A visit to the park

Uncle Brian, Aunt Cara, and cousin Maia were in town for a short visit. We spent some time together on Saturday going for a walk and visiting the park after dinner. Matthew had his first swing ride and didn't exactly know what to think. He wasn't crying, but he wasn't smiling either. He was a bit confused, but was cute none the less. He and I took some rides down the slide before we left. This will definitely be in our plans for our summer together. Enjoy some photos of Matthew's visit to the park.

A New Tooth

We just returned from a dinner with Matthew's Grandma Julie, Grandpa Jim, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Cory for all of our birthdays. Mine was last week and Ryan and Cory's were both on Sunday. Ryan turned 30! Can you believe it? It seems like it was just yesterday when a 16 year old football player started talking to a 14 year old soccer player. Wow, Look what 14 years will get you!

Anyway, Matthew cut another tooth last yesterday as well, this one on the top. That must not have been fun for the guy, tubes and a new tooth all at once. He seems to be handling the tubes very good. His sleep never was disturbed so that was nice for us. He is just as happy as a clam! I take him back in two weeks for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Shapiro. He has had some drainage from his ear, which was expected. It probably feels better, all that fluid was stuck rotting in his ear canal. He seems to be more aware of us and turns to our voices more often now. He is also making more sounds since having them put in. All in all I think we made the best choice for him.

We gave him a bath last night and it was a little more tricky to fold his ears over forward while we rinsed his head, but we will get used to it. I ordered his special ear plugs, but they have not arrived yet. We just have to monitor the amount of water or fluid that may enter his ears. We have to try to keep them as dry as possible.

Ear Tube Surgery

We arrived at Bronson at 6:00 this morning to get ready for Matthew's surgery. We went back to a room around 6:30 to talk to the nurse about his medical history, sign consent forms, have his vitals taken and change him into his miniature hospital gown, complete with ties in the back just like the grown-up kind. The anesthesiologist came in around 7:00 and we saw Dr. Shapiro around 7:15. We were a little nervous because Matthew woke up with a stuffy nose and some congestion. The doctor had to make sure he was okay to have the procedure done. If his lungs or nasal passages weren't clear to their liking, he would have to be rescheduled. Luckily they said he was good to go!

Since Matthew doesn't have any separation issues, he didn't have to have the pre-op drugs. If he were to have that, he would drink a sweet liquid that would make him very silly, giggly and almost in a drunken state so he wouldn't care who had him or where he was going. Instead Kathy Alban and the doctors took him back at 7:30. Once he was in the operating room, he was given oxygen and hooked up to a monitor. Then he was given some gas through his oxygen mask to put him to sleep. No needles and no I.V.s! The procedure was done by 7:50 and we were off to recovery where we met Matthew. He was very confused coming out of the medicine and he cried, well screamed, for about 20 minutes. He had not clue who we were and was very upset. I bet he was in pain too.

The nurse gave him a dose of Tylenol and he drank a few ounces from his bottle. He fell asleep shortly after and slept very hard for about an hour in my arms. Once he woke up he was our Matthew again. He was smiling and hugging us and he knew us. We were on our way home by 9:15. All in all it was a very short procedure and morning. Once we got home Matthew had some yogurt and a short nap. He played some and then had lunch. He is sleeping again now and probably will for most of the day today. We have ear drops that he gets three times a day for three days. The drops are an antibiotic and they help to flush out the ear canal and help to prevent infection. We have to go back to Dr. Shapiro's office in two weeks for a follow up appointment. We will keep our fingers crossed that this will help Matthew out.

Back to Work!

As the weekend comes to an end, I am getting ready to go back to work. I enjoyed my week home with Matthew, but I am ready to get back to my other kids. We took a few walks at the mall because the weather has not been so good and I have been busy chasing him all around the house. Matthew enjoyed sleeping in every day until 9:00, which put him into an excellent mood all day. He then took his usual afternoon nap and was off to be by 8:00 every night.

Matthew now likes to chase the dogs when he can and is especially interested in their tails. He is just about ready to cut a top tooth. It is so close you can see it, but it just hasn't cut the gums yet. He has been a drooly mess the past week or so, but a cute mess at that (as you can see from the photo above).

Henry Gunberg came over on Saturday to "play" with Matthew. He is about 3 1/2 months younger than Matthew and about two inches taller! Henry's dad, Gary, is 6'5" so we all think he will be just like his daddy. Ryan and I have come to the realization that every child will be taller than Matthew. Though, he does have some hope. All the men in Ryan's family, except Ryan, are taller than six feet, so he could end up being taller than us. Time will only tell.

We are now one work week away from Matthew's tube surgery. We have to be at the hospital at 6:15 am Friday morning. His surgery is slated for 7:30. We should be home by noon. After that we will just relax and keep things quiet for him over the weekend.

I updated the Early April photo album and added some photos of Matthew in the morning playing in his crib. Every morning when I get him out of his crib, he is standing up and babbling. He hasn't cried in the morning for me to get him in at least a few weeks.

Spring is finally here!

We took full advantage of the beautiful weekend to get some much needed spring cleaning done. We cleaned both the vehicles and Ryan also organized the boat, we cleaned the whole garage and the whole house and scooped six months worth of doggie do-do from the backyard...yuck! We took a long walk after dinner this evening with both dogs and Matthew. He enjoyed being outdoors all weekend. He played in his wagon for most of the time outdoors yesterday. We tried him out crawling on the grass and he was a little hesitant, but then took off. The grass is still a bit wet, but wet is better than dry, prickly, and itchy. Matthew is now able to take some steps while one of us is holding his arms and supporting most of his weight. He also will take some steps while standing behind his walk n' ride. We hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful weekend as much as we did. Enjoy these other photos from the weekend!

Ten Months

Matthew turned ten months yesterday! We made a trip to the doctor's office because we thought he was getting another ear infection. As of yesterday he was okay. There was not enough water in his ears to warrant an antibiotic, but as the doctor put it "it doesn't mean that by next week you won't be back here with a full blown infection". With Matthew's track record of fluid in the ears, we will be back next week for sure. Only two more weeks until his tubes and hopefully this all will be over with! It is just so frustrating because his ear infections are not due to a virus, his body makes the infection because his ear passages can't drain the natural fluid in his ears correctly. Only a few of the infections have actually been a result of being sick. When we were at the doctor's office, Matthew was weighed and he was 19 pounds 8 ounces with clothes and a diaper on, so I would guess he is about 18 1/2 pounds or so. Still small for his age.

My spring break officially started today at noon, so Matthew is home with me for one full week! We are going shopping at Michigan City on Monday and then just hanging out for the rest of the week. I am hoping for some nice weather to get Matthew outdoors. We went to visit the Keller's yesterday as well. Their daughter, Lyla Cooper Keller, was born about a week ago. It was so nice to hold her and remember back to when Matthew was only seven pounds! Well, have a wonderful weekend!