a series of unfortunate events

The past two weeks with Baby G have been rough. He has gotten pounded with one thing after another. Here is the list:

• throw up--luckily this was only once, but if quantity counts for anything this was a doozy... he covered me, the ottoman, himself, and the floor
• diarrhea--very unpleasant, resulting in way too many diaper changes, resulting in
• his first diaper rash-- oh, it was bad. It was so bad. He would flex his little bum cheeks and start whining whenever I'd even begin to take off his clothes to change him. We spent two days at home all day just so that we could leave his diaper off and just rinse his bottom instead of wiping
• fever-- we thought this was due to teething, and his gums seemed sore for a day or so, but now we're not so sure
• stuffy/runny nose-- seriously, the kid cannot breathe when he nurses. He has to periodically yank his mouth off just to catch his breath. It is both sad and funny
• cough-- a horrible ailment that makes it much harder to stay asleep and has resulted in
• a raspy voice-- which is actually very cute and pretty much the only redeeming thing about any of this

So after almost a week and a half of this (I thought he was just teething mixed with a bad cold so I didn't worry too much) I decided to call his pediatrician. They said to bring him in just because it wasn't getting better. So I did. And they found

• an earache-- I had considered that he may have one, but ruled it out because he did not seem to be in any pain at all and wasn't pulling at his ears a bit. The doctor said that it actually had just started which made me feel a lot better about not getting him in sooner. Poor little guy.

While Baby G has definitely not been himself over the past 2 weeks (fussier and more needy-- he cries if left alone in a room for even a second), he hasn't really been that bad either. The doctor who saw him was shocked at how smiley and cooperative he was with her for being as sick as he was. He really has been an angel and it has been really difficult not to know how to help him get back to feeling like himself. He is on antibiotics for the ear infection and seems to be on the mend. We will keep praying for that because I am growing weary (and so is he)... after a couple of months of sleeping soundly through the night he is back to waking up a few times and needing J or I to go help him get back to sleep.

Why can't someone just invent a vaccine for all of this already?