Last Sunday, we had the privilege of witnessing Rebecca's baptism.  Always such a blessed timed.  Rebecca wore the dress that Harry's aunt brought from Holland for Harry's baptism.  Fifty-five years old and it still looks beautiful.  (Oops!!  Just revealed Harry's age!!)

You try to get 3 boisterous boys, a baby and 2 parents to sit still and smile for 3 seconds!

What you can't see in this picture is Anthony singing very quietly to Rebecca.  Awwww!

Back to "normal"?

I think this week will find me back to my normal activities.  And I should have a chance to catch up on some things ... laundry ... cleaning ... writing ... bookwork ...

Rebecca got a clean bill of health from the doctor last Thursday.  She's still coughing a little bit, but she has gained back 12 of the 16 ounces she lost.  Hurray!!  We are happy to be visiting with her at home instead of the hospital.  Right now, Opa has the magic touch with her!

In other news, Anthony turned 5 on Thursday.  We had a small celebration at home.  His first birthday party with just kids is this coming Saturday.  He's really excited.

Harry survived a public speaking engagement he had last week.  He was asked to present and "roast" the lawyers who received their QC (Queen's Counsel) designation this year.  He had 49 recipients to present in a humorous, entertaining way.  He worked on this for almost 2 months -- gathering information, getting photos, writing and re-writing, stressing out and wondering what he had gotten himself into.  But the evening came ... black-tie (think White House Correspondents Dinner format) and a packed house (700+) ... and from what I hear from friends, he did a great job.  He was pretty nervous.  He has spoken before large groups many times, but always on matters of the law in a lecture or paper-presentation format.  Comedy was a very new thing for him.  He said once he got the first few laughs he relaxed and had a good time!  He also said "Never again!"

Now, I'm off to be normal ....

It's been busy

This week turned out to be completely different than I planned.  Little Rebecca came down with a respiratory virus on the weekend.  Monday Linda brought her in to be checked by the doctor.  Doctor sent Linda and Rebecca to the Children's Hospital emergency for a chest X-ray.

Within minutes of her arriving at the emerg, 4 doctors were working on Rebecca and Linda was mildly freaked out!  Rebecca was struggling to breathe and that's not good in a 6-week old baby.  She was admitted and put in isolation because she has RSV (Respiratory something-something Virus).  She had heart monitors, fluids by IV, oxygen tubes and nebulizers every 2 hours.  One unhappy little girl!!

She stabilized by yesterday and was transferred to a different hospital's acute pediatric care unit.  That mean an ambulance ride!  Today she is only on oxygen.  A sign of improvement.  However, her breathing is still laboured, her cough is still "murky" and her oxygen levels are low when they take her off the oxygen.  She is improving all the time, but cannot go home until her oxygen levels remain good for 6-12 hours on her own.

Linda, obviously, has moved into the hospital with Rebecca.  So Harry and I and Pat and Brian have been helping John out with the other 3 kids.   John has been taking mornings off to be with the boys, then bringing them here for the afternoon and supper.  After work, John goes to the hospital to have dinner with Linda and spend some time with Rebecca.  Then he comes here and gets the boys to go home for the night.  Tomorrow Pat doesn't have any classes to teach so she's going to go out to Langdon so the boys can be at home for the whole day.

The doctors and nurses are all surprised that Rebecca is the fourth child, but this is the first hospital experience for John and Linda!  Hopefully the last for a very long while!

EMT's getting Rebecca ready for transfer

Big stretcher, little girl

Opa's turn to relieve Mom so she can go for some lunch.