Joseph's First Flu

Letters to Joseph-February Addendum
Feb 26
Dear Joseph,

First off, I should mention that at the time of your flu that I'm about to tell you about, you couldn't sit up on your own...this photo is just to demonstrate how grumpy you were. Not intolerably grumpy, just expectedly slighltly grumpy. But now, since you are feeling so much better, you are happy go lucky and can sit up for a long time by yourself...you must feel a renewed vigor! So...
In February, you got your first real fever. You had a touch of the flu. It all started when we were at Alex and Brianna’s wedding. We were having all kinds of fun dancing around with you, when we began to realize that you were shaking a little. This FREAKED us out and then we realized that you had the chills and were getting a fever. So I sat down and nursed you…this was a trick because I had a formal dress on, and then you threw up on that dress. Your Dad says I panicked a little at this point, but really I just wanted to take you home right that minute. So we got into the Mercedes (I mention this because it is nice and shakey since it’s old and it puts you right to sleep) and I sat in the back with you and held your hand until we got home.
You had a fever all the next day and I think I took your temperature every 15 minutes…I know I’m a freak. We put a cool cloth on your forehead and your fever was at about 100-101 degrees. It did get up to 101.5 at which point I called the consulting nurse. She said that I shouldn’t give you baby Tylenol until it got to 102, but I ignored her and gave it to you anyway. You felt better and we almost all better by the next day. THEN, your Dad got the flu from you…HE had a 102 temp for 2 days and had it much worse than you. I felt like friggin Florence Nightengale around here for a while there!
Here’s to the Spring and some warmer weather!
Love, Mom

Letters to Joseph-February Part Two

February 25, 2007

Dear Joseph:

This week has been so fun because you have still have been consistently flipping over from your back to your front and then from your back to your front! You play and play in your crib and under your gym. AND, this very week you started sitting on your own. We have to get you started, but you all of a sudden have so much balance. You also are standing in your crib with your hands on the railings. Full disclosure here…you are so mobile that once this week, I left you on the bed, and just as I was coming back, I heard, kerplunk!...not too loud, but I knew you’d fallen off the bed. FORTUNATELY, you fell onto Liam’s bed, so it broke your fall and you only cried for a minute. I hope you don’t read over these letters thinking, sheesh, my mom dropped me a lot!...but I’m putting these things down so that when your baby falls off the bed, and you ask me if that ever happened to you, I can tell you exactly that it did happen and when! And, no, I haven’t dropped you on your head. You also have discovered your ‘bits’ as your Dad calls them…it makes you laugh. You belly laugh a lot and smile freely at everyone you meet. I also discovered that you love ice. It’s a little dangerous to give you an actual piece of ice because you could choke, so I put it in this sort of contraption that’s meant for kids to eat fruit though, it’s kind of a netted pouch with a handle. It must feel good on your gums and that must mean that you’re going to cut teeth soon. Now, this is another thing that will embarrass you when you are older, but you will discover when you become a father, that every little thing that your children do, is of the utmost interest…including poop. And when it comes to poop, you don’t do it much. Ever since you were about 2 months old, you have only pooped about once a week. Now, this makes for easier parenting…but has brought some worry. Your dear Dr. Danielson keeps telling us that it’s normal. OK! Fine. We have started to put you down to sleep as much as we can and I sing and hum to you…sometimes I sing Tu La Loo Ra Loo Ral, and sometimes Stake Awake, from Mary Poppins. Last week, I had a meeting at St. Marks, and your Grandpa Steve took you on a long walk all around Capitol Hill. He took you to the Conservatory, to Broadway, and just around the neighborhoods. It was a beautiful sunny day and he was delighted with how interested in everything you were. He loves you so much. Your Dad wants me to put that you are just such a happy little joyous boy and he loves you more than anything ever! As do I…you bring a new kind of marvelous peace, excitement, and joy to our lives.

