Catching Up!

Courtney continues to amaze all of us. At her last hearing test she was almost hearing at the normal range across all frequencies. We all got a little emotional because we just couldn't believe it. She is now waving hi and bye bye with no visual cues. Shakes her head no when you say, "No." She babbles mama, nana, moo, ah ah, and screeches at the sight of her brothers. Tonight she heard our clock sing for the first time - I have waited a long time for that! And, she pointed and waved up to her baby dolls when I said, "Night night baby dolls." (No visual cues) She really can hear! I haven't done a very good job documenting her progress, I better get on it for 2009.

We did have a scare a few weeks ago since she is 15 months and still doesn't have any teeth. However, x-rays confirmed she has teeth, she is just taking her time getting them in! I was freaking out! Just to reassure me, the receptionist at the dentist office sent me a copy of the x-ray. I am tempted to frame it! Ha! Other than an upper respiratory infection a few weeks ago and a current ear infection she is doing great!

Jeremy continues to love school and is reading better and better everyday. He loves all of his teachers and is still quite the story teller. He is so good with his brother and sister - always helping them from putting Courtney's coils back on to putting on Logan's socks and shoes to go outside. I can't believe he is already half way through kindergarten! Where has the time gone!

As for Logan... he is a mess. We can sum Logan up in one story that I will make short. While he and Jeremy were eating a snack he decided to get on top of the dining room table and jump. When he did his head hit the light fixture which is like a giant bowl, and it shattered into a billion pieces. Somehow, we didn't have to go to the ER even though Jeremy sparkled with glass, including his ears! Just a few, and I mean a few, tiny cuts between the two of them and one GIANT mess to clean up! Logan is always into something if it isn't jumping on the table when no one is looking it is baby powdering his room, breaking ornaments, or hair spraying our room! We still love him all the same!

We also found out last week that Logan will be having eye surgery in BOTH eyes the day before his birthday on January 30th. It is an outpatient procedure and should take between an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes. After Courtney's six hour surgery I feel like I can do anything! They said he would be fine to have a party the next day, just his eyes will be red. That is definitely reassuring!

For Christmas this year the kids made a special request for Santa to come this morning since Daddy had to work today until tomorrow. They thought that was pretty cool and can't wait until Bryan gets home tomorrow to open up the rest of the presents under the tree. Since I am off for a few weeks I am hoping to post a few pictures soon.

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

Still Sad

I wish I could say that I was one of those moms who is totally okay with Courtney's hearing loss and has accepted it and moved on, but I am not. I know she will be okay, we will do everything in our power to make sure of it. She has her CIs, she is making progress, but my heart still aches when I see her big, round, beautiful, hazel eyes absorbing the world around her. At least once a day I say to myself, "I can't believe you are deaf Little Girl."

It almost seems that the calm after the storm has hit and I am finally feeling again. We went 90 miles per hour from diagnosis to bilateral CIs all in a matter of 3months. I am getting used to all of the stares and questions (which I appreciate so much more than the whispers), but it isn't easy. I don't know if it is because she is so small and has so much equipment on her head or if it is because the equipment we have lights up?

I think it is the small things that make me sad. When she snuggles up and leans her head to "give love" the coils fall off and she can't hear us. When she doesn't feel good and wakes up from a nap upset, she can't hear me soothe her. She can't hear us come in anytime when she wakes up for that matter. If I want to rock her, the coils fall off. She can't hear the kid songs in the car because the coils fall off. Fall off, fall off, fall off!

I know that someday this daily lump in my throat will one day disappear, but for today I am still sad.

Behind

I am a little behind on my blogging life and I have to say I miss it. Things around here seem to have slowed down for the moment so I am taking advantage of the time I have. Courtney is doing amazing and we are very anxious to see how she does at her hearing test next week. Here is another clip of her and her growing receptive vocabulary. We realize that she may not be understanding exactly what we are saying, but she is definitely correlating the inflections in our voices to mean something without visual clues...



Halloween was a great time. We went to our church trunk or treat the Wednesday before Halloween where all three kids humored their mother by dressing up as Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. They were so cute. On the actual day of Halloween, however, Jeremy was convinced by his little friend, Malia, to be Superman and she would be Super Girl. There was no convincing him otherwise. So, on Halloween Jeremy went as Superman, Courtney as Dorothy and Logan as the Scarecrow. We went over to Mike and Angie's for dinner and then off to trick or treat with quite the gang!

On Saturday Bryan decided to take the boys camping at Canyon Lake. They had the best time. They rode their bikes, swam, roasted marshmallows and even got to sleep in a tent! Next time Courtney and I will have to go!

