HI!

“We miss Jeremiah (Daddy)”….say Joelle and Benjamin A LOT. Jeremiah is working soooooooo much right now. He was going out of town at least once a week, but somehow managed to avoid it this week, for which we are all very grateful! He has no help management wise, which makes things harder on him as he does EVERYTHING right now. Most nights he doesn’t get home till 8, and then still has to do work at home as well. This of course, is when he is not out of town to begin with. He works so hard and is such a good employee, and an awesome manager. He is faithful, and we know that God will honor that when the time is right. Until then, we just have to keep pushing through this season.

Benjamin had his 6 month Babies Can’t Wait eval in the beginning of May. He more than exceeded his goal, which was to begin imitating sounds. He imitates soooo well now, in fact he is even initiating words on his own! He is asking for things using words, and occasionally says a two word phrase – which is huge! His next goal is to constantly use his words to ask for things. He already says DRINK and EAT-EAT, CHEERIOS, HOTDOG, and can identify people and objects. He knows his socks and shoes, says MAMA, DADDY, POPPOP (Joelle’s dad), YAYA (Josiah) and he calls them by name when he wants their or our attention. He also  needs to begin naming sounds, such as moo –moo cow, or puppy. He says TRAIN TRACKS, CARS, TRAINS, and TV as well for what he wants. We are soooo happy with his progress, and the fact that he is FINALLY beginning to be able to communicate beyond grunting and/or screaming.

His tantrums have also decreased, as his communication increases. Every now and then he will have a doozy, but for the most part they are short, but not sweet lol. He has figured out that his words work better than his screaming :).

Joelle has gone to the doctor to find out about her infertility. We have some tests and blood work lined up, but still praying that God works a miracle. We are more than ready, whenever He is. Our miscarriage in August is looming closer, it will be one year. The road of infertility is hard, and we don’t wish it on anybody. We never thought it would take us this long, both times, to have children. We assumed it would happen for us like it has happened for most couples – just BAM! However, that has clearly NOT happened. We aren’t sure right now what the cause of our infertility is, but we have kept on praying that God would still continue to bless us with children.

Sometimes it’s hard not to be bitter when you see families with 3-4 kids, or pregnant women in the store. Bitterness, however, has never helped any cause. Nor has envy or selfishness. All we can do is rejoice with those who have been blessed, mourn with those who have lost, and keep on trusting that God has a perfect plan.

The migraines are still there, and they are still TERRIBLE. She is seeing a different pain specialist, who has her back on Neurontin, which is not helping yet. She did get a full panel of her hormones done, and they all came back perfectly NORMAL..even her progesterone which people always swear must be low. Just because her migraines got better during pregnancy does not automatically mean there is a progesterone instability, lol. She goes back to the pain specialist June 6th, hoping for a better game plan.

In other news, Joelle turns 29 tomorrow. She plans to enjoy her last year of the 20’s, but is very much looking forward to her 30’s. Everyone talks about how the 30’s are the best decade of your life, and she is anticipating great things to come. Plus, next year she is dragging Jeremiah sky diving! Woohoo!!

Update

Sunday we went hiking in like literally THE middle of NOWHERE. It’s down this itty bitty dirt road, and you have to cross a stream to get to the hiking trail. I didn’t think we were going to make it! There’s no like official state park presence, and no bathrooms. Joelle was NOT very thrilled by this wilderness experience! Jeremiah and Benjamin however, had a BALL! (It’s called High Shoals State Park if you are interested).

Benjamin was an absolute MACHINE! He seriously hiked up and back about 2 1/4 miles, a lot of it uphill. And he didn’t want to stop! The drive up and back took about 5 hours. We were expecting him to totally conk out on the trip home – NOPE!! He was still going strong when we got home, even after stopping to eat. Mommy and Daddy were exhausted, but not Little B! He did go to bed early, but woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, and ready to take on another morning. Jeremiah has decided that he needs to go hiking more often, since B enjoyed it so much! Joelle is NOT a nature person, NOT.AT.ALL. This should turn out to lead to many interesting adventures in the Lewis household! :-)

Jeremiah got PROMOTED!! He is now the district manager for the ENTIRE state of GA. Joelle and Benjamin are VERY proud of him. It does mean, however, that he has to work a whole lot more. Tonight, as an example, he gets done at an all day account, and then has to drive down to Savannah to work at another account. He also has to go out of town in the middle of the week. We knew that this promotion would mean more work, but we really felt God leading us to take it. He certainly deserves it with how hard he works! 

 

 

 

Some pics from our recent trip to Grandma’s too!

 

 

 

2 years old!!!

