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We have not written much in the past couple of weeks, because we had been a little under the weather. Well, Keegan has been a little under the weather, to be more precise, and therefore as a consequence, we have been too.

We are still not sure what it was exactly, but it dragged on for more than a week. A couple of weeks ago, we started the weekend in a bad way: Keegan was really cranky, would not eat much or sleep well. We didn’t think much about it, and in fact we all went to our friend Lena’s house to celebrate Mila’s second birthday. We had a good time. It was a small gathering, so Keegan warmed up somewhat quickly and he had fun drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, and reading books, playing with his favorite girls and of course eating a yummy cake.

 The three musketeers again:Keegan, Hannah and Mila

Sunday was pretty uneventful: we got into the pool, and we even convinced him to take a walk on the benches around the edges, with water up to his chest. He seemed better, but he started having a little cough. On Monday, he went at daycare as always, but when I picked him up, they told me he was tugging at his ear. Well, he often does that, either when he is upset or tired, but for extra caution, I took him at the Minute Clinic. They did not see any ear infection, but the nurse noticed his cough and a little redness in his throat. He also weighted him: a whooping 25 pounds (11.3kg). Not sure how accurate this is, but hey, I will take it!

His mood was normal, so we felt reassured. Sure enough, that night we got the early wake up, or should I say wake UPS. Keegan was waking up almost every hour, coughing, and he was really warm. We gave him some Tylenol, and hoped for the best. By 2.30/3 am, after another wake up call, I ended up sleeping with him in his room: he was coughing and warm, just needed some reassurance. His cough was now very barky, so we were a little worried. Could it be croup? Against our temperament we took a wait and see attitude. I stayed home with him, while Matt had to attend all day meetings. Keegan did not seem to mind. Of course this is the day they are having the Pony pictures at school! And after the “crying cowboy” picture last year, I did not want to miss it this second chance. I asked if it was OK to take him down for the photos: he did not have a fever at this point. So, here he goes, up on that pony and, since I was there, he did not cry. YEAH!…he did not smile either, mind you, but hey, it looks like he was the only one of his class NOT to cry.

At least he did not cry till the end, as he was disembarking, when his lower lip started quivering…but mommy was there to grab him and he was all better.

He even got to pet the pony… we stopped by to see his friends in his class, and of course what is the first thing he did? He ran in and set on his teacher’s lap. No matter what, he is always the one sitting on the adults’ lap. Talking about choosing the best spot. How he beats the other kids, I am not sure…he must be his sweet smile or his puppy face…

He feel asleep quickly for his nap, but when he woke up, he was burning up! I measured 100.4 under arm (so really 101.4). Insert mommie’s guilt here: I decided to wait and see, and sure enough, he gets high fever! I immediately made an appointment for the next morning (pm at his doctor is a zoo) , and comforted him as I could. His mood was actually not too bad, but his cough was really scary: dry and barky. We had another horrible night, and another early morning cuddle/sleep in.Matt stayed home with him this time:it was Tizi’s last few days of class, so she had to be there for helping the students, for finals and presentation. Plus, she felt she earned a little treat: so she went to have a relaxing lunch with her designer friend. She really felt she needed the break. And a nice glass of beer help soothe anxiety and guilt. (-: Thank you Matt!

Matt took Keegan to the doctor: nothing new, but at least we ruled out anything serious. The doctor said it was an upper respiratory infection caused by a virus, and that we had to wait it out. The doctor cleared us also for taking him back to daycare, as long as he did not have fever. That afternoon, Tizi figured Keegan deserved a treat as well, so she took him to Seaworld, to meet up with his best buddy Hannah, and her mom Jennifer. Keegan really likes Seaworld: as soon as I mention the name, he starts moving his hands up and down as they do at the Shamu show. Plus, he has been looking at the blog pictures over, and over, and over and over again, especially the ones with him and Hannah at Seaword, so he knows well what it is. This time we saw a walrus, polar bears, baluga whales, penguins and the obligatory Shamu show. We all had a nice afternoon. It is funny to see how he is now interacting with Hannah: he must really like her, since he offered her his fish crackers, one of his favorite  snacks.

The rest of the week continued the same way, minus the fun part. We were able to take him back to daycare, even if a little later, but we had horrible nights: he would wake up 3/5 times,  and want us to snuggle with us and to be soothed. A few days, he feel back asleep in our bed or on the couch.

