Week 105: We are two

Because every major family event must be marked by some sort of travel difficulty, the only cloud in the sky as we approached Lemon's second birthday was the absence of Grandma Carol and Grandpa Dudley, who had planned to join us from New York for the celebration (and to meet Lime for the first time!).  Unfortunately, Great Grandma Virginia was not feeling well and they had to cancel their trip at the last minute.  It's been altogether too long since we've seen them, so hopefully we will find a way to all wind up in the same place soon.

Without Grandma and Grandpa, Lemon's birthday was a pretty low-key affair.  I made a big chocolate cake, and also a special birthday lunch for Nona, whose birthday is one day after Lemon's.

Papa Bear came home early from work, and the five of us had a nice little party at home. 

Papa Bear and Lemon had fun opening one of his presents---some more wooden train tracks to expand the set he inherited from Uncle Jared. 

The day after Lemon's actual birthday was his two year checkup.  We were relieved to learn that in spite of his new stubbornness about eating, he's still keeping up with his weight gain (how???) and is now over 26lb.  He's gotten much taller in recent months, too.  Amazingly, he didn't need any shots and doesn't need to see the regular pediatrician again until he's three!  Of course, we'll see the CF clinic many times before then, but it definitely feels like a milestone to be going a year between regular checkups.  But, don't worry, Lime has the same pediatrician as Lemon and he will need to go at 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months so the doctor won't forget who we are.





In honor of Lemon's second birthday, we tried for our first family portrait as a foursome.  It wasn't exactly a success, but  all four of us are present, and I think that the pictures accurately capture life in our household right now!

Later this week we will attempt another first as a family of four--our first family road trip vacation, to Green Bay, WI, which is about 2.5 hours north of us.  I'm already making lists of everything we need to bring, and wondering if our car is really large enough to transport everything and still have room for the people, too.  We've been debating about whether we should bring the vest.  It takes up a lot of room (especially compared to the manual PT cups, which can fit in a sandwich bag).  The compressor itself goes in a roll-aboard-size bag with wheels, and then there's a second smaller bag for the hoses and the vest itself.  So, practicality says to just do manual PT while we're away, since we have to bring so much other stuff.  On the other hand, Lemon is really used to the vest now and I'd hate to change up the routine and then have him fight the vest when we get back.  I suppose we'll see how loading the car goes--I'm planning on doing nothing else Thursday morning! 

Lastly, we'd like to wish a hearty "Mazel Tov!" to Cousin Nathan and his beautiful bride.  We were disappointed to miss yet another big family event on the east coast, but hopefully this will be the last event that we miss for a long time.  Wisconsin being what it is, nothing is guaranteed, but we are determined to leave the state sometime in the next 12 months!