The Conservatory

Just when Julia recovered from her terrible cold, RSV and bronchiolitis, she got an ear infection. The docs think she probably had it for a while and it was a result of the terrible cold. She was very congested with the cold and bronchiolitis that eventually things just backed up in her ears and caused the infection. On Wednesday, I picked her up from daycare and she had some nice, yellowish-brown, foul smelling stuff draining from her ears. She didn't have a fever, but we figured it was an infection. We took her to urgent care that evening and sure enough her right ear was infected. Her ear drum had perforated because of the pressure of the infection and was now draining. We would have never known she had an infection because she never showed signs of one (fever, pulling at her ears, etc...). She is a tough little gal. They prescribed an antibiotic for her and she will take that for about 10 days. It is some lovely smelling pink stuff that we have to give her twice a day. We just give it to her in the side of her mouth when she is eating and she doesn't really notice the extra fluid or taste. She does a good job.

Other than having many visits to the doctor, we had visitors ourself last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Mock came to visit. They babysat Julia on Saturday night while Mike and I went out to dinner alone for my birthday (on the 11th...a late celebration). We went to a nice seafood restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. It was so great to have a night out alone. We ate some wonderful food. Mike had steak and lobster and I had Alaskan King Crab (like the ones they catch on the TLC channel show "Deadliest Catch"..if you are a fan of the show you know what I am talking about). It was excellent crab and all the other food we had was wonderful. Still I missed Julia and she was sound asleep when we got home. It was a fun night, but of course we won't go out that often and eat at that restaurant for a long time because it is quite pricey! During the day, Julia got to go on her first walk outside. Since the weather was nice (around 50 degrees), we went for a walk with Grandma Mock. Julia loved it and of course fell asleep!



Julia is doing well. Her two front teeth are coming in pretty fast and are almost all the way out. She is now rolling over from tummy to back again after not having done it since New Years Day. She finally figured out how to do it again and it also almost rolling over from back to tummy. She gets on her side quite well, but just has to figure out where to move her arm to get on her belly. She loves tummy time and also wiggles around and scoots on her belly to move. If we leave the room for even a second, she might be in a different position or facing a different way than when we left the room. We took this as a sign to get the house ready for her when she gets more mobile. Better sooner than later! Julia is a happy, giggley little gal. We find more and more things everyday to humor her. She just loves to giggle and laugh when we laugh. She loves to kick her legs, move her arms and thrash her toys around to make noise. She still puts everything in her mouth, but not before inspecting it with her eyes and hands first and swing it around in her hands and arms. It is so fun to watch her explore new sites and objects.

Today we went to the Como Park Conservatory and Zoo in St. Paul. The conservatory was having its annual Spring Fling where they have a display of spring flowers in one of their greenhouses/atriums. It was a beautiful day to be out. The conservatory was busy, but it was nice to see the green plants and flowers. We walked around for about an hour and then had lunch in the nearby cafe. We met up with our friend Jenny and her son Noah who is 6 weeks younger than Julia. Jenny's mom and Jenny's godmother also joined us. We pushed our strollers through the greenery and flowers and took some fun pictures of the kids. Julia really enjoyed the koi pond and the flowers in the Sunken Garden. Afterwards, Julia was beat (as were mom and dad) and she slept all the way home.

Ready for my first walk...

It actually does get sunny and warm here!

The Sunken Garden with pond


Mike and Julia viewing the pond and fish








Enjoying the flowers

Looking at mommy's favorite flowers...tulips!

Who's hiding in the trees?

Julia and daddy by the fountain

Looking at the fish in the koi pond....she was reaching out too them and wanted to touch them (and probably put them in her mouth!)

And some random pictures....


This is not a staged picture, she loves chewing on the giraffe's leg!

Cute little toesies!

This chair is comfy!


Playing baseball with daddy....home run!

Teeth, Bronchilitis, RSV = NO SLEEP!

About 3 weeks ago, Julia's front, bottom teeth starting breaking through. She now had two nice pearly whites shining through. She is teething very well and seems to be tolerating it. She chews on anything and everything she can get her hands on and we give her teething rings as much as we can, though she seems to prefer mommy's fingers for her sore gum relief. Mommy is quite used to it now, but those teeth are getting bigger and sharper everyday! I just have to make sure she doesn't bite too hard and draw blood since I am prone to bleeding and bruising on the blood thinner medication. We also cool our fingers on some ice and then massage her gums to soothe the pain.

Julia also had her first experience as a wedding guest. Our cousin Jenna got married on February 20th. Julia didn't last very long and was asleep by 8pm in the hotel room. That weekend she has another first...a bowling outing with the Stephany family. We had a great time bowling and drinking some good old Miller Lites at the lanes. Julia enjoyed watching the family bowl and she even took a stab at bowling a frame...ok, mommy held the ball in one hand and Julia in the other and did most of the work, but she enjoyed going up to the lane and watching the ball roll down the lane and hit the pins. We got 5 pins down on the first try and then another 2 on the second throw, so no spare.

Julia at the bowling lanes








Grandma and Grandpa Stephany with their two little grandgals at the bowling alley.

