Here's a video of Peter celebrating his 2 month birthday.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thunder Snow!
Last week everyone thankfully got healthy. Now we're combating cabin fever because it's too cold to do much outside. Nancy's friend Jenny was kind enough to give us another generous crate of clothes for Katie. She's been having a blast trying on different outfits and playing "store" with the clothes. She's also opened up a cake and popsicle store in the kitchen with help from "Friedrich" and "Liesl".
Peter is doing great. He's bounced back nicely from his respiratory illness. We've stopped using the nebulizer and he's had no problem breathing. Sometimes we've had to double-check him because we can't him hear breathe from across the room anymore. He's smiling a lot and starting to laugh. He also likes flailing his arms and legs. He seems to be able to recognize us and will smile when we come into focus. He's also discovered the mobile on his crib. Every time we put him in there his face brightens and he starts giggling and watches in amazement as the animals spin around. Katie had the same exact reaction when she was the same age. We'll shoot some video of it soon and put it on the blog.
Last weekend my sisters and I surprised my Dad by appearing unannounced at his house for his 75th birthday. It was great to surprise him but it may not have been the smartest thing to do to someone with a heart condition. Luckily, nothing bad happened and it was a great weekend. Nancy stayed home with Katie and Peter but participated in the celebration over Skype. Seeing everyone was really nice but it was way too short. 24 hours after we arrived we were already on our way back home.
Speaking of going home, my flight back to DC was delayed 3 hours because of mechanical issues. All the other Delta flights to DC that day were booked so it looked for a while like I was going to be spending the night in the airport hotel. Luckily they fixed it and sent us on our way. But there's something about me and the Atlanta airport that don't mix well. I've flown to/from the Atlanta airport 4 times in the last year and every time the flight has been majorly delayed (2+ hours) or canceled. Next time I may try my luck with another airport.
Yesterday DC got about 5 inches of snow and ice. It started in the mid-afternoon and was fun to watch. It came down really fast and even had thunder and lightning! It's called thundersnow and it made the storm surreal. In addition to the thunder and lightning, there were also several booms outside (probably transformers blowing) and flashes of light (powerlines sparking?). The lights from the sirens on top of fire trucks and plows zooming by also contributed to the circus atmosphere.
Around 9pm our power went out. Katie was a little scared. She was afraid it was a repeat of the bad storm from August. She asked Nancy if the firemen were going to have to come get them out of the house again. But she quickly settled down and fell asleep. Later that night we were trying to decide whether to keep our food in the fridge and risk it spoiling or put it outside and potentially feed the possums. Luckily the power came back on around 1am before we had to decide.
Sue and John weren't as lucky though. Their power is still out and they can't get their cars out of their driveway. The last report was that everyone is huddled in the kitchen in front of the fireplace to stay warm. If their power isn't back tomorrow then we may need to round up some saint bernards to deliver emergency supplies.
This is how Peter stays warm in his car seat. He looks cozy but he doesn't like not being able to kick his legs.
Chatting with Katie and Nancy on the web cam.
My Dad with paper flowers from Katie.
My Mom with Katie's flowers.
My sisters and me.
Cassidy and Kaylyn play... I think.
Katie drives her baby around the living room (the baby is in the car seat behind her underneath the blanket).
Nancy balances everyone on her lap for story time.
Watching the snow.
Watching the snow with their babies.
Practicing his cute looks.
Peter is doing great. He's bounced back nicely from his respiratory illness. We've stopped using the nebulizer and he's had no problem breathing. Sometimes we've had to double-check him because we can't him hear breathe from across the room anymore. He's smiling a lot and starting to laugh. He also likes flailing his arms and legs. He seems to be able to recognize us and will smile when we come into focus. He's also discovered the mobile on his crib. Every time we put him in there his face brightens and he starts giggling and watches in amazement as the animals spin around. Katie had the same exact reaction when she was the same age. We'll shoot some video of it soon and put it on the blog.
Last weekend my sisters and I surprised my Dad by appearing unannounced at his house for his 75th birthday. It was great to surprise him but it may not have been the smartest thing to do to someone with a heart condition. Luckily, nothing bad happened and it was a great weekend. Nancy stayed home with Katie and Peter but participated in the celebration over Skype. Seeing everyone was really nice but it was way too short. 24 hours after we arrived we were already on our way back home.
