Easter fun

The Easter Bunny was too kind this year and the kids had a blast.

Julia got Princess roller skates and Jude got a couple of trains. Both have played with their gifts non-stop since, so I think they were a hit. The family also got some candy.



We had an Easter egg hunt at my parent's house for all the grandkids. We had to break it up into a section for the 4 older ones and a section for the 3 younger ones. It worked out great.





Jude figured out what to do really quickly.




Trying to get a group picture of all EIGHT grandkids. They are all age 6 and under! (My youngest sister was also on the porch.) At least you can see everyone!

Easter Outfits

The kids got fancy new outfits to wear on Easter. I wanted to try to get a picture of them in their new outfits.

First shot, not bad, but a full body picture would be better.



Picture 2, Julia wants to act silly and Jude is paying attention to Julia's antics.



Picture #3, Julia is now teasing with me and Jude decides to hide from Julia.


Picture #4, as I press the button, Jude decided he wants on the other side of Julia.


I decide that what I have is good enough.....

Playhouse!

The playhouse/swing set is BUILT!!!! It is AWESOME!!! I cannot thank Jerry enough for building it. I know the kids will enjoy it for many, many years. I think it is the envy of the neighborhood. The neighbor girls are always wanting to some over and play on it and the other neighbor with small kids said that her kids have been watching it being built with much excitement and jealousy. It is definitely the biggest one in the neighborhood!

The kids loved watching it being built. Jerry could not build it fast enough for them!

Julia helping with the first part.



Her job was to hand the screws to Bapa.





Halfway done! Both platforms are built and railings installed. The slide also just went on.



We waited to put the steps on until all the railings/sides were on. That way the kids could not get up on it and then fall off.


Julia testing out the slide.


Jude testing out the slide.


The stairs are on! The kids love the "tower". They are really into the movie "Tangled" right now, so the "tower" is the tower Rapunzel is trapped in.


The finished product!! The sandbox is in and the swings are on! Next year we will put a tire swing where the baby swing is now.


The blue tarp attaches to cover the sandbox when not in use so the stray neighborhood cats don't use it as a giant litter box.



The playhouse turned out better than I could have ever imagined! Julia keeps begging to sleep out in the "tower".

Outside play

The kids have been playing outside a lot lately. A few weeks ago I took my camera out with me.

Playing in the sandbox. (The bigger one got built today!)


Blowing bubbles.



Jude trying to catch the bubbles.




Jude trying to copy everyone else and use the sidewalk chalk.

Big Boy Bed

Jude started climbing out of his crib last week. It started as an occasional thing, but soon became something he did numerous times a day. After several times of falling in his attempts to climb out of bed, we decided it was time to move him to a big boy bed.

I was not ready for this. I was hoping to keep him in the crib for almost another year. Julia did not start to climb out of the crib until she was 2 1/2.

As I was taking apart the crib, I was holding back the tears. Jude is my last baby and he is growing up to fast!

Jude, on the other hand, LOVED the new bed.

Here he is trying it out right after we get it set up.





He realized he can climb up to his shelves now.


Bedtime was a little difficult. He got out of bed many times, but finally fell asleep.




Jerrod checked in on him this morning and found him sleeping on the floor, so he either fell out or got out and just slept on the carpet.

Is it raining?

Jude is prepared!

Hearing loss

I must have mis-understood the audiologists on Thursday. I thought they had said Jude only had hearing issues with his left ear. I received a report of the results in the mail yesterday. After looking over them, I see that Jude failed every test with BOTH ears. The report did say it was mild hearing loss, but it is still hearing loss!

I am really hoping that the loss of hearing was from the congestion behind Jude's ears from still being sick and not anything permanent. We will retest as soon as he gets well again.

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!