Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

We had Thanksgiving dinner with Josh's family on Thursday and today (Friday) my family came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. I took lots of pictures on my big camera but none of my iphone... where I do my picture uploads. 

These are a few snapshots from pre-Thanksgiving festivities. Eli and I talked a lot last week about things we are thankful for, however; he was stubborn and wouldn't tell me anything he was thankful for. We did have a pretend feast in his playroom. He set the table and loved pouring Olivia and I pretend milk and juice. 



Our pretend feast
Smily girl
I could eat her up!


We put up our tree while everyone was here for lunch. It's a mammoth. I ended up getting the 12 footer and I am glad I didn't get anything any bigger! What was I thinking.



My 30 days of Thanks:
1. I am thankful for a merciful God and for salvation
2. I am thankful for my husband that loves me and our children
3. I am thankful for my 3 darling blessings- Isaac, Eli and Olivia
4. I am thankful for my family and my in-laws
5. I am thankful we are all healthy
6. I am thankful for my dear friends
7. I am thankful Josh as a job 
8. I am thankful that I have plenty of food and my children have never been hungry
9. I am thankful for precious memories I have of my Daddy and Bubba
10. I am thankful for my new house
11. I am thankful for hearing aids
12. I am thankful I can stay home with my babies this year
13. I am thankful that I have a job to go back to eventually
14. I am thankful that my sister lives close to me again and our children can grow up together
15. I am thankful my boobies make milk and I don't have to get up to make a bottle at night
16. I am thankful that I have lots of family nearby if we need a babysitter
17. I am thankful for Pumpkin Spice Lattes
18. I am thankful for my DVR
19. I am thankful for warm baths with bubbles
20. I am thankful for occasional date nights
21. I am thankful for books-which I never have time for now
22. I am thankful for my iphone which I use way too much!
23. I am thankful for the weekends with family
24. I am thankful for vacations
25. I am thankful for chocolate
26. I am thankful for my computer and the internet 
27. I am thankful for my super comfortable bed
28. I am thankful for sleep- and for the knowledge that it will come again
29. I am thankful for sweat pants- since this is all I wear
30. I am thankful that I am thankful



Olivia's MRI

We journeyed back down to Chapel Hill on November 12th for more appointments with Olivia including a sedated MRI to check her inner ear structure and anatomy. 

I was pretty anxious about the sedation because she is so little and of course you never know how someone is going to react to sedation. I was also nervous because she wasn't supposed to eat after 7:30 am with her appointment being at 1:00.  We had lots of people praying- even a stranger came up to us the night before her MRI and prayed for her while we were eating at Cracker Barrel. 

Our prayers were answered. She did great with the sedation and her MRI looked completely normal. Her inner ear anatomy was there along with the nerves. So we still have no clue what caused her hearing loss and we may never know. Her blood testing (where they analze her blood spot from her PKU testing as a newborn) wasn't back so I was a bit bummed about that. Evidently the State is in charge of that so who knows how long it will take to come back. 

We also saw her Audiologist while we were there and I had one of her ear molds grind down a bit where it was bothering her. We won't have any new testing until she is 7 months old and she starts behavioral testing in the sound booth.  


Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.- Philippians 4:6



Daddy and Olivia at breakfast before the appointment
Thankfully she didn't have to have an IV and they were able to give her the medicine (Versed and Presidex) up her nose. She fought it for about 15 minutes and then finally fell asleep. This was her after I laid her down on the table, kissed her goodbye and we walked to the waiting room. 
We were able to go right back to her as soon as the MRI was finished (45 minutes). She cried briefly until I picked her up and then fell back asleep for around 2 hours. 
I was very impressed with the Pediatric Sedation team at UNC. They had two nurses with her and watched her vitals continuously until the medicine wore off completely. 

Hearing conference

A few weeks ago I attended NC AG Bell's Hear 'n' Now conference at the Caraway Conference Center near Asheboro. I needed 4 more CEU's before December 31st for my ASHA (Speech Pathologist Certification) licensure so I was thrilled to be able to go to a conference where I could earn CEU's and get great information to help me with Olivia as well. I met lots of wonderful people: Educators, professionals, parents, and even two SLP's that have children with hearing loss. 

