Ear Update

After spending a couple of hours in the ER they could not get the jewel out of Olivia's ear and they told us to go to an ear nose and throat specialist because they have very small tools to work inside of ears with and they could get the jewel out. Monday the appointment was at 1:00 pm in Dr Martin's office and it should have been a few min with her knocked out and then bam done. Well once the doc took a look at her ears he said it looked like she had so much fluid behind her ear drum she should get tubes in her ears and given her history with bad ear infections that never go away they decided to remove her adenoids as well. So then they scheduled her to be operated on at the hospital at 4:30. They did all of the above and also removed the jewel and the doc came out and told us that based on what he saw of her ears in surgery she is probably more hard of hearing than we thought. Her left ear could be almost not functioning. So she will start a round of auditory tests soon. She was born deaf and then after a few surgeries we were told that as her ears clear out her hearing should improve. She speaks very well almost better than some of her peers so I thought it was getting better. Some times people are quick to label a child as special needs and give them a crutch and an excuse the rest of their lives. I am willing to accept her disability but I will not let her go out with out a fight. Allot of people have mentioned home school but I have very strong opinions about home school. So that is not an option. After we got home and I had time to think about it I felt better cause I know I can work with specialist and make a situation that will work for her and not have to fit into other peoples version of how they think I should do things. So often people need to put you in a box and they get defensive when you show signs of not fitting into their definition of your situation due to their own insecurities. Allot of people don't understand why I have not taught her sing language if I am fluent in it and that is because it would be too easy. I graduated from high school early and then taught at the school for the deaf. Some of the young deaf kids had siblings that were hearing and they were using sign language too often and not using their words to communicate. In other words they were not mastering the language they speak they were resorting to some thing easier. They were testing below average for their reading and writting skills because of it. Allot of moms teach their small children sign language. I am not sure why for the most part they have no education in cultural, social and mental aspects of being deaf but I guess they must think its cute or whatever. It is easier for your baby to sign a word, but thats the whole point. Its easy! They don't have to make the effort to form a word if they can just sign it to you. And since its not their primary language its setting them back from developing communication skills. I always told my babies if you want that then say "juice". Say it! I am thankful for my background with deaf people cause I also knew the deaf community wouldn't accept her if she could hear even a tiny bit. Its very hard to wrap your mind around but a group of completely paralyzed people don't relate to the guy that lost part of one leg in a car accident. To them he still has one working leg and can use the other one with a prosthetic. Same thing with deaf people. they don't even accept deaf people with cochlear implants. So my choice for Olivia was to be mainstream and talk fully and lip read and she is doing really well. I plan on spending the next few months working out what and how much we need to do for her but she would never have gotten this far if I let her play the victim so think what you will and watch her keep defying the odds! Who would have thought that her goofing off and putting something in her ear would lead us to such a big outcome. It was sobering and sad to hear the news about her hearing. But I had my cry fest and now its time to get to work.


This is the tiny little jewel that brought us to all of this.

Christmas Day

(Olivia didn't wake up and come down with the other kids cause she was so tired from the night before)

Christmas Eve

Andrew and I were busy doing major Santa work and because it was top secret I panicked and yelled "Get Back In Bed!!" as soon as I saw Olivia's door open. She said back to me "Um. I am sorry but I think I have something in my ear". She has had a double ear infection for weeks now and it won't seem to go away she is on her second round of a different type of antibiotic so I was thinking it might have some thing to do with that. I asked her what was in her ear and if it was just the pain relief drops and she said "Um I fink it a diamond". What? She admitted to sticking a diamond jewel in her ear. I looked in there and sure enough I could see it sparkle. So off to Urgent care we went. Only to find THREE of them not open. So on Christmas eve our only bet was the Emergency Room. The wait wasn't too bad but no matter what they did they couldn't get it out. She is going into an ENT specialist today at 1 to be put under anesthesia and they will remove it with out her wiggling too much. What a crazy girl! I love how she tells me the truth in a round about way. A couple of weeks ago I saw her picking her nose and told her its yucky and we don't do that she said "OK but I think there is a bead up there". You think or you know Olivia? And then just a couple of minutes ago she asked for a sandwich. I told her she already had one and she claims her brother ate it while she was upstairs going to the bathroom. She said "I had to go upstairs cause the toilet down stairs has a toy car in it". I said why would you think that and she said "What"? I asked again and she said "what"? I figured she would just keep saying what till I gave up so I went to check the toilet and sure enough its clogged. I can't see what could be keeping it from flushing all the way but I will operate under the assumption that there could be a hot wheels car shoved in there. Here are some pics of her in the ER acting like she has no idea why all the adults are so upset.

