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Luke had his seventh surgery this week. Everything went well. Before we went in I thought for sure that the hemangioma had slowed down it's growth but I was wrong. The doctor showed me pictures afterward and the thing was HUGE! His recovery has been kind of hard this week. On Saturday, I had to take him back into the ER because he was having difficulty breathing. They gave him a breathing treatment and a shot of steroid in his leg (thank goodness that they didn't give him and IV because last time they tried they poked him 7 times and never found a vein - it was torture!). After the treatment and the shot he was doing much better and has been doing good ever since. We will be going back in 5 weeks for another surgery. He is such a trooper.
The preschool year is wrapping up and Jimmy got to go on a field trip to the zoo. I went with him and took Luke along for the ride. My friend Sarah watched Ben for me. I couldn't believe how easy it was to go on an outing with just two kids. I think that three just puts me over the edge some times. We enjoyed the day. Luke was so good. He just enjoyed the scenery and stayed nice and cozy in his stroller. It was a little chilly. Jimmy had fun. His favorite animals were the zebras. We also got to go into the animal hospital and watch as they worked on a baby gazelle. They had to pull a tooth and do a biopsy on his kidney. Jimmy thought that was cool.
Jimmy was getting pretty tired by this time. We were walking along and all of the sudden he just stopped and layed down. His little legs walked a lot that day. 
This is inside the pachyderm building and it was very stinky. Jimmy didn't want to stay there very long. If you've seen one elephant you've seen them all.
Jimmy decided that he wanted to take Luke for show and tell at preschool. It was fun once I got past the swarm of germ infested preschool hands wanting to touch my baby. The kids loved it. They wanted to see Luke crawl but he got stage fright and just sat there on the floor staring at the kids. There are 21 kids in Jimmy's class and 6 of them are girls and 15 of them are boys. Those poor teachers! I was actually quite surprised that it was the boys who were more interested in Luke. 
Today is mother's day and we have had a really good day. Jim and the boys got me an ipod. I'm so excited! We were feeling kind of sad because Grandma Ostler (Jim's mom) is in Israel and we couldn't call them today because they are taking a trip to Egypt this weekend. So we decided to make a video for her and for Grandma Garfield (my mom) who is in Montana so the kids could wish them a happy mother's day. So this is for you mom. We love you and miss you!
Today when Jimmy woke up he had the sniffles and he was laying on the couch acting sleepy. This is very unusual for him because he usually wakes up going about 90 miles a minute. He also had preschool this morning and he loves preschool. He wouldn't want to miss it for anything. So this is how our conversation went:Me: Jimmy are you feeling okay?Jimmy: No, I feel sick.Me: Do you need to stay home from preschool today?Jimmy: No, I'm almost sick. I'll be all the way sick after preschool. I don't think he was feeling sick at all because when he got home from school he forgot that he was actually supposed to be all the way sick. It made me laugh.
I just realized that some of you have no idea what I am talking about when I say that one of our kids was in the hospital and that we are moving. So here's the lowdown on what's going on in our lives. First of all, yes, we are moving in August. We will be heading to sunny, southern California. Jim is going back to school to get his PhD in Business Policy at UCLA. The program lasts 4-6 years but usually it takes 5. I have been telling Jim that I wanted to settle somewhere for longer than 2 years and I guess I am getting my wish in a round about sort of way. It will definitely be a challenge living the student life with 3 kids but I think it will turn out to be a great experience for our family - at least we will be minutes from the beach!Also this past year we have had some major health challenges with Luke. When he was 3 months old we found out that he has a hemangioma under his vocal cords. It was almost completely blocking his airway when we discovered it. In case you are wondering what a hemangioma is it is like a vascular, raised birthmark. You often see them on people on the surface of their skin but it is pretty rare to have one under the vocal cords. Hemangiomas usually appear at 2-3 months of age and continue to grow until about 9-12 months of age. By about age 5 they are usually completely gone. So Luke's hemangioma has been growing like crazy for the last 6 months. He has had 6 surgeries with his 7th scheduled in a couple weeks. When he has the surgery the doctor has to go into his airway with a laser to cut it off. Then after a few weeks it will have grown back so they just have to go in a do it all again. We are hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. His breathing is sounding better so I think that not only is his airway getting bigger as he grows but the hemangioma's growth is also slowing down. He has had to deal with a lot in his short little life but I am thankful that it is not something worse and that he is totally healthy otherwise. We will keep you updated after his next surgery. Thank you all for the concern and prayers in his behalf.
I'm not playing favorites by posting all of these pictures of Ben, but I just think that 2 year olds are so funny. God had to make them so dang cute to keep parents laughing instead of crying when they do all of those crazy 2 year old things. You have to just enjoy the moment because when they are 14 you are going to wish that they were 2 again.
