Isabella Grace

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I realized after several people asked, I forgot to mention in the previous post that she passed her hearing test with flying colors.

Bella is here!

Isabella Grace
6 lbs 13.2 oz.
19 1/4 in.

End in sight!!

Looks like someone is going to be just as stubborn as her brothers. Unless she decides to come on her own this week, I'm scheduled to be induced Saturday morning. It's going to be interesting to see how Landon reacts since it's hard to explain to him what is going on. He's still a little young to get it. I don't know if the older ones are more excited about the baby coming or that they get to go on a sleepover. Of course the idea of getting a present is also at the top of the list. Each time we had another baby I would make a little gift bag for the others of things to do while they wait at the hospital, from their new sibling. Connor was old enough to remember getting this when we went to have Landon so one of the first things he told me after I told him we were going to have another baby was what he wanted her to get him. Hopefully she'll decide to come on her own this week but at least there is a deadline now.

The other evening I was cutting the boys hair outside on the patio, and the way our house is situated on the corner, you can't see our neighbor's driveway but you can see the street from there. While I was doing Landon's, our neighbor left. All of the sudden Landon kept saying "Car" but I wasn't sure why. Then, when they drove by, he said "there it is". He had heard them starting the car, backing up, and driving away and was able to identify what the noise was. We start taking his hearing for granted since we are so used to it now, until he does something like this and we are reminded of what great technology CI's are.

Countdown to #4

We're in the countdown for the arrival of #4. When I went Friday I was 1 1/2 cm dilated so hopefully the end won't be too far away. Landon went to the doctor Friday for his 2 year checkup. He's been off the normal schedule ever since his surgery - he had to have a couple of the shots before they would do the surgery but there was some he couldn't have until he had passed 12 mths so we got off schedule. He got 3 shots - he had an extra one because with the implants he has to have the pneumovax after he turned 2 for meningitis. He's now caught up and doesn't need anymore shots until he'e 5. He's been pretty lousy feeling since - running fever, laying around, and not eating much. Today he seems to be bouncing back some. He hasn't had any fever since during the night and is actually playing in his room right now.

We've got a couple of videos we've found that are actually helping him with his language. I'll usually put one on while I'm doing Connor's school to keep him occupied and when we are riding in the car it keeps him entertained but is also reinforcing words we are working on with him. He's been watching the ABC video from the Brainy Baby series and Baby Wordsworth from the Baby Einstein series. They both have a lot of vocabulary words and pictures. At first he would just repeat the words after they would say them, but now he is starting to say the words before they do - just by seeing the picture.

Putting words together

We've noticed in the last 2 weeks or so Landon is starting to put more words together. For example, instead of just pointing at my bottle of water and saying either drink or water, he said "drink mama's water". We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for a birthday party Saturday night and when we switched him over to his P4 program (the one that takes out more background noise for him), Eric asked if that was better and he said "Yes, better". He always says thank you when you give him something, but today he was helping me put the water bottles in the refrigerator and I told him thank you, he said "your welcome". He'll pretty much repeat anything you tell him to so it's the things like this - where it is something he speaks on his own - that really catches our attention.

New words

Landon's new word last week - chocolate. He likes to add Nestle chocolate to his milk. He also does shake-shake-shake after you put the lid on. We went to Target Sunday morning and I got a reminder just how much of a "therapy baby" he is. When we were going down the aisle with the kids bedding, he kept going "who's that?" and then would answer himself with Mickey Mouse, Cars, etc. It was hilarious. He's also started when we are leaving a store will say "where's the car" and then when he sees the van says "there it is". Connor got a Nerf dart tag game for Christmas and I'm not sure which one likes it more - Connor or Landon. He's already figured out how to slide the top back to make it shoot. The boys don't like it because he's still learning not to point it at people. It doesn't hurt them - just annoys them when they are trying to watch tv or play on the computer.

Just for fun, I got on our Wii fit the other day ( I haven't done it since I found out I was pregnant) just to see what it would tell me. There is no where on there to put in things like that so it just thinks I gained XX pounds in 8 months. Amazingly I was still in the normal range for the BMI but it did tell me I hadn't reached my goal and needed to try to work out more to help me lower it. I told Eric I was going to get on it right before we go to the hospital then do it when I get home and see what it says about losing 20+ pounds in 2 days. It should be pretty funny. Only a few more weeks to go.

Happy New Year!

Where did 2008 go? This past year just flew by. I can only imagine how fast time is going to fly with a new baby in the house. Landon's personality has just blossomed this past year as his language has grown (as has his temper.) It's so much easier now that he can tell you what he wants - or tell us yes or no to what we ask if it's something he doesn't know the words for. The boys have been bouncing off the walls with all the Christmas activities so there has been a lot of correcting going on around here. Landon picked up on it - and now if Connor doesn't answer him fast enough he will call "Connor Matthew" instead. He's also picked up on one of the boys bad habits. He was in his room the other night and Eric called him - he used to come as soon as you would call his name. Instead all we heard from his room was "What?". I looked at Eric and we both busted out laughing. We did manage to stop long enough to tell him he needs to say Sir instead but at the same time it was neat to hear him do something so normal for kids. I'm not sure the other boys are happy about his expanding language. He's now able to come tell us if something happens (like they take a toy away) and which brother did it.

It seems he's finally growing into his "ears" too which is making life a lot easier. He now wears the full BTE setup (processor and controller) all on his ears. It's a lot easier not having all the wires and controllers on his back like we used to. We have also switched to using the snugfit that came with his start up kit. Initially it made the ear piece too big to stay on so we had switched to the mic lock tubing and toupee tape. Now we don't even have to use the toupee tape. They stay on pretty much all day by themselves with the snugfit.

Now that Christmas is over we are trying to get the baby's room finished and get everything we need for her arrival. We are assuming she'll probably make an early appearance - Connor was at 39 weeks and Garrett and Landon were both during my 38th week. Which would mean there is only 8 more weeks to go - scary thought. The older two boys are excited - they love feeling her kick. Landon still doesn't have a clue what's going on - but neither did the other two when they were his age. The other night he was laying with me and must have pushed too hard on the side of my belly and she gave him a big kick. He sat up, put his hand on my stomach and said "Uh-oh" 2 or 3 times. When he layed back down he made sure he wasn't laying up against my stomach - guess he didn't want to get kicked again :)

This is the picture that Eric wanted me to use for our Christmas card. It pretty much sums up the three boys. Of course the picture right before this explains it all.

(Connor picking on Landon just before Landon got him back.)