Hannah's Junior Prom

Hannah had a great time at the prom with JP and all her friends.  She asked me to do her hair in a crown braid which just makes me chuckle a little since when she was young she used to cry every time I made her wear her hair that way.  My, how the times have changed!  See below for the contrast.  ;)

My assistant photographers!  The rest of the boys were away on a camping trip with Brian, so these two came along to help decorate the prom venue, take photos of the juniors, and we stopped for a nice dinner out on the way home.

JP just adores Roman and wanted a picture with him too.

Compare and Contrast:  In the first picture Hannah has red-rimmed eyes from crying and is giving me the death stare.  In the second picture my baby girl is all grown up, smiling and even a little grateful for her mother's hair skills.

2014, almost 10 years old

2022, 17 years old

My favorite!

 Sigh.  Why do they have to grow up?

Health and Development Update (8 months old)

Roman had ear tube surgery in mid April.  It went off without a hitch, and we were home by 10am that morning.  They were able to remove a lot of built up ear wax and drain all the fluid out too when they put in the tubes.  I didn't notice any difference in his hearing, but that same day I noticed a huge difference in his balance.  He was rolling more and sitting (still with support) better too.  All that fluid must have been affecting his balance!

Before surgery in his tiny hospital gown, getting a break from his helmet

We got there super early in the morning, so he did fall asleep while we were waiting for them to take him back to the OR.  He couldn't eat or drink after midnight the night before, but he wasn't bothered at all by not being able to have his morning bottle.  This guy doesn't love to eat.  I could picture him thinking, "So all I had to do to get Mom to stop forcing bottles on me was have a wee little surgery."

Roman is rocking his helmet!  He doesn't mind it a bit.  He wears it 23 hours a day and that one hour that it is off, I catch him feeling his head searching for it.

He still loves music and outside the most, but he really likes his mirror too!

Here's a new toy I brought down from the boys' closet.  He has enjoyed the big truck and moving the wheels.

He likes tummy time the most right after waking up, before I feed him a bottle and make that tummy full.

These two are going to be best buds forever.  Judah was my most cuddly hugger, until now!  He has now met his match.  Roman loves to be hugged and snuggled and kissed forever.  All my other babies would start to fuss or cry when older children were showering them with too many kisses and cuddles.  Not this guy!  He loves it and often smiles and giggles when kissed a million times.

Isaac was playing dress up with him after getting home from baseball practice.

With a special needs child it is easy to not see progress. You go months without meeting the goals that you set up with your therapists. However, there are so many small not to others don't seem like milestones. I thought it might be helpful on my own psyche and for others following our story to list out all those improvements here at this 8-month milestone age.

I don't have to sing to him the whole time I feed him anymore. I don't have to stay upstairs and tell the other kids not to talk to me while I'm feeding him. He is eating between 5-6 oz at a feeding instead of 2.5-4 oz.  He's eating every 4 hours instead of every three.  He's eating 5 bottles today instead of 7.  He will drink his bottle when we are out of the house.

He can roll both ways. You can pick up a toy and transfer it to his other hand. He is reaching for things that he's interested in now (not toys, things like a menu or something I may be holding.)  He sits in the highchair without reclining it.  He's tasting foods.

Easter 2022 (Roman's First!)

We went to Easter Vigil altogether.  I really had planned on staying home with Roman and Bobby and going on Easter morning, but Brian had to be at the Easter morning service at 6am to serve.  In the end I decided that keeping Roman up late was the better option compared with waking him super early when I finally have him sleeping until 7am most days.  He actually did amazing and fell asleep on me, waking only a couple of times briefly when the lights or music volume would change suddenly.

Easter, around lunchtime, we went over to my sister's house and had lamb and a tri-tip.  The kids decorated eggs and had an egg hunt, or two rather.  The big kids wanted a separate harder version of an egg hunt.  They made me promise not to take any pictures, but they didn't say anything about not mentioning it on my blog.  *wink wink*

Cousin Playpen Buddies!  Chloe's already sitting up and getting so big.  She's passed Roman up already even though she is about 2.5 months younger.

