Lenny is Home!

We are so happy that Lenny is home. He has so much fun when he stays with Meemaw but Dominic and I always miss him so much. We start missing him only five minutes after he leaves. I'm sure that Nathan didn't miss his daily wrestling match too much which is always provoked by Lenny. With Brooke, Lenny is much more gentle and only gives her hugs that knock her over. Should that still be called gentle? I'm not too sure of that.

Out of all of us here at home, who do you think Lenny missed? Mom said it was "Chunky Boy". That's what Lenny told her. I thought for sure it would be his mommy.

He had a great time. They went to the pumpkin patch, to Pack's for ice cream, watched movies, baked cookies, and went to one of his favorite stores--WalMart.

Lenny is terrible about getting his picture taken. It's almost impossible to get him to smile for the camera, much less even look at it. Finally, he told us that he has a "smiley face". I asked him to show it to me and then I snapped the picture below.
We've been very busy since Lenny got home last night. Mom and Lenny walked in the door about five minutes before I had to leave to take Brooke to her pediatrician to make sure she didn't have an ear infection or fluid in her ears so that she could have her hearing test today.

This morning Dominic headed to work and I later met him there with Brooke so that we could make our journey to Fairfax Hospital for Brooke's hearing test. Mom stayed with the boys. The reason that Dominic and I both had to go is so that one of us could stay in the back seat to make sure Brooke didn't fall asleep on the way there. That's very difficult! She isn't supposed to sleep for three hours before the test so that she can sleep during the test. Brooke is very much one for her nap. She loves her nap and always lets me know when it is nap time, so keeping her awake was certainly not easy.

She did great and slept for two hours for her test. For those who don't know, we've been trying to get her to pass a hearing test since she was born. She can definitely hear, we aren't worried about that at all, she just needs to pass the test. In the past, she would either breathe too heavy (when she was wearing her NAM appliance) or she was moving too much. Then she had fluid in her ears and couldn't pass the test. After she got the tubes in her ears at 6 months, we had to try a different type of test (ABR) because of the tubes. Finally, she passed the test for her left ear but still hasn't for her right ear. The audiologist is almost certain that there is still fluid in the ear behind the tube and stated that many patients with a cleft lip and palate have this problem. He assured us that it is only temporary. We will still need to go back for one more test on her right ear. Follow that with a hearing test every six months until she is three years old because she was born with the cleft lip and palate.

My sweet baby girl has been through so much. It is fun to get her out by herself and without her brothers. She just flourishes. Every turn we made in the hospital, there would be a group of people and every one of them would say how sweet and cute she is. We know she is too but it was so exciting to see so many people go on about her. We of course loved it.

************************************************************************
NEWS ALERT

Nathan took his first steps today! He really did. He was standing at the coffee table, let go and took three steps. So of course after we saw him do it, we've been making him walk to us. It's so cute! He just turned eleven months old last Sunday.

************************************************************************

Story About Brooke and Nathan

Yesterday morning I was feeding Brooke and Nathan in their highchairs and Nathan reached over for Brooke's hand. They sat there holding hands and smiling at each other. It was so cute and sweet. I looked at Brooke and said "Oh, you love each other!" and she smiled and started shaking her head back and forth like she was saying "No". I laughed and said, "Yes you do, you love each other." and looked at Nathan. Then he started smiling and shaking his head no. I don't care what they think, they do love each other!