Speaking of going home, my flight back to DC was delayed 3 hours because of mechanical issues. All the other Delta flights to DC that day were booked so it looked for a while like I was going to be spending the night in the airport hotel. Luckily they fixed it and sent us on our way. But there's something about me and the Atlanta airport that don't mix well. I've flown to/from the Atlanta airport 4 times in the last year and every time the flight has been majorly delayed (2+ hours) or canceled. Next time I may try my luck with another airport.
Yesterday DC got about 5 inches of snow and ice. It started in the mid-afternoon and was fun to watch. It came down really fast and even had thunder and lightning! It's called thundersnow and it made the storm surreal. In addition to the thunder and lightning, there were also several booms outside (probably transformers blowing) and flashes of light (powerlines sparking?). The lights from the sirens on top of fire trucks and plows zooming by also contributed to the circus atmosphere.
Around 9pm our power went out. Katie was a little scared. She was afraid it was a repeat of the bad storm from August. She asked Nancy if the firemen were going to have to come get them out of the house again. But she quickly settled down and fell asleep. Later that night we were trying to decide whether to keep our food in the fridge and risk it spoiling or put it outside and potentially feed the possums. Luckily the power came back on around 1am before we had to decide.
Sue and John weren't as lucky though. Their power is still out and they can't get their cars out of their driveway. The last report was that everyone is huddled in the kitchen in front of the fireplace to stay warm. If their power isn't back tomorrow then we may need to round up some saint bernards to deliver emergency supplies.
This is how Peter stays warm in his car seat. He looks cozy but he doesn't like not being able to kick his legs.
Chatting with Katie and Nancy on the web cam.
My Dad with paper flowers from Katie.
My Mom with Katie's flowers.
My sisters and me.
Cassidy and Kaylyn play... I think.
Katie drives her baby around the living room (the baby is in the car seat behind her underneath the blanket).
Nancy balances everyone on her lap for story time.
Watching the snow.
Watching the snow with their babies.
Practicing his cute looks.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Two Months!
Today Peter turned 2 months old! It's been remarkable watching Peter grow and develop. He's so expressive now and loves to smile. He also likes to grip things in his fingers (mostly other people's fingers) and has even started gripping things with his toes. We've started laying him on the playmat that has little animals hanging down for him to stare at and try to grab.
He had a routine checkup with his doctor last week and it went well. He's a big boy (in the 85+ percentile for height, weight, and head size).
The last few weeks have been a blur. About 2 weeks ago I came down with some sort of virus in my chest. The main symptom was an annoying cough but it was soon joined by some congestion, headaches, and fatigue. A few days later Katie caught it. It wiped her out. She was pale and lethargic and had a fever. She missed all 3 days of school last week.
And then Peter got sick. He was so congested that he had some trouble breathing at night (or at least it sounded that way). He hasn't really figured out how to breathe with his mouth yet. It sounded like it took a lot of effort for him to get some air through his stuffy nose. And then he would let out these coughs that just sounded awful, usually accompanied by lots of crying and a fever.
It seemed like every day poor Nancy was shuttling someone to the doctor or hospital. She was so concerned about Peter one night that she called the doctor at 4am and they told her to bring him to the ER. She did and luckily everything was ok. The ER doctor said that Peter has a respiratory virus named RSV. He had never seen so many people with it before. Every room in the pediatric wing of the hospital was booked, mostly due to RSV.
During the height of our illnesses, I was supposed to go to New York for a 3 day business trip. Luckily they got a bunch of snow dumped on them and the trip was postponed until next month. I'm not sure how Nancy would have managed the sick kids by herself. Not that I was a huge help, but it made it easier for her to be able to leave one of the kids at home while she took the other one to the doctor.
And, on top of all this, our dog Rusty one night was experiencing discomfort and would not lay down. He would sit there panting in obvious discomfort and giving us sad looks. We were worried that it was symptomatic of something really bad. It made it a long night for both of us. I finally got him to lay down on the carpeted basement floor for a bit but soon he was back up and staring at me. Somehow we finally went to sleep. Fortunately, he felt much better the next day and now is back to his goofy self. We have no idea what it was but are really glad that it seems to be gone.
Now, thanks to Nancy, things are starting to return to normal. She somehow didn't get sick and took care of everyone but now she's exhausted! She's the only one of us that had received a flu shot and one of the nurses said the flu shot this year seems to be effective. So this may be a good year to get one.
