Everett's Fifth Birthday Parties

Because Everett is in Pre-K this year we did a party at school, and another party for his friends that aren't in school.  For his party at school he wanted to do Angry Birds.  We brought Angry Birds cupcakes and juice boxes for his classmates.  We took him to Red Lobster (his favorite restaurant) for crab legs for lunch.  Then, that evening we had his party for his friends that aren't in school at Little Javas, an inflatable jump place in Weston.  His Little Javas party was Iron Man themed.  He received lots of wonderful gifts, and I think he had a great birthday!

Anderson gets hearing aids

The day after his big brother turned five, September 14th, Anderson's hearing aids came in.  When the audiologist put the aids in his ears his face lit up, and when she took them out to let me try to put them in, he cried.  He wore them almost the entire day that day and almost the entire day the next day.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I thought it wasn't going to be a battle to keep them in as I had thought it would be.  Day three he decided he didn't like them any more, and began taking them out of his ears every time he put them in.  Things only escalated from there as he began fighting us when we tried to put them in.  He shakes his head no and screams and pushes us away.  It's heart breaking and frustrating at the same time.  He has had them for three months and finally wore them for three hours the other day.  This was the longest stretch he has worn them since the first couple of days he had them.  We also switched from the Oticon Safari to the Phonak H2O's because his Safari's were eating batteries way too fast and were defective.  The audiologist decided to let us do a trial with the H2O's and we decided to keep them once we found out that the technology used to make the H2O's was superior to the technology used to make the Safari's.  He has been doing better about keeping them in, but it's still a daily battle and he still fights us putting them in his ears, and if given the opportunity, takes them out and throws them (or puts them in his mouth to chew on them).

On Everett's birthday we switched Anders to a big boy (convertible) car seat.  We kept him rear facing, of course, but were hoping that him being in a convertible car seat would help him not hate being in the car so much.  No such luck, though in the last few weeks he has done tons better with being in the car, too.  Usually you can just walk to the car with him and he starts crying as soon as you get to his door.

After we received the official hearing loss diagnosis we began trying to figure out what caused it.  He had a sedated CT Scan, and there aren't any bone malformations in his ears or anything abnormal at all.  He also had a full developmental evaluation.  He passed with flying colors!  Even so, he has a teacher for the hearing impaired that comes once a week to work with him to make sure that he stays on target for everything since he does have the hearing loss.  He also had a kidney ultrasound as many times hearing loss and kidney abnormalities are linked.  That, too, was normal, thankfully.  He has also had genetic testing to rule out any gene mutations, genetic links to hearing loss, etc.  All of that came back normal as well.  He just had another blood draw to check for the Connexin gene which is a gene that has been found to cause hearing loss that is usually progressive.

In October, he had a really terrible, awful, horrible stomach bug.  He threw up so much he started throwing up bile.  We took him to the ER and they gave him fluids and sent us home with liquid Zofran.  He was still nursing well, but wouldn't drink out of a cup or eat any food.  A few days later he was still throwing up and having diarrhea, so I called the pediatrician, and he had me bring him into the office.  From there he sent us back to the ER because he was dehydrated.  They gave him fluids, ran some tests, did an abdominal x-ray to rule out an obstruction, and sent us home a few hours later.  A few days later, we went back to the ER because he continued to vomit.  Finally, after two full weeks of vomiting, diarrhea, or both he finally got better.  Everyone's best guess is that he had Rotavirus even though he has been vaccinated against it.

Meanwhile, in non-medical news, he is an absolute doll.  He uses five words consistently and with meaning: mama (sometimes mom mom), dada, Bella, uh-oh, and hi.  We think he has a word he uses for Everett, but we're not positive.  He still adores his big brother and gets sad every morning when he leaves for school.  He runs all around the house now.  He climbs on the bookshelf, and in the kitchen chairs to get stuff off of the table.  He still loves Bella and torments her with his constant love and attention.  She is always so tolerant and loving towards him.  He loves to read books and will bring them to me, then sit in my lap for me to read.  He still has beautiful blue eyes, and sometimes when the sun hits his baby fine hair it looks red.  He loves being held and cuddled and hates it when I'm out of his sight.  When we have gone to playdates lately he either clings to me or stands back from the group taking it all in.  He does these things unless we're at the park.  At the park he runs around like a wild man, climbs on everything, and tries to keep up with Ev.  He's at the age now where he and Everett fight over toys, especially the shopping cart.  

