Lions, Tigers and Bears! Oh my!

What fun we're having this Spring! It finally stopped raining and the weather's warmed up and The Brownings are trying to take full advantage of it before the sweltering heat of summer arrives!

This past weekend we drove to Decatur for Ben to check out a possible job site and then headed to Zoo Atlanta. Thanks to our friends suggesting the great deal of a membership, this was hopefully just our first of many trips to the zoo. Come with us sometime, it was so much fun! We loved seeing all the animals and watching Matty's reaction, when we could get close enough that is...it was a madhouse, I have to say!

We spent a couple of hours wandering around seeing the pandas, gorrillas, lions, elephants, giraffes and so many more creatures. It was a wonderful safari and I can't wait for our next visit.

Sunday we continued our fun in the sun, just playing in the yard, blowing bubbles...Matty's even starting to say "bubbles!" It's so cute!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope it was a wonderful Spring day for you all as it was for us! The Easter Bunny paid his first visit to our house this morning, leaving Matty lots of yummy treats! He had such fun discovering his snacks. Perhaps next year Mr Bunny will leave him some chocolate?

The three of us have had such a nice weekend. Saturday we went to Athens for the day for Ben to take a look at a potential new job site and ate lunch downtown. Such a beautiful afternoon, warm, perfect blue skies. And today we spent a glorious Easter together as a family: we went for a walk, played in our yard and went to the park! We didn't go to church but we felt guilty about it...wonder if that counts for anything?

Looking forward to just a good, normal week. Knock on wood no doctors appointments on the roster! It's been a while since we could say that! Happy Easter everyone :)

Video Time!

Sorry it's been a while since we pulled out the camera. This was a couple of months ago playing with the ball blower Matty got from Patsy and Craig for Christmas. We find things are even more fun when played in an unconventional manner!

Mama O desperately wanted a video of this one! In case you didn't know, Matty's one smart cookie and doesn't like crawling around on the cold bathroom tile. So what do you do when you can't walk on your feet yet but want to get around? You improvise.

(Sorry for the "Blair Witch Project" camera work...small bathroom / moving target!)

One Year Old!

Greetings from Toddlerhood! The first year came and went as fast as everyone said it would. In the blink of an eye, our Matty went from being tiny and helpless to a total toddler who even toddled his first two steps just this past weekend. What a year it's been. Just absolutely the most special time in our lives.

Since I last wrote, in classic Browning family fashion, a lot has been going on. On May 9th, Matty had his tubes put in. And he did really great. If you ever have to go through it with your own, know this, there is a lot of buildup for a moment's-long procedure. Only one of us could go to the operating room with him, so I went back. I stayed close to his head and talked to him and smiled and kissed him while they put him under the anesthesia. And I held up remarkably well, until I turned around when I was leaving and really saw my little boy in a hospital gown, unconscious on a gurney. Then the tears came. But by the time I was back in post-op with Ben, wiped my tears, in walked Dr. Sipp saying how great he did and I just then heard the little guy crying as they brought him into us...lightning fast! However, Matty and I have a deal now that that was the only time he was allowed in a hospital gown on a gurney! This is him as soon as we got home from the hospital. He just had surgery...can't you tell?

The Tuesday after Matty's surgery came a much larger one in our family. Mom had her surgery to remove the tumor on her ureter. The surgery went well, though they were unable to remove all of the tumor as we'd been hoping. They also removed part of the small intestine, which we expected. Matty and I traveled to Winston Salem to be with Mom the day after her surgery, but we were there only a few hours when he spiked a 103.5 fever. The next morning, Hudson's pediatrician told us he had bronchitis, and the two of us loaded up the car and tearfully left Winston and headed home. We'd been told Mom would be able to go home by that weekend. But it wasn't until about 12 days later that she finally was released to Jennifer's house. Finally, now Mom is home again in Macon after being gone for a month. Though again Murphy's law couldn't let well enough alone and when Mom and Dad arrived home yesterday, it was to a flooded crawl space, 40 degree weather in April with no heat. What is this, sarcasm?

We did however have a great time celebrating Matty's 1st Birthday party a couple of weekends ago! Patsy and Craig were able to come and ring in the new year so to speak and tons of friends came over to watch Matty demolish his aptly named "smash cake" and shower him with presents! Thanks again to everyone who was able to come! We loved seeing everyone!

We were heartbroken that Mom couldn't come, since she was just released from the hospital that morning, but due to some fortunate timing, Daddy was able to come through Atlanta that afternoon and be there for part of the party! See sometimes things work out! And we put Craig to work hard while they were in town. Despite the nasty weather that weekend, Ben and Daddy O finalized a new solar installation for a new apartment clubhouse down by the airport. Georgia Solar: changing the world, one roof at a time!

Matty's actual birthday was unfortunately celebrated a mere few feet from his birthplace, at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. That day he spiked yet another record breaking fever of 104 and we were sent to the ER for a chest scan to be sure his infection had not developed into pneumonia. Thankfully it had not, but it also all meant that we'd not yet to move beyond the infection of the year. He just finished his 7th antibiotic and is seemingly feeling much better! Dr Sipp, his ENT, told us Tuesday that his ears are looking great now and are 100% infection free! Fingers crossed, we may have finally crossed to the other side!

This past weekend was great here in Atlanta. Perfect Spring weather finally and the Brownings took full advantage of it. We had a great pizza dinner on the square with the Hudgins' Saturday night. Then Sunday we tried out the city park nearby. It's a great park! And Matty loved the swing and the slide. I definitely think we will be frequent flyers there this Spring!