Music to My Ears

As a 'new' Mama of a deaf or hard of hearing (HOH) child I seem to learn something new every week.

Such as...

Changing and cleaning hearing aids and molds

Pointing out and talking about everything in sight (yes, I'm the lady at the grocery store who looks like she's talking to herself, while Hannah looks the other way). 

And making all sorts of sounds to see if Hannah can hear them. 

I have learned that while a regular hearing baby learns sounds and words passively, a HOH child needs to learn them directly. So I must be much more intentional when speaking to Hannah. 

I know kids don't speak at 8 months, but lots of verbal processes are already in the works. 

Well, Monday this Mama was rewarded by hearing her start babbling!!

Right now it's a lot of babababa and wawawawa. Music to my ears! 

Before Monday she did make noises, but nothing that showed us she was distinguishing sounds, just a lot of long or short (kind of yelling) sounds. 

We are rejoicing that even with her limited hearing she is learning and that her brain is hearing too! 

I'm video (posting) impaired so I can't leave you with proof, but I'll post a cute pic. 

"The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

Eye Update

Well, by last Friday I finally remembered to cover each eye once to test Hannah's vision. From my (non-professional) opinion she does not seem to preference an eye, hallelujah.

I made her grab for toys, put things on the opposite side to see if she saw them and a few more tricks and everything seems normal. She didn't really fuss until about an hour in and I think that was a combo of the still-present witching hour and her just wanting it off her eye. 

She looks pretty happy to me!

Thanks for praying for our girl so consistently. She has 1 more month of her anti-viral medicine and I am ready for it to be over. 

She takes it no problem, but I do think it makes her a little hyper, especially at night.  So, I'm hoping her sleep improves when she goes off the medicine. 

We have seen lots of improvement during PT the last 2 weeks. She is gaining core strength and is almost able to sit unassisted. Right now she can sit for a few seconds and then usually face plants. 

How many pillows can one girl use?

Her left hand is working a little better too. Her hand is still fisted (loosely) most of the time, but if I help her she will open her hand and play with toys. This is a huge improvement!

Look at that left hand! Woo hoo!

The professionals say it's hard for her to lift her arm, open her hand and play with the toy all at the same time. I guess you could say it's a brain-thing. So, by us helping her we are training her brain to do these things at the same time. Isn't that pretty amazing??  I guess it's like anything else we learn, or teach our brain to do, but in Hannah's case it doesn't come naturally. 

Her right side seems to be completely normal. She grabs everything in sight with that hand!

Hannah is such a fun-loving little girl. She is definitely my smiley child. She is living up to her middle name--Joy. I pray that she will exude joy wherever she goes.

"You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of JOY; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

Psalm 16:11

Wait and See

That little phrase seems to be the theme of my little girl's life.

Wait and see. 

You never really hear it in a positive context, especially when it comes from the mouths of specialists, therapists, pediatricians. 

Will she need cochlear implants?

...wait and see. 

Will she learn to grab with her left hand?

...wait and see. 

Will the brain trauma she suffered in utero effect her long term?

...wait and see. 

Well, this week we heard it again. 

This time from her pediatric ophthalmologist. We went in for a 6 month check up and she noticed that Hannah's left eye was not tracking like her right (grrr, that left side). So this week we are experimenting with an eye patch. 

And now we must "wait and see". 

I covered her left eye yesterday and she was fine, except not really liking the patch and trying to take it off. Today or tomorrow I will patch the right. If she gets angry and cries there's probably something wrong. 

It's hard on many levels but one thing Keith points out, almost daily, is how beautiful she is and all these things she has to wear takes away from that. 

Some of you may not have seen her new hat. 

This is the hat she must wear so she doesn't pull out her hearing aids. So now we've got hearing aids, a hat and now possibly a patch. 

Poor thing. 

Lord, help others to look past these things and see the beautiful little girl you've created. 

Help us to "wait and see" what you will do in her life with great expectation. 

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

Maddie's Mission

I guess you can say I'm still reminiscing about our time in Austin.

However it does help that the weather in Louisville is absolutely gorgeous this week, so at least we didn't come back to rain and cold weather.

While we were there we got the chance to take some family pictures--yay!

A friend of mine is an amazing photographer and is really able to capture "moments" and not just your standard photo.  So, we were excited when she was available to spend some time with our family at a nearby park.

Of course this is what the weather was like when we arrived...

But the sun quickly came out.  

After our time together Lynn told me about a friend of hers who also had some sad experience with CMV.  Her daughter was named Maddie and her story is at the link above.  

It was so encouraging to talk with someone who had at least heard of the virus, however due to unfortunate circumstances.  She told me her friend had started an organization called Maddie's Mission in the Houston area and I should check out her page.  

Her website does give a lot of the facts and has some encouraging stories of kiddos who are doing really well (which you don't find online very often).  This organization is fundraising and working with TX representatives to increase the awareness of the virus in that state.  Bless them!

I have contacted this organization and a few others, when I come across them, to see what they are doing.  I do pray that my kids will not have to worry about this virus when they have kids.  

I'll leave you with a few other photos from our time together.  If you are in the Austin area and need a good photographer make sure you check out this link you won't be disappointed!   

priceless snuggles

 finally getting my girl to smile!

father & son

I love you

"Therefore we do not lose heart.

Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

2 Corinthians 4:16