Where did March go??

Wow... March was a busy month. Jim was still traveling for work although this month was only gone for 6 days. Josh and I took a few trips to MN. Josh had a big month with the doctors... the double ear infection saga continued through that month. I brought him into the doctors one more time to find out that they still had not gone away... since January!!! He was on 3 different oral antibiotics that never worked... so the only one left was the antibiotic shots. He got one in each leg that day. We returned the next day... and they weren't 100% better so he got two more shots... then finally the last day... they again weren't 100% better so he had the final two shots. YUCK!! But he was definitely showing signs of improvement. Sleeping and eating better. Jim took off for the business trip and I went home to MN for Easter. When I returned to WI, it was clear Josh wasn't completely better. So back to the doctor we went. This time, she replied, "I have never seen a kid still have an ear infection after those antibiotics, so I don't really know what to do at this point. I am going to consult the other pediatricians." So about 15 minutes pass and finally she comes back. She says, "We have booked you an appointment at the Ear Nose Throat (ENT) tomorrow afternoon and they have an opening for surgery (tubes) ready for Friday as they believe that will be the next step. They really want to see him ASAP to reduce the risk of permanant damage."

So - I immediately call Jim and let him know what was going on. He wasn't going to be back until 11:30am and the surgery was going to be at 10am. Although I know that tubes are a very common surgery... I was not looking forward to Jim being out of town for part of it. Thankfully his parents were planning to come into town that weekend and agreed to come in a day early. The appointment on Thursday was really late 3:45pm. We had to do a hearing test where I sat on a chair in a big booth and had Josh on my lap. They had various animals playing instruments around the room and he would look up at them. I was supposed to be SO STILL and all I could do was laugh because I could see his response in the mirror in front of us. Then the lady made the dog bark down by our feet... WOW that did not go well. Josh burst into tears. Our dog Hilo doesn't bark... so any dog that does... freaks Josh out.

They did a few more tests and then we went to the exam room for the doctor to look into his ears. Everything came back just shy of normal or normal. And the doctor said his ears looked better than what the charts had indicated the day before. So NO surgery! PHEW! I think we were all relieved.

Since that big episode... Josh has been sleeping and eating much better. Although we have been to the doctors a few more times in fear that the ear infections were back... however they were able to quickly say that his ears were fine but he was getting 6 teeth... YIKES!

Cross Country Skiing...

I was determined to have a "family" outing this weekend. We have had SO much snow here that I am sick of only shoveling and driving in it... we had to go out and enjoy it. I researched backpack carriers and saw that the Snugli Cross Country was rated #1 by consumer reports... and it was $70 instead of the Kelty K.I.D.S ($200+). So I went to Baby Depot and tried it out with Josh. He loved it in the store so I figured we should go for it.

That night I put him in his snowsuit and then into the backpack. These are the first pictures in the post. He was less than thrilled. But that didn't stop me. Saturday morning Josh and I hung out while Dad got some extra hours in at work. We played with his Tonka truck and his blocks. He practiced crawling from the kitchen to the family room (there is one step). It seems like each day he conquers something new... Lately he likes to yell to get our attention and if we make a noise he will mimic us. Hilo must think we are nuts!

Jim got home from work and we got all ready for our skiing adventure. Jim rented skiis while I got Josh all bundled up and strapped into the backpack. We started out with Jim carrying Josh. But eventually switched because I was more comfortable on skiis. Both of us thought the carrier was really comfortable and my shoulders didn't hurt at all during or after the trip. YAY!

Josh slept for at least the first 45 minutes. Then he woke up and I could hear him smiling - he always scrunches up his nose and breathes in and out real fast when he is excited. Don' t ask me why... but it is cute. We got lots of comments from others on the trail like "He is enjoying the backpack!", "Oh he is so cute", "wow you are brave parents"... But it was brave... Jim and I were both terrified of falling over and crushing him... but we made it 1.5 hours and didn't fall over with him on our back...

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. We watched movies and played in the yard... again - SO MUCH snow. I can't wait till Josh is old enough to build SNOW STATUES in our front lawn... Hee hee!

We went to church and then to breakfast Sunday morning. I ordered Crepes with strawberries and bananas. Josh couldn't get enough of my breakfast. He literally grabbed handfulls and was shoveling it into his mouth. Jim and I just sat there and watched him in amazement. It was hilarious. He had to have ate atleast one entire crepe on his own.

The weekend ended on a bad note when I decided to try playing indoor soccer again. I hadn't played since Feb 3rd when I had sprained my ankle (atleast that was my self diagnoses with help from Dr. Jimbo). I wore an ankle brace and warmed up without a problem. I didn't even last 5 minutes before I attempted to trap a ball and was quickly on the ground in lots of pain - AGAIN. This time I didn't continue playing and instead called my doctor to make an appointment. I had x-rays done which showed that I had a hairline fracture which was healing on its own... so no cast for now... but I do need to start physical therapy... YAY again!

Tonka Trucks are Cool!!

This is Jim, just wanted to try and embed a video from YouTube of the little man walking behind his new Tonka Truck....

Things are good Josh has another set of ear infections, so back on the antibiotics..not too happy but I think we caught these earlier than last time... Busy busy around our place, my new project is to replicate the entertainment center Dee saw in the Pottery Barn catalog beacuse things made of wood should not cost over $2000 unless they are wooden robots or boats...