Taking Down The Decorations....

I took down the Christmas decorations today - I really hate doing that. I love Christmas and everything about it so it's so depressing to take it down and know it won't come around again for another year....

We had a great Christmas this year. The kids got a TON of great presents from everyone - my kids are definately spoiled and well loved by all. That you to everyone, they were so happy and so excited this year, it was really fun to see it.

My parents were here for a week and then we got a nice surprise on Christmas eve. I was on the phone with my sister, Amy and all of a sudden there was a knock on the back door (it was around 9pm). It was her!! She totally surprised me and drove up for Christmas and stayed until my parents left. It made it so much better to have almost my whole family here. Art and Lori and John were missed, it would be amazing to have everyone together for a Christmas. Maybe someday.

As for me, I had a biopsy in December to check for celiac disease. The dr I am seeing is convinced that I have it and that's why I've been so tired all of the time but the biopsy came back inconclusive of course. Nothing about me is simple. So, we decided that I would try a gluten free diet for 2 months, recheck my blood and if the enzyme were down and I was feeling better, obviously that's what is wrong. If not, we do a liver biopsy next.

I have been on the gluten free diet since January 1 and it's not fun. I miss bread. It doesn't seem to be doing much yet but it's only been a few days. I'll keep you updated.

Jackson's Surgery

Jackson had surgery on Wednesday in Grand Forks. In case you don't know, he had some audiology testing done about a month ago and failed everything because of the chronic ear infections that he has had. Thankfully, I can report he now has 100% hearing in both ears and the surgery went great.

We checked in at 6am and he was done and released by 10am. He came right out of the anesethia and was a little groggy for a little while but by Wednesday night he was running and playing with Olivia - you would have never known he had surgery that day!

Before the surgery he only said about three words, mama, dada and baba. Now in just a matter of days, he has had a word EXPLOSION and now says a whole bunch. He says in addition to the three from before:
-Kitty
-Daisy
-Delilah
-Ball
-Baby
-Mi Mi (for aunty amy)
-Mindy (our daycare provider's name)
-Down (sometimes "get down")
-Uh Oh

And my favorite is he now calls me "Mommy" instead of mama - there is nothing more adorable than Jackson walking around the house calling out "mommy".....he is such a little mama's boy and I love it!

We've Moved!!

Well most of our stuff is at the new house. We spent the night there last night and Trevor and his work buddies moved all of the "big" items with a truck and trailer. It is so nice to have a "fresh start" in a beautiful house. The kids are so excited to have a play room and new bedrooms. Olivia was thrilled with her new purple bedroom - she wanted to just be in there the whole night hanging out.

We have to work on moving the cats and the little stuff so the next week or so will be constant back and forth with the cars full of stuff. I am so happy to be able to "weed" out some of the junk we have and get rid of it. I will post some updated pictures of the house once we get it organized with our stuff.

Our phone is hooked up so start calling the new telephone number and our internet is getting hooked up tonight.

Update on Jackson

Friday I took Jackson to Grand Forks to an audiologist for a hearing test. He failed all of them. They said he has hearing loss in both ears. They got us an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist so I took him yesterday. The dr said that due to the hearing loss and chronic ear infections, there is more than likely a fluid build up in his ear and that is why he isn't hearing correctly. On November 19th they are going to put him under, drain the fluid and insert tubes into his ears and redo the hearing tests to see if it was successful in getting his hearing back. I feel so bad for the little guy, all he has ever known is ear infections and being sick. Hopefully this will help him out and he will be able to hear and start talking.

I hate the fall

Seriously, it makes me so depressed because the weather is cold, everything is dying. The leaves turn so beautiful but then they just wither up and fall off the trees leaving them bare. I don't like the cold weather and winter is my least favorite season. Plus, I see it in the air, I don't think many people like fall because everyone seems crabby and down.

Enough about that. I haven't had too much to post lately other than about us moving to Roseau. We move into the house on November 1st - or start moving anyway. I want to paint each one of the kids bedrooms before we officially move their stuff in. Mom and dad are coming that weekend for Halloween so they will be here to help watch the kids and do what needs to be done.

Jackson is going next week to have his hearing checked by an audiologist in Grand Forks. He still doesn't say anything other than "Car" which for a boy I'm told by my sister's fiance is a great first word to have. I am just worried with all of the ear infections he has had, maybe there is something wrong and he's hearing us muffled or something. I am sure he isn't deaf or anything like that, I just want to have peace of mind. A little boy came into my office today who was only 2 months older than Jackson and he sat there and sang his A B C's for me letter for letter than started to show me things that were different colors and tell me what the color of it was. That is crazy! Jackson is so not there - not even close. He's either stubborn or can't hear.

I have been pretty busy with work. A few weeks ago I went down to the cities (St Paul, MN) for one week for work. I was nervous to be away from the kids but I had so much fun. I took a great class on Loss Mitigation (sounds fun hey? I bet you are soooo jealous) and got to hang out with a good friend who lives there on my birthday. It was nice to get away but I was happy to get home too.

Let's see, what else is new? Oh I know Amy and John are buying a house!! The owners of a beautiful victorian home that they've had their eyes on, finally accepted their offer and they are thrilled. They both love the big, old houses and it's right in Marquette so they'll be close to everything. So they are going a little out of order, but who cares right?

I am going to close now because as I type Olivia is upstairs in her room pouting (she's tired and not feeling great, we all have colds) and Jackson is tearing apart their castle in the living room (when Olivia sees that she is going to FLIP). I should probably make some dinner and feed them too. I'll keep blogging with the progress of the move. Keep watching!

We are Moving!

We are officially moving. Right now, we live about 15 miles out of Roseau in the country. We got rid of our house and are moving into Roseau which is where Trevor works. We are going to rent a beautiful house from a really nice family we know because they cannot sell it. The market is so bad right now and they have already moved away so they would like someone in the home over the winter. We have decided to rent because we will officially have NO TIES here in Minnesota and we can then up and leave when we want to. We are hoping to be gone from here within the next three years. It's wonderful to know that there is an end in sight (about living here).

The house is a beautiful one and a half story on a big, beautiful river lot. It has three bedrooms, 1 bathroom and two living areas. I will post some pictures below. We will be moving in on November 1st and I will send out change of address cards to everyone.

This is the front of the house and you can see a little of the garage:

Here is the back of the house - it has a very nice four seasons room built on the back with a free standing woodstove:

Here are some pictures of the kitchen/dining room area:

When you first walk into the house there is a living area:

These are some pictures of the four seasons room in the back - it has a free standing wood stove and leads to the back deck:

Jackson's 18 Month Appointment

Today Jackson went to the dr. to get his 18 month well baby check up and one shot. Overall the dr said he is doing very well, that he could tell he was a smart kid and knew what we were talking about when we spoke to him.

He weighed in at 24 pounds and 16 ounces and was 32 1/4 inches tall. He is a little on the small side for weight and on the higher end of the chart for height so that's good.

The one thing he is concerned about is his lack of talking. At this age they are supposed to say an average of 10 words (other than mama, dada and baba) and Jackson only says one "Car". He calls everything a car or just points and grunts and shows no desire to talk other than say car. He said that if Jack doesn't start to say some more words in the next few months, he wants to maybe refer him to a speech therapist.