Snoverkill? Snow Joke!

We knew while we were watching the snow fall...and fall...and fall... over the weekend that there was more snow in the forecast for midweek. The prediction early on was about four or five more inches. Eh...not great, but not too bad. After 26, what's another few? The prediction kept upping: 6-8, 8-10, 10-20! What?! Oy! Sure enough, the snow began falling about 4:30 this afternoon. This was while I was on my way to the pediatrician with Jackson (more on that later). By the time we were on our way home, about an hour and a half later, the roads already stunk! Again! The plows didn't do such a fancy job to begin with, but the added layer of snow made it tricky to see where the "good" spots were to drive! As I sit typing this about five hours after this snow started, we have at least a few inches!!! It's supposed to keep snowing until tomorrow night!!!

Well, days four and five of Snotorious B.I.G. have been a bit quieter. The federal government closed yesterday and today so Josh had two snow days home with us! Woo hoo!!! We fully intended to make another go at sledding, but Jackson has had some irritation building on his cheeks and we didn't think being IN the snow was the best idea. We did take a nice walk through the neighborhood with Paxie. It was interesting to observe people's strategies of clearing snow out of their parking spots and off of their cars...

I thought the irritation on Jackson's cheeks was leftover from all of the cold junk that had leaked out of him last week. He has been going full force with the paci since he hasn't felt good and I just figured all that gunk built up and irritated him. However, I started to notice Sunday night and yesterday that he was getting larger red patches on his cheeks. He also had quite a good rash on his tummy. He has had heat rashes (for lack of a better term) from time to time and the doctor even saw one once and said not to worry. We chalked it up to a random irritation. Yesterday I thought he was getting worse as the rash spread from his cheeks behind his ears. I called the pediatrician and a nurse called me back pretty quickly. She understood that I was trying to make a good decision based on the fact that we were getting large amounts of snow again in the near future! She wasn't sure what the rash was from my description, but said monitoring it would be just fine. She also suggested some hydrocortisone cream. We let him air out during the day, but I put some of the cream on before bed.

Last night did not go well :( The poor little guy was up every couple of hours just very unhappy! Today he had some more lethargic bouts similar to last week before I took him in. I really struggled because I thought the rash was looking pretty bad, but I haven't seen that many rashes. Maybe it was just a normal rash? I certainly don't want to have myself pegged as a paranoid parent that runs to the doctor for everything out of the ordinary. I also wasn't sure if I'd be making as big of a deal of this if the snow wasn't coming. After more naps than usual and seeing the rash spread to his back and legs, I decided to call and make an appointment. They got us in late this afternoon and boy am I glad I went! Jackson was having an allergic reaction to the amoxicillan!!! It seems odd to us that it took so long to show up (almost a week), but the doc was pretty confident! He checked Jackson's ears and throat and everything seems to have cleared up! Yay! He said to stop the amoxicillan, start Benadryl every 6-8 hours until Friday, do oatmeal baths, and use Aquaphor to soothe his skin. By the time we got home, it was 6:00--normal bedtime for this little guy! I gave him a quick dinner and then let him soak in the oatmeal bath. As I was soaking his poor, red cheeks with a washcloth, I think he was starting to fall asleep in the tub! I slathered him up with the Aquaphor and he seemed more comfy already! Phew! More Benadryl at 11 tonight and hopefully a more restful sleep for all of us!