Noah can hear

It's a shame we had to go to an audiologist to find out for sure, but our little biscuit can hear. In case you didn't know, Noah failed his infant hearing screening. The doctor wasn't alarmed because a lot of infants fail the screening and end up with no hearing problems. However, since Noah is a man of few words so far, we brought it up at his 1 yr. checkup and we were referred for an audiologist. The main fear was more that there is a strong maternal history of male hearing problems than a true fear on our part that Noah can't hear us.

He passed the spoken voice localization test easily. He did not respond to the 2 tones she played but she said that was common in toddlers to fail to localize to sounds other than their name or whatnot. So we'll have to go again at some point in the future to make sure he is hearing all pitches and tones but he should have no problems hearing our voices and learning to talk.

Delayed again

The biopsy has been postponed again. Apparently the multi-million dollar machine that reduces recovery time and blah, blah, blah still has been unable to get up and running. They were hit by lightning on Monday and the software on the system is still acting funny.

Jenna talked to the doctor yesterday who of course was apologetic. Jenna felt good after talking to her but all I can say is it's a good thing I didn't take the call. She said she understands the anxiety we feel and blah, blah, blah. I don't know how you can say the word 'cancer' to someone and then keep pushing the biopsy back and 'understand what your family is going through.' If this wasn't Noah's page, I'd have much more colorful language.

They are not rescheduling per se at this moment. The 'moment' it is working they are going to call Jenna and schedule her at the first opportunity even if it is late or on the weekend. I have decided if we don't hear from them by tomorrow afternoon then we are finding a doctor in Little Rock and going.

I'll update you guys as soon as we know something else. I know you all have anxiety about this as well and I'm sorry for the lack of information. If we could have forseen this, we'd probably kept it to ourselves until we knew something concrete.

I'll post the new time or the results soon...well hopefully soon.

one year check up

Well we went to the doctor yesterday for Noah's one year check up (A little overdue due to illness, etc.) We talked to her about the fact that Noah had never had a formal passed hearing test. She agreed that we need to make sure he can hear at all levels. Don't know how much everyone knows or doesn't know about audiology, but there are all different levels of hearing. Chad and I were just a little concerned because his language seems to be coming along a little slowly. That is the down side over having a school psychology specialist and occupational therapist as your parents. We worry over the little things. Anyway, we are going to the audiologist next Monday. He still only weighs 18.6 pounds and has not gained back the weight he lost during that terrible virus. We have since added some strawberry syrup to his whole milk to try to get him to drink it. He loves it now!! After he gets used to that texture, I will back off the syrup slowly. That whole milk should give him an extra boost of calories. He got his shots and appeared to hate being held down more than that actual needle...not surprising for our Noah!

We just got back from Texarkana. He had a blast running all over my parents' house. He seemed to think it was a castle and enjoyed being chased. Oh, and the stairs fascinated him too. Mom came home with us and I think Noah is really beginning to know his grandparents. This is the first trip where he has not clung to me! I think Donnie and Rosalyn's visit helped since it was right before Texarkana. We have some time scheduled this summer for him to stay with his Magga also.

A brief update on me...my appointment for my biopsy was changed until this Thursday due to technological difficulties. Please keep me in your prayers. Also, if you would keep my friends who lost their infant son last week to SIDS in your prayers, that would be good.

Our Noah is growing and learning every day. His Granda asked for a kiss today and he gave her a big open mouth right on her lips! It was so cute. Chad chases him around the kitchen table and Noah squeals in delight and runs as fast as those peanut legs will take him. He is so much fun. Every day hold a new joy as his mother!

Noah has tricks!!!

I know that's a weird title but we have had a lot of funny moments watching Noah and Hayden develop side by side. Noah has a real interest in toys and tries to figure out how things work and Hayden is just a ham that imitates everything you do. Each of us looks at the others' kid and say "I wish would do that?"

