Work!

Ryan finally went back to work yesterday after being off for a combined six months. Since being laid off in December he has only worked five weeks until now. Knowing that his job is unpredictable like this we saved up and were able to keep our heads above water. Thank you for our family and friends for their support during this bumpy road for us. He jumped back into work full force, working seven twelves until mid-August! We are not complaining at all, in fact we are thrilled. Granted it means we will not see him that much for the next months or so, but we got in a lot of great family time over the past months. After the long hours are over, they should move to four tens, which is great news for football season! From the sounds of it, this company will have work for at least a year, not including the other jobs they pick up along the way. It all worked out for the best. There was a call out for Wisconsin last week and we found out that Ryan was one guy away from being called. Had he been called, he would have been in Wisconsin and not here to get this job.

Matthew finished up swimming lessons this week and absolutely loved them. We already are planning to take the same class again next year. One of his favorite things in jumping off the edge by himself (to my arms) and going completely underwater. I posted pictures to our photo site (along with a recent boating trip). Enjoy!

ENT update

I took Matthew to his ENT this afternoon to have his ears checked. Both tubes are officially out of the eardrum and both eardrums are healed completely, so that is good! However, both tubes are still in the ear canal and will hopefully wok their way out in the next few months. The goal is to work out enough so the doctor can use his tools and dig them out the rest of the way. Matthew' s left eardrum looks great and they are not worried about it at all. His right eardrum is another story though. It has fluid around it again and he could very well get an infection in the near future. He had a hearing test on that ear to see how the sound waves were bouncing off his eardrum. His eardrum is still quite flat, which is not what they want to see. We go back in two months and hopefully then he will be able to take the tubes out and we can talk about what happens next. If his eardrum continues to collect fluid like it is doing now, he will have to have the tubes put back in, which we are completely fine with. It is very comforting to know that Matthew got his tubes first put in on April 18, 2008. He has not had an ear infection since that day, so while they were in the were doing their job.

In other news, Matthew started swimming lessons this week and absolutely LOVES it! He is like a fish and hates to get out of the pool. He is even brave enough to jump off the edge to my arms! That really shocked me as well as our swim teacher. We will continue with lessons next week too and then be done for the summer. Ryan will be going to swimming lessons tomorrow to take some pictures, so check back soon for some fun pictures!

Sitting on the Potty

I know that in the future when Matthew looks back to this he is going to kill me for posting this picture, but oh well! We have embarked on the task of potty training Matthew. To start, we just wanted him to become familiar with the potty and what it is for. Since he can't verbalize to us yet if or when he has to use the potty it makes this step a little hard. To our surprise, Matthew loves to sit on the potty, so why stop him! We started on Monday and he sat three times for over a half-hour each. While he sits, he likes to read books, it is just too cute. For the past few days it seems like he has the urge to go, but doesn't know to just let go on the potty. Last night, he used it for the first time and was super excited when Ryan and I did the happy dance and rewarded him with lots of cheer and a Junior Mint. First thing this morning, once he was up and out of his crib, he ran to the bathroom to sit on his potty. Though he sat for a half-hour and didn't do anything, we were still happy with him for wanting to sit there and starting to connect what the potty is for. We don't want to rush this, so when he decides that he is done for now, we will put it away and try again later.

We also are in the process of moving Matthew into a big boy bed and out of his crib. He is having some troubles understanding that even though he can get out of his bed whenever he wants, he needs to sleep in it too. He is having too much fun now. I wanted to have this step completed this summer because I am home and can work with him. We will keep you posted on our new adventures!