Christmas Songs

I have always struggled to come up with ways to drum up some extra holiday cheer and keep the Christmas buzz lasting through the days that lead up to the grand finally. Of course I do Ginger bread houses and sugar cookies and ice skating and hot chocolate.
A couple of years ago they called me to be the nursery singing leader and at Christmas time I had a special round of songs for the kids. Lets face it the church songs don't always make for too much fun and dancing so I add in some other song choices like Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer" and for the song "Once there was a snow man" I bring in one of those inflatable outdoor snow men and when it melts I just unplug the thing and let it deflate. I usually would come up with and idea and then do a test run on my kids. They liked it so much that I decided to add a couple of songs after reading a Christmas book every night until Christmas Day. I didn't include all of them in this blog cause there are tons of Christmas songs. For Jingle Bells we have bells that each kid can shake and a baby Jesus in a manger for "Away in a Manger". You get the picture. I got video clips this year cause my little guy wont be little much longer. I love to add ideas and props every year its crazy almost like a disorder. Now I can see how all these crafty women can wear out their bank accounts buying ribbon and fabric or scrap booking supplies. My little obsession is much much much cheaper but I get it.

Rudolph

12 Days of Christmas

Christmas of Love

Feliz Navidad

Silent Night

Trip to Kentucky

I was so worried for Annette and I was a little dramatic with the video slide show cause it turns out we were able to go be with her for her surgery any way. She still has a long road ahead of her. In 4-6 weeks she will take a radiation pill that will kill off what is left of the cancer cells and then they will decide if she is done or needs to have chemo treatments. But at least we could go out and see her at Christmas time. I was worried about boring people with the play by play of our trip but I figure if you are on here reading blogs there is probably not much keeping you busy at the moment any way so... enjoy!

Our first flight to Kentucky was delayed. The plane had a problem so we sat for an hour before they let us off. I thought I would go crazy just sitting there. It made me feel trapped.

This is my attempt at photography. I won't try it again. Everything was covered in ice when we first got there.

We attempted to go ice skating with Addie. She didn't like it at all. Me and Annette didn't either but we made her finish one lap.

Annette took Addie to build a bear and they had horses which of course Addie went nuts over. This is Grace her horse with 4 sparkly red shoes!

We went out to eat allot. Which I loved cause I hate cooking. It was a nice break. I would watch in awe as Annette patiently helped Addie color the little menu's they give kids. I never want to do that with my kids. I would rather stare at pictures on the wall and wait for my food to come.

continued................

Annette took us to an aquarium kind of up by Cincinnati.

This is scuba Santa he was swimming around the whole time through the large tanks and they had a cute little show with him too.

Me and Addie at the aquarium behind the Jelly fish.

This is a picture of me in a poofy coat. Which I never took off the entire time. Even in a heated restaurant I figured I needed to get super HOT to prepare myself for the walk to the car.

They had a petting zoo at the KY horse park and a light display so we went to enjoy it on Monday night.

After we drove around and saw the Christmas lights at the Kentucky horse park we went inside and walked through the horse museum. I used to live on a street called Man O War and it was cool to learn more about that horse. Seriously these horses are the most amazingly beautiful creatures and athletes.

Annette's Surgery

My sister recently has had another rough patch with her health. After battling cancer at the age of 22 and almost loosing her life we have all been thrilled each day that she has stayed in remission. A couple of months ago however they found a lump in her throat and reccomended that she have surgery to remove it. At her follow up appointment a few days after having her throat sliced open they told her the tests came back with a rare type of cancer and she has to go back in and take out the other side of her lymphnodes. So this Friday she will go in for surgery again. Its been a long fight and I can tell she is loosing her courage to continue on. I can't blame her it must be hard to have to fight that hard. Not to mention how people stare at her throat and make comments. That can't be fun. The kids and I decided to put this slideshow together for her so she can come look at it whenever she feels lost. I know I know. I am usually never corny or cheesy or emotinal so I promise I won't make a habit of it if this comes across as lame.

Piano Recital

Today was Adelaide's first piano recital. There were so many people there so I was little worried that she would be nervous but she kept telling me she was excited. She didn't make one mistake which if she did I would have been fine with that. Most of the kids there did mess up a bit but its so hard to be perfect under that much pressure. I have no idea where she gets this level of confidence from. I was always so nervous and awkward as a child. We are so proud of her.


Before aunt Becka drove back home she made sure to work with Addie on her curtsy after she was done preforming. I did a bad job of getting it on video but if you replay it three times you will see she did curtsy and every one thought it was cute. She also wanted me to thank her Aunt Annette for her little outfit. She looked so pretty !

The Company Christmas Party

All I have to say about this is I am so glad I was not pregnant or just had a baby and able to really have a good time on the dance floor. I am glad my little sister was willing to coem up and baby sit for me. Now its time to really put my nose to the grindstone and get my Christmas shopping done.

Butterscotch's Birthday

Apparently today is Butterscotch's Birthday. I had no idea but was informed as soon as I got home from my morning run. And received updates on the festivities about every five min while I was showering. Addie got the horse for Christmas a couple of years ago and he has not been the center of attention for a while but I guess today we were all bored enough that he suddenly became very important. I think he turned 4 but don't quote me on that one. I am just glad I was even invited to the party.

All of his presents around the tree since his birthday is so close to Christmas. Notice Olivia colored her shoe box with designs.

Derek came with a gift. I am sure he rounded up whatever toys he could find just so he could be in on the fun.

These were a few of the other guests that were invited. If I would have know Rainbow Bright was coming I would have worn makeup.

