Our Benjamin!

So on Saturday the 19th, our Benjamin turned 3 years old! I can't believe that he is 3 already! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were anxiously awaiting his arrival! He came and worried us a little. We were afraid that his insides weren't connected properly so when he was just a few hours old he had his first x-ray! He was almost 2 pounds bigger than Josh was at birth and the result was having too little room inside and having his hands be clenched shut for who knows how long. He was born with fists that wouldn't open without lots of help and lots of tears. We were worried that he would never have use of his hands and at the age of like 18 months (at the oldest) he saw a plastic surgeon. By this time his hands had opened enough he could use them but they are crooked and not straight like normal fingers, but he has never known any different and therefore uses them just fine. The plastic surgeon said there were ways to straighten his fingers, that would require surgery and shortening tendons and such, but seeing as he was so young, it was very possible that his hands would eventually fix themselves and the surgery could likely cause more problems that it would fix in the long run. So, we continue to work with his hands to help them straighten out and such and when he gets to be 8-10 we will see where we are then possibly return to have some surgery done. When he was about 2 or so they found a heart murmur so he had to go have an EKG and a couple other tests done on his heart to make sure it was ok and not a murmur that needed attention. He again was fine, the murmur is there but benign and actually not uncommon for kids. He will more than likely grow out of it.
 He is such a lively little boy and we absolutely adore him. He is potty trained, and it was a million times easier to do him than Josh! He loves to feed Patrick and asks regularly where his baby sister is! He is definitely our most cuddly of our children and prefers mom to pretty much anyone! He is obsessed with tigers and I am not at all sure what brought it on, but since like Halloween all he talks about is tigers!
Lately he has been saying "Huh?" at least 3 times everytime we say something to him and it was getting frustrating. Now, before you start telling me that he is 3 and they all do that, let me tell you...I KNOW! But he never grew out of it and didn't stop asking until I practically yelled whatever I was telling him! I started to worry that he wasn't hearing right and then my mom said something to me about it while we were there for the holidays and then about a week ago Peter mentioned it. So we decided to have his hearing checked just to make sure everything was good. We went to his 3 year check-up and they did a test on him per our request. It came back Refer, but my doctor was a little concerned that it was because the girl doing it that day was new and still learning, but asked me if I wanted to see the audiologist anyway, I said yes. So I took him in 2 days later for a more sophisticated test. Come to find out he has fluid behind his ear drums. We then talked to the ENT and he said he wanted to put tubes in his ears and as he was watching him he asked if he was stuffy a lot, breathed through his mouth often, snored, was a fitful sleeper, etc. I answered yes to all of them! He then looked at his tonsils and they are HUGE! Like almost touching each other, huge! He then said he wanted to take his adenoids out to clear the way for better nasal breathing and after looking at his tonsils, he was feeling pretty good about getting those out as well! So, on Thursday morning, I am taking my sweet little 3 year old in to have surgery! He is getting tubes in his ears and having his adenoids and tonsils removed! I am going to be out of commission for like a week while he recovers, because I am pretty sure that he is only going to want to cuddle with me all day long!
We have started joking that Ben is our expensive kid. His hands, his heart and not his ears/throat! Josh has had stitches 2x and keeps the band-aid companies in business, but that is nothing compared to the doctor bills we rack up for all of Ben's hospital visits! OH well, what do you do. He is cute and we love him and will do what needs to be done so that he has the best life he can!