We're Going Out.....No Kids

Exciting, isn't it? We don't do this nearly as much as we should. It's our anniversary on Tuesday, and since my husband is still traveling a lot, this is the night we're celebrating. I don't have time to gloat much, since I still need to jump in the shower, and be ready to go, before carting kids to soccer and basketball, dropping them off at my sister's house (I owe you.....), and heading out for a late date. You gotta love when you get 'spruced up' and your kids all tell you- Wow mom, you look different- really pretty (um.....thanks- I think).

Hope you all have equally fun Friday evenings!

Letter From Teacher J

Melissa-
First of all, I’ve got to tell you how HYSTERICAL (YES, HYSTERICAL IS ONE WORD I CAN THINK OF TO DESCRIBE HIM) Jake is—especially at circle times. Within the past two weeks he has told us all that he was born in Switzerland, his real name is Cooper Jackson, his parents have a pirate ship that they only use sometimes. When they aren’t sailing the pirate ship it is covered with a tarp in the yard. (HOW DOES HE EVEN KNOW THE WORD SWITZERLAND????)
Yesterday during closing circle he asked me, “Do you have a mom? Is she the boss of you? Is her older than you?” Now, these seem like just random questions when you read them, but he was in deep thought with a furrowed brow, tapping his chin with his finger, slightly shaking his head. Very serious. (YES HE'S BEEN TELLING ME FREQUENTLY THAT I'M NOT HIS BOSS- I GUESS HE WAS JUST GETTING A SECOND OPINION?) I told my parents about it on the phone last night and we roared! Frequently, his questions or comments spark an entire classroom discussion. His reading, writing, and phonemic awareness skills are fabulous and he continues to improve his kindergarten readiness weekly.
Today one of our students from last year’s a.m. class, D, visited with his family and Jake remembered him. And then Jake stalked him. (I'M SURE IN A FRIENDLY LOVING WAY-LOL) He and Jake played together last year and D is from a nice family, too.(I'M GLAD SHE INCLUDED THE TOO- WE MUST RATE AS A NICE FAMILY) I think that Jake could sense that D was feeling a bit nervous about visiting so Jake took it upon himself to include D in everything. They were inseparable for the 45 minutes that D was here and Jake was ever so polite and inviting,
D, did you bring your backpack? No? Well, do you want to go on the monkey bars with us anyway?” D was smitten with Jake as well! He and D sat next to each other at snack and at closing circle, and Jake insisted that they be excused together, also. After they left D’s mother, Y, gave me her phone numbers because D told her that he wanted a play date with Jake. If you see some random note in Jake’s backpack with unfamiliar names written on it it’s just Y’s note!
Now, he can still be ornery, but we love that! Thanks, Teacher J.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My notes are the sarcastic ones above in all caps. This letter just cracked me up. It sums up Jake perfectly. Goofy, Mischievious, Friendly, and ORNERY :) This teacher has been so great for Jake. She truly appreciates the many different facets of his personality. We will miss her next year :(

Emily's Birthday Update

Emily is going to be 8 on March 6th. 8- I can't believe it. The only thing she has asked for, for her birthday this year is a guitar. She also asked for one for Christmas, but Santa vetoed the gift. However, we are caving and letting her Gram and Papa buy her a guitar. It is hiding in the back of my car right now. Jake, unfortunately knows about the guitar (since he was with me when it was purchased), and has been plotting how to steal it away from his sister. He also has already asked her to share the guitar w/ him (yes, the guitar that she is not supposed to know about, that is a surprise birthday gift). Fortunately, he informed her of all this when she did not have her cochlear implant on this morning, so I think she is still in the dark on the whole deal. Our big gift to her are lessons at the local music store (and a whole slew of new clothes, so she'll look good playing the guitar). We'll see how the reality of a guitar compares to her guitar fantasy- I loved the piano much more when I didn't have to take lessons anymore.

She's also having a Rock Climbing Wall party that I have to get invitations out for asap. Our options were a swimming party, or the rock climbing wall- I opted for climbing, so that she can interact better with her friends. The pool is always fun, but she obviously can't hear in the water, and since it is *her* party, I thought she might want to be able to chat more easily. She also climbs like a monkey (since the age of 18 months), so she's a natural at rock climbing walls. Anyway- better run and get the invitations done so I can deliver them today :)

Wednesday Update: How's that for a totally uninspired title

That's kind of how I feel right now: uninspired. I had a bedmate last night who coughed his way through sleep ALL NIGHT LONG. If it were my husband I would have kicked him out of bed-LOL, but it was Trey, and I just didn't have the heart to wake him up and move him. He doesn't know how to really cough in that good, throat-clearing kind of way, so instead he makes this loud screeching noise to try to get it done. I was planning to send him back to school today (he's been fever free since Monday night), but I don't know that I can w/ the horrible cough/retch he still seems to have.

