Eggscellent Day at CID

Thanks to our school's spring break, I was off work on Friday and able to take Luke to CID. What a great day for a visit as he got to experience his first egg hunt!

Here he is walking with his classmates to the egg hunt area!
These two-year olds are truly amazing! They sit so well and LISTEN (great for any two year old, but unbelievable for little ones who are Deaf!) They each took a turn hunting for 5 eggs. Here Luke sits quietly but pretends his basket is a hat! The boy truly LOVES hats!
Luke found an "orange egg!" and happily put it in his basket as his teacher, Miss Natalie watched on! Pardon the eyes, like all egg hunts this one ended quickly so I didn't get too many good pictures!
Here Luke is happy to say, "cheese" for the camera as he shows off his candy filled eggs!
We had such a great day! The teachers and speech pathologist over there are so WONDERFUL! Luke has grown so much in the short 4 months that he has been there...putting words together into phrases and sentences! I honestly can't believe how well he is doing!!!

What a difference a week makes....

Last Sunday I got to visit Henry in the hospital, but today, we all got to go see him at his house!!!

We brought over the movie, "Bolt" for the boys to watch as I figured the newness of Henry would wear off, but surprisingly all three boys really loved holding him. Luke definitely loves "baby" Henry, he just doesn't love the fact that I love him too. Whenever I would hold Henry, Luke would SCREAM for me!

Nick was the first to hold Henry. He was so proud of himself, and happy to be holding his newest baby cousin.
Once Nick was done, Jack jumped on the opportunity to hold him. He held him for what seemed like forever. Once he was done though, he was ready to watch the movie!
Of course, once Luke saw his big brothers with Henry, he wanted in on that action. Here he is giving Henry a kiss...too cute!
Here is our first family picture with our newest nephew! I can't wait for Alyssa to come up so we can get all 5 cousins in one picture!!! :) Okay, we do look cute don't we...hmmm, maybe a fourth isn't out of the question...
JUST KIDDING to all my family members and friends who were just totally freaking out!!!

Uncle Steve was in the shower, or else he would have been in this picture too, but here is Aunt Jackie/Mom with all her 4 boys!!!
And in this closing shot, here is our "O Henry!" I have never actually tried one of these candy bars...guess I'll have to one day!!!We visited for a few hours, along with Nana and Papa, until Luke started getting WAY too tired, so we headed home. I was all set to watch Amazing Race, but it's not on...guess I'll jump on the elliptical instead! Hope everyone has a great night!

Quick Henry Update...

Just a quick update on Henry...jaundice is gone (or at least going away!) There was another small issue that I hadn't really mentioned to anyone or on this blog, but Henry had "referred" on his newborn hearing screening in the hospital on his left ear, he thankfully had passed the right ear.

Knowing our family history with Jack and Luke, Dr. Dan immediately called Children's Hospital and got him in for a complete hearing evaluation. Unfortunately, it wasn't scheduled until the end of April. Dr. Dan utilized more of his connections and got him on the cancellation list. Jackie got the call yesterday that today was going to be the evaluation. So, at 11 a.m. today, while I was at work, I said a little prayer (honestly I have been praying like a mad woman since the first failed hearing screening!) that Henry could hear from BOTH ears! My prayers were answered when Jackie called me a little after noon today to tell me that he has NORMAL hearing in BOTH ears!

Now, as a mother of two Deaf boys, one would think that I would easily be able to handle another diagnosis of hearing impairment, but this really bothered me, which in turn really bothered me. I mean, I look at Jack and Luke and see no real differences between them and other boys, with the exception of some colored things in their ears and a magnet on Luke's head!!! I knew that Henry would be okay, I just didn't want Jackie and Steve to have to go through all the crazy feelings involved with the diagnosis of hearing impairment (or any other disability, disorder, disease, etc) that Dan and I had to go through!!!

Not sure if I'm just feeling over emotional or it is in part b/c of this weekend's conference for parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. Dan and I have been going every year and we both really like it. We have made friends with these parents and unfortunately only get to see them once a year at this conference. Every year though, Dan or I end up getting emotional about something! When will these feelings subside??? I don't want to always cry over the boys' hearing losses!!! I'm hoping that this will be the year that I can walk in there and confidently sit and discuss issues we have...Jack's difficulty playing basketball b/c it is hard to hear in the gym, what should we do with the hearing aids and implant at Sesame Place where water rides and regular rides are interspersed throughout the park, how can Luke wear his implant and a bike helmet without the magnet popping off....the list goes on and on!!!

Enough rambling for the evening...I have to get some work done! Thanks for reading!!!

An Artist in the Making???

I got home today after quite a crazy weekend, with Henry being hospitalized and all and was trying to get some housework done! Mondays are great catchup days as Dan usually isn't home until 7:30 or so! Jack and Nick were busy watching their little shows (Pokemon, Power Rangers, etc.) and Luke was having a blast coloring. He honestly was sitting there for almost an hour, until, I really looked at what he was doing! It seems that he found a few markers in our box of crayons! How could I not have noticed when he was sitting with me at the kitchen counter!!! OYE!

