Speech and Hearing Evaluation

Jude had a speech and hearing evaluation done today.

We did this because I mentioned to the Dr. at Jude's 18 month check-up that Jude has not really had any speech progression since about 1 year old. He was speaking sentences at a year, which is really ahead for that age, but he just has not progressed any since then. There is some family history of boys in my family struggling in school, so if there was issues, I wanted to get intervention started as soon as possible. The Dr. was also concerned at the lack of progression, hence, ordering the speech/hearing evaluation.

Jude is just getting over Croup (again!), so he is still really congested. I debated re-scheduling, but it took two months to get this appointment, and I really did not want to wait another two months.

He did really well for both of the tests. Much better behaved than I thought he would be.

Basically, Jude is right on the edge of needing intervention/therapy.

I never thought he had an issue hearing, but according to his test, he just might. His hearing was below normal in his left ear, and just barely in the normal range for his right ear. He is getting over Croup and really congested, so that could be the problem. They want to re-test him when he is well again.

According to the test that Children's did, Jude does not qualify for any speech intervention. However, the evaluator had some real concerns. Yes, Jude is within the "normal" range for his age, but he was at that stage over 6 months ago. There had just not been much progression since then. The lack of progression concerned her, but because of how the tests worked, she could not put Jude in therapy based on his scores (he had to have a certain score before she was allowed to refer to therapy) . She referred me to Help Me Grow, and said that they might have a different testing system and hoped that maybe he would qualify under their system. I have a call into them. The evaluator also wanted us to come back in about 6 months to re-test. I think she is concerned enough that he might have issues that she wants to stay on top of it and get him in intervention as soon as he qualifies.

So, more testing and more referrals, but at least everyone is being pro-active about it. If he is going to have problems/issues, I would rather them be caught now and intervention started now, than wait for him to start school and then suddenly try to play catch-up.

Many hats of Jude

Jude loves hats. He is always saying "hat, hat".

I indulge this love. I think he looks cute with a hat on.

Jude and his many hats.


Don't know why this one is sideways. (most times when Jude puts the hat on, he gets it on backwards.)




Playing with his favorite toys while wearing his hat.



He even has to wear his hats to preschool!

The kitchen

I like to cook and bake. Our old house had a very tiny kitchen and I was always frustrated with it. Our new house has a HUGE, newly remodeled kitchen! Guess which is my favorite room in the house?!

(Ignore the messy table.)

No surgery needed!

YEAH!! The ENT reviewed Julia's CT scan and said everything looks just fine, so no surgery needed! That is such a relief. I really did not like the thought of her undergoing surgery.

Now I just have to find a way to keep her from majorly hurting herself again!

ENT update

Julia had her appointment with the ENT today. The Dr. said that visually, the nose looked good both inside and out. BUT... With kids her age it is a tough call because there could be a slight deviation that he really cannot see that will only get worse as they age and the nose/face grows. They only way to know for sure is to get a CT scan of her nose. An X-ray is not precise enough, a CT will show a difference of just millimeters. They wanted the CT scan done today.

We go to the schedulers office to schedule the CT and get approval from insurance. She asks me if I think Julia will lay still for 10 minutes for the CT scan. I laughed at her! Julia does not even lay still for 10 minutes when she is sleeping, there is NO way she will do it during the CT scan. So this meant they were going to have to sedate her. I was not thrilled about that, because I don't react well to sedation, but the test needed down.

It is finally is our appointment time, after Julia crying around lunch time because she was hungry and was not allowed to have anything to eat or drink. Once we got to the hospital, she forgot about being hungry. Luckily, we did not have to wait long.

We get led to the CT room and the nurse explains that the CT only takes 3 minutes and that at her age they can sometimes get by without having to sedate them. So she was going to try it first without sedation, and if Julia was too wiggly, they would sedate her. The nurse told Julia if she laid really still, that she would get a big surprise. The nurse wrapped her up and put the lead blanket on her. The whole time she was explaining the process to Julia, Julia did not twitch a muscle! Julia did not move during the whole scan. YEA! We did not have to sedate her. Because she was so good, the nurse gave her a princess wand and a princess headband. They also gave her some graham crackers and juice since she was so hungry.

I had explained to her this afternoon about the CT scan process, so she would not be scared of it and the big machine. It really helped. She knew what to expect, so it was not as bad. She did say it was a little scary going into the tube.

Should hear tomorrow if surgery is necessary. If so, it will probably be done on Friday. The ENT ensures me that Friday is still within the time frame of it being fixable.

Oh, the coolest part was that Jerrod and I were allowed in the CT room with Julia (with lead aprons on), so we got to watch the computer screen of the scan of Julia's head. We got to see inside of her head! Sure, we are geeky parents, but we thought it was really neat.

The three princesses

Julia is having a BLAST with the 2 girls I watch a couple days a week. They are both into the princess thing too!


So now I have 3 princesses running around my house.


Poor Jude, he is in the middle of the princess overload.

I am a SAHM

I think it is official.... I am a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM).

I realize that I have "technically" been a SAHM for almost 2 years, since that is how long it has been since I lost my job. But now it is "official" since we decided that with the move and re-doing of some finances, I would just stay home with the kids until Julia goes to school and we would only have to pay for one in daycare. It is just really tough to find a job that pays enough to afford 2 kids in daycare.

Since making this decision, I have started babysitting. Right now I watch a good friend's two girls a couple days a week. I am thinking about seeing if I can find one other family looking for a sitter.

I love staying home with the kids. This is an experience/opportunity I will never get back years from now. The kids love having me home. Now they also get to have play buddies a couple days a week.

