Update on Finn's health

Finn just seems to be getting sicker :-(

Yesterday he was diagnosed with pneumonia and will have to be tested for cystic fibrosis next week. We are allowed to treat him at home as long as he won't get a fever, but he has to see his pediatrician every day. We hope the new antibiotics will work!

A movie!

Click on the picture to watch Finn and Lily play with Lily's exersaucer!


Finn and Lily playing

More vacation pictures!

Finn happily digging away. He loved the "big ohange backhoe" in the background. (Still no "r-sound" from Finn :-)

Don't you think I am a bit overdressed, mom? Hm - yes.

Feels like home to Claudia. Something you don't get to see in Bavaria. Sigh.

Too bad pictures don't come with smell and sound! This one only captures half of the beauty.

Father and son.

Neil chilling with the kids on auntie Ursel's swing.

On the ferry to Warnemünde, watching the ships.

Finn on the boat, the ferry to Denmark in the background.

Oma Karin pushing the double stroller in Warnemünde.

Cheese!

Lilys first big trip!

Lily with Opa Harald.

And with Oma Karin.

With Omi Charlotte (Lilys full name is Lily Charlotte Helene.)

A proud mama with her two beautiful children.

Story time with Opa!

Lily's first big trip took her to the Baltic Sea to see her grandparents and great-grandma. We took our time getting there, stopping half-way to spend the night with my (Claudias) relatives near Leipzig. Nearly all of my aunts, uncles and cousins live in that area. We managed to visit with most of them and they were all absolutely thrilled to meet baby Lily. Lily was her usual self - smiles and hugs galore for everyone! She is such a darling.



Up north we stayed in a little cabin right by the beach, a 20-min drive away from Claudia's parents' house. (It was one of those cabins in Markgrafenheide where our Canadian wedding guests stayed in 2001.) The weather was beautiful most days. Finn enjoyed the sand on the beach, riding a boat, feeding the seagulls and watching the sunset by the seashore. We also met with friends, spent lots of time with Finn's grandparents and even got to celebrate Claudia's great-grandma's 83rd birthday. On Sunday we went to the Baptist church in Rostock, the church where Claudia and Neil got baptised and later married. We still have so many good friends there! Since the congregation stayed for a common Sunday lunch we had lots of time to visit. Finn was a little shy and in his usual pose: stuck to Neil like a little monkey. Lily, on the other hand, was somewhere with somebody nearly all the time. She enjoyed all the attention and new faces.



Unfortunately both kids were not really healthy. Lily had to see a doctor because she had started coughing quite badly. Finn is still not over his cold (4 weeks now!) yet either. So our nights were not really restful, but we are kind of used to that anyway... :-) Now we are back home, settling into our routine. Because of Lily's bad cold we temporarily (I HOPE!) abandoned our one-feeding-a-night-plan. I keep telling myself: in the big scheme of things my baby is a baby for only a very short time. If she needs me at night, I will be there for her. And Neil is helping as much as he can and then some. Thank you, Darling!

Nightshifts and dear visitors

I am happy to announce that I am more rested than I have been in a long time. Neil has taken over part of the nightshift! We finally decided it was time to wean Lily off the multiple nighttime feedings. So Neil and Lily have set up camp in our basement guest bedroom. When Lily wakes up Neil comforts her until it is time for her to eat - at about 4am. Do you know what that means?? I get 5 to 6 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep! Wooohoooo!! At 4am we switch. The first night Lily wanted to have her soother at 1am, 2am and 3am, the second night she didn't wake at all until 4am and last night she woke up a few times, mainly due to her stuffy nose. The reason Neil has taken over is that Lily is a smart girl. She knows the boobs are attached to Mama.

Last Saturday Patricia and Uli stopped by on the way home to Sweden from their vacation in Kroatia. It is always nice to have them here and we enjoyed spending the evening together. Lily took to Uli like he was her long-lost best friend. She was basically glued to him the whole time he was here. My normally fussy-in-the-evening baby just sat happily on his lap while we were all visiting and enjoying a nice a bottle of wine. As it got later and later, instead of becoming fussy because she was tired, she just melted into his arms, her eyes slowly closing. How sweet! We are thinking about a family trip to Sweden next summer. Their house is lovely, close to a lake on the edge of a small town in southern Sweden. Now that their own 4 kids are all grown up they have plenty of room.

Finn is doing a little better healthwise. The antibiotics didn't help and so we had to go back to the doctor. She said that he has a new virus infection! His cough was quite bad, and his nose extremely runny, but yesterday he started to get a lot better. The doctor gave us a machine so we could let him inhale at home; this seems to help. Hopefully we will all be completely healthy again soon!