Lone Star Family

Not a great start to the New Year

2012-01-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

Well we didn't quite start the New Year as expected, but we still plan on making the best of it! I was originally scheduled to work at the hospital on New Years Eve, so we spent the day before hanging out as a family, celebrating the New Year a little early. That evening we decided to take K to his favorite restaurant, Joe's Crab Shack. On the way there K fell asleep in the car. This hardly ever happens, I think I can count the number of times on one hand. He was a little grouchy waking up, but perked up one he recognized where we were. He was not very talkative, but was acting pretty normal.
The food arrived at our table and K didn't want anything to do with it, he didn't even want a single sip of his juice. This is when I knew something was going on. By the time we got home K already had a low grade fever. He was still acting pretty normal so I gave him some Tylenol and sent him to bed. My hubby and I spent the rest of the evening watching K on the baby monitor and the ball dropping in New York on TV. Not the most exciting New Year but at least we were together.
Overnight I watched him like a hawk and he did well. Although when he woke up he was miserable. Poor child could hardly speak and I could feel the heat radiating off him.

Since it was new years Day K's pediatrician was closed, so off to the acute care clinic we went.Thankfully we didn't have to wait long before we were seen. My poor K was so sick , he was beginning to drool a little bit because it hurt so bad to swallow. I immediately told them my suspicion of him having strep throat. They swabbed his throat and ten minutes later came back with the diagnosis. Strep Throat. :( We got our prescription for amoxicillin and headed on home.

The next day after two doses of antibiotics and a good nights sleep we had a new kid. A really hungry kid might I add. He had not eaten hardly anything in over 24hrs. " Mama I hungry, I want some phood." First thing he asked for were pancakes. So I made him a batch of Mickey Mouse pancakes. We spent the rest of the day quarantined to the house sharing our coodies. Like I said it wasn't the most exciting New Years, but I had both my boys at my side and I'm content with just that.

Hope everyone has a happy and HEALTHY new year!!

The Christmas Post

2011-12-31T18:34:00.000-08:00

I've been a slacker in blogging department and this really bothers me, just for the simple reason that I would like to go back and remember the stories behind the pictures.
Can you guess what one of my New Years resolutions will be?
Ha! we'll see!

Oh Christmas tree...

Or as Kemper calls it "mistress tree" We really need to work on that one!

We had two Christmas trees this year. Why two? A few days after Christmas last year we came across a 9 ft pre-lit Christmas tree at a hardware store & they were practically giving it away so we had to get it. We put it in the living room and put our old 6ft tree in the den. We called the smaller tree our "sentimental tree" because that's where we put all of our favorite and gifted ornaments.The larger tree was nicknamed our "Show off" tree.;)

My husbands favorite holiday is Christmas, so it's pretty much the only time I can get away with going out and buying stuff to decorate the house. We had fun as a family decorating the house with the movie Christmas Vacation playing in the background

Next year my hubby wants to "Griswold" the outside of our house. That should be interesting...

Thankfully we have a very well behaved toddler that never got into any of the decorations. He loves them all so much, I'm not quite sure how to break it to him that they have to be put away soon.

Speaking of my sweet Baby K, lately when I try and take a picture of him he tells me "No more pictures momma!" So we had to get a little creative in order to get pictures by the tree. We told K and his cousin Nolan that they could get under the tree IF they let us take their picture. As you can see it worked! My favorite is the "Home Alone" pose in the first picture.

Visions of sugar plums...

Kemper and I did a little holiday baking. He is always asking me to get out my bowls and spoons so that he can pretend cook, so I knew he would have a blast cooking for real. He had so much fun mixing and pouring all the ingredients. We made his favorite sugar M&M cookies. We also made jars of cookie mix to give to all the neighbors and K's teachers. We called them "Kemper Kookies"

We also did some gingerbread house decorating with my sister Maria and nephew Nolan. It took K a little while to grasp the idea that you are supposed to decorate with the candy and not eat it, at least not yet. ;)

All aboard!!

We made many trips to the mall this season, to get gifts for everyone and to see the trains of course! The Trains at Northpark were amazing, too bad my iPhone couldn't quite get all the details. K's favorite was the scene of Big Tex from the State fair.
One of the other malls has a train that you can actually ride. We were not quite sure if K would ride it because he normally won't do anything like that alone. We took the risk and bought him a ticket and sure enough he got on that train alone like a big boy. We were so proud ;)

Here comes Santa Claus...

Kemper is at the age where most children are scared of Santa. So this year I did a little trick to get him interested and wanting to visit Santa. Each time we would go to the mall we would stop by Santa's workshop. We would only stay and watch for a minute or two, then I would tell him we needed to go.(I know this sounds mean)The first two times he didn't mind, but by the third he was begging to see Santa. So we finally went to see him. The wait was about 45 minutes and he was very patient for a 2.5yr old.

When it was finally his turn he turned to me with a nervous look and said " I want to see Santa, no pictures." Ha! he was more upset about getting his picture taken than meeting Santa. So I did what all good parents do and bribed him with a cookie afterwards if he let us take his picture. Mission accomplished!

Twas The Night Before Christmas...

It was so fun getting to teach Kemper about Christmas this year. He still pretty young but he is beginning to grasp some of the concepts. He loved hearing the stories of baby Jesus and Santa Claus.

We started the tradition of leaving milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.
(Please ignore the pacifier, it's a work in progress!)

Christmas Morning...

At last it was Christmas morning. We took K downstairs to see all the presents Santa left him. At first he just stared at the presents, not knowing what to think. After we told him they were toys he was ready to open them up. He would unwrap a present and then want us to take it out of its packaging immediately so that he could play with it. I don't quite know why manufacturers insist on making toy packages so hard to open, by the time we got one opened he was already onto the next toy. We found it funny that one of his favorite gifts was a simple $1 slinky I got at the grocery store. I think he liked it more than his new bike. Oh well that's a toddler for you!

Later that day we went over to my parents house to celebrate and open more gifts. K and Nolan were surprised with new cars! Their awesome aunt Maria got them for them.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and are looking forward to many more.
We are so blessed and thankful for Him and all his wonderful gifts.

The greatest one being the love of our family near and far.

Welcome Christmas. Bring your cheer,
Cheer to all Whos, far and near.

Welcome Christmas while we stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand.

Dr Suess

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T16:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween !!

2011-11-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Halloween Weekend 2011

Doesn't he make the perfect Woody from Toy Story?!

We found these pajamas at the Disney store and they make the best costume.

The best part is that when the night is over I can just toss him in bed!

He was so excited to be Woody.

I think the hat was his favorite part. He never took it off.

K with his cousin Nolan, a.k.a Buzz Lightyear, at the church Kids Carnival

Kemper playing some of the games and having a balloon animal made.
He loved the catapult the frog into the bucket game the best. He was actually really good and won every time. Each time he got ready to launch the frog he would stick his tongue out Michael Jordan style.

Full concentration!!

I have never bee a fan of clowns, they kinda creep me out.
K had no problem.
He kept wanting to visit him over and over.

K with his Daddy who was wearing his most "cowboyish" outfit.

Halloween day at Gymboree and all the kids get to wear their costumes to class.
I thought it was a perfect time for me to bust out my Halloween tights ;)

K pretending to jump in a big pile of leaves.

K pretending to plant pumpkin seeds.
Riding his trusty steed Bullseye.
Working hard popping bubbles with his bubble poppers. (notice the tongue again?)

Daddy, all decked out in Halloween colors, visited on his lunch break. Lucky us!

And last but not least....
Halloween Night!!

Each year my brother and sisters meet up at my parents house with us and we go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.

K had a great time. He's usually pretty shy when it comes to talking to strangers but he had no problem saying "trick-or-treat!" "Happy Halloween" and "thank you!" to anyone passing out candy.

Oh the power of candy!!

He also had no problem telling us where to go next. He would point and say "This way momma!!"

I had to put in the middle pic of my husband doing a cochlear implant check. I think he did about fifty of them. Yep he still has them! ;)

Enjoying the fruits of his labor!

Hope y'all had a safe and Happy Halloween!!

oops almost forgot... our costumes ;)

Toddler Tricks

2011-08-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

ten on tuesday

2011-08-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Ten random things that are going on or on my mind...

1. Today K went to the audiologist for a check up on his cochlear implants. They checked his settings and did a hearing test. In the sound booth he consistently responded to sound at the 15 decibel range. ( my non C.I. peeps- that is considered to be in the"normal hearing" range.) Yay! I wasn't too surprised with this result because he has been doing so well with his listening and speaking. K has become our new pet parrot, repeating EVERYTHING we say. He even dropped his first "F bomb" courtesy of his father and a stubbed toe. Whoops!!

I love how his shirt says "I'm all ears!"

2. I will admit that I dabble in some reality TV....... well maybe a little more than dabble, so naturally I had to check out Bravo TV's Most Eligible Dallas, since I live in Dallas.

Um yeah, it's the epitome of why people hate Dallas.

Watch it and see, or better yet don't. We don't need any more haters. Makes me want to move. My friend said they need to rename it to Most Disgusting Dallas. I agree.

Speaking of watching Dallas reality shows, the one you should watch is Children's Med Dallas . Its a five- part documentary behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at this children's hospital. I might be a little biased since I have a "slight" connection to it. ;) You can catch up via You Tube.

3. Move over Elmo, Mickey Mouse has taken over our house. K has fallen in love with that little mouse and his friends. He talks about them all the time and wants to watch old Mickey cartoons or the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show on the Disney channel all day and everyday. We have had to really limit his TV watching time because of this new obsession. I really get a kick out of how he says Goofy- "Foopy"

Our latest trip to the Disney Store- he made out like a bandit!

