Ollie and Ericka Plus 3

Changes

2010-06-02T13:52:00.001-07:00

I am moving to a new blog. You can find the explanation here at my new blog ErickaPlus3

2010-04-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Darn blogger for not letting me rearrange photos! Or maybe I'm just dumb and can't figure it out. Miles learned a new sign a couple weeks ago and he's showing it off for the camera! This is the name sign for his little friend.
Olivia went to the hospital for stitches last night. A shelf fell and hit her on the head. She had a half inch gash in her head :( The hospital was great and made her feel so comfortable with popsicles and all! She had 4 stitches and is doing well. She was soo brave! That little girl amazes me!
Miles got a chewy tube. I mentioned to his teacher how he chews paper constantly and she suggested we try a chewy tube. He loves it!
Roland couldn't take the pressure anymore :( The kids at school just wouldn't stop calling him a girl. No matter how much I told him to not let it bother him, it did. So, I cut his beautiful hair. It's not too short because I am afraid that he would regret cutting it all off. Here's a picture of how long it was.
Well, it's suppost to be 84 degrees today and sunny! So I need to get out of this house! Hope everyone has a great day today!

IEP, earmolds, and Easter

2010-04-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo for Easter. It was cold and windy! But we had fun anyways.

Earmold problems have been solved! Finally! It took 4 tries to get purple with silver glitter.
Miles had his Multi Factored Evaluation last week. Remember the whole thing about the school system telling us that my child would need to have a 50db loss in order to qualify as hearing impaired? Well, when I walked into her office last week, she completely changed her tune. She said that Miles will qualify because a 25db loss is all that is needed. So, yay! She did her assessments while I filled out paperwork. I filled out Vineland II Adaptive Behavior Scale because at one of his prior assessments he tested low in Adaptive skills but that was due to him still taking a bottle. Uh, he doesn't drink from bottles as much as he used to! I tried to replace them with those soft spouted Nuby cups.

She said Miles scored great and that the only testing he will need now is from the SLP for his articulation.

So, I'm more hopeful that Miles will be getting an IEP for preschool.

Earmolds galore!

2010-03-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

We last saw the audiologist a month ago. Olivia needed new earmolds and she picked out purple with silver glitter. Well, a week went by and they finally came. Only they weren't purple. They were more like a light greyish purple with silver glitter. She wasn't happy with them. So, I called the audiologist and let her know what happened. She reorders them. This time they come back clear with purple glitter. I call her again. She reorders them. It's now been three weeks since we've ordered the first pair! So Olivia has been so excited this week. She was sooo sure they were going to get it right this time. She was checking the mailbox everyday. They came today. Slightly clear purple with silver glitter. Why on earth can't they get purple right!!!? I don't know what to do anymore! I'm going to e-mail the audiologist on Monday this time with pictures of what we got and pictures of what we want. We now are stuck with three pairs of earmolds that she doesn't like. The first picture is the color she wanted. The second picture shows the three different colors we have received the past three weeks.

Knowledge is Power.....I hope!

2010-02-20T05:55:00.000-08:00

Since I've found out that our school system does not think Miles will qualify for an IEP, I have been scouring the web looking for information. How can they tell me that my child who has hearing loss, wears hearing aids, is eligible for disability insurance, has a genetic reason for hearing loss, but does not have a disability because he is not failing! I swear, it all boils down to the whole deaf and dumb stigma! So my little guy is smart! He's hard of hearing! Deaf/hard of hearing does not mean that he can't learn! He has always been put in the best possible environment for hearing and learning. Most of the day at home, it's just him and me. He has one on one attention. Then when he's at school, he's in a very small classroom with great teachers. And every two weeks, a wonderful woman from the Regional Infant Hearing program comes to our house and works with him one on one. Now they want to put him in a classroom full of 3 year olds and wait until he fails. What is wrong with our school system? I'm going to fight as hard as I can to get them to recognize that my son has a disability.

Ohio defines a hearing impairment as:

(1) An average pure tone hearing loss of fifty decibels or greater, according to the “American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Guidelines for the Audiologic Assessment of Children From Birth to Five Years of Age” (2004) for children from birth to five years of age or according to the "American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Guidelines for Manual Pure- Tone Threshold Audiometry" (2005) for children six through twenty-one years of age, for the frequencies five hundred, one thousand, and two thousand hertz in the better ear; [The guidelines referenced in paragraph (J)(1) of this rule are available atwww.asha.org.]

(2) An average pure tone hearing loss of twenty-five decibels or greater (ASHA) for the frequencies five hundred, one thousand, and two thousand hertz in the better ear, which has an adverse effect upon the child's educational performance related to documented evidence of:

(a) A more severe hearing loss during the developmental years than is currently measured;

(b) A history of chronic medical problems that have resulted in fluctuating hearing, presently or in the past; or

(3) A hearing loss in excess of twenty-five decibels (ASHA) for the frequencies one thousand hertz through eight thousand hertz in the better ear, resulting in such poor auditory discrimination that it has an adverse effect upon the child’s educational performance.

I'm focusing on number (3). I'm not exactly sure though if he has to qualify under all three definitions or if just one definition is satisfactory. So, I'm going to ask our audiologist if she would send us a letter stating that his hearing loss results in such poor auditory discrimination that it has an adverse effect upon Miles educational performance. I'm going to ask our pediatrician to refer us to a developmental pediatrician to also get a recommendation. Then, I may see if I can get a free assessment from the Ohio School For The Deaf. I may be doing all this for nothing. But, I have to be able to say that I did everything in my power. Some people may think, why would I be doing all this just for a kid with mild hearing loss. Well, I've read way too many studies on the negative impact that just a mild hearing loss has on a child. And it's really hard for a normal person to see that negative impact because hearing loss is an invisible disability. It's not fair for my child to have to struggle even the tiniest bit for what comes natural to all the other children in the class. So, I'm off to do more research and see who I can contact in higher places.

And while I'm doing this research, I will have to have one eye on Miles because he is just completely into EVERYTHING lately.

