To 2010!

The new year is just about upon us! 2010 sounds so much cooler than 2009 :) I am weird with numbers like that. Like my favorite age was 17...it just sounds good to me. I know...weird.

Anyway, we have lots to look forward to in 2010. Here are some of the things I am excited about...

*Auntie L starts her new job at 5th 3rd!!
*Cousin Mari starts college!!
*My first preschool graduation!!
*Brian will be 2!! (Let the potty training begin!)
*Shawn and I will celebrate our EIGHTH wedding anniversary!!
*Family Trip for Pappy's 60th!!
*Nennie and Patrick are getting married!!

And I'm sure that's just the tip of the ice burg. Can't wait to see what the new year brings! Hope it's safe and happy for all :)

Oh, P.S. my new year's resolution is to try 1 new recipe (main course) every week for the next 52 weeks. So, if you have a recipe send it my way. The only requirement is that it has to be easy enough that I can tackle it and keep my 18 month old from destroying the house!

And P.S. Again...I wanted to post a "last of of 2009" of Brian tonight. However, I left my memory card in my netbook so my camera was useless at Bibber's tonight. Too bad too because Brian was a riot chasing the cats and feeding the goats! And he was asleep by the time we made it home. Shawn said he would kill me if I took a pic of the sleeping child. He also said he will look the same tomorrow. So, no pic :(

Aqarium Trip 2009

Today we visited the Newport Aquarium with Nana and BOTH of Brian's godparents! Daddy stayed home. After the bed time incident last night, he needed a break!

Brian was pretty sleepy, but he loves FISH and apparently turtles too, so he enjoyed himself for the majority of the visit. He pet two sharks, a crabby and a starfish. He also tried to climb INTO one of the tanks. I guess he wanted to pet a duck too.


This is one of the best places in the aquarium...the big bubbles at the end. Brian fell far, far into the bubble and about gave Nana and LaLa heart attacks!

Brian with both godparents. Although Auntie is hard to see since she's wrestling the monkey...

There is a duck in there and Brian is determined that he will pet it!

Cool jellyfish pic!


Petting the starfish and horseshoe crab!


The aquarium was exhausting!

18 Month Checkup

We visited Dr. Price today for Brian's 18 month well checkup. Here are Brian's new stats:
Weight = 26.5 lbs = 60th percentile
Height = 34.5 inches = 95th percentile
Head circumference = 19.5 inches = 90th percentile

Still big!

Everything else checked out as well. Still advanced in all areas, tubes are working well :)

Dr. Price was concerned about Brian's sleep though. He's back to waking up at night A LOT. So, we tried "cry it out" AGAIN tonight. I detest cry it out. It results in puke and lots of it. Every time. So Shawn stripped the bed while I showered with Brian...attempting to remove the puke smell. It didn't work. Since I can't get dirty water (in this case soapy) in his ears (due to the tubes), I couldn't use shampoo. It would have been impossible to hold him and protect his ears from the water. And I couldn't put him down because every time I did the result was more crying, followed by more puke. So we rinsed. And it's after 10 as I write this, Brian is still awake, and he smells like....you guessed it...puke.

So, we'll have to do a morning bath to get rid of the smell before our adventure downtown to eat lunch with Pappy.

I am going to post a picture of how cute Brian is while dancing to make myself feel better now.


Goodnight.

WHO DEY!

The Bengals FINALLY made the playoffs and claimed the AFC North Division title! It's been a long time coming! Brian celebrated with some football playing of his own...

17 Month Pictures and Random Big Boy Things

Brian is such a big boy! Today we ordered his meal from the kids menu at Olive Garden. That's a first! It was pizza and he loved it :) He's also already learned to put his train cars together and move them around on the track. The first couple of days he was just pushing one at a time and carrying a few extras in his free arm!

He leads us around the house to obtain any desires by grabbing a hold one of our fingers and pulling. (Dangerous with Shawn-I know!) Of course this is if he doesn't feel he can get whatever it is himself. He's quite a fan of dragging the kitchen chairs around so that he can climb up to the counter and pull down whatever he is looking for. He also uses the tub faucet frequently to pour himself a drink of water. At least he doesn't use the toilet!

