8 months

Happy 8 months old to this sweet little one! The time has flown by as well as dragged on painfully slow, depending on which day you are asking me. This handsome boy continues to charm us with his steely blue eyes and ever-emerging personality. He is the world's best snuggler, hands down. Just put him up on your shoulder with a soft blankie and his binkie, and he will mold into the crook of your neck like he's been glued on. It is my favorite thing.

I noticed that in most of the pictures I capture now, Gavin is sans hearing aids. That would be the result of two very determined little hands being on continuous ear patrol and immediately ripping off foreign offenders as soon as we get them in place. Usually by the time we turn around, Gavin is happily sucking away on his $3,000 teethers. Its been a bit challenging to say the least.

We are keeping busy with multiple weekly doctor's appointments and therapies in preparation for Gavin's upcoming Cochlear Implant surgery, which will hopefully be in June. Eli and Norah have really been troopers through it all as I drag them to doctors all over town in support of getting Gavin the best care that we can. They only want to know 1. "Do they have stickers there?" and 2. "Can we play a game on your phone?" Everything else is pretty okay as long as I answer yes to those questions. 

Gavin's genetic testing for hearing loss came back negative, which lets us know that we did not pass on any recessive hearing loss genes to either Gavin, or our other kids. This was a huge relief for me. While it would have been nice to have an answer as to the "why," I can live without that knowing that our kids shouldn't need to worry about this in the future with their own children.

And while I could go on and on with boring details and all the research I've been tackling on hearing loss, Cochlear Implants, surgeries, and the like, I will spare you of all that and just leave you with the cutest little face you're ever going to lay eyes on.