Found some inner strength

2010-02-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

"3301-51-06
(J) Additional procedures for identifying children with deafness or hearing impairment
A group of qualified professionals and the parents of the child may determine the child has deafness or a hearingimpairment if the child exhibits:

(1) An average pure tone hearing loss of fifty decibels or greater, according to the “American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Guidelines for the Audiologic Assessment of Children From Birth to Five Years of Age” (2004) for children from birth to five years of age or according to the "American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Guidelines for Manual Pure- Tone Threshold Audiometry" (2005) for children six through twenty-one years of age, for the frequencies five hundred, one thousand, and twothousand hertz in the better ear; [The guidelines referenced in paragraph (J)(1) of this rule are available atwww.asha.org.]

(a) A more severe hearing loss during the developmental years than is currently measured;

(b) A history of chronic medical problems that have resulted in fluctuating hearing, presently or in the past;or

(3) A hearing loss in excess of twenty-five decibels (ASHA) for the frequencies one thousand hertz through eight thousand hertz in the better ear, resulting in such poor auditory discrimination that it has an adverse effect upon the child’s educational performance."

I wonder if this is UNAIDED? And how we could prove it?

Audiology updates

2010-02-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

No changes. Both kids hearing levels have stayed the same.

The audiologist would not write "progressive" or "fluctuating" on Miles audiogram. So, I give up!

I don't know if I'm just having a bad day or what but I just feel like crying. I'm just so done with our school system. If they are not required by law to help your child, then they don't give a damn. It's not just like this with my child with a mild hearing loss. Roland is a fourth grade student who writes at a first grade level. He needs occupational therapy. He needs accommodations to achieve the level of which he is working at. But, since he has such high test scores, more than likely, this Spring they will take away his IEP, his OT, and accommodations. Because, by law they can. Not because it's the the best for Roland. It's because they will not do anything that the law does not require them to do. Excellence my ass.

I don't really want to deal with them anymore, so I think I will just keep Miles home with me next year.

The transition meeting

2010-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Didn't quite go the way I had hoped it would. First it was rescheduled thanks to the snow. Luckily the whole team got to come. I was hoping our school system would have been a bit more lenient than they were. See, our school only has 2 preschool classes and in order to get in, you have to be put into a lottery. Children with disabilities get a definite spot in the class though. Miles doesn't qualify to have a disability. Even though he has hearing loss due to Connexin 26, he's not deaf enough. So the school pretty much told me to go get an application because they cannot guarantee him a spot. But, we were told that if I can get the audiologist to write the words "progressive" and "fluctuating" on his audiogram then that will qualify him as having a disability. Miles and Olivia have hearing tests scheduled for tomorrow (as long as we don't have a snowstorm!). Miles isn't technically "fluctuating" and we don't know for sure if it is "progressive" but I'm hoping, for educations sake, that the audiologist will help me out. It's not a complete lie though. He passed his hearing test at birth so in some sense his hearing loss progressed. And he did lose 10 db in one frequency and gain 5 db in another frequency in his last 2 hearing tests. Wish me luck! If I don't get him in the preschool on an IEP, I may just keep him home with me next year.

Miles has been a complete stinker lately! I have to keep one eye on him at ALL times! As I was making treats for Olivia's valentines party, he snuck off with red food coloring!

Happy Valentines Day!

My son was bullied

2010-02-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

This past week was a tough one for Roland. He went out for recess Wednesday and a group of third graders attacked him. They started chasing him and calling him a girl. Roland went and hid behind the dumpsters and found some jump ropes. When the boys came after him again he started swinging them. It didn't work though, they kept chasing him. They pushed him against a fence and crowded around him. One boy went on the other side of the fence and pulled Rolands hood of his coat through the fence, choking him. There were lots of children around watching this but none of them went to get a teacher. Roland finally broke free and ran to get help from a teacher. He was so worked up, he spent an hour in the principles office just to calm down. This is not a tough inner city school. We live in an affluent suburban neighborhood. I hope those childrens parents are ashamed of themselves. They obviously did something wrong raising those kids. And I hope they have the sense to change the way they are parenting so those kids don't grow up and end up in the news because their bullying pushed another teen to the brink.

By the way, I asked Roland if he wanted to cut his hair and he said no. I'm proud of him for being who he wants to be regardless of the hurtful things other children say.

Preschool plans

2010-01-29T13:18:00.000-08:00

Well, we have the date set for Miles transition meeting. February 10th. It will be decided then if Miles will be accepted into the preschools program for children with special needs. I'm really nervous because if Miles doesn't get accepted then I may not send him to preschool at all.

We had an uneventful ENT appointment yesterday. He looked in the kids ears, said everything looked fine, "see you in 6 months".

Miles has been a typical 2 year old lately. He has turned his hands blue, buttered the dog, and covered himself with lotion. Not all in the same day though thank goodness!

My little girl is growing up

2010-01-24T07:11:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Olivia finally got up the nerve to get her ears pierced. So we took some of her Christmas money and went to the mall. I have always looked forward to the day she got her ears pierced but I was kind of afraid that it might hurt when she puts her hearing aids in or takes them out. But it doesn't seem to bother her at all.

She looks a bit teary eyed in this picture, poor girl! But she's brave! She never cries when she gets immunizations or anything.

Here she is, very happy it was over! Awhile back someone made a comment that getting her ears pierced would just draw more attention to her ears. And all I have to say to that is OH WELL! Her ears are BEAUTIFUL!

She's also lost her first 2 baby teeth in the past few weeks!

It's been awhile!

2010-01-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, it's been a loong time since I've posted. To be quite honest with you, I've been struggling through major depression. It's nothing new for me but I have hit a really low low lately. A lot of things that have happened in the last few years have all sorta built up and just exploded. I'm still having a lot of trouble dealing with my fathers death from 2006 and my grandmothers death in 2007. Also, I lost my best friend over the summer. She just decided to not speak to me anymore. I try really hard to pretend that it doesn't bother me. But it really really hurts.