His vocabulary and babbling are increasing daily. Today his new word was "duck." Oddly this came from his new "Itsy Bitsy Spider" book where there is a duck watching the spider go up the water spout. A strange choice by the illustrator, I think, but it works for Brian apparently. Shawn keeps joking that Brian thinks Ruben's name is "Out! Now!" because he yells this phrase at Ruben so often.

He can identify lots of things too. He's pretty good at body parts-hair, eye, ear, nose, mouth, belly button-and today he found Shawn's belly button! He can identify some of his animals as well-usually monkey, lion and elephant. He has a new Noah's Ark toy and can match up most of the animal pairs. He also roars every time I ask him to find the lion. He's pretty cute if I do say so myself!!

Of course his favorite conversation to have goes as follows:
"Mama."
"Yes, baby?"
"Dada?"
"He's at work, babe."
"Oh."
Repeat...about 600 times a day. If Shawn happens to be in the car and answers when Brian says his name, it throws him off for a few seconds, but he usually just starts right back up again.

Anyway, he was 18 months old on Christmas Eve, so here are his 17 month pictures. (SO INCREDIBLY HARD TO BELIEVE THAT'S HE'S A YEAR AND A HALF OLD, RIGHT??) We visit the pediatrician tomorrow, so I will post an update after that.

Everything's a Train Table

Brian got a train table for Christmas. Our house has been taken over by trains and train track. If Brian happens to not be near the table, but happens to have a train in hand, you can bet the closest flat surface will become his makeshift train table. Anything will do really...the pew at church, the car seat, my arm...

Brian's yet to be opened indoor basketball goal, being used as...you guessed it! A train table.

The actual train table!

Brian making the "choo-choo" noise while playing with his new table.

Silent Night

This is how every Christmas Eve drive should be...


and then there was the magical elf, Megan, who successfully wore our little angel out before the return trip home. Yay, for a silent night!

Dinner in Lexington

Today we successfully made it to Lexington and back! I'm not referring to traffic, or weather...I am referring to the hell that riding in the car with Brian Thomas can sometimes be.

Today we were prepared.

We left at 12:30p.m. We weren't meeting friends until 4:30 and it's no more than a 90 minute drive. However, by leaving at 12:30 we ensured that Brian's nap would fall right into our drive time. The plan worked! Too well in fact. Brian was still asleep when we arrived and slept all the way through Shawn's trip into Kroger.

He woke up on the way to Northpoint where we made a quick stop to visit Grammy Donna. Brian had never met Donna, and we wanted to make sure to wish her a Merry Christmas!

After our visit, we headed to campus to visit the library. It's big. We figured Brian could use up some energy in there. We had a blast! There are lots of places to hide and chase. The elevators go really fast. I am certain the other patrons of the library did not appreciate our distraction, but finals are over so BOO on them.

We made it to dinner around 4:45p.m. Here's a cute picture I managed to get of Brian and Maggie.

Dinner was fun, even though Maggie ended up wearing her honey mustard sauce. NOT her fault. The server dumped it on her. Luckily there was a strategically placed yellow stripe in almost the right spot on her new sweater.

After dinner, we walked down to Graeters and enjoyed some ice cream. Very appropriate given the weather, as Kristal pointed out, but who cares? Graeters is yummy!

Our plan for the trip back was to entertain Brian with Christmas videos on my laptop. He really seemed to enjoy "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph" at the preschool over the past couple of weeks, so Shawn downloaded them onto my machine. I sat in the back with the laptop perched on my knees, and except for an occasional struggle over who got to hold the laptop (between me and Brian, not me and Shawn), and the wrong version of Rudolph being downloaded...two viewings of Frosty later, we made it home with a happy baby and our sanity.

We're getting better at this!

Boots

The first snow of the season hit the tri-state last night. I was so excited to hear the plows moving through our neighborhood throughout the night. I just knew Brian would love the snow. He loves to play outside, and has hated being cooped up since it's been so cold.