Well Noah now has some tricks as well. Yesterday he unveiled 2 tricks to his Mom and Dad. First, after 2-3 weeks of us playing patty cake ad nauseum he started to clap yesterday when he did something good. Then last night at dinner with Mamaw and Papaw, he dropped his sippy cup and said "Uh-Oh" Jenna and I squealed with delight and clapped. Of course he clapped back :)

I think Mamaw and Papaw think we're crazy.

Rough week

Well as some of you know, we have had a week similar to what the Navy SEALS go through in their first week. FYI they call it 'Hell Week.'
Sunday night Noah was a little fussy. Jenna got up with him and he was running a fever about 102. The next morning he was still fussy and was super duper drooling. We thought he was finally cutting more teeth. Anything over 100-101 in the fever dept is an automatic stay home from the sitters so I stayed home with him. As the day went on he became more and more fussy. When Jenna got home she was unable to console him either. So at 6:30 we decided maybe this was more serious than teething so we went to the MediServ afterhours clinic. The doctor looked in his mouth and did a strep test which was negative. Then they took blood. That was a nightmare. During all of this Noah is just screaming and screaming. She told us it was probably some virus and to alternate Ibuprofen/Tylenol til morning. If he doesn't improve by tomorrow then take him to the pediatrician.
Well at 11 that night it started to escalate. I went to bed and Jenna was taking the first shift. At 12 or so she came to get me in tears. Noah was in terrible pain. I won't go into specifics but it was terrible. I immediately threw on clothes and we went to the emergency room. He screamed and bucked and thrashed in his car seat the entire way. Once there he calmed down when he heard another hid screaming. A nurse almost immediately took us back and looked in his mouth and said 'Thrush.' So he had calmed down and we had a prelim diagnosis. We also had the medicine used to treat Thrush back at the house so instead of being bumped down the triage list and spending the night at the emergency room we went home. He never again was as bad as he was at midnight but it was still a long night.
The next day I went to work and Jenna stayed home. As the day went on we talked to each other and decided we thought it was more than thrush. Everything you read about thrush says mild to moderate discomfort. This was so far beyond moderate discomfort its not remotely funny. So we got an appointment with the pediatrician.
He looked Noah over and said he looks okay but then he got to the mouth and then he said, "That's not thrush." He showed us the red area in the roof of his mouth that we had seen. He said that looked like blisters that were beginning to heal. He said it looked like a strain of the coxsackievirus family. Hand, foot, mouth is in this family. We think he had the virus called "Herpangina."
On Monday night at the emergency room they must have been at their pinnacle and were weeping into his mouth and the acidic nature of the fluid made him have to swallow, but swallowing must have been unspeakably painful. The bad news is its viral so it has had to run its course. The good news is there really wasn't anything we could have done differently so we don't have to deal with guilt or anything.
Last night was the first night he has done much better. We have a mouth rinse of liquid Benadryl, Maalox, and Lydacaine that makes his whole mouth numb. Its funny to watch him after we give it to him because he sticks his tongue out and moves it around. He even put in a pacifier last night upside down and if you know Noah you know he will not tolerate an upside down paci.
He's doing much better now but I thought everyone would like to know the week he's had. Poor kid. He's even lost 2 pounds from the dehydration and lack of food. He's on the mend now but keep him in your prayers a little bit longer.

Happy Birthday Noah!!!!!

Today's the day. One year ago today Jenna and I went to the hospital to meet our son. I know everyone says its a day you'll remember forever but I have found that not to be true. I remember the order of most of the events but there is plenty that is foggy and hazy. What I will always remember will be that moment. The moment under the warmer when Noah and I looked into each other's eyes. It was the same look I shared exactly 813 days before that one. That was the day when his mother and I were taken to a small room in a church and we were given a few minutes alone right before our wedding. We never spoke. We just looked each other in the eyes. I was always told that you show people how much you love them by your actions. I respectfully disagree. Big love. Profound love. True love is communicated with the eyes.

