October 2012

We had lots of fun in October

The cousins came and visited us this month

PK got stuck in a cupboard

We went to a child's playplace, child furniture is awesome

KB got rolled around - seriously awesome! (this was at Chibi's)

Grandparents visited, and KB read to Grandma

KB was Mario for Halloween

PK was a cute penguin

Delicious pumpkin cookies at school

Penguin, Snow white, strawberry and Mario

Another one of his class

PK worked on his walking skills

And KB worked on his cueing skills. 

(I know this is brief, but doing the blog 7 months later really can make it hard to remember everything!)

September 2012

This month was busy! I started doing my home visits for work, KB started school, PK turned one and had his activation AND second MAPing. PK's birthday will be in a separate post for two reasons, 1 - it's a birthday post, he deserves it, and 2 - Bryan has all the pictures somewhere....I have no idea where.

KB started his first day of school on September 6th. He was so excited! He is a peer model in the Cued Speech preschool classroom. The nice thing is that his classroom is where my office is, which makes dropping him off and picking him up that much easier. Life would be a lot easier if he could ride the bus, but they only provide the bus for those students who have an IEP, and he doesn't have one. So I have to provide transportation. that's ok as it allows me to see him a little more often throughout the day!

This is right in front of his school

We did take a short road trip over the weekend to Harper's Ferry. That was fun.

Bryan and KB walking on the railroad tracks

This picture was not prompted in anyway. It was very sweet to see this without a parent asking them to do it.

A long video, but I wanted to show off his receptive skills for cueing. In the beginning he is actually cueing about the light. 

I'm in trouble, the boys are already learning how to play "rough" with each other. Boys will be boys.

The funny thing about this video? Patrick can walk just fine now. He doesn't need any help. He just likes pushing the train around.

For some reason, PK found this hilarious. We're just knocking on the door of the picture of the house.

PK loves the kitchen a little TOO much. He does this whenever I tell him no, or get him out of the kitchen. It makes cooking time...interesting :)

Loving cheetos. Don't worry, I don't feed him junk food all the time.

Kiernan knew where all the parts of a bus went. 

This picture surprised both Bryan and I. We've never been able to get KB to get into color or drawing, so I had no idea what he was capable of in terms of drawing. He came home with this picture, and Bryan didn't think he at least drew the majority of that picture himself. 

So...to prove Bryan wrong, the following picture is a bad picture of KB's drawing of daddy in the sand. I watched the whole thing, and he drew a head/body, arms, legs, eyes, nose and mouth all on his own. Our kid is growing up!

He's walking ALL over the place, ALL the time now. So crazy

PK's 1st birthday

PK's first birthday went a lot smoother than KB's. KB was very sick for his, so we were not able to do much. PK was the opposite! He had just gotten his first implant activated the day before the party, other than that he was healthy as he could be.

We invited some of our close friends and a couple of people from the ward who had children PK's age. It was fun, and we enjoyed it a lot. We had it at a park in Fairfax, had subway sandwiches, chips, juice/milk and cake. Unfortunately Bryan and I forgot to take a picture of the cake. Fortunately, it's the same cake I made for KB's birthday. So just imagine the coloring to be a little lighter because I did not anticipate how much the humidity would affect the butter cream frosting. 

KB's old cake, but this is what PK's cake was too, down to the flavor of the cake.

I learned that there were very very few photos of me with PK that day, as I was moving around a lot as I talked to guests and mostly tried to keep KB in line with good behavior. I had good friends to help me out with PK and made sure he had a good time too.

Patrick having a great time. Photo by Chance Hammock

Bubbles with Jenny. Photo by Bryan Mulholland

Jenny and Patrick, there's a picture somewhere of her holding Patrick the day he was born, and her birthday was two days after Patrick. Photo by Chance Hammock

Hamming it up with Dad! Photo by Chance Hammock

Singing/Cueing Happy Birthday to PK Photo by Chance Hammock

Checking out his cake while we sing. Photo by Chance Hammock

Having a blast eating his cake. He LOVED it. Photo by Bryan Mulholland

Of course, we can't forget KB. He had so much fun. After the party, he had the chance to go out to a baseball field right next to the park with his friends, the Hammocks and the Jansons. As you can see, he had a lot of fun.

