Aunt Cake

I'm not really sure why Jack started referring to his aunt as Aunt Cake. He's always called her Kate before but for some reason this time he wanted to call her Cake. Maybe it's because he really loves cake and he really loves his aunt. Anyway, Jack had a blast when Cake was here. As the pictures below show, Jack loved playing with his aunt. He kept wanting to be superheroes and run from room to room. On Saturday David and Kate took Jack swimming at the Y. Then on Sunday Jack and his aunt spent the day together. It was a little more than Kate bargained for but she was an awesome babysitter. It made David and I feel better knowing Jack was in good hands.


Playing Hide and Seek in the Draperies

Exercising In Our Now Vacant Dining Room


Playing Superheroes


Practicing Multisyllabic Word Recognition


"One Shimmy and a Shake with a Tall Glass of Cow Juice Coming Up..."

Lily and Kate

Kate visited us this past weekend and met Lily for the first time! This picture was taken prior to Lily being sick (although now looking back her color does look a little off in this shot). Thank goodness Kate was here because I really don't know what we would have done on Sunday. Let's just say she and Jack had alot of bonding time. I'll post some of those pictures tomorrow.

She's a Trooper

On Sunday morning I was sitting with Lily and noticed her shaking. It looked like she was shivering but it was clear she was not cold. Dave had been out grabbing coffee with Kate (who was visiting). When he came back I told him that the baby had been shaking and I'd never seen her do that before. As I was saying this, she started shaking again and making weird grunting noises. We took her temperature and realized she was running a fever. Immediately we contacted our pediatrician who advised us to take the baby to the hospital. He said because of her age (under 6 months) they would want to do some blood tests and check her out. When we got to the hospital she was running a fever of 103 and was clearly not herself. She normally is a very happy baby and is always flashing smiles. Suffice it to say, we were concerned.

They ended up doing a series of tests--including a lumbar puncture (awful)-- and determined that she had a urinary tract infection. So, we were admitted on Sunday evening at Women and Children's Hospital. That little girl of ours is such a trooper. They had to give her an iv to administer fluids and antibiotics. They also had to take her blood several times (which is more involved for an 11 week old) and do an ultrasound. Thankfully it appears that the source of the fever was the urinary tract infection. We had to rule out other possibilities before we could go home. Now we just have to figure out why she got the UTI and if she will be more prone to them in the future. We'll have to go back for an outpatient procedure in a couple weeks once she is feeling better.

I've worked in hospitals since I was in high school. Some settings were harder than others. I have to say though that seeing sick children is the worst. As you walked down the hallways you could see all the little ones in their rooms--many of them on our floor were babies. Some, we were told, were critically ill. It certainly takes a special type of person to help treat these kids. Our good friend is a Pediatric Fellow in Cincinnati. He deals with critically ill children every day in the intensive care unit. I remember asking him once how he could do his job without letting it affect him on a daily basis. He answered fairly quickly that he thinks of it in a different way. Without him, many of these kids wouldn't have a chance. He's there to help give them a chance. So today I want to say thank you to him and thanks to all people who work in Healthcare--including my sister and sister-in-law. I know they are not appreciated as much as they should be. It's very consoling as a patient or family member of a patient to be surrounded by people who are caring and sympathetic.

Here are a couple pictures of Lily. I took these with my cell phone. She's obviously feeling better in these and looks more like herself (otherwise I wouldn't have posted). I'm glad she's home today and smiling. Keep her in your thoughts!

Happy Friday

It's Christmas at the Archer House...

This morning we got a brand new, shiny, stainless steel-esque (not real SS because I was wary of fingerprints) refrigerator! It looks BEAUTIFUL. We got a great deal at Home Depot and were able to replace our old one. I think it was a good move because a.) this morning Jack's milk had slivers of ice in it and b.) we received a package from Toni and Dave this afternoon that contained a new refrigerator word toy (thank you!). I am so happy. Our old refrigerator had become unreliable with temperature control. It also had started to make more noise. It was rivaling our sump pump. You know it's bad when your two year old hears the refrigerator cycling off and says, "What's that noise?!" with alarm. And let's be honest--it was pretty ugly. So behold our new appliance...

JTA Photo Shoot

Congratulations!

Bridget and Brian got engaged last night. Congrats to them!

Hey Lily, What Do You Think of All This Snow?

SNOW!

A Family Portrait...Sort Of

Lily and I are wearing matching velour sweats in this picture. I love that little track suit on her. We took her to the doctor this week and she's 13 and a half pounds! She's a growing girl.



Jack and David--both are smiling! Bonus! Do you love the hair?

Lunch Time

At about ten o'clock each day, Jack starts telling me it's either lunch time or dinner time. He realizes in either scenario he gets food! When we do go into the kitchen for lunch (2 hours later) he has to bring an armful of books with him...just in case something unexpected happens to the living room in our absence. Our lunch setting is always like the pictures below. Books are scattered on the floor. Maggie is waiting patiently at the foot of the high chair for discarded scraps of PB&J sandwiches. And Jack is inevitably a mess. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Multitasker

I was doing laundry the other day and when I came upstairs this is what I found. I thought this was so sweet. That husband of mine sure has got this juggling thing down!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I love bundled babies--especially this one!

Trucks

My dad gave Jack this Hess truck for Christmas. The Hess trucks are a big step up from the Tonka trucks. The Hess models are a little more advanced and are battery operated. Don't get me wrong, Jack loves any kind of vehicle. But, he is pretty fascinated by the way this truck moves on its own. He will turn it on and set it at one end of the couch and then wait for it on the other side. He also got a Hess fire truck from my aunt. He plays with them all the time and the other day the batteries finally wore down. We haven't replaced them yet and he keeps coming over to me and saying, "The truck won't go on." So now I know I have to keep an ample supply of batteries at our disposal at all times!

A Horton Hat from Aunt Kate

This picture speaks volumes. Sometimes Jack is really fascinated by his sister. Other times, like when Dave tries to direct a photo shoot, he really doesn't want to be bothered.

New Blog Contributor

Matt sent Jack his very own digital camera. As soon as Jack got his hands on it, he was walking around telling us, "Say cheese." He told both the baby and Maggie to smile. The camera has its own viewfinder and really does take pictures. We haven't figured out how to download the photos but in the meantime Jack likes to walk around with it. He tells us it is "my camera."

2 Months Old!

Matching PJs from Aunt Nicole

This is one of the only shots I have with myself and both kids! These pajamas are so cute. I love that they are snug fitting. Jack looks like such a beanpole. Lily looks healthy. :)Happy New Year!