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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Visit to Susanville

Last weekend, the Jacksons made the l o n g trek north to Susanville to visit my brother Adam, sister-in-law Melissa and my nephew and niece, Hunter and Brooklyn. It was so much fun to spend some time with them in their stompin' grounds {they always travel to Fresno to visit us} and see what it's like to live in a small town.

On Saturday, there was a parade on Main Street to celebrate the Lassen County Fair
. It was Noah's first parade and although he didn't grab the candy that was thrown out of the cars like his cousin Hunter did, he enjoy watching all the big trucks drive by. Kc took some great pictures of the colorful characters that participated in the parade. The Shriners loved their little cars.In fact, there were many grown men who just seemed to love their little cars.Even little fire trucks.And little ponies.There were princessesand Harley dudes.At the end of the parade, they made sure to sweep up anything the horses left behind.After the fun parade, and naps for all kiddos, we headed to the much anticipated Lassen County Fair.Mel and I took the kiddos on a cute little train.Noah wasn't quite sure what to make of it...he just kept looking all around at the other train cars.
Thanks Adam and Mel for a fantastic weekend. We truly had a blast!

Half Birthday Number Two

Last night we celebrated Noah's second half birthday {that's a mouthful}. I picked up my favorite red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting {I just luvre them}, two half dollars {it is his second half birthday after all}, and Noah's piggy bank {I know, I know it's not a piggy} and headed over to Nana and Papa's house.

Noah just LOVED putting the coins in his piggy bank. He got two half dollars from Mama and Daddy-O and those went in the bank very quickly. Noah signed more and please after each coin clinked on the bottom of the turtle so Nana quickly pulled a half dollar out of her pocket and that made it in the bank with ease. Papa was being funny and he gave Noah foreign coins {Punts from our family travels to Ireland before they adopted the Euro}. It didn't matter to my Little Stinkpot. They were round and metal and made a great clink noise so they made it into the turtle as well.
Then we took out the half cupcake {Yumm-O}, put a candle on top and took off Noah's artificial nose in hopes he would blow the candle out. Unfortunately, he was more interested in grabbing the candle than blowing it out. I had to keep signing "hot" and tell him not to touch it.
In the end, I blew out the candle and with a bit of help from Nana, Noah put his fingers in the yummy cream cheese frosting and let me lick it off.
What a fun way to celebrate my little toddler!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Eighteen Months

What a milestone. Our little man is eighteen months...a year and a half...officially a toddler. He continues to grow, learn, and amaze me.Noah's current stats are:

Weight: 28 pounds 1 ounce
Height: 33 inches

Long before Noah was born, Kc and I knew that we wanted to teach our child sign language. There is quite a bit of research that supports the benefits of teaching babies to sign and we thought it would be a fun way to bond with our little one. Little did we know, how necessary signing would be.

We have been showing and using signs with Noah for several months, but it has only been recently that he now understands that the gestures "mean something". Up until recently, he would sign a word if you prompted him to, but never sign independently. The first word he learned to sign on his own is "dog". Noah LOVES Sierra and whenever she would walk by, lick his toes, or bark, he would sign "dog". Once the "power of the word" became evident to our Little Man, his signing vocabulary quickly took off.

He currently knows dog, more, please, Mama, Daddy-O, kitty, diaper, up, Charlie, book, good-bye, eat, shoes, all finished, ball, game, car, telephone, and good-night. Thanks to the FANTASTIC, CAN'T GET ENOUGH, WAY TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS Baby Signing Time! DVDs, we are all learning more than we ever thought we would.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Mr. Intellectual

Noah and I headed to the ophthalmologist office today to pick up his glasses. It's shocking how much they completely change the way he looks. I no longer have a baby boy...he's now my little man...my little intellectual man.
Noah LOVES his That's Not My...books. He has several. That's Not My Dog. That's Not My Tractor. That's Not My Kitten. That's Not My Monkey. His favorite, however, has to be That's Not My Pirate. He LOVES to turn the pages and feel all the different textures. He's my little budding reader. My little intellectual.
He is our happy little baby boy. Our budding little reader. Our Mr. Intellectual.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Medical Updates

The past two weeks have been VERY busy for the Jacksons. Noah has had five doctor's appointments {two of them out of town}, we have gone on two mini weekend vacations, and have had countless play dates and BBQs with family and friends. Here are some updates on what we learned at the doctors appointments.

Plastic Surgery:

Noah's hands continue to heal quite nicely. They were wrapped continuously for two weeks post surgery. After those initial two weeks, we unwrapped his hands nightly, gave him a bath, let the hands dry out, and then wrapped them back up. As of his appointment last week, Noah's right hand is doing excellent and doesn't have to be wrapped any more. His left hand has a bit more healing to do and needs to continue to be wrapped. Although, as you can see from pictures in previous posts, we've taken liberties in how long we let his hand "dry out".

Ophthalmology:

Last week, we headed down to Children's Hospital Los Angeles to see Noah's eye doctor. It was a LONG trip but Noah did well in the car. The Dr said Noah's left eye continues to look good and so we're going to continue his current eye drops. He also decided that Noah needs glasses. While Noah is a bit near sighted, the primary reason for the glasses is to protect his eye from possible injury. Because he's only got one, we need to do everything we can to keep it safe. We have ordered the glasses {very cute plastic children's ones} and they should be here in the next week or so.

