Ear infections HURT!

So after 17 months of a relatively healthy, germ-resistant baby, the last month or two have been brutal.  In the last four weeks Jayden has had four ear infections, two at a time.  We just finished the antibiotics for the first two ear infections about 10 days ago.  And yesterday he was diagnosed with two more.  These two have been really bad.  Wednesday evening he didn't look great, but I thought he might have been tired.  Thursday morning he felt warm, but he's always warm when he wakes up.  My mom was here (which was a godsend - saving me and Carmen the struggle of figuring out who stays home and missed engagements, meetings, etc.) and she called me Thursday to let me know Jayden had a 103 degree fever.  I tried to be a good, patient mama and wait to see if it went away, so I didn't rush to the doctor (that was mistake #1).

Thursday night he was still bad and Friday morning it wasn't a whole lot better.  I was still trying to be patient (mistake #2) so I decided to wait the three days, which is what most doctors, nurses, etc. tell you to do.  My mom stayed home with Jayden Friday night while Carmen and I had a sort of date night.  Saturday morning his fever broke and he wasn't warm anymore.  So clearly no need to take him to the doctor, right? (mistake #3).  He was super lethargic, basically needing to be held at all times.  He wouldn't eat much of anything either.

Saturday night was Carmen's company's charity auction and dinner, so my mom and Jayden came to the hotel and stayed over with us so that we could all spend Sunday morning out in the sunshine at the hotel.  I guess Saturday night was a rough one for Mom and Jayden (Mom said she got about 3 hours of sleep - poor grandma!) and Jayden still wouldn't eat, so Mom and I took him to the pediatric urgent care after breakfast.  The nurse took one look at his ears and said "yup, ear infection."  She prescribed antibiotics again and gave us numbing ear drops.  As soon as we got him in the car afterwards he passed out - this was around 12/12:15 pm.

We went to the pharmacy to get the medicine, got ourselves a snack, I dropped Mom off at the airport, I picked up Jasmine from the vet and got home.  Jayden slept basically this whole time.  He then slept another few hours at home.

I woke him up long enough to eat some food, take his antibiotics, take a bath and then go back to bed.  It took him a while to settle down, but once he did, he slept about 12 hours (with a little interruption around 6:30 am).  His appetite returned this morning (he ate a pancake, yogurt and blueberries for breakfast - the most he's had at one time in the last few days) and so did his bowel movements (with a vengeance).  While I showered, he laid face down with his legs curled under him on the mat outside the shower.  I was going to take a picture, thinking it was a little sad he chose to nap there.  I now believe he was pooping the whole time that I was in the shower.

He's been whiny and tired the whole day today, but has had moments of activity.  He actually has taken steps on his own.  And has gone to his toy cabinets and pulled out toys.  He still wants to spend a large part of the time in my arms or on my chest - and he hasn't hardly napped at all, which is shocking to me.  It has made it difficult for me to get work done (and I have a TON of work to do), but if I need to I'll just be up later tonight to get everything done.

These are a few more pictures of him after I put drops in his ears today, barely standing up:

Hanging on for dear life.  At times it appears he really can't stand up on his own and must support himself by holding on to something.

Smiles are few and far between today.  And his eyes are pretty much always sleepy.