Wednesday, September 9, 2009

He can hear!!!

So Gabriel's been plagued by frequent ear infections. He's had 2 or 3 this summer :/ We took him to the pediatrician for another ear infection back in July. Our wonderful pediatrician looked back at his history and suggested we meet with an ENT to see if Gabe would qualify for tubes. We met with the ENT last Tuesday (the 1st) and he said Gabe would benefit greatly from tubes, and scheduled him for 'surgery' on the 8th (yesterday)!
The surgery was scheduled for 6 am. We got there a few minutes before 6, per instructions, and Gabe was unable to eat anything after midnight Monday. (It's a good thing he ate a TON at the BBQ!!)

After a little while, we got pulled back into his little room. Here he is waiting for the anesthesiologist to come back.
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Gabe's surgery

That is "puppy" who is Gabe's BFF. He loves that dog!

So after a while the anesthesiologist came back and said Gabriel would be under for less than 10 minutes, and super crabby when he came out of the anesthetic. After another bit, the anesthesiologist came back and asked me to walk Gabe to the surgery room (right before the 'sterile' part) So I did, went back and gathered my stuff, and went into the waiting room to wait for the doc.

So Gabe had hernia surgery when he was 3 months old. He had inguinal hernias. That was a quick surgery. We waited like 30 minutes before the doctor came back to talk to us. I was expecting a wait like that, so I brought knitting with me. Not just one project, but two. Boy as I wrong. I had literally just sat down on the couch, and pulled my knitting project out, and knit about 10 stitches before the doctor came in to give me the details!

I went back to get Gabe, and boy was he crabby! It only lasted a few minutes though, and he's been ok ever since. He's talking more already. Not like WORDS, yet, but tons of sounds. It's like he's finally hearing himself for the first time, and he likes what he hears. Definitely reaffirms the decision to have it done. The doctor had said his right ear was infected again, ugh! He's been pretty crabby, but nothing unbearable!

Here he is being super silly. I bought these longies to frog (which means pull them apart) and reknit them for Gabe. They were super cheap, and that yarn is hard to find!
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Day Trippers

So, I've lived in Iowa a whole year! And you know what? I haven't seen anything!

Last Friday, Sandy, who also doubles as my knitting instructor, friend and SOS Adviser, took us out on a day trip to see Des Moines! I'm ridiculously excited for this new group. I love Des Moines and the surrounding areas, I just don't know much about it!

On Friday we went to Saylorville Lake. There is a butterfly garden there, and anyone who knows Julian, knows he loooooves butterflies (and all bugs really). It was a little chilly for the butterflies, but let me tell ya, there were plenty of other bugs hanging out!

All of these pics are straight out of the camera, no editing done (not even cropping).

Here's Julian in front of his favorite bird's nest. A Bald Eagle. (He thinks EVERY bird flying in the sky is a Bald Eagle, and will tell you so).
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Pointing at the egg
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My cute boy
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(Oh and the reason there are no pictures of Gabriel running rampant here is because I was wearing him on my back!)

Here is a critter that Julian discovered sitting on this gorgeous red flower. (Later I had one of these critters crawling on me!!!!! I totally screamed like a girl, and Julian laughed, and laughed, and laughed.)
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Once we got to the garden, I decided Gabe would do better walking/running. He needed to get tired out! LOL!
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Another critter Julian found!
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Bumblebee! (I love the bokeh)
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The ONE butterfly we found
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Julian and his BFF Sandy. He wouldn't leave her side!
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The closest thing I could get to a good picture of my 2 boys
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Julian keeps talking about this ladybug garbage can
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This one just shows ya how CRAZY Gabe's hair is!
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The boys running ahead of me
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After the garden, we drove over 'the longest bridge in the whole wide world' according to Julian, and over to the lake. Apparently migrating pelicans go there to catch fish! We couldn't see the, they were far away, but here's a bird!
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Super cute boys
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Sandy had some binoculars just Julian's size. He was stoked!
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Here are some of the pelican's flying!
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And crazy face Gabriel after we got home from the outing! He had some fluffy mail, some new diapers, longies, and yummy things! He was excited!
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