KB after playing in the baseball field and eating cake. Photo by Bryan Mulholland

It was a fantastic day, and the only thing that could've been better is if I had an actual photo of all four of us, and a picture of the cake.

PK's Activation

Before watching the video, there a few things that I want to explain:

-We went in expecting him to cry. The majority of children cry at their activation appointments because hearing sounds is such a new sensation they don't know how to deal with it. It doesn't hurt them, it's just a new thing that's never happened before. This especially happens with babies who did not benefit from hearing aids at all. PK did get some sounds from his hearing aids, but certainly not enough to benefit from them, hence the surgery. He didn't cry, which surprised us, and the audiologist was very happy to not have another crying baby in his office :)

- In the beginning of the video you will not hear any sounds, but will see him reacting. The Audiologist is checking the electrodes and the nerve responses through the internal component, which causes some beeping sounds that only PK can hear. I know this as I experience it myself at every audiology appointment I go to for myself. 

- Look for subtle responses. Great big smile with squinty eyes, imitating babbling, pausing in the middle of what he is doing and looking at people.
- I edited the video to make it shorter so you can see the reactions specifically. We were unsure at the appointment if these were actual reactions. Since being home from the appointment, we have seen consistent responses the way he reacts in the video with sound in our own home. While he does not react every single time (as expected, he is still learning how to hear), it's often enough that we KNOW he's hearing things.
- The audiologist starts off with conservative programming so that we do not overload the child's brain with stimulation. Having both of my cochlear implants activated at the same time helped me to really understand that. I was EXHAUSTED after having both of mine activated. Typically, at least out here, with young children, they activate one a time in order to make sure they have the programs set appropriately. Children as young as PK are not able to tell us specifically if something doesn't sound right, is too loud, or is wrong. Doing one at a time will allow the audiologist to focus on one side. So if PK was fussing and blinking, then we would know for sure that it's the left side that's too loud, because it's the only side that's on right now. If he had both on, it would be difficult to figure out any negative reaction and the cause for it. So right now, PK has his left implant on, and his right one will be activated in October.

Here's the video:

August 2012

August was a busy month!
As you know we did have PK's cochlear implant surgery this month. The previous post was all about that. He continued to do well for the rest of August and was a champ.
Patrick has finally gotten all the beginning teeth, he now has 8 teeth, crawling like a pro, cruising ALL OVER the place, and is regularly taking two to three steps at a time. He'll be walking soon.

My grandfather's funeral was the beginning of August. I was sad I couldn't go, it really broke my heart. I think only one other cousin was not able to go (and my family is *HUGE*). My siblings were great and did give me a detailed account of the funeral, pictures of the program, and my dad sent me a copy of it as well as a copy of the movie of pictures they had of him playing at the funeral home. That alone helped me reach some closure. My grandfather was pretty much my second father. I spent many many summers at my grandparents' home. I have so many memories of him. The number one thing I will always remember is how he cherished, adored and loved my grandmother. I hope Bryan and I can make it that long and love each other that much then as well.

We had a chance to go to the a National's baseball game with some friends. Unfortunately, I managed to lose one of Patrick's hearing aids there. At least it was only a week before the cochlear implant surgery :)

The day after PK's surgery, Bryan took KB to a fair so I could take care of super fussy and tired (rightfully so) PK.

Patrick has learned a lot of cueing in terms of receptive language. In the following video, whenever I'm talking, I'm also cueing. Remember, he hasn't been activated yet, and already had his surgery....so he really can't hear a thing.

This month was also Bryan's birthday. We had a bunch of friends over, and it was a blast. Our friend Jenny made an awesome carrot cake that everyone loves. Bryan really only gets this cake once a year since I do not like raisins, AT ALL, so this is his time to have one of his favorite cakes. We were able to get him some cologne for his birthday. We went out to the Frontier Museum for his birthday as well, and KB and PK loved being able to get out and play while we enjoyed reading about the different homes.

