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...

'Tis the Season....to be sick!

I'm home today with a lil guy who has Fifths Disease!!!  Yep, broke out in the rash last night and it has gotten worse.  Luckily doctor said that he should feel better tomorrow and can go back to daycare.  Not that I'm complaining about having a day off from work, but I had to take a few days last week off myself because I have MONO!  Yeppers, the big 'ol MONO!  Never had it before as a kid...apparently mine is "acute" mono.  So I was tired and achy, but thanks to some rest (well as much as one can possibly get with having a 20 month old and a 5 year old around) and some meds...I'm feeling pretty darn good thankfully.

So what does one do with some unexpected time on her hands??  Well, update my blog of course.  Haha.  Nothing overly crazy going on.  Thanksgiving was nice, spent with family and just relaxing.  Then I did some black friday shopping, which I have to say just isn't the same since every store is basically open thanksgiving night now...kinda takes the fun away from waking up early and going shopping before the rest of the world is awake.  And I didn't get any great deals this year either.  Oh well.

"Buddy" (our Elf on the Shelf) arrived a few days later from the North Pole and both the boys are loving him.  Austin is having fun too looking for Buddy each morning.  Makes me laugh and its just so cute how excited they get.

Santa has an extra special surprise for Jake this year.  I can't even wait and Jake is going to be so surprised!  (And no its not your typical "toy" that a 5 year old would get)  If you know Jake, you know that he is no typical kid....and his favorite thing to do is play "office" or "school".  He has taken over my desk and our computer area downstairs...so Santa has a surprise just for him!

So lets just hope for a low key, illness free, holiday!    Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!!!!

Trying to do Christmas card photos....

Austin not "having" it

After about a dozen not so good ones, I finally got one with both of them smiling  :)

*My heart goes out to Newtown, CT and all of the families who lost a loved one...I can't even imagine*  They are all in my thoughts and prayers...

Bye Bye Summer, HellllOOO Fall (and almost winter!)

Well here it is, the update post.  I wish I didn't have to keep doing "update" posts, but since I see it has been 3 months since my last post, well....update here we go!!!

Lets see...summer went out with a bang!  No, not really, things were pretty low key as we prepared for Jake's big kindergarten first day!!!  Kevin and I were a nervous wreck, more so because Jake is so super shy, how on earth would he get onto the BIG bus with the BIG kids all by himself?  The day before school started, we set up a meeting to sit down and teach all of his teachers about his "ears".  Well of course, I prepared myself with tons of handouts, pictures, guidelines, and information....prepared to meet with all of his new teachers (kindergarten, teacher of the deaf, speech teacher, physical therapist, classroom aide, gym teacher, music teacher, art teacher....you name it!)  (*Side note, I EVEN prepared info for the bus company and his bus driver and dropped all of that off a few days before!)  So...Jake and I walk into the school and guess what...no one had ANY IDEA about this big meeting.  Yup!  Gotta love it.  So, after waiting almost an hour, we were finally able to scrounge up the kindergarten teacher and speech teacher; sat with them for about 10 minutes; and that was it.  I was not a happy parent.  I mean, seriously...Jake is the first child to go through this district who is mainstream with cochlear implants.  FIRST KID EVER  in this district.  In my eyes, that should be a big deal, right?  I mean, when I'm told as a parent that everyone who is anyone that will even have contact with Jake will be there and then we show up and there is a miscommunication and no one even has any idea who we are??  Ugh....

Well, the next day comes...Jake's first day of school.  We wake up and its raining, and dark.  But Jake still wants to walk down to the bus stop (its at the end of our road).  So, Kevin, Austin and I all get ready...Jake's excited....Kevin and I are a nervous wreck strategizing how we are going to throw him on the bus and run off if he starts crying and refuses to get on.  We get down to the bus stop and there are TONS of kids.  Great.  Strategizing more.  Waiting.  Rain starts to come down harder.  Trying to get Jake excited.  Waiting.  And waiting.  Then it starts to pour.  Yep.  Waiting some more.  Then I see the bus.  Jake hesitates as we start to walk toward the bus.  I'm ready-ready to do what I have to get him on the bus; after all, this day is the start of a whole year of getting on the bus; it has to go well; he has to get on.  Walking closer and closer to the bus and all of a sudden I heard "THERE'S JACOB!"  WHAT????  I look up to see two of Jake's friends from preschool...at his bus stop.....getting out of their van...running up to him.  Jake gets a huge smile on his face, gives us a quick kiss goodbye and runs onto the bus with his friends.  And there he was,  waving goodbye to us with a big smile on his face.  Turns out that these friends live right up the road from us and we had no idea.   And so began every morning at the bus.  Jake LOVES the bus and gets on with no problems every morning.  Phew...

