Health Update # 483

So they have run tests, thyroid, immune system functioning, kidney, liver...they checked for anemia and mono and what do I have to show for it besides a bruise on my arm....JACK SQUAT!!! Everything came back negative except for one lone test that said I have a high sedimentation rate...do you know what that tells you???? That I am sick...well no kidding, I have felt like poo for weeks now, I could have told them that part! The good news is I am not dying and it seems as though there is nothing seriously wrong with me other than the fact that I catch every virus that comes across my path. The bad news is there is no way to end the cycle of ickiness that has encompassed my health as of late. I have disinfected the house and I wash my hands and use hand sanitizer and more importantly I attempt to stay away from anyone who even thinks about sneezing or coughing. So if I encounter you on a daily basis and you aren't well, take no offense while I systematically avoid you like the plague until you can provide a clean bill of health! The nightmare continues, updates to follow.

Noah is healthy....mommy is still sick :(

Well, this is certainly not the kind of weekly update I like to write, but hey it was our week, so here it is. As you have read in previous posts, there are a bunch of sickies in this house...and while some have discarded the status, some have not! Daddy has managed to get through all of this mostly unscathed...save for some extra housework and cooking duties cause I am certainly not pulling my weight in those departments currently. Noah has come through his first illness quite nicely...he has all of his energy back and is back to his usual happy self! We are still giving him antibiotics to make sure the ear infection is gone and stays gone, those end Friday, but he is definitely feeling better! I, on the other hand, am still a pathetic mess. Thursday I started with that sick feeling again, tired, fever, headache, you know the ominous signs that precede the crap I really did get sick realization that you get when the state of denial is no longer possible. By Friday I really felt like crap, but since I have a low stress and low activity job, I just dropped off Noah at Nana Lou's and huddled in my papasan chair in my office writing for the day. It wasn't too bad. Friday evening Uncle Tim came for the night and we celebrated his new job with a bottle of champagne. Surprisingly by Saturday morning I was feeling really good, better than I had in weeks!! Noah napped well and so I got a bunch of cleaning and disinfecting done and then we went out to dinner with Memere and Pepere B and Uncle Tim at the Outback.

It is getting harder to take the wee man out for dinner lately...I assume its just an awkward period and he will calm down and we can start going out more often again, but I have to admit he kind of embarrassed me a couple of times while we were out! Thankfully, it was already loud at the restaurant, but a few times during dinner he let out the most ear-piercing shrieks...totally random, and completely unnecessary if you ask me. He is probably just testing out his volume control and seeing what sort of reactions he will get from people, but I tell you the shrieking is the fastest way to upset mommy. I can deal with a lot of other things, throw up, poo, crying because he is hurt or hungry or frustrated...but random pointless shrieking...NOT SO MUCH! We have been told to ignore the shrieks, and that if you react to them in anyway at this point he will view it as an effective means to get attention, but seriously, with that volume and intensity, it has got to be the hardest thing to ignore. It has to stop, I refuse to have the 3 year old that is screaming up and down the aisles in the grocery store...not me, no way! Lesson 1 in manners, use your inside voice when you are inside! Incidentally, Lesson 2 in manners will involve the word GENTLE, the poor cats aren't the only ones assaulted recently, I am missing a few hairs on my head and my face has been brutally grabbed a few too many times.

Sunday, we all spent the day with Uncle Tim shopping at IKEA!!! It was great! I love that place. Granted I can only go about once a year cause it is so huge and overwhelming, but they have such cool stuff! We got a cool tent for Noah and a crane-type wooden toy as well, nothing serious since we may or may not be moving next summer...the furniture will have to wait for now. Uncle Tim picked out a kitchen table and chairs, a TV stand and a few other odds and ends for his new place. Sadly, Uncle Tim's container unit containing ALL of his stuff did not show up on Saturday morning as scheduled. Even though he had clearly confirmed with the company a couple days prior, for some reason, there was a hold placed on his account and the unit was moved into the long-term storage facility!!! So rude!!! So the poor guy is sleeping on a borrowed air mattress, borrowed sheets, using the landlady's extra lawn furniture for chairs and that's about all he has in his place. Last I heard, he was still fighting with them on the phone to try and figure out when he could actually get his stuff. Poor Memere and Pepere B though drove all the way from Maine only to find out that there was nothing to unpack, now they are driving down again next weekend! What a mess!

