Home from California

We're finally home after a whirlwind trip to California. I never thought I'd think 2 weeks was a whirlwind, but after the week we've had, we feel like we've been in a tornado and are just grateful our feet are still on the ground.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas with Granna & Papa Peterson, and all the aunties and uncles, and cousins. Baby Harms #3 will be the 7th GIRL cousin on that side, so we're not planning on putting away the dress up clothes anytime soon.  We spent a wonderful evening celebrating my parents' 35th wedding anniversary and are thankful beyond words for the heritage we have. We also had a chance to spend a few hours with my grandmother who is near the end of her beautiful life. Our time together was a gift.

Unfortunately for the 3rd time in as many trips, both Elizabeth and Ruby got a virus while we were away and by the time we got to the Bay Area on New Years Day to spend a few days with Grandma and Granpda Harms, Elizabeth was pretty sick. To make a long, exhausting story very short, both girls were feverish & coughing and nobody slept much over the weekend. On Sunday, Elizabeth was diagnosed with a bacterial pneumonia at Urgent Care and given two rounds of antibiotic injections so we could get on a plane yesterday to return home to St. Louis. Needless to say, Matt and I are doing our best not to make any rash promises to "never travel anywhere every again!" sigh...it's tempting though.

At our follow-up appointment with the pediatrician this morning, we confirmed that she also has another ear infection and Ruby has croup. We'll be so glad to get Elizabeth's tubes re-inserted on January 25th since this is her 2nd ear infection since we discovered her tubes had come out 4 weeks ago!  Also on the 25th, she'll get an endoscopy to see the status of the varices in her esophagus and they'll also stitch up her g-tube site which has remained unhealed since we removed her g-tube last February.

Lastly, we'll get another set of labs tomorrow to follow up on a strangely low platelet count seen on her blood work in California. We'll keep you posted if it amounts to something.