plus Croup

Amelia and I spent much of the night at our local E.R.

In addition to the influenza, she has croup!

She received a breathing treatment and a dose of steroids. Her breathing still sounds awful, but it is less labored.

The rest of us are on tamiflu, in the hopes that we won't catch the flu (and yes, we did get flu shots).

I'm pretty old to pull all-nighters....hopefully I can join Amelia in some naps today.

So Sick

Poor Meelsie is sick. After a 7:30 a.m. appointment with Dr. Hughes this morning, we found ourselves at the hospital for a few tests. So we would know how to treat her, we had to find out what's wrong. The suspects were pneumonia, RSV, croup or influenza.

And the winner is----influenza!

The poor little baby is so, so sick.

Everyone in our house will start on tamiflu here in a bit. Amelia's breathing is pretty labored, but we'll try to keep her home (vs. in the hospital).

The silver lining in this little gray cloud: lots and lots of snuggles with mom!

Weep with us

I saw this video on Jill's blog. I hope you will take the time to watch it.



I was holding Amelia as I clicked on it and started to watch. I guess the drums at the beginning caught her attention, because she turned her head to watch with me.

I know this sounds perhaps overly dramatic, and maybe even not believable, but here is what happened:

As the video played, and as it came to the part where the sick children were laying in the dirt, and then crying....Amelia's little lower lip puckered out further and further, and her eyes well up, and little tears ran down her cheeks. She watched, transfixed, for a few more seconds.

Then she turned her head and snuggled in to me.

If you read our blog, you know Amelia just turned one on January 11.

I don't know what this means, how my baby can be in tune with suffering....but mostly, how this kind of suffering can happen in various places around the world, to children, when we serve a Good God who loves these kids, and there are good people who are willing to help.... I have no words.

Father, what is to be our role?

Musings

It's fascinating to watch the inauguration of President Obama and his administration unfold. Not only is it fascinating; more than once, I have found myself choked up as I read about, or watch on TV, the beauty of this fresh start, the hope that so many place in this man.

(Before I continue, I should offer this disclaimer: He wasn't my man, I didn't vote for him. Do I hope he succeeds? Absolutely! Will I do all I can as a citizen and lover of my country? You bet!)

I think soon-to-be President Obama is a good man. A smart man. One who desires to serve our country well. And I'm so extremely thankful--for the very fact that I don't doubt Mr. Obama's integrity. I love that he loves his family. I love that my kids can relate to him because they can relate to his kids. Not that this should matter, but I think I even love that I can relate to him somewhat, because we are in the same decade, age-wise.

One of the reasons I count myself in the "other" political party is because I am pretty conservative, socially and fiscally. I want to believe that people (especially people in the form of The Church) can do things better, with more love and effectiveness, than Government. One of my choked-up moments came this morning, as I watched footage of Mr. Obama painting a shelter for homeless teens. President-Elect Obama has a tremendous opportunity to frame how we look at our world today. I think it's fantastic that he has been so incredibly intentional with his words and deeds. If I am moved, how many thousands...hundreds of thousands...millions of people are similarly moved to do the right thing, to make a difference?

I appreciate, too, the fact that Mr. Obama does not seem to be operating in an overly partisan fashion. I hope, and I'll continue to pray, that he can find common ground, that he can help both of the sides put our country first, as opposed to partisan dogma.

At church yesterday, the fear and anxiety that so many are suffering was nearly palpable to me. Dave heard that approximately 150,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. last week. We know too many people who have been laid off. Many more who are in fear of losing their jobs. Our country is in a pretty scary place right now. So many problems and dangers...far more than one human can take on and fix. So many people are placing so much hope in the new administration.

But still. The hope is refreshing. The hope that people are putting into action is better yet.

Dear God, please bless America. And bless our new President, too.

(Gentle Readers, I welcome any opportunity to dialogue with you as we watch this chapter in our history unfold!)

Well Baby

Amelia had her 12 month well baby check-up yesterday. She is still small, but she's comin' along. Here are her stats:

• Weighs in at 16 pounds, 9 ounces (up 2 pounds, 5 ounces in the last 10 weeks)
• Measures in at 28.5 inches

So, she's finally on the weight chart (3%) and she's at 25% on the height chart. (I can think of worse things than being tall and thin.)

I think she has recently lost a bit of weight because:

• she has decided she's "done" with baby food, and
• she's not too interested in bottles and not yet interested enough in milk, and
• she's so darn active, she burns calories like a mad woman.

The good news is, she is progressing nicely, and she's right where we hope she would be developmentally. Yea!

Happy Birthday, MEELSIE!

Amelia is one year old today!

Almost there!

Amelia had her first physical therapy appointment of the year today. Wow, she has made lots of progress just in the past couple of weeks. Even Miss Jessica (Physical Therapist extraordinaire) was impressed, I think. Jessica thinks Amelia is just two to four weeks behind target. What tremendous movement!

Here's what she does now these days:

• In the past week, Amelia has become a fairly avid crawler...and she gets more adventurous every day.
• She pulls up on everything.
• She cruises around on most things.
• She goes from sit to kneel to stand to sit to crawl to twist to move to rotate to kneel-on-one-knee to crawl to sit to crawl to twist to crawl to kneel--all in about 5 seconds.
• She is done with baby food and will really only eat real people food. She can't quite use a spoon/fork, but she won't eat unless she has one in her hand.
• She's done with bottles, too.
• She is into everything and we (well, I) have our work (well, my work) cut out for me.

She's a real girl! Go, Amelia!

(One year old doctor appointment is coming up next week. We'll see what the doctor thinks!)

Super Cool -- Wordle!

I found a super-fun site called Wordle on another blog.

You, too, can go to Wordle and create a "beautiful word cloud" using words that are important to you. It's free, it's fun, it's easy--and dare I say I feel a bit crafty?

Let me know if you make (and post) a Wordle...I'd love to see 'em!

New Baby in the House

Amelia's Aunt Ginger and Uncle Mike gave

her a Bitty Baby for Christmas.

Here she is, clearly fascinated and intrigued.

Napping with Baby...

Sharing a snack with Baby.

Amelia LOVES Baby's opening-and-closing eyes. When we tell her to give Baby a kiss, she leans in for a big ol' wet one. So sweet!

There's nothing like a baby's first Christmas. Christ gave us so many gifts in 2008.