So that's about it from the week. I did finally get into the doctor's office this morning to try and figure out why I can't be healthy for more than a few days over the last 6 weeks. They tested me for strep, and I don't have that...not really helpful, but good news I guess. I had about 5 blood tests done, for white blood cell count, liver, kidney, and thyroid functioning, and then a test for mono. We'll see what comes of that, but for now I am back on my medications for my stomach since that seems to have started acting up again! Fun, fun, fun!

Check out a couple of pictures of the little man from this week. This is the HUGE tent we got for the little man. Thankfully it was only $10, cause it is not hanging around all the time, it just takes up too much space. Someday we'll have our own house and a playroom where this can live, but for now it is going to spend lots of time folded up neatly in the storage area in the coffee table and we'll take it out for something new and exciting on a really cold or rainy day. He did enjoy it while it was out though!

The unrequited affection continues. You can just see how much he wants to commune with poor Mia. She promptly took off like a bullet as soon as Tim took the picture, yet again avoiding travesty.

This is the adorable truck toy we found at IKEA. It has little blocks on the trailer and a magnet crane so you can pick up the blocks...how fun! Here is what is it supposed to look like.

And this is what it looks like after Noah has had a go at it. Poor little truck never saw it coming!


We have moved some of the more age-appropriate books out into the living room on the bookshelf so that we have them around when we want to read the wee man a story. Unfortunately, Noah also thinks that that shelf is far too neat and clean the way we like it, so he rearranged it for us! Nice! Thanks!

Weekly update, trip, and a celebration all in one week

So, I am now finally ready to post the weekly update for last week...and not a moment too soon cause in a day or so, I'll have another week to summarize (though not much to summarize since you all know we have been sick most of the week).

First, for some Uncle Tim updates...he came to Boston to hang out with us on Monday and Tuesday to find a place to live and after a bit of confusion and visiting only 3 places, he was successful! Yeah! He won't be too far away, just a short drive or T ride south. The family, including Memere and Pepere B. are supposed to be helping him unpack the big storage bin this weekend, hopefully Noah and I are well enough to at least go and hang out even if we can't do much helping.

Hunter, Uncle Tim's big old chocolate lab, gave the family a run for their money this week. He is a little anxious and has a lot of trouble being left alone, so when Memere B. looked after him while Uncle Tim was visiting us, there was a bit of drama. Houdini dog escaped from his crate, ran amok in the basement, did his business every where and greeted Memere at the top of the stairs when she returned home from work...welcome home Memere, now clean up my poo from your previously clean floors! :) Apparently he also Houdini-ed out of the crate while the family was out to dinner later in the week. The poor puppy was just so out of his routine. He has been at a kennel this week boarded for his and the family's own good. Uncle Tim and Hunter will be reunited this weekend so the poor Houdini dog can settle back into a routine and stop causing trouble!

Friday after work, we packed up the little dude and all of his accoutrement and headed to Maine for the weekend. Daddy worked all of the previous weekend so he got and unusual entire weekend off! I started to not feel well at all during the day Friday, so it was nice to be forced to sit and relax on the drive up there and to have Memere and Pepere back up for the weekend while I wasn't feeling up to par. Noah was a good boy as usual, he slept perfectly in his crib up there and woke up a happy baby Saturday morning.

After very little napping, we headed out to Aunt Ann and Uncle JP's for a 50th anniversary party for Uncle Fern and Aunt Claudette. Just imagine...50 years. They were married on June 28th, 1958! It doesn't seem possible when the divorce rates these days are so intimidating, but they are such a wonderful example for all of their young married nieces and nephews. I can only hope that someday Tim and I will be able to sit back and reflect on 50 years of marriage! We had food and wine and superb cupcakes and managed to stay outside and enjoy the weather for at least the first hour. Then the thunderclouds came rolling in and I moved Noah indoors so the little man could play on the floor out of the rain. It was so nice for all of the family on Tim's dad's to finally get the chance to meet and spend some time in person with the wee man. He was a hit as always. Tim's cousin Ruth Ann seemed to really enjoy spending time with him and even gave him a bottle, which is the fastest way to his little heart! We got a great little fleece comfy suit for later in the winter. It is size 18 months, so it will be a while before he fits in it, but it is super cute and looks really comfy. I'll post pictures once it fits him.