 

Bluebonnets of Texas

I've been wanting to take pictures of Roman in the Bluebonnets to send to his birthparents, but I am bad at planning and executing that kind of thing.  So after Mass in Dallas we drove past a field of bluebonnets and Brian said we should just do it.  I would never be so spontaneous, but all I needed was a little nudging and someone driving the getaway car so we didn't have to park and make it a big thing.  Genevieve was my assistant and the rest of the family stayed in the van.  

My assistant took a selfie while I was setting him up.

I didn't end up liking the blanket in the pictures, but this blanket was my father's when he was a baby and it has sentimental value.

 "I feel sorry for all families without a Roman in them." ~Genevieve

He can't sit up unassisted, so it makes this tricky without special photography baby props.

My absolute favorite!!!!

My dad loved getting Roman cuddles which he is usually pretty willing to hand out.

Sea World, a Bad Mommy Moment, and a 25 Year Reunion

 

Homeschool Day at Sea World

Sea World had a homeschool day that was discounted tickets and everything was shut down except for the animal exhibits and some educational programs.  We haven't been to Sea World since moving here because every time we have  started to get the tickets we'd just cringe at the cost (plus the crowds!) and cancel the plans.  So when this came on my radar I jumped at the chance to take the younger boys, especially since they don't even remember ever goin because they were so young or *cough* not born at all *cough* Bob.  The educational talks were not well planned out or executed.  It was hard to get to them all because of the times and locations not being orderly and the ones we made were so crowded that we often couldn't see the demonstration at all.  That was due to there only being one of each talk for the whole day.  If they'd had repeats of the talks then not everyone would have been in one location at one time.  However, the boys had a blast and learned a thing or two.  A each exhibit, there was an educator to answer questions which made up for missing most of the events.  The beluga whales had a large seating area so we could actually see what was going on, but they were in breeding season and "refused" to come out and perform.  We did see the dolphins and whales though.

After a memorable Mass

So, don't judge me but this particular Sunday it finally happened.  Everyone always asks me if I have ever left one of my kids.  Brian had gone to another Mass because he had to work on Sunday which is a rare occasion.  So It was just me and the seven kids.  I was so very impressed walking out the door that we were totally on schedule leaving and there were no wardrobe issues.  We discussed on the way there that Judah would get to sit next to me this time.  As we are nearing the parking lot, 25 minutes away from our house, I start giving instructions to the kids and Genevieve says, "Where's Benjamin?"  (Yes, she still calls him that and no one even notices anymore because he goes by Judah with everyone else, minus his dad.)  Anyway, panic overtakes me. I do make sure she's not kidding or mistaken before I make a U-turn and have the kids drop in through our security cameras to talk to him and tell him we are on our way back.  Hannah looks up another Mass time at a church closer to home.  We basically just have time to grab him and turn around to go to Mass at a different time and place.  

Judah is old enough to stay home by himself, but because Drew is just two years older and is a homebody he hasn't ever stayed totally by himself.  He had been looking for his Religious Education homework and was in the school room when I turned off all the lights and left.  When he realized that he had been left, he looked for the home phone, but it had been left on the Lego table and was dead.  He never found it.  Then he sat on the couch and cried and prayed until we dropped in through the cameras to tell him we'd be home soon to get him.  How sad is that!  When we got home, I ran in to get him and said that he finally got to stay home alone like he'd been asking.  His response: Yeah, but I didn't want to to be this way."  Ouch.  I felt like a winner of a mom!  

I don't count the kids when I get in the van because they all have a fairly regular seating arrangement and everyone has another person on their row.  I rely pretty heavily on the other kids to say, "Hey, we're missing so and so."  Guess who sits next to Judah in the van...Bob.  He was reading and never noticed that Judah didn't get in the van.  Guess I need to return to counting.  

Gratuitous Cute Baby Photo

And Another

My 25 Year High School Reunion

Our whole family drove up to Dallas for the weekend so that Brian and I could go to my 25th (Yes, I'm old) high school reunion.  I went to a small private school, and I hadn't been back since my 5 year reunion.  It was actually really fun to see some of my class.  This is a mere 13 people from our class of 69 students, but it made it so we could all thoroughly visit and catch up.  I'm really glad that I went!

Brian and I before leaving for the reunion.  The kids stayed at my Mom and Dad's house and got some grandparent time.