Update

Please keep Finn in your prayers. It is 8:30pm and he is asleep. Neil said he just passed out on the bed. He started feeling worse in the evening and thew up all over himself when Neil took him for a walk in the stroller. He is also running a fever and they will have to start him on antibiotics if it doesn't go down. They are taking his temperature every hour, but they can do that in his sleep. The risk of further infection because of the surgery is high, thus the need for antiobiotics. I just hope he can get a good night's rest.

More Hospital

Well, they finally did the surgery at 2pm today. Finn was tired, thirsty and hungry by then, but Neil apparently did a great job of keeping him happy. They didn't find anything stuck in his lungs, but found an infection (I'm not surprised) and sent a sample to the lab. Finn did okay with the anesthetics, but Neil said he cried for about an hour after he woke up. AND - they are keeping him for another day! They want to x-ray his chest tomorrow and repeat the test for cystic fibrosis. Then they also want the asthma specialist have a look at him and will also run a test for lactose intolerance. So it is another night in the hospital for Neil and Finn, the poor guys! I hope they will get more sleep than last night.

Update

Neil and Finn are doing o.k. at the hospital. Finn was a champ about having an IV line put in. Now his whole hand is bandaged to keep him from moving his wrist. They did it so they can keep him hydrated tomorrow, as he is not allowed to eat or drink and they can't say when the surgery will be. (The youngest kids will come first, and they might have emergencies come in too.) Neil can sleep with Finn, and there are 2 other children in the room. Finn missed his nap and was a bit cranky, I think he was a bit overwhelmed by it all. He talked to me on the phone and said, "It's not very easy, Mama."

I hope he will have a good night's rest and will be on top of the surgery list tomorrow! I can't wait to have him back here.

Finn is in the hospital

Neil and Finn left for Munich today. I admit I am nervous, although it is only a routine procedure. Well, for them it's routine, but for us it is our one and only FINN! So I guess it is normal to fret a bit. I can't even phone, because they don't allow cell phones in the building and don't want the parents to phone the ward all the time, especially not when one parent is already there. So I have to wait for Neil to get in touch with me. It feels weird to be here just with Lily, the house feels pretty empty. I cleaned up the toys in the living room and 3 hours later it still looks pretty tidy. Wow! :-)

I will update again when I hear from Neil. They will run some tests today, take a blood sample and put an IV line in. The meeting with the anesthisiologist will be today as well. Hopefully all goes smoothly!

Claudia and Lily

Colds and Carnival

First, two pictures of Lily before and after her haircut. She looks so much more like a little girl now!

"Fasching" - carnival season - has arrived, and here in Bavaria it is mainly a thing for kids, although there are adult parties also. Finn is a little bumblebee this year, and Lily has a giraffe outfit, which is not really a costume as such, but still very cute. We had the playgroup Faschingsparty this morning, and Finn's daycare will celebrate next week. Finn really enjoys being a bumblebee. The other day he told me that that's what he wants to be when he grows up. :-) When I put the costume on him for the first time he was all excited: "And now Finn wants to fly!". Here are some pictures from playgroup:

The kids all enjoyed playing and eating Faschingskrapfen, a kind of doughnut. Even Lily had some. After playgroup we always clean up together and the kids roll up the rug when we are done. I shot a little video of that today. Here it is:

On a different note: Finn is sick again. He had had a runny nose for about two days when the coughing started. Neil took him to the doctor on Saturday and sure enough his right lung sounds bad again. So we are back to inhaling three times a day and have another appointment with his pediatrician tomorrow. She will decide then if Finn is well enough to have the bronchoscopy done on Thursday. Finn is in relatively good spririts and doesn't run a fever, so we are not confined to the house. However, he does cough badly whenever he starts running around or playing wildly, so I am happy that he enjoys playing with his tractors, books and puzzles. We'll see what his doctor has to say tomorrow!

Peek-a-boo!

Lily discovered a new game: peek-a-boo!

Maybe you can't tell because her hair is so messy in the video, but she also got her first haircut. Now she has nice bangs that won't fall into her eyes anymore, and the sides and back are trimmed. She was a really good girl at the hairdresser's!

Business as usual

This is the second week that Neil is back at work. Our daily routine has set in again, with Finn going to his "Zwergerlpark" daycare Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Lily's physiotherapy being on Monday and so on. Next week will be the last session of therapy for Lily. For those who don't know: Lily was born pigeon-toed, with a pronounced bend in her feet, especially in the right foot. For about 5 months now we have had weekly therapy sessions and I have been doing exercises at home with her. (I admit I often slack at that.) Her feet are basically massaged and stretched and then secured with a bandage to get rid of the bend. It has worked pretty well and I can leave the bandages off now, or just put them on at night. Another thing we are working on is - get this- rolling over. Lily somehow managed to miss that milestone, and the therapist showed me how to teach her to roll from her back to her tummy. We practice, but she still can't do it on her own.

This is strange especially because her other gross motor skills are well developed: she is crawling on all fours now, and pretty fast. She can sit very well and get into a sitting position from her tummy. She is pulling up on things, trying to stand. At just 8 months old this is pretty early. I guess she will learn how to not be stuck on her back eventually.

It is a joy to watch Finn and Lily play now. Lily just does things a bit ahead of her age and Finn "regresses" a bit - and they are a perfect match. They have crawling races and giggle their heads off. Finn shouts "Lily, come, come!", and Lily comes. She just adores him, even when he drives his bobby-car over her hands. (Ouch!) And this morning for the first time FINN came running to me crying. Lily had hit him on the head with a wooden toy hammer! A bit later in the day, Finn took his revenge: in an unsupervised moment he stole Lily's Cheerios box off the table. I ran back into the living room when I heard suspicious noises, but too late. THIS is what I found:

Oh well. (Note to self: don't leave Cheerios box on dining room table anymore.) I put them all back in the box, while Finn was standing in a corner "thinking about it". I can't get them here so I can't waste them! And I guess it doesn't matter if Lily eats the lint off the rug AFTER her cheerios or with them. :-)

But these little nuisances aside life is pretty good these days. We are all healthy and enjoying being a family. We do have a date for Finn's bronchoscopy: January 31st. He will have to check into the hospital (a children's hospital in Munich) on the 30th. But if all goes well and they won't find anything Finn can come home on the 31st. We hope and pray he will handle the procedure and anesthetics well. Lily is not allowed into the hospital, so I will probably stay home with her and Neil will check in with Finn.

Here are a few more pictures. One of their favourite games these days is "pirate's cave" in Finn's bed. His bed has two removable bars, so I can make an entrance to the "cave". Lily also likes riding the red rocking horse, especially when she can race after Finn on his bobby car (Daddy pushes Lily). Also, Finn ate with chopsticks for the first time the other day. He didn't do too bad!

Happy New Year!

A happy, healthy, successful new year to all our dear friends and family near and far! We hope to keep in touch with all of you and would love to see as many of you as possible.

All the best from
Claudia, Neil, Finn and little Lily