A New Look

I got ambitious over the weekend. Several months ago Eric suggested we change the color in the bathroom upstairs. He thought gray would be nice. I have been searching high and low to find a split shower curtain in gray of some sort. It is only for decoration, since we have shower doors. I finally found one in the JcPenny's catalog. The color is chrome and it has strips in the same color. Well, I didn't want the bathroom to be all gray, so I decided a blue would be nice too.

I ended up blending the blue with the gray and used "The Woolie" to give the walls more depth. I really like how it turned out. I am still deciding if I will marblize the walls. Menards sells feathers, so I may go for it. I decided to accent with orange rugs and several towels. The contrast looks good, and really brightens the bathroom. Now I just need to find a few new pictures and it will be done.

What a Difference

It has become evident that Anthony must have had a lot discomfort. Since the fluid build up came over time, we just didn't notice how it was affecting him. He is so different now. He sleeps a lot more now. He use to nap anywhere from an hour to two. Now it is normally three hours, sometimes four. At night he is now sleeping eleven to twelve hours. Before the most he would sleep is ten. When he is up, he is all smiles, very happy and trying to say new words and sounds, and eating more! We are very happy we made the decision to get the tubes put in.

A Weekend Full of Camping and Weddings

We had a very fun weekend of camping and celebrating joyful unions. We headed down to Knoxville Friday after work to camp at Whitebreast. I had made a reservation several weeks ago. Our site was across from the playground and not far from the showerhouse. Eric and I are getting faster each time we set up the camper. It was really hot and humid, but we persevered. It got cool enough Friday night, that we used a top sheet.

Saturday we hung out at the site. Chase and I went to the playground, he rode his bike and I walked beside him. We played catch with the football and made our first lunch on the stove. We had tacos. It was fun to have something different. Then the thunderstorm rolled in. The winds came up and everything under the awning got soaked, but we stayed dry in the camper. The storm lasted a little over an hour and half. We then got ready for Josie and Ray's wedding and headed into town.

We dropped the boys off at Stephanie's, so Kira could babysit, and then headed to the country club. Josie's dad officiated the outdoor service. She had her younger brother Jon as the Man of honor, and then her other brother and sister. It was fun to see all our friends we hadn't seen in several months. He stayed until the beer ran out at 10pm. Then we picked up the boys and headed back to the site. Eric and I had a fire for about 45 minutes, and then the rain came again.

Father's Day started off cool, and then the sun came out. The humidity shot up and we were sweating by 9:30. The gnats were terrible, so we decided to pack up and come home to our cool abode.

Chase and I played in his pool in the afternoon, while Anthony napped and Eric relaxed. We then got ready to go to our second wedding of the weekend. My girlfriend Heather got married in a very pretty chapel over in Dallas Center, which is about 40 minutes west of us.

The ceremony was beautiful. Heather and Kurt both wrote their own vows and they were very meaningful. There was a side room attached to the chapel where they severed dinner and cut the cake. Heather is my girlfriend Marnie's sister. So her son Ryan, who is a little over 7 months was there. Tony and him had fun looking and touching each other. Tony kept pulling Ryan's pacifier out of his mouth. Ryan thought it was really funny. Tony thought it was a game. I look forward to the boys playing more together as they get older.

Anthony is Doing Well

We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am this morning. I woke Tony up at 11:30pm so he could have a bottle, since he could not eat or drink after midnight. We woke him up at 6am and headed over. Tony was in good spirits and we played while we waited for him to be taken in at 7:30. He was put under with just a mask, so he didn't have to have an I.V.

The doctor came out 10 minutes later and said all went well. He did find a pus and blood pocket in his right ear, which he was unaware of. So Tony's ear was really draining a lot of fluid and blood. He said it should stop in the next 48 hours. We got to go and see him at 7:45am and he was pretty upset. We could tell he had some discomfort by the tone of his crying. We are using Tylenol to help with the pain. We also have to put drops in his ears two times a day for the next three days. The doctor thought we should see a major difference in his demeanor in the next few days, since there was so much pressure in his ears. He has had several bottles and some food for lunch, and now he is finally sleeping.

Surgery for Anthony

We went to the ENT doctor and they tested Anthony's hearing and looked in his ears. They found that he isn't hearing low sounds, due to the fluid in his middle ears. The doctor said normally our eustachian tubes should angle up, in order to help with drainage. However, Anthony's are more straight. The body normally absorbs the water and the rest is drained, but since they aren't draining properly, the fluid has become a milky white protein, which explains why he is always putting his fingers in his ear, because it feels like something is in there, and it is!

The doctor said he is a candidate for tubes, but if we didn't want to do that, we could try Zrytec for 2 months. There is a 50% that might dry up the fluid. But if not, then we would need to do surgery at that point. It didn't take long for Eric and I to decide we would have the tubes put in. Anthony is at a crucial time in his developing his speech and his ability to understand people. If his hearing test had been good, we would have hesitated, but this will alleviate the pressure and improve his hearing.

I have talked to a lot of parents that have had this done. They all have said it will be harder on Eric and I, then Anthony. The surgery only takes 10-15 minutes, but it is still scary to have your child be put under. So we will put Anthony and the doctor into God's hands, and trust all will go well. We are still waiting to hear what time we go in on Wednesday, the 21st. Since he is so young, he should be first. We should hear today.