If I find some inspiration later, I'll post more. But I refuse to bore anyone with more details of my sick family :) We're all here, and heading towards health.

The $10 Sticker

Trey is now the proud owner of a sparkly $10 Elmo sticker. He woke up Sunday running a fairly high fever, so I decided he should probably see our Pediatrician to rule out ear infection, etc. I was fairly certain he had the same thing Rob and I had (and was secretly hoping it was treatable w/ antibiotics)- I was correct. He does have what we had, but antibiotics will not work unless there is a secondary bacterial infection. So the good news is that he has no secondary infection, the bad news? It just needs to run its course. And, I got to spend $10 at the doctor's office w/ nothing to show for it but a sparkly Elmo sticker.

I also get to go back today :) Emily has been complaining of ear pain since last week. No fever, and it doesn't seem to be too severe, but if she does have a slight ear infection, it is not going away on its own. And then there is Jake. His hearing is definitely not rebounding. In fact, he is still cranking up the TV, Radio, etc. even with his newly adjusted hearing aids on. I had our Audiologist do tymps again, and he still has flat tympanograms. So, we need to get him figured out. We may need to just put new ear tubes in just to regulate his ear pressure. So, he has an appointment with our ENT on March 5th.

This is why I am bad with Well-child visits when they are older. I feel like we spend enough time at the doctor, without having to go when they are healthy. At what age do you stop taking your child in for a yearly checkup? Delaney is going to be 12 in October. I took her for a checkup last year, does she need to go again this year? Does it switch to an every other year thing at some point, or just when immunizations are needed? Kids really need to come with their own Owner's Manual and Maintenance Schedule, don't you agree?

Snowball and SuperRat

A sigh of relief. The rats returned to school today (and we managed not to kill them- yay us). And, despite my initial feelings of revulsion, I actually came to like these fuzzy little critters. Not enough to volunteer to provide them with a permanent home, but it was kind of fun having them for the weekend. The boys loved them. Loved them so much in fact, that every time I turned around they were sneaking them extra food. Which would not have been a problem except they were *supposed* to be on a very specific diet (which did not include cheese, which is what the boys kept sneaking them: American, cheddar, provolone- a little here, a little there). I had to search the cage this morning to hide all evidence of CHEESE (which was difficult, since Trey opted for shredded cheddar last night). Trey also provided them with a mini soccer ball (a foos ball that is painted to look like a soccer ball), and a miniature wiffle ball, so they wouldn't be bored (not that they were given that opportunity: every five minutes someone was wanting to hold them, shove them in a pocket, etc.) I'm sure Snowball and SuperRat were quite happy to be back in their classroom after their stay with us.

We Have Rats In Our House....

or we will as of 3:30 pm today. Delaney volunteered to rat-sit her classroom's rats for the weekend. Of course, the weekend she finally got assigned is the weekend she is gone until 5:00 pm tomorrow for a sleepover. I decided the other parent would probably not appreciate two additional birthday guests (especially little white ones w/ beady red eyes). So I suppose it means I am rat-sitting. JOY!

Non-rat subject: Trey's speech therapist called earlier and asked if I would be willing to participate in a parent survey for a woman who is doing a research study on how much parents of HOH/deaf children know about hearing loss. It's an 8 page survey with a wide range of questions, such as, Do you know what all the parts of a hearing aid are called, and Do you understand what a Speech Banana is? Those were some of the easier questions, but interestingly enough, there has only been one so far that has stumped me (and not having the paper in front of me, I can't remember what the question was). Anyway- my points in mentioning the study, are 1) I would LOVE to see the results. I think this would be a fascinating study, and 2) My natural assumption is that most parents know more than we think we do (especially after reading some of the other fantastic CI parent blogs out there- yes, you know who you all are :) This researcher/teacher/administrator is trying to develop new methods for helping to better educate parents of newly diagnosed HOH/deaf children. I am not sure who all specifically is being given this test (what the cross-section is), but that would also be interesting to know (meaning are there any differences between those parents who have not had access to early intervention versus those who received EI at the beginning). I guess I should actually FINISH the survey and get it sent in, and maybe I can request a copy of the results.

