Christmas 2010 in review

About a couple of weeks ago, we witnessed a short-lived phenomenon in Texas: autumn colors and changing leaves! Here's our pear tree, with its bright orange leaves; it was so beautiful, for the week or so that it lasted. Now the leaves are gone...After that we saw a different sort of tree- a 30 ft Christmas tree in downtown Fort Worth. Sadly, the picture came out a bit blurry.The lights of downtown are so breathtaking this time of year. One of our favorite things to do together is walk down the cobblestone paths, and enjoy the streetlights.My sisters flew in for the holiday and we spent Christmas Eve together, eating ham and potatoes, exchanging presents, and playing games. Aunt Kristi got in some quality cuddle time with Jack.Aunt Teri got some snuggles too.Jon and I dutifully posed in front of the Christmas tree, with me looking a bit rounder than normal (pictured here at 22 wks prg)Daddy opening J's presents. We did our gift exchange at night, so Jack was a little tired to be too into it.On Christmas Day we went over to Jon's sister's house and spent the day with his family. Can you believe I don't have any pictures of this? We took a family portrait, so I'll upload that when I can. Jack's present from Mommy and Daddy?--a shiny, red tricycle! He loves it; he refuses to try the pedals, instead opting for the "Flintstones" method of scooting. Whatever works, right? Short video of Jack riding his trike in the driveway. FYI, the first few seconds are the best. Unfortunately, my phone was retarded and deleted the longer video of him performing for me by mistake.

Christmas night- we went downtown with my parents and sisters and ate...what else, but tasty Mexican. Afterwards, Jon and Jack gazed at the Christmas lights outside.Kristi, Teri, and IAnother blurry shot, still figuring out my new phone's camera. The pink ornament in the middle was about 6 feet tall.Jon, Jack, and me. I had a crisper version of this picture, but my phone yet again deleted the wrong picture and left me with the blurry one. Oh my gosh, possibly the best video ever. Jack entertaining us downtown, dancing and running. No one got him started on this, he just spontaneously started performing.

Awesome Christmas gift from Aunt T, an easel paired with an assortment of crafty supplies. Here is Jack in his artist "smock" (my old tee); I love how it goes down to his ankles. He has created many masterpieces for us over the past few days. Of course Jack wasn't the only one to receive presents this year. Jon got a new game for his Xbox, cell phone, some clothes, and best of all....$$. I got cute maternity wear, boots, cell phone, and a zoo membership for 2011. We had a wonderful time sharing memories with both sides of the family and are grateful that we have a long New Year's weekend to recover and rest. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's to everyone out there! Hope ya'll have a safe and fun weekend.

Quite the predicament

"Do you have your wallet?"-- Jon asked me in a skeptical voice.

1 HOUR EARLIER:

It was a normal Tuesday, just like any other Tuesday before. Jack and I were doing our daily activities, when I received an interesting text from Jon- he had forgotten his wallet at home, and was short on gas, so there was a possibility that I'd need meet him to buy gas for the car. Okay, no problem. Moving on. It's now 4:15 in the afternoon- the time of day that every mom out there dreads, you're tired and want a break from the kid(s), it's coming up on dinner time, and you're just waiting for Daddy to come home. Basically from 4-5 pm, I try to kill time. So Jack and I went outside, going thru our garage, to check the mail. Afterwards, I let Jack ride his ride-along truck along the sidewalk, while I talk to Jon on the phone, who is now on his way home from work. I didn't make it to the store that day, so I told Jon that we were going to eat at a pizza buffet. Excited at the prospect of not cooking and stuffing my face full of pizza, I was in a happy mood.

Then Jon arrives home, pulling his car into the garage. We chatted for a few minutes about our day, and then Jon goes to go inside. And this is where my mood shifted. "You know this door is locked right?," he asks me. "No, in fact, I didn't know that actually, because I didn't lock it, and that's really quite terrible because I don't have a key for that door," I think to myself. Jon notices the keys in my hand and thinks I'm playing a joke. "These are the keys for the front and back doors, and they're both deadbolted from the inside!," I say in a slightly raised voice. In a vain attempt to hope we can miraculously will the deadbolts to slide unlocked, we try the key on the front and back doors......stubbornly they refuse to open. Hmmmm, thinking, thinking, I guess we'll just call a locksmith. I call the locksmith and am told to wait for the "technician" to call me back "shortly." I'm not sure what "shortly" means exactly, but in a situation like this, I'd appreciate a definition. It turns out it means 25 minutes. The guy calls to tell me he should be here in 30-35 minutes. I get off the phone with him, and turn to Jon and suggest we kill time by going out to eat dinner. He agrees with me, and then skeptically, yet with a hint of hope in his eye asks, "Do you have your wallet?" Sadly, and honestly at this point, a little comically I answer, "No, it's inside." Now we start laughing. I'm mad at him that he left his wallet at home, and he's mad at me I didn't grab mine before checking the mail. Jack, meanwhile, continues to ride his truck up and down the driveway, happily oblivious to our predicament.

