Avacados, Emergency Rooms and Cozy Cabins!

Yes. These three items can summarize for you the last 10 days or so of my life since I last wrote! We have been a busy little family. First of all, on a happy note...I am finally making my own baby food, and I am really enjoying it! I made bananas, avocados, and sweet potatoes today! Yummy! I love sweet potatoes...even in the pureed form! I have decided that this is a healthy, money-saving choice for our family, so hopefully I can venture onto new foods in the future! Ice cube trays and a blender are the two simple tools, and viola!, Jonas has fresh food to eat, and Mommy knows what's in it:)
In other news...we did end up in the Emergency room this last week because my poor little baby had a 103 fever and his fontanel (soft spot) was swollen...we called my mom and she said that we should defiantly go into the clinic and get it checked out, so I called the on-call doctor and he wanted Jonas to be seen that evening.
Then, sure enough, concerns elevated after checking his ears, throat, lungs, and anything else that might be infected with no luck...our poor baby was sick, but he didn't have any symptoms except for the temp and bulging lump on his head! The doctor at the clinic, after a variety of tests, sent us down to St Paul Children's Hospital ER for some further evaluations... 3 pediatricians felt Jonas' head, he had blood taken, and even a little catheter put in...so sad...but he was a trooper in his little purple smock, and especially loved the doctor that made a clicking sound with his tongue the entire time he was in the room...:) (sometimes the weird doctors are the ones that kids love best:) We were told that the swollen fontanel could be from the fever, but that they weren't sure where the fever was coming from, so they were concerned about Meningitis. Thankfully, after some blood tests, (his white blood cell count stayed stable) we were told that this didn't seem to be the problem. After several hours of waiting, as we were praying to be able to go home, I went out on a walk to get some juice and visit the clown fish down the hall (Jonas had finally fallen asleep on the bed in the room), and right as I came back, Jason had packed everything up, and told me we could go home...on the way we picked up some Ibuprofen for the fever, and with grateful hearts hit the sack that night....so much can happen in 6 hours!
Jonas is doing much much better, and we were able to enjoy a wonderful weekend with some dear friends in the Northwoods of Wisconsin after all...Lisa and Bryan met us in Prentice, WI where we rented the cutest cabin(complete with a loft and several creatures adorning the walls (bear, buck, and even a creepy-looking squirrel)-the cabin was called "Creatures Retreat"- a little ironic, considering the creatures on the walls were the ones that fell victim to some "retreating" hunters:) We had a blast playing games (Settlers of course:), eating food (specifically homemade jerky and venison bacon...yum yum!!), unevenly baking cookies (thanks to a tiny stove that wouldn't shut because the pan was too big!), giving Jonas a bath in the sink, watching the boys play video games, taking walks, snowboarding and tubing at Camp Forest Springs...the tubing hill is incredible...one of those things that renews my hope in the world. Often I think to myself that kids aren't allowed to do anything anymore that poses a slight risk to their safety...everything is strictly monitored and no one can go backwards on the slide or do flips into the deep end; however, this tubing hill is fast and furious, so anyone looking for a rush should make this hill a priority...Jason and I couldn't get enough:) Bryan was an excellent babysitter (he had broken his leg the weekend before) so he kindly watched Jonas while the rest of us played in the snow:) What wonderful friends! I cherish these times so much as they are often hard to arrange...it is so amazing to me that my roommates and I have all remained such close friends since college...they are wonderful women who are incredible spiritual role-models and encouragers...I can't believe that almost 7 years have gone by since that first hall meeting, where we awkwardly eyed each other secretly wishing we could just "fit in" right away and get on with life...as I thought to myself, "I don't have any history with these people"-now most of my meaningful life history was spent with them!- and just think...At first, I wasn't sure if Northwestern was the right place for me!!!I guess God knew better...I found my husband, my passion for life, and the best friends anyone could have ever asked for along with tons of memories that bring tears to my eyes and joy to my heart! And $90,000 later, I would do it all again in a heartbeat:) Thanks, Lis and Bryan for a wonderful time...and welcome to the wonderful world of not sleeping through the night...they now know from first-hand experience how vast and varied are the joys of parenting:)