Last night

Last night Finn developed a low-grade fever :( All 5 of his older siblings have been sick with colds and try as I might, it's been impossible to keep Finn completely sequestered away from them, so he became a little congested 2 nights ago - nothing major - and last night developed a slight fever (99.9 F). Of course I am running a little on the paranoid side, not only because Finn has already spent time in the hospital, not only because he supposedly has a weaker immune system than typical babies, but also because at this exact age (10 weeks), the twins both developed fevers and ended up in the hospital with meningitis. So, yeah, every little thing is probably going to worry me with Finn. I called the nurse hotline and was told that as long as his temp didn't reach 100.4, it was okay (but that if it did reach that to take him to the ER). She also said NOT to give him Tylenol because that would just mask his true temp, and as long as he was still nursing well and producing wet diapers, that was a good sign. He was a little lethargic last night, but seems to be back to his old self this morning. He still feels a little warm but is nursing well and playing under his play gym.

***

Last night Michael and I went out to dinner and left Finn home with Alycia, our babysitter, for the first time. Finn slept the entire time we were gone, so that was good (although if anyone can handle a cranky baby, it's Alycia - she's amazing!). It was nice to sit down at a nice restaurant with my husband and have some grown-up time.

After dinner we walked down the street a couple of blocks where they had a band set up in the street playing live music and a large crowd of people enjoying the music. There was an area in front of the stage where a few people were dancing. Michael noticed her first, a young girl, probably about 12 years old, dancing out there with her younger sister and their mother. The girl had Down syndrome. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was dancing her heart out, and after a few minutes, her dad came out and took her in his arms and started dancing with her. And I just stood there watching, and tears were running down my cheeks. She was just happy to be there, enjoying the music. (And to think that there are people who think that that isn't a life worth living . . . .) I can't even explain how it made me feel . . . this sense of calm and comfort came over me, and I thought to myself, watching this girl, that Finn is going to be okay, and we're going to be okay . . . everything is going to be fine.