And this...

I happened to mention previously that Lincoln had an acute case of irritable-baby-syndrome while we were away for the weekend, but I didn't elaborate on how bad he seemed to be feeling. The latter part of last week, both kids had their share of snotsy-runny noses, but then again, so did every other kid at the babysitter's house. We were all skeptical and hopeful that the symptoms were nothing more than allergy related with the change of the season, weather, etc. especially since no one presented with fevers. Taking into account that Lincoln sometimes has issues with sleeping away from home, plus having snotsies, plus 4 new eye teeth coming in, I had loads of excuses to try to explain his unlikely temperament and his eating and sleeping strike. That was until about Sunday.

It seemed like over Saturday night into Sunday, Lincoln developed this horrible raspy, somewhat croup-like cough that sometimes left him breathless and gasping for air. Other times, he seemed like he was trying to cough so hard that it made him almost choke. That was enough for me. I was fortunate that our doctor was able to see him Monday afternoon when I was already off work. The good news came when she said there was no sign of ear aches and that his ear tubes are still perfectly placed, but when she peeked into his throat she nearly jumped back in startling confirmation that there was surely an infection already brewing down there. Our doctor was considerate enough to write a prescription for an antibiotic for both kids (without having to bring Elaina in) since they seem to have the exact symptoms, minus the choking-cough for Elaina.

In a bittersweet twist, I'm somewhat relieved that there is an actual, valid excuse that helps to explain Lincoln's eating and sleeping strike other than just being away from home but the down side is obvious, he's sick. I guess that the second half of October will already find us digging out the vaporizers and the Vick's rub. And we're just getting started.