A Whole Month's Worth of Posts

I've been busy working with my congregation for our 3rd annual Nativity Experience for the community (nativityexperience.blogspot.com). I work on it every day, so I'm behind on Jessica's blog. So I'm warning you: this is a long entry.

This October, with high temperatures still in the 80's, we got a visit from Dave's old lab buddy from University of Texas and his new wife. They had just finished a cruise, and since one of their adventures got rained out, we went snorkeling here in Jupiter. 

I drug Ruth along for some letterboxing, since there are 2 hidden near the inlet. (One I still can't find.) Jessica played and napped, and Dave kept his cell phone out of the water.

Apparently it was jellyfish day at DuBois Park. About 7 people were stung by some bad, unseen jellyfish, including a little kid all over his body (he was OK after a vinegar spray), and Dave and Jay got a little zapped when they were snorkeling in the inlet.

There were also some harmless comb jellies, less than 4 inches long. They have rainbow lights along the edges and we picked some up in our hands. If you look close you can see tiny orange, green, and purple lights.

On Conference weekend, Jessica went to the hospital. She had had a 102 fever for a week, and the doctors decided it wasn't teething, ear infections, or viral, so they took some blood and urine tests and gave her antibiotics. The next day her white blood cell count was HIGHER, not lower, so they sent her to the hospital as a precaution and for more tests. Her only other symptom was sleeping more, and probably peeing less, although we didn't notice it.

It turned out all she had was a urinary tract infection, but those results didn't come for days. In the mean time, the hospital came up with all sorts of creative tests to figure out why her white blood cell count was higher than a UTI would indicate.

We were just along for the ride the first few days. We found out Jessica's veins are hard to tap, and I couldn't stand to see her hurt, so Dave held her. She didn't like her left arm tied up to an IV, but she figured out how to wriggle some fingers out of the tape and use just her right hand. She perked back up with fluids and antibiotics, and soon acted like she was just there for fun. She had a hightech crib and a gold star helium balloon and lots of attention. Dave and I stayed with her 24 hrs for 4 days, until the last night, when she was back to her 12-hr sleep schedule: we broke down, went out to eat, then slept at home.
  

By this time, to make a long story short, we were getting tired of waiting, testing, and the parade of doctors. A misdiagnosis of pneumonia didn't help. They wanted one more test, but I wasn't buying it. I stayed up two nights for hours reading medical information online, and we discussed it. We decided to check her out. And she is just fine so far--happy and healthy. We learned a LOT about when to trust the doctor and when to trust our instincts. We appreciated the attentive care she did get and the blessings of technology.

OK, back to the fun stuff! Jessica, in the last month, has learned a lot. After self-feeding only crackers for 2 months, she finally figured out pincher grasp and started getting Cheerios in her mouth. Hooray for self-feeding babies!

She can't pick up those slippery fruits, so we tried this game one day:

She also likes to try drinking from a cup (no love for the sippie, yet)  . . . 

. . . and last week I came in after her nap to see had she sat up on her own. 

She gets on her knees sporadically, so this is my best picture. We cheer every time she does, so she knows she's doing something good. Now if she's on carpet, she can move forward to get toys. It's more of a kneel-flop forward-kneel-flop forward procedure so far. She can sit up and lay down at will now, and we are so proud. 

She is wandering farther from where we put her down, and so pleased with herself!

She's learned to drum, and babbles all the time. She says "dadadadada" all the time, occasionally says something with "k" when she sees Smokey, and knows how to say "MA!" randomly, but we're not counting anything as words yet. She knows when we ask her a questions she's supposed to say something back, and when we are telling her the name of what she has in her hand.

A friend of mine watched Jessica while I did the sound checks for Nativity. Jessica  babbled "dadada", and their family dog ran to the door thinking that their "dad" was home from work!

But she has her bad moments. She's learned to pitch fits: throwing her head back, leaning to the right, grabbing her right ear, and wailing like she's dying. But you put Cheerios on her tray and the tears suddenly evaporate. She poops in her bath, pinches us, and tries her best to jump from high places. But not too often. It all melts away when she leans forward to kiss us without being asked.

