MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE LAWRENCE FAMILY!

We hope you all have a happy, healthy and safe Holiday Season.

Love,

The Lawrence Family

(This was our Christmas card picture this year)

No Surgery

Calleigh's surgery did not take place on Monday. She is fine and dandy but my pediatrician and surgeon have decided they want it performed at a different hospital. Fine by me. So, we will wait until after the holidays. I was reminded today by a friend that I did not update the blog! The holidays are quickly approaching and as you can imagine we are super busy. Everyone is great and looking forward to the bearded man's arrival.

We had a major milestone.....BIG BOY BEDS!!! Today is our first day in them. So far, so good. They took a two hour nap this afternoon and are asleep already for the night and have been for a while. They were totally excited. I was strangely saddened by this event. Seems to be the end of such a major part of our lives. Taking down those three cribs seemed like saying good bye to my babies. I took some pics and videos and will post soon.

Twinkle Twinkle

Here is Cormac singing "twinkle twinkle" with some brothers playing "backup" (LOL). He is 3 years 8 months old. His hearing age is 2 years 5 months. He did this on his own. GOt his own props and everything!



Here he is singing the same song in October of 2008. So he was 2 years 5 months and hearing age of 1 year 3 months.



After I recorded him singing the other day I remembered the video of him from about a year ago. I wanted to compare the two. I thought he sang it awesome a year ago...but the new video just amazes me. He says it all so clearly. Even the consanants in the middle of the words (like the word wonder).

Calleigh meets the MAN himself (Santa)!

Well another trip to the mall to see the big guy with hopes Calleigh would be awake. She was awake and the boys were thrilled as well. Another successful visit with Santa.

Christmas is coming

I started this post right around Thanksgiving and never remembered to finish and publish it. The words that surround Holidays are so awesome. In normal conversations my children used the word waddle (as in on a Turkey's neck!),pilgrims, indians and teepee. I was quickly told that a Teepee was a kind of house an Indian lived in. We also used the word Feast. Celebration is another word coming up in our talks. I am in awe of all the words my kids know. I can't believe how much they over hear and are able to repeat. (not always so good :) ) Cormac also can do this and picks up tons of incidental language. A big worry of us moms to kids with hearing loss. He seems to know lots of words that are not "taught" to him. Music to my ears!

I have to tell this story because it was so hilarious. We were playing in the play kitchen. We made menus and the boys were taking my order. It was a great time. They told me all the things they wanted to serve. We had a food menu and a dessert menu. I laminated them. The boys deicided to name their restaurant "THe Lawrence Brothers Diner", cute right? Well, about an hour later, Cormac walks up to me hands me a menu and says "Hey Mommy, What do you want from "The Lawrence Brothers Vaginer"! Oh, how I laughed.

We had our fist snowfall this weekend. It was beautiful and the boys were just in awe. We were out later than normal at my sister's house and when we got him it was dark and they were running on the lawn yelling "I LOVE SNOW". It was only about 2-3 inches so not much but I thought to myself, how wonderful it is to look at the world through the eyes of a three year old. When's the last time I just thought "wow, look how beautiful the snow is" without thinking in the back of my head, "ugh, snow, now starts the mess. The shoveling. All the yucky stuff that goes along with it" Oh, to be three again and so unaware of the real world! I wish I could bottle their enthusiasm for life.







Christmas is quickly approaching. We have had three visits to Santa so far and the requests are still the same. I am so happy no one is afraid of Santa. They are in love with him. Another holiday and tons of language! Tree lighting, tinsel, trimming the tree, decorations, lights, garland, mistletoe, jolly. THe words are endless. Not to mention snow, flurries, flakes, blizzard, storm. All the weather words of the season.

We went to the tree lighting in town last night. It was the first time we made it to it since we lived here. Fun and short. Good for us with the four kids. Just enough to get them excited and happy but not cold and complaining!



Calleigh is having surgery to reverse her colostomy on Monday (12/14) so keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I am terrified and thrilled at the same moment. To have her without the colostomy is going to be wonderful. But sending her in for a pretty complicated, several hour long surgery, well is scares the shit out of me. Not to mention she can't eat after Saturday at midnight, yes SATURDAY, and her surgery isn't until Monday morning. I also have to empty her colon on Sunday so she will be have to drink somthing similar to what people drink before a colonoscopy. This poor little girl has no idea why I will be torturing her. SHe will be starving and miserable. We can give her pedialyte. But that is all. It took us forever to get the little bugger to 13 pounds and she will probably lose it all after this experience. She will be in the hosptial 3-5 days depending on her recovery. KNowing Calleigh and her track record, she will be in 6 days! Let's hope not but if you remember she didn't want to leave the NICU.

We were at the mall for haircuts two weeks ago. I had no idea Santa was there already. We were not dressed or anything but they were so excited I couldn't pass up the opportunity! I think it's the cutest. Colin is actually wearing two of the same feet Spiderman snowboots! Poor Calleigh was passed out in the stroller and I didn't want to torture her and wake her up. I will take her again another day. I am sure the boys will go back to see Santa. And what did they ask for?

Colin: A truck with a grabber.
Ciaran: A truck with a shovel.
Cormac: A boy castle and a jewelry box!