Do You Hear What I Hear?

Last week I received a letter in the mail from the state saying that they have record that Tanner failed his newborn hearing test in his left ear.

I was already aware of this and was told that he still had a bunch of gunk in it from birth and they were going to do another one.

This was before his diagnosis of his heart condition.

After his surgery at CHLA, they did another hearing test and he passed. I remember it said in his discharge papers that they wanted him to come back for another hearing test.

I talked with our pediatrician about it and he said that it must have been a California state thing, and that he didn't need another one if he had already passed if we didn't want to. 

So at that point I chose to let it go and never thought another thing about it until I received this letter.

Between this time I had learned that medications that Tanner was on, as well as his extended ICU stay could have caused hearing loss. So I decided to do a follow up hearing test just to see.

We already know he can hear since he talks, mimics us and freaks out at really loud sounds. I wanted to make sure he didn't have any minor hearing loss that could affect anything and be able to do what we needed to do as early as possible to help him. And also for peace of mind.

We went and had his hearing test today.

The lady had me sit in this little room with Tanner on my lap. there were different things on the walls that made sound, lit up and moved to get his attention.

At one point of the test I was getting nervous. There were sounds that alternated on the left and right that sounded like crickets and applause. They were so quiet I could barely hear them, and I could see Tanner was not responding to them at all.

Once the test was done and the lady came and let us out of the room I mentioned that some of those were so quiet! She said that she actually turned those ones down even lower than she usually does because he was doing SO well with the rest of the test. Phew!

She did a couple other test by sticking some ear buds in his ears and we were done.

She said that he did so well, that she was actually a little impressed. 

She mentioned that she bet it was so nice to have boring results for once.

I couldn't agree more.

The Toddler Bed

Tanner has been climbing onto our bed and the couch for a very long time, but hasn't really tried anything else. 

That is until 2 days ago. 

I had my best friend over to do her nails. We were both agreeing how well Tanner was behaving since Kollin hadn't gotten home from work yet to help me with him. We both thought it was pretty funny that as soon as Kollin walked through the door is when Tanner turned into Mr. Hands and started getting into anything he could.

I glanced up at one point and saw that Tanner was on top of the coffee table! I asked Kollin if he for some reason put him up there since he was standing right by him. But he said Tanner just climbed up there by himself. NO WAY!

He then realized this new trick was pretty cool and he kept climbing on and off the thing for the next 10 minutes or so.

Later that same day Kollin and I were getting ready to head out somewhere. I was doing my hair in the bathroom and I looked over and Tanner was standing on the toilet (good thing we have a habit of keeping the lid down or he would have been all wet)! 

Kollin and I just looked at each other and mentioned that we're in trouble.

And then I found this when I went in to get him up from his nap today:

I texted the picture to Kollin with the message "ahhh crap...." He got back to me and agreed that "ahhh crap" is right!

We decided that since he is trying to climb out of his crib, it is time for a toddler bed. That way at least he wouldn't have as long as a drop if he fell.

We checked out a few different stores online and found this little beauty at Kids R Us.

It is so tiny and cute! We put my body pillow on the floor next to it in case he does roll out, and you can see that my pillow is almost as long as the bed. I guess we're just not used to teeny tiny furniture yet. 

We are planning to paint it the same color as the crib so they will match in case Tanner is still using this whenever another baby comes along.

Kollin didn't finish getting it put together until almost 10pm, so Tanner was already wired from still being awake so late.

I tried to keep our normal nap and bedtime routine: change diaper, get his dog and a bottle of water, snuggle him on the couch while watching some TV for about 5 or 10 minutes to let him relax and then take him to his room, put him in his crib, say "I love you," walk out and close the door.

He has done so well with his routine for so long, I can really only remember one bad night semi recently when we tried not letting him go to bed with a bottle. He cried for about an hour. I'm a wimp so the bottle is back, but it is now only water, no longer milk like it used to be and half the size that it was. So at least we're still making progress. Other that that? Perfect.

Until tonight. 

I put him down in bed, said "I love you," and left like I always have. Probably a few minutes later he started crying. 

I felt so bad to just let him cry (I told you I'm a wimp, right?) when he was probably a little freaked out at the new bed. So I went back in there, lied next to his bed and rubbed his back to try to see if he'd fall asleep. 

Of course not.

With Mommy in there, it was time to play!

So after about 20 minutes of trying to get him to calm down I realized I had to just suck it up and let him cry.

He cried for probably 30-40 minutes then went silent.

I waited another 30 minutes to make sure he was asleep before I went in there to check on him.

I could hear his little hic-uppy breathing from crying before I even got in his room and my heart broke. But I went in there and saw that he found his way back onto the bed and that is where he stayed. Yay!

We shall see what the next few nights hold while we all get used to this new piece of furniture.