Well, we officially have a 2 year old! It's so hard to believe that time has flown that quickly, but we love every minute of this crazy life with him. :) Since turning 2 he has really turned the corner in a lot of things, his progress is amazing. We are so proud of him, and he isn't a little baby anymore. Nos t at all. He is a big boy now, in every sense of the word!

His 2 year check up went well. He had another surprise ear infection, which is crazy! He never ever acted like something was wrong, and if we hadn't gone to the doctor, we never would have known. He weighed 34lbs 14oz, and was 34in long. The first time she measured him, we got him at 36.5in, which was a gain of a whole 5 INCHES from 18month! However, when she re-measured, he was at 34in, which is a still a gain of 2.5in! His weight was also up about 2lbs. No shots, although he did have to get the lead test done again. He cried, and then promptly forgot it happened. :)


On the 20th of February, he had to get stitches. We cannot figure out what he cut his little finger on, but it was pretty bad. He ended up with five stitches, but was actually very brave. Joelle, not quite so much lol. He screamed a lot when the lidocaine shot went in, which was horrible to watch! This huge needle in his little finger. :( We had to keep a bandaid on it the whole time, because everytime he saw the stitches he would scream, even though they didn't hurt as long as the bandaid was on. He got his stitches out on the 27th, which he was very brave about too. It looked DISGUSTING after the stitches came out, but the doctor said it had healed nicely. It looks much better now, though, and he is doing better about not having a bandaid on it anymore.

His birthday party went really well! He enjoyed opening his presents, and went to town on the wrapping paper. :) He got a lot of great presents, and we are very grateful for all the family that came and helped us celebrate. We have pictures that we will post below as well. On his actual birthday we took him to McDonalds, and he LOVED the play area. It was his first time in one.

His speech therapy is progressing WONDERFULLY! He is imitating so many new words and actions, and he isn't getting as frustrated as much since he is learning to communicate a little bit better. Still doesn't say more than one word at a time, but he is becoming very talkative with those one words. We loved to hear him say OH NO and to chirp like a birdie. How he makes a noise that high, we have no
idea! :) He is really into throwing tantrums now though, lol.

We are working with him on time out, and he seems to be getting the concept that mommy and daddy are not putting up with his screaming at the top of his lungs, and he doesn't get what he wants when he screams. Thankfully, we don't have any biting yet, but we do occasionally have hitting. It's mostly just knocking toys away, and screaming.

Our favorite words that he says are MAMA and DADDY. We LOVED that he is calling us by our names now, and not just grunting to get our attention. He calls for us when he needs something, or when he just wants us to pay attention to him. He also excitedly calls our name(s) when he hasn't seen us for a while, like after nursery.

Ok, so we’re really bad about repeating ourselves…..sorry about that!

Almost 2!!

Well, we finally buckled down and are weaning Little B off his paci. We knew it was time, but he was just soooo attached to it, that we were having trouble sticking to our guns. When Joelle got really sick with her migraines, he really became dependent upon it. The speech therapist said it needed to go, and we knew that anyway. So, we take it in the morning and after nap time, and he gets it for naptime and bedtime. Some days are good days, some days are bad days. He will go one day and not even miss it, and then the next day go beserk when we take it from him in the morning. At some point we will have to begin to take it for nap time, which isn’t something we are particularly happy about lol. Without it he does make a lot more sounds, so we are hoping that he will begin to find it easier to communicate.

 

Speech therapy is going really well! He has begun to make a lot more sounds and words, and is really beginning to try and communicate. He still spends most of his time screaming for what he wants, which is sooooo frustrating. We are trying to teach him more signs, so that he can communicate without having to use words. Right now we are to focus on responding when he makes a sound or says a word, and repeating them back to him, so that he understands that words have meaning. He loves to communicate with strangers now. Sometimes he shouts at them to GO in the elevator. Or he waves bye bye :) He says YAY when he does something right, and OH NO when something goes wrong. He tells the dog to get OUT of the kitchen, and yells MOVE to the cat. Some of the signs we are working on are MILK and EAT and BABY for his stuffed animals – not because he is getting a new baby lol.

 

For quite a while he was obsessed with Shrek. Then it went to Thomas the Train. He is still obsessed with playing with his trains – he has like 20 – but his favorite movie to watch is Cars. And by favorite we mean at least once a day, sometimes more. He apparently doesn’t have fast evolving tastes, he finds a good thing and stick with it lol.

 

We are having his birthday party on the 24th, but it’s going to be family only. Joelle is just not able to handle a big party, and be able to function through hours of tons of people. He goes for his 2 year check up on the 25th, and we know he is well over 30lbs now. We just don’t know how tall he is.

