Henry took a step today!

Henry officially started walking as of today! I didn't capture the moment for posterity, so you will just have to imagine two steps from the ottoman to the couch. One day soon he will be running all over the place, I'm sure.

Henry has been doing really well lately. He eats a lot, both in terms of quantity and in terms of variety. Here he munches on some broccoli. He loves it. He mostly just eats the top and leaves the stem though.

Madi likes it too.

Henry went to the ENT for a checkup, and his ears look great! The bad news is Mad's tonsils continue to be enlarged. Sigh.

Here is Henry in his hat. He likes to wear it around. He tries to put it on himself, but he can't quite manage, so he brings it to you and motions for you to put it on him.

Madi still loves orange. Orange dresses ...

Orange dinosaur shirts ...

Orange jackets ...

Here we are at the lodge at Beaver Mountain last Sunday.

She skied on the harness again some, also some just between my legs. We went up the big lift all the way to the top of the mountain for the first time.

Here she is taking a little break on Gentle Ben. It was a long run! She really skied great for a bit, out on the harness. I am starting to be able to imagine one day she will do it without me.

Here is a video of Henry with his other favorite right now, the glasses from Madi's doctor kit. We continue to be so happy he is doing better.

Hair cuts

This evening the kids got haircuts and then we went to the Pupuseria for dinner. I think Henry looks cute with the new 'do. The person who cut his hair did an amazing job, considering Henry is only one year old and not really into having his hair cut so much. Henry looks like a big boy now!

Madi got a little trim. She is letting her hair grow long.

Side view of the 'do plus pupusa munching. Henry has been eating so much lately it is truly amazing. Most days he eats a lot more than Madi. We are so happy to have him doing well again.

Skiing and sushi

We've had some snow lately, so it was good to get out and enjoy it a bit on Sunday.

Here's our back yard ...

with Connie the abominable snow cat.

Henry did not have a good night Saturday night. We suspect he may have picked up some dairy somewhere, but we aren't sure. He slept late, though, and seemed lively enough on Sunday morning, so we decided to go skiing.

Here Madi and I are coming down Little Beaver. It went pretty well. We made three runs this time, and the second one she only fell once! Sarah went with us. Madi was really happy to ski with her. Thanks for the photos Sarah!

Henry hung out in the lodge. He missed his buddy Maggie. Hope you guys are doing better now!

Afterwards, we went for sushi with Sarah and Andrew. Madi and Henry ate a lot of seaweed salad.

Henry had his first sushi: tamago. He ate a lot of that, too. He has been eating a great deal overall lately as he continues to recuperate from his illness.

Madi really enjoys hanging out with Sarah. She is going to be a flower girl in Sarah's wedding this summer. Sarah even said she can wear orange!

A good weekend so far

We are happy to have Tim back home and Henry continuing to recuperate from his illness and ear tube surgery.

Here is Madi on Friday, ready to go to the Valentine's Day party at day care.

Friday night Scott, Melanie, and Ceci came over for Thai food. The kids and I were happy to have the company as well as the extra hands to help out with the hugging and puzzling.

Tim got home later that night, and the next morning presented the children with fabulous gifts from D.C. 

Madi got an official Barack Obama action figure!

Henry got an authentic Barack Obama bear.

We took it easy for the most part today. We were all pretty tired. 

I did have to bring one of our bantam hens in for a little TLC. She had developed a big dried mud ball on her foot. The kids checked her out after she had been successfully liberated.

Henry was just not sure what to make of her. He regards chickens with some amount of skepticism evidently.

Madi had fun dancing as always. We are all happy to be together and not sick!

Madi retrospective: Harness skiing

Here, from about three weeks ago, is Madi's first harness skiing! With all of Henry's troubles I am just now getting this posted.

We went skiing at Beaver Mountain again, and this time Madi didn't take a lesson with an instructor. Inspired by our friends Mike and Kate, who ski their son Finnegan on a harness, we decided to try it for ourselves. Finnegan is a little younger than Madi but has been skiing a lot longer.

Here I am with Madi starting down the hill. That's Finnegan on his harness too. Thanks to Mike for the photography!

