The one where my house is the zoo

Round two of marker-covered baby. This time, it was Corbin's creation. 

"But we are being tigers, mom! That's why we needed orange stripeses to be tigers!"

I love you, naughty, creative, tiger cubs. 

Let's hear it for Audiologists!

I took Quincy to an Audiologist and an ENT to follow up on a couple of failed hearing tests that were done at school earlier this year. 

The Audiologist was great and spent about an hour doing different types of hearing tests with Quincy and made everything a game for her. Quincy loved it. The tests revealed that Quincy has hearing loss in her right ear. Luckily, the tests and ENT confirmed that the cause is fluid that has been in her middle ear space for months and a big bad ear infection.

I was initially a little frustrated tgat we dropped a fortune on an audiologist and ENT only to discover that it is just fluid causing the hearing loss, which would've been caught by our pediatrician if the school had sent us there instead of insisting on Audiology.  But after thinking about it, I am really just grateful. Considering all of the potential causes for hearibg loss, an ear infection is the best case scenario for my daughter as hopefully, it can just be cleared up with some strong antibiotics, and we likely would have ended up at the ENT anyway, so it's more like we were able to skip a step.  

 We will go back for more tests in a couple of weeks to determine whether or not tubes for her right ear are necessary. When we told the new ENT Quincy's history with ear infections as an infant and toddler, and if our account with the ENT we met with a few years ago, she was really concerned and said she never should've gone so long without a referral to an ENT. We still feel good about our decision to not get tubes a few years ago, but we will definitely go that route if it is necessary this time. 

And then there's little Quincy, who's been unable to hear us in her right ear, had no pain or fever or other symptom of a raging ear infection other than some general grouchiness she has been a real trooper. 

In the meantime, the school has moved Quincy's desk to the front of the classroom so she can see and hear instructions more clearly, and I am praying that the antibiotics are enough to do clear up the infection. 

Spring Soccer

Corbin killed it at his soccer game yesterday. He was aggressive, focused, ran hard, and did well to remember and use the skills learned in practice.  He is just adorable as can be in his oversized uniform and the games are really fun to watch. We are proud of our little guy for his dedication and eager participation lately. Go Corbin!

It must be April

 Meaning, I have no time to blog. Catch up later on 

-my terrific family 

-spring break in Orange Beach, Alabama

-my sister's visit to Arkie!

-primary

-Branson and Silver Dollar City 

-the house and yard (we have a fence!)

-Easter 

-Birthdays 

-our monthly challenges for March (service) and April (love)

-hiking adventures in our backyard.

I love April in Arkansas

Self Entertaining

Soren woke up an hour early from his nap on Friday and I was near the end of a little sewing project. I set him up with a snack in his high chair while I finished it up. He devoured the snack in no time, but was totally content hanging out in his seat so I left him there (read: made sure he was alive and happy from the corner of my eye, but really just kind of ignored him) and kept on sewing at the kitchen table. When my project was done, I saw what all the excitement at the high chair was about. Looks like Soren has discovered a world of fun via the pencil drawer just within his reach. What a clever and funny little baby. He was equally delighted by the swirls of green and purple that melted from his body into the water, and by the colorful handprints he left behind on the tile as he splashed around in the tub. 

There is Music in my Soul Today

Today was one to remember at Fort Willy. 

I bought this beauty. (and completely with funds from my little preschool. Woot woot! It feels REALLY good to just randomly buy a baby grand piano without even touching our family budget.) 

A big thank you for Karen, who was willing to sell her beloved instrument to me (a non piano player) with faith that it will be as loved and used and appreciated by my family as it was by hers for years. 

I found myself alone for a little while this evening while Soren napped, Corbin was at soccer with Aaron, and the girls were outside. I seized the moment and sat down to play with my new toy. I didn't sound great but the piano sounded beautiful!  I painstakingly gutted my way through the music and after an hour I played an actual, recognizable (albeit slooow!) song! (The easiest one in the hymn book, but a song, nonetheless.)  I felt happy creating music and the children (and hopefully me, too) will begin piano lessons very soon.  

There is music in my home again. I am so  full of joy I could sing. Maybe I will. :)

Timber!

We're getting our property ready to be fenced next week and decided that no time will be better than now to have the three mammoth dead trees in our yard cut down. Every time we have a big storm, I worry about one hitting the house.  I've had several bids lately and one company came highly recommended at almost half the cost of the others, and as a bonus, I got five huge trees down for that price, instead of just 3.

It takes a specific breed of crazy to go into the tree trimming business. This guy was three stories up, recklessly flinging a chainsaw around no big deal, while brittle hollowed out rotted branches were just breaking off under him and crashing to the ground. I had to stop watching because I was sure we were going to hear sirens any minute. 

The boys loved their front row seats to the Crazy Show and stood in these spots for hours. Totally glued. 

Corbin found a cool slice of wood and wants to "do something art with it". 

Big, exciting changes happening in the Fort Willy backyard.