Once the party broke up, we went over to visit Pepere L. and Nana for a bit. Noah and Pepere hung out and bonded a bit and they got him the cutest little Patriot's outfit, which is perfect since we were getting ready to look for one. It will fit him perfectly by the time the cool weather hits and the football season is in full force. Noah and I will have to start working on our Family Football Pool picks for the year...I wonder if he will help or hinder my performance this year. I didn't do too badly for myself last year, if I remember correctly I beat out most if not all of the immediate Leclerc family boys! :) Here's hoping for another successful year and a little help from my sweet wee man!

Sunday we got a chance to hang around and relax. After his early morning breakfast, Noah graced us by sleeping in until almost 8:30am, which was AWESOME!!!! It really helps to balance out all of those late nights I have been having watching the Olympics. I will be sad to see them end Sunday as I really do enjoy watching all of the various different sports (minus the less exciting ones like badminton, ping pong, and rhythmic gymnastics), but I am also looking forward to being able to get into bed earlier than 11pm and not feeling like I am missing something exciting. Oh well, at least they come around only every 2 years. Later in the day, Memere and I want to Babies R Us (where else??), to exchange some baby-proof locks for her cabinets that wouldn't have baby-proofed anything since they didn't fit. We also took back a really cute Red Sox outfit, not cause I didn't like it, but because it was size 12 months and shorts, which by the time he would have fit into it wouldn't have been warm enough for the New England winter weather. Sad...but instead we did find the most adorable outfit. I tried to find a picture of it online, but no luck. You'll just have to wait for a cool day when I can take a picture...tiny little jeans and a green monkey "hunk" shirt...SOOO adorable. Speaking of clothes, I really need to hunker down an finish getting a few things for the little dude for the upcoming cold weather. We have absolutely no plain long sleeve onesies for fall sleeping...no footed sleepers for really cold weather, no hoodies, and very few long sleeve and long pant outfits (only 1 that fits him now...the rest are for 12 months). The big thing that is slightly stressing me right now is the winter outer wear question. Do you get a hooded baby bunting (including footies) or the coat and pants with boots, hat, and mittens? He is going to learn to walk at some point this late fall/winter, but is it worth the whole boots, pants and coat nonsense for this year? Decisions...decisions. Why don't you help me out and vote on the poll up at the top of the blog. I have plenty of time still to worry about it, so I'll have other people do the deciding! :)

Onwards to pictures for the week. Here is Noah and the object of his tragically unrequited affection (not this specific cat, any one will do really). He absolutely loves the kitties, when he spots one, he'll smile and laugh and try to woo them near him. If one should happen to pass by a little closer than normal, he will attempt to grab whatever body part is closest (usually a tail). Unevitably, the kitty runs by avoiding his clumsy attempts at affection and poor Noah is left wondering where he went wrong. Someday they will be good friends, but since the word GENTLE is not sinking in quite yet, we'll try to keep the two species at a safe distance for now.

"I'm not getting into trouble Daddy...I swear. The lamp base needed dusting, so I am taking care of that for you!"


Here is Noah "helping" me to fold the laundry. He was a very happy baby and wanted to be in the middle of everything, so of course I let him. Other than a few slightly dampened burp cloths and baby wash towels, the laundry didn't fare too badly from the experience.

If you look really, really closely you can kind of see Noah's 2 bottom teeth in this picture. They are starting to get even more prominent now, so once I get a better picture, I'll post that one. I still don't think he knows what to do with them (other than bite me occasionally). We're working on teaching nursing etiquette so that I don't have to completely wean him due to flesh wounds. Hopefully it works out...as it is on the days that I work I generally only nurse him really early in the morning and he gets bottles or solid food the rest of the day. We are still always doing a bottle of pumped milk before bed as he seems to generally sleep much better that way, especially since he is so distracted when nursing lately. I think he eats more and then stays asleep better.

Here is a really great picture Tim took while we were at the anniversary party. I know...its not of the party itself, but I think Noah was sleeping at the time. Instead we have a view from their front yard...not babd huh? You can see the thunder clouds getting ready to roll in and put a damper on our soiree.

