Busy busy busy!

We've been a busy little family the past few days! The above pic is of Charlie's face after we made brownies on friday evening...he got to lick the spatula at the end and was in piggie heaven! Friday was a busy day...he had an opthamologist appointment at CHOP to check his retinas and make sure they don't see any early signs of RP (the condition Alex has). He goes annually and his eyes looked so good that he won't go back till he's 5...just when Aaron will start getting his eyes checked. He was a trooper and tolerated all the tests, was very cooperative with the Doctor, and even "allowed" them to dilate his eyes with drops. Afterwards, he kept rubbing his eyes and asking me to fix his eyes. Poor guy! After the eye doctor, he got an Xray of this neck for his upcoming adenoid surgery. Alex came with us so he could do the xray with him and he was totally cool through the whole thing and loved the stickers he got afterwards.

Funny side note, I ran into an old friend in the xray department. I met her while caring for her infant daughter for most of her first year of life when I worked in the Pediatric ICU at CHOP. Her daughter was a flower girl in my wedding and she recently lost her husband to cancer last May. I haven't seen her since the funeral, and here I go running into her at CHOP where we first met. It was great to see her!

After the xray (we saved the worst for last), Charlie had bloodwork done. He had to be checked for a genetic condition (that I have) that prevents him from breaking down succinylcholine (the anaesthesia used in the tube/adenoid surgery) and would cause issues with him coming out of surgery. His first tube surgery was just tubes, and he was never intubated, therefor never needed this type of anaesthesia. Alex took him for this as well and both did really well. Charlie kept his band-aid on for three days before it finally fell off. Then his "boo boo" was magically healed and he was done with it. Overall, he was a dream for all of it and I was so grateful for his behavior. I had worked the night before (my second in a row) and didn't get to sleep until noon. I was soooo tired!

Friday night we had our great friends Dave and Mike over for dinner. Mike cooked some yummy tuna for us and mushroom risotto. So good! Charlie and I made brownies and then we played cards till way too late!

Charlies newest talent (which came out of nowhere) is his ability to put puzzles together. Until this weekend, the ones in the pic above were the only jigsaw type we had. All the pieces were jumbled up and in a pile and he sorted through them and this was the outcome. The first few times he worked on them for close to an hour, concentrating on each piece, matching the colors, etc. Now, he "throws" them together. I bought several more of the 24 pieces ones like the one on the far right. I am very impressed with his concentration and ability to discern the pictures. The ages are 3 and up, so again, age appropriate behavior, but it continues to amaze me how last week, he couldn't, or wouldn't do this...now he does!


We went to my parent's saturday afternoon where Charlie had a new babysitter stay with him while we attended my sister and Mike's bar-opening party at their house. Their house looks great and they put alot of hard work into getting it into living shape! When we came home, the babysitter (who did a great job with him!) left and I went down to the basement to check on my little man (our bedrooms are down there right next to the playroom) and this is what I found...he was passed out! It was the funniest thing I've seen in a while! I have no idea how long he was there or why he didn't go upstairs or call her on the monitor. My parents used to find my sister asleep on the stairs all the time they said...hmmmm.

Sunday was so beautiful that we walked to the playground in my parent's development where Charlie proceeded to get a ton of energy out of his system, running laps, climbing the equipment and swinging. We all are so sick of being cooped up in the house. We spent 2 hours there and only came home because I was starving and had to pee...happens alot when your baby head butts your bladder every few minutes!

We also played golf for a while on the grass...

Alex needs a longer club!

Then Christy and Mike and Bode came over sunday evening and my mom made a yummy New Orleans style dinner for Alex for his birthday. The celebration was complete with mardi-gras beads, music and hurricane drinks (I hear they were great but I abstained!). Above and following are some cute shots of Bode who turns one years old soon!

The above is of him getting ready to give his mommy kisses! What a little cutie!