Happy birthday, Sean!

First, I want to wish my husband a very happy birthday! We love you and hope you enjoy your special day!We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Hested visiting last week. The kids followed both of them around the entire time. Grandpa worked on building a model car with Alex, flew kites with all 3 of them, and read LOTS of books to Benjamin. Grandma taught Emma how to crochet, bought more rocks for Emma's tumbler and read LOTS of books to Benjamin. They also were able to attend Alex and Emma's first soccer games of the season. The highlight of the week was attending the kite festival at a large park in Central Austin. There were hundreds of kites up at a time. It was funny to watch them all come down as the wind dropped and then they would zoom up as the wind increased. Alex entered the 50 yard dash with his kite and got third place. Emma entered the steadiest kite contest which was a little difficult due to the winds being a little finicky. At the end of the week, Grandma, Grandpa, Benjamin and I went out for lunch at a very popular restaurant by the lake. It was a very nice ending to the week. My mom was able to soak up a little warmth to sustain her through the rest of the cold winter/spring.

Benjamin had check-ups with his GI and his urologist last week. Both of them were very pleased with him and thrilled that he is potty trained. He had a sonogram and everything looked status quo which is good for Benjamin. His GI was happy that he has not lost any weight despite doing 3 day weans. She would like us to increase the frequency of the weans to every other week with a goal of getting him to doing a 2 day wean every week. She is hopeful that he may be off the pump within a year or so. That would be amazing. As far as surgery goes, the urologist said he would prefer to wait until Benjamin has had his G-tube removed since it will make the surgery go a little smoother. In fact, he would like to wait until several months after that, so it will be awhile. My main goal is that Benjamin has the abdominoplasty before he starts kindergarten.

Note: these last pictures demonstrate the Benjamin approved method for eating Girl Scout Caramel Delites. You must wear the cookie like a ring and then take bites around the rim until it is gone.