Surgery Day

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!!

Birthday Puzzles

Max received several puzzles for his birthday this year which are always fun. 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?

Choir Concert

Chester Brooke Academy hosted their spring choir concert 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.

Lego Exhibit

Last Saturday we took the metro downtown to the Building Museum to see the Lego Exhibit. While we were there the "White House" was getting constructed out of legos. The man (can't remember his name) had been working on it for 3 days and had to be finished by Sunday afternoon. I noticed that he had the same trouble as the rest of us .... you bump or knock one lego and you can lose them all (or at least a good number of them)!

White House under construction.

Additional landmarks up in the official lego exhibit.

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.

Grandpa & Grandma Tippets Visit

Beides having the local fire department visit us during mom & dad's visit .... we also had the 24 hour flu bug visit our home. It was a 10 day visit of not much but sickness! Started with Max who had the stomach flu (mildly and was finishing up strep throat the week they arrived and had pink eye the week before!) on Friday, Grandma got it on Monday / Tuesday, Grandpa got a sore throat on Wednesday so we drove him to the Quick Care unit for the z-pac. Thursday we took Max to the ENT specialist, Audiologist, etc. and now have ear tube surgery scheduled for him on May 6th. After all of Maxs' dr's appointments we drove down through DC and viewed the blossoms from the car (Max now asleep) and ended up at the DC Temple. We had a nice drive through the city and did enjoy many beautiful buildings. Friday by noon I was sick with the flu bug .... which seriously is sooo miserable but, mom and Max had been through it already and had some sympathy but, until you are down to dry heaves ... your miserable as we all know! Saturday morning I had to be at work at 6 am and ate crackers and grapes! Sunday afternoon dad got the bug and started to feel human again on Monday afternoon. Tuesday, mom and dad flew back to Utah! WOW ... what a week! Not much vacationing but, we did have fun together despite being sick! On Monday night I realized I had not taken any pictures so before Max went to bed I snapped the two pictures below. I think for this picture ... no one was feeling sick!

Possible Fire!

About two weeks ago right after my parents got here for a little vacation .... we were sitting down to dinner and we heard firetrucks coming down the street in front of our neighborhood. Seems as though the sirens were getting louder and louder ... so I got up to see where they were headed. Turns out they pulled in to our complex and stopped at OUR building! Mom ran out the door to see smoke coming from an apartment vent below us. OK - so now what to grab and go. In the meanwhile I see the firemen coming up our stairs with ax in hand and I say, I'm sure you want us out. He says, no at this point stay in your apartment. What? Really? Now Max has full blown curiosity, I'm starting to have nightmares from 11 years ago, and mom and dad are wondering which pictures to grab off the wall, which files along with grabbing what we can while we have a minute to "wait in our apartment". I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures as quick as possible and hauled out of the house with Max, purse & camera. Turns out the smoke was coming from our neighbors dryer vent and there really was a lot of smoke coming out and someone in the complex saw it and called 911. Firemen got in to the apartment (no one was home) and investigated the dryer. It appeared ok and cleared everyone to go back in. But, there was 5 fire trucks and several "management" looking trucks that all came. Since this night, dad found out that about 4 or 5 years ago, there was a building in our complex that burned down (great.....) and I'm sure when they hear apartment complex, the calvary does come! Thankfully, nothing more happened and we were able to return to our apartment.

The Suspicious Package ...

Tonight as I was riding the metro home and I saw / found what I would term as a "suspicious" package. I left work at my usual time of 4:25 ish ... and headed to Federal Triangle metro. I boarded the metro and started out wide awake then realized it was time for my power nap. However, about two stops before mine, I awoke from my power nap and my car was much less crowded. I noticed a paint can under the seat of a man across and up a few rows from me. I remembered the man coming on to the train and knew the paint can was not his. But, I did not notice it before. Perhaps because it had been hidden by fellow riders along with purses, backpacks, brief cases, jackets, newspapers, books, lunch bags, etc. But this paint can did not appear to have a top but was covered with aluminum foil. Hmmm, I thought. This seems a bit out of place especially during rush hour traffic. So, as we are pulling in to the final stop (and I have now looked over those who are left on my train to see if anyone is looking suspicious as well) decide to make a comment to the man who was sitting above the paint can. I asked him, "Is that your paint can?" and of course he said no. I said, well to me that is quite out of place and constitutes a suspicious package. So, I went to the end of our car and pushed the emergency red button. I pushed it SEVERAL times and no one answered. But, now we are stopped and people are getting off and others are starting to get back on. Other riders, say thank you for seeing that .... we'll try to locate someone as well. In the meanwhile, still no answer at the "Emergency" button. I then proceed to tell a woman with a stroller not to get on the car until this "package" is removed along with several others whom were boarding. A man appeared with his metro logo clothes and we pointed it out to him. He called it in on the radio and left the package behind. I'm thinking, well I would not feel comfortable picking it up either ... at least not without gloves and perhaps a dog to sniff it out. I took the escalator to the top and again mentioned the situation to the metro officials in the booth. They thanked me and I was on my way. I never heard a trian blow-up and I have no idea if it really was just a paint can left on the metro. But, really ... who takes a paint can on the metro and then forgets it? Really? Don't you think it was suspicious too?

PS - I say suspicious because they broadcast constantly, if you see something, say something. Report all suspicious packages.