Our bedroom

Finished up decorating our bedroom a couple weeks ago. I LOVE how it turned out!! So cozy and warm and elegant. I love the color purple (wonder where Julia gets it from?), but I was a little worried about painting our bedroom purple. I think with all the accents, it really looks nice.

The ceiling light is new too.


Closet door are coming, we just have not gotten to ordering them yet.


Debbie made all the cross-stitched pieces on the wall.




The cats think our bed it the BEST napping spot. It is not uncommon to find all three napping on it at any given time.

Off to the ENT...

Had a follow-up appointment at the dr. today so see how Julia's broken nose is healing. When asked how her nose feels she says "it is still hurting, but not bad enough for a boo-boo bear". She is being a real trooper, she has not really complained about it.

The dr. looked her nose over and came to the same conclusion I did.... It looks to be healing crooked!

So we have an appointment to see an ENT on Tuesday morning and if she needs a procedure down to fix it, that will be done on Wednesday. Wednesday will be 9 days post break and still within the window of being able to fix it.

We thought that if they ENT said it does not affect her breathing that maybe we would not get it fixed.(Just so we would not have to put Julia through a painful procedure.) But then someone pointed out that 16 yr old Julia will care greatly if her nose is crooked. It would have not bothered me at 16, but Julia is becoming something of a diva, so I think a crooked nose will bother her.

More front door action!

It seems that my front storm door sees a lot of action whenever I have the main door open.

Yesterday Julia added some Easter/Spring decorations to it.




Here she is showing off her finished product while wearing her fairy wings and holding an ice pack to her sore nose.


The cats love the door too!!

On second thought....

I think my kids seem to get hurt often because they take after me and are just clumsy! I was hoping not to pass that trait on, but that was just wishful thinking. My kids are klutz's. Luckily, both are pretty tough and don't fuss too much when they get hurt.

Childhood injuries

I used to think that my siblings and I got hurt so much as kids because we lived on a farm and there are so many things to injury yourself on. I changed my mind! After seeing how much my kids get hurt and my nieces and nephews get hurt, none of which live on a farm, I have decided that living on a farm has NOTHING to do with how often a kid gets injured!

It does not take farm machinery and animals and the like for kids to be constantly hurting themselves. I mean, my house is pretty child-proof and they STILL manage to injury themselves.

Julia's nose is hurting her today and the lump/knot is back. Pretty sure we are going to end up at an ENT to fix it. Giving her Motrin and icing it frequently.

Today's injury----- Jude shut the van door on his finger. Motrin and ice for him too!

Julia broke her nose!

Yes, you read right..... Julia broke her nose this afternoon. Sigh..... and it was such a nice, relaxing day up until then!

How does a 4 yr old break her nose, you ask? Well, I was wrangling with Jude when I look over and see Julia standing on the arm of a chair, leaning heavily on a bookshelf. I tell her "You need to get down before you fall and hurt yourself!". About 2 seconds later, the shelf flipped (just the shelf, not the whole bookcase, it is anchored to the wall.), and the heavy crystal votive holder that was on that shelf came crashing down right on the bridge of Julia's nose.

Julia screamed and cried. I got an ice pack (while biting my tongue to keep from saying "See, I say these things for a reason!").

After a few minutes Julia calms down and I get a good look at her nose. There is definitely a lump/knot on the left side of the bridge of her nose. It is also quite tender. I debated what I should do. Do I take her to the ER for x-rays? Do I just wait a day or two and see if it gets any worse? I finally decide that it should be looked at. I was worried that her breathing might be affected later in life. (I know too many people who broke their nose as kids/young adults, but just let it heal naturally and now have breathing/sinus issues.)

I call the pedi, just to see if they can look at it, instead of having to go to the ER. Luckily, they told me to come right in. By the time we got there, I almost felt silly for taking her in, because she was back to acting her rambunctious self. The dr. looked first to make sure she did not have head trauma, then studied her nose. At one point he was pushing on it pretty hard to try to manipulate it.

His verdict was that it seemed cracked/broken to him. The break itself did not concern him, it was the wondering if it was knocked out of alignment. It is when the nose is not straight when you have the breathing issues. With the nose being swollen already, it was hard to tell how straight it was. We go back on Thursday for a re-check. By then he will be able to tell if the nose is healing straight or if we will need to be sent to an ENT to have it fixed and set properly.

The big lump/knot went mostly away when the dr. was manipulating it straight. So the pictures I took of it tonight don't look too bad. I think she is going to end up with black eyes, but she is being a real trooper.




I think this is the best picture of showing the lump/swelling and the eyes turning black and blue already.

The front door

The kids (and cats) LOVE the front door at our new house. They can stand at it and look out at the world.




The cats love looking out the door too, but they have to fight the kids for the view!

Julia's princess bedroom

Julia's new bedroom is a purple princess room! She picked out the color.





She even has a glittery castle on her wall! (it is removable)


Closet doors are on there way....

The joys of an older sister

Poor Jude, his big sister is so mean to him. She treats him like both a living doll baby and another girl like her. Luckily, Jude does not mind and actually likes it when Julia dolls him up. Unfortunately for him, I take pictures of the results! He will hate me a few years from now.

Julia thought he needed to wear eyeshadow like she does. Although, she decided that Jude needed blue eyeshadow since he was a boy, and she wears purple.


Jude really does look up to his big sister!

Trouble-maker!

Jude can be such a trouble-maker!

Here he is getting into the bottom drawer of my stove.


"I'm not doing anything mom."


This is a scene I see a hundred times a day! Jude is always hungry and he knows where the food is kept.



He thinks his cute smile and dimples can get him out of any trouble!