4. The other night we went out with some old friends. Just out to dinner and a local bar. ONE "Mambo Taxi" at dinner and this momma was ready to call it a night. We ended up going to the bar with everyone because we had the sitter booked, but ended up leaving early. This old lady just can't hang anymore :(

Mambo Taxi

5. Anyone else out there hate Bathtub crayons? Unless you enjoy scrubbing your bathtub every night do not buy them. They take some serious elbow grease to scrub them off. No kid could do it alone. I even had to bust out the bleach to get the crud left in the grout lines. Serious UGH!

6. Why is it that pretty much everyone I know: Just had a baby, is pregnant, or is trying to get pregnant?

Except for me- the jury is still out on that one.

I'm not complaining, just an observation ;)

My sweet boy on his birthday

7. Yesterday was back to school. K doesn't start his school until next year, but each time I heard it mentioned my stomach dropped. I'm already nervous and we still have a year to go!

Do you take this as good or bad?!

8. We are slowly making our way on the potty train, as in potty training. K doesn't seem too interested in it at all. Each time I ask him if he wants to potty in the toilet he tells me "No, I pee-pee in diaper!" I can tell this is going to be a long ride. Here is one of the "potty" books I bought him. His favorite part is when they talk about changing the baby's diaper. Go figure!

9. I'm slowly becoming addicted to Pinterest. I now have recipes, crafts, and home decor ideas to last me a lifetime. They are simple ideas, which is why it is so addicting. The only dumb thing about it is that you have to have an invite to join the site. If you want an invite, just shoot me an e-mail.

10. And because I don't like to live drama free and I enjoy spending all my free time at the doctors office, I now get to see a hematologist ( blood doc). I have been having issues with my blood vessels breaking at the slightest touch. I have always bruised easily, but now the vessels on my hands and arms are causing too much discomfort. So far may basic lab work has come back normal, so that is why my PCP wants me to see a specialist. Fun times!

my latest friend

11. I know this post is TEN on TUESDAY, but my stupid computer would not let me post it until today. Oh well!!

We are still here! Summer recap part 1

2011-08-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

( Sorry MeMe for the lack of posts)

We have been busy enjoying our fun but VERY HOT summer.

This is our very first summer in the new house and we are very happy with our decision to buy a house with a pool. Summer in Texas can be brutal!

Just to show you,
This weekend's forecast: HOT HOT HOT!

We have had 37 days straight of 100+ temps, and if this continues until next Friday we will break the record for the most continuous days with three digit temps.

What's a few more days?, we've come this far I want the record!

My little swimmer. Isn't he adorable?

Um no, he's not wearing a Speedo.

I just couldn't find his trunks that day and so he's just wearing a swim diaper ;)

K's hearing processors are not waterproof so early in the summer I ordered a LOKSAK, a waterproof bag, so that I could put one of his processors in it and he would be able to hear while in the pool.

It was pretty much a no go.

Only for the reason that he hates the actual process of putting the swim cap on to hold the bag in place. It's tough trying to keep the processor on his head and put the tight swim cap over it to hold it. Once he has it on he's fine, but he'd rather swim without his "ears" than go through the process.

I guess we will try again later. I also think he doesn't mind having his "ears" off because then he can't hear me when I tell him that it's time to get out of the pool !

My fishies!

K with Daddy.

Our nephew John, from Georgia, visited us for a few days.
K loved having him around. I guess he thought he was his very own personal playmate.
Each time John left the room K would ask " Where John go?"

Cousins. So sweet!

Here are some of the pics from the 4th of July.
It was K's 1st year to see the fireworks. Last year it rained and the year before he was too young, so I had to take him this year.

He loved it!

It made my heart melt just watching him get so excited.

Stay tuned for part two! If I ever get around to it ;)

K turns 2! Sesame Street Party!!

2011-05-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

K's invites. They were made by Just Click Print on Etsy.

As you can tell this year we celebrated K's birthday Sesame Street style !
Our house is currently undergoing some renovations so we had his party at the neighborhood clubhouse.
Are you ready for pictures galore ?!

K's cake.
It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned but it made up for it in taste!

The party brought to you by the letter K and number 2!

The food table.
We forgot to take a pic with all the food on it though !
We served all types of fruit and veggies with dip, cheese, deviled eggs, pasta salad, and even had a sandwich making station.

Cookie monster shared some of his cookies.

Elmo's friend Dorothy shared her fishy crackers too!

My sister found some cute little Sesame Street "buildings" on eBay.
The kids had a blast going in and out of them.

K loved his Elmo shirt. He had a fit when it was time to take it off for bath.

A few toddler friendly games:
Oscar's trash toss and fishin' for Ernie's rubber duckies!
and pin the nose on Elmo!

and they actually played with them !

more decorations...

My husband's coworker let us use his cotton candy machine for the day.

I think it was a hit!

Sweet little Ipolito K's "Pa Pa" and "Paw Paw"

You don't have to be young to have fun!

Time to blow out the candle!

This boy loves cake !
Can you tell !?

K's grandmothers "Meme" and "Wela"

friends and family

The kids working off some of that cotton candy outside. ;)

Party favor bags I made.

Lots of goodies to take home.
Crayons, Elmo note pad, bubbles, stickers, candy filled Elmo heads, noise makers...

Family pics.
Thanks Carol and my sister Maria for the pics!

Happy Birthday to our "Baby K"
We Love you!!
Thanks to all that came out to celebrate with us!

Homemade playdough

2011-05-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

K's ECI teacher came over the other day and she taught us how to make homemade play dough!

He loved helping pour and mix all the ingredients in.

He got to pick the color he wanted to use.

Time to cut out our shapes. "Tars!"

two toddler thumbs up!

Microwave Playdough

Mix : 1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar

Add: 1 cup water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

food coloring

Stir

Microwave for 1 minute

Stir again

Microwave 1- 1 1/2 minutes more

Knead and play!

Store in airtight container or ziplock bag. Playdough will last for months!!

Talk about what comes next as you mix the ingredients. Let your child choose the color of the playdough and count how many drops of food coloring. Have fun!!

Easter 2011

2011-04-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Easter recap 2011

The night before Kemper and his cousin Nolan decorating their eggs. We didn't think the dye would ever come off them!

Easter egg hunt.

Confetti eggs!! they were a hit!

Discovering the candy and Hot Wheels cars inside the eggs.

Even more candy in his basket and a Mr. Potato head bunny!

Easter love.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

He is Risen!

Take me out to the Ball Game!

2011-04-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Recently my husband's company gave us suite tickets to the Rangers vs Red Sox game, so we took this opportunity to go out on a date!

We both love going to baseball games, but since the ballpark is quite a trek from home, we don't go often. In fact, we realized the last game we went to was when we got my family together to announce we were expecting!

It was opening week and weather was perfect.
The Ballpark was perfect.

I love being at the ballpark, seeing all the families together and I love how it brings out all those childhood memories.

Proud to be American. Proud to be a Texan!

another one of my favorite things about going to the ballpark...

The hot dogs!

I keep it simple, just a little mustard please!

oh and don't forget the peanuts!

It was a great day spent with the hubby. The only thing missing was my K. Hopefully we can get his allergies in check and bring him with us next time.

This Kid was born deaf?!

2011-04-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

We love nights like this.

We can't believe that 14 months ago this child could not even hear a jet engine pass him by.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

~Albert Einstein

TWO YEARS OLD!!

2011-04-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet "Baby" K you are TWO years old today!!!

You weigh 26.4lbs, (25-50%) my skinny little thing! You eat tons but I don't know where it goes!!
You are a pretty tall toddler, everyone comments on it. 35.5'' (75-90%)
You wear size 2T clothing. They are slightly baggy but you need the extra pants length!!
You wear size 6.5 shoes
You wear size 4-5 diapers

You are still a good eater, you will even tell me when you are hungry by saying and signing "food"
Your favorite foods: banana, strawberries, scrambled eggs, avocado, rice, beans, cheese, bread, macaroni, chicken, and french fries.
You are still not into drinking milk from a sippy cup, anything but milk. We really need to work on that!

You love to go to bed late, a 9:30 bedtime is now considered early :(
You have decided that you no longer need naps, but some days mommy wins and you will a take nap ranging from 1-3 hrs.
You still wake up each morning at 7:30-8:00, even when you go to bed really late.
You hate to go take a bath, but once you are in we can't get you out!
You hate to be dirty, you make a big fuss. If your paci drops on the floor you always hand it over and say "wash!"

You still love to brush your teeth.
You have to brush your teeth immediately after you get out of the bath, In the nude!! No time for PJ's!
You no longer care to be rocked to sleep, you will tell us "upstairs"
You love to read Goodnight Moon before going to bed. It is pretty much the ONLY book you like to read.

Your comfort items include: your paci, blankie & Elmo doll.
You like to have something in both hands at all times. You are always carrying something.
You love to watch Elmo's World and Yo Gabba Gabba
You can count to 5
You know your primary colors
You say you are "two!" when asked your age.

You have no problem announcing "I poop!" when you need your diaper changed. Potty training is in the near future.
You still love to hear.
You are hearing so well, it's amazing!!
You are talking tons too!! The other day you felt the cool breeze and said "Mama cold outside!"
You are so dramatic, if one of your hearing processors falls off you will say "oooh NO!" Then if you are able to put it back on you will say "I did it!"

You are very polite. You love to say hi and bye to everyone you see, especially in restaurants.
You love your dog Raider. You ask for him each morning and you even greet him before your parents.
You are obsessed with your grandmothers car. You will have a fit if you can't ride in it. You are always asking your grandmother to unlock it so you can sit in it. (It's a Mercedes, you have great taste ;)
You are very obedient and do not get into things. You will even ask for permission to go up the stairs.
You do not get into trouble often, but when you do you will close your eyes and pretend you can't hear us.