I feel like I completely ruined Christmas this year. We were suppost to host our second annual Christmas Eve dinner. Last year's went really well. But this year I canceled it due to my depression. Just had my mom and mother-in-law over. I could barely get up the strength to clean the house and prepare food. I took absolutely no pictures. Which is really strange for me because I usually take hundreds. I just didn't care about anything. Then the day after Christmas our house got hit with the stomach flu. Which is one of my biggest fears. Yeah, weird, I know! I have emetophobia (fear of vomit). So I freaked out and cried for about a week straight. Thankfully, I did not come down with the nasty bug.

I'm starting to come out of the depression a little bit. I'm just really glad Christmas is over. And I'm counting down the days until Spring. 72 days left. Thanks for reading, hopefully I will have much more positive posts to come.

Olivia's 15 minutes of fame

2009-11-26T06:48:00.001-08:00

Olivia was in the newspaper last week! A few weeks ago, we attended a party at the Deaf Community Resource Center. The paper did an article about the ASL high school students helping the children at the party and Olivia just happened to have her picture taken and put in the paper. She's such a sweet, independent little girl. I'm so proud of her :)

We got the results of the evaluation of the personal fm system for Olivia this week. They used LIFE (Listening Inventory For Education). Olivia's teacher found slight improvements in Olivia's ability to access auditory instruction with the soundfield system but moderate support for positive changes with the use of the personal fm system. This makes me a happy momma! No more arguing with the school for the need for the personal fm system. Now they have their proof! This is what the teacher noted.

1. Olivia answers questions more often.

2. Olivia's ability to discriminate auditorily (ending sounds sh, ch, z) is improved.

3. She is quicker to comprehend instruction.

4. Her attention and understanding is improved even when background noise is present.

Now I can relax until Miles goes to school! Then, I'm sure we will have to start all over again.

Miles is still going to school. He isn't quite happy about going but he goes without too much of a fight. I think he has fun once he's there. This week he chewed up his earmolds beyond repair. He loves to chew on small rubber items such as earmolds, little wheels from Hot Wheels, and rubber balls. I'm at my wits end with it! I even got out the pacifiers and tried to get him to chew on them instead of other things. It worked for an hour until he got bored with it and probably decided it didn't get a chase out of mommy so it wasn't as much fun as earmolds. So we went to see the audiologist to get new molds made. This time, I requested to have shell molds made instead of the skeleton molds that he has now. I think they will be a little sturdier. And maybe easier to super glue if he does chew them up. I know super glue doesn't sound too safe but it's what I have to do or else we'd be at the audilogists every week!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading!

Please leave a comment and let me know who's out there reading! :)

School news

2009-11-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

Well, the newness of school has wore off for Miles. On his second day of class, they had gym with a male gym teacher. Miles must have thought he was a very scary guy because when he got near him, Miles freaked out. He started crying and I think we all know where this goes.... So when I came to pick him up he was wearing his extra change of clothes.

When I went to take him to school again, he didn't want to go. He was pulling me away from the classroom. I eventually got him inside and playing. He did ok but did not have that happy look on his face. He did not seem to enjoy himself as much as the first day of class. So school right now is on a very trial basis. If Miles doesn't want to go, then I'm not going to take him. I feel very guilty as it is taking my 2 year old and leaving him somewhere.

We had our parent-teacher conference for Olivia last week and she is doing awesome! The teacher spoke very highly of the personal fm and told us that this is something she feels Olivia must have. I'm very happy about this because it was quite the struggle to get the school to agree to it. She said Olivia is much more confident when wearing the fm. Olivia is such a smart and easy girl when it comes to school. It's a relief after dealing with Roland and all his struggles with his learning disabilities.

And speaking of Roland, he is doing much better with his grades. Not good though. They are threatening to take away his IEP. This is a fourth grader who writes at a first grade level. And because he scores highly on tests and is getting better grades WITH accommodations, they want to take all his help and occupational therapy away. His occupational therapist has even stated that he will not make it without the accommodations. I've pretty much been told that if I don't get some sort of diagnosis from the doctor of adhd, add, or something of those sorts that in Spring, he will lose his IEP.

And another worry to add, I haven't heard anything from our disability insurance since August when I filled out the paperwork for our recertification. Ugh, is it summer yet?

He did it!

2009-10-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Miles made it through his first day of school! I was a nervous wreck and didn't leave the class for the first 30 minutes. Then, I stood outside the room for the next 30 minutes. I left for an hour and tried very hard to keep busy. I came back 15 minutes before the class ended to see how he was doing and he was doing great. Having fun, listening to the teacher read a pumpkin book. As the teacher was passing out the paper pumpkins, he yelled "I want a funkin!!"

Now I just have to survive the next few classes and then maybe

I will be ok with it. My little boy has never been away from me so this is very hard. He's my third child, the baby. He will always be the baby to me!

Next wednesday

2009-10-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Miles starts school next Wednesday! I just don't know how I am going to make it through the day all by myself. I'm already having a tough time getting through the day with my other two children in school all day. Miles will only be in class for 2 1/2 hours but he's my baby! How am I going to come back to a quiet house and be alone? I feel like I'm doing the wrong thing putting my baby in school. My other children didn't go to school until they were 3 and 4. Is this unfair? I'm sure he would get along just fine without the early intervention classes. But I really want him to be able to attend preschool next year as having a disability so he can get into the public preschool we have. They have a lottery and disabled children get in without being put into the lottery. Is this being selfish? Help! I need advice from other people!

Toddler group

2009-10-09T06:21:00.000-07:00

We got the word last week that Miles will be attending "big boy school" here in just a few weeks! Omg, I knew it was coming but I was just shocked! My little boy will be going to school without mommy 2 days a week, 2 1/2 hours at a time. And he has to take a backpack! It's going to be so hard for me at first. I don't think I'll be able to go home for the first few days. Going home to an empty house will just be too much!

So for those of you who don't know, Miles has been attending early intervention classes once a week since March. It is a parent and child class. Children the

n graduate to what is called "toddler group" which is either 2 or 4 days a week. I chose 2. Toddler group is without parents. It's going to be such a big help with Miles speech and other skills. I know it will be good for him but I have a million worries. Especially about Miles vomiting. I just really hope he doesn't do it at school! I wish he would just grow out of it but it doesn't seem to be happening.

