Ears and Beers

Andrew had his bilateral myringotomy today, which is a fancy way of saying he had tubes put in both ears. He had been having chronic ear infections that never completely cleared up with the assistance of antibiotics so the doctor recommended surgical intervention.

After a few weeks we finally got on the OR schedule for this morning at 6AM so the whole family got up with the sun and headed to the hospital. After waiting and little more waiting Andrew finally got in the operating room and was out within 20-30 minutes. All went well and within an hour we headed home. Andrew was of course starving since he had been fasting under Dr's orders as were the rest of us since we rushed out the door. Kathleen spent the rest of the day at home with A and E to make sure everything was normal, which it was, so we'll see how things go from here.

On a unrelated note I have a total of 15 gallons of beer on tap and another 10 gallons fermenting for the big birthday party next month. Still lots to do before the big party....

Andrew and Ellen in Pre-Op

Gigi and Pappy's Easter Visit

Gigi and Pappy came to visit for Easter. Just before their arrival we got Ellen a new bed including a trundle, which Ellen happily slept in so Gigi could sleep comfortably. Pappy unfortunately got stuck with the couch, but he didn't seem to complain anymore than usual.

Everyone arrived Easter Sunday and Ellen's best friend Curren and her parents stopped by for an egg hunt and light lunch. Overall, a great day and I even managed to get out for long before it ended.

I worked the full week but thankfully Kathleen was able to take a few days off to spend time with the family. During which they took Andrew to the doctor, looks like he'll have to have tubes implanted as soon as they can schedule him. Probably July unless his condition worsens in the interim. They also made a excursion to the Wild Animal Park to see the Butterfly Jungle, a big hit with Ellen!

By the end of the week the weather really started to warm up so we broke out the kiddie pool and let Ellen and Andrew at it!

Now the planning starts for the big 1st birthday party next month! Much to do.... I'm happy to report the homebrew is looking good. I transferred both the IPA and the Belgium IPA to secondaries on Sunday. The IPA is a little sweet, their appears to be some semblance of fermentation going on so I'll leave it be for now and keep my fingers crossed.

Ellen and Curren

Brother and Sister having water fun.

Little Man

New Feature

Starting today I've added a new feature to the blog called "Photostream". It is located to the right and will contain thumbnails of images on the Flickr site.

I find myself having several pictures to post but nothing really clever or witty to write to warrant a blog post. So instead I'll be uploading random pictures that you can view by clicking on the thumbnails. I hope friends and family will enjoy. I've already uploaded a few to test the feature out. Seems to work great!

Cascade Hops & The Kids

Ellen and Andrew having fun in the grass next to the newly planted cascade hops. During the last Ballast Point event I purchased a hop rhizome and Ellen helped me plant it the other day. It might be some time but the thought of brewing with homegrown cascade hops in the seasons to come is something I've always thought about.

Andrew is crawling!

Mark it on the calendar!!! Andrew is officially mobile on day 279 or 9.3 months old. Video coming soon!!

UPDATED WITH VIDEOS......

Andrew getting a little help from Ellen!

Andrew's second crawl captured on video. Ellen providing much encouragement!

Andrew at 9 Months

Andrew had his nine month appt this morning with dr. Sacker. He flashed her big smiles and she said what a cute baby he is- but of course we already knew that. He does have another ear infection which she gave antibiotics for. Hopefully that will get rid of it once and for all. He's been tugging on it a bit but it must not hurt as much as the last one because he hasnt been complaining as much

So here are his stats.

29.25 inches tall - 75th %tile
21 lbs 12 oz - 75th %tile
44 cm head circumference can't remember the percentile but it was low like 15th

She held him up on his legs and commented about how strong he is. She said that he may go straight to walking and skip crawling completely. I commented that I thought crawling was an important benchmark and she said that 40% of babies don't crawl. I brought him home this evening and put him up to the couch. He stood there by himself for a few seconds at a time. He loved the new vantage point. We will see. I am still going to encourage him to crawl.

Lunch Time

It can sometimes get a little crazy. The food was flyin !