We had a great visit with Ryan's family in Cincinnati! It didn't start out so great though...poor little Madison Claire started acting funny on Sunday afternoon. She began boycotting food that afternoon and by Monday around lunch time her fever was up to 102.5. We called the doctor and they had us come in so they could check her out before we left for Cincinnati on Tuesday morning. We had to go to a different location of the practice we use for Madison because our normal doc didn't have any openings. The appointment was a disaster. They checked her ears, throat & stomach and all were normal. However they thought her fever was too high for it to be a symptom of teething. They were concerned she might have a urinary tract infection so they needed to insert a cateheter to get some urine in order to run a lab test. The entire procedure was awful...poor Madison Claire! There were 2 nurses there and it became clear to me after about 10 seconds that the nurse who was doing it had never done one before. She couldn't get it in the right place and kept pushing it in anyway and Madison Claire was screaming. I felt so helpless!! No pee was coming out (because it wasn't in the right place!) so they asked me if her bladder could be empty...as if I would know! Finally the second nurse asked me to take over holding down her legs so she could step in and once her gloves were on and she took over it was in & done in a matter of a few seconds. I definitely learned my lesson - the next time I think someone is "learning" on Madison Claire, I'm asking them to stop. Anyway - sorry for the venting, but it was very frustrating!!! The test came back clear so basically they said they thought she had a viral infection so we needed to just keep giving her tylenol every 4 hours. One other point of interest from the doctors appointment...they weighed her while we were there and she was 16 pounds, 12 ounces. We think she is supposed to be 17 pounds, 8 ounces when we go to the doctor in 2 weeks in order to not have dropped in percentile again...RUH ROH!!!
The tylenol seemed to help during the day but by Tuesday night, once we were in Cincinnati, poor Madison Claire went from bad to worse. She was crying uncontrollably, wouldn't eat or sleep or relax. I took her temperature about an hour after I had given her some Tylenol and it was 102.5 again so we think it was up to about 103.5 before I gave her the Tylenol. I called the doctor and talked with a great nurse on the "After Hours" line. She asked me what felt like a million questions and ended up saying that she wasn't concerned with the fever but that she was concerned that she was getting dehydrated. We made it a goal to get as much liquid in her as possible - using whatever means necessary (which means letting her drink from our cups...her favorite!). Here she is after she finally conked out on Ryan. FYI - she is back to normal now...it's been 2 days with no fever...WOO HOO!
Ryan's all time favorite place to eat in Cincinnati is Skyline Chili. Everytime we go to Ohio, we have Skyline at least once a day, sometimes twice a day. When he was in college, he would eat 12 coneys!!! I know that sounds like a lot, but when you see the picture below at how much cheese is piled on top of each one, it's even more impressive (or disgusting depending on your viewpoint :)). The picture below is 5 coneys. Imagine 12!!! Anyway - we introduced Madison to Skyline. We didn't give her any chili since she wasn't feeling great already, but I did let her have some of my baked potato with sour cream & cheese. Notice the series of events...smiling for the picture, reaching for the coney, getting her hand cleaned by me!
It was also the first time Madison Claire got to meet her great grandparents on Ryan's side. We met up with Grandpa McSwain, Aunt Sue & Uncle Mike, Aunt Lola & Uncle Ronnie for dinner at Pappa Deux. Everyone loved Madison...surprise, surprise! We missed Grandma McSwain...this is the first Christmas since she passed away in July. 
On Christmas Eve day, we went to lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Terry. We were convinced that Madison Claire was going to be a disaster during lunch because she hadn't napped that morning, but she was great!! She loved playing with the spoons and straws and ate at least 1 whole roll by herself! She also had fun getting fed dessert by Grandma Terry. Grandma Terry nicknamed her "Fatso". She wasn't kidding!!! She totally thought that Madison Claire was a chubbo!! Too funny considering our little shrimpy is still less than the 20th percentile!
Outside of these events, Madison had fun with her Nana & Papa Gary. We are so thankful for our wonderful family and it was great fun to have Madison Claire in the mix of our Cincinnati Christmas!!! 
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