Over the past week or so Julia hadn't been sleeping well. We thought that it was because she was teething, but she developed a very bad cold. She was waking up 3-4 times a night and one night she wouldn't sleep in her crib. I ended up sleeping in our guest bed with her because she didn't want to sleep a lone and wanted the comfort of someone sleeping beside her. Luckily, this was on a Thursday night and I have off of work on Fridays. We ended up staying up from 12:30-3pm when she finally fell asleep. Then one day last week she sounded wheezy, so I whipped out my stethescope and she had wheezes throughout her lungs. Mike thought I was being paranoid, but I called her doctor's clinic anyway. The triage nurse told us to bring her in to be seen considering her lung history. The doctors and nurses all heard the wheezing too. They gave her two nebulizer treatments of medications to open up her airways and the wheezing subsided. They said she had bronchiolitis and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). RSV is extremely, extremely common in infants and is VERY contagious. We are pretty sure she got the RSV at day care because one of the teachers commented that other infants had the same cough weeks prior to Julia having it. Julia has been on a steroid, prednisolone, since last Friday and just finished her last dose this evening. We have also been giving her a nebulizer treatment of albuterol if she sounds wheezy, but she hasn't needed that since Sunday. She is doing MUCH better now. She is back to her normal self and her sleeping is back to normal with waking up maybe one time each night.

Daddy giving Julia a nebulizer treatment

My puple dinosaur mask giving me my neb treatment (mommy was trying to make it fun by making chicken, doggy and turkey noises....though the mask is clearly a dinosaur!)

Mommy assisting with my nebulizer

Besides Julia getting a little sick, everything has been great. Julia is growing well and developing very well. She is almost sitting up by herself, though she still hasn't figured out how she rolled over three times on New Years day (hasn't rolled over since). She does get about halfway and then stops. She likes tummy time and lifts her chest high off the ground, but she also shimmys on the ground like she is swimming. If she just knew she could lift her body up, she would definitely be crawling. She is as smiley as ever and is such a ham when you get out the camera. She is still a happy little gal and making many, many more noises. Sometimes we wonder if she is cooing, ahhing and making sounds to just hear herself talk or she is trying to tell us something. Julia has also discovered her feet and toes and we find her playing with them more and more. She hasn't stuck them in her mouth yet, but that is only a matter of time. She is a good eater and we will soon try to get her to drink from a sippy cup. The cup won't be her sole means of eating/fluid, but we are just going to slowly introduce it so she is used to it. Since she is 5 months now, this is a great time to introduce the sippy cup with a small amount of water and then milk/formula because at this age she is more malleable to new things.

Julia's eye color is pretty much apparent. Her eyes are turning brown and we are pretty sure she will be a brown-eyed girl like her mommy.

My new job as a cardiac CNS is going very well. I am getting settled in and there is a lot of work to do. It is an exciting challenge and every day I learn something new and become more comfortable in the job. The nurses are wonderful as are all the other professional staff. Mike is also doing well at Best Buy HQ. I am sure you all heard about the Best Buy layoffs...don't worry, Mike's job is safe. He is doing well at his job and hopes to be there for a very long time.

Here are some more pictures....just random ones.

Always smiling and happy...

Oh, the things I do to humor my parents.

Check-ups and Dedications...so much going on!

Julia had her 4 month check-up on February 13th. She is doing very well. Her lungs are still clear and she is growing on target. She is 25.4 inches long (78th percentile)-very tall; weighs 15 pounds; 13 ounce (83rd percentile) and her head circumference is 16.73 inches (80th percentile). She is hitting all the developmental milestones. She got 3 immunizations and cried for maybe 20 seconds and then was fine. Shots are a piece of cake compared to what she has been through with her surgery and multiple IV lines and monitors in the past! She is holding herself up with her arms during tummy time and now loves sitting up in the high chair or bumbo seat. She can't sit up alone just yet, but that seems like it will be happening soon. Everything she sees or touches goes straight to her mouth. She is such a curious little gal. She no longer wants to sit in her swing or bouncy seat or be held for too long. She wants to be entertained and play with her toys or read a book. On Sunday mornings I read the comics with her and one or two articles out of the newspaper. She seems to enjoy this time, probably because she hears mommy's voice (not the dire news of the economy!) She is extremely vocal and coos and ahhs all the time. She is squealing a lot and loves to smile and receive smiles and happy faces from others. The doctor would like us to hold off on giving Julia solid foods until at least 6 months old. This will decrease her chances of developing food allergies (which Mike has) and also decrease her risk of obesity (not that she is really at risk for that). Julia does love to eat and is certainly packing on the pounds...as evidenced by her three chins and cute, chubby thighs! She is storing up all that fat for when she becomes more mobile within the coming months...I am sure the fat will just melt away (lucky girl!). Right now, mommy is having a great time pinching those chubby little cheeks.

On Sunday, February 15th Julia was dedicated to God at our local church. Child dedication is like baptism, just without the water or oil. Julia can decide to become baptized if she wants to when she is older. We felt it was important to dedicate her to God, but wanted it to be her decision if she wanted to be baptized when she was older and old enough to understand the concept of baptism and its meaning. The pastor, Pastor Schommer, did a wonderful job of briefly explaining Julia's entrance into the world and the bumpy road we faced the months after her arrival. He articulated the story well and said a very comforting, praising prayer dedicating her to God. I had to hold back the tears and was so happy to be on that stage with her so healthy now. Before the dedication, Mike and I had to meet with the Pastor to go over the logistics of how the dedication would take place. We were chatting about where we were from and I said I was from Fond du Lac, WI. Well, low and behold, Pastor Schommer was born in Fond du Lac (same hospital I was born at) and graduated a year after my mom did from the same high school! An extremely small world!

Valentines for the Grandmas and Grandpas

Checking out a future husband prospect!

Giving daddy my Valentine's Day gift...but I really wanted to eat it!

My Uncles do kick butt!

How do I get the chips out?!