A Lucy Update and the Family Photo Shoot

The Lucy Update: I couldn't wait another day to take her to the doctor (even though we have no insurance--dang it!) so I took Lucy when my mom and sister came into town on Friday afternoon. The doctor said kids don't typically get diagnosed with asthma until they are three years old because it could be a ton of other things affecting breathing before that--particularly as a result of nasty viruses. He looked at Lucy's eyes and said she's got "allergy shiners" and that I have them a little bit too. How nice to have a doctor critique MY personal appearance during a doctor visit for my daughter. Oh, well.

Anyway, he said, based on our medical history of allergies (me, my mom, my dad), that Lucy's probably got them or she will get them. So we have her taking Zyrtec at night for the next several weeks, after which we're invited to come back to the doctor's office and report on whether or not the Zyrtec has calmed down all the coughing and boogers. In a month, Lucy will have insurance, so that visit hopefully won't be as costly as the one on Friday. (Um, if I go.) Grr, silly health care policy for Doug's job that only provides health insurance for me and the kids after Doug has been clerking for 6 months.

And here are some of our family photos because I can't resist. And because I hope you'll tell me which one you like best so I know which one to send out to the dear old relatives who don't know how to access the internet. All I can say before you really look at these photos is, "Aren't we dressed well?" I am proud of that, since I created the outfit ensemble. But wow, wouldn't it be cool if Lucy smiled? And if you could see all of our faces at once? And if we looked good?" I still count these pictures as successes, compared to the duds I'm not showing you. Actually, I'll show a couple duds just to prove how bad the other alternatives are. In our defense, we were staring into the blazing sun.