We decide to let Jack drive his truck around the block a few times to kill the half hour long wait, which was effective until it got dark. Now we are back in the garage, huddled in the car, waiting... Did I mention that the light switch for our overhead garage light is located INside the laundry room and as the sun is setting we must resort to shutting and opening the garage door to get some light?! There's nothing like that to make you feel ghetto. Finally, the "technician" arrives and tells us "No problem, I'll get you in your house, and won't even damage your door." Thank-you, hallelujah! 10 minutes, and 5 openings/closings of the garage door to get light later, he is still trying to pick the lock and get us inside. Now I'm officially worried. It's completely dark outside, starting to get cold, we have NO money, Jack's things (like diapers) are inside, and the expert technician is unable to pick the lock. He alerts us that the lock is broken, he can't possibly pick it, and he'll have to break the knob. Luckily it's an old knob that we were planning on replacing, so we say, "just do it!" 2 minutes later, and we're in our house! And just think, it only cost us $74 including tax.

Honestly, the situation was rather humorous. My main frustration stemmed from the fact that our vacuum cleaner broke, the water heater died, and our year and a half old tv needed repairs........ all in the past 2 weeks! And I had to pay a guy to break my door knob, how irritating. Could this not have waited until after Christmas?

More news...

Over the past couple of months, Jack has been sporting a new shirt around town. What makes this shirt so special? Take a look---->

That's right! We're pregnant! And super excited and a little terrified of what adding baby #2 means for our family. I am most excited about seeing Jack with his baby BROTHER and the two of them becoming friends, rough-housing, and getting into trouble together. I hope they have a special bond to last thru the years. We found out today that we are having another boy, so that puts me right at half-way and due on April 30th. I was sincerely shocked when they said "boy" to me; I had convinced myself it was a girl. I think right up until the final seconds before the sonographer said the word, then I couldn't imagine "girl" escaping her lips and I thought "boy." But I am thrilled, and Jon is even more so. I am so happy for Jack; he really needs another boy in the family to wrestle with and throw around. And I love little boys- there is just something so sweet about raising a boy, knowing they're going to be big men someday. Okay, enough of that....below are sonogram pics of baby.

This pic is from Oct. 15, so baby is 12 weeks here. These pics are from today, so baby is just shy of 20 weeks. Baby is healthy and growing as he should. We are so happy and grateful, and now I know that baby is a boy, I'm turning my thoughts to decorating! I'm open to suggestions for color palettes; baby's room is already a silver gray, so I'm thinking of colors to coordinate with that.

Progressing quickly...

Jack had a fantastic audiology appointment this last Wednesday. He went in for his 2 week follow-up to his initial stimulation, so at this point he'd been "turned on" for 2 weeks. Remember that he was hearing a full range of sounds, but only at high volumes, so he really wasn't hearing too much. We were told that it would take a couple of months for him to reach the "normal" hearing range where he heard everything. Well....imagine our surprise when his audiologist programmed it so he was extremely close to the normal hearing range! He should be at "normal hearing" in the next week. She was able to program it this quickly because he responded so well to the sounds she presented him. Imagine if you'd never heard a certain sound before in your life; once you heard it, would you recognize it as an important sound and respond to it? That's how it is with Jack; he is learning that sound is important and has meaning. So for him to respond to whisper-quiet sounds is a miracle!

We went into the sound booth where they test hearing by playing a wide range of sounds, and Jack responded consistently to nearly ALL of them. It was amazing to witness and truly the only word that comes to mind is, miraculous. Only 2 months earlier we sat in that same booth and Jack failed to respond to the loudest of sounds. Once equipped with his hearing aids, he responded to about 1/3- 1/2 the sounds. With his cochlear implant, he responded to about 90% of the sounds...including sounds that were so quiet, I was questioning they were actually putting sound out. I'm talking about sounds that are comparable to the breeze....and this is only 2 weeks since being stimulated! His audiologist was so excited and said he did so well; I looked at her, like "uh-huh, thanks," because what else is she going to say? She sensed my hesitation, and was like, "No, you don't understand. He was amazing! He is progressing very quickly and to respond consistently the way he did is awesome." She called him her superstar and said he was in her top two of patients because of how he performed in the sound booth. It's really interesting how they train kids to respond to sound. We have a bucket of balls and Jack holds 1 ball up to his ear, indicating he is listening; once he detects a sound, he throws the ball in the bucket. And the process starts over again; he did this for about 15 mins in the booth and was incredible, he's so smart.

So anyways, in case you can't tell, we're super excited about this and so grateful. Jack is just so special and watched over by his Heavenly Father. I can literally see His hand in Jack's life in his short 2 1/2 years of being on this earth.

B-I-G Changes

Jack had a fun new arrival a couple of weeks ago....a new big boy bed! He LOVES it, oh my gosh. He literally races me to his bedroom at naptime, pushing me out of the way. And after bathtime with Daddy, he no longer comes out to give me kisses; he stays in his room, climbs into bed and waits to be covered. He loves climbing in and out of the bed all by himself, and then lays his head on the pillow, waiting to be covered up. I was so anxious about him leaving his crib, worrying about him getting out of bed and not sleeping; but the wonderful part is, he stays in the bed and sleeps no problem- then after waking up, he waits for you to come get him! Hallelujah. I'm betting that since he's the only child he doesn't know his options about getting up and roaming around. Oh well, I'm enjoying it while it lasts. It's so fun to sneak in and peek at him while he's sleeping; the bed dwarfs him and you never know what position you'll find him in.

He is too adorable here, he was sleeping like a baby with his legs tucked under himself and the blanket covering him.

A new car pillow for a new bed. While at Target picking out sheets, he found their collection of car bedding and insisted on "driving" the pillow around the store, while on his knees.

Perfect example of my cuddly boy, snuggling his pillow.

Stay tuned, an update on Jack's latest audiology appointment is coming soon.....