This morning I woke up to a 17 month old kissing all over my face. After a snuggle session, I jumped out of bed and ran with Brian to the window to show him the snow. He was definitely interested!

After doing a whole lot of nothing all morning, Shawn ran out to get Brian his first pair of snow boots. When he returned, we had lunch and put Brian down for his nap. As soon as Brian woke up we were ready to start our snow adventure!

Brian had other ideas. As soon as Shawn got the boots out, Brian started bawling. We tried everything. We let him hold the boots, put his hands inside, play with the velcro, put his toy reindeer inside. We both put on our boots. Nothing stopped the fit.

So, we decided to put them on him anyway and take him outdoors. We figured he would forget about the awful contraptions we had forced him into. We bundled everyone up, grabbed the new sled (to pull him around on) and headed out back.


Brian cried. We put him on the sled. He cried. I picked him up and soothed him. He cried. We showed him the neighbor's dog bounding down the street for a visit with Ruben. He laughed a little through the tears.

Walking in the boots was just not happening. He acted like his legs had suddenly become robot legs and he could only move them in one solid motion. Every time I put him down he cried. Or at least puckered up like he was going to wail if I didn't pick him up again.

After 10 minutes of absolutely no fun, we headed back inside. Brian is definitely not a winter baby. And he really does not like boots. Period.


In case you can't tell, the lower lipped if definitely protruding in this picture. Although, if you don't notice that, it's actually a pretty sweet picture.

Childproof my As*

There is not a bottle on this planet that is childproof enough for my child. Not a one.

Tonight, my 17 month old managed to do the following in about 2 minutes time:

1. Remove his baby ibuprofen from my nightstand (where I had left it the other night when his fever reached 103).
2. Locate a measuring cup and a measuring spoon.
3. OPEN the "childproof" cap on the ibuprofen.
4. Find a cozy spot in our hallway.
5. Pour himself a measuring cup full of liquid ibuprofen (without spilling a drop, I might add).
6. Use the measuring spoon to give himself a dose.

Lovely. Bad parenting? Probably. False advertising? Absolutely.

Nothing is safe from my little monster! Now, you are probably wondering whether or not this little dose of meds affected Brian Thomas. I assure you he did not ingest enough to harm him. However, childproof? My as*!

A Strange Custom

This whole Santa thing is really a strange custom if you think about it. You teach your kids all year long to avoid strangers. You want them to be a little fearful of strangers or at least be aware that they could represent danger. And then, Christmas comes along and what do you do? You plop your unsuspecting toddler in the lap of a STRANGER. And kind of a weird looking stranger at that. Big man, long white beard, dressed all in red. It's a strange custom.

Last year were were quite pleased with the results of our Santa visit. Santa called Brian, "Santa's Boy," because he smiled for the picture and didn't shed a tear. That was when Brian was 6 months and unaware of the concept of a "stranger."


This year has been a bit different. We are working up to the whole Santa thing. We saw Santa the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Brian's friend Addison. Shawn and I took the kids on a Santa Train Ride, which benefited the free pharmacy my mom runs. Brian was not a fan. In fact, we had to pose in the picture with him. Notice that he even refused to LOOK at the jolly old elf.


Then last week St. Nicholas visited the preschool. Brian knows Gene, the man who was playing Old St. Nick, so I thought maybe the results would be different. Not so much. I had to be in the picture with him. Again.


The second day when St. Nick came back to see the 4 year olds. I outsmarted my 17 month old. I waited until he was asleep to put him on St. Nicholas' lap. That did the trick!


Then yesterday we were at the mall and Brian actually SMILED and waved at Santa Claus. Progress people! By Christmas maybe we will have a smiling picture of Brian on Santa's lap. A girl can dream, right?

Advent

Brian loves the season of Advent. Especially his Advent calendar. He gets a piece of chocolate every day. Yum!

Chores

I always said my kids would have chores as early as possible. I think it's important for kids of both genders to learn to do things like dishes, laundry, making beds, etc. Brian is my dream child. He LOVES chores and has started doing them WAY earlier than I ever could have imagined. He dutifully stands in front of the dryer when I'm doing laundry and takes each piece of clothing (out of the washer) from me, carefully placing each item into the dryer. He enjoys this so much that I actually commented to Shawn that I feel guilty when I do laundry WITHOUT Brian.

Some chores are easier to complete without Brian. When the dishwasher is open he comes running from where ever he is to "help." He doesn't care if the dishes are dirty or not. He wants to empty it all the time. He broke a bowl recently while "helping." No worries, just part of the learning process, right?

And then there is sweeping the floor. We have mostly hard wood flooring, so I use the broom a lot. Brian loves this chore so much, that we bought him a child size broom to use alongside me. Unfortunately, he wacked himself in the eye the first night we had it, so Brian's broom has been hidden for the time being and I now sweep while he naps.

The child will even "help" clean bathrooms. I give him a rag and he "cleans" the base of the sink and toilet. He cracks me up! I remember our niece Renie used to like to help with this chore, too!

The dishes, however, are by FAR Brian's favorite chore. Probably due to the running water and the fact that I let him STAND on a chair when he "helps" with this. (He's usually told to SIT DOWN when on our kitchen chairs.) Here are some pictures of Brian and I washing dishes tonight.




And here is a picture of the melt down we face once the dishes are done.

16 Month Pictures

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Brian enjoyed both of our Thanksgiving celebrations. Yesterday he played with his cousin Abby at Aunt Bibber's house. He ate, cheeseball on crackers, turkey, stuffing, mac-n-cheese, part of a roll, chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin pie. Today we celebrated at Nana and Pappy's house where Brian ate stuffing, a roll, some turkey, chocolate cake, a turkey cut out cookie and cinnamon bread. I normally would not list all of the foods, but if you recall our struggles with foods this is AMAZING news! Brian has really expanded his dining over the past couple of weeks. He even tried sushi last weekend! We've also caught him not one, but three times, reaching up high to pull cinnamon bread off the counter and then sitting on the floor to eat it. You can tell it too. His legs and face are starting to fill out once again :)

In case you want to catch up on Brian's last month, here are his 16 month pictures. Enjoy!

What I Am Thankful For

Thanksgiving Prep

Last year for our Thanksgiving place cards, Brian made hand print turkeys. At 5 months, it was quite a challenge to paint his little hand and keep his fingers from balling up long enough to press his hand print onto the cards. I enlisted Lauren's help and we got the job done by placing Brian in his bebe pod in only a diaper. With the chaos that ensued, we didn't get any pictures, but here's a picture of what Brian looked like on Thanksgiving last year.


Incidentally, we declared Thanksgiving the day of "first food" for Brian, so he had just had his first cereal in this picture. Hence the furrowed brow and "what the hell are you doing, mom" look.

This year I decided to attempt the turkeys again. However, due to a budding sense of I WILL DO IT MYSELF, the turkeys quickly became Brian's original artworks. This child is Mr. Independent. He grabbed the brush from my hand and insisted on painting the cards himself. I was amazed to see that he knew HOW to paint. He knew how to get color onto the brush. He even knew how to put the brush in the cup of water to clean it off. He's never painted before this week. I don't think he's even seen anyone paint! Needless to say, we won't have hand print turkeys this year. But we certainly have had fun making place cards!


And yes, please note that my child is now sitting in a BOOSTER SEAT. He is also FEEDING HIMSELF most of the time, is down to one (TWO HOUR) nap each day, and is sleeping through the night almost every night. WOW! He is 17 months old today...16 month pictures will go up soon hopefully. Hard to believe.

A Flock of Flamingos

As you probably remember, my Mom's gift to Shawn on his thirtieth Birthday was a singing pirate. My gift was a little bit different, but equally as fun! Brian quite enjoyed it. Thanks Mom and Dad :)

My Son, the Lush

This is an old picture, but the friend who took it just got around to sending it to me. Great, right?

Will I Ever Stop Worrying?

The post that follows is more raw than any I have posted before. I apologize in advance for the honesty. I absolutely have to tap this out tonight. Please feel free to skip it entirely. It's not a happy post.

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I was talking to God as I often do. I guess it's my way of praying. I have kind of a one sided conversation in my head with God. Our conversation was mostly about Brian, as it often is, and specifically about his hearing loss.

I worry about his hearing loss constantly. I know it's not healthy. I try to forget. To push the worry aside. But I can't. I am constantly doubting whether or not we have made the right decision not to aide him. Every time he speaks, or jabbers, I wonder if he's on track with other children his age. I worry about his next hearing test. And the one after that. And so on. I wonder if his loss will get worse.

The worry isn't always in the forefront of my mind. There are many minutes and hours that I don't think about it at all. There are instances where I don't even realize I am worrying, and suddenly it hits me. And then there are times when I feel like the worry is constricting every muscle in my body and has taken over every cell. That all consuming worry is the worst. It's the kind that keeps me up at night. The kind that makes me wish I wasn't the type of person who worries!

In my conversation with God last night, I realized that I have actually accepted Brian's hearing loss. For the first time, I realized, I wasn't asking God for a miracle. I know now that Brian will always have a hearing loss. Instead I have moved on to asking God to just keep his hearing where it is. And to help guide us in the decisions we are making for him. And to help me stop worrying. I really do want to stop worrying.

Then I started to think about how incredibly angry I am about Brian's hearing loss. It's so unfair that this could have been prevented. That every issue he has faced could have been prevented. It's so unfair that the doctor who could have prevented all of this is still practicing, and will continue to practice. Shawn says I have to get over my view of what is fair and unfair. I know it's not right to dwell on it. But it's hard to do. Especially when it could have been prevented. And especially because just when I think I'm over the guilt of feeling like I should have known to demand a c-section...the guilt of feeling like I could have prevented it...the tears start to flow again and the guilt overcomes me.

Sometimes I just wish I could push fast forward and see Brian's language develop so I could know whether or not we have made a good decision. I want him to stay a baby as long as possible, but a part of me wants to know what the future holds for him. Will he speak and understand normally? Will he do well in school? Will he struggle in loud situations? Will he persevere and push to beat this horrible thing that has happened to him?

A family member somewhat-recently accused me to worrying too much about Brian's disability and not just "dealing with it." This family member has a perfectly normal child, and could not possibly understand what our lives have been like the past 17 months. However, this statement has been weighing heavily on me. Oh how I wish I could just stop worrying. I wish I could have one day where I didn't think about his hearing, or his language development. But so far, no luck.

I know that in the grand scheme of things hearing loss is not the end of the world. We have friends who have children with much more severe disabilities than hearing loss. We are blessed to have a happy, generally healthy, intelligent child. My head knows all of this. Could someone please make my heart understand?

P.S.

The phone works!!! YAY!!!!

Oh, What a Day!

Brian's surgery went off without a hitch. He was crabby this morning while we awaited the procedure, but who wouldn't be if they weren't allowed to eat or drink and they had the hiccups? The actual operation took about 7 minutes, which was good because I was not a happy camper having to hand off my baby to a bunch of people I don't know.

Our day should have been good, given the fact that our son had a successful surgery. However, it was not.

This morning when we arrived at the hospital, we realized that the bag Shawn had packed containing our distractions (my netbook, a Parent's Magazine, a library book and Shawn's DS) and Brian's bottle, had a little problem. Brian's bottle had exploded in it's soft cooler and leaked all over the other contents of the bag. The only things we saved were the netbook and the library book. Everything else went in the trash including the bottle and my netbook case. GRRR!

Then upon arriving home with my still somewhat sedated and cranky child, I attempted to use the restroom while holding the flailing 1 year old. After doing so I stood to attempt to pull up my pants and PLUNK into the toilet went my cell phone which had been resting in my pocket during our trip to Children's. GREAT. I quickly grabbed the phone out of my own PEE and rinsed it a bit (it was ALREADY wet and I really didn't want it to smell like pee if it still worked). As of right now it doesn't work. It's drying on in pieces on a towel on the kitchen table. Pray for me that the dumb thing works once dry. I really don't want to buy a new phone. Even if the old one does smell like pee.

ANYWAY, if you were expecting a call letting you know that Brian was okay, I'M SORRY! However, I know few phone numbers by heart and my phone is not giving them up at this point in time. Plus, I spent the several hours after the phone saga on the couch with my very tired baby sleeping on top of me.

Brian is now downstairs playing with his Daddy. He is back to his normal, climbing self. Thank you for all of the prayers and thoughts today! Please, please pray for my phone now :)

The Babysitters

On Saturday Shawn and I went to the Celebrate Event for the free pharmacy my mom runs. Brian's Great Aunt Bibber and Great Uncle Billy were the babysitters. Billy enjoyed watching Brian watch football as much as Brian enjoyed watching it.
After bath time Aunt Bibber left Brian with Uncle Billy so she could get his night time snack and bottle ready. She heard them jabbering for awhile and then she realized they weren't talking any longer, so she called into the front room to make sure Billy still had Brian. He didn't. So, Bibber went looking for Brian. This is how she found him.
I guess he didn't think bath time was over :)

Friends

Brian met a new friend this week and got to play with his bff Bradley. On Tuesday we met sweet little Layla Nagavi-Brian's future wife ;) She is just beautiful! Brian was way more interested in her big brother Frankie, but I LOVED seeing this precious baby girl! Here's a picture to show the size difference in size between a 2 month old and my 16 month old.


Then on Friday Brian got to play for awhile with Bradley at the preschool. These boys are SO CUTE together! As soon as they see one another they immediately reach out to grab hands and they get huge grins on their faces. Steph, Bradley's mom says that if she asks Brad if he wants to go see Brian he claps and gets all excited. I have never seen kids so young enjoy each other so much.

Tubes Update

Brian's tube surgery has been scheduled. He will have the procedure on Tuesday at 10:30a.m. He has a pre-op physical on Monday at 3:30p.m. We decided to take the first available date. We just weren't comfortable with any chance of a language delay due to the fluid and wanted it resolved ASAP. Your prayers would be appreciated :) Even though it's a simple procedure, it's still surgery and they still have to put him out for a bit. Hopefully we will have no issues, the tubes will start doing their job and Brian Thomas will get some relief!

Tubes

We went to the ENT yesterday and after listening to his take on tubes along with the opinions of our audiologist, our pediatrician and my Aunt Sarah, we have decided to go ahead and have the surgery to put tubes in Brian's ears.

Brian has a lot of fluid in his ears and with his hearing loss, he really doesn't need anything else impairing his hearing. The surgery is quite routine and only takes about 15 minutes. They will use gas to put him out, so no IV! After, he may be tired and cranky, but should not feel any pain.

The fluid could explain all of the low grade fevers and the tugging at his ears. I am hopeful that this is the case because we can fix it!

I am currently playing the waiting game trying to get this scheduled, but we are hoping to have it done while we are both off for two weeks in December. I will post the surgery date when I know it.

Many Blessings

Every since I started my new job-especially during the chaos that occurred as I began-my coworker and new friend Jeanne has been telling me that it's all worth it because of the "many blessings" that would come to my family through my working for a church.

I came across one of those blessings as Brian and I passed through the church on the way back from the office today. My 16 month old child BOWED as we passed the altar. He has seen me do this every time I approach the altar. He has seen Father Jeff do the same. So it really should be no surprise that my little mimic has picked up on this. But come on?! How many 16 month olds know how to do this? We are truly blessed.

Little Red Rocker

When Brian unsuccessfully tried to sit on Shawn's FEET this evening while watching football on TV, we realized he might like a chair upstairs that was his size. So, I ran downstairs and grabbed the little red rocker. It was my Mom's red rocker, my red rocker, Jon's red rocker and now Brian's red rocker. He enjoyed the rocker quite a bit tonight. He's just a regular American guy I guess. He just wants to sit in his chair and watch FOOTBALL!

Halloween Part 2

Trick or treat was cut a bit short for me as I was hit hard with a lovely stomach virus about half way through. Brian had fun though with his pal Addison, her mommy Melissa, Auntie Lauren, Daddy and Nana. He enjoyed giving candy to Addison much more than receiving it himself! Here's our little golfer and his friend the bat :)

Halloween Part 1

We have had fun doing fall activities this week! Yesterday it was 80 degrees, so I was able to put Brian in a romper one last time. He got to run around barefoot in the fallen leaves and he had a ball!
Then today we carved Brian's first pumpkin. Tonight is trick or treat! I will post pictures of our little golfer tomorrow hopefully :)

Hearing Test Today

Brian was in great spirits for his hearing test today! He wowed them with his personality as usual-clapping, pointing, and saying "hi" to the different animals shown during the test. Unless, of course, a fish happened to pop up on the monitor. Whenever that happened he said, "FISH." Toward the end of the test he was really hamming it up. He would gasp and put his hands to his face "Home Alone" style every time a new character showed up on the screens. Too cute!

Onto the results. Brian tested the same as he did at 12 months. This is good considering they don't expect him to improve and by testing the same this means his loss has not gotten any worse. The audiologist just said to keep doing what we are doing because he is clearly developing as he should as far as speech and language are concerned. She talked a bit about what would be best for Brian educationally speaking, and we were pleased to learn that Montessori is typically an environment where kids with Brian's type of hearing loss thrive. Watch out Miss Young...he's coming your way in a few years!!

There was some fluid in both of Brian's ears today. This was not a surprise since he's been so sick, but we are going to see the ENT in a few weeks to check to see if it's still there. The audiologist said that if it is Dr. Arjmand may want to put tubes in Brian's ears to help them drain. Shockingly this did not freak me out as it would have a year ago. Or maybe not all that shocking given tubes are WAY more routine than some of the things we have dealt with!! I've learned that Children's explores EVERY option and rules out EVERY possibility, so I am just taking this in stride and we'll see what happens in a few weeks.

Overall, it was a good day. The audiologist didn't even mention a need for hearing aides, and when Shawn asked, she said that some kids with this type of loss flounder without them and some kids do great. She said right now, Brian is doing great and the most important thing to do is continue to monitor his progress and his hearing and hope that nothing changes. The BEST news of the day was that we do not have to retest Brian for 6 months, so we have until APRIL before we have to do this again. What a HUGE relief!!

Thank you to all who were thinking of us and sending prayers our way today. We are incredibly lucky to have a wonderful network of family and friends. Good night :)

15 Month Pictures

Brian is 16 months old today! He is feeling better and enjoying watching college football with Daddy. The rescheduled hearing test in Monday. I will post results after.

Here are the pictures we have taken of Brian over the last month. 15 Month Pictures

The Pumpkin Patch

When I booked the preschool for a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch, I never imagined it would be the one that I went to with my grandma a few years back. It didn't even cross my mind. But when we pulled into the long drive that leads to Daniel's Farm, I knew that I had been there before. Such a strange day that was. Grandma insisted that we go and even though I knew it was for the little kids, I went along with it. Looking back I realize Grandma was very much like a little kid. The joy that she took from petting and feeding the animals that day, and from the bumpy hayride out into the pumpkin field was quite similar to the joy I saw in Brian's eyes the past two days while we visited the farm. And while I know mental illness was the reason for her joy in some warped way, it made me happy to think that she was able to be so child like in a good way from time to time.

Fast forward to the past two days and our visits to the Pumpkin Patch. I am so grateful first of all that Brian and I were well enough to go on the trips and that the weather was so incredibly beautiful both days. I am even more grateful that Mom, Shawn and Bibber got to experience the Pumpkin Patch with Brian. His excitement is infectious and I am glad these three got to be a part of the fun. It was also fun to watch them all see how much a part of the Preschool Brian has become. He truly believes he is a part of the group. And the kids treat him as such. And I wouldn't be a good Preschool Director if I didn't brag about how WONDERFUL the kids were both days! We got many, many compliments from the "farmers" on our awesome students!

Today it was especially fun to see Brian at the Pumpkin Patch with his pal Bradley. Bradley is the younger brother of one of our 3 year olds. He has spina bifida and he is truly an inspiration to me. He and Brian clicked from day one and they had a ball together today!

Here are some pictures from the past two days.