Play Ball!!

This summer we decided it was a good time to sign Kemper up for T-Ball. He's five, a perfect age to start right? Apparently I didn't get the memo that you're supposed to sign your kid up for sports while still in utero. Turns out K was the only kid on the team that had not previously played before. Most of the others had been playing for at least two years! This was going to be his first time in a group sport activity, so naturally we were a little nervous.  Kemper has always been a homebody, keep to himself kinda kid so we weren't exactly sure how it would go. Luckily it all turned out for the best!

We took him to the park down the street to test out his batting skills. He was a natural with a really good swing!! Nothing like Daddy/son moments to melt your heart.

Baby sister loved getting outside to watch her brother practice. We had to give her her own ball because she insisted on practicing herself. Softball may be in her future, she has a great arm!

We decided to have Kemper try T-ball first, mainly because it is a non contact sport (for the most part) When you have cochlear implants it's just something you think about. I know other CI recipients have done/do contact sports, but this being our first time doing any type of sports we didn't want the extra worry of him hitting his head. Although, in the planning process it didn't even cross our minds that the children are required to wear batting helmets while at bat. Cochlear implants and helmets really don't make the best combination. I think we tried every helmet out there to find one that would fit comfortably over his CI's without knocking them off. We originally tried the Adidas Incite batting helmet . It was a helmet that you could put on and then turn a dial that would tighten the helmet to your head for a more custom fit. We loved it and the idea. The only problem we had was that K has a tiny pea head like his mother and we could not get the helmet tight enough. I was just loose enough to knock his coils off his head when he moved. Total bummer. Next we moved onto a regular Rawlings T-ball Helmet   We were able to get a tighter fit with this one but his processors and coils did not have enough room. To help with this my husband cut off a small portion of the 1st foam layer of padding around his ear and where the coils would go. While I don't recommend removing padding from a safety helmet, I was okay with this because very little was removed and  this is T-ball not the major leagues. I think we will be okay!!

PIRATES!!
Kemper still loves anything that has to do with Pirates so I found it so fitting that his team name was the Pirates.
My skinny little thing, I think his uniform wore him.

Kemper had a great coach this season. He challenged the boys and was very patient them. He also made them work as a team and encourage each other. I loved that when a player would make it to home plate all the boys in the dugout would yell like a pirate ARRRRGGGGHHH!!

 A few games into the season Kemper's coach was looking for a little help so my husband stepped in as an assistant coach. K loved having his Dad on the field and having someone there to help him with his batting helmet.

I had a crush on the assistant coach.

This is what 5year old T-ball looks like.
I love Kemper's clueless facial expression, the coaches all pointing in different directions, kids playing in the dirt... It's not the easiest sport to teach or learn for sure!!

Pirates!!
So thankful for such a great group of boys and coaches.

My sister made Kendall her own Pirate uniform. It had a Pirate skull on her shorts and a number 7 on the back of her shirt. She was an adorable little cheerleader on the sidelines. She would clap and get so excited when she would see her brother at bat.

 His first season of T-ball was a great learning time for him. He made a lot of progress with his catching, fielding, and hitting. Kemper was so proud of the patch he earned for making a great catch during a game.

I never thought I say this but I kinda miss our 8am Saturday morning games.
Good times, Great memories!!!

Happy 4th Birthday!!!

 

• You weigh about 34lbs.
•  You are tall for your age, so it makes you look like a skinny little thing. ( Don't worry mommy an Daddy were the same way)
•  You wear a size 10 shoe.
•  You wear size 3T-4T clothes. (3T fits better but you need the length of 4T clothes)
•  You rarely nap.
•  You rarely sleep through the night, but luckily most of the time you wake up it's because you have to potty, and then you go right back to sleep.
•  You have to use Monster Spray in your room every night to keep out the "scaries".
•  You have a thing with making sure that all doors in the house are closed, especially closet doors!
•  You like to eat the same things, it's pretty difficult to get you to try new things.
•  You are a perfectionist, everything has it's place. You even make your bed everyday and will refill the toilet paper rolls in the bathroom on your own!!
• You are a creature of habit. Love to have the same routine.
•  You still hate to be dirty, you will always ask for a napkin when you eat.
•  You hate to have "crazy" hair so you always let mommy fix it, you love to "spike it up"
•  You still love Mexican food, it's your favorite.
•  You are still  are not a fan of ice cream, but love cookies and cake.

• You love the color red.
• You love to draw and color. You have an easel that you love to color and write on EVERYDAY.
• You love to read books with your Daddy before bed.
• You still have a love for music, you even asked for CD's for your birthday.
•  You are amazing when it comes to electronics, you know how to turn on the computer and go to You Tube so you can watch cartoons. You know how to work your CD player without any help. You have also figured out how to work the DVR player and love to turn your movies on all by yourself. You have mastered the iPhone, it's amazing to see you use it.
• You have a great imagination.
• You have the best memory, you never forget a thing!!

•  You love your house, you are such a homebody always wanting to be at home with your  parents.
•  Your favorite cartoons to watch are: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Max and Ruby, and Peppa Pig.
• You love the movies Peter pan, Beauty and the Beast, UP, ET, Lady and the Tramp. You also still like to watch your old Signing Time videos.
• You are obsessed with Pirates. Captain Hook is your favorite.
•  You are so silly and have a great sense of humor. Two days after you turned 4 you made your first fart joke. Mommy couldn't help but laugh.
• You are the best behaved preschooler around, and you are so polite.
• You are definitely a rule follower.

