Garrett's first "official" haircut

We took Garrett for his first real haircut by the barber. Up until now I've just been cutting it because we have been dreading bringing him. When I would cut it I was having to hit a moving target . He is never still. We've been trying for a year to get him to agree to let Mr. Barry do it and it's always been NO! For those who don't know him, he is at that age where if he didn't want to have it done, it would have taken all of us to hold his head still to get it done. That's why we've been putting it off. We told him he needed a good haircut before we go see Mickey Mouse and that seemed to work - he said Mr. Barry could do it. Surprisingly, he was a perfect angel. He sat there, didn't move, and smiled the whole time. We were amazed. I guess he really wants to see Mickey Mouse!


ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!! After the roller coaster we've been on the last year and a half, we can definitely use a vacation.We are going with Eric's parents, his sisters, brother-in-law, and nephew. We are celebrating Landon's being able to hear and my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. Connor's been bugging me for the last 2 weeks to start packing. I have a feeling the van is going to be loaded down - there is a lot of stuff for 3 kids.

We got together this weekend and made shirts for the boys to wear. They came out so cute! They have one for Mardi Gras - it says "Throw me something Mickey!" and one with four boys with mickey ears with their names. Landon has one that has a little boy with CI's and mickey ears with Mickey Mouse on it that says "Look Mickey, I have ears too!" His Nanny Tammy is the computer whiz who designed them all. We'll have to take pictures of them wearing them.

UH-OH!!

Okay, I just had to share this with someone and Eric is in class right now so I can't tell him. I was checking my email with Landon sitting on my lap (his usual place these days). I gave him the boys box with their new vitamins in it to shake to keep him busy. He dropped it on the ground so I said Uh-Oh a couple of times to him then handed it back. He dropped it again - obviously starting a game - and I said it again. The next time he dropped it I said Uh-Oh once then handed it back - Landon smiled at me and said UH-OH!!! He dropped it again and said Uh-Oh! again so I know it wasn't a fluke the first time.

Update on therapy

We had speech today and his therapist thinks he is doing great for only being 11 weeks hearing age. Some of his newest tricks are:

1. When I whisper p-p-p-p-p-p (the sound for the boat) he will point to the boys doorway where we have the boat mobile hanging.

2. When I pick him up, I say "you want up? up?up?up?" and he's started copying it sometimes and says Uh-uh-uh.

3. He will imitate the AAaahhhhh with the change in pitch that we do for the airplane. He still does the monotone AAaahhhh that was his first repeat sound but now he will do the pitch change when we do.

4. With a slide we let figures go up and down and say "Up, up, up, wheeeee." He has started saying uh-uh-uh and then lets them slide.

5. He's mimicked the woof-woof for the dog with oo-oo and the sheep's baa with aahh.

6. The other night he was playing in his brother's room while I was in our room and he started fussing and I heard him crawl into the living room looking for me so I just called out once "Landon". He stopped going that way, turned around, and I heard him laughing as he came crawling down the hall into our room.

He's done others but that's the main ones that are coming to mind right now. I really need to get in the habit of updating here when he does stuff but between his therapy, homeschooling Connor, working, and keeping up the house it seems to fall to the back burner. I find that on a daily basis we sometimes start thinking he should be doing more than what he is but then when we stop and think he is only at the hearing age of an 11 week old we realize how far he has really come. We did the whole hearing aid thing from 3mths until his surgery but he really couldn't hear with them. I can remember only two times where he actually showed a reaction to sound. He still tested in the 75-80 db loss range with the aids on so he really had no hearing experience prior to his activation. To think that 2 months ago he couldn't hear a plane take off and now he can mimic sounds we make and hears us whisper sounds - it really is amazing.

Our Little Champion

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!

In honor of the LSU Tigers National Championship Game tomorrow, here are some pictures of the boys over the years in their Tiger gear.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy New Year!!

Is it 2008 already? What happened to 2007? This past year has flown by. This time last year, we had a road full of hurdles ahead of us. Landon had his hearing aids but that was it. We still had the CT scan plus other hearing tests to run to make sure he was a candidate for CI's. We didn't even know what surgeon we were using.

It seems like the first part of the year drug on because we were just waiting to hear from the surgeon that he could get the CI's Then came gathering information to get insurance to approve bilaterals - which surprisingly they did very quickly. Then the year started flying. It seemed like in no time surgery was upon us. It was definitely harder on us and our family than it was on Landon. By the night of the surgery he was back to his old self. I think it took the adults a little longer to get over it. I know the biggest hurdle is ahead of us - teaching him to understand sound and to talk - but it feels like the worst part is behind us. Hopefully 2008 won't be as stressful as 2007 was.

It's amazing to think how much can change with just a little time. If Eric or I would have been born deaf, we would have been raised in a world of silence with limited communication - only being able to talk with those who know sign language. Fastforward to now and we are living in a time where children born deaf are able to learn to hear and speak and have no limitations on who they communicate with. If you check out Rachel and Jessica's blog in the blog list, Rachel is a gifted college student who is also fluent in French. Did I mention she was born deaf? She was in the trial group that received the first CI's and she recently went bilateral. She spends her vacations from school traveling in France. I took 4 years of French in high school and could probably count on both hands the words I can say. It is amazing to see how far these kids can go.

In just the past year the CI world has changed. When Landon was first diagnosed, we met with a CI audiologist (not the one we are using) who showed us the implant and how it worked. When we asked if they would do one or two ears, we were told surgeons only did one ear, that no one did both ears. You had to save an ear for future technology. By the time we learned Landon was for sure a candidate, it was pretty much a given he would be getting bilaterals. The only question was one surgery or two. Now it is getting to be the norm to have simultaneous bilaterals. What a difference a year can make. I'm sure in a few more years the CI technology will probably get to the point where the whole device is fully implantable. It will be interesting to see in 20 years what the norm will be for babies born deaf.

Hope everyone has a great 2008!