Happy Birthday, Chicago Style!

December 14th marked Justin's 27th birthday. This is exciting for two reasons:

1) we are in Chicago to celebrate.

2) Hitting 27 makes him officially OLD according to the Marine Corps. He will now get what is known as 'the old man discount' on any future PFTs - Justin is VERY excited about this! :o)

~

Justin spent the entire day playing a few of his new video games, including the new Madden game, which he played with Hunter for quite awhile.

~

That evening, he wanted only one thing for his birthday dinner, Giordano's pizza. And it's not Chicago style pizza if you don't have good beer to go with it, so we stocked up on some delicious seasonal brews that we are unable to find out on the west coast!

~

Hunter put in some hard work, and not only helped MAKE the cake, he decorated it too! He drew the design in the frosting with a toothpick, and I filled in with a color.

~

The Cake:

On the left you have Jay Cutler, throwing a touchdown pass to Greg Olson on the right. The green guys are the New York Jets

~

Our good friends Rachel and Eric helped us celebrate, and brought Justin his own keg-thing

~

Happy Birthday, Justin!

We Made It!

I might be biased, or we might just have the world's best kids.

~

Through 13 days on the road, 8 states, and just shy of 3,000 miles, our kids were amazing. They were peaceful, calm, and sweet through the entire trip! From California to Texas we drove about 6 hours per day, and only stopped ONCE each day! We are seriously, seriously blessed.

~

Here is Justin, up ahead, driving the Jeep. I was following in the Mazda with the kids - Justin and I had lots of fun with the two-way radios on this trip! This picture was taken in New Mexico, and yeah I know, photography while driving is probably not the safest of hobbies...

~
And here are our two happy kiddos all tucked into bed at the hotel after a long day of driving - these are some seriously good natured children!

~

After a fun pit-stop in Las Vegas, overnight stays in Gallup, New Mexico, and Cannon AFB, New Mexico, we reported to Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, TX on December 9th. Thanks to a few kind-hearted, extremely efficient Marines, Justin checked in, and in a matter of 24 hours, was able to check back out on leave!

~

We didn't expect to get approval for leave that quickly, but we were staying in the Air Force lodge, and ready to get out of there at a moment's notice. On December 11th, we set out once again, this time to drive through another 4 states. The first leg was San Angelo, TX to Springfield, MO. On Sunday, we drove from Springfield, MO to Alton, IL. The drive to Alton was very short, but we were riding the tailcoats of that massive winter storm, and Alton was a great place to call it a day. The reason we had even planned to stop in Alton was to see our good friends Rusty and Meagan Kallal, and their new baby, Chase!

~

Rusty and Justin deployed twice together, and Meagan and I became very close during those deployments. Rusty has since gotten out to the Marine Corps, but we still keep in touch - as soon as we knew we'd need to drive through St.Louis, we knew we had to make a pit stop!

~

Here is Rusty, getting to know Morgan

~

Rusty and Justin, baby swapping! Morgan kept wanting to touch Chase :o)

~

On Monday the 13th, after the major storm had passed, we made it from Alton, IL to Lombard with no stops!

~

We are breathing much easier now, as we get to hang out here in Chicago until January 1st-

Merry Christmas!!

Las Vegas II

On Saturday, we all went over to an ice rink where Willow figure skates. Willow was very gracious and gave Hunter some private skating instruction - he seemed to get the hang of things very quickly, and he had the time of his life experiencing it:

~

Uncle Josh and Hunter, all laced up!

~

Taking in some pre-ice basics from Aunt Willow

~

~
Ready to hit the ice with Uncle Josh and Aunt Willow!

~

This was after Hunter had been at it for awhile - by this time he was taking turns pulling Josh and Willow!

~

~

~
Comin' in for a high five

~

Of course we couldn't leave without begging Willow to show off some of her stuff that she's preparing for her upcoming Christmas show!

~

~

This would have been a cool picture of a jump, but the large crowd that gathered got in the way!

~
All done skating for the day - he had an amazing time!!

