Florida

For Colden's 2nd airplane trip, we went to see family in Florida.  Luckily, Colden didn't mind that our flight was delayed two hours, or that it was past his normal bedtime.  Instead, he seized the opportunity to make new friends and to cheer up all of the stranded passengers.

By the way, Colden - in a few years, if you can work your way into the middle of a high school girls soccer team like you did in the airport - you will have it made!  :-)

Once we arrived in Florida, it was time for rest and relaxation:

(Saba and Colden)

(Aunt Maera and Colden)

(Daddy and Colden)

After a little R&R, it was time to play and soak up the rays...

(Safta and Colden)

We took Colden to the beach for the first time:

 

It was fun walking to the beach...

 But touching the sand was not fun...

And putting his feet in the water was definitely not fun...

OK.  Being held under the pier wasn't so bad.

And people-watching with mommy was OK too.

It was great to see family and to escape the cold Pennsylvania winter.  It was just a great trip.

(Colden and Great Grandma Olga)

(Uncle Tony, Aunt Maera, Alexa, Colden and Ariela)

 We are already looking forward to the next time we can feel the sand between our toes.  Well, maybe all of us except for Colden...

Surgery

3 ear infections in 2 months.  

In between ear infections, the fluid never drained.  

The doctors were afraid that the constant fluid would hinder his speech development.  

So, on February 7th, Colden had surgery to get bilateral ear tubes put in.

PRE-SURGERY

The doctor told us to practice giving him a bath with ear plugs, because he will have to wear them from now on as long as he has the ear tubes in.

As you can see, he didn't mind a bit.

Colden wasn't allowed to eat or drink after midnight, so we made sure to wake him up and feed him at 11:30pm.  We arrived at the hospital at 6:45am.

We had our own pre-op room.  Colden had to put on a little gown.

He loved playing in the crib

The cutest thing was that the pre-op area where we were waiting had little wagons for the kids, so we took Colden for a tour:

He loved it!

DURING SURGERY

8:00am - The nurses take Colden away.  We go to the waiting room

8:05am - Surgery starts

8:13am - Surgery is over

8:25am - Surgeon comes out to speak with us (everything went perfectly!)

8:30am - I go to the recovery room to be with Colden as he is waking up 

8:35am - Colden is waking up and drinking

The surgery was incredibly fast and everything went smoothly!

POST-SURGERY

The nurses put a surgical hat on Bun-Bun #2 and taped cotton balls over the ears to mimic the cotton balls in Colden's ears.  :-)

He got a sticker for being such a good boy...

...and was eating Cheerios within 45 minutes of coming out of surgery.

We left the hospital around 10:00am...

...and he was a happy camper playing with his new "I was a brave boy" toys.

He was laughing in the car on the way home from the hospital and was acting like his normal self in no time - happy, talkative and getting into everything!

By the way, after surgery Colden said "mama" for the first time.  Mike heard it too!  It was the first time Colden ever attempted the "M" sound.  :-)  All in all, it was a successful day!!

10 Months Old

(3 days)

(1 month)

(2 months)

(3 months)

(4 months)

(5 months)

(6 months)

(7 months)

(8 months)

(9 months)

(10 months)

Over the past month, Colden has become quite the little explorer.  He's discovered that objects (other than toys) make fun noises.  He's discovered that Josie and Frankie are a lot of fun to follow and their fur is fun to pull.  (Josie and Frankie have discovered that Colden is a nightmare). 

I have really enjoyed watching him act silly:

(Video:  Car seat fun)

And watching him play with other people:

(Video:  Crawl chase)

And seeing him get into things:

(Video:  Empty drawer)



 My 10-month-old little man loves...

...playing with the stair rails

...getting the bathtub ready with daddy

...taking naps with daddy