Florida and our 6-month-old!

Last week we went to Florida to visit some old friends and to go to (gasp!) Disney World for a day. (Our friend who works there got us in for free, we wouldn’t have attempted it otherwise!) Our dear friends Matt and Shannon (Matt and Shanno, according to Gianna) were our hosts. We spent the first day in Doug’s hometown visiting his high school and former teacher “Auntie” Yentz. Mark loved playing on Yentz’s bed and Gianna loved playing in her garden.

Our day at Disney was HOT and mostly enjoyable. Gianna rode some rides and loved meeting the princesses (though she had reached her breaking point just before meeting Ariel, hence the photo of just Mark and me with Eric and Ariel). I thought the wicked stepsisters and stepmother were hilarious and this was actually one of the best videos we got. Luckily after a nap, she was ready to go again and she loved the parade we saw just before leaving. So all in all, it was a successful adventure. Mark mostly slept, but I consider that a success too!

The week after we got home Mark turned 6 months old. I still can’t believe it. He seems to be getting happier every day since his hospitalization too. We feel truly blessed to see our baby boy so happy again! He is definitely thriving. He has a new found love of solid food and formula. Here are his stats: 19 lbs, 3 oz and 28 inches long (the 90th and 95th percentiles respectively). Maybe he’ll play basketball…maybe not, the odds of him staying tall are NOT in his favor. Oh, and the day after his six month birthday he got his first two teeth!

Mark and Gianna have a newfound mutual admiration for each other. They just smile and laugh at each other all the time. And Mark watches her every move. It’s so fun to see them form a relationship!

Mother's Day and Mark update

The Thursday before Mother’s Day Mark had a follow up appointment with the infectious disease pediatrician. He said Mark looks perfect and that all we have to do is follow up with an ECHO with the cardiologist in a few weeks. (This is because Kawasaki disease can effect the heart arteries. His Echo in the hospital was normal, so we would just be making sure everything still looked good. We will likely have to do this annually throughout Mark’s childhood.) The doctor also said that the test for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever came back negative. However, he also said that, though he originally favored a Kawasaki disease diagnosis, he was now more 50/50 since Mark’s fever didn’t drop quickly after the IVIG treatment for Kawasaki disease. He said that if Mark were tested for RMSF now, it might come back positive. So, basically we may never know what he had. We don’t plan to test him again, but if the cardiologist wants bloodwork done, we may go ahead and have the test. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it though. The important thing is he’s back to his old self except for one small detail. He has laryngitis. We don’t know if this is some other virus or just the result of a lot of screaming while he was in the hospital. In any case, it hasn’t gotten much better over the last week, but it doesn’t seem to bother him and it has a certain charm. Here’s a video where I tried to capture the raspiness. I’m not sure you can really tell, but it’s a cute video regardless!

My Mother’s Day weekend was very nice. My in-laws came up Saturday morning to go to a couple wineries with us (yes, NJ makes wine!). We tasted some nice fruit wines and got a beautiful tour of central Jersey farmland. On Mother’s Day I went out for a pedicure and ate way too many bad things for me. I think I’m going to start calling Mother’s Day “Fat Day” cuz it’s all about food for me. I did get a pretty good picture of me with my babies to celebrate the day too. And here are two other funny pictures. Mark looks like he just smelled his own diaper and Gianna was loving posing with her cute hairdo which lasted maybe an hour beyond this photo session!

Easter and a week in VA

This is way late, but with Mark’s illness and my general tiredness, it got put off by about a month! But anyway, here it is.

We spent a lovely Easter weekend in VA. Gianna loved all things Easter: dying eggs, hunting for eggs, and getting stuff! It was super fun to spend the day with Doug’s whole family. Gianna and her cousin, Isabella, hunted for eggs several times and looked adorable in their dresses. (Isabella has a tutu on under hers. Too funny!) And though Doug will try to take credit, Nick made a fabulous meal!

The next weekend we went back to VA again because Doug was set to spend 4 days in Vegas and I wasn’t about to stay by myself with the two kids for all that time! Luckily, my parents were happy to oblige in helping me. Gianna and Mark had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. I’m sure they were tired from all the playing. We also got to spend some more time with Isabella and Jack. Gianna and Isabella are getting to be quite good playmates. It’s so cute to watch them and listen to their conversations.

Being silly with Nonna

Mark really enjoys eating his own socks. Hilarious.

Gianna enjoying crafts with Grandma

My new favorite picture of Mark. It's just so him.