~

After open skate was over, there was a youth hockey practice going on, so we let Hunter check that out for a bit

~

Here are a few videos of the action:

~

Las Vegas I

We are having a great time at our first pit-stop - Las Vegas. We have wonderful hosts, Justin's brother Josh, and his wife, Willow, who always make us feel right at home

~

We haven't been out for too much adventure - I think we are trying to re-energize after the craziness surrounding orders/packing/moving... We've done a little shopping, and a lot of hanging out at the house. Last night involved cookie baking, and a little body manipulation by Josh, the doctor in the house.
~

~

~

~

Morgan got in on the health and wellness with a personal baby-yoga session from Willow, an accomplished yoga instructor :o)

~

~

Farewell, West Coast

Our time in Monterey, and California for that matter, has come to an end. We've lived here for nearly 7 years, and have had 8 different homes.

~

~

Monterey has been a very memorable chapter in the Batt family adventures. When we came, Justin didn't even know the Arabic alphabet, he is leaving as a fluent speaker. When we came, we were a family of three, we leave as a family of four. When we came, Hunter was learning letter sounds, he leaves as a kindergartner reading at a second grade level.

~

This house will always have a special place in our hearts, but at the same time, we are ready for the next adventure.

~

So for us, it's on to Goodfellow AFB in TX, but only until the end of May. After that, you ask? Only the Marine Corps can say...

~

Five Months!

Where does the time go?

~
Our baby girl is five months old today - she is happy, talkative, an observer like her brother, eating veggies, grabbing whatever she can get her hands on, and rolling around on the floor.

~

Hunter is her favorite person in the world right now, she watches him like a hawk, and loves to watch him dance around, play peek-a-boo, or play football. Hunter is an awesome big brother, and we can tell there is quite a bond there already.

~
Happy five months Morgan!

~

~

~

~

~

Graduation Day

It's all over!
~

He's been through 15 months of 7 hour days in class followed by two hour evening classes, periods of overnight immersion, seemingly constant testing, and 30 days in Egypt -

(this picture was taken in honor of Justin's brother Josh, who took a similar picture while studying this summer - he is currently in medical school. DANG them boys are smart!)

~

On Thursday, Justin graduated from the Defense Language Institute Middle Eastern School. He is officially an Arabic linguist. It was a very happy day for our family - it has been a very tough experience, and we are so glad to be done!

~

To put things in perspective - less than half of Justin's original class made it to the DLTP (the final exam), and a few people did not pass that. Justin not only made it to the end, he made it through while maintaining a 3.6-3.8 gpa.

~


Justin, with the only other Marines in his class

~

~

BZ Sgt.Batt, we are so proud of you!

~

So it's time to close this chapter and begin a new one - on to Texas we go...

A Hunter update

As most of you reading this already know, Hunter has been diagnosed with arthrogryposis since he was about four months old. Arthrogryposis simply refers to contractures of the joints, and up until a week ago, we had no idea what was causing this in Hunter.

In June of this year, we met with a geneticist who reviewed Hunter's case, and thought something didn't quite add up. He said the fact that Hunter had lost flexion since infancy made him think there is actually an underlying neuromuscular disease, and that it could be progressive. On September 24th, Hunter underwent his third surgery this year - this time it was a biopsy. We got the results last week, and I thought this blog would be the easiest way to share with everyone.

First and foremost, as far as the medical world knows, Hunter's condition is not progressive.

Sigh of relief.

We do however, after five years, finally have an underlying diagnosis.

It is called congenital fiber type disproportion.

Congenital meaning existing at birth, and fiber type meaning the two different types of fibers our muscled consist of. We have type I and type II fibers, under normal circumstances, our muscle fiber types are congruent in size and number. In Hunter's case, as it turns out, his type I muscle fibers are smaller, and greater in number, than his type II fibers - thus the disproportion aspect.

This disproportion results in muscle weakness. The doctors are now saying that this weakness caused a lack of fetal movement, which in turn caused the contractures of the joints. (and yes, I did report lack of movement to my ob, and I was told there was nothing wrong and I was just worrying because I had nothing to compare it to - I'm not sure I'll ever be over that one)

Anyway, the prognosis is good. This condition is extremely rare, so there isn't much info on it at all. We were told that the best thing to do for Hunter is to keep him moving - this is great news as Hunter is such a sports nut! As far as medicine knows right now, the condition should either remain static or improve slightly.

