The same -- but different

So as mentioned in the last post, Phineas and I took a road trip to Spokane at the beginning of the month. Here we are at Red Robin. He just had to have his picture taken with the carousel horse.

There we found out that he has a mild to moderate hearing loss in both ears. His loss is similar to George's in that he cannot hear higher frequency sounds. The ENT and audiologist were shocked that he can speak as well as he can. After hearing that he needed aids, I felt guilty for not catching it before now. I've always considered Phineas my "challenging" child, and here he was compensating for not being able to hear well for four years. What a strong kid. He has definitely shown that he can adapt well to nearly anything (except being told no). And because of that, I know that he has incredible potential. I have no doubt that whatever he decides to do in life, he will accomplish it. He's one of my heros.

Here he is with his new aids (he picked purple and blue ear molds and loves them):

He's been good about wearing them most of the time, only requiring short breaks here and there. They have a clip that attaches them to his shirt, so even if he takes them out, they are not going anywhere. His adjustment has been quicker than I thought it would be.

At the park with his rock "baby"

Although we went through this with George and much of it is the same (cost, doctors visits, audiograms, school IEPs, etc.) some of it is different. There wasn't that wonder in George's eyes when we put his hearing aids on for the first time. With Phineas, we had a hard time keeping him quiet to try and test him with the aids in the sound booth. It was like, "hey, I can hear myself! I think I'll just keep talking, making noises, whatever." With George it has been the way of life. Wake up, get dressed, put on the aids. He takes care of them himself and except for changing the batteries or occasionally clearing out any moisture, I don't even touch his aids anymore. With Phineas, I have to remember to put them in a safe place when he is not wearing them, check the batteries, put them in his ears, watch that he is not taking them out. I've also seen the benefit of them almost immediately. He is more precise in saying his words (the blended "L" sound making an pretty consistent appearance, as in "bLue" "famiLy" and "pLease") since he put them on two days ago. He will start speech therapy again next month and I think this time will get so much more out of it. We are excited to see his progress and amazed at his ability to "make things work" up until now. What a trooper.

And speaking of troopers, had to share this photo of Colin, who was just so tired.

Poor kid has had a cough or congestion for 3 months. Older boys keep bringing home stuff and he gets it all. Thank heavens for nebulizers and albuterol.

Random Update

I've got to be better at this blogging thing. Yes, now I have four very active little boys and everything else in my life has been on hold, so why should blogging be any different?

So Colin is growing up. What a good baby. I'll nurse him, put him down totally awake, say "sleepy night night" and not hear a peep out of him until about five hours later. He's very patient and hardly ever gets cranky. Love, love this kid.

Thanksgiving was good, spent at home with friends because there was terrible snow in the passes. Christmas we made it to Boise and loved every minute of it!

Adam and I got a big screen TV for Christmas and a Roku box. Now the boys don't know how we ever survived without "the magic movie box", even threatening not to go to Grandma and Pop Pop's anymore because they don't have one. It was definitely an upgrade from the 15 year old TV that was missing some shades of yellow and blue so that if a scene was in the snow, you really couldn't tell what was going on.

We are in the middle of birthday season. We told the boys that they could pick one fun activity to do on their birthday. Phin wanted to go swimming and was insisting that I open the pool, in January. So we called around to the local clubs and found one that offered a family pass for $23. We went there and the pool was closed. So we called the other club to see if they would price match (never hurts to ask). They said better than that, they would treat our family to free swimming for Phin's birthday. Boy was he happy. We had an absolute blast and three very tired boys.

He also wanted a Dora cake. George almost had a heart attack because "Dora is for girls." But that's what Phin wanted --

For Spencer's birthday we went swimming again and had a blast. No pictures because the camera was on the fritz. But here is a picture of his cake. Went pretty simple. He's so laid back, he was just happy there was cake.