O.K., Back to the rats. I have no idea how to take care of a rat. All I know is that they have to go home in pairs, as they are very social animals. Hopefully they are also very non-stinky animals. And, hopefully they will be entertained by the sight of me slapping more pink paint on a wall. Yes, I STILL have a wall left in the Emily's room.

Anyway- I better run. I have to dig out a soccer uniform for Emily, a basketball uniform for Delaney, wrap a birthday gift, and pull out Delaney's stuff for the sleep-over, all in the next 30 minutes. Happy Friday!

The Phantom Hole In The Wall

This morning as I stumbled downstairs to wake up Delaney, I happened to spy a smallish hole in the wall near the downstairs bathroom (how I missed it last night, I have no idea). A HOLE- and smallish may be too mild. Mediumish? Hmmm, I pondered, where did this hole come from (well, besides the kids, because I knew at that point that one of them was behind it)? Being the seasoned investigator that I am, I spied a foam baseball bat lying on the floor under the hole. The hole is the exact same size as the small end of the baseball bat (which unfortunately is hard plastic, not foam like the rest of the bat). At least I now know what the 'weapon' was. I still can't get anyone to fess up. They are all siding together on this one and claiming they had nothing to do with it. If I wasn't so mad about the hole, I'd be proud of their sibling loyalty.

By the way, anyone know an easy way to patch a hole in the wall?

Flashback: 2003

All of this sickness in the house (and hoping the kids all avoid it) brought back vivid memories of when Emily was 2 going on 3. She woke up one weekend morning and was seeming not to hear very well. By the following day, thanks to a very loud school bell at our church's sunday school, I was convinced she couldn't hear a thing. Turns out I was right. She had lost most of her residual hearing overnight. There we sat, little ASL/signing capability, with a 2 year old who couldn't hear a thing with her hearing aids. We took her to our Audiologist to start the implant process, but there was an approval committee that made the decisions in the state we lived in, and they only did 1-2 pediatric implants a month. We knew we could be in for a long wait.

Fortunately she sailed right through the approval process, and they had a cancellation the next month (I think they heard the desperation in my voice). Either that, or the image of a little 2 year old girl, who had great hearing w/ her hearing aids, scared and confused got to them. She literally wouldn't let me out of her sight for that entire time period. Secretly- I kind of liked the cling factor- I got lots and lots of love. But, that's not the way I would have chosen to get it. Also, my husband and I were leaving a couple of days after we discovered Emily had lost so much hearing for a work trip for a week, so my poor mother and mother-in-law had to try to take care of Emily. I'm sure not the easiest time to babysit, for either the sitters or the sittee.

I was so worried about Emily getting sick and not being able to have her cochlear implant surgery. That was one of my biggest fears (other than the procedure itself). At one point she started getting a cold, and I just knew it was going to push us back. But no- we were fine. Anyway- it was quite possibly one of the longest month to two months of my life. After that first implant, all the rest seemed so much easier. I think because both of the other children had some hearing in the other ear, so it didn't seem quite so desperate. It's hard watching your child who loved school, and was really outgoing, turn into one who refused to get on the school bus, and would only come to her parents. She was a wreck. For us- getting Emily her implant was not a decision we made. She made it for us- at the age of 2 she had shown us how much she relied on her hearing to live her life. I've had no second thoughts. Now, did I have second thoughts about not introducing ASL at a young age? Yes. But I still would emphasize speech first.

Sorry this got way off topic :)

I now feel kind of human again....

Antibiotics are amazing. I have been fever-free since last night and I can bend over again (without feeling like my head is going to explode). I still can't breathe through my nose, but who's complaining. Now I just have to take care of everything that has piled up in the past few days. I did nothing yesterday but lay on the couch and watch Fox news/CNN, and home decorating shows. Typically I'd also mix in a food show, but since I had no appetite, the food shows just didn't do it for me. There really isn't much on during the day. I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about the spy satellite that needs to be shot down before it crashes into the earth and produces a toxic gas cloud.

Anyway- amazingly enough, the family did just fine with me taking a day off. I'd like to do it again sometime, but not when I'm sick.

