Birthdays, Hospitals, Easter and Pneumonia

Sorry it's been a while! Things have been...eventful. Shortly after my last post (on Solomon's birthday, actually) Rosie began to be fussy and drink less of her milk. Now, if you know Rosie, you know 2 things about her: 1. She's not fussy, 2. She loves her groceries. By the end of Sol's birthday party she was running a temp. I tucked in my birthday boy and his brothers and we were off to the ER for what I was sure would be an in-and-out appointment just to ease my conscience. By the time we got there, she was at 101 degrees. Because of her hazy medical history, they decided to admit her. She had an IV put in, urine samples, an RSV test and even a spinal tap. By 3:00am we were both exhausted and fell asleep in our room. We were there for 3 more days and, ultimately all the tests came back negative. It was just a nasty virus. The one complication (other than Daddy unexpectedly having the boys by himself for a while) was that I was exposed to and contracted Bacterial Pneumonia. This TOOK. ME. OUT. folks (I'm still on antibiotics and hacking up blood).
Not to mention, in the middle of all of that, we all (except Zephan) got a fantastic stomach bug. Our Spring Break was filled with coughing and puking and fevers. I was so lucky that Nana took one look at us and packed Rosie an overnight bag and took her home. She even took days off work to keep our delicate girl away from all those yucky germs so she wouldn't have to go back to the hospital.
In other news, Rosie is now sleeping through the night!! WOOT!! She's recovered nicely and I've just cleaned out her drawer of all the 3-6 months clothes. It's all 6-9 months for my little 2-month-old! Dad had criminal court on April 1st, but I've yet to hear what happened there. There's a Family Court Hearing this Thursday and I'll probably get the scoop then. So far, Mom is making all of her visits but DHS isn't willing to place Rosie with her as she's, "Low functioning with an IQ of 59." So far, maternal grandma has come forward as a resource, and they're considering placing Rosie in her home with Rosie's mom living there, as well. But Mom would have to have some sort of "wrap-around support system in the home in order to place with Mom". We don't know that Grandma is up for this magnitude of a commitment, since it would be an 18-year arrangement to caring for both Rosie and her Mom. I'm also wondering where she was during the open cases of Rosie's 3 older siblings who are now adopted?
As far as we know, Dad will be serving some time "for thuggish-type crimes". I'm wondering what he was doing with Rosie's mom, seeing as she's obviously developmentally delayed to a fair degree. His parents are estranged and really didn't raise him, so it doesn't look like they'd be a resource for this case. I could really see this case going either way, but feel sympathy for Rosie's Mom and wouldn't mind working with her in the future.
Easter was fun for us all! I got all the boys in shirts and ties (the above pic is the best one we got, even though Malachi looks like he's about to puke and the littles look feral). There was a surprise baptism at church, a teen-aged girl who we usually sit in front of. Her grandparents are real sweethearts and they were so proud. Grandpa wanted to baptize her himself and our pastor was pleased. Grandpa and Grandma cried as their Granddaughter professed her faith. It was beautiful. Afterward Nana made a whole lunch spread with baskets for the Grandkids from "The Nana Bunny".
Rosie's first portrait session is coming up now that she's smiling and cooing up a storm. She looked so pretty on Easter with her little dress and tights and I even found a newborn bracelet with pink pearls for her tiny arm! So fun!
Well, I better get some schoolwork done with the boys. Our virtual school called with concerns that Sol & Kai are finishing the school year early. They want the boys to slow down even though they enjoy their work and make their way through it quickly. This is leading us to a schooling change for next year. They need something they can truly go their own pace and something accelerated. I'm thinking of the ACE system. We'll see....