Has it really been almost 8 months?

There really is just no excuse for the time that has passed since my last post!!!!  I kept telling myself that I had to update, and the more time that passed, them more I had to update...and kept putting it off.  Now look whats happened..its been 8 months!!  Christmas has passed, Austin's 2nd birthday has passed and now summer is half over!  Where to even begin...

Christmas was great.  Austin and Jake both had a blast opening up gifts and playing with all their new things.  I don't recall anything major except for the usual winter colds.  Austin turned 2 on April 12th.  We had a party at the house and Austin was a nut, as usual, running around and having fun.  He LOVES to play with balls...any kind...baseball, basketball, soccer ball, etc.  You name it, he loves it.  He can literally dribble a ball around the room with his foot (left of course-he's a lefty all the way!) and now even "drop kicks" balls-where you hold the ball and drop it onto your foot and kick it.  Yep, totally athletic and he's all boy.  He can hit a ball with a baseball bat if you throw it to him.  Between sports and "cars", thats all he plays with.  I just went through his room and gave away all of his brand new toys that he never even played with.

Jake finished his first year of kindergarten.  So proud of my deaf/mainstreamed kid.  His report card was awesome.  He is still struggling with his social skills-he's very shy and we really have been noticing it more and more.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to get him to open up and have less anxiety around new people or new things-I'm open for some help.  He doesn't want to play any sports.  We signed him up for cub scouts but that doesn't start until September, so I'm at a loss.

Austin graduated in July from Early Intervention.  I'm so proud of him and all of his accomplishments.    He eats nothing-haha.  Well, not nothing.  Just doesn't eat anything good for him (kinda like his mommy I guess).  He eats yogurt, mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, strawberries, applesauce, bananas and pancakes.  Sometimes he'll eat a little pasta, but really other than those things, nothing else.  Oh well.  He's growing and is solid, so I'm not complaining.

His speech has really taken off in the last six months.  He speaks full sentences (for example, the other night in the bath he said "Don't splash me Jacob") and this morning he said "Mommy, Jacob just pushed me".  You can see there is a lot of sibling rivalry going on.  The boys fight constantly, but just as constant they are playing together nicely.  Its fun to watch how Austin just follows Jake around and does everything that Jake does.  And Jake loves that-he loves to be in charge and to be the big brother.  And Jake is such a good big brother!

One thing that Austin does not like is WATER!  Seriously...what kid doesn't like water?  Well, mine!!  He HATES the bath and screams the entire time he is in there; and he hates the pool, screaming the entire time.  He even hates the water table!  So, this summer has been a struggle because Jake loves the water and pool; but its so hard to have one child in the pool while the other is outside the pool screaming for you.  And Austin's a mommy's boy.  He is getting a little better with Kevin, but he definitely wants his mommy...ALL THE TIME!

Austin has his 1 year check up with his neurosurgeon next week.  I can't believe its been one year since he was last seen for his shunt.  So blessed for this miracle child of mine!!!!

I think thats enough catch up for now...I'm going to post lots of pics and videos so stay tuned...