The Treadway Chronicles: Colds and Burns, But Some Football and Pool Time Too

So this has been a pretty up and down week for little Connor. He went to school like normal, but the teacher's said he didn't nap that well on Tuesday, which probably should have been my first sign that something wasn't quite right.

Since he is still working on his last eye tooth, I kind of assumed it was due to that. It might have been, but it was also a sign that he was getting his very first cold of the cold and flu season and what I assume is his very first school-induced cold.

I knew sending him to "school" meant that he would be around more kids, which means more germs, but I also know that germs are inevitable and you can't keep your kid in a bubble. They will become exposed eventually and you have to sort of look at each cold as a kid's way of building up his little immune system. So guess who got that opportunity this week. Ugh, yes Connor.

But as if we needed to add insult to injury he had already fallen behind on sleep from school and then Thursday night we went over to our friend Amanda's house to meet her new son Collin. (at this point Connor was not exhibiting any outward cold symptoms or we wouldn't have gone of course) Anyway, Collin's her third child and just a month old and just as sweet as can be. Jeff went to A&M with both Amanda and her husband Carlos and so we've known them for a while, so it's fun to see their family grow.

It was really fun, because a few other couples were there too, including our friend Andrea and her son Mateo who is a year old. It was fun seeing Mateo and Connor walking around and playing together.

Everything was going great until it was time for the adults to eat. Amanda had ordered out fajitas and had the meat and tortillas warming in the oven. Jeff offered to help her take them out of the oven and as soon as he opened the oven, Connor came out of what seemed like nowhere (I know this is what every parent says) and wrapped his hand around the grate of the hot oven.

It was AWFUL!!! Of course he didn't react at first and then as we quickly grabbed his hand away he screamed bloody murder. We got cold water on his hands as quickly as possible, but he was a mess and so were we. It was quite a terrible scene. We had to take him outside so the other kids didn't get nervous, but he eventually calmed down.

Of course this happened mere moments before I was about to leave to take him home, so now it was about 30 minutes past his bedtime and we still had a 20 minute drive home and then I had to get him ready for bed, so I knew he was about to go to bed late even though I also knew he was exhausted. Not a good combination. I felt so bad.

When I got Connor home I looked at his hand again and luckily there was no blistering, it was just red and he didn't even seem very bothered by it in the warm tub so I felt like that would be OK. For good measure though, I gave him a little tylenol and put him to bed. Poor boy. What a traumatic night.

That was just the beginning. Connor was up almost every hour Thursday night crying. He would fall back asleep, but when we went to get him Friday morning when he was up for the day around 6:30AM, he was covered in dried snot (sorry to be gross) and had a low fever. He was also in just such a sad state of affairs. He was exhausted and droopy and limp. Ok, so it was official, Connor had a cold.

Luckily though after a little while and some TLC, he seemed to act like himself. The only exception is that he doesn't seem to have much of an appetite. Still today, he isn't eating well at all. Sometimes he'll only eat mushed up food or yogurt. It's really sad. I guess he's really sick. It's hard to tell at other times though, because he hardly seems to slow down and he's all smiles.

I know from past experience that Connor takes about 10 days for a cold to filter through so I've still got a whole week left of sick little boy, but he really does seem to be improving and he is starting to understand that he needs to breathe through his mouth, so that makes him a lot less frustrated and it allows him to sleep a lot better. He still isn't sleeping perfect, but he isn't waking up crying all the time, so that's good in our book.

Oh and his burn seems to be just fine. The webbing in his left hand still seems a bit red, but I still don't see blistering and he seems to be gripping things OK, so I guess we're alright on that front.

In other news, this weekend we still managed to have a fun weekend at home. Saturday was a very lively day of College Football, especially since Michigan had a close game against rival Notre Dame. We came out with a win, and Connor let Mommy act a little crazy and watch the game, so that's good. He was so cute. He pretty much just played with his toys and walked around while we chewed off our finger nails in the tense fourth quarter. What a good boy. Thank you son!

A&M also played after Connor was in bed, but that game wasn't on TV, but it was cool, because Jeff found some video feed and hooked it up to a big screen and we watched it almost like TV. It was nice. We had hot wings and beer. It was like our very own sports bar. Of course it helped that A&M won too.

Today Connor and I took a jog despite the crazy humidity making it feel like 108 degrees. Ugh! Then we all got ready and went to church. Connor was doing pretty good so we dropped him at the nursery and we went to the service.

After church we came home for lunch, put Connor down for a nap, and watched the Houston Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts. That was quite a welcomed surprise. When Connor got up we tried the splash pad again, but it wasn't working so we went to the neighborhood pool. On a day when the heat index maxed out at 113, you needed to be in a pool. Supposedly a cooler front is coming, but this is ridiculous. Anyway, we all had fun at the pool and it was cute, because Jeff and Connor actually walked home together.

Well, I hope Connor gets to feeling better and this cold just stays a cold and doesn't manifest into an infection of some kind. I'll certainly keep you posted. Until then, let's just hope our little guy gets past this latest hurdle unscathed.

Earlier in the week it rained really hard and Connor got to try out his new rain coat.

He's a little dinosaur. It's pretty cute.

On Tuesday afternoon, Connor and I played outside for a bit. He had fun splashing in his water table, so I had to take his shirt off.

"I love splashing around."

Connor hanging out, looking very buff with his shirt off. Yeah, those are muscles.

I like the rolls on his back. So cute.

He loves climbing up on his little picnic table.

I feel like this looks like a foreshadow of his pee-wee football pose. Very tough.

Now he's back to being a smiley guy out in his Adirondack chair.

He found a baseball outside and loved picking it up, tossing it, and walking around with it.

I love my baseball.

We visited 1 month old Collin Sandoval Thursday evening. The same night Connor burned his hand.

Jeff held Collin like a natural. It all came back to him.

Buddies Connor and Mateo having dinner.

This was Friday morning. I know I am a bad Mom for taking a picture of my sick kid, but I just couldn't resist. It was so sad. I knew I'd never be able to describe it. You just had to see it. Doesn't he just look so pathetic. Poor boy. It breaks my heart.