Surgery, Summer Fun, and Volleyball Camp

On July 19th, Matthew underwent a partial tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy. We had discussed what would be happening in order for him to be mentally prepared, and made special arrangements for Nathan to spend the day with a friend so that both of us could be with Matthew for the big event. He didn't seem too nervous on the day of surgery until they called us back to the prep room. He chatted away with the different nurses that came in to the room and was as cute as could be. However, once the nurses left us so that Matthew could get changed into his hospital gown, he looked up at me and said, "Um, Mom? I change my mind - maybe I'll just keep my tonsils."

After getting all dressed in hospital blue, the nurse came back with a little medicine that would help him be relaxed before going into surgery. Tim set up his laptop to play a show for Matthew, and it was almost funny watching Matthew suddenly become very, very drowsy as he struggled to focus on the Thomas video that was playing. Finally, it was his turn so he and daddy headed back to the operating room with big smiles under their mushroom hats.

Matthew had a rough time in the recovery room. They eventually moved us to a quiet room off to the side. He finally calmed down when the nurse brought a dvd player and a Thomas video he had never seen before. Eventually he was drinking, eating popsicles, and ready to be discharged. The doctor said all went well in surgery, and in the almost 2 weeks following his surgery he has done great.

After a couple of days laying low at home, I got out our kiddie pool for some back yard fun. Even in the extremely hot weather, the boys spent most of their time standing up and playing in the water. While I was watching them, I noticed for perhaps the first time, that our big oak tree has a "face" in it. All these years of fun in our back yard, and I never noticed that our tree was always watching us. I'm not sure what I think about this... :)

In late July, Matthew had his first experience with the "down side" of learning to ride your bike without the training wheels. At first he would avoid any rock or stick in the road, very fearful of a possible crash. Eventually he got braver and began to ride over the rocks and sticks. After seeing some success there he decided to go for gold and swerve off the road into some gravel. All went well until he jerked his wheel to steer himself back on the road. His face, unfortunately, was the only thing to make it back onto the road. It could've been so much worse, even so it was quite the scene. (Pah! They call these children's bike helmets safe? They clearly forgot the mouth guard! Should we sue and get rich? kidding...) I took this photo 2 days later, and unfortunately, missed the photo op when his lip was as big as a tootsie roll. In the days since then he has become quite good at riding not only on gravel but on pretty narrow dirt trails. Much to Tim's delight he's even learned to slam on the breaks and skid his bike off to the side causing gravel and dust to spray everywhere. As the 2nd trimester comes to a close, it's getting kind of late for me to be biking the trails with them, but so far I'm still riding. I usually just shake my head, hold my breath and hope for the best while father and son crack up laughing about their little stunts.
July ended with me running another volleyball came at a local rec center. When I walked in for the first day of camp, the people behind the desk joked that I didn't need to bring "my own volleyball" with me since they had ample supply there. Everyone's a comedian! :)