Boston declared a public health emergency this week due to influenza.  The hospital is packed – so packed that we opened an extra wing of the hospital and hired an additional hospitalist every day to deal with the increased volume.  Luckily everyone in the Rose household got their flu shot this year – with the exception of Kaya who had to get it indirectly through breastmilk as she’s not old enough to get the real thing.  I suspect that a low grade influenza went through our household last week, as Kaya survived her first fever (102.7!) and was obviously less happy than her usual self.  But, she’s back to all smiles now!

In the quest for mobility, Kaya has taken a giant leap…backwards.  She can now scoot backwards across the room, although she wants to go the opposite way.  As you can imagine, this can be quite frustrating and it is generally followed by screaming in frustration.

Go skins!

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Max got a new shirt for Christmas!  It fits perfectly and he LOVES it.  Tommy’s not sure if he loves it or not.  It’s made of special material that conforms to your shape – no matter who you are – and Max is taking advantage.

We had a wonderful Christmas here at the Rose household.  Kaya didn’t quite understand the concept of Santa but nevertheless, got in the holiday spirit like the rest of us.  A big thanks to Tommy’s parents for being our daycare providers for a week while our actual daycare provider was on vacation, and for Ken and Tash for hosting us for Christmas itself.  Tons of pictures are in the gallery, but here are a few favorites:

The Rose Family Nativity Scene – this was supposed to make it onto our Christmas cards, which never got sent.  Not so easy to write Christmas cards with a 5 month old – we think a blog + a 5 month old is a hell of a lot better than Christmas cards + no 5 month old!

Kaya in her Santa dress or Santa hat – could she get any cuter?

Max looking quite regal:

Opening presents from Grandma with Daddy in the required ugly Christmas sweater:

Merry Christmas!  We have lots of pictures to post – but they will have to wait until we have a bit more time.

We park in an alley that is technically a street, as there are a couple apartments whose only street access is this alley. Well, Brookline was doing some maintenance work and had to block off the entry to the alley for about a week. Those of us that park there were given passes to park on a different street for a week. However, it created a potential fire hazard for those few apartments (maybe 6 of them?) as fire trucks wouldn’t be able to access them. Brookline’s solution? Park a fire truck in the alley THE WHOLE WEEK and hire a fireman to hang out with it at all times, just in case. No wonder property taxes in Brookline are so high!

Tommy and Kaya had no interest in getting out of bed this morning. Wish I could have slept in with them!

This is the picture that hangs above the desk in the lactation room at the hospital. I spend many hours thinking about how sweet a picture it is. It’s much better than the collage of women breastfeeding during the 1970’s on the other wall. Fashion not so good back then.