Health Update # 482

Will it ever end????? Both Noah and I had low-grade fevers this morning. Honestly, I think my immune system is worse off than his at the moment. I have been sick (count them) 5 times in the last 6 weeks...that is just not normal. I eat healthy, I wash my hands, I keep things clean and I use hand sanitizer when I am out in the city. What is wrong with me? I had a 24 hour horrid stomach flu during our vacation week in July, at the very end of the vacation, just as we were getting ready to head home, I got a nasty cold which resulted in a cough and asthma attacks that I dealt with for 3 weeks. I then got a 3 or 4 day digestive tract virus, which I passed to Tim and he had for 4 or 5 days. I started feeling sick last Friday before we headed to Maine and managed to keep that from getting full blown just in time for Noah to spike a 103 fever, feel better for a day, get a raging ear infection, and now both of us have fevers today. What is the deal??? Clearly I am doing something wrong. I realize I am now just complaining and that rarely solves anything, but seriously after being sick as much as our household has for the last month and a half, I feel like I have a bit of a right to vent. Any volunteers for free top to bottom household disinfection? That maybe my excitement for the weekend! For now, Noah is at the sitter (cause she told me to drop him off anyway), while he looked pretty good this morning, he was happy and playing with some toys, he did have an explosive diaper on the way to Nana's Lou's which will result in some serious deep cleaning of clothes and the carseat when I get home this afternoon. Here's hoping that was the extent of it...he only had 1 change of clothes!!!

Weekly update in progress...

I am a bit busy taking care of a sick and miserable wee man, so the weekly update will be a bit late in coming. Rest assured the pictures have been uploaded and a draft has been started, but my usual promptness will have to be excused...sick wee man is way more important! :)

Okay, enough with the doctor's visits

So on Monday I chuckled to myself a bit as we went off to our first unplanned pediatrician's office visit. Knowing how sick I was as a young child and how many times I made my mom haul me off for extra medical care reminded me that with a small person in tow these things are likely to happen. It wasn't serious, he was going to be fine, I just wanted to be cautious and not the mom who brings their child in too late and ends up at the hospital. All was well...that is until the poor little dude woke up this morning! There was screaming, inconsolable crying, you could just tell he was in so so much pain. So back to the office we went, miserable wee man in tow. Thankfully he has attached himself to a stuffed penguin, Mr. Waddles, and he seems to make things better. Mr. Waddles also made his second doctor's visit for the week. :) Today, the unexpected visit wasn't funny, a little too much screaming and unhappiness for me. When all is said and done, it could have been so much worse, its just an ear infection. Since it was caught early, it shouldn't take long at all to clear up...a little bubblegum medicine, some Tylenol, and some numbing ear drops and he was ready for a bottle and a nap. In the meantime, the pump and I are making good friends cause his ear hurts too much to nurse today...maybe tomorrow will get better and stay better this time!

Such a sick Noah :(

So we have had our first official non-planned visit to the pediatrician's office. Not bad, we made it almost 8 months! After the exciting weekend we all had, Noah ended up with a little something, probably what I have been trying to fight off for the last 4 or 5 days. He woke up Monday morning in his usual happy manner. I put him in the Jeep just long enough to make breakfast. I brought him into the living room, put him on the floor and turned around to go grab my coffee from the kitchen. I should have guessed something was wrong when the poor man absolutely lost it. I mean real tears and utter despair that I had left him for 15 seconds. That is unusual...he is clingy and loves to be around people, that is a bit too extreme even for him. A bit later it was time for breakfast #2 and I picked him up and he felt very very hot. I fed him and then brought him to get dressed. I figured what could it hurt to check his temperature and it was a whopping 102, which I realize isn't an emergency, but it is not a number I have ever seen before with him. After he literally fell asleep on me (within an hour of getting up from 11+ hours of sleep), I called the doctor's office and they suggested we come in. One of the docs from the other team in our office looked him over and declared he looked pretty good for a sick kid. He said his throat looked red and mean and yes he did indeed have a fever (it was 103.5 by then), but it didn't look like anything more than a virus. He said to go home, give him Tylenol (which I had already been doing), and give him lots of extra love and cuddles (also already had that covered). Presto, this morning he woke up a new baby...no fever, no pathetic-ness, and in its place a happy boy! The loving must have done the trick! :) The awesome powers that is the mommy hugs and kisses.


He was such a happy boy this afternoon that when we were done changing him up after getting home from Nana Lou's that he did some practicing of his standing solo. It still makes me nervous, but at least he is in the padded crib!

Commando crawling and teeth...all in one week!

