As you may have noticed, there was no mid-week update for this blog. (Inference: we've been busy). For one thing, Andrew had his first real fever. We're still not sure what caused it--the doctor ruled out ear and throat infections, and they said that teething wouldn't cause a fever that high. By Wednesday afternoon, his fever had peaked at 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Although seasoned parents may pooh-pooh our concern (and in fact the nurse at the doctor's office said they usually don't tell parents to call unless the fever is 105, which seems awfully high to me), I, for one, was pretty concerned when I placed Andrew on our bed while I made some calls--and he stayed put. His usual M.O. is to crawl rapidly towards whichever side of the bed he can reach before a parent hauls him back. Instead, he was content to lean against me and stay right by me. His illness also meant that he didn't sleep so well, and neither, needless to say, did his parents.

If Wednesday marked a low-point for our week (physically, mentally, emotionally), then yesterday (Saturday) marked a high point. Yesterday was stake temple day for the Altoona stake (in preparation for stake conference next Sunday), and so, after some debate, we decided to haul Andrew down to DC and go to the temple. I was a little hesitant about going at first (Andrew had been sick, we decided to go last minute--well, the night before--and for those of you who know me, I'm not exactly good at spontaneous things--and, to be perfectly honest, it meant that I would miss all those good Veteran's Day sales! Not, of course, that it wasn't worth the sacrifice). But we had a wonderful trip. Andrew did okay on the drive down (he cried a little when he wanted to sleep but couldn't), and Dan and I took turns staying with Andrew while the other went through the temple. The weather couldn't have been better--despite the fact that it was almost the middle of November, it was 70+ in DC, and sunny. (Thus, the pictures of Andrew in short sleeves). We had initially thought that, if there was time, we might go downtown and take Andrew to the zoo. And although the weather was perfect for that sort of thing, we finally decided that taking a nap-deprived baby to the zoo might not be the best experience for any of us. So we packed Andrew up in the car once more and headed back (he fell asleep shortly after leaving DC, so it's probably a good thing we didn't attempt the metro).



If Dan and I enjoyed the temple, the highlight (and lowlight) of Andrew's day was probably dinner at Bob Evans. (I know, glamorous, right? Well, neither of us had eaten lunch and it was almost 4:00 and so we were a little desperate. If only I'd known that there was a Cracker Barrell less than ten minutes down the road . . .). In part, he was excited to be out of the car. But he also got to eat some of our adult food, which thrilled him. He happily threw cheese and spoons on the floor, squacked cheerfully and waved his arms around. He liked the mashed potatoes and gravy; he liked the cooked carrots, he liked pretty much everything. But I think we overdid it. After a couple of ounces from his bottle, and a little bit of french silk pie, he promptly threw it all back up again (which, I think, traumatized his parents more than it did him). It's a good thing that I remembered to pack a change of clothes as well as pajamas--he'd already had a minor blow-out at the temple, and this necessitated a change out of his second change of clothes.

The drive back wasn't nearly as much fun. It was dark and pretty rainy and you could hardly see the roads in places (not to mention the fact that we had to drive down a stretch of highway that is one of the deadliest in the state). But we returned to tell the tale.

We also thought that we'd include a few pictures not just of Andrew but of Dan and I (just to remind some of you what we look like, particularly since all you ever get are pictures of Andrew).