Love, Mom

Letters to Joseph-February Part One

Dear Joseph:

February 2007

February 19, 2007
Hi Sweet Baby…today is February 19th and today you started rolling over by yourself consistently. Right now you are under your ‘gym’ and I set you there on your back and you rolled right over and started playing with your train. You used to get a little hung up on your arm, but now you’ve got it figured out! Today, while trying to get you to sit by yourself, because you like to stand better, I set your hands on the side your crib and you stood there holding yourself up!

We just back from our first overnight trip to the Cabin with you. We got there Saturday early afternoon and we put you in the backpack and I walked you down ‘below’…that’s what we call the lower pasture. You were fascinated by all of the trees and leaves and light. Liam rollicked all around us and you just had so much fun!

Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Norm were up at the Cabin too, and they loved watching you love the Cabin!

You are also making so many new sounds…ahhhhh, eeeee, owwwaahhh!

We snuggled you in the rocking chair by the wood stove and I nursed you all wrapped up in my shawl. Before it got rainy and windy, we sat around the campfire outside of the Airstream. The trees were blowing in the wind and the sun was just setting. I knew this was one of the most sweet moments of life right then.

On Sunday, you played on a quilt on the floor while I made egg soufflé on the wood stove. What a relaxing fun weekend.

Letters to Joseph-January

Dear Joseph:

January 2007

One of your favorite things to do now is have your pants and/or diapers taken off and to grab your feet and put them in your mouth! In fact, pretty much anything you can get your hands on goes into your mouth. You grab my hair, my necklace, my fingers…and put them in your mouth! You are also quite the drooler. Grandma Joyce made you 3 bibs to control the drool, but you soak them right through…I guess this means teeth soon! You like to lie under your ‘gym’ and pull on the toys hanging over your head. You also have started to like to have ‘tummy time’ on a blanket on the floor…usually for about 5 minutes. I can even prop you up a little and you sit for a few seconds on your own.

This month I’ve started working on several different projects and it’s been a bit of a trial to get in a groove with that. You’ve come to a lot of meetings with me and you’ve been pretty content, but as you get more and more active, it’s harder to bring you along, besides, no one pays attention to what I’m saying because they are staring at YOU. I work one day on the Homeless Place of Remembrance and four hours for Mithun. Even though it’s not much, it’s hard to squeeze it in. You are beginning to go and stay with Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Norm more often and they love it!

Now, I must tell you about the week we had from heck. It first started with you getting your second round of shots…it went OK, but it was just stressful, so it put me ill at ease…I think that’s why, when visiting Aunt Malia and Cousin Henry for lunch, we tumbled down their porch stairs! We were OK, Cousin Henry was concerned though, because we had taken quite a spill. I skinned my knee and you tumbled into the yard while strapped into your car seat…the handle was up which was good because it functioned like a ‘roll bar’ and you were only startled. Then we both got colds. This was on the heels of you being dropped by your dear friend Indi…I should mention that this was NOT her fault…she was so excited to see you that she wanted to hold you. She took you from your Dad and then tripped over some boxes…you both went down, clunk, but the boxes broke your fall. Again, you weren’t hurt, only startled and we nursed and you were fine.

Later that week, your Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Norm had a bad car accident…they were ALSO ok which was really a miracle, because they were hit by a semi-truck! We rushed up to the emergency room to see them in Everett…you were totally calm. Grandpa Steve happened to be over when we got the call, and he just walked you around the ER. That was your first trip to the hospital…most babies can’t say that. I must admit, my patience with the events of this month has been thin…I can honestly say though, that I haven’t yet lost patience with you…you are really typically content and pleasant in every way. I’m sure it will happen eventually, but you are the calming element to this month! Sometimes when I’m really stressed out, we just take a bath…you love to float in the warm water and we have time to relax. You feel so comfortable in the water, that sometimes when I hold you lightly on your stomach and you float, you dip your face in…which makes you cough and snort. This might make a baby cry, but you don’t and you haven’t stopped doing it yet.