This is cracking me up- because I'm such a good mother (he he) I am updating my blog while Trey is playing Preschool Disney online. He is staring at the screen telling me everything he sees: mommy, key. Now open. Mommy, baby. Mommy, door. Now he's counting (albeit incorrectly): One, two, four, three, five...... He is just talking away. This is when I should do his language sample. Forget about all those times I'm WORKING to get him to talk to me.

Mom's Are Never Sick, Mom's Are Never Sick...

Usually works for me, but not this time. I have the plague as well (only it's really only a sinus infection). It's only bad when I'm standing up, sitting down, turning my head from side to side, or trying to use my eyeballs. Oh yeah- and breathing is kind of a pain. I now have some wonderful antibiotics, so I'm sure by tomorrow I'll be as good as new (see it's that power of positive thinking)!

What a plague it was

Luckily my husband is still the only one to really get this one (thank goodness!). It was a bad one. At one point on Saturday he had a 105.5 degree fever, and was just miserable. I thought we might have to take him to the hospital, but it seemed to get better from that point on. He still is not 100%, but he is now functional. It's more like a bad cold at this point. So- I'd love to tell you what a great four day weekend we had, but we really didn't.

Delaney went to a friend's beach house and comes home later today, so I think she had a fantastic weekend. The rest of us just tried to avoid the sick one, and played outside a lot. I didn't get much painting done, but that was o.k. I was kind of painted out. Plus we finished another wall in Emily's room and I had Emily, myself, and the two boys, all holding paintbrushes covered with pink paint, bumping into one another, dripping on the carpet, etc. It just wasn't a good idea to continue. The boys thought it was the best thing in the world though :)

We had Trey's parent teacher conference on Friday. He is doing great in all areas (w/ the exception being speech/communication, but that's why we have him at this school anyway). He's doing really well socially, and follows all the classroom 'rules', schedule, as well or better than some of the other kids. He is the only HOH child in his particular class, so he's functioning at a similar level to regular hearing kids. Hopefully his speech will start flourishing at some point. We're definitely seeing improvement, but he's going to be four in May, and will start soccer in August. It would be nice to see his communication skills improve a bit by that time, although his coach will be a champ at understanding him- Coach dad.

The Plague Has Visited Our House....

luckily only one of us, but it is my weekend help (A.K.A. The husband). So, probably not much time to update until the plague has left. Hope all of you have great weekends planned!

Happy Valentines Day

It is so fun to celebrate this holiday through my kids' eyes. Trey had his first ever school Valentine's Day. He was so excited about opening all of his cards, and has been carrying his little homemade Valentine carrier around since yesterday (they had no school today, so he celebrated early). Jake is counting the minutes until he gets to open his 'treasure box' (his container for Valentine's). And the girls will spend hours going through their cards later today, looking at who gave what kind of card, etc. I have little surprises for them, that I'm saving for tonight, as well as homemade brownies.

I on the other hand am just hoping my husband makes it home in time to help transport kids to and from various activities- That is present enough for me :)

Happy Valentine's Day! I was going to treat you all to pictures of the pink bedroom, but it's still a work in progress. Instead I'll treat you to a picture of Jake holding his plate of teeny tiny PINK play-doh balls. This kept him entertained for easily 45 minutes-LOL!

It Looks Like A Bottle Of Pepto Threw Up All Over My Daughter's Room

Wow- Is it pink. Now, she ASKED for pink, but it's so pink it is hurting my eyes. We're doing the wall around her big window magenta, so I'm hoping that will help. Maybe??? I'm going to go enjoy Delaney's green walls and give my eyes a rest from the Valentine's Day fest that is my daughter's bedroom.

Batteries- Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them

Well, can't HEAR without them is more accurate. As if yesterday wasn't bad enough, I just got a call from Emily's school saying one of her CI batteries is not working. Bummer. We're just having battery issues this week. I did send Delaney to school with about 7 extra hearing aid batteries- just in case. And a working implant.

So, instead of spending time on the computer I will be running up to Em's school with a battery :)

On a more exciting note (probably only for me- LOL) I finished painting Delaney's room. One down, three to go. I kind of enjoy painting, but I really, really hate the taping/masking. I know, I know- they sell edgers/trim painters that say "no taping needed", but I've done that and had stray paint marks on my ceiling, so back to masking and taping I go. I think their claim is probably true if one is slow and meticulous with one's painting, but I am always quickly slapping paint on the wall while children are napping, or in school. I also like 'instant gratification'. I don't want to wait days to see the finished product. I want it done asap, so I can admire my handiwork and pat myself on the back.

