No more hair!!!

This is what happens when you shave a 40 lbs. lab mix. His head and ears get really big and he has a boney rat body. He looks so funny, but I don't care because all the shedding hair finally gone for at least a little bit.

6 months old

I know this is a little late, but I still have to post a picture of my baby. He turned 6 months on 3-6-2009. He is up to so much. He won't stand still for a second. He loves to crawl all around the house and is now learning to pull up on things, like the coffee table, fireplace and sofa. Watch out world because Jacob is getting ready to walk!!!

One test down, Two to go...

We are well on our way to meeting our PPO's deductible before we get out of the first quarter here in 2009. Jake had had his ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response Test) on Tuesday and tomorrow he will undergo an MRI and next week is a P1 Latency Test. The ABR is the same test he had at 6 weeks that told us initially we had some issues, this test basically measures how his brain responds to certain level of sounds. This does not tell us whether the sound he is hearing has clarity or if he can properly hear the sound but only that his brain is responding when levels of sound are input. The MRI will check to make sure the wiring (cochlea, auditory nerve, etc...) are formed properly and our issue does not lie with that avenue, which we are almost positive it's not. The P1 Latency Test will measure Jake's response time to understanding and interperting certain Ticket lingo & drops (inside joke for all you P1's). In all seriousness the Latency Test is going to tell us more about where he is at than any of the other tests. It will tell us the response time in which sound is being captured by his brain, and I think might tell us of the clarity but don't quote me on that because I did not go to medical school! Back to Tuesday's ABR, he did well. When he took the ABR at 6 weeks the lowest level of sound they could see his brain responding to was 65 decibels, this is about the level of a normal conversations. On Tuesday they got a response down to 20 decibels which is about the sound a mosquito when buzzing by ya. This is a nice improvement and perhaps shows his auditory nerve is progressing. Again the ABR does not tell us the clarity of the sound so we could still have an issue there but the Latency Test next week will give us more information to work with on that angle. The ABR and tomorrows MRI both require him to be sedated which kind of sucks to see little man go under like that. Rebecca held him while they administered a suppository to put him under for the ABR. With the way this boy goes through diapers its a wonder the medicine ever had a chance to work. After the test we got to go see him in recovery and he was glassy eyed and stretched out on a bed . When he saw Rebecca and I he gave this drunken smile nod as if to say "This is some Good Stuff, you guys got any peaches I'm hungry!". Lets see what we find out on tomorrows MRI, 1 down 2 to go!

Hearing Tests

Okay for some of you that don't know this, but our son Jacob was diagnosed at birth with a hearing impairment. We have been working really hard these past few months on his speech and language development and getting him to listening to noises. He has been doing really great and we have had a lot of success with him. Tomorrow and the next couple of weeks will be a little rough on Vince and myself because Jacob will be going through some more hearing tests. It's all standard procedure, but none the less it's still a little nerve racking. We ask that you keep Jacob in your prayers that he will pass all of these tests with flying colors because it will show how much his brain and nerve have matured over the past few months. The more they mature, the better the chance he won't have to have implants when he gets older. So if you pray every day like I do, remember to add Jacob to your list.

Playground

Little man and I went to the playground today across the street from out neighborhood. It was such a nice day that I figured we should go out and enjoy the weather and sunshine. Jacob loves being outside and looking all around what is going on. We played on the swing set and he was a little hesitant about it at first. But he absolutely loved it. It 's kind of like his johnny jumper, so he wasn't too scared of it once I started swinging him in it. He would get the funniest look on his face if it went to high, but mostly he enjoyed it. I tried swinging with him in my lap,but he just refuses to sit still. So that didn't last too long. The playground also had a small slide that he went down a few times. Of course I was holding his hands because I didn't want him to fall back and hit his head. He wasn't too excited about the slide. He pretty much could care less about it. So I picked him up and we tried the big boy slide on mommy's lap. Again he could have cared less and it was kind of tight. I guess slides aren't meant for big people. Oh well. Overall he really enjoyed himself and I love to get him out of the house just because it gets so boring being at home all the time.

I'm not sure about this thing Mommy!!!Okay maybe it's not so bad.

Hey I'm getting use to this thing. Swing me higher Mommy!!!

No that's not dirt on his forhead

Today I took Jacob to church with me over at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton for Ash Wednesday. I knew that I would be getting ashes on my forhead, but I didn't know that they put them on babies. It was funny watching the deacon trying to put them on his forhead. He kept turning his head from side to side to see everything that was going on. He eventually just gave him a black dot in the middle. Jacob was so good during the mass, I was kind of scared to go by myself because usually it takes two of us to handle this child. He is so active. But the kids behind us entertained him, so he stood still in my lap looking over my shoulder for about 10- 15 minutes. It was so funny because he kept laughing and screeching all during the quiet parts of the service. He is too funny sometimes.

Two teeth

Here's a quick picture of what Jacob's first teeth look like. They are coming in so fast.

Pictures from the week

This past week was filled with all sorts of new and exciting things for Jacob. He has been perfecting his Army crawl. I will put him in one place and the next five minutes later he is all the way across the room. And of course he is reaching for all the wrong things that he shoudn't be reaching for. But I guess that's what curious babies do. He is also becoming a huge chatter box. There is never a dull moment when he doesn't have something to say. Whether he is letting mommy know he's hungry or that he is absolutely laughing at how silly mommy is being. We continue to work on his speech and his listening. Speech therapy is going great. So great that we have moved his appointments from once a week to once every other week. Great news that he is progressing so well. The teething thing is getting better. We officially have two teeth that have broken through the gums. I can't believe he got two at the same time, but I guess it means we will get through this much quicker. So hopefully he won't be too fussy much longer. He really has been good through all of it. The only issue we have been having is that he keeps waking up more during the night and can't fall back asleep. Other than that he is chewing on everything in sight, burp cloths, toys, remotes, and watch your fingers. This week I also bought Jacob his first pair of tennis shoes. He probably won't be needing them for awhile, but I figured what the heck. With the way he is going he will probably be walking by eight months. That is so scary to think of, a very mobile baby means no time for mommy. Here are a few pics that I took during the week.

