Ear Tubes

Braydon had his ear tubes put in this morning.  We arrived at the hospital at 7am and we left to go home at 9:30am.  The Doctor was sent here from Naples and had eight surgeries to do today.  Braydon was the third of the day with a 10 month old and another 14 month old before him.  The whole procedure took no time at all and Braydon is currently playing with his toys like it's been a normal day.  There isn't really much to report about the surgery except that he did awesome for the Doctors and is recovering well.  He will get drops in his ears for the next three days and we need to make sure that he doesn't get any water in his ears.  This is a fairly common procedure and should help to improve Braydon's hearing and learning of new words.  It will also help with the ear infections.  I'm so proud of my little boy he was so good at the hospital and when he woke up he wanted to play.  Now comes the fun part with me having to put ear drops in his ears.

First Dental Visit

Braydon had his first dentist visit today.  As we waited in the waiting room he flirted with all the females and was happy walking around with his book.  When the dentist came back to get us we went in the room and he sat on my lap quietly playing with a book.  Then when I laid him down on my lap he started to cry because the dentist was brushing his teeth.  He cried the whole time and at the end when I held him he just sucked his thumb and cuddle with me.  The dentist wants us to use fluoride toothpaste now and buy some water that has fluoride in it.  I guess the fluoride is there to help the teeth become strong.  He said it would be alright if he swallowed some of the fluoride from the toothpaste just not in large doses.  Overall Braydon did very well at the dentist, considering he doesn't like anyone to touch his nose, ears, or mouth!  We go back in 6 months, by then he will be 20 months old and hopefully a little better at the whole thing.  Now I have to prepare for my dentist visit.  I'm six months past due on a cleaning! 

Dumpster Finds!

You never know what you'll find at the dumpster.  With people moving all the time if you pay attention you can find some good items.  So far we have found a chair and table for outside for Braydon and now this little tikes cozy coupe car.  This car runs for $49.99 and we got it for nothing.  It needs some new stickers since the ones on it have faded and some are missing.  I looked up the replacement stickers and it will end up costing me $10.00.  That is a steal!  Now don't read this wrong it's not like we dive in the dumpsters digging for things.  This happened to be sitting right next to the dumpster with a pet carrier.  After a few hours the pet carrier was also gone.

Malta

http://picasaweb.google.com/thehughesfamily1/Malta?feat=directlink

We decided to leave the island of Sicily and head somewhere to enjoy our 4-day weekend.  Near Sicily is the small island of Malta.  A few of our friends have visited and said it was great so we decided to go see the travel agent about it.  We booked a flight, transportation, hotel and daily breakfast at a 5-star Hotel.  Our flight was only about 30 mins and we were on the island.

The island is beautiful and the water is so crystal clear.  We enjoyed ourselves over the weekend and mostly relaxed and hung out at the pool.  We went to Hard Rock Cafe and also went on a harbour cruise.  We finally got Braydon to enjoy the pool so we are planning more time at the pool when we get back.  The above picture is the view from our room, just click on it and you can see all our pictures.

Ear Update

Last week we had Braydon's appointment with the audiologist.  His hearing is normal except that he has some minor issues due to the water in his ears.  The conclusion of this appointment was that he will have to have tubes put in his ears to drain the fluid so he can have normal hearing.  The Doctor said this is very normal and the procedure doesn't take very long. Now all we have to do is wait for the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Doctor to get to the island.  They estimate that the ENT Doctor will be here sometime in July or August.  This is one thing I don't understand about the military, how can they not know when someone is going to get to the island.  Isn't this person on orders and don't those orders have dates on them?  I guess I'll just be quiet and wait for the Doctor to get here and still be baffled at the military.

He's walking!

For the past few weeks Braydon would walk just a few steps and then fall into the couch. The other day he walked from the tv to the couch with no assistance! He has a little bruise on his chin from walking a few steps and then falling. He gets so excited that he is walking that he falls down. We managed to get a little video of him walking and will try to get more as he becomes more sure of himself. Once he masters walking I know he will be running next and then I will be running after him. Maybe that will be my new workout routine!

Modica

This past Saturday we took a trip to Modica which is located on the eastern coast of Sicily. Unfortunately my camera had been left on in my bag and was dead so no pictures where taken. This town is known for their chocolate. We visited a small little family owned shop that has been making chocolate for 48 years. The owner showed how he makes the chocolate and then gave us lots of samples of EVERYTHING!!!!! We ate the chocolate, cream puffs, cannolis, orange peels in chocolate, meat cookies and then chocolate liquor. Braydon ate everything except for the liquor and was hyped up on sugar for the next few hours. We bought a few bars of chocolate and now want to go back already and buy more. Their chocolate is nothing like we are used to. It is so natural and you can taste the sugar they use to make it.

After the chocolate shop we headed back home and stopped by the beach to put our toes in the med. Braydon wanted nothing to do with this or even the sand. We need to get him used to the water and beach because I love it and want to take him. After we got home we had dinner with some friends and Braydon could not get enough of the baked beans (we paid for it the next day with his diaper changes). All in all it was a good day and just the start of our traveling we plan to do more of.