Holden’s Diagnosis – Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory processing disorderThis is something I have suspected for a very long time, so I wasn’t too shocked when I found out last week that Holden officially has Auditory Processing Disorder, or Central Auditory Processing Disorder.

After many, many years, in fact since he was a baby, Holden has struggled.  He is finally old enough to have the test and he was very vocal that I tell his story in hopes that he can help another child.

Read Holden’s full story on Baby Center here: Now I know why the Happy Birthday song makes my son cry.

You can continue to follow Holden’s journey on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

What’s In A Name? The Story Behind Holden, Beau, Mia And Everly’s Names

Four kidsChoosing a name for your baby is hard. In fact, its a HUGE responsibility, and you basically need to nail it, or else your child is screwed. No pressure though.

A few days ago, I got a message from a reader asking me if I could share the stories behind each of our kids’ names…

“Could you do a post on how you decided on your kids names? They are all so unique and different that I thought it would be fun to hear where you got them from.” -Danielle

I loved this idea! I really do have some great stories behind each of our kids’ names too. So grab your popcorn.Kids dancingLet’s start at the beginning. Holden.HoldenI remember being around 20 months pregnant, sitting in Florida with Mike and family, and flipping through baby name books. It was eventually Mike that came across the name Holden. We had only ever heard “Holden” from the famous book, The Catcher in the Rye. But something about that name stuck.

We were having a hard time deciding between the names Holden and Hayden. We loved both. But it was a co-worker of Mike’s that posed this question: “what if he becomes CEO of a company one day, what name would suit that kind of position of power?” Easy, Holden.

Holden’s name suits him so well. To me, Holden is a strong, serious name, which is a perfect fit for our sweet little rule-follower.

Full name: Holden Michael Venditti

Next in line… Beau.BeauBeau’s name was one that we had ready to go if we were having a girl. I have this tiny obsession with the movie Signs. You know, the one where Aliens invade the planet, but the focus of the movie is on a family living on a farm? The little girl’s name in it is Bo. I absolutely loved that name since the first time I watched SignsSigns

The only problem was the spelling. The female spelling of Beau is actually Bo, like Bo Derek. But we were worried that Beau would get teased at school and be called B.O. – body odour. So, last minute we made the decision to change the spelling to the male version, Beau.

Beau completely suits her name. The only problem is, anytime her name is called from a list, like at a doctor’s office, they think she is a boy. Oh well. You can’t win them all.

Full name: Beau Bianca Venditti

Then came the daunting task of naming two people at once. Twins. Mia and Everly

Shhhhh, Mia and Everly and pretending to sleep in this photo. Pretty convincing, right?

When I was first pregnant with our twins, I was absolutely convinced I was having two boys. So, we went ahead and picked out two boy names: Sawyer (from Lost) and Landon (from A Walk to Remember).

We were completely shocked when we found out that we were having two girls. I could think of lots of girls names I loved. Daisy, Ella, Mila and Maisy, just to name a few. But Mike kept vetoing every one of them. Mike found it so hard naming our girls.

Then I got really stuck on the name Ever. I loved the simplicity of it. But Mike still wasn’t sold. It was when I heard that Channing Tatum mmmmmm…. and Jenna Dewan Tatum named their daughter Everly, that I knew that we had found our name. It was such a beautiful name. Mike was sold immediately although I initially thought I would shorten it to Ever, I never have.

Everly

Everly

Full name: Everly Mae Venditti

For a long time we thought that the two names would be Everly and Ellie. Have you seen the movie Up? That’s where we got the name Ellie from. But the more we thought about it, the more we wanted them to have very different names.

So, we threw around Mila for a bit, but then we read Mia in a baby name book and it stuck, (this was just before the name Mia exploded in popularity). Mia was simple, (which we love), and pretty.

MiaMia

Full name: Mia Lilian Venditti

How did we decide who got which name? When I was late in my twin pregnancy and we had FINALLY settled on our names, we let Holden decided who would get what name. So, he turned to my belly, and first pointed to the bottom, which he knew was where baby A was, and said “this is Mia.” Then he pointed to my top left, where baby B was camping out in my ribs, and said “and this is Everly.”

So when they were born, and the doctor held the first baby up, we said “that’s Mia” and when the second baby was held up we said “and that’s Everly.”

They each really suit their names perfectly. Good job Holden.

We overall opted for somewhat unique names, and we will probably never find personalized water bottles, or key chains with their names on them, (well, maybe Mia). But we love how unique they are, and fingers crossed, we are pretty sure we nailed the whole naming people thing.

The Last Days of Summer… Holden’s Big Boy Room

If you are going through anything similar to me, you are counting down the seconds until school starts.  My little man Holden is starting Junior Kindergarten this year and we cannot wait!

IMG_5018Holden is so bored and we are running out of things to do!

IMG_5017

One thing we are trying to accomplish is finishing Holden’s room.  We moved in December and besides getting the furniture into the room we haven’t done a thing!  The walls are still destroyed from the little boy who lived in that room before him and Holden has Hot Wheels and toys everywhere.

IMG_5021Now that Holden is growing out of his Cars phase it’s time to turn his room into a rustic surf paradise.

IMG_5024Colour, a reading nook and toy storage are a must!  But, after our big move and my decision to be self employed we are on a BUDGET!!!

IMG_5022So stay tuned as I find budget friendly ways to achieve the beech vibe we have been dreaming of!