Moving forward....FINALLY!

For so very long, it felt like we were stuck in a rut with our little man. By the time March rolled around, the isolation of "winter quarantine" was getting very old, behavior issues seemed to be getting worse and new words were not appearing very often. I realize, in retrospect, that I was feeling very withdrawn from the world. Play dates were few and far between and I found myself not wanting to take Noah anywhere at all. I was too afraid of him getting sick or getting so out of control with his behavior that we'd have to leave anyway. Either way, it was a rough time.

Then April came with ear tubes and the behavior analyst. And things started to change....finally! Noah sailed through the little surgery to place the tubes and was making new sounds and attempting new words and hearing all kinds of new things immediately. The second night after the tubes were in, he had a rough night and had not slept well at all. I was sitting on the couch with him early in the morning and he suddenly sat straight up, with a very perplexed look on his face, and asked, "choo choo?" He had heard the train whistle that we hear off in the distance in the early mornings! I don't think he's ever heard it before. I could go on and on with examples of all the things he's hearing now that he never heard before and the adorable and SPONTANEOUS speech that is erupting out of him every day.

The week after he got his tubes, we were able to start treatment sessions with a behavior analyst who had been to our home three times in February assessing him, his behaviors and our family dynamic. I must admit, it was really hard for us to ask for help and be vulnerable enough to allow someone into our home (think "Super Nanny" with less drama) and observe what was really going on. I don't know why, but it almost felt shameful that we needed help, like we had failed him. But, only a few weeks in, I am more grateful than ever that these services are being provided for us and am truly amazed at the difference. Not only are his speech and behavior so much better already, but he has been really healthy! He was at Caleb's birthday party a couple weeks ago, and although he was overstimulated with all the noise and kids, he didn't get sick!

It is amazing to finally be seeing big progress and feel like we can take a deep breath and ENJOY the gifts both of our boys really are!

Random cuteness!

I decided to do a little post with some cute shots of the boys I've gotten recently. It's been a fun spring so far!

First year of playing baseball

Fearless climber.

Silly boys

All my boys on the beach.

Fun at the beach.

Reading the Easter story on Easter morning. So sweet.

Family movie night on the couch.

A little dazed when he woke up from his nap on surgery day!

Lavender

I absolutely LOVE lavender so I decided to use it as a theme for a bridal shower I threw last weekend, conveniently for one of my besties who also loves lavender.  I didn't end up doing a whole lot in the way of decor since I was in a car accident the week before the shower and had to just focus on getting the food made and house cleaned. But, the main focus of the decor was very simple but really pretty!

(this isn't a good picture at all and I didn't think to take it until after we had eaten)

I found 3 packs of lavender plants at Costco for a crazy good deal and took some burlap I already had to wrap the plastic tubs they came in and tied them with a pretty bow. So simple, but really cute I thought! Someone asked me if I had found the idea on Pinterest and I was very excited to say NO! I came up with it myself (which is no small thing for this craft-challenged red head). So, I'm going to pin my idea!

Even though it's still a LOT of work, I enjoyed keeping it all simple.  Simple decor and simple food but still felt a little elegant. :)

Something tangible

Although Noah has been sick quite a bit this winter, it has been much, much better than last year. This year we are dealing with more of the fall out of him having been so sick in terms of his speech and behavior issues. He has been in speech therapy now for about 7 months and while he has made some progress, the gap between his chronological age and his expressive speech continues to grow, as does his level of frustration. When I met with his case worker from the regional center and a speech therapist from the school district a couple weeks ago, the speech therapist asked a lot of questions about his ears and hearing. His hearing was tested a year ago and we happened to catch him during a very small window of time that he had no fluid in his ears and his middle ear function was fine and there was no indication of neurological hearing loss. While that was all good news, I was warned that when he does have an ear infection, he does not hear well because of the fluid behind his ear drum and that was most likely the cause of his speech delay. Because we were in the midst of so many other appointments for him and trying to get answers on many fronts, I did not spend a lot of time thinking or worrying about his ears specifically.

