Sick Baby

Well, our good luck sticking to those regularly scheduled "Well Baby" visits at the pediatrician has run out. I noticed yesterday that Avery had developed a bad-sounding cough. I didn't think much of it as she played, ate and slept normally all day, and wasn't fussy at all. Before putting her to bed, I took her temperature just to put my mind at ease and was startled to find she was running a fever. I called the pediatrician who prescribed Tylenol and asked us to come in this morning.

The doctor checked her and after listening to her breathing, diagnosed a respiratory virus, mostly likely RSV. RSV can be very serious in young infants, but is less of a serious risk in babies over 6 months old. It requires a lot of invasive testing to diagnose, which is why our diagnosis is "most likely RSV." Poor little Avery has to to a two week course of breathing treatments, which she didn't take kindly to this morning when the nurse showed me how to do them.

I filled a laundry list of prescriptions, including one for the breathing device (a Nebulizer) and will be home from work with her today and tomorrow. Hopefully, the fever will go away today and she can go back to daycare Wednesday. For now, I'm trying to remember what I found to watch on daytime TV while I was on maternity leave...

Oh, and did I mention that I'm doing all of this solo? Baby Daddy is away on a business trip. Not an ideal situation for baby girl's first illness, but we're getting through it and learning some important lessons:
1. Trust your maternal instincts. Mommies know their babies best!
2. When administering medicine from a dropper, angle the dropped in towards your baby's cheek. If you put it too far back in her mouth, her gag reflex will trigger and she will vomit all over herself, you, your new leather couch, and your carpet Poltergeist-style. Rookie mistake.
3. Get yourself a good pediatrician and find out what their after hours call policies are. I had our doctor on the phone within 5 minutes of diagnosing Avery's fever. That definitely put me a little more at ease with the fever.

Well, little one is stirring, so Nurse Mommy is back on duty!

Fun in the Lake

As promised, here are some more photos of our Northwoods adventures!

Here I am after catching my first fish, a Blue Gill. Despite not baiting my own hook, I was pretty proud of myself until Greg reeled this bad boy in....

This 42" Musky is the catch of Greg's life! And the talk of our vacation! Avery and I sure were proud of our handsome fisherman!

Despite looking horribly uncomfortable, Avery actually enjoyed riding on The Nitro, Uncle Marco's fishing boat.

She might have been a bit more comfortable on the pontoon wine cruise. Since we were low speed crusing on a huge pontoon, we didn't make her wear the life jacket. She loved feeling the lake's breeze on her skin. She was so cute reaching her arms out and kicking her legs with a squeal when a gust came.

Avery loves the water, and especially had a blast chillin' (and I do mean chillin' as the water was a cool 70 degrees) in the floatie Auntie KC bought for her. That Auntie KC is the best!

We have lots more photos to share, so will be back soon. For a sneak peak, visit the photo share site which I've updated!

We're Back!

We're back home after a fantastic week in St. Germain, WI. Our friends the Zachs found us a perfect cabin right on Little St. Germain Lake. Avery especially enjoying welcoming each morning at 6am on the deck while mom drank coffee. Did I mention she woke up every day at 6am? So much for sleeping in!
Avery loved being by the water. I think the ripples of the lake really caught her fancy.

Avery especially enjoyed snuggling with Auntie KC. KC was so thoughtful to secure several toys and a doorway jumper for Avery to use. All were a big hit and provided hours of entertainment.


Little Miss is now sitting up, and will play by herself now for at least 15-20 minutes with toys. She loved the Fisher Price gumball machine so much that I'm going to get her one to play with at home!

At the end of a busy day playing and swimming, Avery was conscious to hang up her suit to dry so it'd be ready for whatever fun the next day brought!

We have lots more experiences to share, so will be back soon with more pictures of us boating, swimming, fishing, swinging, doorway jumping and maybe even a few of us just relaxing!

Gone Fishin'

We're off tomorrow for 8 days of fun in Wisconsin! Avery will experience her first plane ride; I'm just hoping that we aren't avoiding eye contact with our fellow AirTran passengers while we deplane. Regardless, we'll enjoy our cabin on the lake in St. Germain with the Zachs. We plan to spend lots of time swimming, boating, tubing, grilling, drinking and in general relaxing. The boys plan to do lots of fishing and who knows - maybe I'll cast a line or two myself.

Avery is just exhausted contemplating all the fun she'll have and the new friends and family she'll meet. We can't wait to share stories and photos when we return!