Very quiet day yesterday for my daughter

And, not by choice. I got a phone call from Delaney around 2:00 saying her hearing aid battery had died, and asking me to run her up a new one. I was driving Trey home from school, and in the middle of painting a room so I decided she could wait the hour until she got home from school to change it (since she had her cochlear implant as well). She's supposed to have extra batteries in her backpack for this very reason. About 3:00 our neighbor (who gives the girls a ride to school), came over with something one of the girls had left in the car- yep, you guessed it. Delaney's implant. I could just kill her. She is so careless with it, and in this case, since her hearing aid was not working, she really needed it.

Hopefully she learned something from this experience, but I'm not so sure. I'm really at my wits end with her. If her aided ear continues to lose residual hearing, her implant will be her main hearing device. I wish she would understand this and take it a bit more seriously. And for all of you who are proponents of not implanting your children, etc. Delaney has from day one refused to consider learning any ASL as a back-up. She is strictly a verbal communicator/lover (which in all honesty is what we have stressed), but she needs to come to the realization that there is a VERY strong possibility that her hearing aid will no longer work for her at some point in her future. Why not embrace the cochlear implant now? She's already done the really tough part (the surgery), and she hears quite well with it.

Sorry for the rant- just frustrated w/ my daughter today -LOL!

Port-A-Potties: #1 place not to lose a cochlear implant

Not that this happened, but it did cross my mind yesterday. Delaney had a soccer scrimmage last night, so we all trekked across town to watch. At some point Trey discovered two port-a-potties right next to the bleachers, and of course he needed to use the bathroom.....frequently. I didn't really think about it all that much until one of the other mom's asked me to hold her small camera while she used the 'facilities'. She mentioned that she would hate to have it fall in. At this point Trey has locked himself in the other one, and all I can think about is his cochlear implant falling in- YUCK!!!!! Honestly, I had never considered this possibility. There is NO WAY I would go in after it. I think we'll just remove his implant before he uses these marvelous little inventions. Trust me- Emily's falling down the sewer grate was bad enough.

Putting on my chef's hat today.....

Well maybe the word 'chef' is giving myself too much credit, but I'm going to do some baking today. Delaney's soccer party has been changed from a pizza party, to a potluck dinner at the coaches' house. This gave me the perfect excuse to whip up a big ol' chocolate cake.

Two of my favorite things to make for a group dinner/potluck are King Ranch Chicken Casserole, and Texas Sheet Cake. I guess my Texas heritage comes out every once in awhile. The cake I used to request for my birthday growing up was my Gram's Texas sheet cake- until my sister helped to make it one year and forgot to BEAT the egg when she added it. It came out flat, and basically had a hard boiled egg in the middle of it. Yum!

Now the trick will be to do all this cooking without attracting the attention of my helpers :) My wonderful husband (who now reads this, so I'll have to give him kudos when he does something extra special), has taken Trey to watch a soccer game for a couple of hours, so that leaves me w/ only 3 potential bowl lickers.

On a sidenote- It is absolutely beautiful here today. Sunny, bright blue skies, w/ just a few white puffy clouds. This is so rare for this time of year, I just had to comment on it. We get this little patches of blue every once in awhile we call 'sucker holes'. They trick you into thinking it's clearing up, only to have the gray drizzle/rain roll right back in and dash all your hopes- SUCKER! My eyes don't know how to adjust- I'm squinting in the house-LOL.

I had Emily wear her new implant solo for 45 minutes this morning- She definitely still hears better w/ her old cochlear implant, but not by much. It makes a huge difference when she's wearing both. I had to resort to tapping her quite a bit to get her attention, but this morning the house was definitely in loud mode. Not the ideal listening environment, at all. For the matter, is it ever???

My kids may never get their computer back

Since my Mac is now the official 'movie burning' computer, I have taken over the kids' PC. While I don't love it, it does let me do some things that my Mac won't (especially when it comes to this blog). I can change my font (not that I'm going to), I can write things in bold, and italics (you're all amazed and impressed, aren't you?).

Sorry it's been so quiet around here. This project has been a time sucker. Between the 'soccer movie from hell' (sorry, it's the only name that fits at this point), and the science projects that my kids are (supposed to be) working on, I've been swamped. Hopefully this weekend I'll have all special projects finished and can get back to droning on and on about nothing. Although I think I'm supposed to start painting all of the kids bedrooms next. Jake promises me he'll help me with his room -HA!

I'm Burning, I'm Burning, I'm Burning For You.....