It was a rainy yucky weather week here in the Boston area...just not a fun few days to want to be out and about. Sadly, the temperature was perfect for me, in the mid to upper 70s and not too humid, so you desperately wanted to go for a walk if you weren't so worried about getting caught in a torrential downpour. Oh well, we got some things done around the house. The yard finally got weeded and swept up, so we can actually use the back patio for outdoor meals on occasion and thankfully the majority of the baby proofing is done. Not a moment too soon as I see it...the wee dude decided to figure out for real how to get from point A to point B this week. It was cute last week how he was rolling and squirming and grunting his way in circles and a couple of feet here and there. This week, on the other hand, he is commando crawling like a skilled pro. He'll put his little head down and let out some grunts and huffs and puffs of exerted effort, but belly and little legs dragging he gets where he needs to go. Of course it takes him while to get where he wants to go, but be assured that once he gets there he will cause as much trouble as humanly possible. On Saturday afternoon while I was trying to download some children's songs for him on Tim's computer, he decided that the living room rug where all of his toys were was not the place to be, so he huffed and he puffed and he made his way all the way across the living room and the dining room and under the kitchen table straight into a previously unnoticed pile of recycled kitty lunch!! GROSS! I caught him just before the dirty little fist made its way to his mouth...can't you just imagine me running across the place with his little arm held out in front of him trying to get him to the sink to wash up before he decided to sample the fruits of his effort!! It was truly disgusting and I think I impressed upon him the level of disgust I had because when all was done and cleaned up he kind of looked at me with a pathetic little puss on his face. Too cute to not cuddle on, even if he was just moments before playing in cat puke. In other Noah news, Sunday morning we found the little tell-tale white lines on the wee man's gums that suggest we are in for some teeth in the very near future. He hadn't been extra cranky or drool-ie over the last few days, so this surprised me a bit, but there they were plain as day. In our travels we got a couple of extra non-frozen teething toys that are a little more portable and convenient that constantly running to retrieve and replace things in the freezer and we also got the coolest mesh self-feeder thing ever. I wish I had invented this myself!! Here is Noah demonstrating its proper usage. You place something frozen and/or tasty in the little mesh bag, push the mesh bag into the green ring part and screw both of those onto the white plastic handle and voila, you have a self-feeder that allows you to give to the wee people who use it food, etc. that might otherwise be considered a choking hazard! For example, say you have a cranky teething wee man, you could put an ice cube (or a frozen half of a grape, or a frozen cube of peach, etc.) into the little contraption and hand it off to him and he can suck on it safely to his heart's content! Thus giving you 2 minutes to breath and congratulate yourself on keeping your otherwise unbearably clingy teething small person happy for an all too fleeting moment! A silent mommy cheer to the people who invented this thing!


While Noah is working on the teething thing, he is also getting quite good at the sitting up unassisted thing. We played on the living room floor for a little over an hour with him sitting up all by himself. Of course you still need to be careful cause for some odd reason he enjoys spastically flinging himself backwards still, but if you keep a pillow or leg behind him, he is all set to go! Here he is playing with some linkie-doos. Notice the disarray of toys around him...that would be him pulling out 200 toys from his little basket and then deciding that the simple plastic ring that makes no noise has no lights and probably cost 15 cents is the absolute best thing to invest his time in! :)


He has also been threatening the safety of our remote control lately...the expensive one that comes with the digital cable box...the one that probably wouldn't fare too well drowned in baby drool. My solution...give him his own remote...a "special" one all for Noah! It seems to have worked swimmingly for now at least! I found a really old remote that has no use in the house anymore and took it apart, scrubbed it within and inch of its life, removed all of the electronics and the batteries and reassembled it. Its light with no innards and looks just like a real one making it perfect. Not bad if I do say so myself...still able to outsmart the wee man...we'll see how long that lasts.


For the record, there are those of you out there that think we have it entirely too easy as parents...that Noah must be an angel baby because he smiles in EVERY picture. I FINALLY have proof otherwise...he is occasionally a crank pot, he does fuss and fume, and will shriek when sufficiently peeved. Take that nonbelievers! :) Not sure what he was screaming about this time, but he is upset and we have it documented and that is all that matters!


See...told you he could crawl. He was trying to get to me in the kitchen. He had a little fit when he saw me walk out of the room...then he decided the best course of action was to take off after me. Sounds like a good idea to me.