Look at his arm....of course his marker of choice was BLACK!!!
When I "drew" (no pun intended!) his attention to his hands, he looked at them and said, "oh, yucky!"
Off to the bath...
***Quick Henry update...HE IS HOME! Yeah, the bilirubin was down to 10.7 this morning! Another check tomorrow and hopefully he will have no more heel sticks for blood in the future!

The Future's So Bright....

We gotta wear shades...in the hospital, that is! Yep, Henry is back in the hospital due to his high bilirubin levels. (Dr. Dan just got a call though that said it was down one point, in just 2.8 hours...yeah, Henry!)

Nana and I got to the hospital after Dan came home (he met them up there for his admission!) to watch the boys! We had been there, staring at our adorable Henry Stephen when Jackie looks at us and tells us that we aren't supposed to be really looking at him because of the UV rays! UGH! We soon called Papa who came to our rescue with sunglasses for all! Notice Jackie's cool shades, I had Jack's in my purse, so we put them to good use!

Here is Henry under the lights...with his shades on!
Mommy with Henry!
Steve, in my glasses, Nana (not looking at Henry!) and Jackie in Jack's cool shades!
Henry is only allowed out of the double lights unless he is eating or getting a diaper change! Here is one of those times as Jackie is burping him!
Steve sat down for a quick family photo!!!
Grandma Terri came as did Aunt Laura and Uncle Kyle (bringing more baby clothes and pizza!) Here are Kyle and Laura (again, with their glasses) watching our baby Henry!
I LOVE Steve's family! He and Jackie have so much support from both sides, they are truly blessed. One thing though that is great is that they always share great information about Steve! Today Laura looked at little Henry's feet and specifically big toe and spoke of how it is so much like Steve's, especially the BIG size!

Some comparison photos...

Here is Henry's big feet!!!
And here is Steve's big toe...very similar, eh???
Hopefully, Henry will get to go back home tomorrow and Jackie and Steve can enjoy their baby in a calm, quiet house, and not worry about billirubin numbers!

Let's Bowl, Let's Bowl, Let's Rock N Roll....

Dan and I had a night out without the boys at a local bowling alley. It was a fundraiser for the school district I work for to raise money for Smart Boards. We played 3 games, the first two were Scottish doubles (I think that is what it's called), where we bowled as a team. Dan would bowl first and then I would have to knock down any remaining pins. The next frame we would switch. The one thing we realized was that we aren't very good bowlers, but then again, the rest of the couples we were playing with weren't so hot either! The last game then, was a crazy bowl!!!

Here is Rod and Tim, two of my colleague's husbands posing with Tim's size 15 shoes...who knew you could get bowling shoes in size 15???
We arrived around 8:30, but didn't start the games until 10. We felt SO old as everyone was yawning, even before we began. We did manage to get a quick photo...both Dan and I in our black!!
Crazy bowl was definitely fun...we had to spin around 5 times and then bowl, bowl laying on our stomach and one of our faves, sit on someone's knee while bowling. I sat on Dan's, but for some reason all the guys sat on each others knees...here Dan is on Tim's, nice, eh?
We didn't get home until after midnight and then I sat and talked to Kristin who had been watching the boys until almost 2...wow, I haven't done that in MONTHS! What a fun night...definitely not our ordinary Saturday evening!!!

How quickly this has turned...

into a blog all about my handsome new nephew, Henry!!!

Jack FINALLY went back to school today after being home 4 days. What a great day to go back as tonight he had a swimming party to go to a the local YMCA. It worked out great as I dropped him off (luckily two of his old daycare teachers were there, so they helped with getting his hearing aids back in after he was finished swimming!) and headed off to visit Henry, since they live just down the road!

It seems that Henry is a bit jaundiced so Dr. Dan got a bili blanket sent over to the house. Because of the jaundice, he had been pretty lethargic and sleepy all day (thankfully they called after we were home and he was screaming...music to my ears!) Anyhow, we only got to stay about 45 minutes or so, but I got to hold my little man for quite a while! I then passed him off to Nana who was recruited to spend the night!

Here is our Henry sleeping oh so soundly!
He was starting to wake up just a bit before we left...notice the little bili blanket???
Here is my baby, Luke, meeting his newest cousin for the first time....all he kept saying was "hi, baby!"
We always knew Nick had a big head, but WOW...
Here I am giving eskimo kisses to Henry! I have done this every time I've seen him...I think it is going to be like our "special handshake!" Thanks to Nick for taking this picture!
I am off to sleep now as I have my first 5K run tomorrow morning! Wish me luck! Although we are supposed to be getting some rain/snow and if that's the case, I'm ditching!!! Hopefully I'll have pictures to post of it tomorrow!!!