The Saga Continues

February, what have we done to offend you?  Seriously- February is not a good month for us. February 2007- Maia and Sean got the Rotavirus.  February 2008- we were sick for six weeks. Fevers, sinus infections, bronchitis... every time we thought we were healthy, another illness set in.  This year we were determined to break the cycle.  Both kids were sick over Christmas, and it took a few weeks to get them completely over it.  We were determined it would be the last illness of the winter, so we started pumping Maia full of Vitamin C, fruits, veggies, and sleep.  It seemed like she was often on the verge of getting sick, but we were successfully holding it off.  We managed to have some fun adventures during that brief window of health:

Cecily had a great time playing with a robotic Elmo at our Friday playgroup:

Maia dressed to impress on her way to Ballet class:
Some nice weather made bike riding possible!
On Valentine's Day, Nonni and Papa arrived for a much overdue visit.  We missed seeing them over Christmas while they were in India for Uncle Gabe and Aunt Poulami's Indian Wedding. We were so happy to see them.  And they brought some amazing treasures back for the girls:

Maia's beautiful shoes:
And a gorgeous outfit (there are more gorgeous outfits for both kids, look for fashion show photos soon):
We went for a big walk, and Cec decided it was a great time for a nap:
Maia and Nonni got very busy playing Chutes & Ladders:
While Cec and Papa read a good book:

On that Monday, we headed into the Institute of Contemporary Art to see an exhibit of Shepard Fairey's work.  Maia was pretty intrigued by it.  We weren't allowed to take photos in the gallery, so I couldn't get any of her admiring the art.  Her favorite piece (as was most visitors' I'm sure) was the Obama "Hope" portrait.  She kept going back to it and saying "Look!  It's our President!"  Here she is resting after viewing all the art:
And checking out the very cool exhibit in the entrance:
Back home, Maia and Papa decided to get to work on their own art:

While Cecily was trapped in jail...
"Mommy, how did you get on this side?"
A crawling attempt on the slippery floor ended in splat:
Reading time for the girls:

We got tired of tripping over Cecily's big high chair, so she got a big kid booster seat just like Maia!
Maia thought the box was the best part:




Maia also wanted to show Cecily how much fun a booster seat can be, and even insisted we locate the tray for her seat.
Cecily's obsession with Starbucks continues...



And here's when things started to fall apart... Maia woke up with a low fever on the last day of Nonni and Papa's visit.  We decided she should take it easy, and we spent the day relaxing. Then Daddy came home early with his own fever...  here they are, snoozing on the couch:
Nonni and Papa left the next morning, and things went quickly downhill.  Maia's fever went up to 105, and we spent the day trying to control it and comfort her.  Daddy actually stayed home from work, and with good reason.  That night he had to go the ER when his fever hit 104.5. They ran a bunch of tests, determined he had the flu, and sent him home.  We took it easy the next day, but by Friday Maia seemed to be getting worse.  Her fever hadn't diminished, and her cough sounded horrible.  We took her in to the doctor, they ordered a chest x-ray, and sure enough... pneumonia.  Again!  We got her on antibiotics, and looked forward to a speedy recovery.

That night, however, Cecily decided it was her turn.  She woke up at 11 and was hot.  I took her temp, and it was 102.1.  I talked to the nurse at the pediatrician's, and they booked her an appointment for early on Saturday morning (one of the many benefits of the practice we belong to).  Just like Daddy, they ran a few tests and determined Cec had the flu.  They told us to expect it to last a week to 10 days.  Ugh!  On Sunday, Cec rallied and started crawling!!!!!  It was a big bright spot for us.

Maia was well enough to return to school on Wednesday, and was thrilled to be back.  Daddy was back at work, though not totally back to health.  And Cec seemed to be getting worse, rather than better.  By Friday morning, she was making us nervous and I took her back into the doctor's.  She was completely listless.  She'd wake up for a moment, and then fall right back asleep.  She wasn't eating any solid food, although she had been nursing okay.  The doctor was nervous about pneumonia, and ordered a chest x-ray.  Fortunately, it wasn't pneumonia.  She had bronchialitis (an inflammation of the bronchi) that was causing her cough to sound so rough.  Of greater concern was her listlessness, continuing high fever, and lack of fluid intake. After a long discussion with the doctor, she was admitted to our local children's hospital for complications from the flu (namely, dehydration).  The good news was that I would be able to stay with her the entire time.  The bad news was that our nine-month-old was being hospitalized.

Cec was given an IV to rehydrate her, and it worked amazingly well.  Within a few hours her fever was way down.  At that point, she wanted to play and practice her newfound crawling skills.  We did our best to entertain her, and then she wore herself out and had her best night of sleep ever.  She was looking great on Saturday morning, and a doctor from our practice finally released us later that afternoon.  We were thrilled to be home.  Grammy had been staying with us to help entertain Maia, and was getting ready to head home.  Daddy casually mentioned he wasn't feeling well, took his temperature, and had a fever, again.  Grammy decided to stay one more night.  And at that point we gave in, realized we needed help, and bought Nonni a plane ticket to fly out the next morning.  We all went to bed hoping Daddy would feel better, grateful that Grammy had stayed, and glad we had another grandmother on her way.

Cec had another great night of sleep, and woke up hungry at about 3:30 am.  I fed her, and then she had an incredible coughing fit and coughed up everything in her tummy.  I fed her again, and the same thing happened.  It had been almost eight hours since she'd kept anything down, and her skin looked a little mottled.  So Grammy and I took her back to the ER at the children's hospital.  They were phenomenal.  They determined her lungs were pretty clogged from the flu, and that the violent cough was actually doing a good job clearing them out with the unfortunate side effect of also clearing her tummy.  They gave us an inhaler to help the lungs be clear, and sent us home.  (Mommy was incredibly relieved.  I was expecting them to admit us for days.) The inhaler worked great, and Cec was able to nurse without losing anything.  

In the midst of the week, before the hospital visit, I decided to take the kids to a greenhouse to get them some tropical air and hopefully help them breathe.  Here are some photos from our adventure:

The greenhouse had lime and orange trees, though the kids didn't think it was as cool as I did.


Maia decided it was a perfect place to practice ballet:

We had lunch at the little cafe attached to the greenhouse.  Maia was given green jello with her lunch.  She's never seen jello before, and I don't think she's ever seen food that color!  She wasn't too sure about it, until she tasted the cool whip on top.  And then, she was hooked.
After lunch, it was back to the greenhouse before time to head home.  Cec got into it.  What a cute little jungle baby!


Maia was thrilled with the blue sky we discovered when we left, though it was bitterly cold.
On Sunday morning, Grammy headed home and Daddy went to the airport to get Nonni.  In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, she and Maia made a Cat-in-the-Hat Hat:  
Cec was looking much more like herself, playing happily:
Maia dressed herself for school, what a combo:
Cec showed off her new crawling skills, and tried to raid Maia's snack basket:
We were inspired by the beautiful plants we saw at the greenhouse, and bought a little kit to grow something at our house.  Maia had a great time opening the seeds and planting them:

Here's hoping we get some beautiful flowers inside, and that Spring comes soon.  And if you're looking for us in February 2010, you'll find us on a deserted tropical island.