6 weeks for the girl and croup for the boy

 6 weeks is a pretty good milestone, right?  She is doing so great. She is content and happy and is starting to talk more and more.  I realized a few days ago that she probably needs some toys, or things to look at, so we brought up Henry's baby toys and bought a couple new ones. She really likes the toys. She has even started batting them around with her hands.  It seems like a huge breakthrough mentally to go from sitting content watching the world go by, to actually interacting with the world by reaching out. I'm pretty sure she is thinking "What are those things on the sides of my body? What, I can actually move them? This rocks!."

 Look what I captured on my camera last night. Pretty great, right?  I couldn't have done it without my little Henry.  Now Henry is another story.  For the last 1 1/2 weeks Henry has had a pretty runny nose, but that was all. Yesterday his voice started getting hoarse and he developed a croupy cough. Henry has had croup in the past, but it is something you grow out of. Since he is 4, I was hoping the bad croup was behind us. He went to bed fine, but about 2 hours later woke up with a worse cough, was agitated and said he was having problems breathing.  Oh, and he had a high fever too. Croup is always worse when agitated and Aaron was able to calm Henry down.  So, Henry got treated with medicine and now he is acting pretty good. The cough has decreased, his hoarse voice is a little better and he doesn't have a fever. He will be fine, but now my major worry is Frances. She is only 6 weeks old and if she gets croup, she won't handle it well. We have tried limiting kisses to Frances and now are definitely keeping him away, but it is probably too late. She has been exposed. I am hoping upon everything that my breastfeeding and hand washing is enough to keep her well.  As a doctor I can think of all the things that could go wrong with her getting sick this young. Maybe it is better to be naive (although I will never have that option anymore). Being a parent can really pull at your heart strings. 

Also, being a parent can fill you with so much joy. Frances has already taken a special liking to Henry. Look at her smile at him, and look at how Henry is playing with her. Such joy.