It was tough, on everyone, and the fact he would not eat almost at all was a little scary. His cough slowly improved, and even our neighbor, who is a pediatrician, reassured us. It was just a little stressful, as Keegan was obviously a lot more clingy than usual (!) and sleeping a lot less.

We did managed to squeeze in a date night, a really needed relief. We were planning to go to the Depeche Mode concert. We bought tickets months ago, and we were really looking forward to it, but being our dark week, they canceled the show at the last minute. We still had a great time, though, with movie and dinner. We watched Funny People that brought some relief.

The weekend was still tough. Saturday he had possibly his crankiest day ever. A bad night, LOTS of meltdowns, lots of crying. We calculated he probably cried a good three plus hours all together that day. We tried to distract him: we went to Torrey Pines, and the Glacier Point to see paragliding, but nothing helped. He was not even able to take his normal nap: he woke up early and could not be soothed. He finally passed out right on the couch and slept another hour.

On Sunday we finally started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Another bad night, followed by an early morning nap, for all three of us. We actually got up around 8 and it felt great. So we decided to go to the zoo as they opened. It was fun. We got to see the elephant exhibit again, and all the animals were very active: we saw the lion, the lioness, the jaguar and the elephants of course. Keegan’s favorite thing, beside running around, was playing hide and seek with the jaguar as it was going in and out of his exhibit.

crappy cell phone pic: dad and Keegan at the zoo

On Monday, despite a really bad night, in which Keegan called out for us and cried for more than an hour, we were full hope, and fortunately, knocking on wood, so far so good. Keegan has started eating again, and playing and being the same happy little guy he is. We are all breathing a big sigh of relief, and looking forward to have more fun all together this weekend.

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I don’t care what they say…dry heat or not, 110+ degrees is H-O-T!!!!! We just got back from Phoenix, and of course we did not expect a cool weather, but did it have to be the hottest temperatures on record since the 1856? We had highs of 109 (43 Celsius) on Friday, 110 (43 Celsius) on Saturday and 113 (45 Celsius) on Sunday! And the lows were around mid 80s (28-30 Celsius). Crazy! It felt like walking in front of a gigantic blow drier.

So, why did we do something this crazy, leaving our perfect weather city to go in the desert in August? Well, Matt’s Corean Hight School had a 20 years reunion, and Matt thought it would be nice to see some of these people again. I was game too, because we have not left San Diego in about a year. And overall, I guess we had some good times: as far as I am concerned, it was nice to do something different.

We staid at the Arizona Grand Hotel, a beautiful resort hotel, which I am sure could be enjoyed more in a better season, with an older kid. (-:  However, it was really wonderful and for a fraction of high season price, I am sure. So, it was a little reminder of our past life BK (Before Keegan), and we enjoyed the luxury. The hotel has been through a major remodel, so everything looked new.

the lobby, overlooking the golf course

The trip, however, did not start well. We left on Friday afternoon, after a mad dash to get everything packed and ready, and after picking up Keegan at daycare. We were hoping that if he had his nap he would have been in a better mood….and he was till we got to the airport. It was crowded and packed, and he did not like that, nor he wanted to get inside the plane. We sat in the last row, hoping for free seat, but the flight was full. So, we were stuck with Keegan in our “lap”: he did not stay still 1 minute. The windows entertained him for a little while, but overall it was very difficult. The flight left late, so we got in late. We hit turbulence on the way down, and while Tizi was trying hard to keep control and not get sick, Keegan lost it and threw up…fortunately, we had a bag ready, so we did not get too soaked. Everything smelled bad, which is not ideal, if you already feeling nauseous. Since we left late, there was no gate available, so we had to wait another 15 minutes on the tarmac, with our wiggly worm.

When we finally got out, we had to get our car, located a good 15 minutes away, set up the car seat in 105 degrees, while Keegan, by now tired, hungry and cranky was whining. We left the airport after 7 and could not find the hotel….so we got there after 8pm. Keegan was still awake, but did not have any dinner, and we were trying to get into the room asap.

Being a resort, we had to get to the room with a golf cart, and of, course, as we get in the room…there is no crib. So we requested one. By now it is 8.20. After 15 minutes, we try to call, anyone, and after trying 4 different extensions, with no answer, we finally get the Crib service: a crib is on our way…in another 10 minutes. The crib turns out to be a Pack and Play kind of thing, and the housekeeping guy, can’t get it to stay open. So, off he goes for another crib. 15 more minutes, and he comes back with another Pack and Play he can’t set up. By now it is 9pm and Keegan is begging for sleep, holding his sheep and saying “Nanna, nanna”. This NEVER happened before.