Everett turns five!

It's half an hour before September 13th, Everett's birthday.  At this time five years ago I had no idea that my life was about to completely change with the birth of my baby boy.  James Everett Horner was born at 5:34 pm by a forceps delivery after a very long day of laboring.  He was absolutely pure perfection at 6 pounds, 3.6 ounces and 19 1/4" long.  I had never felt such love for another person before I saw his angelic little face. After he was born I was determined to breastfeed, but he was never able to stay awake to eat.  He was also choking every time I laid him in the little hospital bassinet.  I kept telling the nurse that something wasn't right, that something was wrong with my baby.  She was quick to assure me that I was "a new, overworried mom and that he was just fine".  I don't know how many times I called her in that night to tell her I was worried about him, that something wasn't right, but I do know that it was a lot.  I even went as far as getting out of bed and walking down the hall to the nurses station once when I couldn't get her to come when I pushed the nurse call button.  I didn't sleep at all that night because I was so worried about my baby.  Chance had worked overnight the night before and was exhausted and sleeping.  The next morning, Everett was taken to the hospital nursery to be circumcised.  Mere minutes after he was taken back the pediatrician walked into my room and I knew something was wrong.  He told us that Everett was oxygen deprived, that they suspected that something was wrong with his heart, and asked if I had noticed that his color was bad.  I hadn't, but I did know that something was wrong with my baby.  Oh how I wish that I had pushed harder for the nurse to address my concerns, for her to call a doctor.  Everett was intubated, and was in really bad shape in the NICU.  Dr. Capra told me that they were trying to stabilize him to transport him to Dallas Children's Medical Center.  In an instant what was the happiest time in my life turned into a horror show.  I will never forget how it felt to have my whole world crash down on me.  Someone called my Memaw and she went ahead to Dallas to wait for Everett's arrival.  There is so much about all of this that I don't remember, but I distinctly remember asking the CVICU doctor if my baby was going to be ok only to hear him reply that he was oxygen deprived for a long time and they were sure if he would be ok at all, much less cognitively.  During the days, weeks, and months that followed I had to lean on God more heavily than at any other point in my life.  I am so incredibly grateful that my sweet little boy is doing so well and will be celebrating his 5th birthday tomorrow!

Everett has such a sweet spirit and a kind heart.  He plays well with other kids and has been an awesome big brother to Anderson.  He is very sweet to his little brother and has rarely, if ever, exhibited any signs of jealously since Anders was born.  He is quick to share his toys with him, sing to him if he's sad, and celebrate when Anderson does something new.  He has been enjoying school, and has already been learning so much.  He already has a great sense of humor, and makes me laugh so much.  He is so intuitive about the way people are feeling, and it's very difficult for me to hide any kind of emotion from him.  Everett is one of the toughest people I know.  At his check-up last week he weighed 38 pounds, which means he has gained 5 pounds since December.  This is phenomenal for him!  He loves playing outside or with his brother or Bella, painting, wrestling with his daddy, helping me cook, reading, playing Wii, and going to church.  He adores his new pet turtle, Super Turtle.  His favorite color is yellow and his favorite food is Corn Dogs.  Everett has taught me so much about life and what is important in life.  I consider it a great privilege to be his mommy.  Happy 5th Birthday, my darling boy.  I love you more than you will ever know!!! 

Everett Starts School!

On August 20th Everett started Pre-K!  He has been looking forward to it since we toured schools months ago.  The night before school he proclaimed that he was "so he excited he was going to explode!!".  His teachers are Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Maritza.  He goes every weekday from 9am-12pm.  On his first day he did great, and since then he has had only had one bad day.  He has homework every day, and is learning to write "James" and "Horner" since he already knows how to write "Everett".  He is learning a lot and having fun.  On the first day of school he came home and told me that he told his teacher that he didn't learn anything that day.  I had been telling him that he would learn a lot at school, and I think that he was confused that he didn't learn anything that first day.  The other day I went early to pick him up and watched him riding a bicycle built for two with a little girl and it struck me how fast he's growing up.  I look forward to watching him learn lots of new things this year!   

