March came in like a lion and out like a lamb...

Wow, what a month! Who would have known that Owen’s surgery early in the month, actually set the stage for a terrific month! He was quite a trooper recovering from the surgery and the flu and recovered very nicely from the surgery. It did take a full 3 days before he was back to himself, but he has really improved, and even fought off a small cold later in the month without developing into a full blown attack. Having the tubes and adenoids done was definitely the right thing to do. We’re so happy with the results, and hope he continues to stay healthy and ear infection free. He really seems to be hearing much better, and that was even confirmed by the doctor who did a repeat hearing test which this time Owen passed with flying colors. We’ve very pleased. He even seems to have more confidence because he can hear better! And boy is he a chatter box. He’s continuing to improve his language skills, creating more and more complex sentences and thoughts, it’s amazing!

Daddy had a lot of travel this month, so Owen and I got to spend lots of quality time together. And Granny even came and spent the night with us a few nights this month when Pop was away. She just LOVED seeing and interacting with Owen. He’s so different lately, and seeing him for long periods of time, let you really see what a wonderful personality he has. Unlike when we take him out to a long dinner at a restaurant when he tends to get bored or cranky… What do you expect though, he’s two! And two year olds don’t do fancy restaurants!

One morning, we had some construction done on our drive way. They brought in a mini bull dozer and Owen was in heaven staring out the window and watching the progress. It was so adorable. He just loves his trucks!

We had a few play dates with Ms. Robyn and Sofia also. Owen gets so excited when they are coming over, he asks all day when is Sofia coming? It’s also so amazing to see how they interact now, and the two of them can actually communicate and have conversations. It’s funny that they don’t always need the “Mommies” to intervene… So adorable!

Owen is just plain silly a lot of the time. He loves to entertain you, and even more, loves when you laugh. And the things he comes up with are just too funny! The other day he had me tie a string around his puppy so he could take it for a walk. Yes, we have a real dog, but he wanted to walk the pretend one. He is one happy, funny kid.

Today while helping to make some pudding, he had to have some "extra eyes" to do it, and put on 3 googly eyes on his forehead. He thought that was just too funny... I never have a dull day with Owen around... He keeps me on my toes, and helps me realize laughter is the best medicine.

In other less exciting news, Owen is still not a huge eater. He's very picky at mealtimes, and very much a typical two year old. He only eats about 15 different foods, and frequently will ask for the same thing over and over and over again. But he does eat pretty well, as long as it's from his list of "favorites". I struggle with this constantly, because I so want him to broaden his food palate, but he is just plain stubborn... hmmm wonder where he gets that from??? I ask Mother's everywhere how they get their picky kids to try new things, but every technique suggested to date has failed. I always get "EEWWW Mommy, Come On..." Great, a sassy talker already. Some days he eats like he might never see another meal and other days I wonder how he survives on such little food. He's still growing, gaining weight and healthy, so I'm not overly concerned, but it is so frustrating at meal times to want him to eat well and enjoy a variety of foods, but he just won't even try. And I too often give into him and give him what I know he will eat, just so I know he's getting something. He's a peanut butter addict, which is good since he still refuses to eat ANY meat, chicken or fish, so at least he gets some good protein each day. What I would do for him to eat chicken nuggets... GRRR... It's very frustrating, but Mommy and Daddy are doing better not forcing meals or making food a battle. We figure he'll come around eventually, we hope... and we always welcome suggestions!

Owen’s so excited to have visitors and he gets excited when you tell him anyone is coming over, he loves visitors now and loves to show off to them. It’s so nice after months and months of shyness. Uncle Alex brought Granny by one day and he was just staring out the window waiting for them to arrive. Alex was great playing with Owen and running up and down the stairs playing with his toy parachute. It’s so funny to see the little things that entertain him.
We had a nice St. Patty’s Day. Granny had spent the night before at our house, so Owen was very excited that she was still there in the morning, and could hardly wait for her to wake up, because he had been wearing the St. Patty’s head band since he woke up and was patiently waiting to say “SURPRISE!” Granny came with us to Gymnastics, and was impressed by what Owen can do, and with the class. Since it was the last class of the session, the kids all got their ribbons and stood on the block and yelled “TADA”. Granny loved that… Then we had a nice lunch and ran some errands at the mall. It was such a nice day, and so great for Owen to spend it with Granny.

We also got to go to the new Perry Hall Library. Owen loves going to the library, and this one is within walking distance of our house, so it’s great to go there and play and get books out. We also finally got to go to our first Story Time. They are always held on days that I work, so we never get to go, but the new library has one story time a month for toddlers that’s held on Thursday. It’s great and we plan to go all the time now.

It’s also so nice that we’re having some spring like days now, and able to enjoy going outside. Owen was very confused with the weather, some days it was near 70, and we’d play outside, other days it was cold and freezing, and we couldn’t play outside. He loves to play outdoors and ride his toys and play with his bubble gun or take a walk to the playground, so it was hard to convince him that some days it was just too cold. Hopefully those days are behind us till next winter and we’ll be able to get outside almost every day now.

But the highlight of the month was clearly the Circus. We took Owen to the Ringling Bros Circus at the Baltimore Arena, for his first performance. We were a little apprehensive, not sure if he would have the attention span to sit through the entire circus. But we got there, about 30 minutes early, and had time to go down to the preshow, where they let you onto the floor and see some of the performers up close, and they had jugglers, and elephants, and a man on stilts, and more. Owen was a little overwhelmed, but he sat on Daddy’s shoulders and took it all in. He was amazed by the elephants; he positively loves elephants and monkeys.