The crazy weather of this winter continued this month…two pretty big snow storms! One blanketed our house and made us miss a pediatrician’s appointment, and with the other one, we were at a meeting and had to hurry home in the snow. You fell asleep for the trip home, but we were going up a hill, and we got stuck with a van with bald tires in front of us. I was not my usual sunny self to him as he almost hit us…I just didn’t want him to bonk us and wake you up!

Looking back over the month, and believe me, this is the version that I’m trying to put a positive spin on…there’s much more grown-up drama that I’m trying to gloss over…it’s been a crazy one. I’m ready for warmer weather and fewer accidents and storms! All the same, cue music, when I look into your eyes or watch you sleep, I feel safe and happy. I breathe in your sweet scent and nuzzle your little ‘sciff’ of hair and all is well.

Letters to Joseph-December

Dear Joseph:

December 2006

Your First Christmas!
We have had so much fun this month doing all sorts of Christmas things. One of the first things we did was to take you up to the Cabin and get our Christmas Tree. This was our first trip with you to the Cabin and we went with Gretchen and Andre Champoux. It was a pretty cold day, so we went right in to Uncle Clyde’s cabin and built a fire in the stove. I sat with you on the rocking chair and nursed you. Then we cooked lunch and you snoozed in the Moby wrap. We finally went to cut down our tree and you slept right through the whole thing.

When we got home and put the tree up though…you LOVED it. You stare at the lights and are transfixed.

This month you are totally grasping toys and starting to grab for our food a little. I want to put off feeding you solid food for as long as possible though…here’s why:
1. This creates more work for me.
2. I like the idea that all of your makeup has come directly from me to this point. As soon as you get food from other sources, you will become directly connected to the food chain. As it is right now, I’m your link to the food chain and I love that intimacy. I am savoring it because I know soon you will become more independent.

You also have started to ‘vocalize’…this means goo goo and gaa gaa. You stick out your little upper lip and make lots of sounds. Your Dad and I repeat them and we all laugh, including you…that’s another thing you are doing a lot of…laughing heartily!

My original plan was that come January, I would go back to work at Mithun almost full time. As that time inches nearer, we have decided that it will be too difficult to have other people take care of you while I pine for you at work. The new plan is that I’ll work from home some fewer hours per week and go back to work when you are one year of age. I am so grateful and blessed to have this time with you and I intend to savor every minute of every day.

This has been a crazy weather winter so far…we had an amazing wind storm that was the strongest in ten years. Now I know you love wind, but easy! Lot of trees fell in our neighborhood and the power went out all over Seattle. We held you tight in bed with us and we stayed warm.

More Christmas stuff…We brought you to see Santa where Grandpa Steve works…Swanson’s Nursery. Santa decided to make an appearance in his sleigh and you sat in his lap and he wondered when you might be wishing for a tennis racket? We told him maybe next year. They also have Santa’s Reindeer at Swanson’s and you stared at them and thought they were pretty cool too.

On Christmas morning, we got up and went out to the Christmas Tree…Santa had come and brought you presents!!! He brought you:
A Sock Monkey
A Wooden Train
Some Animal Figures (Polar Bear, Cow, White Tiger, Elephant)
A Walking Elephant that clicks down a ramp
Some Bath Toys (A Giraffe and Elephant that float with little giraffes and elephants on their backs)
Some Clothes (I KNOW….booorrring), but as a Keene, “it wouldn’t be Christmas without clothes”
Wooden Block Fruit
And a few other things….

After we had our own little Christmas Morning, the rest of the family came over and we opened presents with them. Your Auntie Ali and Uncle Oogie sent you a Polar Bear outfit and you wore that and jumped in your Johnny Jump Up which you still love.

It was magical to have you with us on Christmas Morning, and even though this is all new to you and you don’t quite understand yet…you bring all of the brightness and joy to this holiday now and forever.