The Oscars are Long but this Entry is Short

Well, as most everybody already knows, we were at the hospital with Susannah last week. She got another UTI we found out Friday night; Saturday morning she started a new antibiotic; Saturday afternoon she ran a fever; Saturday night we were at the emergency room. She was on i.v. antibiotics for 48 hours followed by oral antibiotics. She did fine.

Tuesday afternoon we came home. Unfortunately she caught a nasty cold at the hospital and Tuesday night and Wednesday were stressful because her fever came back in addition to a harsh cough, snotty nose and little bit of vomiting. We were worried that maybe the UTI was still not under control, but once the fever passed Wednesday night we all felt a lot better and knew it was just a cold.

There are a lot of details that I will skip. In short, it was rough and things are better now. Everyone knows this is a sucky situation. It will get better once she has her ureters reattached, and we will meet with the urologist in early March in hopes of setting a date for that surgery. Until then all we can do is endure and help make Susannah as happy as possible.

This blog was intended to keep Susannah's admirers abreast of her adventures here in the big city. Here's to fewer medical updates and more about the fun she is having.


Playing with Grandma Moonpie



















Making herself at home in the hospital

















Checking out the chickens in Chinatown













A busy Sunday morning with Dad



















Little monkey's favorite monkey

Aplins Finally Leave Apartment (with Baby and Camera)

A balmy day in February, so we get adventurous and head into Manhattan to meet Ben-David and James for brunch. Susannah, who thinks we are going to another doctor's appointment, is not very happy at this moment.



















This is S after we let her gnaw on a piece of bread for half an hour. She thinks brunch is much better than apple sauce in the high chair.













James points out the finer points of NoLita to Susannita.


















Making our way through Chinatown. She's looking around for possible doctor's offices.













Sch-a-wing!

































Swinging in the Lower East Side. Hipsters in fixed-gear bikes were playing bike polo one block south and no junkies or dead rats to be found.

Little Monkey Sits Up, Eats Banana

Sitting up! That's what we've been practicing around here. It is what she wants to do and we are doing our best to keep the face plants to a minimum.







































Mealtime has been more of a challenge. Little shnookums was 16 pounds, 6 ounces at the pediatrician on Friday, which is exactly the same as the week before. Sigh. She has been rejecting all solid food with the exception of banana, which she laps up every single time it is offered to her. We mix it with rice cereal and have had success with new cereals like oatmeal. Our pediatrician suggested offering one new food every day for seven days. She is on day 4 of applesauce and it is still a no-go.

She likes her new high chair and likes giving orders from it.




I'll feed myself, thank you.












If you even think of putting applesauce on that spoon . . . .




That's it. You're fired.







Otherwise, we wait for doctors' appointments to roll around. We go to the nephrologist Feb. 12 and back to the urologist Feb. 17. We have a sodium test tomorrow and the latest urine culture was clean, so all in all we can't complain. Now if we could just slide some bacon grease in those bananas....

Eight Months Old (!)

Good news first -- Susannah's sodium is now a perfect 140 and her urinary tract infection has finally cleared! Everyone is super exited about that but of course I am still a little worried that any day now she will get another one. I'm working on being more optimistic.

You'd think that clean bill of health would make Susannah be extra cheerful but oh no, she went and caught a cold this weekend and also happens to be pushing out her first tooth at this very moment. You can barely see it but you can certainly feel its sharp little cusp. Poor thing has been quite cranky for a couple of days. It seems she would rather have her finger pricked at the pediatrician's than let me get at her nose with the booger-suction thingy.

Despite the cold and the teething, she'd definitely getting stronger and staying awake longer. She's been sitting up quite well on her own though we still need to "spot" her.

Here she is sitting up like the big 8-month old that she is!



















This is what dad gave her for her birthday.... ha....ha.....

Watching and Waiting and Hanging Out

A relatively quiet week here at the Aplin house, er, apartment. Susannah's last renal scan showed no additional obstructions (yay!) and the urine culture showed that once again, new bacteria had grown that was resistant to the antibiotic she was on (boo!). She's been on a new, very heavy-duty medication for a week now with good results. She had another urine culture and sodium test at the pediatrician Friday. Also, she weighs about 16 1/2 pounds now, which is pretty good, but Operation Fatten Her Up is not over.

Other than that, we've been enjoying normal stuff like baths and snacks (yes, it is an exciting life we lead). And Susannah's enthusiam mirrors our own when it comes to President Obama! That's something to really be excited about.

Susannah's First Winter

Going for a stroll at the mostly vacant Botanic Gardens.


















Prospect park: where the kids weren't sledding, there wasn't much going on there either.































That's Susannah in there.



















Back at home watching the snow fall.

Susannah's Bedtime Routine

First, roll around naked and laugh.

















Then, a bath.













Then, the slow but inevitable meltdown. We begin by itching our eyes.













Followed by extreme crankiness.














And finally, we pull our ears. And we wonder why dad's still taking photos.