Anderson's 1st Birthday Parties

While my mom, Zach, and Blayne were here in July for Everett's heart catheterization we had an early 1st birthday party for Anderson so that they could be here for his celebration.  We had his cakes made to match his 1st birthday theme.  His big cake was a #1 and his smash cake was made to match it. He had a cold and wasn't very impressed with his cake.  He had a little bit of icing, but spent most of his time rubbing his itchy nose.

Then, when Grampy, Chinah, and Grace came at the beginning of August we decided to have another party so that they could celebrate his 1st birthday as well.  We had it at a local park and also invited the children from the playgroup the boys are in.  Since we had already done a cake this time we did cupcakes.  We don't have pictures from his second party yet since Aunt Chinah graciously took them and hasn't had time to send them to us yet.  Grams and Memaw and Pepaw both sent Anders cards with a gift enclosed.  Anderson received lots of wonderful gifts at both parties and we are so grateful we had family and friends here to celebrate his 1st birthday!

All About Anderson

 My sweet baby boy will be one tomorrow!  I can't believe it!!  Anderson is such a sweet baby.  He looks so much like Everett did at this age, but he has beautiful blue eyes and Everett had brown very early on.  Anders LOVES his big brother and is completely enraptured with watching Everett any time he is in the room.  He is such a mama's boy, but is crazy about his daddy.  He said "mama" first on July 23rd , then on the 27th said "dada".  He said both of these previously, but we didn't count them as words until he said them consistently and associated them with a person.  He started pulling up and cruising months ago, but hasn't taken his first steps yet.  He does stand without holding on to anything sometimes.  Anderson is a monkey!  He climbs on everything-the ottoman, the dishwasher, the bookshelf, the dining room chairs, basically anything that he can get his hands on.  Ander loves to be held.  Sometimes he'll follow me all through the house saying "mama" and pulling up on my legs anytime I stop.  It makes it awfully hard to get anything done!  I'm still nursing him which means we have almost officially made it an entire year nursing!!  We have started giving him cow's milk in his sippy, but he's not wild about it.  He is a great eater.  His favorites are probably beans, chicken, apples, cheerios, and french fries.  He ate baby food for a very short time because he prefers table food.  He is such a smiley guy, and will "talk" to and smile at anyone who pays attention to him(as long as they don't try to take him from his mama).  He is still not sleeping through the night which means I am one exhausted mama.  Everett started sleeping through the night in his own room in his own bed at six months old.  Anderson's crib is still in our bedroom.  The plan is for Everett and Anders to share a room and with Anders not sleeping through the night we don't want his night waking to wake up Everett.  Sometimes he wakes up just to make sure I'm there and goes back to sleep once I pat him on the back.  He still takes his pacifier, but we are limiting it to naps, bedtime, and when he's in the car in hope that when we are ready to take it away it won't be too traumatic.  He loves to splash in the bath, and has been caught splashing in the toilet more times than I want to admit.  He adores Bella and chases after her and terrorizes her.  She is quite protective on him and is very tolerant of the hair/tail pulling and any other terrible things he does to her.  He is wearing size 3 diapers, and mostly 9 month clothes.  He has eight teeth and is cutting his left top molar.  It's barely peeking through.  I'm not exactly sure how much he weighs or how long he is these days; he has a check-up on Friday and we'll find out then.