Starting to sort of get the hang of it here. It wasn't nearly as hard as I had expected. Madi did sort of hang in the harness at points, but for the most part it went really well.

Madi in action. Mike had a lot of great tips for us so we didn't have to struggle too much with trial and error.

Down the hill we go! We made two runs. The second run we only fell three times. The first run I sort of lost count. Madi and I both had a lot of fun. At the end she said she didn't want to ski with a teacher any more, she wanted to ski with me!

Henry hung out in the lodge with his buddy Maggie. Here they are discussing the latest theoretical developments in pre-literacy skill building. 

Thanks for the photo Kate. We hope to see you guys at Beaver tomorrow!

The Tim has landed

Tim got back safe and sound from D.C. to S.L.C. and is on his way back to Cache Valley. The kids had a great day. Henry continues to improve. More later ...

Crisis over

Everyone slept well again and had a good breakfast. Henry seems like he is getting over everything. He misses his daddy. Tim is getting back late this evening.

I hereby declare a return to normality!

Better by the day

Everyone had a great day today. I planned on getting up and taking a shower etc. before the kids woke, but Henry outflanked me. He got up at 5:30 a.m.

Besides that, everyone had a good night. It just ended a little too early. As a result, Henry had to spend some time in the exersaucer again. Oh well.

Henry returned to daycare today. He had a good time playing and hanging out with his buddies.

At home he had a great dinner. He ate a lot! I think he is making up for lost time. He enjoyed reading too. He seems to be making a speedy recovery. He was a little more grumpy than usual at points, but not as bad as yesterday.

Madi and I worked on Valentines for her friends. They are having a big party at school tomorrow.

They have been doing Valentine's Day related work at school this week. Madi is developing her goth sensibilities. 

Tim is having a good time in D.C. He can see the White House from his hotel. Exciting! We are looking forward to his return.

Recuperating nicely

Henry is doing well after his surgery. The only side effect so far seems to be major crankiness, but even that is receding steadily over time. 

It was a bit of a trick to get everyone where they were supposed to go this morning. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. Henry got up at 6 a.m. and was bundled off into the car in his pajamas to get to the hospital by 6:30. The plan was to wake Madi up, get her ready to go, and take her to daycare early. The Roses kindly agreed to have her arrive at 6:45 today. Tim couldn't wake her up, though! He tried and tried, and finally just put her in the car asleep in her pajamas. She did wake up along the way finally. She didn't have her coat or shoes though. Oh well. The Roses took her anyway, and she had a good day. Tim dropped her off just in time, because by the time he got to Salt Lake City for his flight to D.C., his plane was boarding. He had a good flight and made it there fine.

Meanwhile, Henry and I waited at the hospital for his surgery. He didn't have anything to eat or drink since 8 p.m., so I was a little worried about how that would go. With his trusty binky, he was fine. Here he is in his hospital gown and booties waiting to be taken back to surgery. He is of course playing with the bag that says 'this is not a toy.' This confirms he is a second child.

They took him away from the comfy private waiting room to surgery. He was gone about 20 minutes. The doctor said it was a very good decision to have the surgery. He said he vacuumed out lots of yucky stuff from his ears as he was putting in the tubes. They brought Henry back just as he was coming out of the anesthesia. He had a bottle to drink and then started crying. And crying. And crying. Altogether he cried about an hour. Here he is in the car in a brief lull, ready to go home about half an hour into it.

He took a little morning nap and a bigger afternoon nap. He played pretty well during the day, although he was cranky at times. This decreased across the day.

Poor second child - his tractor trailer only has three wheels. He doesn't mind fortunately.

Scott picked up Madi and Ceci from daycare, along with some Firehouse pizza, and brought them to our house for dinner. Henry got a dairy-free version. Here Henry is grinning at Tio Scott. You just have to imagine Scott. Thank you for helping us out Scott! We really appreciate it. 

Later, we all had popsicles. Madi was a big help with Henry tonight. The kids had a good bedtime and are sound asleep now. It was a busy day, but it worked out somehow and we are relieved to have it all behind us. We are looking forward to Henry's full recovery!

