After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

I had a plan for how I was going to cover our Thanksgiving trip but that went out the window when something quite surprising occurred one morning. Grandpa made breakfast for us. Let me repeat that because of how unusual that statement is to type...Grandpa made breakfast for us.

One morning he volunteered (which really means: goaded;peer pressured; guilted into; was forced) to make breakfast for everyone. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we had green pancakes. Ok, that's really more a Christmas theme and a Thanksgiving theme..but how cool are green pancakes?

 We were so wowed by the moment, that we ran to get the camera and took a few hurried photos before the moment passed.

While we are speaking of Grandpa, I should mention how much fun Macy and Laney had with him. You'll even see that one morning while dropping him off at the train station Macy was so into it, that we had to go onto the train before it pulled out of the station. Macy was so impressed by the whole thing that if you ask her how her grandfather gets to work, she'll tell you that he takes the "choo-choo" and hence his new name: Papa Choo Choo

From what I hear, it is bound to happen and we are probably lucky to have gone so long without it...and ER visit. But alas, our luck has run out and we've now been initiated into the "I rushed my child to the ER in the middle of the night" club. Everything is fine, but mean old daddy got everyone in the house sick.

Thanksgiving vacation I caught something and eventually passed it on to the girls who gave it to Annie. Strangely enough, we all reacted differently, but in the end we were all sick. (I got a sinus infection and had to rush to the doctor to get antibiotics, Macy seems to just have a runny nose and Annie doesn't have the runny nose but feels crappy nonetheles) Since Laney is the smallest, she seemed to take it the worst and developed croup. I've experienced few things scarier than listening to your almost 7 month old (I know....how could that be???) daughter wheeze as she struggles for air and then breaks into a fit of coughing which sounds like a seal is hanging out in the house. They say the croup cough is distinctive and who ever "they" may be, they are right on this one.

We are now a number of days sine our visit and she's still suffering, but the cough seems much more normal and the wheezing stopped. It all came on so quickly and the croup portion fortunately seemed to pass as quickly as well. Through the whole ordeal and between coughs, Laney seemed ok. I guess I should qualify that statement since I wasn't actually with her at the hospital. We had to make the tough choice to let Annie go with Laney while I stayed home with our sleeping Macy. It didn't seem fair to drag her out of bed just because I wanted to go with them.

Well all is not bad. While we were heading back to Florida at the end of the Thanksgiving vacation, Annie noticed that Laney had cut her first tooth! Go Laney...

This past week brought yet another reminder that our littlest little one is growing up. Till now, Laney's diet consisted of non-homogenized and non-pasteurized milk, but that is now ancient history.  It is now the start of the color wheel. You may remember that Macy's doctor had us introduce foods to her based upon their color and that her first vegetable was Rutabaga. (I'm still not certain how that happened and if you offered me a million dollars to identify one in Publix, I'd go home a poor man.) I can't officially declare that her unusual introduction to food choices is why she has such an adventurous palette, but I'd like to think so. (Just this afternoon Macy was chowing on ceviche and loving it.)

We decided to dial it back a notch with Laney and her introduction to non-dairy products was Butternut Squash. Based upon how things went, I would say that she was more than happy to broaden her palette. It is still early on, but I have to say that I'm amazed at how clean an eater she it. I seem to remember that after every meal, Macy had remnants in her hair and stuck to her eyelashes. I think Laney is just such a good eater and that she's afraid to be messy for fear that she won't have enough to eat. As it is, you'll notice that she's trying to supplement each meal with a healthy dose of toes and feet and you might have noticed but been too polite to mention that she's SOLID. I probably shouldn't be mentioning this, but even with almost a 17 month headstart, Laney is now wearing the same size diaper as Macy. It just doesn't seem right, but it does make changing them a bit easier.

Family dinners just got a whole lot more active. (You might notice a bow painted on Laney's forehead...just ignore it for now. I'll explain more in a few days)

While we are discussing another of Laney's firsts, I want to mention a "third." One of our most dedicated readers just recently welcomed home her latest grandchild, Matthew who joins his two brothers Gregory and Daniel. WOW...a real life "My Three Sons" Congratulation to Marc and Stacey and the rest of the family.