Patrick's Cochlear Implant Surgery

This was sure a stressful past week. Bryan called on August 3rd to find out where our insurance stood in terms of approving Patrick's pre-authorization for the CI surgery. It was still pending, and I was very nervous because we had received a letter from the insurance that as it stands, it would be denied since it was not a medical necessity in their terms. They needed more information, so Bryan made a few phone calls to get that to happen. They told us that they would contact us on Tuesday. Tuesday came along, and Bryan had to call them. The insurance said they got the information they needed, but still had to review it. If they didn't call back by Thursday, then we needed to call them and they would expedite it. Thursday came along, and we hadn't heard from them. Bryan called insurance in the morning, and they said they would have an answer by 9 PM EST. Talk about last minute, we were scheduled to be at the hospital at 5:30 Friday! Fortunately Bryan called the hospital and insurance around 5:00, and it had been approved. There was a huge sigh of relief when that happened!
Now we just had to scramble to find someone to watch KB, and let him stay the night, find a hotel room, eat dinner, pack and go. Fortunately we had some very kind church members help us out with KB, and allowed him to stay at their place. We stayed in a hotel close by because I did not want to have to deal with an hour and a half drive at 3 AM, with a hungry/tired baby as I couldn't feed him after midnight.
Patrick handled the no eating after midnight quite well, and was his happy self until about 10 minuets before they took him back for the surgery when he started getting over tired and grumpy. We were very fortunate.
We were taken to the pre-op room where they took his vitals, had the surgeon talk to his, the nurse talk to us, the OR nurse talk to us and the anesthesiologist talk to us. Changed him, and had Bryan go back with Patrick (only one parent can go in the room with the patient). We chose Bryan as I knew I would probably cry as soon as they did the anesthesia on him, I almost cried at the tear duct probe surgery, and this was a much bigger surgery.

In the waiting room before going back to pre-op

Just about to leave to go the operating room. They had to use a shoe cover for a hat for Patrick . Everyone thought it was cute/hilarious

We then went out to the waiting room by the post-op care...and waited. They had a tv screen that showed when the surgery had started, and when it was over. They gave you a number, and you could see when it was done.

Patrick's was by far the longest surgery out of everyone there, he's the one in the middle.

Bryan was very tired, but there was no place to sleep, so he went to the car and took a nap there. I stayed in the waiting room and watched synchronized swimming. A lot of hospital workers went back and forth in between in front of me, and every time someone would comment on how crazy synchronized swimming is. I have to agree.
The surgery was supposed to take 5-6 hours, it ended up only taking 4! In fact, Bryan had woken up, we decided to get some lunch before they would be done as we had expected them to take another hour. They called us back just as soon as we got in line for food.
We went to post-op and saw Patrick fast asleep.

They had an humidifier in front of him to help him breathe, as his throat would be a little swollen from having a tube down his throat during the surgery. 

I think we were in the post-op room for only an hour instead of the anticipated 2 hours. Patrick really was a champ and did great. The surgeon said the anatomy of his head/ears was just perfect and made it easy, and there was a full insertion. There were no problems. That was huge relief. Patrick had taken to one nurse, when he woke up he kept waving and smiling for her! He would not wave at anyone else but her, it was very cute. While I fed him, and we waited to be cleared to take him home, we heard another kid come into the recovery room. He had to be put under for the doctors to retrieve a popcorn kernel from his ear. Apparently he was trying to do a magic trick to make it disappear....into his ear? The things kids do!

We were given instructions for post-op care, cleared to go and we left on our way home! It took a very long time to get home as there were two accidents on the freeway that severely backed up traffic. Once we got past that, it was easy driving.

I was worried about his big head fitting in his car seat. Turned out okay, he just did not look comfortable. 

Bryan went and got Kiernan from our friends. Kiernan didn't do too well sleeping at someone else's house, which is understandable as he's never had to before where it wasn't a relatives AND we weren't there. He was so tired he fell asleep in the car on the way home. We put him to bed for an hour, woke him up, and then he went back to bed. It was very sad because he did wake up in the middle of the night while I was putting Patrick back to sleep, and cried out for us and said he wanted us to be home.

