Eliot's little fever grew worse. By the night, he went from 100.2 (not too big of a deal) to 101.3. In the morning, it was 101.7, so we took him to the doctor. I thought it could have been an ear infection because he has been tugging at his ears and shaking his head more. Turns out, he has just recently discovered his ears after finding Christopher's and he is learning how to communicate with his head shakes. The doctor concluded it was a virus. Headed to get some Baby Motrin and Tylenol and settle in for major cuddles. Eliot would not let me put him down. He was stuck to me. And Chris's cuddles were not good enough. This made everything difficult, but the poor guy really didn't feel well.
In the morning, we were supposed to drive to northern Virginia to visit family. The doctor said it was fine because he'd feel bad no matter where he was and we should just avoid small infants. Well, Eliot is the only baby in the family, so it was fine. But Eliot's temperature was now 101.9 and he seemed especially upset. It is really hard to pack with a baby attached to you, and even with Chris helping the best he could, we were taking forever. We decided not to go. We both were upset about it. Eliot took a nap, ate a bottle, and seemed pretty darn OK. So we changed our minds. We just ended up leaving four hours later than planned.
We arrived in Woodbridge at dinner time. Eliot was clingy and disoriented, but we'd be fine. We really felt the need to go because Chris's aunt Barbara was in town from Florida. We saw her when we went to Florida this summer, but before that, Chris hadn't seen or talked to her in about fifteen years, so it was a big deal. Then something weird happened. After about two hours, Eliot exploded into this happy, energetic, normal, not fever-y baby. What the heck? He was completely fine! I couldn't believe it, but was so thankful!
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| Eliot and Dexter watching as Abed-nego freaked out over a Charlie Brown Christmas tree |
Eliot slept great and just got up for his one bottle like usual. In the morning, we debated going to DC. Barb really wanted to go (and should!), but I didn't think Eliot could take such a long day in the cold. Heck, we didn't even bring a stroller because we were counting on him being miserable the whole time. Chris's mom just loves alone time with Eliot and was so happy to watch him for the day while we went into DC with Barb and Chris's sister. So we went for it, missing him all the while. Eliot was in great hands, though, and we got to watch videos of him helping re-organize (read: destroy) her cabinets and pantry. Eliot loves to explore.
We all went to the National Gallery since it is pretty awesome and Barb majored in art history. I always wanted to take an art history class, but never did. Maybe I'll take one somewhere someday. Hm. Here are some shots throughout the day.
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| This one was taken by Barb! Elizabeth, me, and Chris. |
Grabbed a late lunch in China Town amongst hundreds of Santa Clauses and Chris got a cool [diaper] bag from Urban Outfitters. I got some mittens to match my scarf! We drove by the White House and headed home. That doesn't sound like a lot, but we were gone for seven and a half hours! I haven't been away from Eliot that long since July--maybe never.
Chris felt bad about getting a reasonably-priced bag and also a scarf, so he wanted to buy me some boots that I have been hoping for. Oh, Chris. Not a big deal! But we headed to the mall like crazy people anyway (with Eliot in tow, minus a stroller). It was crowded, hot, and Eliot was heavy. No luck, even! Darnit! By then, it was 9:00 pm and we were hungry for dinner, so Chris, Barb, Elizabeth, Eliot, and I got some dinner. Eliot covered it.
And here we are at Sunday. We're heading back to Lynchburg today at some point. It has been a great trip, and especially awesome to see Barb, and I'm so glad we pushed ourselves to come despite worrying about whether it was the best choice! I guess the "best choice" was to wait for Eliot's nap and bottle. Then we were set.
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