Pretty pictures

Just some pretty pictures I snapped this morning... I wonder, should I start a February Gallery? Oh, ok. I will. Here it is.

Thanks Aunt Mary

Sylvie had a real nice time with her Aunt Mary last night. Puzzles, books and snuggling, we're told. She was especially excited to see Aunt Mary still here this morning. "MARY!!!"

Some random videos from today

Just around the house this weekend:

A puzzle segueing nicely into a nap;

The latest in my futile effort to get Syl to sing her ABCs on camera (she blows through them no problem when it's not on, I swear - has for months! - but for some reason as soon as the camera is on she gets all coy. It also seems she enjoys yanking my chain...)

New ways of using her slide and tiny indoor jungle gym (by far the best thing I ever bought her, at least from a longevity of use perspective;

And a longer vid that gives a nice sense of Syl's budding imagination. She loves to play with her little stuffed animals now. The pudgy monkey she just got in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa is a new favorite. The plot is pretty limited: status check ("you ok?" "I ok."), followed by travel, followed by nap. Repeat. There's also some animal high-fiving, and an ear inventory. Somehow I find it endlessly fascinating to watch though...

Sylvie's Aunt Mary is coming over tonight while her mom and dad go into the city with their friends Chris and Jessica Green, to see a blues concert at a place we used to frequent in our law school days (a decade ago!!!). Aunt Mary is going to stay over night, which will be particularly fun for Syl.

Sylvie's folks, the Schill, and the next Gov and LG of MA

We just received this photo, taken at a holiday fundraiser for Charlie Baker (the next Governor of Massachusetts). Recognize the bruiser next to Melissa?

Walking away from the photo, she asked me "who was that guy next to me?"

"That guy, honey, was a professional athlete just two years ago."

We're pretty sure Schilling has stopped working out... Pretty cool to meet him, even though his socks were unbloodied.

Quick health update

It occurs to me that since my litany of health complaints, I haven't provided any updates. Sylvie continued to recover from her ordeal over the weekend. By Monday's appointment with the doctor her lungs had almost entirely cleared. Ditto for her ear infections. She's back to her old self and back at "school" as of yesterday. Melissa reports that her friends we very excited to see her, yelling "Sylvie!! Yaaaaay!" when they arrived yesterday. Sylvie responded, oddly enough, by stating "Caillou." That's the name of a (particularly irritating) television show that she likes. I assume that was Sylvie's way of saying, "I've been at home watching TV all week, suckers."

Florida Christmas Video

Sylvie is dying to play today, but exertion makes her cough... so she's taking it easy in front of the TV for at least one more day while I catch up on some video editing. Here's the long-awaited Florida Christmas video...

Getting Better and Better

You know things are returning to normal in our house when I'm back posting every little moment of Sylvie's life to our blog...

Here's a cute video of Sylvie's post meal bath last night. Those who have been dogged by my video camera will appreciate the casual but pointed brush-off she gives me at the end...

Good night last night. Some coughing, but nothing over and above what you'd expect from a regular cold. Still hacking this morning - but hacking and eating, which is the big thing. A whole cereal bar for breakfast today... which isn't any different from the amount she ate pre-illness.

Turns out somebody upstairs took me up on the offer of 'cosmic balancing' that I made two nights ago. As predicted by Syl's pediatrician on Monday, RSV does in fact manifest in adults as a very bad cold. So far so good for Melissa, and with Sylvie on the mend I could care less about some sniffles.

Also, I just experienced a particularly nice milestone. We're always telling Sylvie "I love you," and usually/sometimes she echoes us. Just now, for the first time, I was just walking through the room where she's watching Dora the Explorer, and she looked up and said, "Daddy?" "What Syl?" I asked. "I love you," she said without looking away from Dora. Good stuff.

Also, a moment ago she came up to me, tugged my leg, and said, "I HAPPY!!! YAAAAAAY!" and then ran off to play with her puzzles. She can't say, "Boy, I feel better and I sure am happy about it" - but that's what she's saying!

Looking forward to resuming my usual happy posting!

Sylvie is happy to see herself feeling better too...

Mirror shots, post very fun bath this evening. It's amazing how her little personality just surged right back with just a half a peanut butter sandwich and some animal crackers!

I'm sure the euphoria at having our girl back has something to do with it, but this last shot is now officially my favorite photo of Sylvie.

The most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen

With apologies to Ned Beatty's character in the movie Rudy, Notre Dame Stadium doesn't hold a candle to the sight that greeted me when I walked in from work tonight.

Over the hump?

That's an aspirational subject line... not sure yet. I'm at work this morning, so I haven't seen her first hand today.

Sylvie went to bed and to sleep very peacefully last night, once the coughing fit subsided. She woke up twice for pretty long, pretty bad coughs - at 1am and at 5am - before getting up for good around 9. No more vomiting, though, and in between fits she slept deeply, so that's good. Melissa reports that her little nose is a muck-fountain. Probably due to the ear infections. We're hoping that the new antibiotic kicks in today and takes care at least of those, so we can tell if the lung thing is getting better. Right now it's impossible to know if this terrible cough is still the bronchiolitis or if it's caused by the drainage from her ear infections. The bronchiolitis ought to be clearing up by now. It generally lasts 3 days to a week, and she's been fighting it since Sunday. Still no interest in food, but she's already into her first glass of juice of the day.

In other happy news, the 'bad cold' that the doctor predicted Melissa and I would get (that's how RSV manifests in adults) has arrived for me. Melissa is holding it off for now. I'm hoping there's some sort of cosmic balancing that will deduct from Sylvie's suffering as my symptoms get worse. That'd be fine by me.

Thanks again for all the messages. I look forward to posting the "out of the woods" video some time this weekend. We're also really looking forward to February. With the exception of our fun and blessedly illness free week in Florida, January has been the pits this year!

UPDATE (noon): I just called to check in, and (knock wood) it seems things are improving. Melissa said Syl is in a good mood, and has been playing all morning without triggering any bad coughing fits. She ate a little banana and a few raisins so far today. She said hi to me on the phone, and sounded croaky but in good spirits. Fingers crossed out there, please!