I bet you didn’t know that carrots possess the power to make a baby talk! Consider yourself informed!
This is sooooo huge! I feel like a kid on Christmas! I wondered if Daniel would ever make an intentional consonant sound. Once again, he shows me that he’ll do it when he’s darn good and ready!
This is serious business! (And pay no attention to those voices behind the camera!)
…and he’s a sitter!!
Our physical therapist may not know it, but she’s magical! Whatever she did on Tuesday woke something up in Daniel. By Wednesday, he was sitting for 60 seconds at a time. And today, he sits for SEVERAL minutes at a time! HAPPY HAPPY DAY!! {I should know that as soon as I reach that point of sheer frustration, he’ll show me that he can do it. He does every time!}
In other news, Big D had his 9-month well check this week. Here are the stats:
Weight: 14 lbs 11.5 oz (!!!!!!!!!) Holy cow, he finally doubled his birth weight!!
Height: 26 in.
Head: 16 in. (Why do they measure this anyway?!?)
He got four shots (one of them the 2nd round of the flu shot) and by evening was a feverish, fussy boy. Translation: not much sleep! {But at least now he’s all caught up on shots}
And from the pediatrician, “Here are some milestones that you should expect:” (these are for typically-developing kids)
I LOVE THIS BOY!! He is a rockstar and continually humbles me with everything he does. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s hands-down the most squishable, kissable, loveable kid in the world!
Hello folks! Just wanted to let you know about a little change here on the ol’ blog.
Unfortunately there are people in this world who are dishonest and will do who-knows-what with pictures posted on blogs. I have heard too many awful stories about this happening, and I have been a little worried about my own children being exploited because of what I have put on this blog.
To help keep this from happening, I have made some changes so that pictures cannot be copied (and I think it is pretty much fool-proof). If you click on a picture, it will no longer open in a new window. And, if you right-click, you will get a nice little message about not being able to do that!
If you are family trying to print pictures, just let me know and I’ll get you a full-sized copy of what you want. If you are friends, the same applies. If you are a stranger, you’re just out of luck!
The results are in: Daniel needs tubes. He still has fluid in both ears, though it’s not infected now. The doctor could only see fluid in the left ear, but both tympanograms were flat, which means there must still be fluid in both. I told the doctor that I wanted to be more aggressive with this, and he agreed.
The fun part (not really) about all of this is that Daniel’s ear canals are tiny, especially on his left side. Even with his most tiny earpiece
(the opening is no bigger than a pin head), the doctor had a hard time seeing anything. He pulled a tiny piece of wax out and that cleared up the view. So combine ear wax with tiny ear canals and Daniel’s ear canals are basically doomed to always being plugged. That is not good news. The doctor recommended that we come in once a month to clean out his ears. OY!!
(He’s pretty darn cute in his Sunday outfit, though! Even if we have to pin the waist and roll up the pant legs!)
I have a sense that Daniel’s hearing is not what it should be. The kid hardly talks. He doesn’t really squeal and he has never made a consonant sound. Not one (unless you count the noise that comes out when his hand is in his mouth). The noises he makes are more like groans (and people think he’s filling his diaper). I am bound and determined to do everything in my power to help him talk. So, while he’s getting his tubes, we’re going to repeat the ABR (the hearing test every newborn gets before leaving the hospital). We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it comes out OK.
(Perspective is a good thing. He doesn’t look so little now!)
And while we’re at it, we’re going to have an ophthamologist take care of his tear ducts! No sense in putting him under twice when we can get it all taken care of on the same day, right?!?! I’m sure Daniel will appreciate not having his eyes stuck together all the time.
I just have to point out that we are blessed with a wonderful ENT. He has been so great to work with. And when he found out we TECHNICALLY don’t have insurance right now (we’re sort of inbetween with Jared’s job change last month), he said he wasn’t going to charge us for everything. “Let’s just do $50 and call it good.” WOW!! He saved us about $200!!
Now, you’re probably looking at the title of this post and wondering where tires come into all of this. Have you ever walked by your car and heard a hissing sound? Well I did yesterday. And as I put my ear down to listen where it was coming from, I saw the offending screw, buried in the rear passenger tire of our Suburban. Ughgh!! We had just returned from the doctor’s office, and Daniel needed to be fed. So I had no choice but to sit down and feed him (all the while wondering if I was going to finish with him and find a completely flat tire). Thankfully the tire was still OK to drive on, so we (me and the three younger kids) ran in to get it fixed. The bad news: the screw was on the very edge of the tire, so they couldn’t fix it. The good news: our tires needed to be replaced anyway, and they had a set of used ones the same size for $45 each. SOLD!
As the new year begins, I think it’s appropriate to take a look back on the year we said good-bye to. 2011 will go down in the books as being a difficult and extremely rewarding year. I’m thankful for the experiences I got to be a part of, for lessons learned, and for relationships developed and nurtured. Here’s a walk down the road that was 2011! (Thanks to Megan of My Stubborn Little Miss for the idea!)
Me. Josh took this picture so I could model the baby wrap I made after Daniel’s birth. I never would have guessed that I could have such an emotionally and physically challenging year. I am constantly amazed at how richly I have been blessed.
