Matthew is sick, who knew?

So Matthew got this rash Friday that I thought was a result of dry skin following our adventure to Colorado and he has been having this snotty nose thing but it has actually gotten better over the last few days...but the rash bothered me and last night I noticed some of the little marks were looking like little pimples so this morning I called the nurse and left her a message. He has not really been running a fever, he has been more clingy and fussy, but that could be b/c of the time change, the trip, the nose, I mean come one...he is eating normal and for the most part his usual pleasant little self....so the nurse calls me back and says with an all-over body rash to bring him in...oh and I forgot to mention Jay looked up and brought out his derm stuff and peds stuff to check on rashes and we went through all the big ones to ensure he wasn't having a major illness...seemed to us no biggie

So we get an appointment, I bring Matthew in, he is weight in at 19lbs, no fever...but the Nurse lady mentions hand, foot and mouth and strep...so as she goes to do a swab of his throat I notice some sores on his lips/gums like a fever blister/cold sore that I get...oh no, I hope I didn't pass on that horrible virus...but the back of his throat looks ok and b/c he is eating she is thinking maybe not on the hand, foot and mouth, despite the rash all over and the mouth/lip sores...strep comes back negative...but she looks in his ears...yep...he has a horrible ear infection...so I feel like a total failure...why didn't I make Jay look in his ears over the last few days to see that his runny nose wasn't causing an ear infection??? so the rash is probably a non-contagious virus but I call day-care anyway...sure enough, they think another kid has a rash...so probably this is something Matt gave to that kid or picked up from that kid...and the ear infection is either an effect of the virus or left over from his cold and runny nose that was kicking our butts the last week. So I have antibiotics for the eats, a clingy boy who wants to cuddle with me to sleep and we are home for the day together...
It is just amazing that he is so bad in those ears and yet really still a happy baby for the most part...who knew he was so sick...
Luckily, we have our well-baby 9 month appointment scheduled for the 18th of Nov so when we go for that, we should be through a 10day cycle of antibiotics and hopefully will have clear ears, cleared up skin and back to his normal self...keep your fingers crossed!