Bits and Pieces

This little girl loves shoes.  Last night she really wanted to wear shoes to bed but since that wasn't an option we went on a hunt to see if we had any slippers for her.  She was super excited when I pulled out these little boots!  The insides are lined and really soft.  She went to bed in them and at 5:50am when she woke up to go potty the first thing she signed was "Shoes!".  One of her boots had fallen off and she wanted it back on again. Thankfully she went back to sleep for a while. 

Hannah loves Daisy except when Daisy sniffs in her face.  Then Hannah freaks out.  Last night she was feeling pretty friendly with her doggy.

Look at my little climber!  These three are always on the go.  Having some playtime in the yard before bed last night helped them to burn off some energy!  It must have worked - all three slept through the night for the first time since they started sharing a room.

I'm not sure how this happened - my baby is a big boy!  It's just crazy to have conversations with him, to see all he's learning, to hear the questions he asks...I don't care what other people say, I think life gets way easier once your kids can talk and be reasoned with!  I love this age and we are enjoying our time together every day.

Nathan is changing and growing so much as well!  He is really enjoying learning about letters and has started asking what everything says.  He never realized before that the letters make up words and now he is starting to be much more interested in reading.  It's so fun to see!

The BAHA (hearing aid) is going really well.  Hannah hasn't pulled it off at all!  The first several days she was just so worn out by the end of the day, probably all the extra stimulation, but now she is doing really well.  The only frustration is how much it moves around because of her hair and how often I have to fix it.  Still, it's a small price to pay for her to be able to hear!!!

The days are full, and sometimes they feel reeeeeaaalllly long, but at the same time I know they are passing so quickly.  It has been a wonderful summer so far and we have some fun plans up ahead!

Exciting Times

It has been a great day around here!  We have been waiting for months for Hannah to get a hearing aid and at long last, today she finally got one!  It is just a loaner for now but we are thankful to have this while we wait for some insurance problems to get worked out so that we can get her very own BAHA.

Since Hannah has atresia  (she does not have any ear openings), she is not able to have behind-the-ear hearing aids like Nathan has.  She has a BAHA which stands for Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (except hers isn't bone anchored now, it is just on a softband).  This transmits the sound through bone conduction (there is a little box on the side of her head behind her ear).

I was nervous about putting it on her for the first time.  Nathan had a BAHA when he came home, and the first time we put it on him...he threw up!  Yep, poor kiddo was so overwhelmed that it all came out.  Thankfully Hannah didn't have the same reaction at all.  She was upset for a few minutes, but it was nothing that a popsicle couldn't fix!

It's hard to tell about how much better her hearing is with the BAHA just yet since she seemed pretty overwhelmed.  But she wore it for several hours without trying to take it off (if you know anything about Hannah and hair accessories you know this means something!!!) and we found we were talking in softer voices than normal to her and getting responses.  I'm so thrilled for her to be hearing at last!!!

Our sweet boy, Nathan, had several appointments this morning.  We have been concerned about his speech development and today he had an evaluation to determine if he may be having issues with his soft palate not closing completely (this leads to air coming out the nose for certain sounds).  

This little guy was a total rock star today!  Our appointments lasted 3 full hours and he was as good as gold the entire time.  He did everything they asked, he said all the words they wanted him to say, he wore this crazy contraption...

...and he was amazing when the doctor decided to do a scope (basically inserting a little camera up his nose and to the back of his throat to check out his voice box and soft palate).  The doctors were shocked with how well he did and commented that they had never seen a child do so well...and that he did better than many adults!  So proud of my little guy!

We were very happy to hear that Nathan only has a mild issue with his soft palate and that for right now no intervention is needed.  We are going to be seeking out additional speech therapy for him (right now he qualifies for services through our state).  We're glad to have answers and direction as we continue on this journey.  I am so thankful for how far Nathan has come - he is an amazing boy and I just love him so much!  

I just have to say...it was a GOOD day!

For Fun Around Here

Our house is rarely quiet these days, that's for sure!  Hannah is finding her voice and it's a LOUD ONE :)  Sometimes having kiddos so close in age is really hard, but a lot of things are really good.  For example, they all love the same toys!  My Mom found this bin of Duplo for $5.00 at the resale shop.  Score!  We love Duplo and now we have lots for everyone to build with.

When I do need a moments quiet, I pull out the rice bin.  Hannah is pretty crazy with it still, so this is a nice activity for while she is sleeping :)  The boys played for 1.5 hours straight the other day and barely made a sound!  You'd think I'd have done something productive, but all I could manage to do was sit on the couch and watch in awe while enjoying a few moments of quiet.