Anyways, thought I'd share the news! Thanks for reading!

Miles at early intervention class

2009-09-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

Miles loves school! I'm just posting some pictures. Not much going on here lately. I have an IEP meeting for Roland today. And Miles will be evaluated by the PT because of his toe walking. Other than that, just lots of homework and such. Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Miles loves firetrucks!

2009-09-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Miles got to see all kinds of firetrucks yesterday! It was little boy heaven! He even got to sit in one!
My baby boy is getting sooo big!

This tire is bigger than he is!In a couple years, this kind of behavior will be the cause of awful sibling rivalry!

Some pictures of Olivia's Birthday!

2009-09-05T15:01:00.001-07:00

She turned 6! I can't believe it! This year we had a tea party :)

A little update on the Fm system

2009-09-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

We still don't have it! But the SLP did stop me after school one day to apologize about the misunderstanding and to assure me that the county audiologist would be coming to the school within the next week or so to get the ball rolling. I just hope they understand how hard I will fight for what my daughter needs to get a fair education.
Another thing, I've been curious about my daughters special classes (gym, library, art, and spanish). I asked her if she had trouble hearing in any of her classes. She gives me the "I hear fine in all my classes!" So I started questioning her "where do you sit?" Finally, she tells me that it's hard to hear in the library because the teacher talks too quiet. They do not use the soundfield system in her special classes. Now I'm kicking myself for not thinking about this! Her special teachers have not even been advised to use preferential seating. Well, off to e-mail the teacher about this before I forget.

We have a new puppy!

2009-08-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

I got a new puppy because this fall, Miles will be going to school without his mommy! And every two years I get baby fever. Well, I don't want anymore babies right now so I got a puppy to keep me company. She is a chihuahua mix and her name is Pupcake. She is 3 months old.
So something weird happened to me yesterday at Target! I was walking down the toy aisle and this guy comes up to me and hands me a piece of paper. The only word I caught right off the bat was "deaf" so I signed "thank you". He points at the piece of paper so I looked down at it and read it. It said he was deaf and was asking for a donation. I didn't have any money so I just shook my head. He took his piece of paper back and walked away. I'm pretty sure asking for money inside a store is illegal. What do you think?

So mad!

2009-08-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought things were going well. Last spring I had a meeting with my daughters school to set up a 504 plan. In the 504 plan, it said that in the fall we would trial a personal fm system. Well, I go in today and they told me that first they would trial the soundfield system and see how she does with that and then we will meet again to discuss the results to see whether or not she would need the personal fm. How is that trialing a personal fm system? I am so mad. She said that they would like to give her the best chance with the "least restrictive environment". Well, the least restrictive environment would be the best possible hearing environment. I think she assumes least restrictive environment means with the least adaptive equipment! My daughters loss starts at mild, then dips to moderate/severe, then back up to mild. I don't know what to do. We live in a very nice area and we pay high taxes. My daughter is the only hearing impaired child in the whole school. Why can't they just let her use a personal fm system? Should I just go along with this or should I contact someone?
I am starting to think that the school thinks the soundfield system IS an fm system. In the 504 evaluation the kindergarten teacher wrote in that Olivia used an fm system for kindergarten. When in fact she used the soundfield system.

Audiology appointments times 2!

2009-08-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have been without internet for a week! So awful!
Miles and Olivia had their 6 month audiology appointments last week. Their hearing hasn't changed too much. Miles is still a 30 db loss. He did lose almost 10db in 500hz frequency. They never seem worried! I guess since they see so many children with severe and profound losses that a 10db loss is not a big deal to them.
I was a little surprised with Olivia's. They tested two "new" frequencies. I guess they wait until the kids are older to test ALL frequencies. So this appointment they tested her at 1500Hz and 2500Hz. And her worst has now dipped a little further than before. She now dips down to 55db loss at 15ooHz. She's now hugging the border of moderate and moderate/severe. I'm not surprised because she really does have a difficult time understanding people sometimes even with the aids on. A good example would be, the other day we had a visitor and Olivia comes in the room, the visitor says "Oh! Where were you?" and Olivia says "Good!" Breaks my heart when that happens! I had a discussion with the audiologist about turning her aids up because when she takes the aided hearing test she still only hears at 20db. The audiologist assured me that 20db is at a normal level. She said they did turned them up a little because as a child ages the computer is programmed to turn the aids up? I dunno.
Tomorrow we are going to meet with Olivia's first grade teacher to show her how to take care of the hearing aids. So tonight I will be searching for things to print out to give to her teacher about hearing aids and hearing loss. When I read the teachers website I thought my job was going to be easy because she says prior to teaching she was an intervention specialist and also has a license in special education but when she called today she told me that they were setting up the "AM system" in the classroom! So here I go in search of knowledge! Hopefully I come off as looking as though I know what I'm talking about! Wish me luck!
And...I can't post and not put up a picture! Olivia's birthday is in about 10 days and I ordered her a custom doll! It is soooo cute! And has pink sparkly hearing aids! In case you want one too, I ordered it on Etsy from CutieFlair

A little video of Miles

2009-08-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

Lately, when Miles is mad at me, he calls me a "bad boy!" Can you believe it?! My sweet baby dares call me a bad boy! And now he can sign it too! Well, he tries at least ;)

Where are the deaf children who do not have CI?

2009-07-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

I am very neutral on the whole CI debate. Though if my childrens hearing loss were to progress my husband and myself probably would not choose to implant unless our children wanted it. I have spoken briefly with Olivia about what she would want to do if that were to happen.
I read a lot of blogs, but I don't think I've come across many with deaf children who are not implanted. It would be nice to read about both experiences. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place?