In other News

My mom found these cool color montage thingers. I am home schooling Olivia this year just cause I really didn't have much time for her when she was a baby. I spent allot of time on bed rest when I was pregnant with Derek and then once he was born I had marital problems and a new baby so its all kind of a blur. She is so young and cute and I felt like I needed to really bond with her before she starts kindergarten. At first she was freaked out when I would let her sit on my lap and cuddle. And when I would go to read her books she always was shocked and not sure how to handle the moment. But now she is getting more used to it. We have been working on her colors and numbers and these montage activities kill two birds with one stone. Its kind of like paint by number but instead of paint you stick on the foam color square. Its actually pretty fun. I also included pics of the horse ones my mom bought Addie. They are really good for car rides and church too.

Gingerbread Village

They now sell villages as well as houses. In the past I always bought a couple of houses and we all shared the responsiblity of decorating them. Which as one might expect caused some angry feelings between my kids. Well some one answered my prayers cause now they sell a set with 5 small little houses so they are the perfect size for a kid to decorate and no one has to share. Its your own mini masterpiece. Andrew's boss (Greg) came over for dinner and helped Olivia make hers as Andrew and I helped the other kids. Outside of strip poker I am not sure what single men like to do so this crafty idea was my next best bet. I am not sure if Greg liked it but I can promise you he was busy! I could tell he was majorly stressed when Olivia spilled sprinkles all over the floor. I can't honestly say he had no reason to be.

Just don't touch my nice tree.

I have a nice "pretty tree" it is all designer like I like it. Nothing annoys me more than when my kids bring home a snowflake made of posicle sticks and glitter from school and hang it on ym nice tree. So Aunt net came up with the "Aunt Net Tree". Its a cute little tree upstairs that the kids can decorate however they want. She let them each pick out their own ornaments at the store as well as make some. She even banned me from moving the ornaments around to make it look better. So there are like 22 ornaments down low in the front of the tree and none at the top and on the sides. My kids are so much happier this year cause they can express their love for Christmas and not get yelled at. The funny part is my nice tree is actually not THAT nice in reality. Its all Target cheap stuff. So its Ghetto nice but at least I can dream.

Thanksgiving photo shoot.

My sister in law Rachel has a very nice camera so we decided to take pics of the grandkids for my parents. I think considering we are not professionals they turned out pretty good. It was tiring but well worth it.

Leave no soldier behind!

Today we ran in a race/obstacle course called the Warrior Dash and it was so much fun as well as challenging. I love that it was more than just running. I am getting kind of bored with running these days. Andrew signed up with some co workers and didn't train at all for it. I wanted to do it with him so I was fine to stay back and keep his pace. (this is where the post title leave no soldier behind fits in) These days I would rather enjoy people's company and run what ever pace they run than go ahead and try to get these killer times. Plus I really was worried about him walking without my drill sergeant motivational threats. Some of the challenges were much harder than I thought and it was really hard to run cause the terrain was very un even and dangerous. I thought I was going to sprain my ankle. The part where we had to jump over fire was crazy cause it was soooo Hot and you could feel it burn your calves. I know you are thinking could she be more of a bad ass? Well today I just proved that I can. LOL

He said........

I rarely do this but Dallin said the funniest thing the other day and I just know I will forget it if I don't put it down on this blog.
He had his friends over and was jumping on the tramp in the backyard. His sister Olivia tried to join them and just out of the blue walked over the the edge of the tramp and started crying. Annoyed I went out there and asked her what was wrong and she just kept crying. So I walked over to help her get off and come back inside. On my way inside Dallin's friend said "What's wrong with your sister?" Dallin said "I don't know dude DRAMA RUNS IN THE FAMILY!" I laughed so hard. I am not sure if I should be offended or not.

Playoffs Baby

Dallin's team made it into the playoffs. Which I guess is a big deal. I have seen more competetive teams than this one so I am not thrilled. All the same it can be exciting. Today was his first game and it was very cold. The wind was fierce so it made it much worse. Lucky for me Olivia and Derek went with the grandparents to their cousins party so no runny noses and crying. They won 31-0 and odds are we will be in San Antonio next weekend. Hopefully they don't keep wining cause that means we could be in San Antonio every weekend till they do loose. And its hard to spend all of Sat out of town driving that far. The good news is he is playing really well and we are so proud of him.

Baby Peyton

My little sister made the cutest baby EVER! I miss her so much and spend most of my days trying to plan out how I can go visit and abandon my own family.

Derek's Party

Derek wearing his new Buzz light year wings from Aunt Net.

His favorite basketball game at Chuck E Cheese

And so it is that (I feel like starting all my posts this way) Derek was born the day after Halloween. I remember hoping that he was not born on Halloween soo bad only to realize the next day is pretty much just as bad. But we fit in a little family party this year and he was happy. I know I have to step up my game at some point. But I usually don't do that until I think they can retain bad memories. He is not at this point yet so its an easy peasy year for me. It hurts me to even blog about this cause I know how much his aunt Net wishes she could have been here but alas the show must go on. We had a chucky cheese party in memory of Annette. She always takes the kids there for their birthday so I knew he would love it and he totally did.