You love to hug.
You are very good with your hands.
You love to color.
You call yourself "Pimper"
You need a haircut!! Your hair grows like a weed!!
Your favorite restaurant is Joe's Crab Shack. You love the music,dancing, & the crab dip!
You went to Joe's Crab Shack for your birthday dinner. They sang "Happy Birthday" to you.

You are an amazing little boy. It's crazy, you are the young one but we are the ones with sooo much to learn!

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
-- Mark Twain

Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood, we find a delightful creature of a boy.
-- Author Unknown

Mothers of little boys work from son up till son down!
-- Author Unknown

Mama Cheese!

2011-04-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

My son is just like his father in that he is not a fan of books/reading. This breaks my heart being a book worm myself. He would rather take all the books off his shelf, toss them on the floor, and build something with them. So to try and get him more interested in books I have started making my own. Only they are not really books, but more like photo albums. I take pictures of things around the house that he is familiar with and put them in an album with a caption underneath them. Later we sit down and "read"/discuss the pictures. All this to help his listening and language skills. The other day I was going around the house taking pictures and this is how it went ...

A simple pic of a beach ball we can talk about the colors, shape, size...you get it.

K jumps in front of me and says "Mama cheese!!" Silly boy wanted me to take his picture.

next his cars.

"Mama Cheese!!" Now he wanted me to take a picture of his toes.

His basketball.

again "Mama cheese!!" so I take a picture of his belly

His spoon, mommy's spoon

"Mama cheese!"

His toys.

"Mama Cheese!" His toes again.

Strawberries

This time I said "Kemper cheese!!" and he gave me this adorable little smirk. This kid cracks me up!

Like we need anymore equipment!

2011-04-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is how we spent our Friday afternoon/evening.

In a Pediatric Urgent care center.

K has been struggling with allergies for the last few days. Itchy eyes and a runny nose for the most part but happy and acting normal. Friday afternoon came around and he began to make wheezing sounds and his breathing had increased. He was not in any distress, but this was definitely not normal for K. Immediately the nurse in me kicked in and I knew that slight wheezing and increased breathing could turn into something. bad. fast.

So off to the urgent care center we went. By the the time we got there his respirations had increased to the 60-70 breaths per minute range ( a 2yr old should not be above 40) and his wheezing had increased. The doctor checked him out and ordered some steroids and a breathing treatment for him. K was not a fan. He threw a huge fit, kicking and screaming. Each time the doctor or nurse came in he would say "away!" then look at us and say "bye bye?"

He felt sooo much better after his treatment. After it was done he said "Daddy hug?" My poor baby!

Now we are not quite sure what caused K breathing problems, but the doctor thinks it could be allergies topped off with a slight cold that put him over the edge. If he continues to have breathing issues we may have to look into the asthma route. :(

So for now we get to take home this nifty nebulizer, to do breathing treatments at home. Yes, the M&M's are part of the ~~bribery~~ treatment. If he does his treatment and takes his medicine he gets to have 5 M&M's!

Oh one more thing, the doctor and nurses were so impressed with K's listening and speaking. Right after they mentioned that to us K got impatient and yelled "Open the door! Bye Bye!" He was done with this place!

Me A to Z

2011-03-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

A. Age: 33
B. Bed size: queen. Wish I had a King
C. Chore you dislike: all of them. Wish I had a maid.
D. Dogs: Mini Schnauzer (although he's not mini) Raider
E. Essential start to your day: taking the dog out.
F. Favorite color: red
G. Gold or silver: ~~diamonds~~ Silver or white gold
H. Height: 5'3"
I. Instruments you play(ed): recorder (didn't we all?) violin
J. Job title: mom, registered nurse
K. Kids: 2 little boy, my husband
L. Live: The Eyes of TEXAS are upon you...
M. Mom’s name: Mom, Isa when I'm mad at her ;)
N. Nicknames: Bones- from my dad for being skinny, Smelen- the only name my drunk college friends could think of that rhymed with Helen. It has nothing to do with my hygiene habits. Call me either one now and you will get hurt.
O. Overnight hospital stays: 4 (eye surgery, kidney stones, gallbladder removal, baby)
P. Pet peeves: non RSVP'ers and people who say insulting remarks followed by "I'm just kidding!"
Q. Quote from a movie: "Lieutenant Dan. Ice cream!"
R. Righty or lefty: Right
S. Siblings: Older sister and younger sister & brother
T. Time you wake up: when I hear my toddler yelling through the baby monitor or 3pm (after working a night shift)
U. Underwear: yes. cotton bikinis. None of that thong crap, I choose comfort.
V. Vegetables you don’t like: cauliflower, steamed/cooked spinach
W.What makes you run late: lately,toddler temper tantrums. I'm a stickler for time so it's rare for me to be late. I try to accommodate for temper tantrums.
X. X-rays you’ve had: teeth, kidneys
Y. Yummy food you make: desserts. I consider them a food group.
Z. Zoo animal favorites: lions, elephants

Melmo

2011-03-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

K has a " slight" obsession with Elmo right now.

He goes everywhere we go...

restaurants, grocery stores, birthday parties....

K loves to share his bananas with him each morning, leaving mommy to have to scrape them out of Elmo's mouth later. Fun times.

He's just part of the family.

So to help K get his daily Elmo fix I took him to see Sesame Street Live, Elmo's Healthy Heroes!

K and his cousin Nolan, and yes we gave into buying the overpriced toys.

K was so excited he kept on yelling out "Melmo and B bird!" and looking back at me as if to say "mom are ya seeing this?!"

Can you guess what the letter of the day was?

K!!

The number of the day was1 but all the moms thought it should have been 15. $15 dollars for parking, $15 toys, $15 food... UGH!!

The boys playing with their "Melmo round and rounds"

Kemper's little girlfriend Ella and her mommy Olivia joined the fun. Funny how our kids don't look too impressed, but I promise you they were!

I bet you can't guess what K's 2nd birthday theme is! ;) ;)

Go Stars!!

2011-03-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

K went to his very first professional hockey game! ( yes we have one in Texas)

Dallas Stars vs. Nashville Predators

We have a family full of hockey fans. My older sister Maria ( a.k.a. the nephew whisperer) has season tickets, so she took K as her date. My mom, younger sister, and her little boy also came along. Maria even got the boys little hockey jerseys to wear to the game.

Elmo even got to go to the game. Elmo has become our version of the American Express card. Don't leave home without it him!! This picture makes me laugh. I think K looks like a Sesame Street character himself, with those big brown eyes and shaggy hair!

K with his grandmother "Wela" (abuela), best seat in the house.

K even made some new friends at the game. Notice the man in the background? He has bilateral cochlear implants too!! Crazy, a stadium with thousands of seats and they just happened sit next to each other. He told my mom that he was implanted 10 years ago at the age of 20 and he has been very happy with them. I think it made his day to see another C.I. user too.

My sister has been wanting to take him to a game for the longest time, but I was hesitant thinking it would be too much for him. As you can tell I was wrong!

No nap that day and K was wired! He finally crashed at 8pm that night and didn't wake up until about 9:30 the next morning!

In the end the Stars won and it was a great day! K says thanks to his aunts and his Wela!

1st Hearing Birthday!!

2011-02-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated K's first hearing birthday. I can't believe it's been one year already! It seems just like yesterday we were bombarded with all this new information and equipment.We were scared and had no idea what the future held. Flash forward to a year later and we have a happy, hearing, talking almost 2yr old boy. We couldn't ask for anything more.

I made a little video about Kemper's hearing journey. I guess you can call it my therapy. It took quite some time for me to come to terms with K's deafness and I will admit I still struggle with it at times. When he was first diagnosed I cried everyday for the first three months. The crying gradually decreased but never went away. I still cry sometimes, but more often than not they are happy tears. I am so thankful for his cochlear implants and their gift of hearing. I am so proud of my little boy and all that he has accomplished. I am so thankful for our family and friends. I was so scared in the beginning, but today I was finally able to say "He's going to be okay!"

It seems so exceptional
That things just work out after all
It’s just another ordinary miracle today.
~Sarah McLachlan - Ordinary Miracle

Happy 1st Hearing Birthday Baby K!!!

We love you!!!

Stir crazy!!

2011-02-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

Click on image to enlarge

via

We have been stuck in the house for the last 4 days. It all started last Tuesday when we were hit by a huge ice storm. It turned the city of Dallas into a ice skating rink. Literally 2-3 inches of nasty slippery ice everywhere! Then last night and today we were greeted with 6 inches of pretty fluffy snow. Schools have been closed, most stores have shut down, everything has come to a standstill.

You see Texans don't do well with snow, at least not with snow that lasts more than one day. All over Texas there were "rolling blackouts", but lucky for us our power stayed on. I bet all the Green Bay and Steelers fans visiting this weekend for the Superbowl are laughing at us.

The weatherman predicted about 1inch of snow, I think not!

Polar bear club anyone?!

K didn't quite understand all this white stuff...

...and after 4 days stuck inside he's going a little stir crazy!! Help us!!

Happy Birthday!!

2011-02-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my husband :

My best friend
The perfect husband
The fantastic father
Gas tank filler
bug killer
family provider
Sexy man
I could go on and on...

We love you!!!

Keeping his "ears" on

2011-01-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

I have been asked a few times about how we are keeping K's processors on his ears so I thought I would make a quick post about it.