Katie's fever is gone and she's back to her silly self. She's going to school tomorrow and is really excited that her Mom will be the co-op parent. Peter's cough has gotten better. We've been using a nebulizer on him to help relieve his congestion. It's kind of funny to see him smiling underneath a plastic mask with all this smoke (mist) pouring out of it. It looks like a scene from a Lewis Carroll book. It makes it even more surreal that the mask is shaped like a fish.
We've spent the last 2 weeks watching way too much television while we were recovering. This weekend we were determined to get out of the house. On Saturday I took Katie ice skating and today Nancy took her shopping and to an indoor playground.
I think the lesson we all learned is that the next time I get sick, I'm banished to the basement until I get better.
Laughing at his mobile.
Peter isn't so sure he likes having his sister dress him...
...even if it is a really cute outfit with "skate" booties and a hat that looks like a hockey helmet from Aunt Roberta.
Katie's ready to go ice skating with her Dad.
Watching a hockey game at the rink.
He had a routine checkup with his doctor last week and it went well. He's a big boy (in the 85+ percentile for height, weight, and head size).
The last few weeks have been a blur. About 2 weeks ago I came down with some sort of virus in my chest. The main symptom was an annoying cough but it was soon joined by some congestion, headaches, and fatigue. A few days later Katie caught it. It wiped her out. She was pale and lethargic and had a fever. She missed all 3 days of school last week.
And then Peter got sick. He was so congested that he had some trouble breathing at night (or at least it sounded that way). He hasn't really figured out how to breathe with his mouth yet. It sounded like it took a lot of effort for him to get some air through his stuffy nose. And then he would let out these coughs that just sounded awful, usually accompanied by lots of crying and a fever.
It seemed like every day poor Nancy was shuttling someone to the doctor or hospital. She was so concerned about Peter one night that she called the doctor at 4am and they told her to bring him to the ER. She did and luckily everything was ok. The ER doctor said that Peter has a respiratory virus named RSV. He had never seen so many people with it before. Every room in the pediatric wing of the hospital was booked, mostly due to RSV.
During the height of our illnesses, I was supposed to go to New York for a 3 day business trip. Luckily they got a bunch of snow dumped on them and the trip was postponed until next month. I'm not sure how Nancy would have managed the sick kids by herself. Not that I was a huge help, but it made it easier for her to be able to leave one of the kids at home while she took the other one to the doctor.
And, on top of all this, our dog Rusty one night was experiencing discomfort and would not lay down. He would sit there panting in obvious discomfort and giving us sad looks. We were worried that it was symptomatic of something really bad. It made it a long night for both of us. I finally got him to lay down on the carpeted basement floor for a bit but soon he was back up and staring at me. Somehow we finally went to sleep. Fortunately, he felt much better the next day and now is back to his goofy self. We have no idea what it was but are really glad that it seems to be gone.
Now, thanks to Nancy, things are starting to return to normal. She somehow didn't get sick and took care of everyone but now she's exhausted! She's the only one of us that had received a flu shot and one of the nurses said the flu shot this year seems to be effective. So this may be a good year to get one.
Katie's fever is gone and she's back to her silly self. She's going to school tomorrow and is really excited that her Mom will be the co-op parent. Peter's cough has gotten better. We've been using a nebulizer on him to help relieve his congestion. It's kind of funny to see him smiling underneath a plastic mask with all this smoke (mist) pouring out of it. It looks like a scene from a Lewis Carroll book. It makes it even more surreal that the mask is shaped like a fish.
We've spent the last 2 weeks watching way too much television while we were recovering. This weekend we were determined to get out of the house. On Saturday I took Katie ice skating and today Nancy took her shopping and to an indoor playground.
I think the lesson we all learned is that the next time I get sick, I'm banished to the basement until I get better.
Laughing at his mobile.
Peter isn't so sure he likes having his sister dress him...
...even if it is a really cute outfit with "skate" booties and a hat that looks like a hockey helmet from Aunt Roberta.
Katie's ready to go ice skating with her Dad.
Watching a hockey game at the rink.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Happy New Year!
The last week of 2010 was busy. Katie went to work with me one day. She watched a movie on her dvd player and wrote on the whiteboard. Then we went to Cafe Asia where she tried to use chopsticks for the first time. Her basic technique was to stab the piece of meat with the chopstick and then use it like a kabob. It worked pretty well for her.