Miles audiologist appointment

2009-07-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well, Miles chewed up his earmold right before we left for vacation! He chewed a big crack in it. I fixed it temporarily with super glue. He went in yesterday to have new molds fit. Normally, every time he goes there it's a huge screaming fit. This time he was sooo good! He let the audiologist touch his ears and everything! I was so proud of him! He's getting the same color because they were still under warranty. I hope he's this good in a couple weeks when he goes in for an aided and unaided test.

Back from vacation!

2009-07-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time at the beach! I can't wait to go back next year! I won't say too much because the pictures say it all!

Leaving for vacation

2009-07-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

We are leaving today on our very first family vacation! We are going to Lake Michigan. I will return with many pictures and hopefully great memories! Wish me luck on Miles first 6 hour car ride. I had a dream last night about looking for pieces of the hearing aids and they were completely disassembled! Hopefully Miles will be too busy to do something like that! :)

Just had to share these pictures!

2009-07-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

My Olivia just looks so beautiful! And Miles is cute too (he doesn't have his hearing aids in because he was a bad boy chewing on his earmolds).
This is going to be her birthday "dress". We are going to have a small tea party this year.

Miles 2 year checkup not for the weak

2009-07-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yep! He did it AGAIN! He vomited all over the doctor and the exam table! I even warned the doctor! Yet, he just HAD to count his teeth! Every time I take Miles in, I ask if his vomiting is normal. I always get the same answer.... he must have sensitive gag reflexes. Yes I do think he has sensitive gag reflexes, but I think there is something else too. He has been vomiting once a week since he was born. And not baby spit up either! When he was a little baby, it was projectile! It's so bad that I sleep with a bowl next to the bed (Miles still sleeps with me). Also, in the van, whoever sits next to Miles is on "bowl patrol". I REALLY hope he grows out of this like the doctor says!
Anyways, I also brought up the fact that Miles is a toe walker. He also did not seem concerned. He said his ankles have a good range of motion compared to other toe walkers he has seen. So, he thinks Miles just likes to walk on his toes.
Good news, Miles is in the 35th percentile for weight! That made the doctor happy. He has been concerned about Miles weight in the past because we are vegetarian. 55th for height and his head had a growth spurt.....91 percentile for head circumference!
He had his speech/language report updated this week and he is at 22-24month of age for his speech. Not bad, only a month or so off! And he just got his hearing aids in April so I think he's doing great!Thanks for reading!

Happy 4th

2009-07-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy 4th of July for us. But the show went on! And they actually shot off the fireworks in the rain last night. The kids had their raincoats on and umbrellas. We went to grandmas house and watched from the parking lot across the street. We got to see my brother-in-law for the first time since he's been back from the hospital. He has been in the hospital since the end of March. He is 16 and was diagnosed with cancer. It's been rough but we are sooo glad he's home!!!! Here's a link to my first post about him http://ollieanderickaplus3.blogspot.com/2009/04/rough-week.html .
Miles was so funny! Everytime he saw the fireworks he would excitedly jump up and say "red!!!!!!". Of course the firework that he called "red" was actually green! lol
I bought some bling at the store yesterday and gave my little girl some bling on her hearing aids this weekend.
It's going to be sunny the rest of the week! Thank goodness!
Miles has his 2 year check up tomorrow with the pediatrician! Wish me luck! He is the only child that I have had to literally bathe in the doctors office sink because of his poor gag reflexes.
He is lucky he is sooo darn cute!

I've been working on adding captions to my videos

2009-07-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here's what I worked on today. A little video of Miles playing outside with his truck. His favorite thing to do! Feel free to add comments and tell me what you think!

Miles first haircut

2009-06-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

He's had the hair around his eyes clipped before. But this was his first real haircut! I had the intentions of growing his hair out long like one of those cute celebrity babies, but his hair was just too hard to brush. Every morning he woke up with dreads and I had to comb through them!

As you can see, we had chocolate ice cream for desert! haha
And here is a picture of his hair the next day after it dried.
It has not been a good week for wearing hearing aids! I bought the kids a pool for the backyard and they have been in it a lot.

Some cute things that Miles is saying

2009-06-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

Miles is sleeping right now so I thought I'd post some really cute things he's been saying these days.
My favorite is "I fowm" which means "look what I found" When he has something he wants to show me he brings it to me and says "I fowm!". It can also be used when he messes his diaper! He backs his little bottom up to me and says "I fowm!"
Then there is "chy it" which means "try it". Lately when he wants something his brother and sister has, he screams "chy it!" to them.
And "I yee you!" which he is saying "I see you" but he thinks it means "where are you?". So when he is looking for me he says "mommy, I yee you!"
He just loves playing outside, he says "ide". All day long, "IDE!!!" And I don't even know why I bought him sandals, because as soon as he gets out there, the sandals come off and he gets in the sandbox. I think I'm going to have to try out the EarGear we were given when we got his hearing aids. I just love having a toddler!

Roland turns 9

2009-06-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

9 years old! He is getting way too close to being a teenager! Next year he will be double digits. We had a tiki party. It was very hard trying to figure out how I was going to entertain 9 year old boys. They are in that stage where so many things are considered "babyish". But it turns out all it took was a bucket of water and water guns to entertain them. Throw in some pizza, a pinata, and a few sparklers and they had a blast! Here's some pictures. It was a no hearing aid party since there was water. It should have been a no Gymboree party too. Hope I can get these stains out! Here's some pictures of the day. It was an evening party.
I always go to a local bakery called Ashley's bakery when I buy a cake and they never let me down. Soooo yummy!

What was really funny was halfway through the party the boys yelled "let's take our shirts off!" lol
I thought for sure after this long day that Miles was going to take a bath and fall right to sleep. No way! He had a bath and then jumped on my bed for an hour before falling asleep.

A sad day

2009-06-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's my own fault. My secondary storage hard drive died on me this weekend. I haven't backed up my pictures on disk since 2004. Funny thing is, 2 weeks ago I bought some dvd's to burn them on but I procrastinated. Now 3 years of my life are gone. Including Miles birth. It could cost hundreds of dollars to try to get them back. I cried all day friday. My photos meant a lot to me. I feel like someone died. Luckily the past year I've been storing my photos on a different hard drive. But 2005, 2006, and 2007 are gone :(

Honored

2009-06-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to mention that I am soo honored to have been asked to join Deaf Village! Reading others blogs have been so helpful to me. I hope one day I can be helpful to someone else who's child was diagnosed with hearing loss. You can read many books on hearing loss and speak to doctors but there is just nothing like reading others day to day, real life, thoughts and experiences.