This winter rolled around and our main problem has been ear infection after ear infection.....and a growing gap in his speech. So, we decided to go and see our ENT to have him evaluated again and discuss options. We have been blessed with a really good ENT who is very thorough and explains things thoroughly enough to satisfy this inquisitive mama. He explained that Noah has not had a series of ear infections, rather he has had one long one that has not cleared up in six months. During the last six months, he estimated that he has only been hearing 60-70% of normal. His middle ear function is VERY poor and he has a lot of fluid behind both ear drums. He went on to explain the purpose for tubes, most of which I already knew except for ONE key thing. For the general population, that does not have and immune system deficiency, tubes have been shown to reduce ear infections by 90%.  It most likely won't be that high for Noah because of his illness. However, (and here is the key thing I never realized), when he does get an infection, because there is a tube keeping things open, antibiotic drops can be delivered directly to the infection bypassing he need for them to run through the whole body AND they are 400-500% more potent that system meds. I have no idea why that never occurred to me before, but I'm really glad to know that.  The doctor was also very encouraging in that he seems to think that within a year, his speech should catch up to normal as long as the tubes work properly! The even better news is that the ENT's office has their own surgery center which will bypass the need to have the surgery at the hospital, which is one place you really, really don't want to take a kid with an immune deficiency.

Even though it will require minor surgery that is not without risk, John and I both feel like the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. I can't really explain how good it makes me feel to know there is something tangible, something very clear cut  that we can try to help our little guy overcome one of his many obstacles. And in the meantime, I am having to show myself grace because the mommy-guilt is wanting to set in and remind me that I "should" have moved forward with this last year and maybe we could have avoided some of this mess. But, I am choosing to focus on the fact that we honestly do the best we can do with the information we have at any given time and now there IS something in reach that we can do to help him! And it's as simple as ear tubes!

Finally conquered ranch dressing!

Ok, I realize that sounds like a really silly title, but ranch dressing is something I have tried many times over the years to make from scratch and just never found a recipe that I like. It was always too tangy, too sweet, too runny or too thick. I decided to give it another shot today and tweaked a recipe I found online, added a few things and voi-la! Ranch dressing from scratch the whole family loves!

Ranch Dressing

1/3 c. mayo

1/4 c. buttermilk

1/4 c. plain yogurt

1/2 tsp dried dill

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp (or a little less) salt

1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder

fresh cracked pepper to taste

Whisk all the ingredients together and store in the fridge in a sealed glass jar.

The next thing I am going to look into making from scratch is mayonaise. I'm not a big mayo person, but all my boys like it. I read the ingredients on Kraft mayo today and.....ick!!! The first ingredient in every mayo I looked at is soybean oil. Since we are moving towards being a completely soy-free house (I'm becoming rather anti-GMO foods and soy is a huge one), I'm looking into alternatives. I found a safflower oil mayo today that I decided to buy, but it still has some soybean oil in it. So, if anyone out there has any pointers on homemade mayo, send 'em my way!

A boy and his daddy

In Caleb's class, one of their daily writing exercises is a journal. The teacher starts them off with a few words and then they write two pages. When I read through his February journal, one entry absolutely. melted. my. heart. I just had to share it....in his original spelling.

February 9, 2012

I want to be like my dad. He is smart. I help him make stuf out of would (wood). We make boes (bows) and erose (arrows) together and sleinge shotes (sling shots) and we go camping together.

Of course, in ginormous first grade writing, that took up both sides of his journal page for the day. I absolutely love reading his journal and seeing how his work has progressed over the past year.  I look forward to looking back at some of his work in a few years. And I think I might just pull the sweet things like this out if (or maybe I should say when) he goes through an ugly teenager phase. 

Make-my-own recipes

This past year, I have started making almost all of my household cleaners. I've been doing it in part to save money but also to have chemical and toxin free cleaners in my home. There are many great "green" and "safe" products out there, but they are much more expensive that making my own!  I wrote a previous post on my laundry detergent and baby wipes so but I really wanted to put my picture on here so I can pin these ideas on Pintrest! I know, I know, total geek!

Laundry Detergent

1 c. Borax

1 c. Super Washing Soda

1 bar Ivory soap, grated

I have been using this for all of my laundry and love it!

Here's another recipe I've been using and LOVING. It's an all purpose spray cleaner that I use on counters, tables, for a quick spill on the tile, etc.

All-Purpose Spray

2 tsp Borax

1 tsp Dr. Bronner's castille soap

Dissolve and gently shake in a 32 ounce spray bottle. 

6 months ago, I bought a 32 ounce bottle of Dr. Bronner's lavender castille soap for about $15.  It's super concentrated and you only need tiny amounts for cleaners. I also use it diluted way down to refill my foaming hand soap dispensers (about 1 ounce of soap to 6-8 ounces of water). Each bottle of the Method  foaming hand soap I was using costs $2.70 (on sale), so getting 25 refills and a whole gaggle of other cleaners out of a $15 bottle of soap saves a LOT of money and a LOT of plastic! 

By way of a disclaimer, I was turned onto Bronner's soap from perusing over on younghouselove.com. Check it out sometime...it's a GREAT site for household projects, decor, cleaning, organizing, etc.