• You love your dog Raider. You always want to know where he is at all times.
• You have a daily chore of feeding the dog and you do a great job at it and take so much pride in it.
• You are still not a fan of animals, but are getting better when it comes to dogs other than your own.
• You are a pretty shy boy. It takes you a bit to warm up, but after you do watch out!!
•  You go to a school for children with hearing loss 5 days a week and  you enjoy it.
•  You are said to be "the leader of the class" from your teachers.
•  You are going to be the best big brother, you love your sister so much already.

Celebrating his birthday at school.

Happy Birthday my "Sweet  Baby K"!!!!

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend. This post is a bit late, but so are 95% of my posts. Oh well, at least I have the memory documented!

K coloring his eggs. I always forget how messy they can be.I was kicking myself for not buying the individual color cups. I had a hard time finding enough bowls that were deep enough to cover the eggs.
 I found it funny that Kemper only likes to dye each of the eggs one solid color. I'm the same way, no mixing of the colors! We keep it simple but add our flare with stickers ;)

Every Easter we buy confetti eggs to crack on our heads. I think it has to be K's favorite tradition. He was so excited that morning he couldn't wait to go outside to crack them. He wanted to hold the carton while his dad and I got ready and I agreed but I told him that he couldn't open them yet. But as you can see the third egg from the left on the top row didn't make it. He ended up cracking it all over himself and the living room couch. The look on his face was priceless, he thought he was in so much trouble. I gave him a free pass and didn't scold him too much, but I did make him help clean it up!

He was all about cracking the eggs on our heads but not on his. How convenient.

Ester 2011, it never gets old!

He's a bossy little thing when it comes to cracking eggs!

Finally he let his dad crack one on his head. Too bad on the first try the egg didn't crack and his dad just ended up whacking him on the head with it! poor kid!

The aftermath.

One of the gifts in his Easter basket was a bubble blower. It's one of those toys that never fails. I think he ends up getting one each year. He would stay outside with it all day if we let him.  I forgot to take a pic.of his Easter basket this year. I kept it pretty simple, just a little candy and a few simple toys like the bubble blower. His grandmother and aunt usually stock him up with plenty of stuff every Easter.

Later that afternoon we went to my parents house for an egg hunt with his cousin Nolan...

...and some more egg cracking!

My husband and my younger sister attempting to ride a scooter, I was just glad/surprised they didn't crack their heads.

 K's loot at his Welas's house.
 A soccer shirt, candy, preschool workbooks, coloring stickers, flash cards, Scooby doo pirate DVD, pirate felt board, and another bubble machine ;)

Happy Easter!!

Happy 3rd hearing birthday!!

February 11, 2013 

Three years ago today my baby boy heard his  first sounds  ever through the use of cochlear implants. We always take this day to say thanks to our family, friends, doctors, therapists, and teachers that have helped us along the way. K is doing awesome, far better than we could have ever imagined. If you didn't see his C.I.'s behind his ears you would never think this child was born profoundly deaf. While our journey is still not over, we are forever grateful for the love and support we continue to receive.

To continue his traditional hearing birthday we did our usual big family dinner followed by cake and ice cream.

Kemper insisted on going to the store and picking out his own cupcakes for his "ears"
He also insisted on having his own grocery cart. Thank you Kroger for supplying mini carts, they make shopping so much easier :) When we got to the cashier to checkout I asked him how he was going to pay for them and he replied "With the money in your purse!"

Time to blow out the candles with a little help from his cousin Nolan.

Enjoying his cupcakes and being silly with his cousin Nolan.

My husband and I try and keep it simple just dinner and dessert, but his grandparents can never resist getting him a present.They got him a garbage truck with all the lights and sounds of a real one. It even picks up trash and dumps it! It's such a boy toy & he loved it.

Cheers to many more hearing birthdays!!

PINK or BLUE??!!!!

Monday we had our full anatomy scan for the baby. Everything checked out great, growing as he/she should be. In fact there is a lot of growing going on because we are measuring 5 days ahead! I'm not surprised though because K had always measured ahead. Our doctor was also able find out the sex of the baby. We had her put the results in an envelope and seal them up. After the appointment I immediately took the envelope to my older sister so he could start working on the reveal.

We had originally planned to have all our family come over on Friday for dinner and reveal the gender but I couldn't wait. I called my sisters and told them to meet up at my parents house that night.

K and his cousin Nolan were so excited about our little party. Surprisingly both of them were saying/wanting a girl.

My older sister Maria was the only person to know the results ahead of time. She put colored confetti in a black balloon so that K could pop it and reveal the gender. Kemper was more than happy with the job he was assigned. He had his toothpick ready to pop that balloon.

Ready.

Set.

POP  !!

It's a GIRL!!!!!!

I absolutely love the look on their faces. They couldn't believe the confetti was PINK! just what they wanted.

So excited!! I'd had a feeling It was going to be a girl, but I still can't believe it is! I've gotten so use to being a boy momma so all this pink seems so unfamiliar!
My husbands response: " So I guess I have to pay for a wedding now?" typical guy fashion;)

My mom had to call her mom immediately. Apparently this past summer my grandmother had told her to expect a granddaughter soon. Guess she was right!!!
 My sweet Nephew Nolan wanted to save some of the confetti. He wants a sibling so bad. His teacher even mentioned that he was telling people that he was going to be a big brother. After the reveal was over we heard him say "Kemper, our sister is gonna love us." Bless his heart!! I told my sister that she needs to get on the ball!!

The potty shot as proof! ;)

This is my 12 week sonogram. I showed it to my girlfriend Katie and she immediately guessed it was a girl because the "nub" was parallel to the spine based on the "nub theory"   Guess she was right too!

All signs pointed to girl but yet it was still a surprise in the end.
We can't wait to meet her!!!!