 

We are incredibly thankful that he has only been sick once since Nov 2011, and that was in Nov 2012. He had an ear infection, but we only took him to the doctor because we were afraid that he had pneumonia (since it was going around, and Josiah – Joelle’s younger brother - had it). He has also, praise God, avoided the flu and RSV. It was weird to find out he had an ear infection, since he had no fever.

 

We also got his hearing tested again in Nov, and praise God again there was no fluid! His hearing was perfect, and we were very happy that we did not do tubes.

Pictures!!

We forgot to post some pics – so here you go :)

 

 

Happy New Year!

Holy smokes are we behind! To tell you the truth, sometimes we forget that this blog even exists! We are just so busy, and Benjamin changes so fast, that it is hard to keep up with everything. So let's see...

Benjamin is getting therapy through Babies Can't Wait. It is offered through the state of GA, and it is also free for us. He has currently only had one therapy session due to the holidays, and his next one is Jan 3rd. We are so excited to see him progressing! He still is not putting together two word sentences, which is the main reason he was referred for therapy. But everyday he copies a little more, and is starting to slowly put things together communication wise. He still has trouble though explaining what he wants, and being able to tell us how to help him. So...we still have A LOT of screaming fits. And throwing food on the floor because he does not like it. 

 

However, he has been copying us now with words and deeds. He knows most of this body parts, though he confuses teeth and feet which is adorable! He also knows a lot of animal sounds, will pretend to snore when you tell him to sleep, and says “"aww” and pats your back when you tell him to give you a hug.

 

He LOVES Thomas the Train. Like – is obsessed with it. It’s all he wants to watch, and his trains are pretty much all he wants to play with. We are sick of Thomas, but since the morals are a whole lot better than Shrek – which he used to be obsessed with – we aren’t minding so much.

 

In Oct Joelle and Benjamin and Joelle’s mom went to see her grandparents in PA. It was B’s first time meeting them. He was a holy terror in the airports, though, lol. On the flight up he got antsy right at the end, and on the flight back he slept the whole time. But during the times were they were waiting for a flight or walking back/from the terminal – he spent the majority of the time throwing down and screaming. Exhausted does not even begin to cover how much he wore them out. However, the grandparents had  WONDERFUL time meeting Benjamin. He loved his cousins, who were a good bit older. They enjoyed playing with him too, and kept him occupied and interested.

 

Jeremiah is right now thankfully in a slow time. :) This means that he actually gets to see his family, and spend time with them. Joelle’s migraines have been SOOOO bad that it is hard to get family time – so we are greedy about any chance we get. Our current main family event is grocery shopping. Which we have learned, the hard way, is something that Benjamin needs to be full to do. A hungry  toddler being denied all the food in the cart does not mix well.

 

The pain specialist is trying some new meds for Joelle, please pray that they work and that she will experience relief. Right now she is on long acting nucynta, which makes her very very sleepy. For about 11 days she could not even drive. She goes back to the pain specialist on the 2nd, and we will see what happens. According to the pharmacist she is not supposed to be on it for a long time. It gives her some good days in the midst of the bad. About every 3 days she would get a semi good day, to where she could get out of bed and take care of things that have been building up.

 

Oct was also a blessing because Jeremiah’s dad came to town from China! We really enjoyed see Tom, and he also got to meet Little B for the first time.  He brought some trucks for the him that Benjamin has really liked playing with. We miss Tom a lot while he is overseas, so we eagerly await his visits. :)

 

Christmas and the new year have come and gone. This past year was a year of great trial, and loss. But it taught us how to lean closer on the One who provides all peace and grace. Christmas was a lovely time with family. Benjamin was truly blessed with his presents. We didn’t really do anything to celebrate the new year, Jeremiah managed to stay up for it, but Joelle was sound asleep. If we had a party to go to we would not have been so lame, but alas, lame we are. :)

 

Benjamin will turn 2 at the end of February! That is so hard to believe! It seems like he was just born. Also, we are glad that we did not put the tubes in his ears. He had a hearing test in Nov, and his ears were perfectly clear! Of course, two weeks later he ended up with an ear infection in one ear, and fluid in his other one. We took him to the doc because of his cough and pneumonia going around, but we never suspected that because he had no fever.

 

We are still no pg, so all in His timing. We are going on 17months, and debating whether or not we need to seek medical help and/or advice. We didn’t with Benjamin, and God worked it out when He was ready. It’s so hard to know this time though, because He has not given us a time like He did with Little B. All we can do is hope, pray and wait each month :(

 

We are looking forward to the new year. We pray it is one of great healing, of grace and peace, and that dreams are answered and hope restored. May God bless each and every one of you. May you know Him greater and  grow in His goodness and love.