Surgery was okay

Henry's ear tube surgery is over and he is resting at home now. Everything went just fine. I will give you all the details later!

Tomorrow is the big day

Henry has continued to improve day by day. Tonight he was even starting to be his mischievous self again. I think I sort of managed to catch the look here.

He had a good dinner this evening. Peas, spaghetti, pears, ciabatta bread, and some Chilean Bean soup which Kate made for us. Thanks Kate! It was delicious. We really appreciate it.

Henry goes in to the hospital at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning for his ear tube surgery, which is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. (Mountain Time). I will give you an update when I get him home and settled. 

By unlucky coincidence, Tim is leaving town for Washington D.C. tomorrow. He is going for a National Institutes of Health research grant review panel. Tim doesn't fly out of Salt Lake City until well after Henry's surgery is finished, though, so he will get a full update before he boards the plane. We are going to miss him, that is for sure!

A visit to the specialist

Henry had a good night last night and a good breakfast this morning. He hasn't thrown up now for two days! I know I keep posting all these photos of him eating, but we are still so relieved to see him doing it. We are continuing to give him the anti-nausea medication when he gets gurgly. He is getting an oral antibiotic now, one he has never had before.

This afternoon I took him to an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. The ENT took about 2 minutes to make a decision. He listened to a brief account of Henry's recent travails, looked in his ears, and said he should have surgery on Wednesday to insert tubes. The procedure takes only a few minutes, is performed very often, and allows the ears to drain properly. General anesthesia is used, which means that Henry will be in the hospital for about two hours.

Finally, I got a definitive answer to Henry's problems keeping anything down. The ENT said with severe ear infections you can have a systemic reaction like that. Although Henry has not had a lot of ear infections, all three have required a month or more of antibiotics to clear. Apparently this is because his ears don't drain well, so bacteria can re-grow in the fluid, even after the antibiotic has killed most of them off.  That then requires more antibiotic, again leaving only the strongest most resistant bacteria to reproduce in the remaining fluid. Eventually,  the bacteria become resistant to it, and the antibiotic won't work any more. Darwinian selection in action.

That is what happened to Henry this last ear infection with the first antibiotic we tried: it didn't work. The infection got worse over 5 days of treatment. This was the antibiotic we have used for past ear infections. If we were to just keep repeating the process with different antibiotics, each one could stop working. The ENT said that fact, plus the systemic reaction, is a very compelling reason to get the tubes and he wants us to do it as soon as possible.

We of course are not happy to have gotten to this point. It would be better to have Henry's ears drain on their own. But they don't. So this is our next best option, and we are ready to get it done!

Definitely better

Henry had a good day. He had a long nap in the morning, but somehow didn't quite ever manage to get to sleep in the afternoon. No matter - he seems to be sleeping soundly now. He didn't throw up all day! This is the first day in the last five that I can say that.

He had fun getting reacquainted with his food today. Tim claims that this vanilla wafer got there without his help. Hmm. Madi and I didn't actually see it ...

Here he is at dinner. He had rice checks, lima beans, potatoes, banana, fruit and grain bar, peas - we were happy just to watch him eat. He did get pretty gurgly at points, and we are still giving him the anti-nausea medication. We are just so relieved that he is keeping everything down now.

Things were going well with Henry, so Madi and I went to Ceci and Maria Luisa's birthday party at the Eccles Ice Center. It was great for Madi and me to get out of the house and see our friends at their party. It was also really a lot of fun to ice skate!

Madi had never skated before. They had nice 'walkers' for the beginners to use on the ice. At first it was a little dicey. I wasn't sure if she was going to be able to do it, even with the walker. She was down as much as she was up, even when I was hanging on to her and the walker.

After fueling up on birthday cake and Sprite, we went back for another try. She really started to get the hang of it! She liked it a lot.

In this shot you can get a good look at her fun sweater from Uncle Charlie. He keeps us hooked up with the latest in Japanese fashion.

Overall, we had a great day. Here, Madi celebrates Henry's recuperation with a little dancing. Sister Sledge, anyone?

And here is Madi ice skating!