Miles is 2!

2009-06-07T14:14:00.001-07:00

I cried this morning! I never cried on any of my other childrens birthdays. But theres a very big chance that Miles may be my last baby. And all those memories of the day he was born came back to me. That soft little fuzzy newborn head. I may never get to experience that again. I just wish I had enough money and room for more. Heres my little man the day he was born.
And here he is on his first birthday!

I just love babies! Miles was such a cute squishy little baby too! He weighed 9lbs. 4oz. when he was born. He's a little guy now. Heres some pictures of today ! He had a truck birthday because he loves trucks!
I burried "trucks" in the sandbox for the kids to dig for. They were hotwheels but Miles calls all vehicles "trucks".

This picture is funny, I had to post it! Me and Miles with daddy peaking through the window!

I love my baby boy!

Kindergarten graduation

2009-06-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

What a fun and sad day! I can't believe my little girl will be going to first grade next year. She will be going full days for the first time. I'm going to miss her so much during the day! Kindergarten was only 2 1/2 hours.
I just hope her next teacher is as wonderful as her kindergarten teacher was! She always makes sure that Olivia is understanding what is going on and makes sure she is included. I think it's easy for a hard of hearing child to just kind of tune out and miss out on some of the fun when they aren't hearing everything that is going on. But her teacher always helps her with that.

Did I mention her literacy skills are above average? :) I am very proud of my little girl. She works VERY hard to learn and she is always very eager.

Preschool and kindergarten are a lot of fun. Now on to the real work! First grade is an eye opener that's for sure!

Miles had a lot of fun at the graduation too! He got lots of compliments on his clothes. He's so darn cute!

We met someone there who wore hearing aids also! I hope that she stays in touch with us. It would be so nice to have friends who have that in common.

Its been awhile

2009-06-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Not much has happened lately. Just trying to survive the last week of school. Getting ready for 2 birthday parties. My boys birthdays are 1 week apart. Miles will be 2 this Sunday!He's going to have a Tonka truck birthday party. He LOVES trucks. We went to Toys R Us this weekend and guess what they had, a ride on Tonka truck.
We had a meeting this week to see if Olivia would be eligible for a 504 plan or an IEP. Since she is not behind in any skills and she is doing so well academically, she is getting a 504 plan. They are going to trial a personal fm system in the fall and she will get preferential seating. They did not seem to be too happy about the whole personal fm system since all classrooms are wired with a soundfield fm system and she is doing well with the soundfield right now. The fm system they are going to trial with is one they have just laying around. I figured they would order a new one but nope. Oh well, I guess that's the next thing to push for.
And now for a little bragging, her teacher said that Olivias literacy skills are above average :) How's that for a late diagnosed child with hearing loss! She's a genious! lol
I love that girl of mine!

Aided hearing test

2009-05-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Miles had a hearing test today to see how he is hearing with his hearing aids on. He had a bit of a tantrum when he saw the audiologist. I thought at that point we were not going to accomplish anything but after he was given some stickers he calmed down. And would you believe he wanted princess stickers? lol
So the results were awesome! He is hearing at 15db! Much better results than his sister but his hearing loss is also milder than hers. The audiologist was very happy to hear that he wears his hearing aids all waking hours (at least for the past week and a half). I am very sad though that she told us today that she will be moving. So now we have to get a new audiologist. We really liked her.
We went to a parade this weekend and Miles ate candy :) I couldn't leave this post without at least one picture! He's eating a sucker.

Walk 4 Hearing!

2009-05-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

HOH Kids Rock!

What a fun day we had! The weather was great! Our team raised $84 to benefit The Hearing Loss Association of America. We woke up very early on a Saturday morning. And I'm thrilled that so many of our friends and family wanted to join us!
Here is Olivia and her daddy getting ready to walk!

And here they are walking and I guess she needed a break! 3 miles is a long walk for a 5 year old!Daddy was a pack mule! Here he is carrying Miles.

There was a clown making balloon animals. Miles was feeling very shy.

He didn't like the balloon hat so daddy wore it!

There was a t-shirt contest for the teams who made t-shirts. Here is our friends little girl, Roland, and Olivia standing on the hill being judged.

And to my surprise, we won first place!

Olivia was soooo proud, she carried that ribbon around all day long!

And I got my new camera. It was a wonderful early Mothers Day present :)Miles has been very good with wearing his hearing aids the past couple days! *knock on wood* We had a few stressful days last week searching for the tubes and the earmolds! He picked the tubes off the earmolds and those things are near impossible to find, especially on the floor in his brothers messy room!

A busy week

2009-05-08T16:23:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy week! I haven't posted because I've been busy making shirts for the walk 4 hearing tomorrow! And, I broke my camera! I dropped it on the ground and it smashed! I'm hoping for an early mothers day present tomorrow so I can get pictures of the walk 4 hearing! Stay tuned :)

It's been 1 week

2009-04-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

Miles has had his hearing aids for one week today! It's still a struggle to keep them in. He has just been a struggle period! He is getting too close to turning 2! His favorite word has become "no!".
I haven't really noticed a major difference with the hearing aids other than he repeats things a lot more than he used to. Especially from other conversations that he was not engaged in. He's been wearing the Hanna Andersson pilot caps most days and he has associated taking the hat off with taking his aids out. I need to practice taking the hat off more when he is distracted. But heres some pictures from this week.

Hearing aid day!

2009-04-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

We started the day off reading his sisters book about hearing aids. Doesn't he look thrilled? lol

Well, it didn't go exactly how I hoped it would but part of me knew it wouldn't. He didn't want the audiologist to touch him. He screamed when she put the hearing aids in. He ripped them out faster than anything. So we ended up carrying the hearing aids home in their case.

