Weekend round-up

This past weekend we tried out a Hibachi & sushi place we've been wanting to go to for awhile now...and it did not disappoint!

We were a little concerned that Jack would behave for our duration there, since eating at hibachi's typically take like an hour or more, but it turns out that fire is a great incentive for children to sit and be good! I wish there was fire and a show at every place we eat! The chef asked us if Jack liked fire; Jon responded, "He loves it," and I responded, "We're about to find out." So the chef lit the grill and "whoosh!" went the flames 3 feet into the air. Before the flames finished rising, I found Jack in my lap clinging to me for dear life. But the fire died down, and Jack was okay, though the fires at the other tables kept him in my lap for awhile. He definitely wasn't quite sure about it. Anyways, we had a wonderful evening and enjoyed tasty fried rice and chicken/steak.

Afterwards, we walked around the outdoor shopping mall the restaurant was located in, and since Jack was being so good we stopped in the Nestle Tollhouse cookie shop and bought him a peanut butter cookie the size of his face (ok, like half the size). I wish I captured the expression on his face when he saw the cookie- priceless. He devoured that thing in like 60 seconds, dropping a few pieces on the ground- we quickly kicked those away before he could eat them too (and believe me, he would have).

We also spent much energy on baby's room this past week. Jon did a lot of work; I'm so proud of him. Baby's room didn't have a ceiling fan before, which is a definite necessity in Texas; so we bought a new fan for the living room, and Jon switched the old living room fan to the baby room. That was a lot of work and I didn't envy Jon's job of installing them! Jon also painted the accent wall in the nursery and I LOVE it. It's a midnight blue, with the 3 surrounding walls a silver gray. The curtains are a bright white and I feel so relaxed walking into the newly done room; it reminds me of the ocean.

We still have more organizing to do in this room, mainly in the closet. Over the past year and a half the room became our storage room, so we're having to get rid of lots of stuff, and find new homes for the rest...meaning the attic. I also have baby's name in letters that I'm going to paint the midnight blue and put on the wall above the crib....though since we're not divulging his name until he's born, I can't put them up yet!

A montage of zzz's

Jack fell asleep today in THE cutest spot ever- next to his window and below the curtains. I couldn't help but post that picture.... Bird's eye view of his new sleeping spot:
And as a sort of tribute to the adorable-ness of Jack sleeping, below are a couple more pics of his naptime zzz's...

It's one of my favorite things to do as a mom to sneak in and see what position I'll find my son sleeping in. Imagine my surprise earlier today when I didn't find him in his bed, but could hear his breathing, and finally discovered him under his curtains!

And on a more random note, here's a video of Jack climbing a tower meant for 5-12 year olds at the playground. Unfortunately I shot it sideways and can't flip it around on my computer!

Jack's latest progress (and a few pictures)

This post is a little late, but better than never! On Dec. 20th, Jack visited his audiologist and had his processor adjusted to be in the normal hearing range and he did impressively well. We went in the sound booth, where Jack is always a bit weary, and he consistently responded to the sounds presented to him. Afterwards we went into a different room, where they connected his processor directly to the computer and presented sounds that way; he was a champ and always looked at the audiologist to tell her he had heard a sound. She responded by cheering for him and throwing her arms up in the air, so after a couple of minutes, Jack's response to a sound would be cheering for himself with arms high in the air. He is soooo entertaining. We did this for about 45 minutes and he cooperated the entire time, what a champ. They were able to find his "thresholds" on each of his electrodes, basically meaning that for example, they could tell at what level he could hear the letter "p" or "s", and make sure everything was fine-tuned. He did beautifully and his audiologist, who was training another audiologist that day, remarked how she wished Jack could come in and train her other kids to respond the way he does. She said he was the ideal outcome for a CI candidate....how blessed Jack is. I'm also impressed with his competency with the processor; if the coil (magnetic part) falls off, he knows just where to place it, to get it back on his head. The other day, while playing outside on the back patio, Jack came back into the house holding his processor in hand; turns out his battery had died and he wanted us to fix it for him! It's obvious he enjoys hearing.

I am seeing big differences in Jack by the day now, both in his comprehension of language and sound, and even in his development of some words now! We aren't sure when he lost his hearing, but since having hearing aids, he has been hearing for about 4 1/2 months now, and of those 4 months, he's been hearing with his CI for just under 2 months. I have to remind myself to not expect too much from him too fast, but sometimes he just floors me with his smarts. He understands me when I ask for "kisses," say "bye-bye," "more," "pee-u" (stinky diaper), "up," and varying sounds for vehicles and animals. I know he understands the word itself, without any kind of gesture to help; I ask him for kisses while he's turned away from me, and he turns around and kisses me, melting my heart every single time. His response to "pee-u"? He gets a diaper or feels the back of his pants.

Further showing his comprehension of certain sounds, Jack is beginning to say words on his own without someone modeling for him first. He says "up, up, up" the most often, and says it to get you to pick him up. He's also applied it to other situations, saying "up" once while watching a cartoon character fly into the air. He says "bye-bye" to his toys and people. He LOVES animals sounds and now barks, growls, moos, and clucks when he sees the picture of the appropriate animal. His favorite is barking and growling, and in fact he growled at me when I picked him up from nursery last week. He also exclaims "ahh" when spotting an airplane in the sky (we learned in speech that the airplane says "ahh"). We visited the zoo earlier in the week and Jack enjoyed putting his new animal sounds to real-life use, growling at the big animals and saying "ooo, eee" for the monkeys.

Jack and Jon in front of 2 white tigers- ensue growling...

Jack watching the penguins dive and flip around

We had a nice day at the zoo, and luckily Jon had the Monday after New Year's off, so it was crowd-free that day.

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.