We are using Cochlear's latest Snug fit. You no longer have to use the hard removable plastic ear hook. It is now a soft plastic that is incorporated into the snug fit. The bottom portion of the Snug fit is bendable and easy to shape around the ear. I think they work great and we have not had a hard time keeping them on. Also we were able to get rid of the nasty sticky Toupee tape I hate so much.

image

Note: if you order them do not get them to match the processor color ( like they recommend), go with your child's skin color because the bottom portion wraps around the front of the ear.

image

I'm still paranoid about losing these suckers so we also use K's old hearing aid clips. That way if it falls off and he runs away, it will still be attached to him and I won't have to waste my day looking for it.

image

We also switched to using the compact rechargable batteries. So far we get about a day and a half use out of them before they need to be recharged. We just recharge them every night along with the remote when he goes to bed. We also bought an extra set (when they were half-price off) so I keep the extra set in my purse and don't have to worry about having a charger around.

And because I am extra paranoid I also busted out the label maker and put our phone number on the inner sides of the processors that face his head. My thinking is that if someone finds one and they have no idea what it is they may just toss it aside, but if they see a phone number they may think it's important and see that it gets back to its owner. Call me crazy, but it helps me sleep at night!!

If anyone else has any neat tricks or ideas please let me know!!

** the little white square on his processor ( top picture) is there for his grandmother to make it easier for her to know what ear the processor goes on ( white = right) when she watches him. ;)

Then and Now

2011-01-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

This was K last year :

And here he is exactly one year later...

Yep it's been one year since Kemper's cochlear implant surgery and he will soon be celebrating his first hearing birthday. We couldn't have asked for a better year. His surgery went smoothly without a hitch and K took to his new hearing like a fish to water. We prayed and hoped for the best and it came true. It has been amazing!

We decided to go out and celebrate K's 1st year CI surgery anniversary at his favorite restaurant, Joe's Crab Shack . This restaurant has to be the loudest sensory overloaded restaurant out there, but K loves it. All the lights, singing, and dancing combined with chicken fingers and french fries = K heaven! I get a lump in my throat each time I see K get down from his high chair to dance with the waiters. Someday I will get it on video. He has been camera shy lately and stops as soon as he sees me pull the camera out. I had to sneak this video with my phone. It's not the best quality, but you get the idea. He loves to hear!!

"Hears" to many more years of hearing!!

Feliz Navidad!

2010-12-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

K has really enjoyed this holiday season, so many things to see and do. He's even added a few new words and phrases to his vocabulary: snowman, ho ho ho, Santa, tree, choo choo train, and even "don't touch!" ( I guess he has heard it a few times) My favorite is when he sees something exciting like Christmas lights on a house he will say "oh wow!" I cringe to think how we will keep him entertained once all the lights and decorations get taken down and all the festivities come to an end.

Here's a little recap of some of our 2010 Christmas activities:

Santa's Village

I was so excited to take Kemper to Santa's Village. It is the same little village that went to as a child and it was just as neat and exciting as I remembered. K loved all the little buildings that were just his size.

K writing his letter to Santa.

Visit to Santa's Safety Station. He was fascinated with the Fire dog and Safety fox, as long as they didn't get too close! We also had a visit with the police officer to check out K's record to see if he has been naughty or nice this year ;)

Then we were off to the Polar Bear Bank, to get money from the ATM. K was very entertained with the ATM, he kept wanting to put his money in and take it out over and over. I was entertained by watching my 6"3 husband try to fit in the tiny little buildings.

Our final stops were at the ornament factory and the music shop. My little drummer boy had a blast.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a visit to Santa. We were not wanting to deal with all the people and the line, so we went and saw Santa on a Wednesday as soon as the mall opened. It turned out great. There was no line, so no wait and K was a happy camper. We even had a little time to chat with Santa. He was curious about Kemper's cochlear implants, so we got to tell him all about them. Even Santa has a few things to learn!

Finally, I leave you with an and adorable video of K dancing to his favorite ornament that plays the song "Feliz Navidad."

Merry Christmas!!!

Party in my city! Yo Gabba Gabba Live!!

2010-12-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted. I have tons of draft posts, but I just can never get around to finishing them. I swear it was just Thanksgiving yesterday! Anyway to get caught up I guess I will just work my way backwards from last weekend when I took K to see YO GABBA GABBA LIVE!

via

Ok, so if you don't have children or live under a rock and you don't know what Yo Gabba Gabba is, let me explain... Yo Gabba Gabba is a children's TV show on Nick Jr. It consists of six of the weirdest characters you will ever see singing and dancing in a crazy, retro, almost psychedelic, 80's Atari video game style. I guess its the latest version on the Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, that I grew up on. It too teaches valuable lessons such as "All my friends are different", "Don't bite your friends" "There's a party in my tummy" (eat your veggies). I don't quite get it, but K loves it!

K and his cousin Nolan on the way to see "Abba Abba" ( as K calls it). They were so excited just to be sitting next to each other in the car.

We had great seats, no one blocking our view!

Olivia, my old college roommate joined us with her little girl Ella.

There were bubbles, balloons, singing, and dancing. They were in toddler heaven.

To tell you the truth I was very worried about taking K to this live show. I knew it would be loud and a possible sensory overload, but he did great. He really liked it. As soon as he saw the characters come on the stage he had a huge smile on his face. He recognized the songs and started to do a little shimmy like dance. He would clap his hands and I would even catch him patting his hand on his lap to the beat. It was awesome! I'll admit it, tears came to my eyes because he was having such a great time. He could hear and understand the music and loved it!

My child, who does not have an attention span at all, watched the entire show in fascination. There was no whining, crying, asking for his paci. I couldn't believe it.

A must see show!

Sounds of the Season

2010-11-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

Sounds of the Season info

Dallas Hearing Foundation

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

It's a bird, it's a plane...

2010-11-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's Superman!!

and his sidekick Spiderman!

cousins, always there for each other.

Highlights Halloween 2010

Kemper couldn't quite say "trick-or-treat", but he's got "knock! knock!" down.

The neighbor down the street had a microphone that made your voice sound silly when you talked into it, the boys loved it.

Some things never change!

Yummy!

My husband and I decided to join in on the fun this year. May the force be with you!!

Our pumpkin Happy Hal

Look how much my pumpkin has grown!!

2010-10-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

As you can tell it's pumpkin patch time again! We took K last year but he was only six months old. The poor kid couldn't even sit up alone. He had his hearing aids at the time but was not receiving any benefit from them. So I guess you can say last years trip to the pumpkin patch was for mommy and daddy.This year he's a walking, talking, hearing little boy and the trip was for him!

He had a blast, so much to see and do as a big boy! It's amazing how much difference a year makes ( and 8 months of hearing!!)

A visit from Pumpkin Patch past and present:

2010 2009

Where did my baby go?

2010 2009

Once again he loved the barrel ride. Each time we passed his father he would shout out "Hi daddy, hi daddy!!!

He was still interested in all the animals, as long as they didn't get too close!

2010 2009

I kinda miss those sweet cheeks and double chin!

and we thought we had no energy then...

Kemper and his cousin Nolan, no more babies here!

Best Buds! Nolan is almost exactly 1 year older than K. My sister and I love having them so close in age.

Can you tell the difference in these two pictures?

Apparently K is NOT a fan of goats!

Not quite sure what was so funny, but I bet it had to do with daddy.

He wanted on the tractor, but he didn't want me to take his picture.

"I'm gonna huff and puff..."

The boys with my oldest sister Maria. We call her the "Nephew Whisperer" because she's the only one who can keep these boys in line!

Hey ride!

I still can't get over how much my pumpkin has grown!!

Woo Hoo!

2010-10-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

Our Texas Rangers

are going to the World Series!!

I'm an idiot!

2010-10-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Why is there a fireman trying to get into my car you ask? Because I'm an idiot that locked my 18mo old son in the car. I probably shouldn't be making this post because CPS might be banging on my door soon.

Here's the story so you don't make the same stupid mistake:

We had just left K's Gymboree class and K was whining to carry my keys, so um yeah I let him.(red flag #1) I showed him the button to unlock the doors and he did.(red flag #2) I then loaded him up in his car seat but forgot to get the keys from him. (red flag #3) I got out of the car and shut the door and right as I put my hand on the drivers door I heard the click of the doors locking. K had pushed the lock button. My heart sank.

I pleaded with him to push the unlock button, and bless his heart he tried to do what mommy said, but he just kept pushing the lock button. Then he would try to hand them to me. Luckily it was 72 degrees outside and not 100, but I still didn't know how long it would take for the car to heat up so I called 911.

They arrived within five minutes, but they could not jimmy my car to get the locks open. Apparently BMW has succeeded in making my car impossible to break into. While the four firemen tried every which way to unlock my car K sat there patiently watching them. Although he soon grew bored with them and he decided to entertain himself. He took off his shoes, next his socks, and then one of his hearing processors.( unfortunately the other processor had fallen off earlier) Then the following conversation occurred :

Fireman: " Do you think you can try talking him into pushing the unlock button again?"

Me : "I can try but he can't hear me anymore."

FM : very confused look on his face." He can't hear anymore?"

Me: " He's deaf, but he has cochlear implants that allow him to hear, but they have fallen off."

FM: still confused look on his face "Oh."

I don't think he had a clue as to what I was talking about.

Finally after what felt like forever they finally unlocked my car.They had to break my passenger side window.

Good times.

I then pulled my happy but very sweaty toddler out of the car. His Gymboree teacher gave him a bottle of water and some animal crackers. He was in hog heaven, no clue as to what just happened. He loved the attention he got from the fireman as they asked all about his cochlear implants. After a brief in-service on C.I's we were on our way.

Lesson Learned.

Do not let your child play with your car keys. Stop trying to multitask all the time. Focus on the one task at hand. You have very precious cargo.

18 months!!

2010-10-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sweet Toddler K you are 18 months old!! 10/07/2010

You weigh 25lbs, you are what momma calls a "solid kid" because you feel way heavier than that!!
You wear some 18 month old clothing but mainly 24mo old clothing fits you best.
You wear size 6 shoes.
You have full mouth of teeth , too dangerous to count!
You wear size 4 diaper, 5's at night.

