Thanks for a great year 2011

This year has not been without it's challenges, but on the eve of a brand new year, I refuse to focus on those challenges. I want to say goodbye to 2011 with happy memories!! So here are a few of my favorite moments from 2011.  I am sorry they are a little out of order but my blogpage switched to a new format in the middle of this post and confused me:)  Love all these moments and so many more!  But these are some of the best!  Praying that 2012 brings good health and happy memories to us all!  Love to all my family and friends and thank for the support during this past busy year and for just doing life with us!  It truly takes a village and we are so blessed! 

Happy New Year!!

Taylor's Child Dedication Service

Today Taylor was dedicated at church. For those who do not know what that means, it means that we stood before our families and church and said we will raise him to know who God is, and that our church and family will stand with us to help raise him to love and know God. It is not baptism, but a promise to raise him to be able to love and know God and someday make his own decision to follow God with his heart.

It was a sweet service! We had many family members and friends surrending us, and many more who sent there love and prayers with us. Taylor and Emma behaved well and looked so adorable as you can tell from the pictures above. It is rare that we are all so dressed up, and we hope to have more photos soon, thanks to a good friend who took pictures at the church for us. I will share them later.

With all the craziness going on lately with Emma's health it was nice to take a moment and just celebrate the life of our son with our church and loved ones. We hang tight to those happy moments! I love my son and pray that he grows up to be a godly man. Today was a good day!

Click on this link and listen to the wonderful song Todd Smith, the lead singer in this video, wrote. He actually sang it tonight at the service. Such a sweet song, not a dry face in the whole room. Thank you to the group Selah and Todd Smith especially for such a sweet song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8nwtKXU644&feature=related

Better Days!

After the week we had it is nice to see that there are better days! Today was one of them! I will write more soon about this fun event. But till then, enjoy a snapshot of better days.

The day from you know where..

I hope to someday block today out of my mind. We spent six hours waiting at Children's today.

Let me back up and tell you why. Today at 2:50 we were suppose to be meeting with a doctor about her MRI results and to discuss her hearing issues and if she was needing implants yet or not. No big deal right? Wrong! In true Emma form, she made things complicated and we spend a loooonnnnggg time waiting in ped surgery clinic to be told she need to go to the OR for a cleaning out of her tummy. (I will not share all the gory details about how we knew she needed cleaned out) Duh we knew that, but did we really need to wait four and half hours to be told that. Poor Emma was up last night throwing up due to her belly issues and then had to wait all day long, she luckily was a trooper and slept some and sat pretty calmly while we waited. However, mommy and daddy got pretty cranky:)

So tomorrow we head to the hospital to be put to sleep and cleaned out. Hopefully we are in and out by mid day. Just worried since she has a cold and that can cause issues when she is put to sleep.

We did get good news this week, that she is doing so well with her hearing aids, we do not meet the qualifications for cochlear implants right now!! Yippee! They are thrilled about her hearing levels and her increase in speech in such a short time. We will go every three months to keep a close eye on that and make sure she stays on track. The new dr looked closely in her ears and saw that she has a hole in her right ear drum and the tube is trying to come out as well. Then when he learned they are three years old, he decided they need out soon. He hopes to go in while she is in the OR tomorrow and do the tube removal. But he is not sure if he can squeeze her in. I pray he can, since we hate to keep doing sedations. So here is hoping for good timing.

All in all a roller coaster of a week and cant wait for it to end. Emma is a trooper, but hate to keep doing this over and over again. PRaying after this trip we can finally get them to let us see A GI doctor and get some better plans together to stop this from happening. Her classmates are making her cards though which is so sweet and her new teacher is so worried. Makes me feel good that she is already loved at her new school. We hope she will be back at school by Friday, she has missed all week so far (BOO)

There you have it our crazy week!

Look at What I am learning to do??

I can not believe he is starting to sit on his own.  So excited that he is growing and hitting such milestones, but sad too.  I am not ready to have him changing so fast.  I want him to be my little baby for a bit longer.  So happy and sad all at the same time.  He is growing up so fast!!

Taylor D

I feel that Taylor has not gotten much mention on the blog lately, so tonight is a post about my smiley son!!

He is so happy and precious! The best part of the day, is when I lean over the crib to pick him up in the morning and he just breaks out in a huge grin! Love it so much and love him too. The only time he fusses is if he is hungry. He is so easy going, which is good since sissy is a little high maintence:)

He is a great nurser, and I am so glad I stuck that out. It obviously does him good, since he is a chunky monkey, and it is such a sweet time to spend with him. Yesterday I sat under a tree at a birthday party for Emma's friend, and the breeze was blowing and I could hear the kids playing in the pool behind me and Taylor was nursing sleepily and I thought " Motherhood is wonderful!" We have tried cereal but he is not too much into it, so I am waiting a bit more before I try again. I am also looking into making some of his food for two reasons: 1. better for him 2. cheaper as well. But we will see how that all works out.