Waiting for the bus

September 19, 2012, Jake turned 5!  We had a small celebration for him this year, just family and he loved it.  Everyday I look at him and am just amazed at what a perfect child he is.  So smart, so kind, so loving and just fun.  Thank you buddy for being so wonderful!!

Austin turned 18 months old on October 12, 2012.  What a personality he has.  He is busy....so active.  And everything his big brother does, he has to do.  He's obsessed with cars.  Loves them.  As long as he has some sort of car, he is happy.  He is quite the gabber now too.  He says "mama, dada, a-bob (for Jacob), uh oh" and lots of other sounds.  Oh and he throws quite the temper tantrums and he has been hitting.  Yup, hitting.  So we are trying to work on that.  Thankfully Jake never hits back.  And Austin he has grown quite obsessed with Barney, much like his big brother.  I was hoping Barney was going to die off in this house, but now I'm feeling we have another few years to go.  And Jake is back to watching it all the time with Austin!!!!  Yep, I can sing every song and know the moves to every dance; don't be jealous!!

Hurricane Sandy hit this area very hard.  And the Jersey shore is "close to home" for me; having a lot of friends down there and having lived down there for my college years.  I'm still speechless when I see the devastation the storm brought.  Praying for all of the people who were affected by the storm.  Life was pretty hectic here for the week (or two) following Sandy...with the gas shortages, power outages, trees down, flooding.  We were thankful to have no damage to our house with fallen trees and only lost power for a day. Many others close to us lost power for a lot longer.

Life continues to move full speed ahead.  I find that I have no time for anything other than the same old grind.  But as long as the boys are doing well, I'm just fine with that.

Here is just a small clip of what life is like in Weyville....these two keep me busy!  Haha....

He's on the move...

This video was taken on August 6th......love how excited Jake is!  

This past monday I noticed that Austin was starting to let go of things and walk.  Well by tuesday, he was walking like crazy.  Then wednesday night, croupe hit him..pretty hard.  But it didn't stop him....he's getting pretty good at this walking thing now.  He's funny...he takes his time with each step and concentrates on the balance aspect, so he doesn't really fall that much.  

And quiet the little "gabber" we have too.  He's so serious when he talks...

And talk about all the brotherly love he gets....

Gosh how I love these boys....

 

Believe....

I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb.  

Before you were born I set you apart.  

Jeremiah 1:5

That passage seems perfectly fitting for this post.  Apologies (like always) for not updating sooner, but that life of mine keeps getting in the way :)  Austin is 3 days shy of being 16 months old.  And this child of mine is nothing short of a miracle.  During my pregnancy, many of you (as well as many people I have never met) prayed for Austin; prayed for healing of Austin; prayed for a miracle.  I was told "just believe".  And so I did...I believed that he would be healed.  I believed that no matter what disheartening news we got, he would be okay.  

And today....August 9, 2012, we got the news we had been waiting for.....Austin's brain is perfectly normal! WHAT??!!!!  Oh yes, I said it!  Our neurosurgeon said he has a perfect brain!   

Austin had his yearly follow up MRI on July 30, 2012.  We met with the neurosurgeon today to go over the results in person.  She compared pictures of his MRI at birth (with lots of fluid and large ventricles) to last week's MRI which shows "normal" ventricles.  NORMAL!  And to top off things she said "see you in a YEAR"!  A whole year!!!!  (Keep in mind this was our 11th visit in 15 months...so you do the math)  

Austin continues to do great.  He is starting to really babble and form sounds (which the ENT told us to give him at least 6 months to catch up with since the tubes were put in).  He is "stepping"....in true gooser style, he prefers to crawl over walking.  But he does takes steps and can do between 3 and 5 steps pretty consistently when he's not paying attention.  He climbs, he laughs, he pitches absolute fits when he doesn't get his way, and boy does he loves his brother.  He continues to amaze me everyday!!!   