You usually nap 1-3 hrs a day.
You go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 7:30am.
You never sleep past 8:30am , no matter how late you go to bed.
You are a bear when you wake up, not a morning person.

You are a pretty good eater, except you do not really care for meat.
Your favorite foods: strawberries, bananas, avocados, rice, beans, cheese, crackers, macaroni
You still will not drink cows milk from a cup, must be from a bottle and warm. ( I know, I know, we need to get rid of the bottle...)
You have a bottle of milk sometimes in the morning and always one after bath.
You love to brush your teeth. You will grab mommy's hand and lead her to the bathroom and ask to brush your teeth.

You love to take a bath. When mommy or daddy says "bath" you will sign and say "ath" and immediately head up the stairs, to your room, then bathroom and start taking off your clothes and processors.
You do not like to be dirty, if you get something on your hands you get upset and want mommy to clean them off.
You love real car keys, fake ones will not do. You like to press the car alarm button and imitate the sound.
You still love your paci, but now you have a favorite blankie (your old burp cloths)

You love to hear.
Your will try to put your processors back on when they fall off.
You have over 40spontaneous words!!!
You AVT therapist says you are a poster child for Cochlear implants because you are doing so well.
You say "hello" when you hear the phone ring.

You are very polite and say "hi" and "bye" to everyone you see.
You try to sing songs from your gymboree class and Baby Signing Time videos.
You loved to be chased and play peek-a-boo, and you say it so cute "A-boo!"
You say "Ria" each time we get in the car because you want to visit your aunt Maria all the time.

You are an observer, always watching everything first before trying it yourself.
You love your dog Raider, you may hug him to death if we are not watching.
You get into everything!! and you want to open everything "O tay" for "open it"
You are a stubborn little boy, and have no problem with saying the word "NO!"
You are also a very sweet boy that gives hugs and kisses and even says "Ahhh" when you give them.
You now hate to have your picture or video taken. As soon as you see the camera you start whining.

You make ALL the rules!!

Photo shoot over!!

“Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable”

-Plato

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

I need a haircut. Part 3

2010-09-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

My sons hair grows like a weed and he definitely did not get it from me. I didn't have hair until I was like four years old. My husband on the other hand looked like he needed a haircut in every picture taken after he was born.
At 12 months K got his first official "go to the salon" haircut because my sister said he looked like Jim Halpert from the TV show The Office. As you can see...

At 14.5 months we went back to the salon because my brother said he looked like Jimmy Neutron...

And now at 17.5 months we are back ...

because Mommy thinks he is sporting the teen singing sensation Justin Bieber look...

image

What do you think??

All because of a shell

2010-09-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time to blog lately but I wanted to a share an article I came across about Graeme Clark, the inventor of the cochlear implant. This article discusses how he was recently awarded the Lister Medal, for his outstanding contributions to surgical science. It also tells the story of how his deaf father inspired him to develop the cochlear implant and how a simple shell on the beach made it all possible.

Our family will always be forever thankful to Graeme Clark. Everyday we get to see his modern miracle in action. Seven months ago our child couldn't hear a jet engine pass him by, now he can hear a whisper. All this because of one mans vision and a shell on the beach.

We, along with many other C.I. families have adopted the shell spiral/swirl as our family emblem. Each time I see a shell or swirl I can't help but take a picture of it. It means so much to us now. When it came to picking out K's new car seat I knew exactly which pattern I liked best! ;)

Questions for CI Parents

2010-08-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

Kemper is now a full time walkin' talkin' boy. We never thought we would get here, but we are loving every minute of it! So now that he's a "big boy", we have been thinking of moving K's C.I. processors, that we keep pinned to his clothes near his shoulders, on his ears. We planned on doing this sooner, but he was primarily crawling up until about 15 months, making it almost impossible to keep the processors on his ears. He is doing pretty well at localizing to sounds, but we think that he could do even better with them on his ears. Only problem is that we are not quite sure how to go about it. There are many different aids but what do you think would work best for an active 16 month old boy? What does your child use? Here are some options that I have found, but I'd love to hear other's opinions on them...

Ear Gear

These may help them from getting lost, but how can we keep them on his ears?

Lite wear

Thees cables allow him to wear the processors on his ears, but the battery portion still remains pinned to his clothing.

Huggies

May work better for hearing aids, but I hear they are an option?

Joy Bands

Great idea but I'm not sure we like the idea of headbands on boys ;)

Snug fit

Any others?

Nucleus 5 users:

Have you tried the new rechargable batteries?

Do you like them?
How many hours are you getting out of them?

What about he compact batteries, anyone use them yet?
Are they worth buying?

Painting with a Twist

2010-08-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Painting with a Twist: bring your friends, your favorite beverage, snacks, and get ready to paint!

The walls were lined with different paintings that we could pick from. We decided on the peacock.

It was so much fun! They provided the paint, brushes and canvas and a local artist guided us through painting our one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Yes, mine started out looking like a turkey! The AR side of me was stressing out at first but the instructor made it so easy and encouraged you to make it your own. It was like follow-the-leader with paint and wine!

Here's the original and my final creation (on the right) Let's just say he's a well fed peacock!

It was neat seeing how they all came out so differently and all so good!

And No, you don't have to be an artist to do it. I think the last time I painted something was in the 6th grade! We can't wait to do it again!

And because I can't have a post without my Baby K...

My sister turned my munchkin into a little Picasso!

He had a great time getting dirty!

Taking a break to get a drink and reflect.

His final masterpiece!! Kemper says he will be offering a friends and family discount on all his paintings, so grandmas get your orders in!

Staying positive...

2010-08-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

very cute, I think I should try this each morning. Happy weekend!!

It's a Paci Miracle!!

2010-08-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

We found it! We thought it was long lost at the mall, but it was at home the entire time. I had gone grocery shopping and while I was taking the groceries inside it magically appeared in the middle of the garage. The place we had looked several times! I had not planned to give it back to him, but before I knew it his dad had sanitized it and given it back to him. I think his daddy missed it just as much as he did! All is right in the world now ;)
Here are some old "Paci" videos Enjoy!

K could always tell the difference between his original paci and the replacements.

One of his first signs "paci"

A tribute to K's paci

2010-08-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

We had you for 16 months and one day. Then after one small trip to the mall you were gone...

I had never seen this type of pacifier before. Little did we know it was a NICU paci and could not be bought anywhere else and no other hospital carried them.

Baby K was hooked on it right from the start, and he wanted no other.

Ol' Reliable as we called it, traveled with us to all of the doctor and audiologist visits and helped them run smoothly.

It was our ~~sanity~~ lifesaver for K's cochlear implant surgery. It helped him get through the hours of not being able to eat or drink. When they took K back to the OR to have his surgery we gave him a kiss and begged the OR staff not to lose his paci.

And when K could finally eat, the paci was waiting at his side.

In fact it was always by his side, if not in his mouth.

We feared that some day we might lose the paci, so K's Daddy went back to the hospital and begged the maternity ward nurses for one more. I think they thought it was sweet for a Daddy to come back so they gave him two.

K would often wake up in the night crying because he could not find his paci, so we put all three in the bed to help the odds. He always managed to find the original and keep it in his mouth ,while the others stayed in his hands.

Some mornings we would find the two extras tossed outside his crib on the floor.

He ALWAYS knew the difference.

We had been so good about keeping track of it. When we were out and about, we would have our "paci & CI check" and make sure we had all three before getting into our car. As you can tell that day we didn't :(
Each night we even had a ritual of washing and inspecting his paci while he drank his bedtime bottle.

That day we all headed out to the mall, to get K some shoes. K began to get a little fussy while we were shopping so we gave it to him and got ready to leave. That was the last time we remember seeing it. We didn't even notice it missing until we got home and got ready him ready for bed. We searched everywhere. We got the flashlight out and looked in the cars and garage. My husband even went back to search the mall parking lot. It was gone.You may call us crazy but we like to think of ourselves as sentimental ;)

Last picture taken with Ol' Reliable. He wasn't a "happy camper" for long.

So long paci, you served us well.

Dear Terrible Two's:

2010-08-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

You have arrived way to early at our home. We do not find hitting or throwing things entertaining. Your tantrums and fits are not impressive either. Please go away.

Sincerely,
~~Baby K's~~ Toddler K's Mommy and Daddy

Here is a video of K's new words " all done" and "open it " This was taken almost two weeks ago when he first started saying them, so they were not as clear. This video also shows a tame version of his "Stinker" side.

Blame it on Mexico!!

2010-08-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

View full album

This is where we spent a lot of time on our vacation, taking naps along the beach.

We took a few naps here too...

This was our friend Coco Loco, he always had a way of showing up to help cool us off.

Most vacations you don't want to spend time in your room, but we kinda liked ours. We didn't even have to leave to go to the pool.

Don't worry we didn't spend too much time napping and resting. We went for a few walks along the beach...

...and got a massage.

The accommodations we really nice, and so were the views.

Like I said, not too shabby ;)

Time to rest again.

Date night, every night!

My two Coco Loco's

Our favorite lunchtime spot.

Our friend is back.

Checking up on the munchkin back home.

We came home to this little ~~devil~~ angel and he loved helping us unpack. My velcro rollers were a hit.