Noah, if you ever want to know how much I love you, just come on over and look me in the eyes. It will tell you all you ever need to know. Happy birthday son. I love you.

Baptism

Noah's baptism was this morning at First United Methodist Church in Springdale. A lot of the family who came up for the party yesterday were able to stay and make it to his big day.

He did well for the most part. In fact he did great the entire time up until the moment we went up to the altar. Then he became transfixed with the floor pattern and wanted down. While the pastor went through the vows Jenna and I took he was a big wiggleworm. It was like trying to hold onto a greased cricket. Finally I gave him to his Momma and that may have been a mistake. You can take him from Daddy but you better not take him from Momma. She tried to give him to the pastor and he started to scream and kick his legs. It was actually pretty funny. So Jenna held him and took him to the water. Reverend Skarta let him put his hands in the water and that calmed him down. Jenna held him while they baptized him into Jesus' fold. Then Daddy took his grumpy butt to the nursery :)

Afterwards we all went to Cavanaugh's Pizza for lunch. It was a great day and weekend. We don't get to see our family near as often as we'd like and to have them all here this weekend was something not soon to be forgotten.

Birthday Party

We had Noah's birthday party yesterday. We are so thankful for all the great stuff he got and all the friends and family who could make to share the big day. I'll put posts up in a few days after I have time to digest everything.

Noah was in a great mood and really liked all the kids helping him out. Jana, Madison, and Mackenzie were all a big help with getting all the paper off those presents. Of course Jackson was a big help also by being the kid who actually listened to his parents :) Of course the biggest hit during the presents was all the paper and the boxes around. He would laugh and spin with tissue paper in his hand. Then he got a Dora book and he was all about that. I think he has his first crush. The insecure male in me keeps pushing him to Diego, but he just really likes Dora. He got a lot of cool stuff to play with and some nice clothes (including a Derek Jeter jersey). Jenna's been worried about clothes because he's hit a big growth spurt the past few weeks and has outgrown a ton of stuff almost instanteously.

The cake was also a big hit. I figured with his genetic makeup he would be a ham for attention but this was the first time he's had such a big audience. Not to worry, he knew how to have the stage. He started off not sure what to do with the cake. After a few tests with his finger and Daddy showing him it was food he planted his face in it to take a bite. Of course the 20 people there laughed and laughed. Then the light bulb came on over his head. He started to put his face in the cake and then come up just to make everyone laugh. He wasn't even taking a bite anymore. He just kept planting his face in the cake and come up giggling looking at all of his audience. When the laughs started to die he started to eat the cake and boy what a mess he can make. He didn't get it all in his hair like a lot of kiddos I've seen but he did manage to get it in places I didn't know the high chair had.

After cake we grilled bratwursts and hot dogs while the kids played in the yard. Noah's favorite toy so far has been his Spider-Man & Friends 4 wheeler thing. He likes you to push him while he pushes the horn and laughs. He also is showing a favorite superhero in the Incredible Hulk figure on it. I keep 'suggesting' the Wolverine one is cooler but he likes the Hulk. Oh well. As long as he's not a Red Sox fan :)

Aunt Holly stayed with us that night and got him down to bed. I think he was pretty pooped from all the excite not to mention the sugar.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make Noah's day so special. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.

Big Weekend

Noah finally did it! He took many steps all at once and never even realized he did it. He was standing up holding on to my leg and I handed him his sippy cup and he grabbed it with both hands. Then he took off walking. Since then he has walked several times, but seven steps has been the most. He tries to take off, but then falls to his knees. I guess he figures that is quicker.

This weekend Noah also went to a birthday party for his friend from Mrs. Susan's. Jack, his friend, turned three. Noah had so much fun watching all the other kiddos. He wanted to play too. Susan's little girl who is 5 or 6 loves Noah and she put Noah in her lap and slid down the slide. They had one of those bouncey houses and he loved letting the kids bounce him around. He also rode all around the yard in one of those big tonka battery powered trucks. He laughed out loud. We ate cake and ice cream to practice for his birthday weekend, then headed home. The little boy was tuckered out.

