Saturday, January 5, 2008

Christmas - Part 2

Here is a quick recap of the past week: We thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of our time with Nano and Papa. It was so wonderful to see them again in person and to connect on a level that is so hard to reach through phone and webcam conversations. It is so helpful and insightful for them to now be able to visualize our home, city, friends and family life here in Italy. What an amazing gift to have them spend the holidays with us! They left on Thursday and have returned home safely plus the lingering colds they came with before their visit.

New Years was very low key. Hard to do anything with sick little ones--Luca and Emma still had fevers and were very much out of sorts. Everyone did enjoy the firework shows in the neighborhood though. It felt and sounded like a war zone as large fireworks are legal here.

Michelle arrived on-schedule last Sunday and we have really enjoyed getting to know her. She is a gem and we are so happy for both her and Cody! They will be here until the 14th of January.

In the last week we have made another 2 visits to the ER. Last Sunday, Jonathan felt the onset of an ear infection and so off to the hospital we went. Then yesterday, Emma began to complain of ear pain and her fever spiked again. She has barely eaten anything for the past two weeks and all she asked for was to go to bed and sleep. So off we went again. Emma has a double ear infection, so no wonder she was feeling miserable. The meds seemed to have kicked in last night as she ate fairly well and today it seems her appetite and energy are bouncing back a bit. You always know they are feeling better when there is an increase in sibling agitation and fighting.

You may be wondering why we have to go to the ER. Italy has a socialized health care system and since we are foreigners we have to pay an annual fee to receive care, unless we pay for a private doctor. The ER is obligated to serve you no matter what and so since we did not buy in to the system for 2007 our needs needed to be filled at the hospital ER. We are planning to buy in to the health care system for 2008 next week!! A reasonable fee will cover our whole family from prescriptions to doctor visits and anything else health related. Now watch we'll have a perfectly healthy 2008.

We will be taking a belated family Christmas photo since goopy noses, scarlet cheeks and sad looking faces would make for a horrible picture. But I'll post some pictures from the past couple of weeks for your enjoyment. We love and miss you all!!

1 comment:

JLT AND FAMILY said...

Noles,
So fun to your pics and hear your update. So sorry to hear that you have been down with more bugs and infections. What a tough season it has been for illnesses. I was so excited to see the pics of yours parents their and praising the Lord that you can spend time with family. As always, so wonderful to "catch up" with you.