Cousin Pictures 2012

It's that time of year again! When we get to get all five of these boys together and try to produce a decent picture! Britta took pictures of these cuties and I cannot wait to see the finished product!

These pictures are just the lame ones that Kollin and I took with my point and shoot and phone.

I can't believe they actually held still in a decent pose for longer than 2 seconds.

We tried for pictures on the stairs at first and they were super cute! Cept for when Tanner tried to step down by himself. Then we decided they were just a wee bit dangerous and moved to the grass.

 And of course we had to have wagon rides.

 This is my new most favorite picture in the whole wide world! Great shot Kollin!

 Ohhhh! These kids are just too cute.

 Taking a break to let out some wiggles.

 Mommies and the babies. In just a few months all of these pictures are going to be out of date. Since both Megan and Libby are pregnant!

Tanner had so much fun with Great Aunt Carler watching "vroom vrooms" (anything with wheels and a motor) went up and down the street.

WICKED!

I noticed a little while ago that "Wicked" was going to be coming to the Capitol Theater! I told Kollin about it and he was actually pretty excited to my surprise. We purchased tickets (which he thought were overpriced) and waited for the exciting day to arrive.

It was the same weekend of Heart Camp, which we thought was pretty funny. Get all gross and dirty at camp and the next day get all spiffy for the play.

I had already seen it once with my family and this was Kollin's first time.

We bought us each shirts and a coffee mug since mugs seem to be what we are collecting as a family. Just those three things were over $100. Talk about inflation!

The play was just as good as I remembered it. Laughing like crazy at some parts and tears streaming down my face at others.

Kollin was pretty hard to read though. I would look over at him to see if he was laughing or even smiling at certain parts. I think I caught just a crack of a smile only once or twice.

Luckily afterwards he said he really liked it and can't wait for it to come again. Whew!
But he still thought the tickets were overpriced.

Heart Camp 2012

This weekend we went to our first Intermountain Healing Hearts Heart Camp.

I have been so excited to go to this for months!

We got there in pretty good time and started to unpack our things to set up our tent. After Kollin got the tent all laid out, he realized that there were no tent poles! You would think how OCD we are that the poles would have been with the tent.

He figured out that a while ago he had taken them out of the bag with the tent to get to something else and forgot to put them back in. Woops!

So he drove back home to pick them up and hoped he would make it back to camp before the canyon got locked.

Luckily he was able to make it back with about an hour to spare and we were able to get everything set up pretty quick after that.

Tanner even liked "helping" Daddy set up the tent.

That night we had dinner, played bingo and minute to win it, and watched a movie.

I had put Tanner down to sleep before we went to bed and he did so well and went right down. But when Kollin and I went to bed he decided it was time to wake up and play.

At first we figured to let him wander around the tent and he'd go back to sleep when he felt like it. But he started throwing anything he could get his hands on at us. I would try to snuggle him in bed with us but he would just scream and cry and I didn't want him to wake up the entire camp. Eventually I just stuck him in between us, held him down and sang "5 Little Speckled Frogs" to him about 20 times before her finally went to sleep. I tried all lullabies that I knew and he didn't want to hear any of them, but "5 Little Speckled Frogs" worked. Who'd a thunk? 

Once he was asleep, he was out for the rest of the night. It was heaven!

It had rained pretty good that night and the next morning was beautiful.

I asked some of the other tent dwellers if they heard Tanner the night before and they said they really only heard that rain. Phew!

We had breakfast and started to clean up camp. 

This boy Porter just LOVED Tanner and took him on a ride in his wagon. He loved it.

Then the parents had a symposium with a couple of people from Primary's that gave us some great information about what is going on up there.  There is a new program that is being implemented for heart babies that have very critical defects. And also we learned about some financial options that we can do to be able to help our kids with disabilities their entire lives.

They had some fun crafts for the kids over 3, so unfortunately, Tanner had to come to the symposium with us. 

He got pretty bored and decided to go on a walk with our cute little heart friend Mason. 

These little heart kids are so stinkin' cute!

On of our families also brought their puppy up there (but shhhh, no pets allowed). So she was our Heart Mascot. Her name is HEARTly. Perfect, isn't it?

She was a little nippy, but Tanner didn't seem to mind. He loved her.

We had lunch and then cleaned up everything else. 

And we took a liquorice break.

After we got everything packed in the car, Tanner was so worn out from all the fun he was out cold about 5 seconds after and the entire drive home.

It was so much fun, and I can't wait to go again!

18 Month Checkup

Today we went to Dr. Terashima and got checked out for Tanner's 18 month visit.

The appointment we very well I think. He did well with putting shapes into the right holes, stacking blocks and putting a little button thing into a bottle with a small opening.

Terashima sounded impressed when I told him about the Pringle can activity, as well as a couple others we do and that Tanner actually does them and figures them out.