On Sunday, we went to church and then Noah watched Chad and I work in the yard. We got a little tired and so Noah and I took a break in the kitchen floor and shared some grapes. He is like a little bird...always has his mouth open wanted to know what you can put in it. He thinks grapes are good!!

Today it was back to the working world. I missed him so much. I can hardly wait until summer with him. He is just so entertaining. Five more weeks....

our little noah

Oh my goodness. I just get chills now thinking of my little noah. I am really having a difficult time dropping him at Mrs. Susan's right now, cause she is getting to have all the fun with him. He is so cool right now. I could watch him for a solid hour playing and seeing how his little mind is working. He is quite the explorer and is full of curiosity. His little mind is always working and he often seems to be plotting!! We are so excited about all of our family who is coming for his first birthday party. You will not believe how he has grown in only a month.

So what major milestones happened this week at 11 1/2 months???? Well, little noah is just too chicken to walk all alone. He walks with just mine or Chad's pinky finger and appears to have good balance. He is also squatting up and down without holding on. So Tuesday night (4/24/), Chad and I were playing hard with him in the floor with his Diego ball that his Magga gave him. Master Noah finally decided to take three steps trying to reach for that darn ball his daddy was holding just out of his reach. Chad and I held our breath and then shared a big cheer. However, we have had difficulty reproducing this action. Stay tuned....I am sure he will be running soon.

Also, I had Noah up at my school last week and was talking with the speech pathologist about that crazy 'groooo' sound Noah makes. She said, "Stop worrying!! It feels good to him and he is just having fun." I also mentioned to her that 'dada' is his favorite word and I cannot get the M sound out of him. She picked him up and held him close to her mouth and made the m sound repeatedly. Then she grabbed his lips and held them together while she made the m sound and at the end she let his lips go. This is hard to explain, but it basically forced him to form the m with his lips. The very next day when I picked him up and was getting him snug in his seat, he said, "mamamama". I was so proud and told Ms. Teresa she was a genius. He has been 'mamamama' ever since.

It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend. I am looking foward to hanging out with my two favorite men!! Hope everyone reading is doing well!!

It's 10:30 Friday night and I just got home from work. Noah was running a fever today so I went and picked him up at 2 or so. Then we went grocery shopping and came home to rest. When Jenna got home she took over for Noah and I let the dogs in. It was quite the chore since we've had rain all day long. Anyways, after dinner I went to the office to do my billing and wrap up 1st quarter stuff.

I think Noah's fine. He's woken up a lot the past 2 nights and is extra slobbery so its probably a tooth. It's about time since he still only has the 2 bottom chompers he got at Christmas.

He's just about to walk. He will stand for several seconds, he'll push his little cart all over the place and he'll walk with you just holding one hand. He just won't take that step. He actually took 1 step about 2 weeks ago but the way he had his momentum go directly into a crawl it just seemed more like a prolonged squat.

It's also official that his first word is "DaDa." Jenna and I have noticed that he really says it to me and not just saying it. She said the clincher was the other day in her office when she had Noah up there and he saw a picture of me and squealed and went "DaDa." She said there was no doubt he was telling her that "DaDa" was in that picture. I'll have to say he is more of a Momma's boy than a Daddy's boy but I feel like Jerry Seinfeld with him. Nothing can make him laugh like his "DaDa." We've really had a good week the two of us. Jenna had parent/teacher conferences this week (I know its crazy loco that she has to stay at work for those since she's not a teacher. Take it up with administration.) so I picked him up from the sitter 4 days this week. We go to the library, Wal-Mart, and his favorite-Barnes-N-Noble. He loves the bookstore because I'll put him on the floor and give him a magazine subscription card. That will entertain him for about 20 minutes right there. The rest of the time he just likes to watch the kids in the children's book section.

