Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite

Another week with a doctor's appointment but this time it was just Jack's 15 month appointment. Despite his bout with meningitis, he was absolutely healthy and his stats were 22 lbs 12 oz (30th percentile) and 30-3/4 inches long (40th percentile) - his weight was a little off but only because he lost a few pounds when he was sick, no concerns though. (His head is huge and he is in the 70th percentile for head size!) On the development front, Jack is now feeding himself with a fork when he feels like it, he had pasta tonight. He makes a zoom noise when he plays with cars and makes growling noises when playing with dinasours and other animal figurines. Whenever we saw a dog yesterday on the path, he made barking noises, he loves dogs and think they all sound like Ivan. He is a dancing machine and any time there is even a hint of music on the television or heard in a store, he shakes his bum or bops his head. Lily has a microphone attached to a tape recorder that he loves to talk into. He seems to be trying to say some words like ball and dog but nothing we can really make out at this point. He can go up stairs no problem but has problems going down, he seems to think someone will always be there to catch him. He definitely is not a very good eater, he likes lots of meats and carbs but not a lot of veggies and fruits, we are working on it though. He essentially refuses to eat anything that we feed him from a spoon and still refuses a banana in the morning. He drinks lots of milk though, and loves to walk around with his sippy cup.

Lily continues to say and do hilarious things on a regular basis, lots of eye rolling and sighs these days towards her parents. She has made some fabulous art in the past few weeks, we will try to get some pics on the blog soon, so much more detail it seems every week. She likes to make up songs, and sing into her microphone. Today, she picked berries, leaves, and grass and put them in a bag for her teacher Ms. Linda - she seemed to think her teacher would know what to do with her concoction.

On Friday, Lily, Mom and Jack hit the zoo with Grandma Gail - we saw lions, gorillas including a 3 month old baby gorilla, elephants, etc. Lily and Jack especially had fun playing in the prairie dog playground tunnels, they could have stayed there all day. Friday afternoon, the kids played in the backyard with neighbors Madeleine and Claire. Madeleine and Lily had a picnic in the second floor of the playhouse, this is really the first time that Lily has really ventured up there and we anticipate that she may become a permanent fixture now that there are pillows, blankets, and her mother to serve her treats!

On Saturday morning, Lily had swim lessons and then went downtown with Dad to the 43rd Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival where she flew her Nemo kite. Many people wanted to know where they got the Nemo kite and when Stuart tried to tell the first person Amazon.com, Lily corrected him and told them it was from Santa, so that was the answer he stuck with the rest of the day. If you recall from our December post, she had specifically asked Santa for and received a kite for Christmas! Anyways, despite the rainy/cloudy weather she had a blast flying her kite as you can see from the pics, and we swear that the speck of Nemo made the front page of the Sunday Washington Post. (BTW, Mom and Jack stayed home in the warmth and one took quite a long nap while the other one cleaned house.) Saturday evening, Dad's friend Nick from work came over with his wife Jackie and son Cannon, who is 10 months old - Lily and Jack had fun showing off all of their toys.

On Sunday brought some much nicer weather, and Mom, Lily and Jack went on a bike/stroller ride. Lily played a bit in the creek and Jack has to be watched very carefully around the creek as he would just jump right in - he is going to be a nightmare at the lake this year! Sunday night we had a visit by Grandpa Maurice and Grandma Phyllis, had some Italian food, and Lily and Grandma Phyl spent a lot of time playing games in the basement.

Pics of Jack are pretty limited this week. He would not stay still for any zoo pics, and then Mom's camera died the rest of the trip.


Checking out the lions.


Eating lunch at the Washington Monument.


With Dad.


Getting Nemo ready to fly.


Flying Nemo.


More ...


Close to the monument.

Send in the Clowns

A full week at home was capped off by a nice relaxing but busy weekend. Jack spent the week getting back to normal. He was home with Marcy most of the week but spent Thursday with Jonah and temporary nanny Victoria. He seems ready to be back into the swing of things. He finished up his antibiotics on Wednesday and he seems to be back to complete health. He is quite the troublemaker again. His favorite thing to do is drop his sippy cup on the floor, say "uh-oh" and then point to it and say - "eh, eh."

