My First Surgery

So, we finally did it! We had the dreaded surgery. Yesterday, we took Ben to Cooks to get tubes in his ears and to have his adnoids removed. I was dreading the surgery but I was so ready to do something to help my poor child breath better, sleep better, and avoid having his 8th ear infection! I prayed fervently that God would have his hand on things and He didn't let me down! He was with us every step of the way. Ben slept all the way to the hospital, even until we got up to the waiting room, after registration. Then, we were quickly taking into a couple of different rooms where they asked us all the questions they're supposed to ask, took Ben's vitals, etc. Then they had a play room where he hung out with other kids until the surgery. He had a ball. Every once in a while he would reach for his backpack because that's where we keep his sippy (he couldn't have anything to eat or drink), but that was it! They had a singing Christmas tree in the play area and we all know how much my son likes anything that sings. So he kept pressing that over and over again. I think we drove everyone else nuts, but it kept him happy!

Then at about 9:30, they took me back into another room with Ben and sent Hector to the waiting room where Mom, Dad and Mere waited with him. They gave Ben a sedative up his nose. He did not like that at all, but all it took was about 2 minutes and then he really liked it! He was playing with some Dora the Explorer stickers like they were the coolest invention ever! Then after about 15 minutes, I layed my baby on a little baby hospital bed and they rolled him back. I went to the waiting room with everyone else. They gave him gas before they put an IV in, so he didn't feel a thing. Then, about 15 minutes later, Dr. Palmer came out and said that everything went great. He said that Ben's adnoids were very enlarged so he should notice an immediate breathing difference. It took a little longer before we could go back there because Ben had so much congestion they had to give him a breathing treatment and CPT, which kind of concerned me. But they acted like it was normal. Of course the day before his surgery, in addition to trying to get over a double ear infection, he develops a nasty cough.

Anyway, when they took me back to see him, he was still asleep. That anesthesia knocked him out! We had to wake him up to give him fluids and he did not like that at all. But even then, he just fussed a little. We all took turns going back there to see him. Kristen, my cousin, works at Cooks and came by to make sure everything was ok. Then when we got home, he was a little fussy, but he inhaled his waffles and wanted to play. Then I just knew last night would be a rough one. Instead, he slept through the whole night AND woke up in a great mood. We only had to give him tylenol once today! Isn't that nuts! God is good, and we are thankful! His adnoids are still swollen so it will be another couple of days before we can tell a difference in his breathing, but we're confident we will and we're hopeful that the tubes will help with his speech development.

Merry Christmas

So this Christmas was a white Christmas! What are the odds? It was great and made for some great Kodak moments! There's nothing cuter than a one year old bundled up and playing in the snow.

On Christmas eve, we always go to Mama Joys in the afternoon about 3 and then head to Hector's moms at around 6. We went to MJs as planned. Ben had fun with everyone but wasn't very interested in his gifts or the wrapping paper for that matter. Then when we left to go to Iris's, we almost slid through the first intersection we came to. So, we quickly decided a trip to Lewisville in this weather was probably not wise. So we headed to Mom and Dad's instead. We didn't want to get snowed in at our house and not be able to spend Christmas with the family, so we spent Christmas Eve at their house. On C.E. growing up, we always were given one gift which were always pajamas and we would drink hot chocolate and watch a christmas movie. Well, since I've been married, I haven't gotten to be part of that tradition b/c we spend C.E. with his family. So, as disappointed as we were to miss spending it with his fam, it was kind of neat to get to be a part of the tradition once again! My husband bought me the movie "this christmas" as an early gift, and that's what we watched! It was great!

Then when we woke up Christmas morning, I took Ben into each room to wake everyone up. What better way to wake up on Xmas?! Then we all went into the den together as always. Ben wasn't feeling all that great... probably had to do with his double ear infection and the antibiotic that hurts his stomach! So he wasn't the happiest baby on Christmas morning, but as always he still behaved perfectly. But once again, he wasn't very interested in his presents. All he cared about was a chair that mom and dad bought him. It's the cutest thing. He'll just lean back in it like it's his own little recliner! Anyway, next year I'm sure he'll appreciate our efforts more, but we still had an awesome Christmas and got some great pictures. We also had Christmas on Saturday with the Tappe side of the family, and then with Hector's family on Sunday night. Ben had a ball at both! See pictures. :)

Update on Ben

The last month, nothing extremely new or interesting has happened, but Ben has been so much fun. He is now not only walking, but pretty much running everywhere. Poor thing is still a little wobbly and we think it's because of the fluid that tends to stay on his ears.

On that note, Ben is set to have tubes put in his ears and his adnoids removed on the 28th. We're not looking forward to it, but we feel a real peace about it. We are really hoping that it will help him breathe better and stear clear of ear infections. It's supposed to be a very simple process. The tubes supposedly have no recovery time and the adnoid removal is supposed to have a 1-2 day recovery period. Hector will still be out of school, so he'll be there to help me. I'm just ready for my little boy to be able to breathe through his nose and not snore like a freight train!