As you can tell we took a little time away from ~~baby~~ little K to celebrate our third year wedding anniversary. We spent 5days and 4 nights in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It was the first time since K was born to leave him overnight. I was very nervous about leaving him. In the nights prior to our departure I would wake up with horrible anxiety attacks. I knew he would be safe with my parents and family but his cochlear implants were my main concern. Would they notice right way when his batteries went out?. Would they make sure he was on the right settings? Would they know when to adjust them if he was uncomfortable? What if they lost one? So many what ifs. I then realized that I was making myself crazy and I really needed this vacation! We both needed a little regrouping time. I know becoming first time parents is not an easy thing, but wow we definitely did not get the "easy" baby for sure. First came the hearing loss diagnosis, then the colic, the reflux, teething, sleeping problems, sensory integration issues, cochlear implants, his consistent clinginess, I could go on and on. K a~~nd I~~ pretty much cried all day and night for the first nine months of his life. Now at 15 mo we still deal with the whining and crying ( much better after implants) but we are now finally able to have our heads above water. We love that boy, but we needed a break!

Our vacation was great and just what we needed. We did exactly as we planned, nothing. We ate lots of food and lounged around the pool and beach. Our internal clocks are set to "K time"so we slept in until 8am, but stayed in bed until 9 because we could. We are so thankful that we were able to spend some time alone to say I love you and remember why we married each other. It's something we often forget in the hustle and bustle of daily life.

We returned home to find our son safe and sound. He had a wonderful time being spoiled rotten. He was so happy... until he saw his parents. He apparently was very angry at us for leaving him. He wanted nothing to do with us at first. He cried on and off for about five hours, until he went to bed. The next day and since then he won't leave my side and his stranger anxiety is at an all time peak. I can't even get up from a sitting to standing position with him going into panic mode. Yikes! we're in trouble now. Blame it on Mexico!

3 Years

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

5 years ago tomorrow...

I boarded a flight to Las Vegas and met the man of my dreams.

3 years ago today...

I married him.

Here's to many more years!! I LOVE YOU!

I need a hair cut. Bad. Again.

2010-06-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Remember this post? well it's been 2.5 months and I'm ready for another haircut!

Now my uncle thinks I look like Jimmy Neutron!

What do you think?!!

I love going to Cool Cuts 4 kids I get to drive my car and watch Elmo!

look at all that hair!

My cousin Nolan came too.

How do I look?

My mom even bought me my first bottle of hair gel, so I can always look extra sharp!

A stop by the trains before we head home.

Next time we get faux Hawks!!

First words

2010-06-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos of K saying his first words. He began saying "Ma ma" right before mothers day. It was the best gift ever.

K's first two word sentence "Da da hat"

Words K is saying at 14mo (3.5 mo hearing)
* out
* Hi
* Bye
* ight (light)
* up
* uh oh
* all done
* eye

Each time he goes into a dark room or sees a closed window he points and says "ight"
(Sometimes he will get the "L", we're working on it;) If you listen closely I think he tries to repeat "tip toes" after I say it.

Happy Birthday!! ONE year old!!

2010-04-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Wow this post is WAY over due, but keeping up with this ONE year old has kept me busy!!

ONE year ago we brought home this tiny little guy.

ONE year later... bye bye Baby K, hello Toddler K!

* You weigh 22lbs 6 oz.
* You are 29.8 inches tall.
* You wear 12-18 mo clothing.
* You wear a size 4 diaper.

* You usually sleep from 8pm-8am.
* You take one 2-3 hour nap a day.
* You still get rocked to sleep, you will go to sleep on your own but Daddy loves to rock you to sleep every night anyway.

* You are eating table food and drinking from a sippy cup.
* You still LOVE LOVE LOVE cheese, mommy says it's because you need it to go with all your whine;)
* chicken,rice, beans and avocados make up your favorite meal.
* You REFUSE to drink cows milk.
* You are still not weaned from the bottle. (one formula bottle in the morning and one at bed time)
* you love to drink from straws. (anything but milk!)

* You are not walking yet, but you are cruising around using the furniture for support.
* You are the fastest crawler your parents have ever seen.
* You love planes, trains and automobiles, such a boy!
* You torture your dog everyday by chasing him around the house and pulling his hair.

* You are starting to watch a little TV, and you really like ELMO.
* You are doing great with your C.I.'s, you love to hear.

* You had a wonderful 1st birthday party, with all your family and friends.

* You had a blast eating your birthday cake.

* You were so fascinated by the flame on your birthday candle.

* You loved all the attention you got when we all sang Happy Birthday to you. Mommy had to fight back the tears because she couldn't believe her baby was 1 and that you were able to hear us sing to you.

* Your party theme was planes,trains,and automobiles.

* You had a blast in your bounce house, and so did your friends.

* You are no longer Baby K, you have moved on to toddler K, but you will always be mommy and daddy's baby boy.

View Full Album K'sParty

Some bunny loves you

2010-04-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter !!

I need a hair cut. Bad.

2010-04-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

My aunt Christine thinks I look like Jim Halpert from the TV Show, The Office

What do you think??

11 Months !!

2010-03-07T13:42:00.001-08:00

* You weigh about 24-25 lbs.
* You wear 12mo+ clothing.
* You wear a size four diaper.
* You have eight teeth.

* You still drink formula, but are starting to want less and less of it.
* You like to eat cheese, bananas, avocados, rice, beans, noodles, green beans, carrots, chicken and your favorite puffs.
* You must be entertained and distracted in order to eat baby food. (Daddy dances while Mommy shoves it in your mouth)
* You throw your food on the floor to tell us you are done eating.

* You are still sleeping from about 8:30pm to 8am
* You are down to one nap a day ( usually 1-2 hrs long)
* You throw your paci's and blankie out of the crib in the morning and knock over your monitor to tell us you are up.

* You are a full speed crawler now.
* You pull yourself up on everything now.
* You need a helmet because you land on your head at least twice a day since you still haven't mastered the art of balancing yet.
* You learned to throw a ball, now you throw everything. Your mom blames your dad.

* You love to chase your dog Raider around the house.
* You love to look out the window with Raider too.
* You still love to look at yourself in the mirror, you even flirt with yourself.

* You love to imitate mommy and daddy, blinking your eyes, sticking out your tongue, scrunching up your nose, and blowing kisses.
* You wave hello and good-bye to everyone you see.
* you love to turn light switches on and off.

* You have been "hearing" boy for about a month now.
* You have become very clingy to your parents. All this "hearing" stuff can be quite scary.
* You know your name and will turn around when you hear it.
* You know the word Hi. You will stop and wave when you hear it.
* you are becoming very vocal and will sometimes imitate mmmm and ahhh sounds.
* You have come so far in this last month, we love you our smart little boy!

Happy Hearing Birthday!!!

2010-02-18T20:56:00.000-08:00

Kemper's Cochlear Implant Activation
February 11, 2010

Sorry it has taken me a while to post but we have been soo busy getting adjusted to K's new equipment and to now having a very mobile baby. Little K and his daddy also came down with colds, so I was on nursing duty as well.

In all K's activation went well. He had his huge entourage, my family, our ECI teacher, and even K's MeMe flew in from San Angelo. The activation began with the audiologist introducing tone bursts into K's implant through the computer while he played with some toys. K responded by becoming still, almost as if he was frozen. He couldn't quite figure out what was happening and wasn't sure if he should be happy or scared. Occasionally when he heard a sound he would tightly grab on to me and bury his head in my shirt. He became upset and cried once but then the audiologist immediately turned down the sounds and he was fine. When his processors were changed to hearing speech he once again became still but surprisingly did not get upset by it. As the session went on and more sounds were introduced he seemed to get use to them and a slight pause and a "what's that?" look was all he did to tell us he was hearing.
The goal is to gradually increase what K is hearing every couple of days by changing the programs set on his processors. They want him to gradually get use to sound and accept it as a good thing. So far he has done really well and seems to be taking a liking to sound.

My frozen stare

What was that??

Since K's activation we have noticed a huge difference in him. He has become way more active and very interested in his toys. He is now getting into everything, trying to stand, and climb on things. He is so much more curious about the world. It could just be a coincidence that he is now 10 months old and he's hitting those developmental milestones, or that now that he can hear some things and his toys are now more interesting and he wants to explore more. It's so crazy, it's like we flipped a switch and turned him "on", not just his ears.

K getting a little scared and seeking protection from mom.

Poor little guy when he started to get upset.

Here is the most recent video of K. He is responding to some noises and occasionally he will respond to his name. He found his CI storage cases and decided to use them as a jungle gym. His other new thing is that he loves to wave hello, I love it!! ( please excuse my annoying mommy voice! ;)

Love is...

2010-02-14T22:28:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!

How a cochlear implant works

2010-02-10T07:09:00.001-08:00

Many of my friends and family have asked me how the cochlear implant works, so I posted a great video from Advanced Bionics that explains it very well. I also wanted to take the time to clear up some things related to K's C.I's.

A cochlear implant does not cure deafness, although it does give Baby K access to sound. He will always be deaf. When he is not wearing his C.I. external processor for example, bath time or sleeping he will not be able to hear. He also will not hear like or as well as a normal hearing person. Don't get me wrong they DO amazing things but they will never be as good as natural hearing.

When they turn on Kemper's C.I.'s for the first time they will will start off slow. Our audiologist says that she does not really want to see any huge reactions from K.( getting upset, crying) She wants sound to be a positive experience for K and does not want it to scare him. Most likely at first all K will hear are are a bunch of buzzing and beeping sounds. He has never heard sound, so it will not make any sense to him. His brain needs time to to learn how to associate meaning with sound. He will need to have lots of therapy to learn to listen and after time will be hearing what sounds close to normal speech.

10 Months!!!

2010-02-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

Sweet Baby K you are 10 months old today!!

