Holiday Week

We spent the fourth of July weekend resting at the lake. But before we left town Benjamin had another hearing test at Children's and his first visit to the HEAR clinic (which is a specialized division of Children's focusing on children with hearing loss). You will see the pic above of Benjamin all hooked up for the test. He looks REALLY happy about it huh...I know...the pictures are not in order...but I am still not really good at the blog thing...but I'm trying.

Thankfully Benjamin's hearing loss was the same as the last test...perfect in the right ear and mild/moderate loss in left ear. We have decided not to use any type of hearing device in the one ear with loss after consulting with both an ENT and the HEAR folks who said they feel it is not necessary. Benjamin does qualify for early intervention through the state since he does have some loss so they will be coming to do home visits and monitoring both his hearing and speech. They will monitor him till he is 3 years old which is so reassuring to have another person watching him closely to make sure the loss does not cause any delay in his speech.

The fourth of July was so much fun at Lake Wedowee with Grandmama and Granddaddy Gooden. Barrett was like a little tadpole and we had to pull him out of the water to sleep and eat. He also loved riding the jet ski with his dad. Benjamin loved the lake and thanks to a few battery operated fans he was able to be outside in the shade with the rest of the fam. Barrett LOVED being in charge of Benjamin's fans as you will see in the pics. Samford (our black lab) is now in recovery mode after a weekend of constant swimming and chasing tennis balls. He is 7-years-old but you would never know it when there is water or a ball around. He finally passed out in the car on the way home and has moved a little slow since then...probably a combination of being sore and being a little depressed to be back to our boring house.

3-month old Benjamin!

Wow, I can't believe it! Already three months old. Barrett and little brother had a big day celebrating by having friends over to play and then going swimming at the pool! Benjamin is sleeping a lot right now and growing a ton! He is probably about 14pounds and is smiling and talking all the time.

Barrett (who says so many words it is scary!) calls Benjamin "Brother" and tells him how much he loves him (as he hugs him way too tight)! We are thankful he is doing well and we head back to Children's next week for hearing checkups. So far the hearing loss in one ear seems so minimal that we will just be watching it.

Here is a fun picture of B and our friend Carla Jean on a "date night." CJ is sweet to take him to family night at Chick-fil-a and he loved having his face painted and all the yummy ice cream! That is what I call a fun date!!!

Baptism day/Father's day

We celebrated Father's day with family and friends as we also baptized Benjamin at Red Mountain Church.

Barrett's favorite part of Benjamin's baptism was singing the song "I am Jesus Little Lamb" that we sing in honor of Lawson Finch at every Red Mountain Baptism.

The words to the song are "I am Jesus little lamb, Ever glad at heart I am; For my Shepherd gently guides me, Knows my need and well provides me, Loves me every day the same, Even calls me by my name." I don't think Barrett missed a word (we sing it a lot around here). It was a precious day for our family and we are so thankful for all the amazing friends who have supported us and prayed for Benjamin's health since he was born.

2 month old Benjamin!

I can't believe little Benjamin is two months old! He is doing so well and at today's two month check up Doctor Stone said you would never know this child was sick if he didn't have his scar on his back. He weighed in right at 12 pounds today and was 80% in height and weight! Amazing!

His first sweet gummy grin and laugh started about 2 weeks ago and his brother Barrett is usually the one who can get the biggest grins! He also started cooing and "talking" to us a ton.

Last weekend we were able to run (Jerry) and walk (Melanie and the boys) in the 5k Children's hospital run. We wanted to share a pic of all the Red Mountain Church folks who were there!

Barrett had a big visit to the dentist for the first time a few weeks ago and was so big in the chair with his daddy as they "tickled" his teeth. We also wanted to add a few pics (and a video)of Barrett and Benjamin sharing the activity mat...a little scary! You will also see Barrett and Benjamin's little community group pal Miles Gresham borrowing the mat during this week's community group. We loved this pic with baby Miles and Benjamin hanging out during dinner. Miles is on the mat and Benjamin is in his bouncy seat (you can always tell which one is Benjamin with all that blond hair)!
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Hearing update

Just wanted to send a quick update that after a long day of testing yesterday at Children's they diagnosed Benjamin with mild to moderate hearing loss in the left ear and normal hearing in the right. We are so thankful that it is not more severe and will be doing regular checkups to make sure the loss does not get worse. We have a series of tests in six weeks to check him again to see where we are at and what our next step will be (whether to have him fitted for a hearing device, ect). He does have fluid on his ear that we are hoping will decrease (and possibly improve hearing...which would be wonderful).

Mother's Day 2008

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading this! I'm so thankful this year for our two amazing boys and for a lazy day enjoying them at home. Little Benjamin's birth and recovery has reminded Jerry and I just how out of control we are in life and how merciful God can be even when He doesn't have to be. I'm humbled more than ever this year at the sacrifices made and love my own mother has for my sister and me. I definitely see her through new eyes in this new season of life.

Jerry and I also celebrated our 7th anniversary this weekend. Thank God for a patient and sweet husband during all the ups and downs of this year. We celebrated both Mother's day, our anniversary and our newest little boy by having a talented photographer and friend, Jessica Chapman, come take pictures of our family (including our dogs Samford and Sydney). This is one of the pictures but you can see more (and Jessica's other beautiful work) at www.jessidesignstudio.com


An update on Benjamin this week...we went back to Children's hospital on Thursday for a retest of his hearing. He failed his left ear hearing test when we were in the hospital the first few weeks after he was born. On Thursday he failed the left ear again using two different tests. They are confident the right ear is functioning normally which is a huge blessing. A unilateral hearing loss (just one ear) should not cause any developmental or speech issues. But there have been studies that show that the use of a hearing aide in a child with unilateral loss does have great benefits but they recommend being fitted for an aide before they are 6 months old. We will be heading back for a test a week from Monday to see what degree of loss he has.