1Y44W: Croupy New Year (12/27/10 - 1/2/11)

I took Monday off to recover from the holiday and give myself an extra long weekend. It was nice to spend the day relaxing around the house with Lily and Rachel after a busy holiday weekend. I returned to work and Lily returned to daycare on Tuesday. Paul had to work as well which meant that Rachel had to spend the day home by herself. She had plenty to do as she was in charge of cleaning her room so that she would be able to go to her best friend Katelyn’s house for a sleepover that night. We took her straight over to Katelyn’s house after work and spent a while there visiting with Katelyn’s very nice stepmother, Maria. It was funny to watch Lily go from shyly clinging to us to eventually leaping all over their playroom without a lick of remaining bashfulness. I had my knee MRI after work on Wednesday so Paul had to pick up Lily from daycare solo then head over to Northville to pick up Rachel from her sleepover. I will find out the results from my MRI when I follow up with my Orthopedic Surgeon on January 10th.

Thursday was my last day as a Pulmonary Technologist for the U of M Pulmonary Lab. It’s all been very sudden and not all of the details of my new position are ironed out but my medical director created a new Pulmonary Technologist/Clinical Research Assistant position just for me for a big new research study. I will be working for him 4 days a week doing the testing portion of the study which is huge and also training to be a Clinical Study Coordinator which I have been interested in for years now. I will have a split appointment and will remain in the PFT lab on Fridays since we will only be seeing patients for the study 4 days per week. Even though the announcement and transition came suddenly, I was saddened that none of my co-workers acknowledged my last day in my current position and celebrated it in any way. I was hoping for a congratulations/good luck potluck like we’ve had for everyone else who has moved on or at the very least, a card and a wave goodbye. True, I will still be there on Fridays but zero fanfare about my promotion after 9 years of service stung.

Meanwhile, back home, my parents took Rachel to the movies and hung out with her. They were still there when we got home so we all had dinner together then they helped watch Lily while we packed to go to Grayling for our belated Christmas celebration with Paul’s parents. We relaxed and hung around Paul’s parents’ house on Friday (New Year’s Eve) but poor Lily just kept getting sicker and sicker as the day wore on. She had a fever which we were able to keep under control with Motrin but then she developed a barky cough which became more and more croup-like as the evening progressed. Without internet access, it was impossible to find an urgent care center that accepted my insurance. It was very frustrating because my insurance phone lines were closed for the holiday so I had to call my parents and have them check out the website for me. There was only one possibility but they were not close and were closing soon. So after dinner, we ended up having to take Lily to the ER at Mercy Hospital in Grayling since she was beginning to develop stridor. Even though it was a beautiful hospital and everyone was very nice, it was not where we wanted to spend our New Year’s Eve! Poor Lily cried every time anyone came near her. They gave her a cool mist breathing treatment and did an x-ray to look for the steeple sign to confirm the diagnosis of croup. She definitely had it so they gave us a prescription for steroids which luckily the in-house pharmacy was able to fill since they were the only place still open. We got back to the house around 11pm but were way too exhausted to stay up another hour to celebrate the beginning of 2011 so we went straight to the tiny bed with Lily wedged between us for a snug and fitful night. Lily felt better on Saturday but was subdued and definitely not her usual rambunctious super happy self. We headed home after lunch so that Rachel had time to pack for her return flight to North Carolina on Sunday. We were sad to see her go but had a great two weeks with her. Poor Lily spent most of Sunday looking around the house calling, “Rachel!” It was hard to explain to her that her beloved sister was no longer home and probably won’t be back until summer.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Lily opened a few more of her gifts on Monday one of which was this dinosaur inflatable sled. I nearly killed myself trying to inflate it. As you may recall, our previous sledding experience was a dismal failure but Lily really liked sitting in this sled indoors (with her beloved penguino) so I thought I would give it another try:

I got her all bundled up and let her sit in the sled indoors some more. Then I tried to pull her around a bit but told her it would be much easier and way more fun to pull her around outside. She seemed interested:

But, yet again, as soon as I tried to pull her around in the sled outside she freaked out and started crying. I don't quite understand it because she absolutely loves getting pulled around in her wagon but hates sledding:

Back indoors and pouting adorably:

My cutie cuddling with her "baby cat" and watching Dora in her Dora chair:

Lily is famous for sitting in oddball positions to watch TV. Here's one of them:

Lily brushing her teeth in her brand new Dora pajamas which she was most excited about. The lovely red spot between her eyes is from her throwing her giant penguino up in the air and having the hard plastic bottom come down and smack her in the head. Poor girl! It didn't seem to bother her, though:

Sitting in a box playing with her new bath letters at grandma and grandpa Rysso's house on Friday (New Year's Eve day):

The poor girl did not feel well at all. She was stuffed up with a fever and a cough which turned into croup:

Snoopy fell down so Paul made this sign for the injured dog:

At Paul's prompting, Lily added to the sign:

Even though Lily didn't feel well, Rachel can always make her smile:

Lily always likes to sit in various containers. She traded the box for this pink basket which she always sits in at grandma and grandpa Rysso's house:

On New Year's Day Maureen wanted to take Rachel for a walk down to Lake Margrethe. We tagged along since the cold air was good for Lily's croup:

My girls in their monkey hats:

Rachel reading to Lily back home that evening:

Lily already felt much better by Saturday night and happily cuddled this pink dog that she stole from grandma's house:

Lily and Rachel sharing an apple:

For some reason, probably because Rachel was wearing her winter hat, Lily insisted that I put my hat and scarf on as well. It was nice and cozy warm so I didn't mind: