The bug hit Buka!

It always happens, doesn't it. I had to go and say that we are having a good winter and haven't spent the whole thing sick, and then BAM it hits us! I was just talking to my friend, Jennifer, about her daughter, Kate, who was just diagnosed with RSV and I knew once the words were out of my mouth, I shouldn't have said them! Our poor little Luka Buka has managed to catch a nasty "belly bug!" as we are calling it. Hopefully we'll be able to make it out of the house tomorrow for a SuperBowl party we were set to go to...AND hopefully no one else with catch anything! Sorry, but no pictures on this one...Buka looks a little green!!!

Snow day, round 2!

Today went a lot like yesterday. Dan was the one that got up early and shoveled the driveway...WOW...there was a lot of snow. Thanks to my friend Ang, who measured the snow with a trusty ruler - it measured 7 inches! Dan also got to assist some neighbors who got stuck in our cul-de-sac!!!

Thankfully, the sun was out today, which made it feel so much better out there. For some reason, when the sun is shining and you are out in the snow it just doesn't feel THAT cold. Again, no snowman was to be made. Dan made some valiant attempts, but it just wouldn't work. We'll try again tomorrow!

Because of the depth of the snow Luke couldn't walk in it...he kind of just crawled around and then finally screamed for our help! Dan had cleaned off the deck for Dunkin to get outside to "do his business" so Luke and I hung out there for a while...he still got to play with the snow, but could also walk around a bit!
He finally got into the thick stuff once the boys had stomped around in it enough and he wasn't sinking anymore! Here he and Nick are working on that snowman!
Jack had a pretty good start on the snowman until he decided to turn it into "the biggest snowball ever!" and throw it at me...ah, the life of a mother of 3 boys!
Nick loved pretending he was climbing a mountain (a.k.a. the piles of snow from the driveway!). Here Nick posed at "the top!"
Luke's favorite thing was circling around on the sled with Dan! He was laughing the biggest belly laugh I have heard from him in a long time! (Pardon the trash cans in the back. Our trash was supposed to be picked up on Tuesday...we got an automated call yesterday telling us it would be picked up by Saturday!)
Hopefully tomorrow is back to work for everyone! I'm definitely ready to get out of the house and I know the boys are in definite need of some structure! Happy hump day, all!

HELLO SNOW!!!

Yesterday morning I was awaken by my school calling me to tell me we had no school...at 5:30 a.m. So, I hopped out of bed and headed outside to shovel the driveway while the boys (and Dan) slept! They woke up just as I was getting done, and of course they were ready to head outside!

Of course, this year I opted not to buy any boots or snowsuits. I am the one who thinks that winter is over once Christmas is past! Luckily we had a snowsuit for Luke, but poor little guy didn't know what was happening when Dan starting to put him in it...we had to give him his "binky" to calm him down!
Once Dan got all the gear on him though, he was warm, snuggly and happy to be outside. In fact, he screamed when I brought him in after about 30 minutes!
We got a good amount of snow, maybe 3 inches, but it wasn't very good "packing" snow, so no snowman. Instead the boys made snow angels and filled up a wheelbarrow and pushed the snow around.

After all the snowy fun outside, I pulled out the book and activity that Ms. Beth left us. I figured since Luke was missing his appointment with her (as she always sees him on Tuesdays) I would use my speech therapist skills with my own son and do a little language therapy. We read the book, Hello Snow (I've never read it, but it is great for language expansion!) and then made these great snowflakes...

We had to choose either blue or white snowflakes, then we talked about how we squeezed the glue and spread it with a paintbrush...
...and then we would "shake" the glitter (this was Luke's favorite part!")
...and we ended up with these great snowflakes! Too bad I'm not having a "winter" themed birthday for Luke this year! These would have been perfect decorations!
We had such a great snowday yesterday. The boys even had a playdate with their friends Ethan and Noah and I got to hold their little sister, Emily...thanks Laura for letting me hang out with her for a bit. Then, Kristin and Maddie came over for a visit. We had a great LATE dinner and then finished off the day with making and eating chocolate covered strawberries! For all of our east coast friends, the snow kept falling and we actually got a few more inches over night for a total of about 9 inches that we woke up to today. Dan was off again so we got another fun snow day! Pictures to follow of our adventures in the snow! Hope everyone had a great day!

Can you tell me how to get....

...how to get to Sesame Street???

So Sunday we traveled out in the snow (Luke couldn't contain himself saying, "sno, sno!") to see Sesame Street Live. Surprisingly, Jack and Nick had said they wanted to go too, so all 5 of us found ourselves in the middle of center ice at the Savvis Center. Our seats were great! Look at our view!!!
Luke was a bit tense before the show began. He is NOT a fan of characters, actually, Nick isn't either, really! Here Luke and I get our pic taken right before it started!
Dan, Jack and Nick say "cheese" before the 1 p.m. start!
Luke and Nick totally got into the show though! In fact, whenever a song would end, (this is where I brag a bit!) our Deaf son, Luke, actually signed and screamed "more!"
It was great! I especially loved the little "princess" type girl (who was about the same age as Luke) in front of us, with a mom, who got all dolled up for Elmo, who couldn't help but stare at Luke the entire time...come on, lady, it is a cochlear implant....it's not like he has a 3rd eye! Anyway, she threw a MAJOR tantrum the entire time, but not Luke...he LOVED it! Here he is clapping!
A quick pic of me and my boys!
After about 2 hours, all the Sesame Street characters said "goodbye" and to my surprise, my little Buka, said "bye, bye" too!
We took Jack and Nick when they were younger, and I can honestly say that this was the best production ever! We all enjoyed it and it was a great precursor to our family vacation this summer...a whirlwind trip to the East Coast (with a two day stop at Sesame Place!).

Jack's got game!

Jack started playing basketball at the YMCA with the same boys that he played soccer with! He had his first game on Saturday and did a great job!!!

Here he is before the game, posed with Dad!
I wasn't able to make it because the game was at 1, right in the middle of Luke's naptime. Luckily Jack took a quick picture of me before he headed out!
Jack was so excited that he could pick his jersey number. He chose number 45 - the closest number he could pick to Aunt Jackie's high school basketball number - 44!

Although I've not seen a game yet, the practices are fun. All these little 6 and 7 year olds, running around the court, most of which have never played basketball and don't know all the rules, no traveling, double dribbling and such! Good times! Luckily Jack knows the coaches and they know him...specifically the hearing loss. I don't talk too often about Jack's hearing loss, but I'm just so thankful that his coaches are so caring and patient because WOW...listening in the gym is TOUGH for Jack, but they make sure that they are using gestures and an extra loud voice when they are talking to him!
Jack's team only scored 1 basket, the other team had 3, but at the end of the game, Jack said he "had a blast!"

Walkin' in Memphis....

I mentioned in a past post that the boys and I headed to visit my brother, Bryan, his wife, Allison and their daughter, Alyssa after Christmas. Can you believe I forgot my camera...the day had started off kind of crazy with an unexpected trip to the Children's ER because of redness again on Luke's CI incision site (luckily it was nothing!) so I had to rely on my mom's pics. Thanks to Nana, for sending these my way!

I love going down to Memphis as we usually just hang out and eat...Allie is an amazing cook. This trip was a bit different though as Allie totally planned fab things for us to do! We arrived Friday night and headed to Chuck E. Cheese's. Of course we had a great time and I was excited b/c we got to try out Luke's FM system with his CI. To those that don't know what I'm talking about, essentially, I wear a microphone that goes directly to his CI and hearing aid, so even if he is 40 feet away from me, I can call his name (quietly!) and he'll stop and look for me! What a great device (sometimes I think this would be great for "normally" hearing children as well!) The four kids had a fun time playing with all the games there...so did Uncle Bryan and Aunt Allie! :)

After we got home we had Christmas all over again! The boys got FUN gifts from their aunt and uncle...Nick some cool paint pens, Luke a glowing Magna Doodle and Jack got the boys version of the EZ Bake oven, in which he makes bugs! Fun times! We got Alyssa the biggest hit of the weekend....6 pair of Disney princess high heels. Notice those cute chubbie legs modeling the yellow "Belle" shoes?? All the boys loved them (we got great pics, but as soon as Nana took the pics, Jack made sure to say that I was not allowed to put them on my blog!!!) Alyssa did a great job sharing, and it was good that there were only 4 kids and 6 pair of shoes! Luke actually fell asleep with these!
Here is Alyssa opening up her V-Tech from Nana and Papa...
Uncle Bryan and Aunt Allie pose for a pic with their cutie puppy, Riley!
Because we wouldn't be able to spend Aunt Allie's birthday with her, we gave her gift to her early...this great "It's My Pan" with her name on it and a new cookbook!
Here is Nana with her 4 grandchildren. We can't wait until Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steve have their little one in April!!!! 5 is a great number!
After all the present opening it was time to go to sleep! We blew up the air mattress for the boys and Alyssa. They all started on the mattress and all 4 woke up on the floor next to it...

Saturday we did a little after Christmas shopping. Uncle Bryan was feeling lousy so we tried to keep everyone calm! Aunt Allie got home from work, whipped up a great Italian meal and then pulled out the fun...it was time to ice cookies. She made BIG cookies and had tons of good stuff to decorate them with! Unfortunately the red icing kind of looked like blood, but tasted good nonetheless! (Forgive my crazy snowman pj's!) We were all chillin' for the night!
All the sugar must have affected some of us, because Saturday night Jack, Luke, Aunt Allie, and I stayed up LATE to watch the Polar Express....so we all slept in Sunday morning, except for Uncle Bryan who had to go to work! The weather was AMAZING and everyone wanted to golf! It was honestly like 80 degrees. We got to take the kids outside to play and then Aunt Allie, the most AMAZING massage therapist EVER gave me an 1 1/2 massage while Nana watched the 4 kids! Thanks Allie....it was so relaxing! We then took a nap and then headed out for dinner and then for a special treat. Aunt Allie and Uncle Bry are members of the Memphis Zoo and they had heard about Memphis Lights at the zoo! Basically there were TONS of little light scenes all over the zoo. My favorite part was when we first walked in, there were all these snow machines that made fake snow, but they were SO far above us that at first it really looked real!!!

Nana snapped this great pic...
Our weekend came to an end Monday morning when we had to go. The four cousins love to play with each other and play so well. The boys miss Alyssa terribly and I know Alyssa misses the boys (she was crying and kept telling Uncle Bryan, "bye-bye Dad" as she so wanted to come with us!) Luckily they will be back up here soon to celebrate Aunt Jackie's baby shower! It was another amazing weekend in Memphis that ended oh too soon!!!

We managed to get this pic before we left...notice Alyssa's eyes closed? Whenever anyone whips out a camera she says "cheese" and closes her eyes....too cute!

This is the drum that Luke can play...

So today was the big day. Dan and Luke hit the open road and headed to CID this morning at 7:45 for the 9 - 12 class. Thankfully Daddy remembered the camera (and humors me with this whole blog thing!) and snapped this pic of the St. Louis arch (on the right) as he was driving across the Mississippi River!
Luke is looking a bit nervous here, but he has his trusty Penguin with him! Dan said that Luke went right into the classroom with Ms. Beth, the Deaf/HOH teacher who comes to our home!
Luke's teacher, Ms. Natalie, agreed to take a few pictures of our big guy during class!!! Thanks to Daddy for asking Luke's teacher and thanks to Luke's teacher for taking the pics!
Notice above that Luke is saying "cheese!"

And finally, here is my favorite one! Maybe b/c of the whole "rockstar" theme we had for his "turn on" party back in April, or the fact that his new big kid bedroom is all rock star themed (more to come on this later!), or the fact that his very favorite song recently is the CID drum song...

This is the drum that Luke can play,
He can play it his own way
Play it fast....
Play it slow....
Make it stop
And make it go!
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
I honestly can't wait to get there on Friday!!! With more pics to come! :)

Update on Website

I actually clicked our picture and read the story! Here is the actual website, but check out Children's site. It is so cool to see Luke up there!

http://www.stlouischildrens.org/content/LukesSoundCelebration.htm

Unexpected Day Off...

I went to sleep last night (EARLY!) after work, a quick trip to the gym and the grocery store and was prepared for a typical day at work when I got THE call at 5:30 a.m. The automated voice explained that we had NO SCHOOL due to ice! What???

I got up, dropped the boys off as usual (they definitely need structure after these past 2 weeks) and headed to the gym. I also got some extraneous errands done that I just never have the time to do. I even did some major filing and I found more information on the Great Forest Park Balloon Race in which Luke was a cover story and I realized that I never have posted the fact that our very our Luka Buka (lovely nickname that it is!) is a feature story on the St. Louis Children's Hospital website. The entire family's picture plus our two fab cochlear implant audiologists is on there. Check us out at www.stlouischildrens.org. It has been up there for a while, so I'm not sure how much longer it will be there, but I'm a proud mom, so I just had to share!

And, tomorrow is another BIG day in Luke's life as he officially starts school at CID, Central Institute for the Deaf. We are so blessed in St. Louis to have 3 amazing oral schools, 2 hospitals performing CI surgeries and such great Deaf advocates, one of which is teacing us ASL. Anyhow, Dan is taking Luke there for his first day, from 9 - 12 and then my mom and I will be taking him on Friday. I can't wait to see all the great things he will do once he gets into this amazing class with Master's level Deaf and HOH teachers, great SLPs and tons of Grad Students! I can see another language explosion in my little man's future! I'll definitely keep everyone posted and will hopefully have some amazing pictures to share of our little guy's first day tomorrow. As for me now, it is off to pick up the boys, have a therapy session with our Deaf/HOH Teacher from CID, Beth, who has been with us from the beginning and then head off to our family's ASL class! Wow...I can't imagine how boring our life would be if we didn't have Luke! :) We are loving every minute of it though!

31 years and counting...

Since Uncle Steve's birthday was December 27, and we were out of town, we celebrated yesterday! Nana, Papa, Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steve all came over! We pretty much just hung out. We did play Match Mate again, that Newlywed-esque game. This time Dan and I did terribly! We weren't matching anything!!!

Nana and Papa had already given Steve his gift and ours, a fab new universal remote control, hadn't come in yet, so poor Uncle Steve only had a card to open up...it did have 31 cents in it though, to celebrate his 31 years!
We had a delish meal and ended with a great Peggy Brown cake. We weren't exactly sure what to get on it though. Papa and I talked it over and we decided to go with Steve's nickname, "suck-up" dubbed early in Jackie and Steve's dating days b/c he would come over to our houses and cook wonderful meals and do tons of odd jobs. After they were married though, we joked that "suck-up" had gone by the wayside. We are honestly just kidding though, as yesterday he traveled through our house and measured every window for our new blinds! He even went back and rechecked them! Thanks, Uncle Steve! I couldn't have picked a better brother-in-law! We love ya!
And here is just a fun picture of what our little Luke did to Papa yesterday. Luke has an absolute love for penguins. Neither Jack, nor Nick, really were attached to anything when they were little! Luke certainly has atached himself to his penguins! He decided to give Papa a few of his loved animals and I just had to snap a picture!
Now I'm off to get some coupons clipped (I have slacked on that this past year and write some reports for work...ugh, back to the daily grind!) Enjoy your day, all!

A "ROCKIN" New Year's Eve!

Ever since we have had the boys, our wild and crazy New Year's Eve parties have gone by the wayside. This year proved to be a bit different though! We had our friend Kristin, Kristin's friend Sam, and her daughter Maddie over. I tried to come up with some fun things for us to do so on the drive down to Memphis (photos coming later...I left my camera here so I'm waiting to get the pics from my mom!) my mom and I came up with an activity for each :09 at every hour. For example, at 6:09 we made homeade pizzas. At 7:09 we decorated the house with all of my 2009 decor! It made the night fun and exciting waiting to see what we would do next! While we were waiting though, we certainly weren't twiddling our thumbs! Instead we broke out our new RockBand game!

Here Nick and Kristin are singing "Should I Stay or Should I Go!" I was so impressed that Nick was singing so well into the microphone...he is a natural!
Daddy and Jack rocked out on the guitars! Dan has gotten amazingly well at the guitar as he is staying up till 1 a.m. every night playing!!! You can feel the base coming out of the basement! (A big thank you to our friend Bob who installed our fantastic surround sound system last year....we are definitely putting it to good use!)
Maddie was amazing on the drums, but that girl can sing too!
And here is the group shot! Notice Jack's feet are on Luke's drum set that Santa brought him. He also got a little microphone to sing into, which he does beautifully!
We did have one scary moment of the night when Nick accidently kicked another one of Jack's front teeth out...he is now missing 3 on top in front with no "big" teeth making any appearances. The situation was scary because, well, we couldn't find the tooth! Luckily, Kristin found it! Jack was thrilled!
Jack and his missing front teeth...
CUTE PICTURE ALERT!!! So, Luke was being kind of quiet in the living room while I was making the pizzas with Jack, Nick and Maddie and when Dan glanced over to him, he found our little dude playing with this water bottle. Go figure, all the great toys that Santa brought him and this bottle keeps him busy for a good 15 minutes! The fun was over when he dumped all the water out though...and to think I was just beginning to think about getting new furniture! Not yet, I guess!
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We certainly had a great one, likely the best ever, but I'm happy to get back to my day in day out schedule, which will be changing a bit. More to come on that...