Just Ducky!

What do you think of Nicholas' new "hang-out?!"

He's getting to the age where he wants to be up seeing what is going on around him. He's just not as content in the swing as he used to be. So, one night in a moment of desperation, I dug out the ducky jumper from our upstairs closet. I wasn't even quite sure he was big enough yet. But to my delight, he was! And I was able to get dinner on the table without him going into hysterics!

He still only likes to be in it for about 10-15 minutes at a time... but I'll take what I can get!

My kids are "puzzling!"

I love my kiddos to pieces!

Click on the link above if you have a few minutes to spare...

God Is GOOD!

Today we went in for the second ABR test on Nicholas' ears. He was sedated for this test so they could get more accurate results (as opposed to the unsedated test he did at 7 weeks old).

And the results we got were WONDERFUL!!! Those prayers we've all been praying for the past couple months were answered.

Nicholas has... are you ready for this.... NORMAL HEARING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, you read that right! Under sedation, his right ear (the ear that showed 40 db hearing at the first abr) was NORMAL!! And the left, his hearing measured at 25 db (decibals). 20 db is normal.

The audiologist did another test where they directly stimulate the nerves of the inner ear to see if that is where the problem is coming from and... BOTH EARS PASSED!!! Which means, most likely, the 25 db that his left ear measured at is caused by fluid in his ear!! They did a test that checks for fluid (typanogram) right before the abr and it didn't show any problems but she said it probably just didn't pick up on it.

To say I'm absolutely elated is putting it mildly. I'm still shellshocked. No matter how hard I prayed for it, I never thought we'd come out with these results. Two months of worrying and torture and tears... with a happy ending!!

We go back in two months to see the otologist (the ENT specialist) and to do a booth test just to make sure he's responding like he should. Then after that we might have to go back a couple more times to make sure things are ok. Eventually, we won't have to go back at all.

How awesome is that!?!?!

Nicholas' Baptism & a 4 month update

Everything went well at Nicholas' Baptism!!

I found out when I was filling out the Baptism papers a couple weeks ago that only one of the Godparents has to be Catholic. The other just has to be a Christian. SO, we asked Hubby's brother to be the Godfather and I asked my sister to be his Godmother. She was so tickled when I asked her (last week) and looked so proud yesterday. The way I see it, my baby boy will basically have two sets of Godparents... my sister in law and my brother in law will be his honorary ones.

The Baptism was after church... and there were three other kiddos being Baptized. Nicholas was the only baby baby. We did the immersion Baptism where the Priest actually dips the baby into the Baptismal font three times. Nicholas wasn't too keen on that but he didn't cry near as much as I thought he would. And he quieted down as soon as I had his little naked body wrapped back up in the towel. I was very anxious to get a diaper back on him though! LOL But I had to wait till the other Baptisms were done. Luckily, he didn't go pee pee all over me!

The party afterwards was chaotic but fun. I'm still working on getting everything cleaned up from it! I hate that part! LOL

In other news, we just went in for Nicholas' four month appt today.... he's finally on the charts!! His weight today was 11lbs 10.5 oz! Third %ile! GO NICHOLAS! On the preemie charts, he's around the 30th-40th %ile for height, weight, and head circ.

The nurse said he is doing wonderfully! She was impressed with how well he holds his head up when on his belly and with the fact that he is already rolling over from tummy to back. They don't adjust his age on the developmental charts... but he's doing everything a four month old should be doing!

She found some Neosure formula for us that the company rep had left. Three cans... and they each have 2 $2 off coupons inside the lid! Over a $50 value! Gotta love that. We talked about cereal and I told her I'm holding off till at least 6 months and she said that was just fine since he's growing like he should!

This coming Thursday, he goes in for his next hearing test. He'll be sedated for this one so we should get an accurate result on the amount of hearing loss he has. I am hoping against hope that it is better than the previous hearing test result. But also preparing myself that it could be worse. If it shows the same results as the last one, I imagine we'll start looking at getting him hearing aids soon. I want him to have them before his language starts developing.

If you're the praying kind, please keep my sweetie pie in your thoughts on Thursday...

Baptism

Nicholas is going to be baptized on Sunday. He is wearing the same outfit that hubby and all of his brothers wore (his oldest brother is 48!!) and all the nephews have worn it too.

We tried a little impromptu photo session today since it's been too cold to go to the mall!

I couldn't get him to smile much but I think they turned out ok. I am going to have one of them put on his cake!

Whaddya think??...

A Night Away.... how'd it go?

My last post was about taking Nicholas with me to a scrapbook retreat. I packed a gazillion things to keep him occupied and hoped that I'd get enough done to make it worth going.

To say he was quite a distraction is putting it mildly!! The swing he normally is content in didn't make the grade this weekend. He was in it some but not near as much as I'd hoped!

BUT the saving grace was that I took my sling along. And that's where he was when I did most of my pages! And he was even in there when I ate my lunch! I ended up getting 12 pages done in his book which isn't too shabby considering I had him AND didn't stay up till 3 or 4 like I normally do at these things! Plus, I usually stay both nights.... and my normal total is around 30 pages for the entire weekend.


It wasn't too bad taking him. He was a good baby (albeit a little whiny!) the whole weekend. Even slept all night long right beside me.

But now that it's all said and done, I have to honestly say if I had to do it over again (knowing what I know now!), I probably wouldn't have gone.

But then... if I didn't go, I'd still only have four pages done in his book, right?!!?

A Night Away.... with Nicholas

I'm a scrapbooker. I've been doing it since we got married almost ten years ago. With having just my two girls, I didn't do such a bad job keeping up. J's is caught up to probably last spring and C's is maybe up to last summer.

But now that we've added another kiddo, I fear I'm going to fall even farther behind. So far I've only done, I think, four pages in Nicholas' book.

This weekend is the bi-annual scrapbook retreat that my Creative Memories scrapbooking friend holds. It's Friday through Sunday. A whole weekend of just working on scrapbooks. Well, and relaxing a bit too, of course. I went in the fall, hugely pregnant. And three days later, had Nicholas 6 1/2 weeks early. I had not planned to go this time around since Nicholas is only four months old. Wasn't quite ready to leave him overnight. Today, I found out that another friend of mine who just had a baby a month after Nicholas was going to the retreat... and taking the baby (along with a gazillion things to keep her occupied).

SO, this afternoon, guess what I decided to do??? Yep, I'm going scrapbooking... and taking the kiddo with me! We'll have a private room so sleeping shouldn't be too much of an issue. He'll nap through out the day, get some snuggle time with Mommy and some of the other women who are going to be there, and hopefully stay as nice and calm as he does at home. I'm taking along our travel swing, my sling so I can "wear" him, a blanket for some tummy time, and lots of diapers and formula. We're only staying one night, spending the whole next day, and coming home Saturday night.

I figure if I get at least two pages done, I'll be satisfied. Course, realistically, I should be able to get at least ten done. But I don't want to set the bar too high and be dissapointed that I went!

SO, it's a Mom and Nicholas weekend. The girls should have fun with Daddy...