Sometimes life in general is just overwhelming!! I feel like I have been doing a LOT of running around for the kids lately. Kendra has been visiting her Language therapist in Mankato every other week (speaking of which, thats what I will be doing tomorrow if anyone wants to tag along and get some shopping done!!! ;)). I cannot even explain how amazing she has done, it literally makes me tear up when I think of how far she has come. I would say within the last 3 months she has broken down some MAJOR walls. Her attitude has been spunky and fun when it comes to learning language as opposed to defensive and ornery (not sure if I spelled that right!!) She has expanded her sentences from 2-3 words all the way up to 5 and 6 word sentences!!! Hallelujah!! Honestly, I have always tried to keep a positive outlook on things when it comes to having patience with the kids and their language skills.. but this girl WORE ME DOWN!! hahahha.. But it has been an absolute joy to know that we've made it to this phase, back talking and all -- atleast she is talking :)
Miles had an audiogram last Wed (to determine what his level of hearing loss was, were making sure that the previous tests were accurate and that his hearing is not getting worse). The audiologist was very impressed with his listening skills. He was very attentive and he almost stayed put in the sound booth for his entire appointment!! (I think the 2 hr listening test is a bit much for 20 month old.. not even sure I could handle that). It was encouraging to know that his hearing has not gotten worse. Miles is our only child without a Cochlear Implant. He is still learning to love his hearing aids, but his hearing is much, much, MUCH better than Kendra and Noah. I was sooo happy to spend the day last Wednesday with Miles and even Matt got to take the day off and help out with our LONG appointment. Extra distractions are blessings when it comes to these kinds of appointments. It helps that we love our audiologist. She is so down to earth and encouraging! Everytime I leave from an appointment with her, I feel accomplished. She always tells me how great we are doing and how much joy she has just in seeing us. It always just makes my day!
Noah, Noah, Bo-boah.. thats what he would say :) He is constantly rhyming lately, must be a school thing! This boy is just doing amazing in school!!! The best part about it is he absolutely LOVES it! We had parent-teacher conferences not long ago and his Kindergarten teacher melted my heart!! She talked about how his social skills are rapidly developing and she mentioned his smile :) You know what smile I'm talking about if you know Noah :) He was above average in several areas tested and just where he was expected to be in others -- which was a HUGE relief to Matt and as parents! We wrestled with the idea of having Noah wait a year for school, but it seems as though we have made the right decision! Noah has also been thriving in AWANA. He loves to study his SPARKYS book :). Noahs leaders have also made my day, more than once, by letting me know how well behaved he is during hand book time. We coach Noah to; stand up tall, speak clearly and loud enough for your leader to hear you when your saying your memory verses!! His memory is excellent and I really think the program has done SOOOO VERY MUCH for our whole family. Awana has encouraged Noah to memorize, speak clearly, speak in front of a crowd, tune out the background noise and most importantly.. learn about God. Noah has worked on his verses with my brothers, my mom, my sister, myself and his dad.. and the little pieces he has to memorize are catchy, were all winning!!
So maybe the biggest thing that has happened to us recently is our move! We have moved into my moms house until we find a house we want to purchase. A good majority of our posessions are locked away in storage and the rest of our stuff is with us at my moms. Thankfully, my mom has enough space for us. We are taking our sweet, selective time buying a house -- though we were VERY close once, until a home inspection scared us haha. I guess being VERY sure is a priority after selling our last house took us more than 2 years :(. This time with my family is sure to be a blessing :) We have the opportunity to save, save, SAVE even more $$ to purchase the perfect house for us. Mentioning it in a blog is a bit of a bombshell, but there you have it! I have moved back to my moms, and it feels right :).
Recently, I have been in contact with some new deaf and hard of hearing families. My heart is aching for some different reasons, but if you could kindly pray for peace in the hearts of these families. Its a hard place to be in. I remember Noah being sooo tiny, just 3 months old with his first set of hearing aids. The hearing aids he had seem humongous compared to his little ears and head. We joked that they were a compliment to his chubby cheeks :). There was a lot of insecurity in my heart at that time. I felt let down by the circumstances and unsure of my capabilities to overcome the obstacles before me. Noah was always a smily baby, he still flashes the same smile today. I couldn't help but just absolutely love him. I was hurt when people would look at him and stare, not at his beautiful smile, but at his hearing aids. My kids wear their differences right on their heads! You can't hide it, they are different. When I was talking to a mom last week, my heart grew raw with emotion and I cried right along with her. I felt like such a failure, that I was not encouraging her. Later, she e-mailed me and told me that she had the best conversation with me and felt validated in her fears but encouraged by my story. I thought to myself, how did my blubbery mess encourage her?? I had beat myself up over not being the bright and bubbly happy side of hearing loss. The truth really, was that she did not want to be alone in her imperfect world.. and I gave light to the fact that she was not alone. It's important to ask for help when you need it and shed a tear instead of shield it. I'm still learning that lesson! I encouraged this mom to call/email/text whenever she needed to talk or wanted someone to pray for her.. which is something that I cannot even train myself to do!!! I'm a work in progress :)
