Elizabeth's Hearing Loss

I am not sure how much we have shared about Elizabeth and her hearing loss on this blog, but I thought I should post an update. 

Elizabeth was diagnosed with moderate to severe rising hearing loss in her right ear and severe hearing loss in her left ear.  What does that mean for Elizabeth?  In simple terms, it means that in her right ear she can hear high pitches but really struggles to hear the lower ones. In her left ear she struggles to hear most pitches.  Those were the conclusions determined after several Audio Brainstem Response (ABR) tests.  Here is the general timeline of what has occured since we learned that Elizabeth has significant hearing loss:>

At 4 months of age, Elizabeth received her first pair of pink (of course pink!) hearing aids. 

At 5 months of age, Elizabeth began learning how to do behavioral hearing tests. 

At 6 months of age, Elizabeth began going to speech therapy sessions once a week for an hour at a time. 

At 10 months of age, Elizabeth began going to speech therapy sessions twice a week for an hour at a time. 

At 11 month of age, the frequency of Elizabeth's hearing tests were increased to every other week. 

Also at 11 months of age, Elizabeth's audiologist, Miss Johanna, decided that we should see how Elizabeth responds/grows without wearing hearing aids. 

At 13 months of age, it was determined that Elizabeth does indeed need some audio assistance (i.e., hearing aids).

Despite the increased testings we still cannot get consistent results.  This past week I thought we were going to go ahead and give Elizabeth her left hearing aid back.  We "think" that Elizabeth is hearing better in her right ear than we originally thought and that maybe her left ear may have a rising hearing loss.  However, at our appointment this past week, Elizabeth again was not responding with her right ear, so we are all left very confused. I am making an appointment to get Elizabeth another visit with her ENT to have her re-examined to see if the ENT notices any new issues in her right middle ear. 

Within the next two weeks, our team at NYEE Children's Hearing Institute will make their recommendations as to what what they think will be best for Elizabeth.  At this point, I want Elizabeth to return to wearing the hearing aid(s).  I want to know that she hears sounds around her.   I feel like she has stalled with her speech development, and I want to see her progress.


We will keep you posted! 

American Museum of Natural History Part 1

Peering through the telescope

I believe Katie's favorite part was all the space to run around!

Playing on Momimy's pink iPad (it is actually a Kindle Fire but don't tell Katie)

Thankful

Yesterday our dear friend Hannah, a young child with hearing loss, celebrated her one-year anniversary of receiving bilateral cochlear implants.  What a day to celebrate!  Hannah is an adorable little girl (she is almost 2-years-old).  Hannah is so full of life, and she has an adorable smile.  Thanks to cochlear implants Hannah can now hear her mommy sing to her.  She can hear Katie call out to her when they play before speech therapy.  Hannah and her mom, Jen, have become wonderful friends to us since we started going to the Children's Hearing Institute. Over the last 24 hours, I cannot stop thinking about how blessed we are to be raising children at this point of history.

I know our country is struggling right now.  For many reasons, it breaks my heart to think about what may be in store for our children as they get older.  Frequently, people tell me that they are sorry for the world that our children are inheriting.  While there certainly are some huge challenges facing our children, this point in history also provides our children with some amazing blessings.  
 

Thanks to living in New York City in  2013, I know that my daughter will be able to develop reasonably normally despite her hearing loss!  Thanks to the amazing technology of newborn hearing screenings, we became aware of Elizabeth's potential hearing loss before we left the hospital two days after she was born.  Thanks to the amazing technology of modern hearing aids, Elizabeth be able to grow up without having to learn sign language and with very little speech delay (hopefully).  There are so many blessings that are available to children today that were not available in previous generations.  I choose to be thankful.

Okay I am off my soapbox now. 

Is it me or does she have a look that suggests she is up to something?

I LOVE Elizabeth's profile. Her little face makes me smile.

