ENT, Neuro, and First Christmas Gifts!

This last week was another busy one. We had Johnathan's ENT appointment Thursday a.m. and Annabel's Neuro appointment Thursday p.m. and Early On on Friday. Johnathan's ENT appointment went well. I had a very proud moment when Johnathan was able to stand on the big kid scale to get weighed - something many moms don't even think about but for our little man to get to that point, what an awesome site to see! The doctors are very happy with where he is developmentally and that he hasn't had any ear infections. The doctor did offer some extra speech therapy which we are going to participate in and we did discuss further seeing a geneticist to completely rule out any genetic factors causing Johnathan's hearing loss. Both B.J. and I firmly believe that his loss is due to the meds he was on and the oxygen requirements he had while in the NICU but because some of the potential genetic issues (affecting other organs, causing further hearing loss, growth issues) we want to know for sure. We do not have our appointment set up yet but we request that everyone please pray that Johnathan's hearing loss is due to his requirements in the NICU and nothing more. Annabel's Neuro appointment went very well also. Dr. Maher measured her head and it is continuing to grow, very nicely on the curve. So the plan is to return in June with another MRI scheduled.

This week Mady has started to say ball and bath and is talking non-stop! Annabel and Johnathan have started in more again too, mostly ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba, and lots of babbling. They get going with each other and it's quite cute! Especially when we come in their room and Johnathan and Mady are standing up in their cribs talking to each other. Mady has also started playing ball, throwing it and rolling it back to you, I love that they're getting more interactive with us! Below are some pictures of the babies in their Holden NICU shirts. I remember thinking how big they were when we bought them and they're already wearing them!

This past week B.J. and I were able to meet our best friends Eric and Dani for dinner to exchange Christmas gifts for our kids. The trio opened theirs the other day and all three were in to wrapping paper, not really the gift yet but at least tearing the paper. What a difference a year makes! On Friday Nana Chris and her husband Dennis came to watch the babies for a couple of hours as our Christmas gift while we went out to dinner with my cousin Renee and her boyfriend who was in town for the weekend. Today I was able to meet Laura, my on-line friend who also has a son named Jonathan who was a former 25-weeker. We have chatted for hours at a time over the phone so it was great to finally meet in person! So overall it was a great week!