I Love You. As steady as they come. As good as they get. Jared is my rock. He has cried with me. He laughs with me. He makes me want to be better. I am so proud of him for making the leap to a new job, and for his ability to balance his work and church responsibilities with his family life. Like I said before, I am constantly amazed at how richly I am blessed!
Still Laughing. Well, sort of! Caleb and Rachel make quite the pair! Un-stuffing the chair (which already had a hole in it) is something I would have never guessed they’d do. Boy I’m naive!
Winter Wonderland. This was taken in early November and may have been the first snowfall of the season. There’s something magical about the first snowfall…even though I hate winter! I was certain we wouldn’t see the ground again until Spring. March-like weather the last several days has melted all but a small pile of snow in our yard.
Birth day. Daniel’s birth was definitely the highlight of our year. With all the events surrounding his birth – a 90-mile ambulance ride to deliver him, being born one day before the last day of tax season, a known heart defect, and the unknowns of how he would be after his birth – I was one stressed-out mama! He is a ray of pure sunshine and an absolute delight. I am so thankful I listened to that little voice that said, “There’s one more.”
Friends. Taken on a rainy fall day, I think this one speaks for itself.
I Was Inspired. A Pinterest find gave me the idea for this gift for Grandmas. I am happy to be able to say that I actually created something that was inspired by Pinterest!
Spring Fever. Crazy things happen when it’s still too cold to go outside, and Mom has that end-of-pregnancy allergy to moving!
Travel. All packed up and ready to hit the road. Our vacation to Denver was a lot of fun and a lot of work, and we came home with some really fun memories.
A {rare} Day in My Life. Sunday naps are almost as necessary as the consumption of large quantities of chocolate. It’s a good day when I can snuggle up with Daniel and one of the other kids!
All Smiles. This is the first time we were able to capture Daniel’s smile with the camera. He has been smiling since he was 4 weeks old, and we couldn’t get one on camera until July!! His smiles have the power to melt your heart and light up the room.
Autumn Harvest. Beans and tomatoes grew in abundance in our garden this year. After canning 61 pints of crushed tomatoes, I had had enough, and we left at least another 61 pints worth of tomatoes on the plants. I also processed 21 quarts of beans, 18 quarts of raspberry jam, and 10 quarts of corn for freezing, as well as canning at least 12 quarts of pears. And this was all within a couple weeks before and a few weeks after Daniel’s surgery. I have never been so happy to see the first freeze of the season!
Home. After spending 7 days in the hospital for open heart surgery, Daniel {and mom} were able to spring the joint and come back to the peace and comfort of home. Putting your child through surgery is a humbling experience. Watching him fight his way back to health is even more humbling. This boy continues to amaze me!
Celebration. Jared had the fabulous idea to make Memorial Day a little more special for our kids. We celebrated by visiting the graves of some of our ancestors that lived in the valley. In all, we stopped at 4 cemeteries and found the gravesites of several ancestors. As we traveled from one cemetery to the next, Jared told us stories about the people we would be looking for. We are definitely going to continue this tradition.
Let’s Do It Again. The girls and I (along with Daniel) had a girl’s night out while the boys were gone to the Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration in May. I’m not sure why we haven’t really done this in the past, but we’re all excited to go out to eat, make indoor S’mores, paint nails, and watch a girly movie again this year!
Beautiful. The roses Jared gave to me for our anniversary. Twelve years of marriage to the best man out there is truly a beautiful thing!
Dress Up. New uses for a Boppy pillow and borrowed jackets (from a sister) make for lots of dress up fun!
Holidays. I think this picture is a perfect representation of our holidays…a little off, but still good! With the usual craziness of December, church responsibilities, a job change, and last minute gift emergencies, we didn’t get to do some of the things we normally do. Add that to our interesting Christmas day, and it made for one very unusual – but memorable – holiday season!
My Favorites. These are my favorite photos of each of the kids this year. Daniel looks like a sweet little angel with eyes that sparkle. Caleb’s smile – with the dimple in his right cheek – is priceless. Rachel looks so confident and self-assured. Emily is growing up so quickly and turning into such a beautiful young woman. And I love this one of Josh because he thought I couldn’t catch him with the camera, so I got a look other than disgust at having his picture taken. I am one blessed mama!
Don’t Ever Change. The older kids absolutely adore Daniel. It started the moment they saw him and continues still. I hope the relationship they have with him, and the feelings they have for him, will never change. I hope they’ll always want to be a part of his life and fight over who gets to hold him next!
Just Because. I’m posting this one just because I don’t think I ever told the story here. It was a Saturday evening – the day of the General Young Women’s broadcast. I was in a hurry to get dinner for everyone so I could watch the broadcast. I decided to make pancakes – a quick meal – and asked Josh to grab some syrup from the storage room in the basement. Somehow he managed to drop the container, spilling 1/2 gallon of syrup on the carpet. Jared scooped up as much of the syrup as he could and then started pouring water on the area to dilute what was left. We had the spot professionally cleaned the following Monday. And there is still an awful spot where the spill is. Ughgh! We think we know what needs to be done to make it look better, but haven’t been able to take care of it yet.
Hopes and Dreams. When it all comes down to it, these five kids are where my hopes and dreams lie. They are the fire that keep me going {in a more literal sense than I thought possible}! Almost every hope and dream I have involve each of them. I am so very richly blessed!