We went winter camping for the first time up at Camp Zarahemla. We had a nice cabin there that took about 7 hours to warm up. The boys were sleeping in their snow clothes it was so cold. And did I mention that Colin DOES NOT like the cold. At all. He was awake most of the night even after being bundled up and sleeping with me. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We got to camp Z and set up in Cabin 3. Really small with no table to eat at, but warmed up nicely. I unpacked while Adam took the boys to the restroom (that was like 1/4 mile away). George came back without Dad and then Dad came back with Spencer and no Phin. Phin had wandered off. Luckily we found him quickly and set strict limits on where he could go. The caretakers mentioned that Cabin 4 was available and bigger than 3. So we packed up and moved over. As we were moving, Spencer found himslef alone in the cabin and decided to check out the gas stove. Burned fingers. Thank goodness for snow right outside. Just got settled when it was time to heat up dinner (wished the cabin heated up as well) and then get ready for bed. Adam took the boys to the bathroom in the truck, not wanting to loose anyone in the dark. When they got back, Spencer fell out of the truck right on his face. Yikes! Blood everywhere and a big gash on his lip. It needed stitches, but we were about 45 miles from the nearest hospital, it was 9:30 at night and snowing. So we got the bleeding to stop, and with help from the caretakers and their popsicles were able to stick it out through the night. Poor Spencer kept waking up telling me his fingers and head hurt. Note to self: always take children's Tylenol and Benedryl. No sleep was had by mom that night. At this point, camping was no fun at all. But with the rising of the sun, we found a new love for being away from it all.

The binky helped him from biting his lip and making it bleed again and again.

Five new inches of snow had fallen and we went sledding. When I say we, I mean me and the kids. Yes, I got on the sled and then after a few times remembered why I don't sled. It's hard on an old body. The boys just loved walking around and eating snow too. We'll probably go back next year but remember to ask them to turn on the heat before we leave our house.

Then came the week of medical mishaps. Tuesday, I took Colin to the doctor because he's been coughing and wheezing for it felt like months. They checked him out, took a nose swab and sent us home with an antibiotic. We picked up the boys from school and as I call Phineas to lunch I find him in the den with hearing aid battery stickers all over his pants. "Where are the batteries, Phin?" "In my tummy." Yikes. Thoughts of mercury poisoning go through my head, I called poison control. They wanted to make sure that none were stuck in his esophagus, so they told me to have him eat and drink and see how he did. He did fine, so I was told to just let them pass, but to get an Xray to make sure that none were caught up anywhere.

Yes there are five hearing aid batteries making their way through Phin's tummy.

The next day was our trip to Spokane. Phin had been referred to the audiologist at his four year checkup. They couldn't get a good test here and the screening showed hearing loss, so we scheduled a sedated test in Spokane. Road trip! We got to the ENT, he cleaned out Phin's ears (could have grown potatoes in there I guess), and then the audiologist took him to see if she could get a behavioral test before we sedated him. She did a great job and we ended up not needing to sedate him. He has a mild to moderate loss in both ears and will be getting hearing aids on Wednesday. He was so excited and to tell the truth so were Adam and I (after swallowing the $4500 price tag). We are hoping that lots of Phin's behavior has been because he can't hear us. The ENT said to give it a year and if we haven't seen any changes in his behavior he would be shocked. So two boys in hearing aids with speech therapy and IEP's at school. We are having Spencer and Colin retested. Spencer speaks so well, however, that I have no worries about him. Colin, you never know. It could be that the 25% chance of genetic hearing loss should have been 25% hearing just fine. Hey, one out of four ain't bad.

We took the Xray after getting home from Spokane. Then we got the test results for Colin. RSV -- off to the doctor's office for a breathing treatment on Thursday and then a doctors appointment for me on Friday. And, no, it was not to the psychotherapists office. The next week I talked to the doctors office so many times following up on Phin and Colin that they almost didn't need to ask my name anymore. This past Friday when I went in for well child exams for Spencer (perfect health) and Colin (possible undescended testicle) I asked if they had missed me. So now it's back to the doctor for an ultrasound on Colin and possible follow up. Our flexible spending account didn't even last until May. I'll be sure to put in more next year. With four growing and active boys, it seems the wise thing to do.

Baby Boo

Though everything indicates that Baby Boo was right on time, it's hard on the psyche when you think you are going to have a baby around the 11th of October and then he doesn't actually show up until the 22nd. But he is here! He was born Friday morning at 10:18 a.m. (my dad wonders why I couldn't hold off for 4 minutes so he could have been born at 10:22 on 10/22). The home birth was a wonderful experience. I woke up at 3:00 and counted contractions until 4. Then I woke up Adam and we came downstairs and got everything ready. The boys got up at 7 and when Adam told them I was going to have the baby, Phin gave me the thumbs up and said, "Good job, Mom." I stayed pretty still while Adam got the kids breakfast and off to friends who took them to school and into their homes. My midwives came, enjoyed breakfast and got everything else ready. It was pretty nice to just relax (between contractions) and watch everyone else running around. I started to walk around about 8:30 and less than two hours later there he was. It was perfect and went faster than I thought it would. Here is the first picture of him. Still getting his color, but very healthy.

