Here are a couple of photos from our recent trip to Disneyland.
Here are a couple of photos from our recent trip to Disneyland.
Gee, it’s only been five months since the last update. My how the time flies.
What’s been going on during that time? Hmm, well, here’s a short synopsis:
Those are the highlights, at least what can be recalled right now. We’re sure there’s more to write and we’ll try to be better about it this year. And we’ll also post more pictures than we have been. We promise!
Ellie had a 102.3 fever this past Tuesday night, July 12th, so we took her to the hospital. They ran a series of tests (urine culture, blood culture, lumbar puncture for a spinal culture) and she was automatically admitted until the results of all those tests were back. This won’t be until Friday morning. The reason for this is in newborns, especially those less than a month old, the barriers between the different systems (urinary, spinal, blood) are very thin, which can allow infections to spread between the systems much more easily than in an older child or adult. So the hospital has a standard set of steps that they follow, which includes a stay of at least 24 hours, typically 48 hours, to make sure that things don’t get worse.
As of Thursday the culprit appeared to be a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) by some of those dreaded E. coli that you are always hearing about. Fortunately the strain that she picked up are easily dealt with using regular antibiotics. After 24 hours she no longer had a fever and was doing much better.
Helene has been with her the entire time at this hospital while Steve has been there during the days (there’s only one bed, sort of, so both of us staying just isn’t possible). Both Helene and Ellie are looking forward to coming home today, so please wish them the best and keep Ellie in your prayers that this is a one time occurrence.
We welcomed the latest addition to our family today at 12:46 PM. Danielle Helene Abbott weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 20.25 inches long. Right now Helene and Ellie are both having a late lunch, after which they will both be taking a nap.
Welcome to our family Ellie!

We’re at the hospital, Helene is in her gown and has the IV in her arm. Doctor Stemple will be in around 7:30 to get things going. The nurse is about to give Helene her petosin to start the contractions.
Let the fun begin!
Yesterday was Josie’s 4th birthday and we went out to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner (her choice). Then we came home for ice cream cake and presents.
Well, Josie had so much fun opening her presents while the ice cream cake thawed that we never got around to having the cake. But I’m sure that’s something Helene and Josie will remedy before long.
Here is some video of Josie opening her gifts. She’s definitely four because no matter how much she liked what she opened, there was always a, “More!” right after that, for as long as there were gifts to unwrap.
Josie opens her presents
Josie got her new “big girl” bedroom yesterday and was so excited! Here is what happened when she was first shown to her new room:
Josie’s New Bedroom
Yes, yes we did!
This will be a short post, just so we can share some videos that we took while we were there. They are hosted on YouTube and linked below.
Josie, Robbie and Dale on Main Street, Disneyland
Jungle Cruise Ride
Boy, our holidays at the end of 2010 haven’t turned out for the best. Robbie visited the ER on Christmas day and here on New Year’s Eve we’ve got a stomach virus that’s hit everyone but Steve. Robbie had it earlier this week and both Helene and Josie were up for most of the night just being plain out sick.
Fortunately Steve has managed to avoid it (knock on wood) and has been able to keep things together and take care of his sick girls. So tonight we’re going to spend it together as a family and get everyone to bed early.
We hope that everyone has a fantastic new year and a wonderful 2011!
We thought we’d put up some pictures of our poor boy while we were in the ER. The pediatric ER at our local hospital is fantastic. Robbie even got a new bulldozer that he totally fell in love with. We took him to his doctor’s office today to check in with them and he was sent for allergy testing. We should know in the next day or two if he has a problem with cashews or peanuts (the two suspects). We haven’t given him any peanut products yet but the cashew he had was fried in peanut oil and I didn’t notice that when I gave it to him. We’re crossing our fingers it’s a problem with cashews. That will be a lot easier to deal with than peanuts.