to the moon.

my little astronaut... i think he is deciding whether or not he wants to go to the moon by the look on his face...

He decided to go as long as his favorite witch in the world goes with him!!

coming back soon... been SWAMPED with landon things and grad school!

freeze time.

i have been enjoying EVERY second with landon. he is so happy and very pleasant. he hardly cries. and since eight weeks has been sleeping between eleven to thirteen hours through the night without a single wake up for a feeding (i know that can stop at any point especially since i officially blogged about it and i may have jinxed myself)... at first i thought two months is the best time. but then he hit three months. and then i thought three months is the BEST time. but then he hit four months... OH MY! the laughing. the smiling. the cooing. and today, for the first time, he reached for me. i will admit it... i teared up watching that smile and outreached arms!

as happy and content as this little guy is, it is hard to believe everything he is going through and will be going through. he had an adjustment on his helmet today... his noggin is looking good so we are hoping to be in that second helmet sooner than planned! i can't believe he has been wearing it for a month now!  he wears it everywhere! we get a lot of stares... and little kids ask about it the most...at the mall today,  i had one little girl ask me what was on his head... i told her he had to wear a helmet so he can have a good looking head like hers... she seemed to understand and went on with her mom. tim likes hiding it under a hat. i prefer to just show it. i think him wearing a summer hat over his helmet looks kind of ridiculous. ha! i just keep thinking... this will all pay off at the end!

and finally landon was scheduled for surgery on december 11th... turns out, where he was having it done (a CHOP branch in Chalfont) wanted him to go to the city for the tubes. the anesthesiologist was concerned with the torticollis and plagiocephaly (helmet) and wanted to make sure there was a place we could incubate him (exact words!) in case any problems occurred. we moved the date up to November 6th... two weeks!! i am feeling a little nervous now especially since they changed our original plan. landon will be exactly five months when he gets tubes.

so i think i updated everyone on our little guy. he is such a blessing and as much as i want to freeze time at four months... i really wish i could get a quick glimpse ahead to make sure everything with him will turn out fine.

ENT update.

i meant to write this post sooner... but i was away all day yesterday and today with appointments for my little guy. we went to CHOP on thursday morning for a check up on the fluid in his ears. landon greeted Dr. J with a big smile as he walked in the door... however, that smile went away instantly when the doctor dug in those little ears with a couple tools to check them out. 

the results show that there is still a good amount of fluid in his ears. we discussed that it is important to get these ears cleared so we can reassess his hearing. we both agreed that language is going to be playing a big role in development soon. he will be doing surgery to remove the fluid and put tubes in when Landon is six months. so our date is set... December 11th... my little guy will be getting his first surgery. good news is thousands of babies get tubes every year... and the surgery only takes ten minutes! 

Dr. J said that we may see a difference in his hearing once the fluid is cleared. he told me a story about a four year old boy who got tubes and freaked out when he heard the sound of his own pee hitting the toilet. 

He also told me he took a good look at the audiology report. he explained that the left ear has moderate to normal hearing...(which is way better than what we were originally told)  and the right ear is moderate to severe. he doesn't seem worried about the left ear, but he did say he was concerned about the severity of loss in the right ear. so i keep praying and praying. i pray that fluid is the only thing causing this hearing loss. and that tubes will fix our whole problem. 

and as my sister-in-law says as she covers up one ear, "you don't need two ears to hear, I can hear fine with one." even if we have good hearing in one ear, i will be happy and feel very blessed... especially because of the report we got back in July.

and i'll leave you with a picture of my little guy.... i BLINGED his helmet!! 

are you listening?

three months ago, we were given the devastating news that landon has severe hearing loss. we were told both his ears were abnormal, but aidable. i was shocked. tim was shocked. our baby passed his right hearing test TWICE at the hospital... not once, but TWICE. and now the right ear has severe hearing loss? what happened to his hearing in six weeks?

two months ago, we went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor. he said there was fluid. but the fluid was not enough to cause the hearing loss we are seeing. he said we needed to wait for the fluid to drain so we can reassess his hearing and get a more accurate reading of his loss. he wanted to see us back again at 4 months... and that time is already now... we go on thursday to check the fluid in his ears. if there is still fluid... we are heading down the tube route...

every night before landon goes to bed... tim and i each bless his little ears. we pray that God will miraculously cure those ears and open them right up. we don't want to get our hopes up too high, but we think he is hearing better than we originally thought he did... he is startled and crying at loud noises. he turns his head when we shake a toy on his right or left side. he opens his eyes when we say his name during a bottle. he is cooing and talking constantly at different pitches. and i SWEAR he woke up from his nap this morning to the cat meowing her way up the steps...if we didn't get that hearing test done at six weeks, i would never even think he had any hearing loss... so we keep praying. we pray for those ears. for his torticollis. and now for his little noggin. he really had a rough start in this world... but he is such a happy, easy baby... you would never know it!

the day my baby stopped napping...

i am blessed. very, very blessed. you see, landon is  an amazing sleeper. (hence the severe flat spot on the right side of his head)...

tim and i decided when i was pregnant that landon would begin sleeping in his own crib in his own room the day we brought him home. maybe we are selfish... but we wanted our bedroom to stay our bedroom and not have a baby join us. i remember the first week of him being home was a bit of a transition... he was in my nice cozy belly and now he was put in this big crib... but we swaddled. and swaddled. and swaddled... and in no time, he was use to his room and crib.

tim and i also agreed to not get in the habit of having landon sleep on us. that was a very HARD decision. he was so precious with those adorable eyes closed, little lips, and soft breathing. but we would squeeze, kiss, and put him down in his pack and play or crib... some times putting him down asleep were easier than other times during the first month... but now he has no trouble being put down after falling asleep. or even put down awake.

he is a phenomenal napper but... something has happened to nap time. he has hit four months. he has decided that the world is much more fun than going to sleep. he wants to hang out in his exersaucer. he wants to play in his gym. he wants to lay on his blanket and watch the ceiling fan. his little eyes can be struggling to stay open and he is determined to find something to focus on to keep them open. and when he finally does fall asleep... the little guy is up a half an hour later. little stinker. he is such a nosey little bug and doesn't want to miss anything.

so i continue staying strong. i put him down when he shows signs of being tired. sometimes it takes 2 minutes... sometimes over an hour... but i am determined to get him down for naps so he can be rested and enjoy the day.  he needs his sleep... he goes from being my little happy june bug to a miserable bear if he misses a nap.

did your little one stop napping easily at a certain age?

still here...

oh my! i promise to get a post up soon... i have been busy making up graduate school work since i took a week vacation...ugh. double the work... i will hint that i have gained a few pounds since september, 21st... i'll update everyone on monday... until then. enjoy this happy, loving baby. i seriously can't get enough of him. i am so blessed.