Hi there. Well Ruby has had a bit of a tough week. She has had loose stools/diarrhea for about 10 days now - the first 4 days I wasn't too worried, thinking that it would clear up on its own. Then on Saturday she started getting a terrible diaper rash. Her little bum was so red, I cried for her when I changed her diaper and so did she, poor thing. I tried using every diaper cream in my arsenal - desitin, balmex, some leftover nystatin, I bought some lotrimin for yeast, I soaked her in dreft and baking soda. Nothing helped. On Monday her loose stools continued, which fueled her diaper rash even more and I ended up calling her ped's office to see what I should do and when I should be worried about the pooping. The nurse told me that since her skin was on the verge of breaking open, we should definitely come in. We saw a different pediatrician, (I guess dr. Morkeberg is on vacation) and he figured that she just had a virus and prescribed some "Poop Goop" ointment for her butt. That is literally what he wrote on the prescription slip - Poop Goop! And he sent me home with some culture dishes to collect stool in for testing if it doesn't get better in 3 days.

Today she blew out 2 outfits and she threw up at daycare. I got her home and we were playing on the floor and she seemed pretty happy, but I brought her face up to mine for a kiss and she was on fire. Poor little thing had a fever of 102.3. I got pretty freaked out and called the clinic right away. I don't usually feel panicky over stuff like this, but it seemed like her fever came out of no where. The nurse said that she suspected that Ruby has rotovirus, which is apparently pretty common in babies and causes diarrhea. So no emergency visits tonight unless her fever hits 105 (scary!). Her fever has gone down slightly and we have switched over to pedialyte instead of formula. I have tomorrow off, so we will lay low and hopefully this bug will pass and her diaper rash will be ancient history. The poop goop is really working on her rash, but it's still looking pretty painful. Anyways, to make a long story short, Ruby hasn't had the greatest week ever and I feel terrible for her. I'm not used to her being sick so often, but I know it's just a part of being a baby.

Sorry that I have gotten pretty bad at updating the website. I have noticed that I am on a pattern right now of updating on Tuesday and Friday. I really can't find the time to update more than that right now and quite frankly, our lives are just not eventful enough to create fodder for journal entries. I mean, I just wrote 2 paragraphs about poop! How interesting is that?! I can assure you that once November rolls around, we will have plenty of doctors appointments to update you on because our month is booked solid with 1-year check-ups.

By the way - the picture posted on here is of my friends Brooke and Allison, and of course, Ruby and me. Allison is one of my great college friends - she lives in Chicago and was in Minnesota visiting this weekend and Brooke, another wonderful high school and college friend, picked her and her boyfriend, Chris, up from the airport and they stopped by our place on Friday to visit. We had a lot of fun!

Gotta get to bed now. I'll try to update again soon!