The boys think it's hilarious when I put Hannah's hair up like this!  I think it's adorable.

They are forever dumping out bins and baskets so that they can sit in them.  I think I'll just get them cardboard boxes for Christmas :)

Hannah loves coloring and drawing.  She naturally picks up a pencil and holds it correctly - it's kind of hilarious!  I'm thinking of having her teach the boys how to write...

We have lots of fun around here but I'm finding that late afternoon, right before Brad comes home from work in the time leading up to dinner, is terrible!  I have got to come up with some kind of structure for this time of day or some fun (easy) activities for the kids to do when they get up from rest time.  I think that will be tomorrow's goal...make a plan!  The plan right now: go to bed!

Three in One (Room, That Is)

It wasn't long after Nathan came home that I was sitting in the boys bedroom with them, waiting for them to fall asleep, and the thought came to me:

"We could totally get another crib or toddler bed in here!"

Brad just laughed when I said it...little did he know what was just around the corner for our family!!

When Hannah came home we set up the crib in our room, which is where she has been for the last six months.  It was perfect for bonding and definitely the right choice for our family.

A couple of weeks ago I casually asked Brad when he thought we would move the crib in with the boys.  In my head I was thinking maybe in 6 months or maybe even longer.

Sometimes Brad and I are on the same page.  Sometimes we are on different planets!  This was one of those times.  

"How about tonight?" he said.

I laughed, then realized he was serious!

After a bit of discussion, we decided to make the move.  I trust his judgement about stuff so if he thought it was time, then I was up for it!

The crib was moved, and so began the Great Transition of 2013 (well, the second one...after Hannah's homecoming!).

When you think of three kids under 5 sharing a room, what do you imagine?  Yep, that's about how it's been!  In all fairness, it hasn't been as bad as I expected.  We've had a few really rough nights with everyone awake but for the most part the boys still sleep through and Hannah only wakes up once...to come into our bed :)  One step at a time I figure!  We started putting her to bed and not staying, and although at first it was really rough, now she falls asleep in less than 10 minutes.  I know the day will come when she's not waking up for us, and I will miss these nighttime snuggles.  

My Little Artist

My boys have never really enjoyed coloring or drawing.  They have really short attention spans when the crayons come out and after a few scribbles they are done.

I thought that for something fun this year I would get a book from the series, "Draw, Write, Now" which I had seen on several homeschooling blogs.  The first book is how to draw farm animals, and it gives simple, step-by-step instructions.  I was excited to see how the boys would like it!

I must admit I was surprised with how much they have enjoyed it already.  The first day we did some drawing they wanted to do several animals.  I drew each step on our whiteboard as they worked on their papers at their desks.

I was so shocked when I walked over and saw Nathan's picture - it actually looked like a chicken!  He did such a great job following the directions!  I think he may be my little artist :)

Ready for {Home}School!

It's been a busy few weeks around here as we've been getting ready to start school!  I was planning on just sticking with our letter of the week activities for a while but over the last month, Matthew's interest in learning to read and beginning math has really taken off.  So I decided to move forward and get him started now!

Our school room was all set up but just needed a few changes - the table was too small for three kids, and thankfully some friends gave us another small table (we already had two).  Now everyone has their own space!

This cube organizer is just so awesome because I can change it around to fit our needs.  Now it is holding our curriculum and all our items for school.  Each cubbie holds a subject, plus a couple for general books.

For curriculum this year we are keeping it pretty basic:

• Handwriting Without Tears (Matthew is doing the Kindergarten Level and Nathan is doing the Pre-K workbook)
• Math-U-See (Matthew is starting with Primer)
• All About Reading (Matthew is doing Level 1 and I will do the Pre-Reading Curriculum with both of the boys to introduce Nathan to letters and sounds)

I am so super excited about what we ended up choosing and feel like it is a really good fit for us (we made a switch from what I initially thought we would be doing this year).

We have started with handwriting and the pre-reading activities this week and so far it's going great.  Next week we will add math and reading for Matthew (I have some preschool workbooks for Nathan during this time).  

So far I love the handwriting - it comes with wood pieces that can make all of the capital letters and the boys just love these!  Nathan was so proud of himself for making an "S" the other day!

It has been a little challenging keeping Hannah happy during this time but for the most part she's doing great.  Usually she wants to be on my lap for calendar time and then as we move on she heads off and does her own thing.  If the boys are at their desks she loves to join in and color or write on a whiteboard.  We are having so much fun and I can't wait to see all that the boys will learn this year!