Many, many thanks to all of you who believed with me...who prayed with me and for Austin....who have been with us through the tough times and who have celebrated with us through the good times.  We truly are blessed.  

 Quite the lil ham he is....these were taken in a matter of about 30 secs!

  He's on the move all the time....haha.

Life in the fast lane....

Life continues in the fast lane for us in Weyville lately.  This, coupled with a SLOW, non functioning laptop does not make for easy updates!!!  So apologies about that.  I feel like I have so much to post, but by the time I actually get to sit down and do it, there are like twenty other things to write about so all the little things don't get on here.  I honestly don't even know where to begin.

Lets see...

Well, in the midst of everything last month, I forgot to mention the second biggest milestone in Austin's life (second to his 1 year birthday of course)...his ONE YEAR SHUNT ANNIVERSARY!  It was on May 10, 2012.  And just like me neglecting to mention it on my blog, we kinda forgot about it ourselves.  You see the shunt is just so much a part of everyday life with Austin that we sometimes forgot thats it there.  (Kinda like Jake's ears..)  I love, love, how I can say that about the shunt.  I remember this time last year being such a nervous wreck with it and everything that came along with it.  Now, its just one of those things thats there.  Kevin still isn't that comfortable touching it (although he may tell you otherwise), but for me, there's no part of it that I'm nervous to touch, feel, scratch, pick at, whatever.

On May 25, 2012, he has his tubes put in.  I can't even begin to tell you what an easy surgery that was!  He was away from us, including recovery time, for a total of 10 minutes.  Don't get me wrong, for any parent who has not been through the surgeries that we have been through (two separate 4 hour surgeries for Jake and brain surgery for Austin!), I'm sure a 10 minute procedure is a big deal.  And any parent worries about any surgery, but for this one...literally I walked back to the lobby to meet up with Kevin after they took Austin in the operating room and I had about 5 minutes to read my book and the receptionist was saying "Austin's parents...they are all done, you can go back now and see him!".  And I don't know if it was my wishful thinking, but I swear he was babbling more within a few hours of surgery.  Still waiting for those words to come, but he is starting to form more consonants and sounds together, so I'm sure they will.  He understands us for sure.  Worst part now is that he has to wear ear plugs around the water (including bath time) for the next six months, which of course he absolutely HATES!

Physically he is doing more things daily.  He now can climb up the stairs, walk holding onto one of our hands, and get into a kids chair by himself.  And man, he fast crawling.  And he loves to play catch, and brrrm brrrm with cars.   So funny.  He is so expressive with his face too.  Cracks me up all the time, but boy is he demanding!  He goes from happy kid to screaming as loud as he can for attention or when he doesn't get something he wants.

And as for Jake....he is a Pre-K graduate as of wednesday!  So proud of him.  He didn't start hearing until he was 14 months old, is one of the youngest in his class and is now going to mainstream Kindergarten in the fall!

Life has been pretty darn good to us and I'm so blessed and thankful.  I'm hoping my "followers" still get a chance to check my blog every once and a while.   And I know that there are still many prayers coming our way, which I'm very thankful for.  We are very blessed by these two boys of ours who are smart, loving, and an absolute joy!

Here are some videos from the past few weeks or so...(don't mind the music, didn't know how to change it!!)

Austin is 1 (Update Part 1)

Gosh, its been so long I don’t even know where to begin.  And, as much

as I’m to blame for not updating sooner, this blog has been causing me

some problems and it seems that every time I do try to update, I’m

unable to save it to a post!  Nuf with the excuses….I’m BACK!

And boy do I have LOTS to update on!  Lets see…..well, first and

foremost, AUSTIN IS 1!  He had a great birthday.  Celebrated at

school, celebrated at home with us, and then had a big blowout Dr.