Here's a clip of me trying to secretly film her doing her new "evil laugh". I was trying to only video her from the waist up since she was taking her bath. (Now we know why she does that evil laugh in the tub!) The bathtub surprise we caught on tape made me laugh too, but disgusts Dave. We've talked seriously about early potting-training techniques . . . 

Dave is training Jessica young to root for the family alumni college football teams . . .

and Mommy spent several hours sewing a biblical costume for Jessica's first Christmas.

And there's lots of time for laughing; at anything that comes near her chin:

And the cat, of course:

April Activities

OK, I have some major catching up to do for our lives in April. Here's a sample:

Dave and I took Jessica to the newly opened area of Riverside Park for a walk one Saturday. It was a nice walk, (although I was a paranoid new parent, and was watching for alligators and running through emergency scenarios in my mind.)

I'm standing next to a huge "treehouse" banyan in the park. Two kids were playing in the middle of all the trunks. We are sooooo impatient for Jessica to grow up so we can play with her in places like these!

We saw several wild turkeys walking around a chimney leftover from Florida pioneer days. I guess there are several old cabin sites in the park.

Dave turned 33 in April. He loves being a dad; although he says he wants her to be 2 now, you should hear him play with her in the tub.

Ilana was my Division 7 tennis partner most of the year, and together we were undefeated. Dave and Jessica came to watch us play the PGA team as substitutes on the Division 5 team. We won that game, and secured enough points to guarantee first place for the team. Ilana is from Isreal, and she had a great Hebrew accent and a fun personality, but she liked to win too which was a good match for me.

Below is part of our Lake Park Division 7 team at our home court next to the Intercoastal waterway. I'm in back, third from the left. On my left is our co-captain Dorothy Alva, whom I owe for persuaded me to start playing tennis 2 years ago. Our tireless and wordy coach Itamar always has his teams place, and he's got his arms around our lovable co-captin Gabby.

And there's all the stuff we do to keep Jessica entertained at home. She likes water, but swimming right before bed made her pretty cranky. All she liked doing was licking my shoulder. Her baby fat body floats like a bouy!

Dave bathes Jessica, which I do most every evening, because it entertains her for 15 minutes, it keeps her from getting baby acne on her cheeks, and because we don't have 6 other kids to mind.

Jessica helps me surf and blog and send emails, but for very short times.

Jessica & "friends" hanging out at the end of April, when she was 2 months old. I put her in the same position at the end of May, and she need lots more animals and music to keep her occupied, and pushes so hard with her legs her head was hanging over the front of the rocker.

I contacted the county for a house to paint, and they had a close one for us to do on our church's Southeast U.S. Day of Service, April 25, 2010. (Seven other wards in Palm Beach County had the same idea, and it was a lot less work for me than organizing last's years clothing drive.) Brother Mike Phillips arranged the day's details and other projects the closer we got to the actual day, which just left me with public affairs stuff--after report & article & pictures & flyers.

The pile of plants and trash was about four feet high, six feet wide, and almost the thirty-foot length of the property. Makes my home feel like a sparkling palace.

Apparently other groups had failed to do this house. It was 2 story stucco (really hard to paint), and that was after one group had already weedwacked a good portion. The house was covered in mold, surrounded by overgrown foliage, rusty yard furniture, a hive of bees, piles of broken glass, a snake, and a dead animal carcass. Below Joanna Aiken, the SWA coordinator, and the homeowner pose with Brother Phillips & I. The 80-yr old lady with a funny wig and "furniture store owner", an alcoholic son, and several mysterious renters gave this project a real special flavor. But they were grateful, and the busy corner looks better, so I feel it was worth it.

Dave found a shady spot to paint. The other adoptive family in our ward watched Jessica the whole morning, so I could take pictures and paint and sort junk.

(Brother Phillips drove by the house last week, and there is a for sale sign in the yard. I think we were hoping the painting would help the homeowner live there, but apparently it will help her move out. Oh well.)