Ouch!

I would like to apologize to anyone reading this and who happened to be around Maddox last weekend in Sonora. There is a very good reason for his crazy behavior. Let me paint a picture for those who weren't there:

{Example #1}
Max, usually a sweet happy boy (with normal occasional fussiness) was transformed into a screaming, defiant, clingy monster the second we got onto the plane to fly to Oakland which continued the entire time we were there with frequent melt-downs and freak-outs.

{Example #2}
Max, usually a hungry food-loving little chubby pants, wanted nothing to do with food for the most part, screamed when put in a high chair and screamed louder when shown any kind of spoon with food on it.

{Example #3}
Max, an incredibly good sleeper who enjoys at least 11 hours of sleep at night (with one wake up cry for a pacifier), woke up in the middle of the night every night and screamed for 1-2 hours straight to the point where neither Tyler or I could calm him down.

And maybe the most obvious clue to his clueless parents:

{Example #4}
Clueless Tyler and Nina thought Max had learned a few new tricks (and we weren't too off, because they are new tricks, he just wasn't using them as tricks but as tiny little hammers against the dense wall of brain that is his parents). He was shaking his head "no" a lot, like, A LOT. And he held everything he could get his hands on to his ears. And there we were, laughing at how cute he was that he was talking on the "phone to daddy", etc.

REALITY:
Max had double ear infections -- that means one in each ear. Hence the fussiness, clingyness, monsterness, nights full of fitful screams, tugging, pointing and holding things to his ears, head shaking and awfulness.

Exahusted from dealing with a baby that we swear was not our baby but some nasty left-over host body for a demon, we finally took him to a clinic up by Tyler's parents' house and sure enough, an hour later we were dosing him with Amoxocillan and numbing ear drops. When he woke up from his nap it was as if the demon had died and returned our sweet little baby back to us. Too bad it was too late for anybody to actually enjoy him because we flew home the next day.

And I'm sure most of you would be happy to know that he has returned to his sweet lovey self again (which does include occasional melt-downs and cranky-pantsness). My first experience with ear infections and I failed miserably. I should have known since he had such bad congestion from his cold for so long. But hey, I'm a first timer at this stuff! I knew all the signs and I chose to thing my baby was cute instead of sick -- is that such a crime? I think not.

Oh, and Max would like to personally apologize for any grief he may have caused and any sleepless nights he may have induced in those other than his parents (he doesn't apologize to us because he said we decided to have him so we shouldn't complain when we have to stay awake for hours holding him while he acts like he hates our guts). And he promises to be on his best behavior when you all come visit him for his birthday party as long as you give him lots of cake and watermelon.

**And I would just like to add that I was not completely clueless. I continually said that it might be ear infections making him so demon-like and Tyler kept saying it was his teeth. Let's just say one point for Nina (it would have been 2 points for Nina but since I waited so long to take him to a doctor I only give myself one point).**