Surgery

Today, Ezra will have the 7th surgery in his young life, a cochlear implant.

As I was silently mourning the loss of his natural hearing--I allowed myself to imagine Ezra never hearing my true voice or his father's or his brother's after this day.   After some tears and deep breaths I thought about what brought us to this decision.  I remembered that 7 months ago Ezra couldn't hear anything.  And that over these last 7 months Ezra has worn a hearing aid all waking hours.  And, although he clearly hears more noise with his hearing aid, it is not enough to imitate speech (which we would have expected by now).  I'm not certain what Ezra does hear, but it is certainly not what I do and now, with the aid of technology, what he will hear is going to be different, but clearer.  We are confident that the path of a cochlear implant will be Ezra's best chance for learning language.  Sometimes I need to allow myself moments of maternal anguish in order to make peace and move forward.  Like the sun setting over one landscape in order to bring light to a new day.

Ezra, we are so optimistic this will enrich your life.  And, even though we have said the words a thousand times, we hope that this surgery will be the beginning of hearing how much we love you.

Bowl of Delight

The last of the the leaves have fallen.

We happened upon an excellent heap at the skatepark. 

Jonah knew right what to do!

Bikes had the advantage in those conditions.  

The wall that Jesse is riding is basically vertical.  Because I'm a normal person, I just took pictures of the crazy one.  Jonah was shrieking,"do it again....higher!"  Oh, boy.

Farewell autumn.  Snow is in the forecast....just in time for Christmas!

I'm dreaming....

18 months

Ezra is 18 months old today!

He's a happy little dude...up for anything.

By anything, I include neurosurgery...here he is calmly preparing for that surgery at OHSU.

Here he is still waiting for surgery.
Ezra continues to be Mister No-Fuss and the King of Relaxation & Sleep.

This surgery was done in August.  The purpose was to remove a small lump on the back of his neck.

The surgery was more difficult and serious than everyone anticipated. We had hoped that the growth was superficial, but it went beyond the muscles, through the spine, and past the dura of the spinal cord -- into the spinal fluid. Fortunately, it terminated there and the neurosurgeon did not go into the cord itself. The connection from the outside world into his spinal fluid would have certainly allowed for meningitis at some point, so we are really happy to have it closed. We spent 3 days in the pediatric ICU recovering. In addition to that success, we are optimistic about the effects of releasing the tethered cord. There are a bunch of neurological disorders that are caused when tissue attachments limit the movement of the spinal cord within the spinal column. We began noticing positive changes in Ezra shortly after surgery and those small victories continue.

A renewed sense of hope and Ezra's noticeable progress has done wonders for our family morale.  

At 18 months Ezra loves:

baths, showers, & the hot tub 

(being outside and in water is endlessly fascinating and also apparently hilarious)

his big brother

throwing things on the floor (especially food)

peek a boo and other face games

patting his chest for comfort

pivoting his bumbo chair around to get places

saying "ah, ah" and "a-yah, a-yah"

swinging

getting tickled

his favorite baby sitters: Grandpa Swain, Nanna, and Old Mom

laughing

his pacifier

Brothers.

 In the ball pit at therapy.

I've started noticing that Ezra's baby blue eyes change colors to match his green shirts.

Showing off his latest trick of sitting up.

Ezra, you are a rock star.  

We are so proud of you and love you to pieces!

Sitting!

Guess who finally decided sitting up is cool?

I cannot tell you how excited I am for little Ezra.

Ezra has had the ability to sit up for many months, but, for the most part, chose not to.

At most, I could get him to sit up for 3 minutes and usually, once he realized that he was sitting, would immediately stiffen and push backward.

So you cannot imagine our surprise when Ezra decided to sit up yesterday for 10 minutes....and then again later that day for another 10 minutes.....and then today for 20 minutes.

And he's not just sitting still...he's playing, making balance adjustments, and somehow remaining upright even with Jonah's smothering hugs.

Hooray Ezra!  You did it!

We love you!