He is finally rolling over and Emma gets so excited. She starts yelling roll, roll, roll, when he starts to flip. It cracks me up! He is also scooting around on his floor mats and also trying to sit up alittle bit as well. He does not like to lay back or be ignored for long. We started using the excersaucer this last week as well, he likes it pretty well. His favorite thing to do is chew on everything and drool:) I think teeth should be showing up soon.

All in all life is good right now, we are rocking along and Taylor and me are enjoying our little time alone while Emma is in school. I love my little boy!!

Starting Pre-K!!

Emma started Pre-K this week, in a blended class. That means there are special education kids and regular kids and it is taught by a special education trained teacher. Then, her special teachers: her OT, PT, hearing and speech teachers come to her classroom to work on her goals from her IEP. I was a nervous wreck, but things are going great. I love her teacher and she is not annoyed by my questions through email or texting:) She actually has an autistic and adhd child, so she really understands special needs children.

Emma is loving school as she calls it, and even wears her uniform without to much of a fight, just not her bow:) I still worry but I can email her teacher and get answers quickly which helps. Today she emailed me that Emma is really doing well listening and talking (i had asked how she thought she was doing with her hearing aids), that they are having to remind her when she is allowed to talk and when she has to listen. Hehe, I always got in trouble for that too:) I am so proud of her! She is even being quiet at quiet time. Her favorite thing is the playground right now and she tells me all about that when she gets in the car

Speaking of talking to me in the car, I get so tickled that we are able to have so much more of a real conversation now. She is doing soooo well with her aids, and she is able to answers some questions and tell me some details, and it is thrilling to me. I have waited so long to actually talk with her. She has a ways to go but it is so much better.

All in all she has had a great first few days, and I am getting use to having her gone. Taylor misses her and keeps looking for her, but he is loving all the time with mommy:)

I wish

Today my wish is that our life was not full of dr's visits, tests, sedations, and stress!!

We met with a social worker this week as part of the process for cochlear implants and she informed us, that based on our parent stress index paperwork, we scored off the charts on stress. Then, she said she understood after reading Emma's background, but that we had to start taking time for ourselves and as a couple. (we try but not hard enough). We are stressed for sure, but so is our whole family (aunts, uncle, grandparetns etc) and most of importantly Emma is as well. She just clung to me tonight, scared to go to sleep alone. She has major meltdowns lately too (worse then ever). We are going to so many appts right now for her hearing and her "normal" medical stuff, and it is wearing us all down.

I just wish our biggest worry right now was starting her new class at her new school! My goal for tomorrow is spending time with Emma and Taylor just being at home and playing and having fun! We just need a day to play! My Emma is so strong and has been through so much, I just wish she could not have..... A song phrase has been running through my head all day "there will come a day, with no more pain" I am sure that 100 years from now when Emma faces God in heaven, her wings will be brighter than bright!!

Great First Week

Emma has had an amazing first week wearing her hearing aids. Every morning she ask to put them in and wears them most of the day, her ears are getting a little sore so she is starting to want them off earlier in the night, but for the most part she wears them all waking hours. I still can not get over her face when she gets them both in, she just smiles. She hates getting them on, they are a very tight fit and have to go so far into her canal that she does not really like that part, but smiles hugely once in and on.

I still get so tickled when she turns around when I say her name, no more clapping and screaming to get her attention. I will also never forget the first time Taylor really started fussing, Emma started to shush him over and over again. I just about fell over laughing (if she only knew how loud she talks without the aids in).

We are all so proud of howwell she is doing and quickly she is adjusting. I can not wait to see how she learns in them and how much better her speech will continue to get as she learns the sounds and words around her. Right now her favorite thing is singing and watching singing shows and she loves loves to clap and make noises ( I guess she never has heard them before)

We are in a flurry of appointments not only her normal appts but tons of ones dealing with her hearing aids and the possiblity of implants. She has CT and MRI scans coming up, a new speech eval, we are meeting with a social worker as part of seeing if she is a good person to recieve implants, we also have a few other appts, it is all very overwhelming but exciting as we learn and row. On Thursday Emma will be having the tooth she knocked lose, when she knocked the other tooth out, pulled. We hate that was the earliest they could do it, since she will be missing her first day of pre-k. But it has to come out, it really bugs her and is messing up her bite.

Life is so exciting and very busy right now, but we are trying to fill it with some fun before school tarts next week. I will post some photos of our water fun soon and her last ballet class as well.

To more, here is to hearing you!!