Aunt Jane came with me to keep Olivia. I brought Livi along because I knew Josh would have his hands full with the boys and plus she is nursing. Aunt Jane did a great job minus the fact she is not used to being around babies (she said the last diaper she had changed was mine and Audra's 30 something years ago!) She did text me once with "COME!" and so I raced lighting speed up the stairs to our room thinking something was wrong. Everything was fine. Aunt Jane really enjoyed spending time with Olivia Jane and meeting people at the conference. I think she learned quite a bit too.

I've been to lots of conferences over the 7 years I've been a SLP but when you have a personal interest, especially related to your child, it makes what you are learning about hit the mark even more. 

Notice the words, Parent and SLP
No TV's.. so Aunt Jane put in several hours on the Kindle
I love this one with Olivia's little rosy cheeks smiling up at Aunt Jane!

You're not going to believe this one

I was in my bedroom grabbing something for a nanosecond while Eli and Olivia were on her blanket playing in the living room. I hear crying so I walk in to check on them and Eli has his shirt pulled up trying to hold Olivia. I ask him what he's doing and he says, "Baby Sissy was crying; she's hungry". "I was trying to feed her." After yelling at Josh to come here to see this, I calmly said, "That's so sweet hunny, but you don't have milk. Only Mommy's boobies have milk."


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Livi is 6 months

6 months old
Weight: 16 lbs 11 oz (50%)
Height: 26 1/4 inches (50-75%)
Head: 50% 

Olivia's half birthday fell during the NC AG Bell Hearing Conference, so I had to wait until we got home to snap her 'sticker' picture. Here are her new and improved updates: She has tried all the baby food fruits and vegetables and likes everything except green beans; her favorite is bananas. The little tyke actually gagged and threw up when she tried green beans. I can't say I blame her; baby food green beans leave much to be desired. Maybe I will try some homemade ones. I had all these good intentions on making all her baby food... yea that's not happened. We just recently tried puffs (broke in half) and she did great. She just started chewing and never gagged. My boys always gagged at first and didn't have the chewing concept down so fast. 

Motor wise Olivia is sitting longer by herself. She must be part alligator because the girl can roll all over the floor. I will put her on her blanket and she will be across the floor when I go back over there. She likes to be on her belly and loves to lay on her blanket and chew her toys. Everything goes in the mouth. Sophie the giraffe is one of her favorite chew toys; it really is the world's best teething toy. 

Sleep. Well, Olivia is co-sleeping with her mama. She likes the Tempur-pedic and she likes her milkies (I know she doesn't need to eat 3x's a night but hey it puts her right back to sleep).  Poor Daddy got booted out to the guest room. Actually he willingly went because he said he needed to sleep so he could go to work. We won't get into this discussion because I surely can't grab a nap whenever I want since Mr. Eli would burn the house down if he was left unmanned. Honestly, I don't mind.. it gives Livi and I more room. I am completely spoiling her and I know I will have to undo the months of spoiling sometime soon but I just can't make myself do it. I said previously in my blog that I would put her in her room around four months... and nope.. didn't happen! I am probably holding her too much, carrying her around too much and kissing her too much but I'm okay with that-- for now!



What are you doing Mom?
Now I will smile!
I'm a happy girl
I wanna chew this rabbit



Here is Eli's 6 month post to compare 

Friday, November 16, 2012

Eli's Antics

Eli loves to put shoes on his baby sissy! It's so funny watching him stuff her little feet in shoes.
Mr. Independent got out the muffin mix and a bowl and was ready to fix his muffins solo. 
What a ham!
Notice the hair and the chip on his front tooth...
That's a toothpick.. and yes he's trying to pick the lock (his brother is using the bathroom).  Eli saw Josh do this once when Eli locked me out of my bedroom.



Side bar.. I don't know why he's always shirtless or naked in my pics. He has clothes I promise! 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

E,I,O

I went to a conference which I will blog about later and on the way home I called Josh. He said, " I've got little E and I'm getting ready to pick up little I. I will see U and little O soon. Now we need a little A." I replied, "Lets get a dog and name it Ash!" Then we will have the vowels covered!