first day of school

Well, my little girl started school today. For any of you new to my blog, Abby has hearing loss and has qualified to go to school full time at an early childhood school for the hearing impared for ages 3-6 in Plano ISD. She will be going five days a week, six hours a day, and will follow a normal school calendar.

We got up pretty early this morning, so she was a little out of it, but gave me a cheese to make me happy anyway.

It was a little anticlimactic when I dropped her off. We met the teacher, got some basic instructions, and Abby was off to play. She was a little confused at first, but when she found the toys she made herself right at home. I hardly got a goodbye out of her. But that's okay. I'd rather it be that way.

After we dropped her off, Carter and I headed to the gym, and after only being at home for 30 minutes, Carter decided to go to bed. So far everything has gone smoothly.

I hope Abby is having a good time.

My Favorite Songs of 2008
(in no particular order)

Single Ladies (Put a ring on it) - Beyonce
Love is Free -Sheryl Crow
Just Dance - Lady GaGa
One Step at a Time - Jordin Sparks
Womanizer - Britney Spears
Better in time - Leona Lewis
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
That's What you Get - Paramore
Disturbia - Rihanna
Forever - Chris Brown
Shake It - Metro Station
Miss Independent - Ne-Yo
See You Again - Miley Cirus
Love Bug - Jonas Brothers
So Close (From Enchanted) - John McLaughlin

And the top 5 songs that made me want to gouge my ears out:
Fall For You - Second Hand Serenade
Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
And ANYTHING by Taylor Swift

What are yours?

cousin ben

Cousin Ben spent the weekend with us while my sister, Missy and her husband celebrated their 6-year anniversary. Ben is five months younger than Abby and he is such a trip! He talks non-stop, narrates everything everyone does, and then discusses in great detail what they just did, or what's going to happen, and always tells on himself when he toots.

Abby, Carter and Ben play very well together so we had a relatively painfree and uneventful weekend. Funny though, how jealousy kicks in when mom is suddenly giving attention to an outsider.

Anyway, we went to the park, played a lot outside, and went to the train exhibit at Northpark mall. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Oh, Abby. Why do you give me faces like that?

New neighbors moved in next door. They're a happy little family from a french speaking island somewhere. I can't remember where. Anyway, their little girl peeked her head over the fence to see what we were doing. So cute.

I have pics of our train trip, but I'm learning that the more massive photos I upload, the slower my computer gets, especially when I try to edit. I don't have the patience and its driving me insane. I've got to do something about it very soon or I might throw the computer out the window.

Baby Liam in Black and White

My friend just had her first little boy and me and Carrie went to visit her yesterday. Of course I had to take pictures. He has the cutest, roundest little boy face!

FLIP-Flop

Abby had an ABR (auditory brain response hearing test) done last week and we got some interesting results. Her previous ABR indicated that she had a mild to severe/profound loss in her RIGHT ear and a mild to moderate loss in her LEFT ear. Well, the new test shows that her right ear has actually improved and it is mild to moderate, and her left ear had dropped dramatically and is now moderate to severe - bordering profound.

We knew that their condition (enlarged vestibular aqueduct) can cause fluctuations in hearing, but I never imagined it could do this! I talked to the audiolgist about it, suggesting that maybe there was a mistake and they accidently flipped the ears and labeled it wrong, but she said in the more indepth testing results (not shown here) there is a way to tell which ear is which, and she said everything was done correctly. Sooo, we'll get her aids adjusted and just keep testing her on a regular basis and try and keep up with the craziness.

For any of you interested in learing how to read an ABR, it's actually pretty easy. The numbers across the top represent frequencies, or the highs and lows of sound. In the 500 hz range are deep sounds like a lawn mower, a big dog, a truck and low sounds like that, and also speech sounds like 'm', 'd', and 'b'. At 1000hz you can hear a baby cry, a piano, mid range music, and speech sounds such as 'l', 'a', 'o', and 'r'. Higher pitched sounds fall into the 2000hz range, like a clock ticking, a telephone ringing and speech sounds like 'sh' and 'k'. and in the 4000hz range are birds, whispers, and speech sounds 'f', 's', and 'th'.

The numbers up and down represent sound levels from loud to soft or "decibles." 0-10db you can hear the leaves rustling. 20-30 you can hear whispering or birds singing. 40-60 is normal speaking range. 60-and up you can hear sounds such as a chainsaw, loud music, a bullhorn, and loud percussive sounds.

Looking at Abby's most recent ABR (the one at left - the one above is from 6 months ago so you can see the flip-flop), you can see at 500hz (or lower sounds) she can hear any noise that register at 40-50 decibles in loudness. Then her right ear stays between 40-60db in the higher frequencies, and her left ear drops down into the 70's and 80's.

You can see how difficult it must be for Abby and Carter to learn language when half of the speech sounds are lost in their ears. I am SO grateful for hearing aids!

happy birthday abby!

Hey...!

Give me my hat back!

Need a good laugh?

Take a look at the pics of Abby with Santa last year. I don't think we're going to have the chance to see Santa this year, but these are memorable enough to last us until next year.

Mandie Loves Christmas

Random Fact #3

I'm a Dickens Caroler

For five years now, I've been a singer for a group called The Living Christmas Card. We dress up in fabulous traditional dickens style formal wear and sing in quartets for private parties, restaurants, etc. We have a repertiore of over 50 Christmas carols, many arranged specifically for our group. Of all the things about the holiday season, this is the one thing that puts me in the Christmas spirit the most. I am a hopeless lover of Christmas carols, and I feel very honored that I get to spread christmas cheer to others through singing.

wickedly entertaining and entertainingly wicked

We bought tickets for Wicked a few weeks before our trip to guarantee that we could see it. Its one of the hottest shows on Broadway and so tickets are pricey and hard to come by...but for good reason. The show is amazing! We saw it in Dallas a few years ago and it was awesome then, but there's just something about seeing a show on BROADWAY. Elphaba was incredible, and Ga-linda was hilarious! So we weren't supposed to take pictures in the theatre, (no flash photography) but I didn't use a flash. :)

Saturday we decided to try and get last minute tickets to see Spamalot. We stood in the TKTS line for almost two hours in hopes of getting cheap tickets. (That small angular building shown below is the TKTS place that sells tickets at a discounted price.) It was soooo cold. Anyway, Spamalot was a riot! Very inappropriate at times, but wickedly entertaining.

more cousins

I'm still learning about lighting and camera settings so these turned out not quite how I wanted them to, but the kids are cute, and that's all that matters!

Christmas in New York

My first view of New York!

One of the amazing bridges that bring you into NYC.

So we bought tickets to see the statue of Liberty... but it was so cold and we would have to wait an hour to take the ferry... so we ended up returning the tickets and taking pictures around the area.





Sorry Lady Liberty. Maybe next time.

More pictures later...

crappy luck

Of COURSE there would be bad weather at Newark and my noon flight would get cancelled and rescheduled for 7pm. Cross your fingers that I even get to travel tonight!

*sigh*

I know I'll only be gone for a weekend, but I'm really going to miss my babies.

in love

I know this sounds pathetic, but I want an SLR camera so bad I went a bought a lens before I bought a camera. It's a 50mm f/1.8 lens and I love it! My father-in-law has a Canon Rebel and so until we can afford the camera I want, I will just occasionally borrow his camera and use my lens with it. Aren't inlaws wonderful?

Gartin sneak peak

I've always wanted to say that! Anyway, I took pics of my sister-in-law's family on Saturday, and here are some of the highlights.