A Bittersweet Year

As 2011 came to an end, it was quite easy for Dave and me to breathe a sigh of relief and pray we never have another year with an ending like it; yet, remembering that even still, it could have been worse.

2011 brought a lot of pain, but it also brought us a happy, healthy, silly, engaging, smiley, spit-up producing, social, hilarious, bouncer-loving, strong, baby boy named Luke, ooh-k! On many days, he is also known as "Ralph" for his unique ability to ralph on everything remotely near him. Oh, how we love this child that we prayed God would give us. Luke, you are an amazing little guy who truly highlighted our year.



So, we call this year bittersweet.

There truly aren't words that can really appropriately express all of the emotions that come to mind when I look at these pictures. Here are a few memories from years past that are especially special this year...



Sisters--Love the pants, Steph!

THE classic church photo

Easter...the three Huston girls

So funny that I remember Jen showing off this split

My dad and Jen when she won 1st runner up in a pageant





Mom and her girls




My Wedding Day with both of my sisters

Jen and her guys

LOVE this picture of John with his mom--he is truly a reminder of Jen!

My sweet boy and Aunt Jen




Our three losses in 2011--losses to us but more than sure that they wouldn't choose to come back if they had the choice ;)

Christmas 2011

This year was sweet Luke's FIRST Christmas!!! Both boys are basically rotten and received so many nice presents from our family. The boys got a swingset from Santa this year and a few other little goodies on Christmas morning. I think we captured some pretty awesome memories in these photos...

Christmas Morning
















An Early Christmas

Happy Saturday

So much to post on our blog, but here are our guys enjoying a Saturday at home!!

Christmas Fun at School

On Thursday, J had a Christmas lunch at school that the parents were invited to attend. Before the lunch, his class performed a couple of songs for us. One of them was "Twelve Days of Christmas". Here he is doing the motions:







"Jingle Bells"

Of course, sweet L came, too. He was very good the entire time. He really was an angel. The kids loved him, too.




J is having such a great year at school! His teacher and her assistant are amazing, AMAZING! They are an awesome team, and J really loves school. There are so many things that he is learning academically that it just blows my mind. His teacher incorporates a lot of music, so he is learning those simple preschool songs that I loved as a child and gets to play many fun preschool games, too. His teacher also has a very good handle on his communication. She has heard him be very verbal and expects that from him. There are many words that they have taught him at school. The first time he dropped something and said, "Oh no, fell down", I about fell down, because we didn't teach him that phrase, but it was four words!!! She knows what motivates Jackson and finds so many great things to tell me about my boy. She also knows how to help him in the areas that he struggles, but can even find the positive when he isn't so cooperative. I knew I was working with a fantastic teacher when she had great things about how Jackson "argued" with her! This teacher makes me feel like my child is the only one she is teaching and that is truly a gift.

I looked back at our speech folder from last year, and J had about 20 approximations/words under his belt. Many were approximations, and he was trying a few more after a model. This year, he will try any word you ask him, provide many words with a prompt, has many, many words that he can say spontaneously (too many to count, but I may try to count them one day in my free time), his approximations are very close to the target word, and some words are completely clear to the unfamiliar listener. He can also put together some short phrases. I remember crying when I heard him count to three in the spring, not because he knew the numbers, BUT he SAID them. Now, from a verbal standpoint, he can count to 20 with 1-11 being pretty clear, say every letter of the alphabet in random order, try to sing, use polite words to show his good manners :), and so much more. He is saying so much that I have to really listen to what he says at times to figure it all out. All of it isn't clear, but there was a time when I knew every word he could say because there were so few. This step in progress is HUGE for an apraxic child! Progress is steady at this point!

Daddy's School

The last time we were in Charleston, Dave and I took the boys to The Citadel. Dave likes to visit his alma mater, and J loves to run around the parade field there! This was Luke's first visit!