This link provides a good overview:
http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/about_muscular_dystrophy/conditions/115_fibre-type_disproportion

So that is the update on Hunter. It is a good feeling to finally have a legitimate cause for Hunter's mobility issues. We will continue to keep Hunter moving, mostly through sports, and especially with swimming.

Thank you so much for all of your thoughtful words and prayers, they mean the world to us. To see that so many people care so deeply for our son is a huge blessing, and we are grateful every day for that.

Thanks for reading this post :o)

Four Months!

Well, by now she's about 4 and a half months, but the 4 month mark came amidst the fifth birthday extravaganza :o)

Morgan is wonderful. She's 14 lbs and 24 inches (75th percentile for both). She's growing beautifully, and meeting all of her important milestones. I had sworn we wouldn't start solid food until she was six months, but I was wrong. For a few weeks, Morgan wasn't lasting very long in between bottles, but her stomach capacity is only about 5-6oz of formula. So we thought we'd try oatmeal for a little more substance, but I wasn't sure how she would do with that. From the very first bite, Morgan was bringing the food to the back of her mouth and swallowing, as if she'd been eating for years.

So, we're on to solid foods now :o) So far, she's had oatmeal, squash, and green beans - now, I can't stand pictures of kids with food on their faces so I'm just going to post this one because it's cute that Hunter is feeding her, he was so excited :o)

~

Cousins from Seattle sent Morgan this adorable raspberry hat awhile back. The other day, I thought Morgan's noggin might be ready for it:

~

~

Another fun thing that has been happening is the interaction and bonding going on between Hunter and Morgan. She loves to sit in her jumperoo and watch Hunter run back and forth. Hunter is so sweet and thoughtful towards her, it's really wonderful to see :o)

~

Love this picture. Morgan is resting on my mom's shoulder - love the expression on her face!

~

Hunter's Fifth Birthday - Part II

On Saturday, we kicked off the birthday celebration with breakfast at McDonald's before Hunter's soccer game

~

After the soccer game, we headed up north to Santa Cruz, for a ride on the Roaring Camp Railroad. We were treated to a ride through the redwood forest on a 100 year-old steam engine

~

~

~

~

So glad Mom and Dad were able to join us!

~

Checking out the engine with Pappa

~

Too hard to resist taking cheesy pictures!

~
Timeout!

~

Entrance to Roaring Camp

~

My fourth cake creation (Hunter's third birthday cake was courtesy of Costco since we were out of town!) Hunter requested a Toy Story 3 cake, with Buzz, Woody, and Jessie "because she's pretty" :o)

It was a chocolate fudge cake with Reeses peanut butter frosting filling. The outer frosting is homemade almond butter cream. All the decorating was done with the butter cream, and the figures are from Toys R Us.

~

Once I saw Hunter's first impression of the cake, I instantly forgot what a pain it was to make :o)

~

Awesome alien party hats! I laugh out loud every time I see this picture. Morgan was thinking 'I hope they don't make me wear a goofy hat on MY birthday!' and Hunter was thinking 'LET'S EAT!'

~

A complete set of cooking tools from Grandma and Pappa - no kiddie stuff here, this is the real deal!

~
Really cool recordable birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa (Nilson) (in addition to an awesome pirate book and sea monkeys!)

~
Justin is teaching Hunter Arabic (I'm trying, but dang it's hard!) so he gave Hunter a big Arabic picture dictionary, and wrote him a special birthday message on the inside-

~

Justin, reading the Arabic to Hunter

~

Our good friends and former neighbors, the Farmers (you'll remember them from last years camping blog!) sent Hunter a set of build-it-yourself monster trucks!

~

Hunter had a great birthday, and we can't believe he's FIVE! Hunter has celebrated his five birthdays in four different homes, and as of now, we aren't sure what state we'll be celebrating in next year!

Happy Birthday little man, we love you, and we are so proud of you. You make us laugh and smile each and every day, and we can't wait to see what you're going to do next!