I am having technical difficulties with my computer and I am not able to upload any pictures of Halloween and the camping trip, but as soon as I can I will get them up.

New Sounds!

Since Courtney's activation on October 3rd she has begun to make baby noises. It warms our hearts every time we hear her!

Activation Clip

This is a clip of Courtney during her initial activation. It was a long day, but she did great! At this point during the mapping they were adjusting her second ear (left). She was hooked up to a computer so only she could hear the sound. After several times of all of us pointing to the screen when we heard a sound, Courtney did it all on her own. It was amazing! She now points up every morning when we first put on her CIs and throughout the day when she hears specific sounds. She is also beginning to make more baby gurgling noises, and it feels so good to hear them! It truly is an amazing journey!

(Be sure to press stop on the music bar on the right before you play the clip.)

A Week of Firsts

This past week has been a week of firsts. We started off on Saturday in a bit of a frenzy getting ready for Courtney's birthday party. Bryan was on shift and Jeremy had a soccer game at noon. After Mom's quick run to Walmart we loaded the kids in the car and headed to Jeremy's game. I dropped Jeremy and Mom off and went on a food run. I returned just in the nick of time to see Jeremy score his first goal! Oh, he was so cute!! He threw both hands up in the air and cheered with excitement. He quickly scanned the sidelines and found us - just beaming from ear to ear. I wish I had it on film! They also won for the fist time, too!


After the big game we came home, cleaned up, and wrapped up the finishing touches for the birthday party. We had a great turn out. 25-30 of our friends came to celebrate Courtney's birthday. I know first birthdays are usually more for the parents, but this one really was. Even if Little Girl didn't give us a reaction when we all sang happy birthday to her, we knew she could hear us.



On Sunday Jeremy learned how to ride his two wheel bike! He had such a good time with Bryan and now wants to ride his bike everyday after he gets home from school.


To round out the last few days, Courtney got her first goose egg on her forehead! Logan didn't have any firsts, but he sure loves to play with his brother! I have so much more to update, but out of time and energy. I am working on getting the video clips of the activation and a few others up on the blog for all to see. It has been an emotional, exhausting journey, but amazing all at the same time.

Activation Day

Friday, October 3rd was activation day. What a day! That morning we met with Dr. Syms so he could take a look at her incisions and clear her to go to Sunshine Cottage to be "turned on". Everything went well and we will return to see him on the 17th.

We had a few hours to kill in San Antonio before our 2:30 appointment so my mom, Bryan, Courtney and I had lunch and bought an internal battery for our video camera so we could capture the moment. We thought we had all of this time until one hour before the big moment we turned on the video camera and saw nothing but a black screen! Thank goodness for Best Buy!! By 2:10pm we were plugged in and charging up our new camcorder!!

We all felt pretty emotional walking into Sunshine Cottage. I became flooded with many of the same emotions I had the first day Bryan and I went there with Courtney. It all seemed surreal again. I felt my emotions brewing. I didn't want to have high expectations in the event that she didn't respond at all or cried, I just was unsure about it all. At the same time, I couldn't believe in 3 short months all that had happened. My mom finally was able to experience and feel the hope that this little school for deaf children gave us. She was touched by the "normal" chatter and excitement of a Friday at an elementary school. It definitely wasn't quiet!

There were 7 of us in the little tiny audiology office for Courtney's big day. I wasn't sure where to watch or what to do, but luckily they have a mirror so we could see her face no matter where we were sitting. Before we began we were informed that all 22 electrodes were in and all 22 functioning!! Very good! After a few adjustments on the computer, Jacque, our audiologist, told us she may hear something. She did and we absolutely scared her to death. I didn't know if I should cry with her because she was so scared or cry because I was so happy she was hearing something! I was able to keep my composure and we all were told to put our happy faces on while Jacque adjusted the levels.

Besides it being totally impossible to keep the processors on, Courtney did absolutely amazing! We were able to do the first mapping of the right ear and will return on Wednesday to do the left. After about 2 hours into it and all of us pointing to our ears when we heard the sound and then to the screen to start conditioning her, that little girl heard something and pointed her little finger all by herself to the screen. At first we thought it was a fluke, but then she kept doing it, it was AMAZING!

After about 3 hours of mapping she was exhausted, we all were. By this point overwhelmed was an understatement! Saturday didn't go so well and we only were able to keep the CIs on for 2.5 hours. Today, however, was great! A little toupee tape goes a long way! Courtney is so little that none of the baby accoutrements fit her, but we are hopeful that once her incisions heal it will get a little easier.

Here are a few pictures from post op to today!