Patrick was very excited to see Kiernan when he did get home, despite his tired/grumpiness. Patrick really did do quite well over all. He wasn't happy, but he wasn't grumpy either. He was just....there. The next day he was back to his noisy, crawling, standing self. He wasn't able to roll from his back to his stomach to get up to crawl because of the bandages on his head, but other than that, no problems. He was just more tired more often. I don't think we could've asked for a better recovery.

Our cat seemed to sense Patrick wasn't himself, and was following him around like a dog.

Being his happy self the next day.

We were able to take the bandages off on Sunday, cleaned the incisions, and Patrick showed a major improvement in going back to being himself. He definitely did not want that bandage on anymore. The incisions were still there, no bleeding, no discharge to worry about. Everything's been going great so far. His head is still VERY swollen, in fact I think he looks a little like Frankenstein from Young Frankenstein. He has some bruises on his face from the facial nerve monitor. Other than that, things look awesome.

Swollen head, some sores from the bandage being so tight on his head, and ears stick out. This is all normal after surgery. Though you can see his pretty much back to normal, eating just fine, pointing, talking etc. 

We have his post op appointment with the surgeon on the 23rd, then his first activation date is September 14th, two days before his birthday. We're excited and can't wait.

July

July was a little busy.
First we went to the Capitol building for the Fourth of July. It was awesome! The only real downer was the heat and humidity. DC was having some record setting heat, and the humidity was just awful. I was glad we brought along several water bottles, the two boys drank most of them.

Patrick had his tear duct probe surgery this month as well. We looked forward to this appointment for a long time. His right tear duct was blocked, so it wasn't draining the tears and all that gunk that ends up in your eyes. The gunk was just sitting on top of his lid, gathering. We would have to wipe his eye clean every time he woke up, and plus a few other times throughout the day. He was a champ for the surgery, and it was only 15 minutes long. 

There's a spray ground not too far from where we live. It's free!

It took Patrick quite some time to warm up to it, but he will now sit down and touch the water.

Patrick has started waving hello to everyone now

Kiernan has been making some great strides with cueing

The boys being boys

We went to Virginia Beach for a few days in the middle of the month. It was a much needed break for us, and Kiernan was fearless with the water. Patrick was a little more brave this time than when we went to chiconteague. We got to see a pod of dolphins going by, all just from sitting on the beach! One thing we have learned is that the beach is now a lot more exhausting with kids as they are constantly wanting us to help them jump waves. :)

Our house was attacked with illnesses again this month. This time it was Hand Foot Mouth disease. The two boys had the fever, cough, and then some blisters show up. Bryan also got it, and had maybe 6 blisters himself, if that. I also got it, and I'm pretty sure I made up for their lack of blisters. My entire palm on both hands were covered in blisters, as well as the soles of my feet. My mouth just had a couple of blisters, but I did get some on my nostrils and my ears as well. It took a week before the blisters started going away. All I can say is I'm so grateful it happened when I wasn't working, because I would've had to take off two, maybe three weeks between all of us having this horrible virus. 

Bryan's Aunt San passed away this month from a single car accident. This was shocking, especially as she had just beaten cancer. I had a chance to meet her earlier this year, and she was a fun and wonderful person to talk with. Unfortunately we were not able to go to the funeral as it was in California, and we just couldn't make it out in time. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the King family. 

My grandfather passed away on the 30th of July. He was expected to die a long time ago, and it has mostly just been a waiting game for him to be ready to leave this existence. It wasn't a surprise, but it sure still wasn't easy. Up until his death, all of my grandparents were alive, and it's the first relative that I've had pass away where I was close to him. The only other ones I know of that happened in my life time are my great grandparents. Unfortunately, I was not able to fly home to attend the funeral. This was difficult to accept, but it was just the way it was. The funeral was held in August, and my siblings were kind enough to take some pictures and send them to me. My father also made a DVD of pictures of Grandpa, and sent me an actual copy of the program. I'll miss my grandpa, but I'm happy to know he's in a better place. My heart hurts more for my grandmother than anything else, as she has dedicated her life to him these past few years as he continued to get worse health wise. Our prayers also continue to be with her.