So when we got home, I got out the Hanna Andersson pilot cap! I held his hands down while he screamed, put his hearing aids on, put the pilot cap on, then put his coat on and rushed him outside to distract him. I wish I had my camera on me at that moment because I think thats when he realized he was hearing different. He just stood their and started for the longest time. I think he was listening.
He got a really cute bear clip to keep from losing his hearing aids.

At one point, he ran into the coat closet and took off his hat. But I got some cute pictures of him wearing his hearing aids while he was playing in there.And then he ripped them out!

He has been doing great since we got home though. Even though he has taken them out mutiple times, at least he is now letting me put them back in. He even repeats the little song they play when you turn them on.

And here is a picture of Olivias star bead we put on her hearing aid :) She was not too thrilled about having her picture taken this morning!

What do you think??

2009-04-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, I need comments on this one please!
I'm still working on a team name for the Walk 4 Hearing and I'm running out of time to get the started. But for the team name how about "HOH Kids Rock"?? And I was going to make t-shirts.
Tell me what you think please!

Tuesday!!!!!!

2009-04-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Miles is getting his hearing aids on Tuesday! It has been over a month since our appointment to order the earmolds. I guess there was some sort of problem with the order and they had to redo it. I am soo excited for Miles to finally get them! Is it strange to be excited? Olivia was jumping for joy when I told her, so it must not be too strange!
I want my children to be proud of who they are. It was something they were born with. Not a genetic mistake but a genetic gift that makes them special.

A sunny day

2009-04-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

Would you believe that it was snowing on monday? It was so beautiful out today, I dressed the kids up and took their pictures. I meant to have their pictures taken for Easter but time just seems to be slipping right past me lately.
Miles was not cooperative! But I think I got some good pictures today. And while editing them, my kids have made a big mess for me to clean. Goodnight!

Walk For Hearing

2009-04-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about starting a team to represent and raise awareness of children with mild/moderate hearing loss. Does anybody have any good ideas for a team name???

Introducing Miles!

2009-04-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

Miles!
Here is a little history of my baby boy.

I was bound and determined to NOT have another c-section. And I did it! Almost all natural. It was the first time I went into labor on my own. No induction at all. My doctor did not want me to do a vbac. She said if at any time labor slowed, that I was going in for a c-section. Things went my way this time and labor progressed just fine. I wanted to try to do it without an epidural but when 5 cm came along, I could take in no more. But the epidural only took for maybe an hour, then it wore off. I do believe that was the best thing that could ever happen. I think if I didn't feel the pain, I would have ended up with a c-section because Miles was 9lbs. 4oz. Not quite as big as Olivia, but still a big baby!
He is my only baby who got my blue eyes. He reminds me of a little cherub baby. He shares the same birthday month with his brother Roland. They are both born in June about 2 weeks apart.
He had colic for the first 3 months. And he has a weak gag reflex. He vomits about once a week.
Which is hard for me because I used to have a fear of it. Well, Miles has kind of cured me of that! lol I am now only scared of viruses.
Miles is a really good baby! He's very sweet and loves to give kisses. His favorite things right now are trucks. He points them out ALL the time.
Miles has a mild hearing loss. We are waiting on his hearing aids to come in. We probably would have never known about his loss, at least not unless it had progressed. His doctor suggested we take him to have his hearing checked since his sister has hearing loss. And in January, they found his loss. They asked me what I wanted to do and I told them I'd rather do too much than too little. And here we are :)

A rough week

2009-04-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

My husbands brother is in the hospital this week. He was having problems keeping food down for two weeks. He ended up in the emergency room and they found a tumor in his brain. He's only 16 years old. It's been hard news to take. So we are all praying for Rama.This is Rama and Miles 2007

Easter Party

2009-03-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I took my kids to an Easter party Saturday at the deaf community resource center. We have never been there before. Honestly, we've never even been around anyone who is deaf other than in the waiting room of the audiologist.
I really wanted my daughter to socialize with other children with hearing impairments. There are no other children in my daughters school with hearing loss. So I asked a lot of people with experience about the importance of socializing a hoh child with other deaf/hoh children. The consensus was that it was important. So I took myself out of my comfort zone, ignored all my social anxieties and took my kids to the East party. lol
Olivia told me before we left that she was nervous. Poor girl! But boy does she work well when she is nervous! She amazed me once again! She has never really used sign language in front of anyone but the family. I figured she was going to be too shy at the party. Boy was I wrong. She ONLY used sign language almost the whole time. She finger spelled her name to the lady running the event who was deaf. She asked for a different color of dye for her eggs with sign. It was almost like she was embarrassed to speak! lol
And little Miles was his normal cute self. He's pretty quiet when he is around new people. The lady from the infant hearing program , who does a home visit for us twice a month was there. He remembered her and he played with her a lot.

The funniest part of the day is when a guy walked up to my husband and started to sign. Ollie shrugged and shook his head to try to let the guy know he didn't know sign language. Ollie felt sooo bad!

Miles has come down with a cold this weekend. He's missing his EI class today. He had a fever 2 nights in a row and just hasn't been his normal wild self. I'm just hoping and praying he doesn't get another ear infection. The last one was unbearable for the both of us. 10 straight hours of non stop screaming! And then a busted ear drum. ugh. I have never seen an ear infection like it.
Well, I must get to cleaning my house.

Introducing Olivia !

2009-03-26T06:25:00.001-07:00

Now I feel like I should introduce all of them! :) So here's a little history of Olivia, my little princess!