We had a very busy Saturday. Lily had her swim lesson in the morning with her friend Madeline. Then, after swimming, we went to the circus with Madeline and her parents and sister. The kids had a great time and enjoyed the show. After that was a little relaxation at home and then a fun pizza dinner followed by a couple of games of Uno. A big day.

Sunday was spent around the house and playing outside. Lily got to spend to a lot of time playing in the backyard and then went for a long bike ride.

On to the pictures and video.


Relaxing in the ball pit.


Having fun in the basement.


Relaxing while lunching.


Jack, Lily and Madeline on the Metro.


Taking in the circus.


Taking in the circus.


In the backyard.


...

Take Me Home

Good to be back home, and good to sleep in our own beds!

Per the previous post, Jack was discharged last night and made it home in time for dinner with Grandpa Maurice and Grandma Phyllis.

He finally got about 12 hours of sleep in with no interruptions - no IVs, no antibiotics, and no checking for vitals! This morning, however, we were off to the pediatrician so he could get a shot of his antibiotics, a shot in each leg. Two more days and then he is home free.

Post-doctor visit, he took a two and a half hour nap and woke up to a visit from Grandma Gail, Aunt Tracy, and cousin Casey, and later Grandpa Tom. Fun was had by all, and there will be another fun visit tomorrow night which will hopefully also include Uncle Stan - hope he feels better.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! See you next week...


Casey, Lily and Jack.


Looking for trouble.


Eating some cake.


Playing with Casey with Lily looking on in the background.


Showing Casey how the door works.

(No More) Hospital Food

Jack has been discharged and we are all home. So how was your week?

Long story (which we can tell when we resume our regular posting schedule tomorrow) but Jack is doing fantastic. He has three more days of antibiotics that will be administered by his pediatrician via injection. So by Wednesday he should be finally done and he will have officially beaten down bacterial meningitis. How many of his future classmates will be able to say that?

It has been a long week but we are extremely grateful for how fortunate we have been. Special thanks for the yeoman's efforts of Grandpa Maurice and Grandma Phyllis and Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom who were always available to us at any time, with no notice and were willing to do anything. Thanks to Michelle, John, Cole and Hayley for keeping Lily busy last night. Our frequent commenter, Donna (and the rest of the family) was always there for support and their calls were much appreciated. (This sounds like an Oscar speech :)) There are simply too many people to thank who offered to anything and everything on our behalf and who prayed for Jack and kept him in their thoughts. Needless to say, we are extremely appreciative of all your kind wishes and support. It truly meant the world to us to know that we had such a wonderful support system.

Lastly, not that they will ever read this, but the nurses and doctors at Children's National Medical Center are cut from a special cloth and provided the most amazing care - surely what any parent could ever want for their child. The same can be said for the pediatric emergency room at Holy Cross Hospital who immediately identified the severity of Jack's problem and arranged for him to immediately get to Children's

We are tired but happy. And appreciative. Good night and thank you.

P.S. - Marcy gets the biggest gold star for realizing last Saturday night that Jack was beyond out of sorts and, of all things, had a stiff neck ( a tough diagnosis on a baby). That triggered the alarm bells ringing and sent us off to the hospital.

(Eating) Hospital Food

So we have walking, sitting and eating today. Breakfast started the day off well with some Cheerios and some pancake. It was the first non-Cheerio food that he ate. He continues to do well with the milk.

Jack had a late morning visit from Lily. They clearly missed each other and it was cute to see them reunited. They were both happy to see one another. The two of them played in the play room for a little while and then Lil went off to school.

Jack spent the rest of the day with Marcy and Grandma Gail and then Lily and I went back to eat dinner with Marcy and Jack. Jack ate some bread and chicken for dinner and some milk. He joined the rest of us in the cafeteria for dinner and had fun playing with a cup and spoon. He wanted to walk back to the room but ever ten or fifteen steps he would turn around and try to run back to where we came from. He is definitely ready to leave!