This is my great midwife, Dr. Frazier, weighing our new baby boy. 7 lbs. 8 oz.

The new family photo. The boys were excited to see their new baby brother. We were still calling him Boo until Friday night, when Adam and I agreed upon Colin Adam Gaul. We still have to remind each other not to call him Boo. All three of them love to hold the baby and can't wait for him to wake up. I tried to tell them that new babies sleep a lot, but they still insist on placing cars and trains on him when he's fast asleep hoping he'll wake up and play.

Spencer seems to be adjusting fairly well to not being the baby. He always asks about the "bee bee" and wants to hold him and share his drinks and food with Colin. What a cutie!

What a blessing each of our children has been to our lives. I feel so grateful to have four healthy, happy boys. I marvel at the things they do and teach me everyday. I am also grateful to know that they are mine for eternity, if I live worthy of it. I can't think of anyone I'd like to spend eternity with more than this wonderful little family that Adam and I have created. Adam is wonderful, coaching me through the labor, helping me to keep confidence in myself that I could do it. He's taken over Mom duties for the week and does it better than I do. I love him so much. Thanks, Ad, for being my strength and example always.

So here we are, a family of six and I am loving every minute of it!

Bad Mom and Heavenly Protection

Have to write about my scare of the day. George and Spencer were playing out back "building a space ship" according to George. Spencer was helping with the decor by piling dead grass on the "wings". George came inside and I continued to check on Spencer every few minutes. Our back has been broken for a few weeks. I propped it up to keep the kiddos corralled, but a big wind storm blew it over.

At one point I couldn't see Spencer and as George was going outside, I asked him to check. He went the other direction and I went out the back door to find Spencer. That's when I heard the first honk. I ran around the pool, hoping to see Spencer near where I had last spotted him running with his big Tonka dump truck. No Spencer. Then I hear the second honk. I run around the house to see a car in the middle of the road, Spencer crawling onto the curb, my neighbor picking him up and his dump truck stuck under a parked truck on the other side of the road.

My heart racing, I ran to grab him (thank goodness for my neighbor), waved a thank you to the lady in the car and went to retrieve the dump truck. That's when the police officer approached me.

"Had an escapee?"

I explained that I he had been in the backyard and I had just seen him back there a couple of minutes ago. The officer asked for my I.D. and for Spencer's name. I gave him both and told him that I really had seen him in the backyard two minutes ago.

"I think it was more than two minutes," he said. And he was probably right. Spencer was heading away from the open gate the last I saw him, I was busy making dinner and didn't think he was going to pass the blown down fence on the other side. I may have been three or four minutes. But it could have been the last three or four minutes of my little buddy's life.

I cried for the next half hour until Adam got home. The first thing he did was screw the blown down fence into place. It won't open now, but at least I won't have to worry when the kids are out back. I was just waiting for CPS to knock on my door. I am so thankful that Spencer was protected. And not just this time. This is his fourth time venturing out in the road, always when I have stopped watching him for more than a minute. I think today was Heavenly Father saying "Okay, I've warned you, now the police have warned you. Get it right or it might not work out so well next time. You're not being a very good steward. Now, stop cooking and watch out for your kid!"

No excuses. I will do better - anticipate the worst and hope for the best. My kids might never see the front yard again.

Construction

Okay, so Adam is working overtime tonight, so I don't have anyone telling me to go to bed. Thought it might be good to catch up on the blog.

As some of you know, we moved into a new-to-us house in January. In April the remodel began. We planned on combining two bedrooms and a bathroom to make our master suite. Over the next several months we removed a bearing wall (thanks to engineer Allen for helping us "suspend" the roof), ripped down the other walls leading to the baby's room and an extra small room that had been set up as a sort of sitting room, moved tons of insulation (I know insulation doesn't weight that much, but Adam has shoveled his way to the east coast and back with as much as he has moved up in the ceiling), redid plumbing and electrical, rebuilt two walls, gutted the bathroom and rebuilt the shower, installed can lighting in my new walk-in closet and put "exploratory" holes all over my dining room wall.