Anyways the Yankees are on the West Coast tonight and are in the 5th inning so I'm gonna kick back a few cold ones and watch the game.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody. We went to church this morning and Noah looked awfully cute. Of course, for the second week in a row he fell asleep on the way there and pretty much slept til church was practically over. I told him he better enjoy that while he can because after a certain age this loses its endearing quality.

My big news today is that I finally got to eat fried foods again. I gave up fried food for Lent and hadn't had wings, potato chips, french fries, or anything good to eat :) in over 40 days. Well today after church we went to Foghorn's for lunch. It was kind of comical. I wouldn't exactly call Foghorn's seedy but it's definitely not what you expect from people fresh from Easter Service. They had to go to the storeroom to get a highchair if that says anything. Anyway's we had a trayful of Hot Buffalo, Spicy Garlic, and Cayenne Ranch wings that were DEEP FRIED. Of course my stomach has hurt all afternoon from not being used to digesting this sort of food but it was SOOOOOOO worth it.

Daddy got broken toe

Last night I tried unsuccessfully to kick a towel from the bedroom floor into the bathroom. I was unsuccessful because the bedpost got in the way and stopped me by my pinkie toe. Here's a pic.


UPDATE
I showed a nurse at school yesterday and she doesn't think I broke my toe or at least have only a broken toe. She thinks I dislocated it. She said that the way I felt a pop and grinding of bone when I grabbed my foot when I first did it was clue #1 and the fact that all the swelling and bruising seems to center on the IP joint but the joint feels intact was clue #2. It's possible the toe also has a fracture but the most priceless moment was when she said "Why did you kick it so hard?" I asked her "Do you think I meant to kick it at all?" "I don't know...did you?"

toe

Daddy and Biscuit at Lowe's

Noah and I went to Lowe's the other day and I took a couple of vids on my phone because they are just too cute for words. Thought you'd enjoy them.

UPDATE-Magga just told me tonight that her work doesn't support many newer video formats so she was unable to share these the other night at work. So I just converted them. Click the format you want.

Quicktime
Video 1
Video 2

Windows Media Player
Video 1
Video 2

3rd times the charm

Okay I think this is the 3rd time I've promised more posts and this time I mean it :)

I'm at lunch and the guilt looking at this page when it pops up as my homepage has finally gotten to me. I'm going to catch everyone up on our lives and then do my best to start keeping you up to date. One thing I won't do is foretell future events of our plans. I read an internet security article about personal blogs and in all honesty it doesn't make since to tell people you're going to be out of town on x-day through y-day when you have no idea who will be reading.

So here goes:
-We've been to south Arkansas 3 times in the past month or so. By far the most since we've been married. 2 visits were for fun and 1 was anything but. The good news is Noah got to spend some time with cousin Jana, see all of his kinfolks, and especially (since it doesn't happen much) got to hang out with Aunt Holly/Uncle Bill and Uncle Jared on separate occassions.
-Jenna and Noah went to Texarkana for the first part of Spring Break and I was the bachelor up in NWA. I was single a long time and lived by myself for a long time as well. I think this is the first time I ever 'felt' lonely in my life. I've been lucky enough to have always had a lot of friends and this time I used them. Whenever someone called I'd say things like, "What are doing right now," "Want to go ______," or the one that never fails "Let me buy you a beer." It was terrible.
-Noah had his 9 month portraits and they are very cute. Look for yours and I hope to post them soon on the picture site.
-Noah has become very needy when it comes to being in the room with him. I think he's waking up lonely. You can put him in his crib but he will really fight sleep. We always thought he fought sleep but he has taken it to a whole new level. He'll sit there fine and play in his crib but the moment you walk out the door it sounds like Jurassic Park is playing in his room.
-The Green's came over Saturday night and Noah and Hayden played together. The best part was when they talked to each other. It was like a poorly sung rendition of the immortal sang, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" played over and over. It was quite comical.
-Jenna's back has really been acting up lately. Really ever since the pregnancy she's had random shooting pain down her leg but it has gotten worse as Noah's gotten bigger. She's currently going to therapy and a chiropractor.
-Over Spring Break Jenna called me at work one day and told me something I never thought I'd hear her say.
Jenna-"I just bought something off TV."
Chad-"Huh?"
Jenna-"You know like those paid shows that let you order stuff."
Chad-"An infomercial?"
Jenna-"Yeah."
Chad-"Huh."
It just goes to show you what you'll do when a child is sleeping and your trying to be quiet and can't find the remote. It kind of makes me nervous about this summer.

