extensive research i have a diagnosis. my baby has the roseola, street name is sixth disease. if you would like to know more you can put this in your dr. bag with a little research in www. academia at babycenter.com and wikipedia.com......they do not charge a co-pay.


and so the rest of the weekend we laid low and continued to give the d-man long naps and frankly whatever he wanted to eat. the bottom line is we made it! we made it almost 10 months with no sicknesses, but the best part is the first one is under our belts.

angel and devil

donovan has things that he feels very strongly about. both love and hate feelings. the past few weeks he has gotten where he is not afraid to throw out an opinion.

we noticed true love for him when he started to notice his bottle sitting around the house. it is elated joy when he sees it which i can understand since that has been sustinance and comfort for him for nearly 10 months.

his second love is "the angel". this is a piece of art that hangs on our wall in the living area. we noticed him staring at it at a very early age and now he has to stop and say good morning to her each morning. he can be asked "where is the angel" from anywhere in the house and he will turn to find the angel. when he falls and starts to cry all we have to do is walk him to the angel and the cries turn to laughs. just for the record when we say "where is mama" or "where is dada" he looks at us like we have six heads. never mind me growing him in my own uterus, feeding him from my own breast and sustaining and nurturing him for nearly ten months......just saying.



and his nemesis.....there is one thing above all things that he despises. i talked about it in an earlier post about dan keeping donovan away from the tv buttons. check out my "man weekend" post to get the details of the metal cat. donovan has a curiosity of the metal cat which turns into him knocking it over....which turns into a loud noise....which turns into donovan crying...which turns into a trip to "the angel". i can give other examples of things he does not like right now but none of them really compare to the cat so i will just stop here.