We then went to our seats, after purchasing some lunch and a very expensive $20 light up sword… yes, highway robbery, but Owen loves the sword. Owen was very proud to have his own seat, and he sat there for the entire show. He didn’t even want to get up during intermission because he was afraid he would miss something. Fortunately when he did start to get a little antsy, it was near the end, and there was no one sitting next to us, so Owen was able to stand up and watch. He was just adorable though, clapping for the performers, singing along, and so intent watching. He really enjoyed the motorcycle acts too, they were amazing, circling 7 motorcycles inside that tiny metal ball. It was really amazing! Another section he was amazed by was the men jumping and doing somersaults on these big inner tubes. It was so cool! Of course the elephants and horses, and tigers were also a big fascination for him.

Probably the best activity out we have ever had, Owen was so cooperative, and just a pleasure to take to the circus. I’m so glad he enjoyed it! The show was at 11:30am, and normally Owen naps around 2pm. But it finished about 2, certainly he has stayed up much later than this before. We got in the car, heading home hoping to get him down for his nap…

Our little Owen NEVER sleeps in the car… but this day he did. Poor little guy was so mentally and physically exhausted he zonked out about half way home, and when we got home, he still went down for his nap and slept another 2 hours.

So what started out as a very crazy hectic month with Owen having surgery and all of us having the flu, really ended up being a month of fun.

Funny Kid

Owen is so funny lately! It's hysterical the things he comes up with, and he just make you laugh! Owen has recently decided that breakfast should be eaten on the floor of the kitchen. And Mommy must eat with him there too. So while eating this morning, he was so adorable just sitting against the door to the cabinet, and I asked him - "How did you get so cute?" And he responded with perfect poise - "I'm not sure." I just cracked up... to which he said - "Was that funny Mommy?"

Super Patient

March has gotten off to a very bumpy start. Sunday was such a terrific day, we went to church, and Owen was very good, then we went to Aunt Barb's house for Mom-Mom's 80th birthday party. He was so good at the party, having a blast! It was the first time we've ever gone to a large gathering that Owen had the confidence and fun loving spirit that I know and see every day. Usually he clings to me or Daddy for most of the party and is pretty shy, but he has been coming out of his shell lately and really opening up to people. This party was a perfect example. He had a blast.

Then Monday morning, Owen caught a really nasty bug. At first we thought maybe it was from eating too much junk food the day before at the party, because he had gotten sick all over his crib and then continued to not be able to keep anything down the rest of the day. Mommy took him to do his pre-surgical physical, and the doctor didn't think that Owen had a virus, because he had no other symptoms, so he cleared him for surgery. Unfortunately, the bug continued till Tuesday afternoon, and so we called the Surgeon. They felt it might be an intolerance to the antibiotic, so we should still bring him in the next day and they would evaluate.

Well I woke up Wednesday morning feeling queasy, but just figured it was nerves, and so we all headed off to GBMC. When we got there, the doctors and nurses, and anesthesiologist all evaluated Owen, and weighed the benefits of doing the surgery vs postponing because he had been ill. Since he was not running a fever, and his exam was good, we all decided to go forward. Owen was a little grumpy during the morning, because he was SO THIRSTY. I think he was finally hungry and feeling better, and all the poor little guy wanted was something to drink. His surgery was scheduled for 10:30, so he was up for quite some time not allowed to have anything to drink. He kept asking for different beverages. Saying - How about Milk? How about Orange Juice? How about Apple Juice? How about Grape Juice? It was heart breaking not to be able to give him what he wanted so badly .

I walked Owen back to the operating room, and held him while the anesthesiologist put him to sleep. Then I gave him a kiss and laid him on the operating table. It was really tough to leave him. I met Daddy in the waiting room, and we patiently waited for the doctor to come out. The surgery was about 40 minutes total, and we were then told he did great and that the surgery was definitely warranted, because he had a lot of thick fluid in both ears and his adenoids were very enlarged.

We got to see Owen in the recovery room just a few minutes later. Owen was pretty out of it, just trying to hold his head up, and was crying and coughing, I felt so terrible for him, but they had prepared us for this. They put me in a chair in the recovery room, and put Owen in my lap and a big hot blanket around us to keep him warm. I was holding him for about 15 min waiting for him to come around, and started feeling faint... I told Troy - I'm really hot and I think I'm going to pass out. Daddy went to get me some water, and went to the nurses station, and 4 nurses came flying into the room, took Owen off my lap, gave him to Daddy, and within 2 seconds I was puking my guts up. I was so embarrassed. They gave me scrubs to change into and some ginger ale, and I thought I was was feeling better, but I wasn't. I guess we finally realized Owen definitely had a stomach bug, because I've got it in full swing now.

Daddy took over with Owen while I tried to compose myself and feel better. He did a great job getting him to slowly drink juice and rubbed his back, so sweet. Owen really did great in the recovery room, was so happy to finally get some juice, and watched some Caillou, before they finally let us go. As Daddy was getting Owen dressed to leave I felt another wave of nausea hit me and the nurses again came to my rescue... The finally released us, well, they actually released Owen, and they actually wanted to send me to the ER, but I didn't want to go and went home with Owen. Owen even walked out of the surgical center holding our hands, it was nice to see him up and about.

Since coming home yesterday afternoon, Owen has been doing terrific, he's trying to eat a little, getting some fluids, and also trying to play. We're both still battling the tail end of this stomach bug, so today we pretty much rested and recovered. Hopefully we'll both be much better tomorrow, and hopefully Daddy won't catch the stomach bug...

I'm so proud of how brave Owen was and what a good job he did. I really hope that this gives him some relief and helps avoid any more ear infections this year.