5 months old. It's getting harder to take pictures of him in the chair because he just can't seem to sit still for a second. He is always trying to get into something!!! He is also getting much better at sitting up all by himself. It's kind of the last thing on his list since sitting requires him to be in the same place for more than a minute.

See what I mean. He's got that look in his eyes that he is up to something.

Dinner time at the Porter house.

Jacob loves to eat. We have already tried carrots, squash, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, applesauce and a few other Stage 2 foods. Look at that messy face, I just love it!!!

Bath time.

This is what happens after we are done eating. He loves the water. I hope he loves it when he gets older and he is learning how to swim.

Play time.

Jacob can pretty much entertain himself. But he loves to sing songs and play games with mommy and daddy. He has so many toys to play with that Daddy has forbidden Mommy to buy anymore until his first birthday. But every once in awhile Mommy sneaks a few in.

1st Tooth

Like I said in the post before this one my baby is getting so big. I was feeding him dinner tonight and I noticed that he kept biting the spoon with his gums. And for some odd reason it felt like the spoon was pulling on something. So I took a look and wouldn't you know it, his first tooth is breaking through the gums. It's his left bottom front tooth. He's been such a good boy about all of it. Not too fussy or irritated. Hopefully when it really starts coming in I will be able to get a good picture of it.

5 months old!!!

Yeah Jacob is finally 5 months old!!! I can hardly believe it. He is getting so big and active. Every day he is surprising me with all the new things he is doing. Right now he is crawling all over the place. I will put him down in one spot, turn for a second and look back and he is completely on the other side of the room. It's so cute. He doesn't quite have the crawling thing down perfect, but he's learned to do the worm on his tummy. The funny thing about all of it is that he still can't still up all by himself yet. Basically it's because he can't stand to sit still for a moment. If he is in the same spot for two long he totally goes crazy. He is also talking up a storm. He's learned how to blow raspberries and loves doing this especially after eating. So basically mommy is covered in baby food and formula. But who cares, he's so cute. So here are a few pictures that we've taken over the past few days.

Having fun in the Einstein, but now he is starting to hate it because he can't move around in it.

My big boy just crawling around on his tummy. Loving all the freedom he has.

Mommy better be careful.

He loves his squash and peas. Of course he hates rice cereal,

but can you blame him it tastes like wallpaper paste. I just love this picture. Mommy quite pointing that flashing thing in my face.

This sums it all up...

I came across this letter the other day and felt like it pretty much summed up my life as a stay at home mom. I love being home all day with my little man, but unfortunately other parts of my life seem to get further and further a way from me. I feel so guilty when people try to call or email me and I forget to get back with them. It's just so hard when you are constantly on the go with the daily activities such as feeding, bathing, playing, changing diapers and then trying to get a baby to take a nap is nearly impossible sometimes. This is just a small example of the day to day activities and doesn't even include household chores, that's another entire day. it's not all bon bons and soap operas. I guess what I am trying to say is, yes it is exhausting staying a home, but I wouldn't change a thing. I just want all those people out there that don't have children to understand because one day they will be in my shoes and I promise not to laugh or judge. I will patiently await for their phone call to say that they finally get it.

Four Month Chair Picture

We took Jake’s four month picture in the chair. The pictures are 1 month in the top left, 2 months bottom left, 3 months top right, and 4 months bottom right.

 

 

Here are a few good pictures we took over the holidays :

 

Santa Jake

Happy Jake

Jake & Mommy

Vince is turning 30!!!

Okay so Saturday night I was able to surprise the hell out of my husband. I threw him a surprise birthday party with all of his friends and family. I felt so bad because I had been lying to him for about two weeks so that I could keep it a secret. We had so many friends and family join us for the special occassion. I have to say a huge thank you to everyone for coming and for keeping it a secret because he had no idea. Thank you to all that helped me out because I was a mess and could not have done it without you. We had so much fun and really enjoyed ourselves. Vince was so surprised and happy to have all the company over at the house. He had been bugging me for about two months saying that we really needed to have an annual Christmas party every year. But I kept saying it was going to be too much trouble and that we just didn't have the room. So it was really hard not being able to tell him, but it was all worth it. I just didn't know what to get him for his birthday or Christmas because he is so hard to shop for so I figured the best gift would be celebrating with family and friends. Vince is a really big family man and he loves making memories with everyone.

The Texas State Bobcat Birthday cake. And yes there were 30 candles!!!

The Birthday boy blowing out all 30 candles!!!

Bryan and Jennifer. She's expecting and around 18 weeks pregnant!!!

Amera and Aly. I think Aly is up to something, you never know!!!

Ashlee and Braxton. She is also expecting and is around 18 weeks pregnant!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Better Late than Never

Okay so here are Jacob's three month photos. Vince and I decided to celebrate with a Christmas chocolate cake. Isn't he so cute. Sorry for the delay, I promise I will get better at posting once the holidays are all over.

Santa's Little Helper

Well Vince and I went to Northeast Mall on Sunday to take Jacob to see Santa. We stood in line for over 2 hours. We decided to take shifts to go shopping because it was so boring just hanging out in line. Jacob did awesome because he was asleep the entire time. We finally woke him up a few kids before it was his turn. We figured he would wake up once we put him in Santa's arms so we decided to wake him up so that we didn't have a cranky groggy baby for the picture. Here's the picture, what do you think? He's so darn cute. Hopefully next year he will have more of a clue what is going on.