We talked about starting to brush his teeth and to contact a dentist and when they would like to see him. About him talking and being around other children. He really like that I said we have gone on many heart play dates and get to be around other heart kids and that we are taking advantage of the heart group that we are in!

He received his Hep A shot today, and it is the last shot that Tanner's going to need until he is FIVE! Yay!

He is doing very well and Terashima seemed happy with everything.
He's growing, but gaining weight is slowing down a bit. Terashima didn't even mention anything about it so I'm not worried.
Weight: 20 lbs 15 oz
Length: 30 inches

Colt Swimming Party 2012

 I always love going to the Colt Family Swimming Party every year! My Aunt Carol is so good to plan it for everyone and host all of us at the pool where she lives.

We are able to see many of the Colt side of our family. Colt is my Grandma Clark's maiden name. I don't know when we would ever see each other if it wasn't for my Aunt Carol.

Tanner had so much fun in the pool again this year.

I think he is going to be a little fish once he learns how to swim.

Love my little water baby.

Homemade play dough

We made some homemade play dough today.
I got the recipe from this blog.

Tanner is loving it now that he's figured out that it squishes.

This stuff turned out so soft!

New House {before... sorta}

I wanted to document the before and after of the new place we will be living at as it is getting fixed up. I forgot to take pictures of the very beginning before some things were already done, so we'll just start from here.

Here is Tanner's bedroom. His closet is bigger than the one he currently has and the room itself may be a little bigger.

 Tanner's room from the doorway. There is a long window along the wall on the right. See how bright that purple turned out? Oops!

 This is our room. It is just about the exact same size as Tanner's which will be a huge downgrade from where we are now. But we'll make it work.

Our closet is much smaller than what we have now. There will be closet organizers put in so hopefully we'll be able to make use of every inch in there.

The bathroom. That tub is the ugliest color green. (ok, maybe I've seen worse on home improvement shows, but still. It's pretty bad) From what I understand it is being recovered and will be a pretty white.

The flooring has already been replaced from old ugly tiles to these prettier ones.

This is standing in the tub looking out the door down the hallway to our doorway into the house. The mirror, counter top and cupboard doors are all new. We are also thinking of installing a medicine cabinet in that wall right by the door.

This is standing at the main door to the house looking down the hallway to the bathroom. The door on the right is Tanner's bedroom and our door is just past it.

Another picture of the hallway to the door. This is standing at the bathroom doorway.

Standing at Tanner's bedroom door looking down the hallway to the living room and kitchen area. The door on the right is the door that leads upstairs to Kathy's section of the house.

 Storage under the stairs. You can crawl under there and it curves around to the right as well.

Looking at the kitchen from the living room. The hardwood floor is new and we have also taken a wall out just to the right where the cabinets end to make the kitchen bigger. The stove is going to go where you can see the metal wall, then a pantry and then the fridge on the far right.

Standing at the far right side of the kitchen. All the way at the end is where the washer and dryer hookups are. It needs to be a stackable unit. On the left is where the furnace and water heater is.

Looking into the living room from the kitchen. It seems small, but it is bigger than the room we use as our living room currently. So it will actually be nice to stretch out. That long window is just like the windows in both bedrooms, so we get lots of light.

Looking down the hallway from the living room to the bedrooms. The door right behind Kathy is Tanner's room.

Out front. It's a pretty yard and garden. They have also repainted the front door to a beautiful dark red.

I forgot to take pictures of the backyard, but it is a great size. There is a big deck that goes off the back of the house that they have already sand blasted and restained. Troy is also going to build a railing around it to keep little ones safe. 

The yard has gotten brand new grass and wood chips for the garden.

There is also a 3 car garage back there. We are thinking we'll only be able to fit one car in there with how much is going to be stored that all of us won't be able to fit in the house as well as Troy's stuff that Kathy is storing for him. Who knows, maybe 2 cars will fit?

I've heard there's been more work since I have taken these pictures. We picked out new counter tops, sink and faucet for the kitchen and I hear that's all installed. Can't wait to see it again!

18 Months Old

One and a half years old!

That is just weird to say.

I feel bad that I don't have as much to write about now like I used to. But I guess that would be normal since the milestones are starting to slow down.

But still! He is doing so well.

He is saying more and more little words. Although there aren't many that I can understand, he sure is a chatterbox.

He loves to play with his cars, any ball that he can find weather it's his or not and as well as anyone's cell phones that are in reach.

He loves water. So bath time, playing in the kiddie pool in the backyard or going to a splash pad are his favorites.

He's still pretty small (I guess?). He's wearing a size 4 shoes, 12 month shirts and 9 month pants.

Weight: 20 lbs 15 oz
Length:  30 inches

He is so much fun!

Love you so much!

xoxox

Mommy and Daddy