Just Another Day at T-Ball

Things are moving along nicely here at the Kohler house - thank goodness because Mommy and Daddy are off to Hawaii for a week on Monday!! Yahoo!! It is a bit of a logistical nightmare coordinating the kids with friends, but fortunately Stacy, Momo and Miss Judy are jumping in! Thank you! I am anxious to see how the week goes while we are gone - especially after today.

While at Jeremy's Tball practice, Logan (potty training) decided to take his pants off at the playground and tee tee! From a distance it looked like he was peeing on a little girl! Another mom hollers at me to look and the mother of the little girl and I run across the field to check it out. Meanwhile I totally leave Courtney in the dust! Bryan is on shift, of course! It turns out he was just showing her that he peed on his shorts on accident and couldn't pull up his underwear. It was a good teaching moment about being polite and not peeing outside or in front of girls. And, to tell Mommy or Daddy when you have to go, not to just whip it out! During my lovely teaching moment I hear another mother yell, "Ma'am, uh, your daughter..." Courtney had walked clear across the field and is half way up the stairs to the jungle gym. Holy crap!

I scooped her up and gathered my kids to headed back - a bit embarrassed and wondering what all the other people think of the Kohlers?! Especially, since at this point Courtney was walking dragging Jeremy's bat. Jeremy was proud of his hat full of rocks he collected during practice, rather than actually practicing. And Logan was walking in nothing but a T-shirt, red monkey underwear and blue crocs! All I could do was laugh! The sad thing is that is about par for the course for me!!

Check 1

Her blood work came in normal for thyroid. On Monday we will have more details as to our next steps and which geneticist we will be seeing.

18 Months and Many Milestones

So, it has been a difficult couple of months as I have worried about Courtney's growth, lack of teeth, inability to walk, and talk for that matter, but things are looking up! As Courtney turns the corner into her 18th month of life she has not one, but two little white specks pushing through her top gums! This was huge for us since we are in the process of getting blood work done to rule out any endocrine issues such as hypo pituitary or hypo thyroid problems.

Not only can Courtney walk, but she can talk!!! Exactly 6 months after she was implanted (not activated) she said her first word, "Uh-oh!" It has taken me a couple of days for it all to sink in. My little girl who is profoundly deaf has been able to hear me tell her over and over again, "Uh-oh," when something drops to the ground, and now she too, can say it - she can hear!

This is a long way from here! The sorrow and devastation we felt 9 months ago is slowly fading away. I never thought I would drop so much stuff just to hear her sweet voice! Here are a few other things she knows (receptively) with no visual cues:

No
Sit on your bottom
Knock, Knock (she will knock)
Wave bye-bye
Blow kisses
Do you want more? (She will nod her head yes)
Where's the horsey, Mommy, or Daddy? (Points)
Ball


We love you Baby Girl! We can't wait for the next 9 months to unfold to see what all you can do!

Congratulations Bryan!

Congratulations on your promotion to Specialist, or in civilian terms "driver". I am so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. All of your hard work has paid off and you deserve nothing but the best! Through this crazy year you have stayed strong, helped me keep my feet on the ground and followed your dreams. I can't thank you enough for all that you do for our family. You are an amazing example to me and our beautiful children. I know this promotion was bitter sweet leaving your 18's family, but a new chapter has just begun and I am sure it will be just as good, if not better.

I hope your first shift at 17's C shift was as good as you hoped it would be and as Jeremy says every night during his prayers while you are gone, "Please watch over Daddy and keep him safe while he is at the fire station...."

We love you!

Quick Poll

I am just curious... for those parents whose kids were late teethers, how old were they when one finally popped through?

Results

I realized that I didn't post an update about Courtney's test results... They were normal, well at least a normal infection that should be able to be treated with antibiotic ear drops. So we had to finish out the week (Friday) doing ear drops and were told, "Just give us a call if there is anymore drainage." The next day our audiologist gave us a quick crash course on how to use an otoscope, sent us on our way and said to check for any drainage in her ear on Sunday.

Bryan and I were a bit skeptical on how this would work since you can't poke it in too far or it will hurt her, have to all but strap her down to look in her right ear, and have to hold the otoscope a certain way to move with her head when she moves so we don't jam the tip in her ear. So we couldn't check until today when she wasn't so fired up, and yep, you guessed it, there is still fluid in her ear! We were looking for "bone dry" and that wasn't the case. Anything white, green, yellow, etc. would not be good. Since I have only looked in an ear three times, not quite a professional, I wasn't sure what color it was, but it wasn't dry. Luckily, we go back to see our audiologist tomorrow for a mapping and she can give us the for sure thumbs up or down as to whether or not we call good ol' Dr. Syms!

The good thing is she hasn't run any fever. I just would like her right ear to be just as "bone dry" as her left!

A small delight!

After 16 months and 21 days, Courtney can walk! I knew eventually she would, but with her hearing impairment I was worried something else might be wrong. Even though I knew her brain was more focused on listening and processing sounds than developing her motor skills, I absolutely couldn't wait for her to walk! We are still holding out for teeth, but at least we know they are up there somewhere!

This is just the treat our family needed as we wait for the results on Monday to find out what is causing Courtney to have an ear infection since December 23rd! Dr. Syms took three cultures on Thursday and we are hoping it is nothing serious. We may have to consult with an infectious disease doctor depending on the results. So... we shall see!