All I want for Christmas.....

is my two front teeth. Nate's top two teeth broke through yesterday. He now has a set of four so he can really bite!! ouch. He has been a blast recently. This is such a fun age and he is really discovering the world around him. He loves to do high fives with Scott, as you can see. We have been doing physical therapy twice a week and this has really helped him strengthen his trunk muscles. This will help him get closer to sitting and crawling. He definitely has the drive to do it. As soon as he is able to start moving we are in trouble.

We had a great visit to the auditory verbal center in Macon on Friday. They are helping us with Nate's hearing to develop it to the best of our ability. We are really excited because Nate responded to low frequency sounds. This is the first time we have been 100% sure that he was hearing something. I thought I was going to cry, but I knew I had to pull myself together since they would think I was a giant softy. Normal language is in the medium to high frequencies so this doesn't mean that Nate can hear everything. What it does mean is that he is responding to low frequencies and we will use that to continue to teach him to respond to those sounds. That way if he is hearing the medium to high sounds he will let us know by responding. The therapist said he may not be hearing the medium to high sounds or he might be hearing them and just ignoring them. Most men will understand that concept.

He also had a great appointment with his liver doctor. He was so pleased with the way he looked we didn't have to do any lab work and we are cleared for four months!!!! Nate has a great laugh and got tickled while we were seeing Dr. Romero. Doc couldn't stop laughing with him and I think that was Nate trying to smooth him over so he didn't have to do labs.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and enjoy all of the things you are thankful for.

Could be an interesting week

Nate is having a very rough day. Poor guy has a stomach bug that he has been enduring for about a week, his reflux is terrible, he is congested, and he is cutting another tooth. Oh yeah and Scott is out of town for work. He is asleep on my lap right now so I am able to type just a few words before he awakes. He has both of his bottom teeth in and the top ones are right around the corner. He and I have been decorating this weekend and finally got our christmas cards ordered. If we don't already have your address, email me at juliaeg02@aol.com. Also, the old carepage would send out reminders to everyone when I updated Nate's webpage. This website doesn't do that as I am sure you have figured out so I will send out an email when I update it. So...if you want an email let me know your email address. Happy shopping. Here he is eating his sweet potatoes on Turkey day.

Tooth

Nate has his first tooth!!! He is growing up so fast. His tooth is on the bottom right. He had sweet potatoes and absolutely loved them. It could have something to do with the fact there was sugar and marshmallows in them. Peas will never taste the same. It was a great holiday.

Four Generations of Hudson Boys

The Rollercoaster

We are getting ready to celebrate our first major holiday with Nate and we have so much to be thankful for. He is such a cutie!!! We met Nate's new Ear Nose and Throat doctor last week in Atlanta and had a great appointment. He told us that many kids with Auditory Neuropathy grow out of their condition when they are diagnosed as early as Nate. Nothing is for sure but it gave us hope that he will not have hearing problems. We had just started to accept that he would have permanent hearing loss. That is the rollercoaster of parenthood I guess. We were really thrilled but try to keep our emotions in tact so that we are not too down if he doesn't grow out of it. Time will tell. The doctor gave us some good tips and a speech therapist that can teach us how to do speech therapy with him. We are very positive and thankful for how far he has come.

While we were in Atlanta, Nate also got to see the neonatologist that truly saved his life. I can't tell you how amazing it was to see how pleased she was with his progress. She did so much for our family and I think she got attached to the little booger. He has come so far and we were blessed to have so many people work so hard to get him where he is today.

Nate has had a very busy social calendar recently, meeting lots of new people. He is definitely getting use to a life full of attention.

I have so much to be thankful for this year!!! I am thankful for the love and support of my family, the care from Nate's physicians, the nurses that answered all of our questions and cried with us too, the therapists that work with him everyday and encourage both Nate and I, my friends who have done more for me than I could ever payback, the people who don't know us that prayed for Nate, my loving husband, and more than anything the happiness that Nate has brought into my life. He has taught me so much and I really love him with all of my heart.

Darius Goes West

Scott and I attended Leadership Ga this past weekend and were so inspired by a group of young men. Please visit their website and watch the video at http://www.dariusgoeswest.org/the-film/

I promise you will enjoy it!!

Things happen in our lives that we never completely understand. God truly has a plan for all of us and it is so amazing when you are able to be a witness. After discovering that Nate would have hearing loss this week we were so touched by Darius and his friends. They really spoke to our hearts and let us know that everyone can make their mark on this world. They are a challenge to each of us to become better people and to do our best to make this world a better place. I often feel that Nate has had an impact on many people's lives already in just the short time that he has been here. He has brought so many people closer to God, their families, and friends. Nate challenges me everyday to cherish what is meaningful and to bless other lives as we have been. So please take the time to look at this website and purchase on of their dvds. You will love it!

This group of guys are currently traveling the US and would love for you to host them at any group setting that you think would learn from them. They do an amazing job.

Nate is growing so fast. He is up to 17 lbs. Yeah!!! We are so proud. He has done so well since he has been off the feeding tube and we are so lucky!!He really is a fighter and defies all odds.