In January, Anderson was diagnosed with GERD.  He was put on Zantac, and when that wasn't controlling his reflux well enough he was put on Prevacid.  At birth, he failed the newborn hearing screen.  Ever since we have been going to the audiologist/ENT for testing.  He continually failed OAE(Otoacoustic emission) testing, so in February he had ABR(Auditory Brainstem Response) testing.  The ABR is more detailed and has a smaller margin of error.  He had normal results on the ABR, so we thought we weren't dealing with hearing loss.  He started getting ear infections.  He got one that didn't respond to Amoxicillin so we tried Omnicef.  When that didn't work he was given Rocephin injections which cleared up the infection, but not the fluid.  Then, when I was brushing his teeth one night I realized he had a severe frenulum(the connection between the top lip and gums) tie.  It suddenly clicked for me that he had had a shallow latch when breastfeeding the entire time, and that it was because of the frenulum tie.  At our next appointment, the pediatrician sent us to a different ENT for a consultation about the frenulum tie, the persistent fluid on his ears, and the failed OAE's.  Dr. Ostrower said that he most definitely needed tubes put in his ears to get rid of the fluid and that he would do the frenectomy at the same time.  On May 23 he had the surgery.  He wasn't in the OR long, and we had him home by the afternoon.  Breastfeeding immediately became easier for him, and his latch was much better.  He also started going longer in between nursings because he was getting fuller because of the proper latch.  After we got back from Texas we had a follow-up visit with the ENT and audiologist.  All of us (the doctors included) thought that he would pass the OAE testing with the tubes in place,  but he didn't.  Because of this, we were told he would need another ABR test done and that he would need to be sedated.  Last Thursday I took him for his sedated ABR.  It revealed that he has mild-moderate mixed (both sensorineural and conductive)  in his R ear and mild hearing loss in his L ear.  He will need a hearing aid for the R ear, and most likely will need speech therapy to ensure that his speech and language develop normally.  We have an appointment with his regular audiologist and Dr. Ostrower on the 27th and will know more about what we need to do from here.  As of right now we have no idea why he has the hearing loss.  We are heartbroken, but are determined to do all that we can to advocate for him and get him whatever he needs to excel in life. 

Anderson has been the perfect addition to our family, and we can not imagine life without him.  I am so very blessed to be his mommy.  Happy Birthday, my darling boy! I love you through and through.

Texas Trip

Uncle Zach and his boys

At the end of May we made the trip to Texas because both of my brother's were graduating (Zach from HS and Blayne from MS), and my s-i-l, Chinah, was getting married.  The boys were both wonderful on the flight to Texas even though we ended up having to circle in the air for an extended period of time because of storms on the ground.  It made me air sick, but Everett and Anders were quite content.  We went to both boys' graduations, and were so very proud of them.  We planned to make a trip to Little Rock in the middle of our trip, but Anderson came down with some sort of virus and was projectile vomiting and couldn't keep anything down.  He got to the point where he was limp in my arms, so instead of going to Little Rock we went to the ER at Children's Medical in Plano.  They gave him Zofran for the nausea, and he was able to hold down pedialyte and breastmilk after that so we went home.  After he got over the stomach sickness he became super congested and couldn't breathe well enough to eat.  We were suctioning him, using a humidifier, and doing everything else you can do for a 9 month old that can't breathe and we couldn't get his nose cleared out enough for him to be able to nurse.  A few days after our first trip to the ER we took him back because he wasn't drinking anything and hadn't had a wet diaper in almost 24 hours and we were worried about dehydration.  They deep suctioned him, made sure he took in some fluids, and sent us on our way again.  After that he finally started feeling better, thankfully.

The beautiful Miss Mariyah

While we were in town I was able to go to my niece, Mariyah's, dance recital.  She did such a good job and looked so cute.  Anders being sick cut in to a lot of our visiting time because we didn't want to spread his germs, but I think we got to see almost everyone at least once.

 

A lot of the family was able to come in for Chinah's wedding so we were able to visit with them if only for a little bit.  Everett was the ring bearer and he was absolutely adorable!  He did a great job even if he did melt down during the pictures beforehand.  He stood on the stage before the wedding started and held on to his little suspenders and talked to all of the guests telling them jokes. One of his lines was "Who knows what a wedding is?  Anyone?".  He was also saying "Man, it's HOT out here!!"  I thought about pulling him from the stage then decided that he was pretty good entertainment while we waited for everything to get started.  Chinah was absolutely stunning, and we are so very happy for her and Carl!  We had a great trip, and can't wait to go back again!