Seuss birthday bash with family and friends.  I went WAY overboard on

the party.  Partly because of what a miracle this little boy is,

partly because its going to be our last “first birthday” party, and

partly because I can’t help but absolutely adore him!  So, whatever

which way you look at it…I went overboard.  I found some cute ideas on

the internet for the Dr. Seuss theme and it just skyrocketed from

there.  Right down to the family shirts, decorations galore and

“themed” snacks and treats.  It was fun though and everyone seemed to

enjoy themselves, especially Austin.

A few days later we had Austin’s one year check up at the

pediatrician.  He is doing wonderfully and there were no concerns

noted.  Right after that appointment was our one year followup with

the ENT for a hearing test.  That didn’t go so well.  Turned out that

Austin had significant fluid in his ears (he has had a few ear

infections in the past couple of months) so they didn’t do the hearing

test and instead told us to come back in 6 weeks.  ENT said that if he

gets one more ear infection he will need to have tubes put in.  Well,

wouldn’t you know it, within a few days, the fluid turned into a

double ear infection!  So, we went back to the ENT this past week and well, 

lets just say..Austin is getting tubes put in on Friday!!!  They did a hearing test 

on him and he isn't hearing the low tones so its not worth the wait any longer to us.  

We want him to be able to hear everything.  And thankfully his hearing is perfect otherwise. 

 So, this friday it is.  ENT (who is the same doctor that performed both of Jake's implant surgeries)

 said that as soon as we go get a coffee, the surgery will be over.  He said its the 

easiest surgery he does.  We will just have to make sure he has ear plugs in for the

 next six months around water.   I'm just looking foward to him not being sick anymore!!   

Then a few days after the first ENT appointment was Austin’s six month eye

check up with the optomologist.  His eyes stayed exactly the

same…still really far sighted.  Dr. said if they get any worse, he’ll

need glasses.  So we go back in another six months and just hoping

they get a little better as he gets older.

Austin also had his first haircut!  His hair was getting so long it was actually

hanging out from underneath the back of his helmet.  He did great though

and sat like a big boy!!

And finally…on April 23rd, Austin GRADUATED from his helmet!!!  Whoo

hoo!!  It was bitter sweet.  Excited that it came off, but Kevin and I

were both nervous wrecks the first few days afterwards worrying about

him falling and hitting his head.  We got used to the fact that the

helmet would break his fall.  But it was nice to not have to have it

on and I really felt like it was starting to impede his stretching and

torticollis.  George (helmet guy) even commented on how well Austin

did with the helmet considering his hydrocephalus and reported that

most kids with hydro tend not to get as good of results as Austin.

But then again, Austin is not your typical kid!

So I think that catches us up with doctor’s appointments and updates.

And other than that, we have been really really busy.  We took a trip

down to Virginia to see some of my friends and that was nice all

around.  Austin loved being at Kings Dominion amusement park and even

got his first ride on the merry go round.

Physically he is doing better and better everyday.  He walks with

walkers, cruises around the furniture, and I wouldn’t be surprised if

he starts standing on his own very soon.  He’s like a whirlwind, in to

EVERYTHING.  Something Kevin and I are still getting used to.  And he

does not like to sit still.  And boy oh boy does he had a personality.

 Very dramatic he is!  Makes me laugh all the time.  His new thing is

to raise his eyebrows as if to say “hey, guys whats that over there?”

 Usually followed with babbling of some sort.

Pacifier has been an issue.  I’m all about the pacifier for little

ones, but Austin has only liked one kind since he was born…the soothie.

 Anyone who knows what that is, knows that they don’t make those

pacifiers for 1 year olds!  They are newborn up to 3 months old.

But…Austin hates all the other kinds.  Well, when his teeth started

coming in, the top two came in with a big gap in between them.  And it

occurred to me that it was probably because of his pacifier…which is

round and happens to fall right in the middle of where the gap is!

Ugh!  Why didn’t I realize this sooner??  Anyhoo…so now we have banned

him from the pacifier, and he is only allowed to use it to put himself

to sleep and then it comes out the rest of the night.  And I gotta

say, his babbling has really increased since we stopped this.  It has

been harder to calm him though without it, but it’s a change that has

to be done.

All in all, that’s whats going on in Weyville.  Please keep Austin in your prayers on friday for his surgery!!! 

Lots and Lots of pictures to follow......