Later that night we went to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. We walked around the zoo to look at their nice light displays. Our favorite was an animated display of an eagle flying and landing on its nest. Katie and Nancy went into the ape house but said they all looked sleepy. I guess they're not used to having visitors at night.
Katie ended up with a nice collection of souvenirs. She talked her mom into getting a light-up sparkly flashlight and her Dad into getting her a panda mask. She also got a free multi-colored light stick from Pepco (Potomac Electric and Power Company). She ended up with the panda mask because one of the zoo buildings had a train display that I wanted to see. So I took Katie inside only to find out too late that the trains were at the back of the gift shop. Bad things usually happen when you walk through a gift shop with a 3 year old at Christmas time. There are either going to be a lot of tears or your wallet gets lighter. All in all, I was pretty surprised it only cost me $5. Luckily, Peter slept the whole time and didn't ask for any souvenirs.
Zoo Lights was fun but we decided it's not a must-see event for next year. It was crowded and it took us nearly 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot because you pay on the way out. Peter got hungry during the wait in line so we had to pull off for a bit. Once we got out, we ended up getting a little lost. I think I was so happy to be able to move that I completely forgot about important things like turning on the correct street. Anyway, we finally got our bearings but the road we wanted was closed. Then we turned on our Garmin which directed us with great confidence back to the road that was closed. We finally figured it out and the tired troop made it home and went to bed.
We stayed in for New Year's Eve and watched Dick Clark and Andy Cohen on tv. At midnight we could hear the fireworks at the GW Masonic Temple. We tivo'ed the Times Square ball drop so Katie could see it the next day. She loved it and watched it several times. Next year we may have a sleepy 4 year old watching it live with us.
Happy New Year!
I went to a Cap's practice at Ballston.
Peter sleeps on his favorite spot while Nancy reads her Kindle.
The princess camps out in the basement (tent in background).
Couches are for cuddling.
Katie and Zach work at the office.
Katie checks her email at work.
Katie at Zoo Lights.
The train that gave Katie a panda mask.
The Princess and the Peter.
A kiss from Sis.
Peter's learning to smile...
...and smirk.
Later that night we went to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. We walked around the zoo to look at their nice light displays. Our favorite was an animated display of an eagle flying and landing on its nest. Katie and Nancy went into the ape house but said they all looked sleepy. I guess they're not used to having visitors at night.
Katie ended up with a nice collection of souvenirs. She talked her mom into getting a light-up sparkly flashlight and her Dad into getting her a panda mask. She also got a free multi-colored light stick from Pepco (Potomac Electric and Power Company). She ended up with the panda mask because one of the zoo buildings had a train display that I wanted to see. So I took Katie inside only to find out too late that the trains were at the back of the gift shop. Bad things usually happen when you walk through a gift shop with a 3 year old at Christmas time. There are either going to be a lot of tears or your wallet gets lighter. All in all, I was pretty surprised it only cost me $5. Luckily, Peter slept the whole time and didn't ask for any souvenirs.
Zoo Lights was fun but we decided it's not a must-see event for next year. It was crowded and it took us nearly 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot because you pay on the way out. Peter got hungry during the wait in line so we had to pull off for a bit. Once we got out, we ended up getting a little lost. I think I was so happy to be able to move that I completely forgot about important things like turning on the correct street. Anyway, we finally got our bearings but the road we wanted was closed. Then we turned on our Garmin which directed us with great confidence back to the road that was closed. We finally figured it out and the tired troop made it home and went to bed.
We stayed in for New Year's Eve and watched Dick Clark and Andy Cohen on tv. At midnight we could hear the fireworks at the GW Masonic Temple. We tivo'ed the Times Square ball drop so Katie could see it the next day. She loved it and watched it several times. Next year we may have a sleepy 4 year old watching it live with us.
Happy New Year!
I went to a Cap's practice at Ballston.
Peter sleeps on his favorite spot while Nancy reads her Kindle.
The princess camps out in the basement (tent in background).
Couches are for cuddling.
Katie and Zach work at the office.
Katie checks her email at work.
Katie at Zoo Lights.
The train that gave Katie a panda mask.
The Princess and the Peter.
A kiss from Sis.
Peter's learning to smile...
...and smirk.
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