Yearly Update

Note: So I started to type this and I had to save it before I could finish it, and when I came back I noticed that there were a few entries that I had started and never finished or posted. So since I don't remember what I wanted to say I just posted them as they were. LOL Better than nothing right? So here is the most recent update. :-)

As I was checking out some of the blogs I like to look at I thought that I should really be updating my own (this very  thought that runs through my head often). So I then ran through my mental checklist to see if there was anything else that I needed to do first. Dinner - slow cooker - check, Laundry - washing - check, children - fed and playing - check. So there was nothing holding me back. On to the family blog  I went and I look at my last entry and WHAT? Has it really been a whole year since I have updated this blog. Man talk about procrastination! I like to think that I have been busy taking care of my family. ;-) Let me try to do a quick update.  I will go through each person.

Dane - All of his long hours and hard work paid off and he graduated from Sac State last May. That was an exciting moment for all of us, and what an example he has set for our boys. We are all so proud of him. The company he was working as an intern with hired him on full time and gave him a permanent position as a Project Engineer. He is really loving his job! And we are loving that we are able to have him home for dinner and to play with in the evenings for most nights.

Kim - I have been busy with the usual mommy things. Making sure that the house is in order (most of the time) and that the family has all of the meals that they need to be healthy and strong. Back in July we started looking for a house to buy. So a lot of my time and energy has been put into researching areas that are safe and family friendly. As well as researching schools for Ty to go to next year. We are lucky to have Dad as our Realtor so we were able to call him anytime of the day to come show us some houses. This was great since Dane wouldn't get home until the evening. Thanks Dad! :-) All of the searching has paid off and we found a house in Rocklin that we really like. We are very excited about it!! And it all goes well we will have keys to our new home on May 8th. Fingers Crossed!!! So now I am busy with planning and organizing and trying to figure out what we want our home to look like.

Ty - He has had a busy year. He joined his first city Soccer League in August. Dane was his coach, and Ty LOVED it! Ty was on the Titans and they had 2 practices a week and a game every Saturday. He was so into it and had lots of sun making new friends on the team. Then he started school in his Transitional Kindergarten class. He was a Faithful Frog and he is still loving school. He has excellent teachers and I love that he loves school. He is also excited about going to Kindergarten in the Fall. Registration was a huge stress for me, trying to find the right school for Ty. But all of my research and stress paid off, Ty was accepted into John Adams Academy in Roseville. This is a charter school and so it has all of the benefits of a private school but because it is technically a public school it is free. The thing that I love about the school is that it teaches children responsibility at a young age and requires community service to be done starting in Kindergarten. It also teaches the same morals and values that we do at home. Not everyone that applies gets in, it is based on the lottery system, so we feel very blessed that we were able to get him in. :) He also learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He was a little hesitant at first, but once he felt confident he just took off. Now he wants to ride his bike everywhere. He also learned to swim all by himself under the water. He loves to be in the water so when he learned this over the summer he was so excited!!! He can't wait for summer to come so he can go swimming again. Ty has been a wonderful big brother. He loves Austin so much and is always wanting to take care of him and sharing his toys without having to be asked. He is such a blessing to our family!

Austin - This has been a big year for him. The first few months of his life was a tough one for him. He had RSV and made a couple of trips to the hospital for about a week each time. Once summer hit he seemed to be doing much better and didn't need the breathing treatments except for every once in awhile. He also has been having Physical Therapy every 2 weeks and OT as well. We are just starting Speech Therapy up in the next month. He is still a little behind in his physical development, but he has been making huge strides. It took him awhile before he would push himself up with his arms, but when he did he quickly learned how to sit up on his own. Then about one week later on March 7th, 2012 he started to crawl. Of course he did it the one night Mommy was not home. LOL Then about a week after that he started to pull himself up onto the couch and in his crib. And another week went by and he was cruising along the couch and now he has just started to cruise while moving to different furniture. He is so ready to walk and wants to do it so bad, so it is only a matter of time before he does. He is still delayed in his speech but that is normal due to his hearing loss. So needless to say, Austin is a champ!

May 31, 2011 Free At Last... Free At Last...

 

Getting ready to sit for the actual ceremony.

The cake that I made for the Graduation Party. The frame is made of Chocolate. :-)

This is the phrase that kept going through my head as we were preparing for Dane's graduation. :) It has been a long road but, that road has come to an end and lead us to the beginning of another one. :) We are so excited to be here in this point. We feel like we can finally enjoy each others company and be able to be a part of the little moments in our sons lives. :) Ty has thoroughly enjoyed having Daddy home at night now. He used to ask me every day if Daddy was coming home late or early that day. He still does out of habit and so I now tell him that Daddy will not be coming home late anymore. :) The smile on his face was priceless. Here are a few pictures of that day. There will be more that I will post later. :)

April 14, 2011 Moving Forward

It has been an eventful week. Austin has been noticing all the new sounds. It has been wonderful to see his reactions to sounds. I especially love all of the smiles and laughter that he has been giving, he is such a happy baby. Today we went in and turned up the volume a little bit more and his reaction was the same as last, smiles and more smiles. His Doctor said we have about two more appointments that we will be turning the hearing aids up until it reaches the target point. It is amazing the technology that they have now. Everything is on the computer and they just connect the computer to the hearing aids and click a button and they are ready to go. Amazing. Then when he reaches his target range then they will hook his hearing aids up to a different machine and then they will start adjusting the high, medium, and low pitches to where he needs them to be.
Austin has been doing really well with his hearing aids. There has been a lot of putting them on and taking them off. Every time he falls asleep then we have to take them out. And then we put them back in when he is awake. Needless to say I have become very good at taking them out in one single movement without even waking him up. :) Austin has also figured out how to take them out. He is constantly pulling on them. Whenever we are in the car, no matter how long of a drive it is, the hearing aids will be out by the time we reach our destination. Just yesterday I needed to run to the grocery store. It is only a five minute drive, but he had taken one of the aids out. I didn't check to see if they were in as I was taking his car seat out. So as we were walking to the doors of the store there was a man walking out at the same time. I was holding Ty's hand and holding the baby carrier at the same time. The man called my attention and I turned around and he was handing me Austins hearing aid. I told him THANK YOU!!!! Then I thought to myself, we've only had them for 1 week and I almost lost one already. That would have been $2000 down the drain. Needless to say I check him now every time we get out of the car. We even put on the little string that they came with and it attaches to his shirt (it is like the string that some people attach their glasses to so they can hang them around their neck when they aren't wearing them) while we are driving so they don't fall out somewhere.  :)