Happy Halloween!

Sammy's 6 month stats

Sammy had her 6 month well-baby visit today.  Her lungs were clear and she didn't have any ear infections.  So it looks like she just needs to get over this lingering cold.

WEIGHT:  15 pounds, 2.7 ounces (33.77%)
HEIGHT:  26.5 inches (78.01%)
HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE:  42 cm (37.20%)

She's doing great and it makes me proud.  The teachers at daycare love her.  They say they're not supposed to play favorites but they can't help but love her smiley and happy personality.  It's also easier to care for her because she doesn't cling to or need any one particular teacher.  She'll take attention from anyone who will give it to her!

Sammy is 6 months old (and other updates)

I've been so busy and neglecting this blog.  But Sammy is 6 months old today so I had to update!  Here are her official chair photos.

You can see in the second photo that she is now sitting up on her own.

Poor little Sammy has been sick a lot this past month.  Less than one week after we finished her antibiotics for pneumonia, Sammy came down with another cold and she is still congested and coughing a lot.  She has her 6 month "well baby" visit tomorrow and we'll see what the doctor finds.  She's also drooling a ton so I wonder whether a tooth is on its way soon and perhaps that is causing some of the congestion?

Ian is doing well.  When he's behaving, he's super fun to be around.  He knows that his first name is spelled "I" "A" "N" and we're having fun teaching him new words (like author, illustrator and phenomenal).  He seems extra coordinated to me.  At the park, he got on a scooter and knew right away what to do and was balancing on one leg and scooting around like a pro.  Another little boy who was 3 (6 months older than Ian) couldn't figure out the scooter, even with his father's help.  So I was quite impressed with my little boy.  

But when Ian is not behaving, oh boy.  He's a train wreck disaster packed into a 31 pound solid toddler body.  He definitely knows what he wants and doesn't want and is prone to throw some serious tantrums.  I'm hoping he'll grow out of this behavior soon, but we may be in it for the long haul.  He's going to be a fireman for Halloween and here he is trying on his costume.

And I had to capture the following - this is the face that Ian makes when you ask him to "close his eyes."  It makes me laugh every single time.

We went apple picking a couple of weekends ago at Honey Pot Hills Orchards in Stow, MA and had a blast.  We went on a hay ride, ate cider donuts and picked a lot of Macoun apples.  I've never had them before and they were super tasty!  Ian had a blast, especially because he was able to climb a ladder to pick apples at the top of the tree.  Here are some photos - I'm really happy we were able to get a picture of all 4 of us!

Work is going well.  My company is growing rapidly which is great, but raises a host of issues and my plate is extremely full (hence the lack of blog updates!)  I have no time during the day to surf the web or accomplish any personal tasks.  And at night, after we eat dinner and get Ian to bed, I'm still busy with Sammy.  And I have to put together her bottles and make my lunch for the next day.  And by the time I watch just one show on TV, I'm totally ready for bed (since Sammy hasn't slept through the night for a while now).  But every day, I'm extremely thankful for my family and I look forward to watching my babies grow up.  And I'll leave you with some cute pictures of Ian and Samantha.

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The Crud Continues

As I mentioned in previous posts, my kids have been sick a lot lately.  (As an aside, I still think it's really cool to say "my kids" meaning that (a) I have kids and (b) I have more than one!  It still makes me pause every single time my husband and I discuss who will be picking up "the kids" from daycare.)  Well, Sammy had pink eye and then she had a low-grade fever for a while, which eventually went away.  Even though her fever went away, she continued to get more and more congested.  And then in the middle of the night one night, she broke into an awful cough and had a fever of 101.6, which then went up to 102.2 by the morning.  Yikes!

So my husband took her to the doctor (it was his turn to stay home from the office with a sick kid) and the doctor didn't like what he heard in her lungs.  So he sent her for X-rays.  X-rays!  On my little happy smiley 5 month old daughter.  Ugh.  The doctor thought he saw a little spot of pneumonia in her lungs and so prescribed her a 10-day course of the lovely pink amoxicillin.  (The official radiologist report said the X-rays were negative for pneumonia but the doctor wanted to keep her on the antibiotics anyway based on the fact that her fever spiked and what he heard in her chest).  She got better fairly dramatically on the antibiotics.  Her fever broke the day after we started giving her the drugs and within 1 day, she was already breathing so much better.  So I'm happy we kept her on the antibiotics.  Tomorrow will be the last day we have to give her the antibiotics and I hope we all stay healthy for a while!