I could post a thousand pictures of her! I had a lot of fun dressing her up as a baby. And I still do! My favorite hobby is buying Gymboree and Hanna Andersson!
Olivia was born via c-section. A week before she was born, I was having problems with high blood pressure. I was sent in for a non-stress test. During that ultrasound they discovered that she was a big baby! She was measuring 10 1/2 pounds. They also explained that measurement could be off a pound either way. So a week later, my blood pressure was elevated and they decided it was time to get her out. She was born weighing 9lbs. 12oz.! My biggest baby! You could never tell now.
In the hospital she failed her hearing screening. They told me they would retest before we left the hospital. She failed that one too. They felt it was most likely fluid due to being born via c-section. So they had us come back to the hospital nursery a few weeks later to try again. She failed that time too. So, we were then referred to the local children's hospital. She was then tested a fourth time, and would you know it, she passed! I was told "a pass is a pass and your child does not have hearing loss". We were supposed to come back in 6 months for a sedated test just to be sure but when the people looked me in the eye and told me my daughter had no hearing loss, I felt the risks of sedation outweighed the risks on not coming back.
Olivia developed normally. She did have a tiny bit of a speech delay. It was like she had her own language. I understood everything she said though. When she turned 3 she started preschool. They suggested we take her to this speech therapy place but it was too expensive for us. They never let us know about all the wonderful free programs that were available. Anyways, after her first year of preschool, her speech got a lot better. The only problem she has now is her "r" sounds like a "w" and her "s" is a little weak sometimes. I think it's all normal for a 5 year old though.
So, back to age 4 when she was taking her kindergarten readiness test. She did not pass their hearing screening. I figured it was ear wax. We went to the pediatrician. She was found to have no ear wax but still failed their hearing test. So once again, we were referred to the local children's hospital. She took their hearing test and the audiologist came out with the news of her sensorineural hearing loss. She suggested she get hearing aids. So, at age 5, she got her hearing aids and she loves them! She chose pink glitter earmolds and pink aids.The ENT felt it was important to determine the cause of her hearing loss and I'm glad we did. She had a CT scan, blood test, and eye exam. It was found that her hearing loss was caused by two mutations of the Connexin 26 gene. This would be very beneficial to Miles diagnosis. We may have never found his hearing loss!
Well, as you have read earlier, Olivia is doing great in kindergarten and uses an fm system along with her hearing aids. I love this little wild girl of mine!

Introducing Roland !

2009-03-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I will normally be writing a lot about my youngest two. Mostly because I primarily wanted to start the blog to benefit other parents who have hoh children. There have been a few blogs that have been sooo helpful to me! It's one thing to read about hearing loss but it's so helpful to actually read personal stories about people going through the same things as you. It can get a little lonely when your friends and family have never had the same experiences. And theres so much explaining to do just to have a simple conversation about a trip to the audiologist. It's nice to have people who know what words like "frequency, decibal, audiogram, sensorineural, bilateral" mean already.
Anyways, on to the indroduction!

Roland

My oldest child, Roland, is 8 years old and will soon be 9! He's really good at Guitar Hero. I mean REALLY good! He plays on expert and he's VERY proud of it.
He's loves his baby brother. I know he loves his sister too even though he doesn't like to admit it!
He's in 3rd grade and is great at math and reading. He has had an IEP since first grade. He has trouble writing. Not really sure of the cause but it's not improving like we had hoped. He may need to use a word processer in school when he gets older.
Here's a picture of Roland when he was little! He was about Miles age in this picture.
He had almost no hair until he was 3 years old! He was also my most trying toddler. He threw fits in public like I've never seen before. Now he only throws fits at home. But they are awful! He throws fits worse than my almost 2 year old! Well, hope you enjoyed meeting Roland! Hope my stories don't embarrass him too much! Love you Roland!

Signing Time success

2009-03-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

This is Miles doing some of the signs he knows. Please excuse the unmade bed and my goofy voice!

Sooo proud!

2009-03-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

I went for a parent-teacher conference yesterday for Olivia. I have to say that I am sooooo proud of her! Her teacher had nothing but good things to say about her. She is doing so well with reading and writing. Her teacher says that for a child with bilateral mild/moderate loss, that she would have never expected that she would pick things up so easily.
I thought that I was going to have to fight to get her an fm system for next year. Her teacher said to me that Olivia absolutely must have the fm system. She says she sees such a difference with it. In the morning, before the teacher puts the fm on, Olivia seems kind of in her own world. But as soon as she turns the fm on, she pays complete attention. So her teacher is going to make sure that she gets an fm for first grade.
Olivia's birthday is in August so she is one of the youngest in the class. A lot of people in our community hold off on sending their child to knidergarten until they turn 6 to give them a heads up. Which is another reason she deserves extra praise! I am so proud of my little girl!

Miles at early intervention class

2009-03-23T09:34:00.001-07:00

Miles went to his third day of early intervention today. He was soo cold when we got there, his little lip was quivering!
And when we got home we found our Hanna Andersson pilot caps have arrived. I'm going to try to get him used to wearing them before he gets his hearing aids.
It's been a struggle already just to get him to keep the hat on! How on earth will I be able to keep hearing aids in his ears?

First post

2009-03-23T09:09:00.001-07:00

Just trying this out!

Ollie and Ericka Plus 3

Changes

IEP, earmolds, and Easter

Earmolds galore!

Knowledge is Power.....I hope!

Found some inner strength

Audiology updates

The transition meeting

My son was bullied

Preschool plans

My little girl is growing up

It's been awhile!

Olivia's 15 minutes of fame

School news

He did it!

Next wednesday

Toddler group

Miles at early intervention class

Miles loves firetrucks!

Some pictures of Olivia's Birthday!

A little update on the Fm system

We have a new puppy!

So mad!

Audiology appointments times 2!

A little video of Miles

Where are the deaf children who do not have CI?

Miles audiologist appointment

Back from vacation!

Leaving for vacation

Just had to share these pictures!

Miles 2 year checkup *not for the weak*

Happy 4th

I've been working on adding captions to my videos

Miles first haircut

Some cute things that Miles is saying

Roland turns 9

A sad day

Honored

Miles is 2!

Kindergarten graduation

Its been awhile

Aided hearing test

Walk 4 Hearing!

A busy week

It's been 1 week

Hearing aid day!

What do you think??

Tuesday!!!!!!

A sunny day

Walk For Hearing

Introducing Miles!

A rough week

Easter Party

Introducing Olivia !

Introducing Roland !

Signing Time success

Sooo proud!

Miles at early intervention class

First post

Miles 2 year checkup not for the weak