Hey guys, I am still here...just because you aren't on the floor with me doesn't mean you should forget about me! :) Seriously, I am not up to trouble....


Finally in the weekly news, Uncle Tim has officially arrived from Utah. After a 4 day drive, he stopped in for a rest and dinner on Saturday afternoon! He is in the process of finding his own place, so for now he is a squatter or as he calls it a transient, but it is certainly nice to have him around. His 80 pound chocolate lab, Hunter, also came along, but since there are 3 cats indoors, he stayed outside for the afternoon and early evening. He was less than impressed with suddenly finding himself to be an outdoor dog. Doesn't he just look too pathetic for words? Hopefully there is good luck with the apartment hunting and the move in doesn't take place while we are up in Maine for the weekend!

Adventures in baby proofing!

We had a week full of excitement! First, an update in the Uncle Tim situation. He was offered the job that he was here interviewing for!!! It is just south of the city, so he is moving this way in just a couple of weeks!!! It will be a stressful transition for him I am sure as he is trying to wrap up his life out west and move to the Boston area in less than a month, but once he gets here and is settled, it will be great to have him so close by! The whole family is pitching in to help out in anyway we can. Memere flew out yesterday to help him pack and supposedly he leaves Wednesday to start the drive east. The Pod with his stuff will be delivered to his new place once he finds that! In the meantime, we may have visitors and will be helping him move in, but we couldn't be happier to pitch in! Yeah Uncle Tim is moving here!

In other news, much less monumental, but exciting nonetheless...Noah is well on his way to crawling. He is a wild man lately and has decided naps are for the weak and those not interested in becoming mobile. He would much rather be on the floor working at this mobility thing. He goes and goes and then in the evening will hit the proverbial wall with a resounding and cranky thud! Its unpleasant for us, but I am assured that once he figures this out, he will sleep better and be a much happier baby...let's hope so! :) For evidence of this extreme need to learn how to crawl, here is a picture of Noah napping (I succeeding in nursing him to sleep for a short time). He is half in the crawling position in his sleep, which suggests to me that he either just dropped out of exhaustion in the position he was in or he is actually trying to crawl in his sleep...either way its pretty funny!


Friday evening, we had even more excitement. Noah went to his first Red Sox game. As part of his Christmas present, Memere and Pepere B. got him Red Sox Nation membership, which included 2 tickets to a game! We had a blast and Noah was an amazingly good baby. No fussing or fits even though we had him out past his bedtime. We arrived a bit late, into the 3rd inning and left midway through the 8th, just after singing Sweet Caroline, but we had a great time while we were there! People are amazingly nice to you when you have an adorable, well-behaved baby with you. Thankfully, we strapped on the Baby Bjorn, which is the magic trick to transporting and keeping Noah happy, so all in all it was a GREAT time! And the Sox did eventually beat Oakland 2-1 in the 12th inning...well after we got home and put Noah to bed, bonus!

Some super nice people sitting behind us offered to take our picture with the Green Monster in the background, it turned out great!


Here's Noah and I just after arriving, see what I mean about a seriously happy baby!


Noah had his Red Sox hat on for a while, such an adorable wee fan!


Noah and Daddy enjoying the game together.


And this is what happens when you keep a wee man out past his bedtime. He is seriously exhausted from all the Red Sox excitement!


This weekend we finally broke down and started the baby-proofing process. It will take some time to finish the initial stage...and will probably be a work in progress, fixing things as we discover them to be a problem, but so far so good. The only thing I am violently opposed to is the corner guards on the coffee table...I kind of feel like I am in a padded room. I may break down and invest in a different kind that is removeable so that we can occasionally feel normal when company comes over and all...we'll see. We still need to rearrange some of the lamps and small tables and plant stands and stuff like that, but we are working on it slowly but surely. Supposedly the younger the child when you do this sort of thing, the less likely they are to figure out how to work the baby proofing objects and get into trouble anyway. The outlet plugs, the cabinet latches, the stove knob covers (no need to play with gas and all), and the TV button cover are all fine with me...safety and sanity are important and all, but its just so easy to see how people can go overboard with all of this stuff. Obviously bumps and bruises are going to happen as he is making his way through the next couple of years, and I am all for protecting him as much as I can...but I am also trying to keep some sort of adult functionality in the house. We'll see how successful I am! :)