* You weigh a little over 21 lbs
* You are about 29 inches long
* You wear size 4 diapers
* You wear 9-12 month clothing ( mostly 12mo)
* You now have eight teeth! ( 4 on top & 4 on bottom)

* You have become a MUCH better sleeper, you sleep from about 8:30pm-8am most nights and take two naps in the afternoon.
* You still require being rocked to sleep.Momma and Daddy give you one "rocking" per night,but if you wake up after that you're on your own, sorry bug!!
* You will knock over your monitor to tell us you are awake and to come and get you.
* You are a crazy sleeper. You start off asleep in one direction and we find you completely turned around by morning.

* You no longer want baby food, you want what is on mommy's plate.
* You would live on cheese and Puffs if you could.
* You still like avocados and rice, but they don't compare to your cheese.
* You smack your lips to tell us that you really like what you are eating.
* You are not a fan of meat, you spit it right out.
* You love to throw your bottle to tell us that you are done. Mom is not impressed.
* You are getting better at drinking out of a sippy cup.

* You can now get up from your belly into a sitting position.
* You are starting to pull yourself up and trying to stand.
* You like to stack your blocks on top of each other and will clap when you are done.
* You like to put things in containers and take them back out.
* You love to look at yourself in the mirror and wave hello to yourself.
* You have recently found your private parts while in the tub. You push on it like it's a button and then giggle. Silly boy!!

* You are 4 days away from your "hearing" birthday Yay!!
* You have been through so much in your 10 little months. We love you, our brave little boy!!

Growing up so fast!!

Information overload!

2010-02-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is what we came home with after Little K's post op doctor and audiologist visit. The two James Bond looking cases are all the supplies needed for our new bionic baby. Each case contains one set of C.I. processors and the other is a spare. Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of equipment that our child will be using in order to hear.

As you can tell we went with the Cochlear Nucleus 5 Implant. There are two other C.I companies, Advanced Bionics and Medel ,we had to choose from but we felt most comfortable with Cochlear.

K's implants will not be activated until February 11th, but we met with his audiologist to learn how to put them together and use them. I must admit when my husband and I walked in the room and saw all the supplies, happy was not the term I would use to explain us. Reality hit us that K's and our world was about to change. So much to learn.

After meeting with the audiologist we met with Baby K's surgeon so that he could look over K and see how his incisions were healing.

He got a clean bill of health and we were sent on our way. Isn't this the saddest face you have ever seen?? he was smiling two seconds before and as soon he saw my mother take the camera out he decided to pout. Stinker!! Apparently my mother said I used to do the exact same thing as a child ha!

Gotcha!!

K with his new audiologist Leslie. We are going to get to know her really well from now on. She will be programming K's CI's and seeing if they are working for him as they should.

Much better!!

2010-01-29T14:59:00.000-08:00

This is the face of one happy boy. Once we removed his protective ear covers his whole attitude changed. The night we spent in the hospital and the first night home we had to take turns holding him all night long because he could not get comfortable laying down with them on. We were told that we could remove them Monday morning but we made the executive decision to remove them late Sunday night. Once we removed them he instantly became happier. He then went to bed within minutes and slept for twelve hours in a row, in his crib!! His incisions look great and are healing well although his ears are still a little swollen. The incision traces the back crease of his ear and extends a tiny bit above his ear. It looks even better in real life than it does in these pictures.Soon you won't be able to see it at all.

Much Better

Post ear covers, ear muffs, headphones, Princess Leia buns, water polo caps, wrestler ear pads, whatever you want to call them removal.

They made his head so sweaty!

His ears the following day, post cover removal

I think they look great

Can I go back to playing now?

My husband testing them out

Yep really uncomfortable to sleep with ( He's gonna kill me for posting these!)

Baby You're a Star !!

2010-01-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Just in case you missed it here's the link to the the story our local news did on Baby K's bilateral cochlear implant surgery.

The night before our surgeon called us and asked us if it was ok if the Dallas Morning News did a story on us and we agreed. The next morning he said he had made a mistake and it was actually Channel 8 news wanting to do the story. We agreed but laughed because right before we left that morning my husband asked me if he should have shaved ( he normally doesn't have a beard or mustache) and my response was " No,we are going to be stuck in a hospital room all day, no one is going to see us anyway." ha ha jokes on us!! I think it turned out great and it was a great way to bring attention to CI's and educate as well. How could anyone not want to watch such a cute little boy!!

We're Home!

2010-01-24T15:48:00.001-08:00

Kemper went into surgery at 7:30am and was done by 11:15. His doctor decided to keep him overnight to be on the safe side because of his young age and because he was implanted on both ears. He had also placed small drains behind his ears to help get rid of the excess fluid to cut back on the swelling. They were removed the following morning. Many children getting CI's go home the same day and do fine but I was glad for the overnight stay just for the fact he was able to get some stronger medicine for pain control. Every few hours he would get really fussy and inconsolable so the tiny little dose of morphine they gave him allowed him to rest. He was also extremely clingy and would not let anyone put him down so I had the nurses bring in a regular hospital bed and my husband and I took turns holding him while he slept through the night. Spoiled boy wanted nothing to do with a crib!

Since we have been home little K has pretty much gone back to his old self. He wants to play with all his toys, but has been having a little difficulty since his balance is just a tad off. It seems like he feels like his head is to heavy for his body, poor little guy! We get to take off his ear covers tomorrow. He's a tummy sleeper and he has been having trouble going to sleep and getting comfortable with those things on his head so I can't wait to take them off. I don't think I can take another entire night holding him in my arms just so he can sleep.
His appetite was great while he was in the hospital, but he hasn't been too interested in eating much since we got home. He seems to be feeling well, I think he would just rather play and not eat.
He still gets pretty fussy at times and I can tell his hurting a little, but I have been giving him alternating Tylenol and Motrin and it has seemed to help.

A little morphine goes a long way!!

I can't believe his surgery has come and gone and it all went extremely well. Thanks to all our family and friends for their thoughts and prayers. Thanks to all my blogger friends for all the information, without it he would not have been implanted so soon. Stay tuned for activation day February 11th!!

Now we wait...

2010-01-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

We were all up bright and early at 4am this morning. K's CI surgery was scheduled for 7am but we needed to be at the surgery center by 5am for check in. It took me forever to fall asleep last night, but I finally fell asleep on my soggy tear stained pillow. Sweet little K was sleeping so peacefully when I had to wake him at 4:30, poor baby!

He did so well while the nurses took his vital signs and we put on his tiny little hospital gown. While we were waiting for them to take K to surgery we had a little surprise, our local TV station came by and asked if they could interview us about little K's cochlear implant surgery(as if we were not nervous enough already!!) K was his sweet little self playing with his toys while Mommy and Daddy got interviewed. He got a little cranky towards the end, he had not had anything to eat since 8pm the night before and he was ready for some breakfast!!

Momma what's this?

Shortly after that the surgery team came and I carried little K to the doors of the operating room and let them take my sweet little boy. I cried like a baby. A big hug from my husband and family helped. In my heart I know he will be fine, so for now all we can do is wait...

Mommy getting in all her hugs and kisses

Daddy getting in his hugs and kisses too

With our Miracle worker Dr. Peters

K texting his peeps! I'm gonna be on the news!!

9 Months!!

2010-01-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

Sweet Baby K you are 9 months old today!!

* You weigh 19lbs 14oz
* You are 28.5 inches long
* You wear size 3 diaper ( 4's at night)

* You eat baby food 2-3 times a day.
* You are starting to eat some table foods: rice, carrots, potatoes, avocado.
* You take 8oz's of formula about every 3-4 hrs and some of mommy's milk from her stash once in a while.
* You have weaned yourself from nursing. We made it nine months, not too bad!

* You usually take two naps a day ranging from one-two hours each.
* You have had many great nights this past month, sleeping 8am-8pm. (happy happy joy joy!!!)
* You still have to have your paci and be rocked to sleep.

* You love to play, sometimes you pick it over food.
* You must have an audience while you play or you will cry.
* You mimic Mommy and Daddy shaking their head as if to say no.
* You like to throw everything off your highchair and watch it fall.

* You are growing out of your footed onesie pj's everyday.
* You wear 9 month clothing but we are headed torwards 12mo clothing fast!
* You have 7 teeth total (3 bottom 4 on top!)
* You are still not a very good traveler, you get bored very easily.

* You know your first sign MILK!! although you seem to use it for food in general.
* You are getting around like an inch worm, not too interested in crawling.
* You are starting to pull yourself up a little, but not enough to have to lower your crib quite yet.
* You still have the nicknames "Sticky fingers" and "Bear".
* This month we start a new journey with your "new ears" we can't wait for you to hear Mommy and Daddy say I love you!

Happy New YEars!!

2009-12-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

My baby New Year

Hello 2010!! The new year has just begun and we are already starting off with a bang. My husband and I just recently received the news that Baby K's bilateral cochlear implant surgery will be covered by insurance and he will be able to have the surgery before he turns one!! His surgery for his "New Ears" is scheduled for January 22. This all comes after a long letter writing campaign to my husbands company and finding a new surgeon. Just a few short months ago we were stressed and had little hope. We prayed and did our homework and everything fell into place. The real journey begins after January 22. We are nervous, yet excited and hopeful, so bring on the NEW YEAR!!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe New Years.

I had to bring in the New Year at work away from my boys, so I celebrated with all my other munchkins.

White Christmas!!

2009-12-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

December 23, 2009: shopping in short sleeves and shorts 76 degrees outside...

December 24, 2009: SNOW!!!!

Only in Texas!!

My husband turned into a kid again

K couldn't wait to try out the toys!

After K went to bed over at grandmas mommy and Daddy went to the midnight Candlelight service at church.

Santa came early!!

Santa and his elf help pass out presents Christmas morning.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Christmas Eve Album

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Click here to view photos

Had to do it!

2009-12-18T17:36:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Santa Baby

2009-12-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

Only Nine days left until Christmas and momma just started shopping today!

