It’s unusual for this part of the country to get a significant amount of snow. And now it’s happened twice in two months!

Joe and I are in North Carolina at my parents’ house (while they are in Key West, enjoying the 75-degree weather). I needed to get here ahead of the storm to be with my friend Mike while he has surgery tomorrow, and Patrick had some schoolwork to catch up on at home.

Anyway, both here and at home, the snow started morning before last and just kept on coming. Here is Joe enjoying the view from my parents’ front window:

And here is the view back in Virginia, courtesy of Patrick:

Joe’s rash is still awful-looking, but still doesn’t seem to bother him much. He is enjoying the toys here at Nana and Papa’s, so much that he passed out on the floor yesterday. But his legs wanted to stay up and party:

This poor kid can’t catch a break. He’s getting over pneumonia, has four molars coming in at the same time, and now this:

Our diagnostic specialist, Dr. Google, suggests that it’s one of two things:

1) A reaction to the amoxicillin Joe was taking for his pneumonia (who knew you could have a reaction after a week?)

2) A viral condition called “fifth disease,” which is not as bad as it sounds.

Either way, it doesn’t seem to bother him and it’s not contagious. But it looks so uncomfortable!

If there’s anything good about a kid having pneumonia, it’s this:

Although I hate to see him miserable, I love when his eyes close and he’s snoring against me in the rocker. Heaven.

Poor Joe developed a nasty cough a couple of days ago. When he began coughing so hard that he couldn’t eat or drink, I took him to an urgent-care facility to see what was up.

After a nasal swab, physical exam and chest X-ray, they said it was nothing and sent us on our way. We kept his humidifier on, gave him lots of rest, and crossed our fingers.

Then they called the next day to say, “Wait, yeah — that was pneumonia on the X-ray. Call his pediatrician, or take him to the ER. Have a nice day!”

Grrr.

Fortunately, his pediatrician is wonderful. She answered our call right away (on a Saturday!) and called in all the prescriptions he needed to get better. We had a couple of sleepless nights (reminiscent of the newborn phase!) but last night he slept without waking even once. Today, he’s drowsy but getting back to his chatty self:

I think it’s mutual!

We found a YouTube channel full of children’s songs with hand play (you know, like “Isy Bitsy Spider.”)

Joe loves it!

Here he is with Dada after dinner last night:

This is the most annoying thing in the history of animation, but Joe loves it: