Patrick Turns Three!

With party plans scrapped due to our extended stay in Irvington, we had an impromptu birthday celebration at Gran-D's house before heading home.

Patrick was thrilled to visit a bakery with Mommy and Daddy to pick out his cake. He squealed with glee, running from one display case to the next. It wasn't the "stawberry and carrot and pumpkin" cake he'd originally requested, but he was very excited about his strawberry shortcake with red writing and red candles.

Christmas in the ER

We knew it would be a low-key first Christmas for James. He hadn't been feeling well for the past week or so, and had been diagnosed with RSV. This virus causes a common cold in older children and adults, but can be especially hard on preemies. In James, it led to bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the bronchioles, the small airways in the lungs.

By Christmas Eve, with a couple of doctor visits and several long days and sleepless nights behind us, he seemed to be on the mend. So we went ahead with plans to spend Christmas with Michael's family in Irvington.

By Christmas night, we were starting to get worried. Michael made arrangements to check James' oxygen saturation at a nearby rescue station, and our fears were confirmed. High 90s are normal; Dr. Sheridan had said anything under 92 would require hospitalization; and we were seeing mid-80s... and then mid-70s.

After trying to figure out a way to get enough oxygen for the two-plus hours home to Albany Med, we decided to head straight to the ER at Westchester Children's Hospital. We didn't have to wait long -- a "former 26 week-er in respiratory distress" gets seen right away. He was admitted shortly thereafter, and there we stayed for the next 5 days.

He had pneumonia on top of the bronchiolitis, and needed oxygen, fluids, and antibiotics. Once he was finally able to get through the night without oxygen, we were on our way home at last -- just in time for Patrick's birthday!

In the Snow

Christmas in Irvington

Chef Patrick

Christmas in Maine

A blizzard in DC kept Robin from the festivities, and poor James wasn't feeling well, but the Dailey Boys had a wonderful time at the Smith house.

Homemade Christmas

In the spirit of a "homemade Christmas" this year, Michael had fun in the kitchen. Chocolate-covered bacon, candied bacon chocolate chip cookies, marshmallow peeps, spiced rum, homemade vanilla and vanilla sugar, spice rub, gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, three kinds of biscotti, nutella, candied nuts, and a failed attempt at brown-edged wafers...



Robin's crafts included felt food for Alex and Patrick's birthdays, the annual Bug Book and Cousins photo books for each side of the family, photo frame ornaments, marble photo magnets, super-hero capes, and a fleece blanket. Patrick made salt-dough ornaments, but then didn't want to paint all of them.

With a non-napping baby we ran out of time for everything on our list, but we had a lot of fun and vow to make presents every year!

O Christmas Tree

Finding the Perfect Tree

Veeder's Tree Farm in Earlton.

Developmental Exam

James saw a developmental specialist today and passed his 4-month exam with flying colors. Because he was 3 months early, they will continue to use his adjusted age for a full 3 years.

Dr. Malone said he was 100% on track in all aspects, and the nurse who did the bulk of the exam said he was actually ahead of schedule. While evaluated at 17 weeks, she said he was at 20+ weeks for language skills, hand coordination, attention span, head control, leg strength, socialability, etc. It was really interesting learning what they were looking for and what to expect as she took James through various steps.

We hadn't really been concerned as it seems he's been developing similar to the way Patrick did, but it was so wonderful to have it confirmed. He'll have a follow-up exam in 6 months.

The First Snow