We've had fun with Ben this Christmas season. We've taken him to see lights, Dad's bought him little Christmas singing doll things, he's heard just about every Christmas carol a dozen times and owns 4 or 5 sets of Christmas pajamas, thanks to Nana! Can't wait to see how much fun he has Christmas morning! A couple other cute things he's been doing. Now when he reaches for you, he opens and shuts his hands like, come here please. It is precious! That combined with that pitiful face he makes where he sticks out his lips is priceless! He's also started guiding your hand to what he wants you to do. The other day we were watching tv together and he started dropping something between the couch and the table and then would move my hand to the crack to go get it. He did that about a dozen times. He's also getting even more dramatic when he doesn't get his way. But he's so flippin cute, his new tactics tend to work! Anyway, I'm sure I'll have some neat pictures of Christmas to post in a couple of days.

The Tappe Christmas Tree

So this past weekend, my sister was in town. She stopped by for a couple of days during her move from the west coast to the east coast. Now instead of our Malibu barbie, she's our NYC barbie! Anyway, she won't be visiting for Thanksgiving because of her new job, and that's when we normally put up the Tappe family Christmas tree. So this year, we decided to start celebrating Christmas a little early. It was a really fun time. We put on Kenny and Dolly (our christmas music tradition), drank egg nog, put up the tree, and took lots of pictures. Ben had a ball, especially since mom and dad found more singing animals in their Christmas stuff! He is just mesmerized by those things. Now instead of wanting to lug three around the house, he wants five... all singing at once mind you. We get to hear, "what a wonderful world", "don't worry be happy", "love machine", "sleigh ride" and "grandma got runover by a reindeer" simultaneously. It drives us nuts, but Ben absolutely loves it. Even with all five going, when one stops, he knows which one, and he points at it so that we'll restart it.

So here are some pictures from the Tappe Family Tree night. The first of many Christmas memories for 2009! Can't wait for more. I love this time of year!

One Year Pictures

So we couldn't let Ben's 1st birthday pass without taking him to get his picture made. He did so well... as alway! The pictures turned out great! Take a look.

And He's Off!

For months now, Ben has been cruising along furniture. For weeks, he's been standing up on his own. And for the past few days, he's ventured off taking one or two steps, but today was a big day! Ben officially walked! First 3 steps, then 5 steps, then at one point he took 11 steps! I couldn't believe it. At first we had to bribe him with goldfish or candy, but towards the end of the night, he was doing it himself. It won't be long before he's running away from us and we long for the crawling days. But for now, we are thrilled! Another memorable milestone in our parenting journey! We got 5 or 6 steps on video.

Happy Halloween

Who knew that Halloween could be such a tiring holiday... for us and for Ben! But it was a great one. We had a wonderful family day yesterday. When Ben woke up from his morning nap, we went out to the pumpkin patch. We did it last year, and really want it to be an annual tradition. I realized on Thursday that we only had this weekend to go take pictures, so Saturday was the day. Hector was a good sport about it even though I know he would have rather slept in. But as you can see, the pictures were well worth it! He had a lot of fun out there. We moved from the tiny pumpkins to the big pumpkins, from one photo op to the next. He was such a good sport... that is until he fell face first into the dirt. He literally had dirt in his teeth, poor baby. But he only cried for about 30 seconds, and then we were off to the next pose. I'm so glad we did it. The pictures were priceless.

Then, unplanned, we decided to head out to Lewisville to spend the afternoon with Hector's family. Needless to say they were thrilled, to see Ben of course! While we were there, we went to StrideRite and bought Ben his first pair of real shoes. Baby shoes are expensive! His feet better not grow too fast. Anyway, we put Ben is his costume to go try on shoes, and all eyes were on him! He was a giraffe by the way. I had bought two costumes for him this year, a cow and a giraffe. He wore the cow costume for his birthday party, so he wore the giraffe for Halloween. Before we left Lewisville, we stopped by Mary's to trick or treat. While we were there, Mary decided to strip him down to his diaper and give him a chocolate cupcake. He devoured it like he'd never eaten anything so good in his life. He literally inhaled it. It was hilarious! He is definitely a chocolate fan!

Then we headed to Mama Joy's to let Ben trick or treat there. Each place we took him to trick or treat, we would stand him up on the front porch and then hide so that all people would see when they came to the door was Ben standing there with his candy bag in hand. Oh, you'll notice in the pictures that Ben didn't have a traditional halloween bucket. Since we didn't know we were headed out to Lewisville, we didn't bring his cute orange bucket with us, so instead, Iris had a clown gift bag that had to do! Anyway, we went to MJs and put Ben on the front porch. She thought he was too cute!

He was so tired after we left Mama Joys. I didn't think he was going to last. Finally we landed at Mom and Dad's. Same thing. We put his on the porch. This time he would barely stand up, poor thing. When they came to the door, Ben had this look on his face like, "How many times are we going to have to do this?". As soon as he saw his Nana and Yaya, he reached out to them like "help", "get me out of this get up!" Then he spent the rest of the evening playing with Sammie, Jazzy, and Dancie (see previous blog "Oh Snap). About 30 minutes after we got there, the chocolate cupcake kicked in, and he experienced a major sugar rush! It was so funny. But by the time we finally got home, he was ready to crash. Our little giraffe had had a very long day. Oh the memories!

Fun at Abuelitas

With all that's been going on lately with shutting down the real estate office in Southlake, I kind of reached my max this week, and my husband knew it. So, he took off work on Monday, and we headed out to Lewisville to drop Ben off at his Abuelitas. He spent the night out there so that Mommy could get some things done and get a good night sleep. Needless to say, I haven't been sleeping very well lately, and neither had Ben for some reason. Probably sensed my stress. So, as much as I missed him and was ready to get him back, this one night away did wonders for me and him both! These pictures are priceless!