Chase's 3rd 4th Birthday Party

Our son is going to start thinking that every year he should have three birthday cakes! We celebrated his birthday in WI. Then on Tuesday Delana threw him a party. She ordered a cake, balloons and two pizza's to be delivered to her house. They had a great time. Then we had another party on Saturday with family and friend's. Our boy is really loved.

Ron and Nancy and her grandson Lance, came up from Garden City. We were really glad they could come. They hadn't seen Anthony yet, so that was fun seeing grandpa crawl around after Tony. We had a house full with Stephanie and her kids, Lisa and Sanchez, Miranda and Rob, Judy, Delana and Dale, and Chase's best friend McKenna. We had an exhilarating round of stomp on the balloon. Each of us had a balloon tied to our ankles, the object was to pop everyone else's balloon before they got yours. We then hit the pinata I made. Apparently I put too many layers of paper towels on it. The kids all took their turns, and hardly made a dent. It then took Chris and Rob bashing it a few times before all the candy came flying out.

Chase requested spaghetti and meatballs for his birthday meal. We also had strawberries, jello, Italian salad and rolls. We then had the cake. Chase had been patiently waiting 6 hours to have the cake. Miranda picked it up at 11am and we didn't do cake until after 5pm. He really got a kick of seeing himself on the cake. I had taken a picture of him dressed in his Spiderman costume and Wal-Mart put it on the cake. We all sang, and Chase blew out his four candles. Chase said he had the best birthday ever, of the two he can remember!

Love is in the Air

We had a lot of excitement over the weekend. Friday night Miranda and Rob came to town for Chase's birthday party on Saturday. Rob pulled Eric and I aside and asked if he could ask Miranda to marry him. We were all for it. Rob then had Chase help him. Chase carried the ring to Miranda and said, "Aunt Miranda, can Rob be my uncle?" She didn't hesitate for a moment. She said, "yes" and jumped into Rob's arms. It was all very romantic. They are thinking a May wedding in Kansas City.

Chase Really Excited About His Cake

Spider-Man Masks

Chase Aiming at Uncle Justin

820 Miles

The camper made the long trek North and back again, yeah! We had a great weekend. We arrived at the lake around 1am. We got Chase and Anthony put into bed, and Eric soon followed. I stayed up to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. I was really hungry, and Grandma had lots of good food to munch on. She made a homemade turkey soup that was excellent and corn bread to go with it. I also had her famous cucumber salad and a small slice of chocolate cake. We finally tumbled into bed around 2:30am.

Saturday was a beautiful warm 85 degree. Normally it is cold and rainy on Memorial Day weekend, therefore I did not pack our swimsuits. Good thing boys can just wear shorts! Grandma bought a blow up pool, so Chase had lots of fun in that.

Apparently, we had left a door or the tailgate open, because we had a dead battery on Saturday. We were able to jump it, but come Monday morning the truck wouldn't start again. So Justin took Eric to Wal-Mart to get a new battery. It is good to see the needle reading above 14 volts now.

My Mom, Madilyn and Hanna arrived at 4pm. It was fun to watch Tony and Hanna interact with each other. Tony followed Hanna wherever she went. They had fun looking at each other and Tony liked touching her. Chase and Madi were really excited to see each other. They played in the camper and ate their dinner in it and then spent the night in it.

It stormed Saturday night, and we didn't get wet! The thunder was really loud, I was sure Chase was going to wake up scared, but he slept right through it. We had Tony sleep in the house. Sunday morning we woke up to the sun and blue sky.

Sunday we had Chase's birthday party. Sara arrived at 11am with the Spiderman cake and presents, and Justin and Anne arrived shortly afterwards. Chase was so anxious to eat his cake, but we didn't get to that until 2pm. However, we let him open his presents. He got a really cool Spiderman mask and gloves that make noises from Sara. He also got summer Spiderman pj's. Can you tell he is into Spiderman? Sara brought along masks, since they don't have Spiderman party hats. We all had a lot of fun wearing those!

The lake was pretty calm, so Grandpa put the boat in the water. I forgot Chase's lifejacket. Justin was running to Wal-Mart to buy a new battery for the boat, so Eric went with to buy a lifejacket. Guess what...he now has a Spiderman lifejacket too. I forgot to mention that Delana and Dale gave Chase an Spiderman fishing pole too! He is really outfitted.

My Mom, Justin, myself, Madi and Chase went for a boat ride. We started off and the motor died several times. I was a bit worried. It would have been a long way to row back, and I hadn't packed any drinks or snacks for the kids. Thankfully it was just old gas. Once that got cleared out we had fun pounding over the waves. Chase and Madi were giggling hysterically as water splashed into the boat. That night we had a campfire and sang songs.

Monday morning was really hot and humid. Aunt Cheryl gave Chase a package of water balloons, so we filled those up and had a great time. Chase did so much running, that he took a 3 1/2 hour nap later. Myself, Eric and Tony hit the road around 10:45am. Chase stayed with my grandparents until Wednesday night, and then my mom the rest of the week. We are meeting my mom on Sunday at the Mississippi.