They told us that he wouldn't be able to come off the feeding tube until he no longer aspirated. The thickened formula would be too much of a challenge for him to take all of his nutrients. It would require too much energy. Not for Nate. He takes his thickened formula all day and even though he has to work harder, he keeps on going. Nothing stops this little guy.

My buddy and me

My in-laws surprised me tonight when I got home from work and had a special bday cake waiting for me. Nate loved the candles and wants to have birthday cake everyday.

Nate is trying his best to get adjusted to the time change, but has

been struggling to figure out exactly what time we are suppose to get up in the morning. He is rising a bit early. He is happy to lay in bed and play though, which is fantastic for mom and dad. As long as he has his hands to chew on he can play in there for awhile. Poor little guy is teething something terrible and has kept his hands in his mouth for the past three days.

Hearing

We are on our way home from the doctor and we completed Nate's ABR. The results that came back confirmed that he does have auditory neuropathy. Again we do not know what exactly this will mean for Nate. He will most likely have some hearing disabilities. He did very well sedated and did not have any problems with his breathing. This was a big relief. Scott and I are happy to be done with the test. Even though we still do not know what extent of loss he will have we are glad to be moving forward. We will focus on his therapy and take each day at a time.

On a fun note, we bought a video camera on the way home. So if I can figure out how to work it we will put some videos of him up.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed.

Prayer Request

Nate has had a very busy week. He recently started physical therapy and is doing that twice a week. He loves it! They teach us fun games and exercises to do with him. He will play until he has absolutely no energy left. We are working on developing his trunk muscles and head control. We are still working with a speech therapist on eating and he has been doing really well with rice cereal.

We have a big hearing test on Monday back in Atlanta that we are pretty nervous about. Nate is getting another ABR done. This test tells us whether or not Nate has auditory neuropathy (AN). It will not tell us how much hearing he does or does not have though. There is a very small chance that this ABR will tell us that Nate does not have AN. There have been a few cases where children with high bilirubin levels (like Nate) have found out that they in fact had auditory immaturity. Essentially when the first ABR was done back in July he was still so young and still had an elevated bilirubin. The auditory nerve just may not have developed properly yet. So... Scott and I are praying for another miracle from God for our precious baby boy. He has already blessed us so much and we are so lucky to have a healthy and happy baby. We wanted to ask our friends and family to say another prayer for our little guy. He has worked so hard through life already and we would love for his hearing to be something he doesn't have to work hard for. They also have to sedate him to do this test, which I am really nervous about. I know everything will be fine, but I can't help but worry about his breathing when he is sedated like that.

On a lighter note... Nate can't have anything to eat or drink after 3 am tonight until after the test at 9. So he should be alot of fun on the car ride up to Atlanta. Poor little guy will probably scream the entire way. I am ready for tomorrow to be over with already.

Scott and I are so lucky that Nate has come so far. He is such a happy baby and has brought so much joy into our lives. He sleeps on a schedule, eats when he is hungry, and plays all day long. Again, we are so blessed. We are one of the lucky families. So many children that were in the hospital with us have not has outcomes like ours. We were and are so fortunate to have had the support from our family and friends. I received a flyer in the mail the other day from the Ronald McDonald house where we stayed in Macon. They were there for us too. So if you ever have time or donations that you would like to share, support your local Ronald McDonald house. http://www.ronaldhousecga.org/support/index.html They were very good to us and so many other families during a terrifying time. I am sure they are struggling with the current economic conditions as well.

So keep your fingers crossed about Monday and we will let you know something by the end of the night.

Nate's great grandmother Green came to visit with his great uncle Jeff and great aunt Cathy. This was the first time they have gotten to meet the little guy. It was wonderful to see them. We wish they lived closer.

Halloween... a day early

So we live in South GA and football is practically a religion. So much that the town decided to move trick or treating to Thursday night since there was a football game on Friday. So here is our little monkey on his first Halloween... a day early. He only got to take part in the festivities for an hour since his bedtime is at 7. He was too cute, but very sleepy.

Nate's first time on the beach

He fell asleep ten minutes into our walk down the beach. I would say he definitely enjoyed it.

"What a beautiful life we all are given! Sure, it's got some hurdles every now and then, but in the end, all rain does is make the flowers grow higher and prettier. I hope I get to share some of your flowers with you, and maybe spend some time playing in the puddles with you while it's pouring."

A dear friend of mine posted this quote to her blog and I absolutely loved it. We go back to Atlanta in November for more hearing tests. We are pretty nervous as we will begin to get a better idea of Nate's hearing. We pray that we will have better results, but as the quote states it is about the journey that we will go through. We know that we are lucky to have treatment options, but we hope that he will be able to hear.

He is doing so good. He is really reaching for things and holding on for dear life..including my hair. He is happy all the time, especially after his naps, and I enjoy every moment with him. My heart melts every time he gives me one of his giant smiles. He is such a sweetheart.

Nate really liked his second go round in the high chair. We tried peas for the first time and he really liked them. I think we are going to skip rice cereal all together.

Nate is one of those babies that doesn't spit up...He throws up. He really gave us a good soaking and all I could do was laugh. It was all over him and me, including in my hair.