"He was an angel"

a quote from our daycare provider today. Ben had a full day at daycare, because I am again running an after school Physics Club and I stay late (4:30 pickup) on Wednesdays. She said that he slept well, ate well, and played well all day long! It looks like he's on the up-swing as far as the RSV goes. I guess we have to be on the look out for an ear infection - they often are associated with RSV. Still coughing a bit, but definitely better. Yeah, Ben!

I should be grading...

but I'm doing anything and everything to avoid it.

The doctor called today - negative for influenza, but positive for RSV and adenovirus (cold virus). Poor Ben threw up 5 times this morning while I tried getting ready for work. Needless to say, he stayed home from daycare - with Andy. He kept down his breakfast and was pretty good for Andy. He slept a ton again last night, and continued his sleep marathon during the day today. He's still coughing quite a bit and threw up his entire dinner of green beans and cereal. We got him to keep down milk at 2PM and some puffs after dinner, so at least that's something. Aside from the coughing and barfing, he's still pretty happy and having fun playing and semi-crawling.

Here's a shot (although blurry) of Ben's teeth for grandma Jan...

RSV?

No, not RSVP... We think Ben has RSV - Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) Virus. He got a cold last Friday, and it progressed to his chest. He never really had much of a fever, but has been irritable, with a reduced appetite, and tons of coughing. He coughs so hard, he ends up gagging and throwing up whatever is in his tummy. Poor guy. This happened many times over the past week, but he stayed in daycare, as he had no fever... But, I ended up taking him to the doctor on Friday because he threw up twice, and didn't eat much at daycare. The symptoms sure fit the virus, so the doctor swabbed his nose and throat to check it out (haven't heard back yet because of the weekend, I'm sure). Over the weekend, he's still been coughing quite a bit, but it hasn't gotten any worse and he hasn't had a fever. He still has periods of happy Ben, but is just a bit more crabby than normal. He has slept more than usual this weekend, so it was good to get him caught up - we'll see how the week goes... I guess this is a normal thing for most babies to get - the severity of the virus varies quite a bit. My daycare providers' 5 week old grandson, who spends quite a bit of time with her, had similar symptoms, but more severe breathing problems, and was rushed to the Children's hospital in Portland on Friday in an ambulance!

Ben says "Happy Birthday Levi - sorry I missed your party" :)

Mirror, mirror in the book...

Here's a clip of Andy and Ben reading a book with mirrors on every other page...

Recipes

I had been in a dinner rut as of late and these 2 recipes have inspired me to keep trying new things! I'd love to hear of any more recipe ideas from my readers (all 3 of you...)!

2 new ones to share. Well, one old-ish one from a previous post that was unreadable, and one truly new one:

Tortellini Florentine Soup

1 9 oz pkg refrigerated 3 cheese tortellini
2 14 oz cans of reduced sodium chicken broth
1 10 oz container refrigerated light Alfredo pasta sauce
2 cups shredded chicken
1/2 c oil packed dried tomato strips, drained
3 c. lightly packed fresh baby spinach
1 oz. Parmesan cheese, shaved or shredded

1. In a 4 qt Dutch oven cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same Dutch oven combine broth and Alfredo sauce. Stir in chicken and tomato strips. heat just to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.
3. Add cooked tortellini and spinach to mixture. Cook for 1-2 minutes to heat through and wilt spinach. To serve, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

It says that this serves 6 (maybe for a light lunch), but I doubled the recipe for dinner for 7 with 2 lunch portions left over. Super easy for a party - not much prep at all.
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Tortilla and Black Bean Pie (I think I'll call it Mexican lasagna)
from Martha's Everyday Food Cookbook

4 flour tortillas (10 inch)
1 T canola oil
1 large onion diced
1 jalapeno chili, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
12 oz beer or 1 1/2 c. water
1 pkg frozen corn (10 oz)
4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
2 1/2 c. shredded cheese (8 oz)
Sour cream, salsa and tortilla chips for serving

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the tortillas to fit a 9 inch spring form pan. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeno, garlic, and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the beans and beer to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, simmer until the liquid has almost evaporated, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the corn and scallions and remove from heat.
4. Fit a trimmed tortilla in the bottom of the spring form pan; layer with 1/4 of the bean mixture and 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat 3 times using 1 cup of cheese for the top layer. Bake until hot and the cheese is melted about 20-25 minutes. Unmold the pie; sprinkle with the scallions, slice into wedges, serve immediately with sour cream and salsa. You can assemble ahead of time, and bake just before serving (I assembled it at home and brought it to Andy's brother's apartment to bake it).

This served 6 of us for a football lunch with a little left over. I used a 9 inch cake pan, because I don't have a spring form pan, and I also substituted 3 cooked, shredded chicken breasts with powdered taco seasoning for the corn, and used canned jalapenos.

Thank goodness it was a 3 day weekend for me!

On Saturday, Andy and I visited the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge for a nice hike (OK - more like a walk than a hike). There was a cool, stiff breeze, but Ben really seemed to like being outside and checking out all of the new things. He watched several flocks of geese fly over, and basically enjoyed being pushed around in the stroller. Andy and I also got to see a close fly-by of a Bald Eagle and a Cooper's Hawk as well as several other flocks of birds (Western bluebirds, bushtits, juncos, lots of ducks - shovelers, etc.) It was nice to get outside for short bit. It actually inspired us to find a frame backpack for kids on Craig's list when we got home. We picked it up yesterday - can't wait to use it!

Sunday we spent watching football with Andy's family at his brother's apartment - we made a side trip to Costco to see how their baby stuff was for pricing - Not that impressed, although we did leave with some goodies for Andy and I...

Here's a shot of Ben and I from this afternoon.

And a short video of Ben getting excited about something...

For Christmas, Ben got his 2 front teeth!

Along with tons of other awesome gifts, Ben got his 2 bottom front teeth. They are so hard to get a picture of, but here's the best one so far...

Along with some other backyard shots from today... In his cute little bear jacket from grandma Jan!

Oh yeah - and we had our final Christmas get together with Andy's dad and Barbara last Sunday - Here are some shots. Even Ben got in on the Christmas tradition of socks this year! It was fun to watch everyone interact with Ben!

Beep, Beep, Giggle, Giggle

More laughing Ben.

Where's the Puff?

Here are a couple videos of Ben eating and laughing about puffs.





And another of Ben in his new bath Duck - I should have gotten this much sooner!



Here's a shot of Ben sitting up like a big boy. He's been sitting up for a while now, but needed someone there for the inevitable tip-over. He's now fully independent!

And a shot of Grandma Jeanne and Papa Doug and Ben at Andy's family Christmas (finally! - with the crazy snow, our delayed trip and then a bout of food poisoning that hit both Andy and I, we finally got together Jan 10th and were able to combine the January B-days with our Holiday celebration).
I made a great Chicken Tortellini soup from a recipe my mom cut out of some magazine. Super easy for a gathering of friends and/or family. I doubled the recipe for our group of 7, and we had lunch left over for Andy and I the next day (I cooked up the chicken breasts and shredded them the day before).