Hope I don't get this for my present!!

view all pics

8 Months !! Happy birthday to us!

2009-12-07T20:00:00.001-08:00

Sweet Baby K you are 8 Months old today!!

* You weigh 18lbs.
* You wear size 3 diapers.
* You wear 9-12 month clothing.
* You have four teeth. (two top and two bottom)

* You are sitting up so well.
* You are attempting to crawl, but it's more like an army crawl right now.
* You are so active and love to play.
* You tend to like boxes,papers,remote controls,and phones over your toys.
* You get into everything, and we now call you "sticky fingers".
* You can't have anything taken away from you or you have a fit.

* You love to sit in your highchair because you can see everything.
* You still love to eat. Puffs for snacks are your favorite.
* You now like to go to restaurants and eat out.
* You are still nursing a few times a day, but also getting supplemented with formula.
* You eat baby food 2 times a day.
* You are starting to like the bottle better than momma. (tear)

* You love your jumper, sometimes we think you may just bounce right out of it!
* You are such a loud boy, its sounds like we have a terradactyl in our house.
* You love to hum when you are happy.
* You haven't figured out a consistent sleeping schedule quite yet. Some days you take naps, other days no way! Some nights you sleep through the night, others you wake up 3-4 times UGH!

* You have wonderful eye contact and track everything so well.
* You still have an obsession with pulling hair, hope this stops soon.
* You still love that darn paci.
* You have become a MUCH happier baby this month.
* You are our smart amazing little boy and we love watching you grow!

My 32nd birthday also happened to be on K's 8 month birthday, but unfortunately I had to go to work that night. Although on my break I was so pleased to find this wonderful e-mail that my husband sent to me, telling me about what happened while I was away.

Kemper was awful quiet up in his room tonight. Some may say too quiet…

Helen had already gone to work. He had had his bath and his before-bed bottle. I sent him up to his room to get in bed, but after 15 minutes, I looked upstairs and noticed that the computer light was on, lighting up the room like a full moon on a dark night.

Puzzled, I headed upstairs and snuck in on him to see what he was up to. Needless to say, he was not in bed, but sitting at the computer typing. I startled him as I asked what he was doing.

“Oh, nothing” he replied, laughing as he kept typing

“Is this how you spell my name, Dad?” he giggled. “Spell check does not recognize it!”
“Close enough, son” I replied. “Now finish up and turn off the computer and get to bed.”
“Ok, Dad, but let me do one more thing. I want to show Mom something first…”

~All our love, Kemper & Kemper

I'm stuffed!! Thanksgiving recap

2009-11-26T16:53:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we sure did!! We had lots of food, fun, family, and a little shopping. Here's our recap, children's story version:

We took our annual trip to San Angelo to visit my husband's side of the family.

Grandmother Mary Joy makes the best Thanksgiving feast!

She even made little Kemper his very own homemade sweet potatoes.

Baby K was in heaven. He got constant attention as he was passed around and around...

and around...

K became a big boy and sat in a highchair at a restaurant for the first time. Mimi Janie was so excited!

and he was so proud!

PaPa Bill was proud too!

After Lunch we did a little shopping.

and then Baby K got to meet Santa!!

Baby K's priceless expression as he watched his daddy trip and almost fall into the fountain!!

We can't wait to do it again next year!

7 Months!!

2009-11-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

Sweet Baby K you are 7 months old today!!

* You weigh about 16lbs
* You wear 6-9 month clothing
* You wear size 2-3 diapers
* you are still a paci boy. We have managed not to lose "old reliable", the paci you came home from the hospital with. The only paci you will take.
* you are starting to sit up on your own
* You have the sweetest giggle, we can't wait for you to hear it too!

* you love to eat your baby food two times a day.Carrots,sweet potatoes,peaches, and apple sauce are your absolute favorites
* You are still nursing every 2-3 hrs but now get supplemented with some formula because on your last pedi visit the Dr. said you had lost weight.
* your formula has to be warm and bubble free in order for you to even think about drinking it.
* you still love mommas milk best

* You're our cute but crabby little boy, don't let these smiles fool you
* Your top two teeth are coming in
* You love to play in your jumper
* You wake up each morning between 6-6:45 no matter how late you go to bed
* You wake up each morning with a smile and get so exited to see mommy or Daddy
* you grab at everything, it's getting difficult to change your diaper,give you a bath, change your clothes...
* you are still not a very good napper, I think you're afraid to miss something
* you surprise and teach us something new everyday, We love you Bear!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

What? I get to go Trick-or-Treating??

We celebrated Baby K's first Halloween by going over to his grandma's house for a little trick-or treating around the neighborhood.

I'm ready to go in my skeleton costume pajamas!

My cousin Nolan, dressed as a Hockey player, came with his parents too!

There was so much to see!

Will you open this for me?

We did pretty good for first timers!

Now I only have two teeth, does this mean I still have to brush them?

Baby K enjoying his first Halloween candy (no, I didn't let him eat it all!)

Need your help CI Moms and Dads

2009-10-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well we have gone through all the hearing testing and the Cochlear Implant evaluation for baby K and all have decided that he is an excellent candidate for cochlear implants. Now we head into the insurance department UGH! As of right now my husband's company insurance does not cover the cost of getting CI's. His company is self insured so it is ultimately up to the company if they will cover them and that is why I need your help CI moms and dads. We need to give them a reason to cover Kemper's CI's and hopefully add it to their plan in the following year. I need help gathering information like what they are, how they work, any statistics, benefits of cochlear implants, and putting it together so that it is informative and straight to the point. If anyone has any appeal letters they could share with us so that we may have a format to plea our case they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

Helen_mayson@hotmail.com

Pumpkin Patch Kid

2009-10-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

My own little Pumpkin

Warning He's spoiled Rotten!!

With my true loves

Having the best time

Pumpkin Patch Kid

Going for a ride

I call this Where's Waldo?

Spending time with Daddy

Feeding the goats with Grandma and cousin Nolan

Pilot Cap

2009-10-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

The pilot cap I bought Kemper to help keep his hearing aids on came in. He can't quite get to his ears now but he has figured out that if unties the the strings under his chin he can pull the cap off. I tried double knotting it but then he pulls on the strings so hard it pulls on the cap causing his HA's to dislodge under the cap. Smart boy! My husband is not a huge fan his first reaction was " You know he's a boy, right?" He also said he looks like an Amish swimmer. I think he looks pretty darn cute!!

6 Months!!

2009-10-07T09:34:00.001-07:00

Sweet Baby K you are 6 Months old today!!

* You wear size 2-3 diapers
* You wear size 6-9 month clothing
* Go to bed 9-10ish and wake up around 6:30am with occasional middle of the night feedings
* We don't have a weight on you yet but you go to the Dr. next week, mommy thinks about 16lbs
* You LOVE to EAT EAT EAT! We don't know where it goes, must be your turbo metabolism.
* carrots, green beans, and prunes are your favorite baby foods
* You will refuse any type of formula and will ONLY drink mommy's milk(mommy is struggling to keep up!!)

* Your little personality is coming out, such a stinker! you cry when Mommy or Daddy leaves your sight.
* you love a great game of peek-a-boo
* you love to look at books, especially the touch and feel kind
* love your bonding time with Daddy two nights a week when mommy goes to work
* Still love bath time
* You grab at anything in sight, nothing is safe!
* You have become a biter :( Mommy is not pleased!
* You have discovered your hearing aids and think they make fabulous chew toys

* You are no longer my pet rock, you love to roll and move around
* You move around so much mommy had the hardest time taking your picture
* You are still my little Bear, but we hear that 6 months is usually the "magical" month and maybe your colic will come to an end. PLEASE??
* You are loved by all and we love watching you grow

Going back to work

2009-10-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

After six long months I finally went back to work. I never intended to take that long off but after going into pre-term labor at 34 weeks I started my maternity leave early. Then after Baby K was born and we got his hearing loss diagnosis I needed time to grieve and recover from the shock so I took some extra time off. Thankfully my boss was very supportive and let me do that. In the six months I was gone my job managed to change everything. The unit I worked in for the last seven years no longer exists, a brand new one with all the bells and whistles was built in its place. They even changed the entire computer system so I had to be trained on it before I could even come back. So in all going back to work for me has been like riding a bike... with square wheels. It's the same, yet so different. It has been hard trying to concentrate at work because I'm always thinking of K, did he eat well?, is he sleeping?, are is teeth bothering him?.... Its also been a little tough getting adjusted to working nights again 7pm to 7am is quite a beating. Luckily it is only two nights a week. His daddy takes care of him at night and my mother comes over for a few hours the next day so that I can get some sleep. Oh the joys of being a working mom, which reminds me I need to pick up some lotto tickets ;)

Kemper rolled over for the first time right before I left to go to work. Bittersweet.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

$$$ chew toys

2009-09-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yep Baby K finally discovered his hearing aids and he thinks they taste great. I knew this day was coming but I think was in denial. I'm kicking myself for not ordering the Hanna Andersson pilot caps that all the other mothers suggested sooner. I ordered one but I may go crazy before it comes in. We have been using the huggie aids but he has been a pro at ripping them off in two seconds flat. I find them difficult to put back on and K usually has a fit, so they are not quite working for us.

So here we are getting our second pair of hearing aid molds done. Old reliable(what we named his paci),toy and we're good to go!

Kemper hasn't really shown us that he is getting any benefit from his HA's so it's been hard finding the motivation to keep putting them on. I find myself putting them on later and later and taking them off earlier and earlier. On October 1st we are going to one of the many cochlear implant evaluation appointments and they will test exactly how much benefit he is receiving from them.

Shortly after taking this picture he had a melt down, he was done with having his ears messed with. Or maybe pink is just not his color!