sad sick little baby

We had our first big fever this week. On saturday and sunday of the weekend, we started with 103.somethingorother but still seemed pretty cheery with ibuprofen and tylenol.
On sunday night, however, the fury let loose and we had screaming from 4 AM onward.
For an outing and the hopes that baby would find some meager joy in change of scenery, I dragged him to the office, despite my dad having checked his ears twice over the weekend!
I guess I'm one of those moms.
At any rate, he was fine, and the trauma of being weighed, naked-- oh the indignity!-- (18 lbs btw) helped him fall asleep in the car on the way to Marmie's house so I could go to work.
We ate some lunch in the car, and then jerryrigged the camera to watch him sleep while in the garage with the doors open and us in the kitchen listening. He spent the rest of the day entertained by wonderful Marmie who got a 2 hour nap out of him. He also ranted at us for hours, shaking his fists like Mussolini and practicing all new syllables.
Finally, this AM he awoke without fever, and, while he has a bit of cough and sounds like a snorty fat pirate when he sleeps, he is a new baby. Clapping and listening intently to all his books. After his brush with feeling a bit baddish, he is a much better nurser and I guess we won't wean quite yet although his love affair with the bottle will pick up speed again.

This is how we felt yesterday:
Dad gave up after 2 hours of trying to calm the screamer and went to the gym at 5 AM:

How we feel now:

I wish we had a wonderful rash so I could cross Roseola off the list, but, alas, lovely smooth baby skin. So we will have to call this "fever virus" as many mothers have told me in the office: "Oh, your baby must have the fever virus," as though it were an actual name for a virus. "It will last four days and then the fever virus will die." We call it viridaefeverae, encapsulated DNA virus, short legs, looks like a satellite, likes small children with tired parents.