So we set up the pull out couch, and tried to fill the gaps between mattress and frame as good as we can. By 9.15 he is finally in bed. Matt and I are sitting in the bathroom (we thought we got a suite, but we were wrong. I guess all suite hotel means that your room has a couch) not to wake him, eating cheerios and Nutrigrain bars and drinking beer, wondering what we were thinking: by now the reception was over (it started at 6) and we were so stressed that we felt it was an absolutely waste of time and money!!!! Fortunately, there was a bright light at the end of this tunnel. One of Matt’s friends tracked us down and called our room, so Matt could do some unwinding by the pool, catching up with old buddies.

I took a nice bubble bath, read the paper and promptly crashed by 11 in a wonderful, pillow top mattress. The relief was short lived: Keegan woke up at 2.50 , then 3.15, then 4.15, then 4.30 (at which point, Matt went to sleep with him) and then 5.30. We cuddled with him a little in bed, and rested and by 7am I was out the door with him to get some food and to let Matt sleep a little.

Amazingly enough, I felt a little better about the whole trip. The Hotel was beautiful,  with a 18 holes golf course and a Water Park reserved for Hotel’s guests. By the way, can you believe there are people crazy enough to play golf in 110 degree weather? That early in the morning, the weather is bearable, so we took a nice stroll around and went for breakfast: we were both really hungry. After breakfast, we went playing in a fun fountain. Keegan loved it…got all wrenched, but it did not matter. The photos are awful, but I forgot the camera, so I used my phone to capture the event. He was having so much fun.

We got back around 9, and then it was Matt’s turn. They got back quickly, because promptly fell asleep. During his 2 hours nap, we just relaxed and rested. I had the brilliant idea of getting coffees, so I could not sleep, but it was fun to have pillow talk and some rest, in the cool room.

After Keegan woke up, we went to have some brunch. I got to meet one of Matt’s friend and to enjoy some jummy food. After lunch, off to the water park. It was amazing, and even if we could not really enjoy it all that much, we had a good time. Tizi got to ride in the freefall slide: so much fun. I have not gone down one of those since I was 17. It was still AWESOME! Matt and Keegan watched from below. I went down the one that is partly covered.

More fun in the fountain for Keegan and mom: when you are wet, you really don’t feel that hot! Matt head off for his dinner at 6, after some playing and book reading. Keegan and I stayed in the room for more playing and some dinner. Going to bed was a little difficult. Keegan did not want to go to sleep, and when I finally convinced him, he was lifting up his head every few minutes to make sure I was still there.

After he finally got asleep, Tizi ate some room service and got asome wine. We had In Suite movies, so she got to see Shrink, which is still in theater, while munching on cobb salad and an incredible Creme Brule tart to die for. A real Tizi Night.

I still managed to go to sleep somewhat early, which is a good thing, even if the coffee did not make it easy for me to sleep: Keegan woke up again multiple times (12.30, 4.14, 4.30) and we ended up getting him in bed with us and we finally crushed for an hour, till 6.30. We went for a yummy breakfast, and off we went back to the water park, and this time played in the toddlers pool, so Keegan had fun splashing around. I took one more free fall slide down and went back packing. Keegan feel asleep as it was time to leave, so we had to wake him up. This did not help his mood.

The Phoenix airport experience sucked even more than the San Diego one. The friendly TSA people had to open EVERY bottle I had for Keegan, hold a strip on top of it, drop some liquid on it and wait to see if it changed colors. The sealed bottles were swabbed too. This is annoying enough when you have time, but when you are late, is dreadful. Of course the gate was at the opposite end of the airport, so here I am running, with Keegan in my arms, and my bags trying to make the flight…we did make it with 2 minutes to spare…I thought I was about to cough up a lung!. The trip was uneventful: we had an extra seat this time, and Keegan was as agitated as ever but we had more space now, and especially no delays and no turbulance. We were home by late afternoon. YEAH!

Keegan was so  tired he crashed at 6.45 and slept non-stop till 6am! Don’t worry, we have no illusions…in fact, today, he was back to his 5am wake up call.

So, all and all, while challenging,  we were glad we went. We did have good times, and Tizi did enjoy her alone movie time. However, we are not going anywhere for a long time…till the Italy trip that is. Tizi will leave with Keegan at the end of September. Honestly, I am not sure how I will survive the trip alone…Any suggestions, advice, prayers, vodoo, witchcraft is always appreciated.

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