Here are some before pictures:

This is the ceiling of my bedroom. The big beam running from the top left hand corner down to the right is what is helping to support the roof since we took down the bearing wall. It also helps that we are building another wall just three feet from there. No worries on the roof caving in... this thing is solid.

Here is the wall of my bedroom. Adam had to put in extra supports in the walls to hold up the new beam. Can I just say the remodel takes twice as long because you have to destroy stuff before you can put up new stuff. Adam has become the master of destruction. Anybody need to borrow a crowbar or a maul ax?

Looking into my new bathroom. You can see the new Pex plumbing for the shower. There were only a few leaks while we were testing to make sure everything was hooked up all right.

THE MAN. Did I tell you he has spent every weekend for the past month working on this. And that means working from 8:30 in the morning until around 7:30 to 8:00 at night. He is standing in front of the wall that will lead from our bedroom into the closet (on the right) and the bathroom (on the left).

As of today the sheet rock has been hung and taped and the first layer of mud put on to try and patch up the mess we had to make above. We are on a time crunch now because I don't really want to have a baby in the tiny room we are living in now. I keep giving Adam and his AWESOME dad a count down -- only five more weeks, guys! Hopefully I will be sleeping in my new master suite and bathing in my newly tiled shower by the end of the month. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Summer Randomness

Summer is officially over. But I thought I would post some random summer pictures just so I remember how great it was.

Spencer has discovered the greatness of farmer's market corn. He's also graduated to the table and out of the highchair.

As mentioned in the last post we went to the Seattle for the weekend in July and of course had to go to the Pacific Science Center. We really could spend the entire day there, but four hours was enough for me. It also helps that with our $35 pass to our local "science center" we get in free over in Seattle. SWEET!

Spencer is a budding musician.

George thought this was awesome. "Just like Harry Potter, Mom!"

Spencer's not afraid of anything - - bring on the T-rex!

I think Phin is supposed to be a circus bear. In any case, you can't help but want to hug him.

We've also spent the summer doing the normal things. This is movie night, our new Tuesday night tradition. Had those boys a bowl of popcorn and pop in a Scooby-Doo movie and they won't move for an hour and a half.

George dressed himself for church the other day. He did loose the cap and the boy scout bandana right before we went in. I do kind of like the orange and blue plaid with the black and white shiny vest. Sassy!

Adam reads "special stories" to the boys every night. It is usually from the Book or Mormon or Old Testament readers. This night must have been special because they were reading from the Book of Mormon coloring book. Adam and George have added all sorts of commentary to the pictures, including blood on Laban's sword after Nephi has killed him and something about "Give us the drugs, Laban," when they are asking for the gold plates. I just like to sit and listen to Adam's version of the story. It makes it new again.

Finally, (drum roll please) George lost his first tooth! I thought he was too young, but one day it was loose. We ate pizza for dinner one night and after he was done eating I noticed his tooth was gone.

"Where's your tooth?"

"I don't know"

"You must have eaten it."

So George wrote a letter to the tooth fairy: "Dear Tooth Fairy, I ate my tooth. From George Gaul" Luckily the tooth fairy was a good sport and left a dollar in exchange for the note.

Summer has been great, but can you blame me for relishing in Tuesday and Thursday mornings when George has Kindergarten and Phin has preschool and it's just me and Spencer for two hours?

Day Out With Thomas

Well, it won't become a family tradition, but we did spend a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine back in July. We planned a trip to Seattle the same weekend, so it didn't feel too out of the way. All the boys were excited but I think the eight train tables and the puppet show were the highlights. In the end we had to drag them to see the actual Thomas the Train because "someone" had put a bounce house right in the way.

Phin was in Thomas heaven.

They had a Punch and Judy puppet show. The boys loved it!

Riding with Thomas. They advertised a 20 minute "ride with Thomas". It was 8 minutes up, sit and wait for 4 minutes and then 8 minutes back. The coaches were old and hot. As adults we were like "what a waste", but the boys didn't care.

Last stop of the day, meeting Thomas. This was the best shot I got, even if the "professional" photographer's arm is in the way.

Yes, Phin, it's Thomas.

Spencer, pointing to Thomas on the tablecloth.

If you want a review of the day, it was okay. The train ride was actually the lamest part of the whole deal. Not really worth what we paid or the three hour drive. The boys have nearly as much fun playing with the train table at the Barns and Noble.