lemons and lemonade

There's nothing quite like four children to constantly remind me that "if it's not one thing, it's another." For example, in the last couple weeks three of them, including the tiniest, and each one swiftly following the next, have broken out in an impetigo rash. Such fun! And last night, even though Daniel managed to sleep solidly from about 9pm until 5am, Caleb was up several times throwing up.

And then today, with Caleb still battling some sort of stomach bug, I had to cart them all along with me to Daniel's belated two month well check-up, at which he was given his first round of vaccines. Caleb managed to keep the contents of his stomach where they were, thank goodness, but he was so miserable, he was near tears until the very end when he finally couldn't hold them back any longer. Ultimately I had two (Daniel and Caleb) children in hysterics, one (Matthew) begging like a broken record to go home, and the fourth (Garrett) brimming full of unrelated questions that I couldn't muster the energy to field let alone answer.

Such fun!

But let's go back to Daniel, who passed his two (and a half, thanks to our doctor's summer vacation pushing it back a couple weeks) month well check up with flying colors. Overall, everything about him is right on target. And by all accounts, he appears to be the only one of the four of them who has not suffered from infant reflux. In fact, he's even starting to outgrow his colic, which means that he's not only a much happier baby all around, but that I'm also starting to like him more.

That happiness is apparently evident in his growing fat rolls:

Weight: a whopping 13 lbs 5 oz (though he did just down a full 5 oz bottle just before he was weighed, which may have contributed to the results)
Length: 23 1/2 inches

 He willingly and oh-so pleasantly let the doctor poke and prod during the exam, clearly oblivious to what was going to happen before he could go home.

Screaming off the effects of those painful shots at home.

Sleeping off the effects of the stomach bug on the couch.

While we're not completely out of the woods yet -- not with the colic, the effects of the shots, the stomach bug, or even the impetigo -- we'll get there soon enough, I'm sure. But even so, if I can manage to sneak out later today to pick up some needed milk and infant Tylenol, I might also throw a few actual lemons into my cart because one thing my life could really use right now is some lemonade.