Ear Tube Surgery .... Oh boy! After much thought and deliberation, we decided to have Max get ear tubes to help stop ear infections. Max has had to suffer from ear infections for years and finally I just insisted on getting more information and bringing it to the doctors attention. After we took Max in for his 5 year checkup, his pediatrician noticed that his hearing was not perfect. I told him I had several concerns and had inquired about getting tubes on several occasions. Each time I asked, the doctors told me that if he was not having 8 to 10 ear infections a year, he was just normal. Well 4 to 6 ear infections along with strep throat, and not passing a hearing test for kindergarten was finally enough to get a ear nose and throat doctors name. We met with the doctor back when grandma and grandpa were in town and surgery was scheduled for May 6th.
We had to see the pediatrician a few days before his surgery date to make sure his heart and lungs were good to go. During this visit, the pediatrician questioned me why I was not having his adenoids removed as well. This of course got me all stressed out and questioned my thought of just having ear tubes put in. Since Max was 5 the doctors told me that he should be done having the ear infections and having both removed would solve the problems for sure. Ear tubes would most likely solve the problem and is much less invasive than tubes and adenoids. In the end, talking with Mark in Afghanistan and my folks, we decided to just stick with the first thought of only getting the ear tubes put in. These pictures show Max getting prepped for surgery. The hardest part of the whole day was the fasting! Max could not eat or drink 4 hours before surgery and he was a trooper. His surgical time was 9:10 am but, he did not go in until 9:30 or so.
The doctors called Max back, but he quickly corrected them by saying, "Call me Dr. Bridges!" So the doctor and nurses called him Dr. Bridges ... we walked back to the surgical room which was rather cold. I lifted him up on the table and the nurses put blankets on him. He was strapped down and the big "elephant mask" came up to help him go to sleep. I sang him a song and he was sleep really quick! After he was out, the nurses showed me out of the surgical room. By the time I got changed back in to my clothes and to my waiting room, it was only 5 minutes or so when the nurse came and told me that surgery was done. Very quick! A few minutes later, they came and told me he was waking up and I went to meet him in the recovery room. I held him as he woke up and was quite groggy. He ate a frozen popsicle and about 30 minutes later we were in the car and heading home. Besides being super sleepy he did really well. We were at the park by 4 pm that day and thank heavens things went really well.
Although Mark was not there to see us through this, we did have a wonderful home teacher come and give Max a blessing prior to surgery. With so many prayers and a resilient little boy, all went well and since the surgery no ear infections! Hooray!!
July came and we quickly realized that it was going to be time for our family to move once again. Mark got official word that his start date was August 1st. We quickly bought airline tickets for all three of us to fly to Omaha in search of housing and to see the area. Max flew out with us and G & G Tippets drove over from Wyoming to meet us for a few days. It was a whirlwind of a trip but we were successful in finding a home to rent for the next year. The area is very green and we were surprised to see how many trees and hills there are in this area. While we are surrounded by corn fields .... we are also surrounded by very nice neighbors. We have been able to meet several neighbors and we could not have picked a better street to live on for Max! He is absolutely in love with playing outside in the yard and with the neighbors. Kids all around sure make playing outside a ball!
For preschool graduation Max earned himself his first bicycle! He has actually been waiting for dad to come home to help him learn how to ride. Once assembled Max had a great time riding circles in our little apartment parking lot. A couple other little kids in our neighborhood have bikes too - they have a blast together. It will not be long till those training wheels come off!
This year Max and I decided to grow our tomato's on the patio and we had two different plants. It was fun to plant them, water and watch the plants grow. Here is our first ripe tomato and Max had so much fun watering them and even eating them! The skin was a little tough but, they were hardy and we enjoyed many tomato's from these two little plants. We also attempted growing Rosemary from seed but, one too many over watering episodes made that a bit impossible. We may try again with Rosemary once we are settled in our new home.
One night we decided to put this together and see who was bigger ... yes, the puzzle is certainly taller than Max! None-the-less he Max is growing soo big! What happened to my little baby?
on May 2. Max has been learning all about music basics including lots of facts about Beethoven and Bach. I was able to go see their performance along with all the other parents in a very crowded room .... and it was worth it. After the concert, the children all received medals and certificates for their performance.
Frank Lloyd Wright Home 
Maxs' favorite room ... next to the exhibit ... build away. The kids had one hour in the exhibit area to visit the constructed buildings and then create whatever they wanted. Then the next group could come in, destroy or add on as they wished. 
I believe the lego exhibit is up until the end of September this year. If you have boys ... I seriously recommend this to you! Take the red line metro to Judiciary Square and when you come up out of the metro, the Building Museum is right across the street! Very easy! Exhibit is $5 per person. 
