girls camp

I spent two days at girls camp Tuesday and Wednesday and was so grateful for the opportunity to hang out with the young women in my ward. It was a nice change of pace for me and we had a great time! Thanks to Melinda, Jill and Michelle who watched my kids while Brian was at work. I know that was a sacrifice!

Here are some pics.

Camp Langston surrounds this little lake, and the views are beautiful.

Our cabin was at the very end of this board walk on the other side of the lake from all the activities, so we got a good workout.

These two birds acted like they owned the place. They are the only two ducks on the property and were all up in everyone's business.


It was HOT. Can you tell by the look on Chelsea's face?
This chica was one of the horse trail leaders and she was quite a character. She has multi colored dreads and was always on her cell phone.

About Mandie

a list of blessings

1. Carter was an "accident" for us, but now I know the Lord knew what he was doing. Because our kids are so close in age and will have the same struggles, they will be able to learn together, be the best of friends, and will have an incredible bond.

2. Our insurance company is covering the hearing aids 100% with NO deductable and NO limit. I've heard that this is very unusual. And we have a very nice case manager handling all the hard stuff for us.

3. I can't think of a family that is better equipped to handle this situation. My sister is a speech pathologist and is fluent in ASL, both of my grandparents were deaf, three of my great-aunts were deaf too, AND Jill, Brian's sister, is profoundly hearing impared as well, so both sides of our family have experience with deafness. They understand what it is like and they know what to do.

4. The Metroplex is full of wonderful resources for our kids, and Plano, where we will probably send our kids, has one of the best deaf programs in the state. And we didn't go to Dubai. phew.

5. Bunny. Bunny is Abby and Carter's teacher from the Plano Regional Day School Program for the Deaf who comes to our home once a week. She is this very sweet older lady and although there is a big age difference, we have so much in common. She had two children, both of which are profoundly deaf. Her husband travels a lot just like Brian does. I feel a strong kinship with her and although I have only known her for a week or two, I have already learned so much from her. I know it was no coincidence that she was assigned to us. I'll write more about her later.

And of course there are many more blessings too!

but with this personality...

...she's going to be just fine.

upside down

You know when you're a new mom and you think ahead to all the wonderful things you hope your kid will be able to do someday? You have grand visions that one day your child will walk at eight months, say her first sentence when she's a year old, know the ABC's at 18 months, and when she's two she'll wow all the mothers at the playground by rattling off all the states and their capitals.

I had those grand visions for my children. But then we found out when Abby was 18 months old she had fluid in her ears that was causing hearing loss and a delay in her speech development. We got that taken care of and then started her with speech therapy. Suddenly those lofty ideals dropped down to "I just want my child to be caught up with her peers."

But then after 6 months of therapy we realized she wasn't catching up. She was advanced in every other way except in communication, and we were doing all that we could to help her improve. Then our speech therapists asked if we were sure she could hear. "Sure, we were sure." And we rattled off all the things we saw her do that made us believe that she could hear. I SWEAR four or five months ago she could hear a plane in the sky and tell us before we could even see it. I KNOW she could hear a dog barking in a house as we passed by. And we had "tests" to back it up. She passed her hearing screening after she got tubes put in. But then she had another hearing screen in April and she didn't do too hot. So we went back a week later and re-tested her, and that screen put her back in the normal range. All so confusing and not concrete. But in the past few months it seems that she hasn't been as alert to the sounds around her. And even worse, she stopped turning to us when we called her name.

So today we took her to to get an ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response Test) to figure out her hearing once and for all, and the test results were pretty depressing. In her left ear, she has a 40 decible hearing loss in the 500 MHz to the 4000 MHz range. And in her right ear, she has a 40 decible loss in the 500 range and then it declines to a 60 db loss in the 2000 range and then it goes off the charts at 4000 MHz. All of this means, that she has a mild loss in her left ear, and in her right ear, she has a mild loss in the normal speech range and has a profound loss in the high frequencies, which means she can't hear ANYTHING high pitched in her right ear.

