Sick Panda

We had a good Christmas with my family (sans Jakob, who was at the Olson's). Christmas Eve we went down to Lewiston (sans Oli, who was at work) we stopped by Costco which was the emptiest I had ever seen it. It felt like we weren't supposed to be there. Then we went to Pizza Hut for Christmas Eve dinner. While we were there Layden learned how to drink out of a straw. Then we capped off the evening by driving all around Lewiston/Clarkston in search of the Christmas lights. The park on the way into town was all lit up with lights. Every tree was liberally draped, there were lighted colonnades, and there was an old train engine lit up. It was also quite chilly but Layden loved it. We had a nice low key Christmas, opened presents, did laundry, made lasagna. Layden received many fun toys for his birthday and Christmas, the ones that made noise were especially great.

Layden got his first hair cut from Mom and Becky, the day after his birthday or so and he looks much older now.
The day after Christmas Mom, Dad, Becky, Layden and I headed up to Sandpoint, Idaho to visit with the Olsons. That afternoon, after we had arrived, Layden threw up. He continued to throw up anything that went in his mouth until 9:00 the next morning. He had stomach cramps and a fever. Eventually he started keeping small amounts of water and milk down but he had a couple of bouts of explosive diarrhea. Currently he is keeping most of his food down but tends to throw up once first thing in the morning. He is mostly better but still goes through periods when he feels pretty gross and needs mommy. He had his well child check up yesterday and is doing well, though in the past three months he has gained less than a pound (up to 20lb now). The doctor figures he just had a case of rotovirus, which generally lasts for about a week. My mom came down with the same thing a day after Layden and is still feeling a bit gross, Brita may also have come down with it but so far they seem to be the only ones.

Other than the whole people getting sick and me not sleeping thing we had a good visit up in Sandpoint. There was a veritable cornucopia of goodies, most likely resulting in a significant holiday weight gain.
We are back home and enjoying a few days off with daddy. Today Oli taught Layden "So big". To "How big is Layden?" he responds by raising at least one arm and saying "so big" (barely intelligibly).

<

Today we drove up Steptoe Butte. It is a quartzite formation over 400 million years old, 3,600 ft elevation, the view is spectacular. It was very cold. Then we drove back down and had waffles with berries.