christmas week pics

Thought I'd post some pictures of our last week... Jasper is still sick with this virus- poor kid! We continue to be hopeful that he is going to be over this any day. Please. Please. Please.

We did open some presents on Christmas Day, even though he wasn't feeling up for much. Here's Jasper with his first lacrosse stick from Nana and Pop! (Jim played lacrosse for Yale so he's ready to follow in Papa's lacrosse cleats)


Jasper is opening a book- can you tell he's not feeling well?


Jasper loved to watch the fish at the hospital- yes, he's in a little hospital gown.


Jasper and Papa at the hospital


This is from the pre-sick days- Jasper loves to look in the fridge


And also pre-sick, Mama and Jasper


And finally, our little family Christmas photo taken at my birthday celebration last weekend. That seems like ages ago.

Quick Update

Jasper came home from the hospital last night. I now understand some of the stress I put my parents through with all my hospital visits. There is nothing harder than seeing your child in pain. He's still a pretty sick kid but we are managing his dehydration better now. Luckily, Jim and I are feeling better today- this bug is supposed to last 3-4 days so that is indeed a blessing. Jasper just finished day 4 so we are hopeful that it will be finished soon. Santa visited Jasper at the hospital yesterday and brought him some toys. It was both very sweet and somewhat heartbreaking as it was really hard to have him there for the holiday. Today we've just been caring for the little guy and trying to stay on the mend. Someday we will look back at this and laugh (I hope)- I can't count the number of times we've both been barfed on this week- one for Jim went down his shirt and right down his pants. Ok, I can laugh a little about it now. What else can you do?

We could use a little Christmas cheer...

The good news is that we are all ok. The bad news is that Jasper was hospitalized last night for dehydration related to the nasty virus he's had since Sunday. The other bad news is that, while sitting in the emergency room with him, Jim and I also came down with the same virus. I won't get into details, but it was an ugly scene. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Jasper should come home this afternoon- he is doing really well after some IV fluids. Not exactly what I had imagined for Jasper's first Christmas, but he is doing well, so that's the important thing. That's all the energy I have to write. Merry Christmas to all- hug your loved ones close.

Little Drummer Boy

Well, if we had to guess Jasper's future profession by the last few weeks, it would probably be a drummer. He loves to bang on pretty much anything and make lots of noise. My brother will appreciate the bongo drums in the picture below as he and I used to play with them when we were kids. Look out Animal!

Sorry for the late post! We were having some technical difficulties- all good now.

Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum...


Jasper's new outer wear from Grandma and Grandpa


Everyone loves the Tupperware cupboard


What a big boy!

Jasper and Esmae playing at Mickey's Birthday

Seriously, remember Animal from the Muppets??...

Let it snow!

We finally got some snow! It's been snowing big fluffy flakes all day long. We tried pulling Jasper around in a sled- he wasn't too crazy about it but he sure looked cute! Also this week, Jasper has learned to crawl like a big boy up on his hands (not the army crawling he has been doing)- but he still army crawls when he wants to get somewhere fast (like into Bear's bowl). He's also very into climbing the stairs and one afternoon went from bottom to top three times in a row!

In Jim and Bear news... click here to see their YouTube debut!

And in news of the weird- anyone who knows me well knows that I always have the most random medical things. Here's the latest... I'm allergic to cold. Didn't think it was possible? Unfortunately, it is. I'm figuring out creative ways to deal with it though since you can't keep a Finlander (living in Duluth) out of the cold.




Thanks to Finn and Leif for letting Jasper use their wonderful Wintergreen snowsuit!

So Big!

We are all on the mend... the good news is that Jasper's pneumonia is all better. The bad news is that he now has an ear infection. Poor kid. None of this has slowed him down in the least though. We had him at the doc and he is up to 19 pounds! This means he's been gaining an average of a pound every two weeks for the last couple months (since he started getting a formula supplement and eating solid foods). He's back up to the 50th percentile for weight for his age, which is much better than the 3rd percentile he was in for awhile so we are happy about that.

In other Jasper news, he's been saying "mama" and there are clues that he actually know what this means, which is very exciting. He's also just learned to do the classic "So Big!" (see video below). We've been trying to work on some sign language with him but we aren't very consistent with it yet. He continues to love balls of all shapes and sizes. Thanks again to Khamsin and Dan for the cow ball! He has been playing with it nonstop.

Here are some pics of the last week...

Jasper and Papa in their matching Carhartts- awwwww....


Whoa. Jasper is shocked.


YEA! Jasper and I attended a lovely baby shower for Jasper's cousin, Baby E, coming sometime in March! We couldn't be more excited for Erick and Andrea. Here is Jasper sitting on Baby E for what won't be the last time...


So Big!!

Jasper loves to climb the stairs. Here's the video you requested Nana!