The funny story

Well here is the funny story Jenna aluded to in her previous post.

I generally give Noah his bath and most of the time I get in with him but Sunday night I put him in the guest tub and sat on the floor next to him while he played with his rubber duckies.

Jenna let the dogs in at this time and of course all 3 want in the bathroom at the same time for some attention. Noah was just babbling and splashing along while I pet the dogs enough to tide them over and shooed them out of the bathroom. I turned back around and Noah lets out a little squeal of delight.

It was at this time that I notice the brown color of the water. Strange, the lakes here turned over weeks ago and how could I have missed the water color when I was drawing the bath. Then I notice the floating things in the water. It still took a second to dawn on me what had happened. I screamed for Jenna with no response. I did the only thing I could think of and picked him up. Well I couldn't put him against me so I look like Mr. Mom running down the hallway with Noah at arms length. The entire trip he was cackling like a witch in Hamlet. We burst into the other bathroom and I put him in the empty tub.

I heard, "Excuse me..." from the side and realized Jenna was looking at us like we had gotten pink tattoos of a scorpion on our foreheads. I told her, "Noah pooped the bath," although if you really know me you know what I actually said. She looked at me like I had just won the award for the biggest overreaction in parental history. I said I'm moving the bath in here, you go clean it up. She still had a smirk on her face as she walked down the hallway. When I heard her scream "Oh my God!!!!!" I began to laugh. Then Noah started to laugh. I turned on some water and held him at arm's length until it was warm enough. I heard her calling her mother and saying "Can I just let the water out...I'm not a bath expert!!!!!" I started to laugh again as Noah splashed in the water. He looked up at me with a smile that took up half his face and said "DaDaDaDaDa!!!"

Momma's Birthday Celebration

This weekend we went to El Dorado. Magga (Gail) called Chad on Wednesday and said, "I know it is late notice, but we were thinking since it is Jenna's birthday and Melissa's birthday, you guys could come down and we could have a birthday celebration with cake and ice cream. Wouldn't that be fun?" So Chad calls me and presents the proposal and I respond with, "AKA...come to El Dorado. We miss Noah!" Ha : ) Chad and I ain't no pair of dummies! We don't mind though; we love showing off our little Noah. We arrived late in ElDo and had to leave earlyish on Sunday so it was sort of a short trip. We had a great time, though. On Sat. Chad played golf with his dad and Noah and I hung out with Magga. I even managed to squeak in a nice afternoon nap. Melissa and I had our party and all the fam came over and sang to us. The cake was yummy and as Jana says it's good cause "Ms. Susan made it!" We ended our evening at Melissa and Jay's and Chad and I got our yearly fix of crawfish in. That great cajun spice made that five hour drive worth. Man, can my husband and I put away some crawfish. I did not look so lady like digging in!! Noah has a lot to live up to! It was a nice weekend!! Chad has a funny story with how our weekend ended with a bang! I will leave the comic relief to him. Thanks Gail for a fun weekend....love you!!

Home sick

I'm home with Noah this morning. Susan called about 9 and said he was running a fever. This morning he woke up with a green snotty nose but he acted fine so it didn't even occur to us to check his temp. When I picked him up I could tell he didn't feel good because he put his head on my shoulder and was...STILL. Now that we're home we're laying on the bed watching Diego and he has not moved in 20 minutes. Poor thing.
Noah sick