Otolaryngology:

After Noah's last scope of his trachea, our ENT Dr referred us to a specialist at Children's Hospital Stanford. We drove up to Stanford yesterday, and once again, Noah did quite well in the car. We met our AMAZING Dr and were quite impressed with the clinic. The first thing they did was stick a long camera down Noah's nose straight into his trachea so they could get a good look around {while he was awake}. Needless to say, Noah DID NOT like this. The first thing the Dr saw was how large Noah tonsils were. "Those have got to go," he exclaimed. He was also able to see that Noah's vocal chords were "trying" to move while he was screaming and crying. "Very encouraging," he said. We discussed the MAJOR surgery to re-build Noah's trachea and possibly take out his trach. There is about a 70% success rate with severe cases like Noah. We head back up to Stanford on September 8 so the Dr can do his own scope and take out Noah's tonsils and adenoids. At that point, he will be able to make a plan whether or not to proceed with Noah's laryngotracheoplasty.

I am so blessed to be on summer vacation and not have to take days off work for all of these appointments. While I would much rather be a SAHM {stay at home mother}, I have to give thanks for the job I have, the flexibility it allows us, and the health benefits it gives Noah. We've got some major surgeries ahead of us, so I'm hoping to make the most of this summer and have as much fun as possible!

Monday, July 19, 2010

New Game

We all know about Noah's fascination with the bathroom. There truly are SO many fun things to play with in such a tiny room. Well...he has combined that love with his love of throwing toys over small walls and created a new game.

This afternoon, he crawled all over the condo and gathered as many toys as he could {twelve to be exact} and threw each of them in our cast iron tub. He got such a kick out of the loud sound each toy made as it crashed into the tub.The piece de resistance was Charlie. Once he made it in, Noah despirately wanted to join him.So...Mama put him in the tub with all his toys and Noah proceeded to throw them all out.When the bathroom floor looked like this, he knew his work was done.Noah was SO proud of himselfthat he decided to do it all over again {three times}. What fun!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Swimming

Yes, you read that right. Swimming. In a pool. Noah. With a trach. Swimming.

Daddy-O and I talked about Noah swimming quite a bit and finally decided that it could be done safely. After all, the pool is little more than a big sink.

We put his portable suction machine and ambu bag right next to the side of the pool and made sure the phone was within reaching distance at ALL times.

Daddy-O got in the pool first and then I lowered Noah into a floating turtle. Noah enjoyed the cool water on his legs {it was 106 degrees that day} and thought it was fun to move around the pool with Daddy-O.Once he discovered that he could splash in the water, the real fun began.
It was so much fun to watch Noah experience the joys of the swimming pool. It was especially fun to experience them with good friends. The McIlhargeys came over for an afternoon of swimming and salmon tacos {YUMM-O} . It was fun to watch both Daddys swimming in the pool with their sons. Jack just LOVES the pool!
As the summer heat kicks into high gear, I know we'll be spending more time in the pool with Noah. What fun!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Gooooaaaalllll

Kc has been addicted to the World Cup this year. He has Tivoed {recorded} every single game and runs out of the room when anyone talks about a game that he has not yet seen.

Noah has learned many signs {more to come} but one that Kc is most proud of is "Goal". Noah raises both hands high in the sky and puts a HUGE smile on his face. He loves to sign "Goal" over and over and over again. Unfortunately, soccer games don't have that many goals in a game.Kc is looking forward to the final game on Sunday {Go Netherlands} and to the start of the football season in September..."Goal" will then become "Touchdown".

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Trying to Levitate

As you know, Noah DOES NOT like the sand. He HATES how wet, cold, and crumbly it feels under his feet. What kind of parents would we be if we didn't push him into sand every chance we get?!?

While up at Huntington Lake, we headed down to the water so that Sierra could do a bit of swimming. While Daddy-O was throwing the stick in the lake {over...and over...and over again} Noah and I played in the sand. He practiced his levitating abilities while I practiced not laughing too hard. Our Little Stinkpot, while he has not yet mastered levitation, has stolen our hearts and makes us look forward to tomorrow. Here's to many more tomorrows!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Fourth of July

The Jacksons were blessed, once again, to be able to spend the Fourth of July at Huntington Lake. Our very generous friends let us use their cabin to get away for an extended weekend. We were able to play at the lake, read on the deck, bbq an amazing pork tenderloin, take naps in front of the fire, and spend quality time together as a family.

Sierra was in hog heaven being able to swim in the lake, lay in the sun on the deck, and smell all the wonderful smells in the forest.Noah and I had fun watching Daddy-O throw a stick in the lake for Sierra to fetch...over...and over...and over again.Noah LOVED playing on the deck. He pushed a Tonka truck all around, filling it up with toys and dumping them at opposite ends of the deck.He also loved to bring toys up onto the dog bed and throw them off.I had so much fun just watching my Little Man play.When inside, Noah loved to throw any toy he could lift over the rail under the bottom of the kitchen table. At one point, Charlie even made it over the rail.

We had such an awesome, relaxing, chilly weekend. Thank You!!!

Our Family

Our Family

Daddy & Noah

Daddy & Noah

Kc & Rebecca

Kc & Rebecca

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