Connor and Bella's party

We decided to do a combined birthday party for Connor and Bella. Between Easter, Connor's first communion, and Eric going out of town, they would have ended up being a week apart so we figured we'd make it easier on everyone and just do them together. After beautiful weather all week, we had a cold front come through Saturday so the day of the party was freezing.


Bella fell asleep in the middle of opening her presents.


She had to be woken up for the cake. She didn't make as big a mess as the boys did.


Connor's half of the party was Saints themed. I cannot believe he is going to be 8. They grow up too fast.


Bella also slept through her pinata.


Bella's new trick her daddy showed her~~~really lady-like :)


Landon using Bella's car to make an indoor drive-in~~he was watching Mickey Mouse.


Can't believe she is already 1!! This first year has flown by.

Landon's new ears are here!!

We got Landon's new ears in--2 weeks after the order was placed. We were told it would be 6-8 weeks but could be longer so we were pleasantly surprised when we got the notice they had shipped after a week and a half. We go on the 22nd to get them mapped. I took some pictures comparing the Nucleus 5 to the Freedoms for those families out there trying to decide if it is worth it to upgrade. There is a big difference in the width between the two processors and the Nucleus 5 seems to sit higher off the top of the ear so they don't hang down near as long as the Freedoms--you can't even see them from the front. If anyone wants a particular picture of something just let me know and I'll post it for you.

Just a clarification for those that don't know, the Freedom (his old ear) is the beige processor and the Nucleus 5 (his new ear) is the dark brown processor.


Doesn't look like a huge difference, but the N5 is shorter. It may be even smaller once we get the rechargeable batteries since there is a compact rechargeable and a standard rechargeable.

The difference in width is huge. It sits so much better on his ear being skinnier.



Wearing the N5--from the front all you see is the clear ear hook over the top-you don't see the bottom of the processor at all.

The N5 from the side. It sits higher on his ear than the Freedom but doesn't hang down as long.

wearing his Freedom

Happy 1st Birthday Bella Grace

Landon’s Lip Reading Abilities

Over the past few weeks I have noticed that Landon has become really good a reading lips. The other night while I was watching the Saints NFC Championship game, he came to hand me he ears; which he readily pulls off when he gets tired at night. After he place the devices in my hand, I instinctively asked him if he was ready to go to sleep to which he answered, “Yep, night, night.”

In that instant it made me pause, and I thought to myself “Did he hear that?” Of course, within one second of that thought the reality came back to my mind. It was interesting to me to see how far I could take it and he was able to answer readily to the few question I asked him about getting his night-cap; chocolate milk. I have begun to force myself to speak to him verbally even when I know his “ears” are not being used to help develop his lip reading. He certainly is one smart little dude…

New ears on order!!

Landon's new ears are on order!! Cochlear has joined up with another company-Mediquip- to help people get approval/purchase the N5 upgrades. Since we already had approval from our insurance, the process was a little faster for us. It does save us from having to come out of pocket for the full cost and waiting for reimbursement from insurance--which is wonderful!! Mediquip got a copy of the approval from our insurance, they have ordered his N5's, and when they get them will send them to us. They will then get reimbursed from insurance and we will only have to come out of pocket our portion of what insurance doesn't cover. We are sooo excited!! Hopefully these will be a lot more durable then the plastic freedoms because Landon is definitely hard on his ears!

For another parent that asked our insurance, through Eric's work, is PPO Plus. We've been really lucky with insurance through all this. The way it is set up, Eric's work has their own medical review board that approves/precerts insurance requests and then passes it on to the insurance company to pay. With the upgrade, we had Landon's audiologist write a letter,which the surgeon signed, requesting the upgrade. Our case manager put it before the medical review board and it was approved. One thing that I think has helped us through all of this with Landon is he is the first person there to go through something like this. His being approved for simultaneous bilateral implants and now the upgrades is basically setting the precedent for anyone that will come behind him needing this. It doesn't mean we haven't had to do any work. When we put it before the review board for the surgery, I had a book of research and insurance policies that we gave them to back up our request. But I have to say we have had a very easy time with approvals compared to most families going through this. As many problems as people generally have with insurance, our company has been wonderful through all this.

Approval

Just wanted to share with everyone that we received an email from our case management worker. Landon has been approved to upgrade all 4 of his Freedoms for the new Nucleus 5 sound processors. Still trying to decide on what color we are going to order. Here's a link to take a look at the new "ears" he'll be getting.
http://products.cochlearamericas.com/cochlear-implants/nucleus-5-system/smallest-sound-processor

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!! I can't believe how fast 2009 flew by. Hopefully 2010 will slow down some so I can get back to regular blogging.
The kids are all getting over colds right now. Connor started on Christmas and it's gone through all of us. Bella and Landon both got ear infections with theirs. They are all either on medicine or just finishing up so hopefully they'll all be getting well soon.
Landon's speech is getting better and better. He's talking in phrases and sentences now so no more one word answers. Right now we are working on getting him to understand in/on/under and my/yours. Everything he says is with a person's name-so we are working on getting him to learn pronouns.
Bella is crawling, standing, and cruising. She walks with her baby buggy so I don't think it will be long before she's running after her brothers. It seems too soon for her to be doing it but I think that has to do with Landon having such a delay in his gross motors. She has been a little earlier than the other 2 boys though.
Here's some pics from our Christmas...Hope you had a great one :)