A few pictures from the day ...


In the playroom.


Horsing around at dinner.

(Still More) Hospital Food

Another day and Jack continues to improve. We are still at Children's but have been freed of the plastic chains of i.v. fluids. With that we have been free to walk around the floor. And walk we have - around and around and around with the stroller. Jack just kicking back and enjoying the scenary.

He drank lots of milk today but he is stuck on only wanting to eat Cheerios. Perhaps he will have more apetite tomorrow. Picture below is of Jack pretending to eat breakfast.

We are here until at least Monday. We will have put on many miles by then!

(Even More) Hospital Food

Well were this close to having Jack come home tomorrow but things kind of derailed mid-way there. The doctors tried to put the PICC line (for continued i.v. antibiotics) in this afternoon but his little veins were too small. So despite showing huge improvement - drinking lots of milk and eating lots of Cheerios - he is going to be stuck at the hospital until at least Monday. A different doctor who is more experienced with PICC lines for little kids will be back from a conference then and he can give it a go. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Other than that, things continue to move along. He was much more himself today and he giggled while playing peek-a-boo with me. He seems to have full range of motion back in his neck and hopefully he will be eating like normal tomorrow. Sitting up by himself and walking are next. I have feeling that he will be running the hospital's halls by Sunday.

Until tomorrow - goodnight.


Jack with a cup that Lily made for him today.

(More) Hospital Food

Just a quick update. Jack is doing better today by a half. He was much more annoyed by his predicament today and he let us know it. He had lots of visitors today - Aunt Kelly's friend Colle, who was attending a conference at the hospital stopped by as did Jack's Grandparents. Marcy's friends from work, Sara and Purnima, were kind enough to stop by for a visit and bring some dinner which was much appreciated.

Jack smiled today. He also drank a bunch of milk and ate a few Cheerios. He seems to be on the mend slowly. Tomorrow he gets his PIC line inserted which should make the antibiotics a bit easier to administer and make it possible for him to come home. Depending on what time he as the PIC inserted, he could even come home tomorrow! We will keep our fingers crossed. Needless to say, we are looking forward to having our walking, sitting and talking Jack back.

Lily is doing well. Lots of time with Grandparents and she is getting to stay up way past her usual bedtime -- she is drunk with being spoiled! We will have to wring that out of her over the weekend :)

Hospital Food

Loyal readers, promises of picture and video updates from last week will go unfufilled. I write this week's entry from a chair in Children's Hospital (the wonders of an iPhone) where I am spending the night along with Jack. Needless to say there are no pictures to post. The little guy somehow managed to contract bacterial meningitis. There are only 3,000 cases a year in the U.S. but he found a way to be one of them.

After a scary weekend during which he slept and became more and more lethargic, Marcy made the excellent call to take Jack to the hospital. The local hospital was immediately concerned about meningitis and ran some tests and arranged for transport to Children's. After two full days of heavy duty antibiotics, he is starting to come around a bit. The doctors have identified the strain of bacteria causing the infection and have zeroed in on the right medications. Hopefully, he will be up and at 'em in a day or so. We had huge strides today so we are hopeful that tomorrow morning will bring more of the same. We are hoping to be home by the weekend but Jack will still need another two weeks or so of iv antibiotics when we leave.

Lily is doing fine. Shuttling between grandparents and school. Before the stuff hit the fan with Jack on Saturday, she had her first swim lesson and went for a bike ride in the beautiful 70 degree weather.

That is all for now. We will update as news warrants.

Temporary One

Well Marcy and I are just back from a fun weekend in Guatemala for a family wedding and Lily and Jack are fresh back from a weekend at Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gail's house. We have no pictures on hand and no video so a full update will have to wait until next weekend.

Needless to say, each group had a fun time during their respective vacations but are happy to be home. Lily and Jack are both recovering from colds but are otherwise doing well. The Grandparents did a great job watching the two of them and dealing with runny noses! Many thanks to them for hosting such a long sleepover.

We will see what pictures we can scrounge up but it may not be until next week. Take care.