Well, not actually for you, per se, but for Delaney's soccer team. I am starting to burn each and every girl a copy of the end of year soccer movie. Do you want to how much I am HATING THIS??? 3 hours per DVD. Yes, 36-40 hours of my life that I will not get back. Labor of love (reminder to myself)....

Brotherly Love (or should I say "Botherly" Love)

Emily's latest Cochlear Implant Appt.

Emily's Audiologist grabbed us for a last-minute Cochlear Implant check-up at Trey's school yesterday. We had a 2 hour late start so it meant that we wouldn't have to miss school for an appointment we had scheduled later in the week. Anyhow- her basic testing shows that she is hearing between 10-15 db on each implanted ear, and both ears are almost exactly in line with each other (which is GREAT!). It is what they look for. She also has shown huge improvement in her ability to detect words, with no visual clues. Still not perfect, but a lot better. Her closed set word discrimination was o.k. When the words were all similar (bean, queen, etc), she is only at 48%, so there's still lots of work to be done, but all in all, a pretty good visit. No new map needed.

Our Audiologist did ask me if Em's Speech Therapist is having her wear her new implant only for speech. Um...No???? I hadn't even thought to ask her Speech Therapist to make that happen. This is why I'm going to be pushing for the school district to pay a consulting fee to the private school Emily used to go to (and Trey currently attends), to work on her IEP, and speech goals. My children are the only younger ones in the district that are Oral deaf/HOH kids. They have children who have used ASL Interpreters, etc. and they are willing to do that for us, but our needs are different and not the 'norm' for the school district. We're having to be creative in what we ask for, and what services are really important to the future success of the kids.

Delaney is a whole different issue, as she will be attending Middle School next year. The logistics of her FM system and how we transfer equipment is something I need to start thinking about. For those out there who have been there (or ARE there- please share :)

Emily's New Friend.....

Emily decided she needed to make a snowman Saturday evening. I'm pretty sure 'man' doesn't apply here. Maybe snow robot? I give her an A for creativity. I especially like the Lego nose, and the toilet paper roll eyes. I offered her a carrot, but she wanted to do it all on her own. I think he only has an hour or so left at this point, and then he will disappear down our storm drain.

Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus- Hopefully My Kids Take Her Music To Heart

As I was perusing the latest and greatest in pre-teen music, I found that I kept coming back to the music of Miley Cyrus. While certainly not music I would put on in my car while by myself (although I think I have on occasion, when the girls' CDs have been left in the CD player), it's not horrible to listen to and the lyrics are exactly what I'd like my young impressionable children listening to. I hear my dd's singing along to the lyrics you see below, and I can only hope that they memorize them, and follow the advice of Hannah/Miley.

Hannah Montana "Make Some Noise"

[Chorus]
Don't let anyone
Tell you that you're not strong enough
Don't give up
There's nothing wrong with just being yourself
That's more than enough
So come on and raise your voice
speak your mind and make some noise
And sing
Hey, hey
Make some noise
Hey, hey, yeah

And, let's face it- it's certainly better than what I was raised on "Hey Mickey", and "Like A Virgin", etc. My mother must have been cringing with each line of "Like a virgin....Touched for the very first time". Funny how your perspective shifts when YOU'RE the parent.

My Will is Being Tested

I am trying to DRAG myself to the gym today, to get in another run but between the ice/slush/snow coating the hill out of our neighborhood, and my whiny, whiny little girl I'm not sure it is going to happen. My husband is going through soccer withdrawal so he and Delaney went to watch one of the older teams play (since they just started their State Cup). I am enjoying having the break, and do not miss sitting in the freezing cold watching soccer. I should probably be watching the boys since Trey just came into the office with his toy front loader filled with slushy snow (which is great with cream colored carpet). Jake on the other hand has taken the blanket from his brother's bed and is drying the dog off (who was also out playing in the wet mess outside). I'm sure his brother will appreciate his new and improved dog-scented blanket.

Good news: We received two brand new cochlear implant batteries yesterday. I'm so excited to not be using broken batteries that we have to tape onto the processors. I have to get all of the kid's hearing checked and I'm sure adjust maps, hearing aids, etc. Hopefully there are no major changes with the aided ears, but better to know so we can make adjustments. I'm really excited to see how Emily is doing with her new implant. I think she's doing fantastic, but it's always fun to see how her 'official' tests go. Well- I've procrastinated enough. Bye!