I've been preparing myself for the news that she would have some sort of hearing loss, but I had no idea that it would be this bad. And I'm afraid that she has lost a great portion of her hearing in the past 6 months to a year and that's very discouraging to me. We have no idea what is going to happen to her hearing. It could stay this way for a long time, or she could lose all of her hearing quickly. And the same goes for Carter. We have no idea, and that scares me.

So now we have two children with hearing loss. They will be getting hearing aids in the next couple of weeks, and we will be doing more MRIs, genetic tests and whatever else we need to do to get them the best care possible.

I know its not the end of the world that they are hearing impared. I can think of a lot worse challenges to have. But our world is turned upside down with this news, and things are never going to be the same. Our kids are smart, wonderful, adaptable kids, and they are going to be okay. And I think we'll be okay too. Just pray for us.

300th post

Well actually, this is number 302, but I forgot to mention it two posts ago. A lot has happened in the 2 years that I have been blogging. Here's a few highlights from our first year of blogging.


April 06 - Started the blog. Abby was 4 months old, and we had just moved into our house.










May 06 - Our electrician fell through our ceiling and we installed our own kitchen backsplash.










June 06 - We highlighted Abby's "huh" look.








July 06 - We celebrated the 4th of July and Abby had her first trip to the ER.











August 06 - My grandpa died, and I had a horrific experience with lots and LOTS of ants.







Sepetember 06 - We went on tour with Evening Song to Salt Lake City
and I think this is the month where I really started to enjoy taking pictures.









October 06 - People think Abby is a boy, then she turns into a parrot.







November 06 - We announce that we're pregnant, and I turn 30.




December 06 - Brian is stranded in Denver three days before Christmas,
and Abby celebrates her first birthday.










January 07 - We found out we were having a boy and fall in love with his cheeks.







February 07 - Abby takes her first steps.








March 07 - We take another trip to Salt Lake for Grandpa McMurdie's funeral and we break into our own house.

i've created a monster.

I found FREE RICE on my friend Tara's blog and thought it was fun so I showed it to Brian. Brian has spent the last three days playing this game trying to up his vocabulary level, but then again, that's what word nerds do.

Try it out. It's fun!

fun, fun, fun

Don't cha love those floaties?

All my best shots are of Maryn. I guess my camera really likes her!



Love those eyes!

Abby and Mikayla up to no good.

Everett is the calmest, most laid back kid. Love him.

Sand was EVERYWHERE.
Cute Maryn again. Poser.

I love baby feet.

I think Tava is one of the cutest, sweetest rolly poleys in the world.

Brothers.

How many kids can you fit on an inner tube?

Carter. Eating. As usual.

Maryn and Eric

not much

Not much to blog about lately, I guess. We went to the audiologist to get Carter fitted for hearing aids. According to our insurance company, hearing aids are covered with not even a deductable, so we're crossing our fingers that that's really true.

Yesterday we went swimming at Grandma and Grandpa McMurdie's for the first time this season. Abby did pretty well and even went down the big slide, and Carter loved the water too. This is going to be a fun summer!

We are spending tomorrow at the lake and the a cookout at the McMurdie's. Yay! I'll take pictures, but for now, enjoy the "Abby Stare."

in her shoes

I was talking with a friend of mine and she was telling me of the woes she is having with making friends in her ward. She has been in this ward for a year, and in that time has discovered that not many people have made an effort to include her, and her efforts to make friends haven't gotten her very far. There aren't necessairly a lot of "cliques" but a lot of pairs of women that are best friends with eachother, so I guess they're really comfortable and maybe don't have any need to have more friends. And she feels like she would be "butting in" if she tried to make friends with them. She says there is very poor attendance at the ward playgroup activities, and even Enrichment nights and ward parties are really sparse. She says all together, the ward is kind of blah. She feels like she's done all she can to find friends in her ward and is pretty sad about it.

I've been in her situation before but not to that extreme, so I was at a loss as to what to tell her.

What would you do if you were in her shoes?