Walk this Way: 2015 is flying by!

I realized the other day I never did a Christmas/New Year post and now i can't believe March is around the corner. 2015 is flying by! I am thankful we didn't spend the day after Christmas this year in the hospital like we did the past 2 years with Preston. I have no regrets with doing his past plastic surgeries on his ear when we did them……he doesn't remember any of it and this year was a FUN and MAGICAL Christmas with Santa and gifts so I would have been crushed if we had decided to take him in for another surgery. Instead, we have elected to have Preston's final ear surgery at the same time he will have his neck revision. Kinda stinks it will be right before the weekend Spring Break starts but Tim will be home and he will have plenty of time to heal. Words cannot express how Tim and I feel about this surgery. We are BEYOND excited for his stoma (hole in his neck) to be officially closed! In 17 days to be exact. This means he can swim this summer for the first time (going under water will be HUGE for him) and bath time can be 100% FUN with splashing and washing/rinsing his hair like normal. The part I am most excited about is the cosmetic piece to this surgery. Dr Andrews is P's plastic surgeon and he is phenomenal at what he does. He is going to make Preston's neck look as if nothing ever happened. He deserves this SO MUCH!

We have seen some major break thru's with P's speech in the last 3 weeks! It has been really exciting! Preston's teacher even caught some of his first words on video at school for me. I was so grateful. He has started saying a few words that are crystal clear or pretty darn close. The best part of all is that he is trying to say everything even if it doesn't sound like it should. It will come! His speech therapy at school has made all of the difference and we are grateful he could be in the early education program in BV. We are still actively signing and it continues to prove to be a huge help in letting us know what Preston needs and wants and he is learning more signs each week. I have to brag on the boys preschool teacher because if it weren't for her, our experience with school would not be anywhere near what it is. She has taken it upon herself to teach the whole class sign so Preston could communicate with his peers. How do you thank someone for this incredible gift.

I am including this sweet story so I never forget it (feel free to skip or read and enjoy). Preston has a friend at school named Marianna. He REALLY REALLY likes her. We have a sign for each friends name at school so he can talk about all of his friends. Marianna is signed a lot in our house when we talk about school. Well I had no idea that Marianna's brother, Jacob, always walks her into school each morning and Preston really likes Jacob. I got a text in the morning a few weeks ago from Miss Abby (their teacher) with a video of Preston saying HI JACOB all on his own. Abby about fell over and had to share with me. Enjoy this video below. I had tears rolling down my cheeks and appreciate her capturing this for me. Later that week, Marianna's mom approached me at pick up and wanted me to know that Preston knows Jacob's name (she didn't know I saw a video) and wanted me to know how much Jacob LOVES having Preston acknowledge him in the mornings and say hi to him and speak his name. Miss Abby said she truly believes this is a huge reason why Jacob comes in their classroom every morning. My heart just melts and I never thought our experiences at school would be like this one. Pretty special :)

Preston is also very much in love with 2 things. His teachers baby, Lyla, and her doggie, Gracie. They discuss them daily at school and have signs for them. This kid just cracks me up! Here is a video of Preston saying Baby Lyla (the first word that he said crystal clear!). It doesn't get much better than this sweet voice!

I am always updating about Preston so I must mention Reid. He is my little leader and loves school so much. He is a huge help with signing and communicating with Preston. They are the best of friends and the worst of enemies. Tim and I have noticed how great they play together at this age 90% of the time. They do things at school together for certain things (like circle time) but then are completely independent from each other otherwise. They have very different interests but seem to find a way to incorporate those together. Very twinish at times. We have decided to keep them together next year because signing is still a huge piece of our life for Preston's communication and Reid is gaining so much from this. We know he would not get this in other classrooms. They will be in separate rooms the year before they enter Kindergarten. We feel great about this decision and we really can't imagine our boys having any other teacher than Miss Abby.

We have also enjoyed playing in the snow, church and lunch with GG, celebrating my Mom's 66th Birthday, Auntie Kim spoiling the boys on V-day with a trip to Build-A-Bear, and lots of time at the park with the unusually warm weather we've had. Here are pics to recap these past few months!

Loving the warmer weather for walks to the park!

A moment that I had to blink twice……the house was quiet and knew the boys were in Reid's room so i turned on the video monitor to spy on them and found Reid reading to Preston. Pretty sweet!

Special visit from Mama Amy and Blake delivering V-day gifts!

Our 13th Valentines Day together! Fun night out to the Bristol and shopping - thanks Auntie Kim, Grandpa and Nana for spending the evening with the boys!