Deer, Peas and Carrots, and a Brand New Swing

Wondering where we've been the last week? Ugh.

Jessa has come down with a pretty nasty case of (we think) the flu. If it's not the flu, it's something equally insidious. To make matters worse, since she's still breastfeeding, there's almost nothing she can take for it. She's limited to motrin and some cough medicine that doesn't work because it has no actual medicine in it. So she's pretty miserable. So far Eric and Eli haven't gotten it, but we've both developed mild coughs that we fear may be the harbingers of things to come.

Eli has had his share of trouble too. He had a couple of his 6-month immunizations yesterday, and last night he spiked a fever. That's apparently pretty normal and harmless, but it made for a long night. You can tell he feels awful, but he's being a good sport about it for the most part. We even got him to laugh at his own reflection a little bit.

So mom and Eli are still in the bed this morning, comforting each other. It's a good day for it--we've got a couple of inches of snow and are expecting another 6 or so.

Here are some photos from the last week:

This is Eli waiting in the lobby for his 6-month appointment. He likes to do this standing thing where you hold his hips and he just looks around. We put his hands in his vest pockets to make him look suave. He did great at his 6-month appointment, by the way. He's almost exactly average on height and weight and still in the mid-90s on head circumference percentile.
The biggest change in the last week: lots of solid foods. His favorite so far is carrots. Here, he makes a face, but don't be fooled. He loves them.
He especially likes carrots when they're coupled with rice cereal.
Christa baked Eli a 1/2 birthday cake last week. They don't sell 1/2 candles (they should!), so we improvised. While Eli is eating some solid foods, unfortunately for him chocolate cake is not one of them.
Peas! Eli has a love/hate relationship with peas. Well, maybe a tolerate/hate relationship. The first time he ate them, badness ensued. More recently, they're growing on him. Frankly, I don't like peas either.
Eli got a new swing! It's in the shape of a car, and he just absolutely loves it, as you can see.
I had one of these toys when I was a kid. It was the best.
Dooo...doooo...doooooo....lookin' out my back door....
Wearing mom's glasses. And going a little crosseyed.
Always tethered to the floor with a strand of drool. He has two teeth now, by the way. We've tried very hard to get pictures of them, but that just ain't happening.
Since he was born, Eli has had this one crazy-long hair. See it there, sticking off the back? He's like our very own Homer Simpson.
We have a herd of mule deer that comes to visit all the time. Here, Eli and the deer have a staring contest out the back window.
Eli's hair has been doing this thing lately where it sticks up in the middle. We think it's just about the greatest thing of all time.