Katieism- prince and princess

Yesterday, the girls and I were at a department store looking at Easter dresses.  Katie LOVED the big poofy dresses for little girls and the adorable little suits for little boys (some of the suits had bow ties- how fun would it be to have a little boy?).

After looking for a few minutes, Katie explained:

"Mommy, I love these pretty dresses.  I think I need one.  Actually, James needs to get a shirt and tie like daddy wears to work, and I will get the pretty pink dress.  I will be the princess, and he will be the prince."

Poor, sick Katie. She was actually mellow!

Pioneer Woman - I know we would be such great friends

So BK (before kids) I used to have the time to follow blogs and read for the pure joy of reading.  Yes.  That was a long time ago -sigh.  There are a few blogs and things that I try to make time to read/follow.  One of those blogs is the Pioneer Woman.  

 

I happened upon her website years ago when looking for a recipe of some sort.  I am sure it was delicious.  Everything I have ever made of hers has been phenomenal.  She is now becoming a well known name in many households thanks to her  series on the Food Network.  

Have you ever read someone's work/blog etc. and thought "wow!  he/she thinks like me?"   I totally think we would be friends if we knew one another.  Hah! Yes!  I just said that. Okay.  Actually, I wrote that.  I can just picture Husband shaking his head at me and sighing.  Seriously, though!  Pioneer Woman (Ree) is hilarious. 

Today's post had me laughing.  Her ranch has lost power last night and she has since spent the day forgetting that you need to use electricity for things such as using the microwave and vacuuming.  This would totally be me.

Pioneer Woman

Katieism: B&H

All day Katie has been begging to go to B&H.  Our conversation this evening. 
"Katie, why do we NEED to go to B&H?"
"I need a new camera to take better pictures.  You need a new camera too because actually mom, I don't like your pictures yesterday."
"You don't like the pictures I took yesterday?"
"No.  Let's go get a new camera."
"So we need to go and buy new cameras to take better pictures?"
"Actually, we could just go and get some yummy candy."

Ahhhh.  The real reason she loves B&H comes out.  

BFFs!

Are you still taking pictures?

Silliness - I don't know where she gets it.

Katie and Daddy (Mommys is trying to be creative)

Our view at sunset. I LOVE this apartment.

Katie!

I can almost reach.....

Katie loves to practice ballet

I think Katie told a joke.

A carrot for his nose!

We didn't get the opportunity to build a snowman with this snowstorm. The snow at the park was too soft and powdery. Daddy had to work most of the weekend and Mommy wasn't very capable of getting down to build the snowman while wearing Elizabeth. So Katie played with her carrot in the snow instead. It was almost as fun!

Happy President's Day - Bonus Post

In honor of this three-day-weekend I decided to post an additional picture.  This is currently my favorite picture of Elizabeth.  She was a good sport and did a little photo shoot after her nap. 

Bluetooth is Awesome

For Valentine's Day, Wife thought about the things I like and performed diligent research to come up with the perfect, creative gift that I would enjoy.  She gave me something that, honestly, surprised me - a Bluetooth wireless speaker system.  Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short-wavelength radio transmissions) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. 

The bottom line is that I can now set up my iPod, iPad, Galax S3, Blackberry, and notebook computer to all use this wireless speaker system.  I just turn on a device, and I can listen to music through the speakers.  This gift has taught me a several lessons:

1.  It is incredibly easy to set up Bluetooth networks.

2.  Life is much, much easier without wires.

3.  I have way too many electronic devices.

NBA All Star Weekend...Not Must Watch TV

How did NBA All-Star Weekend turn into such a snooze?  I had the television on during most of last night's festivities (the shootout, skills challenge, 3-point contest and dunk contest).  I can't decide which of those competitions was the most painful...they might all tie for the worst.  Really, it probably would have been more entertaining to watch any team in the NBA do warm-up drills than to watch those "all-star" events.  The real stars don't participate in these contests any more, so we are stuck watching a bunch of guys that nobody knows anything about parade around as if they really are the superstars of the NBA.  I feel badly for the announcers trying to make these events seem relevant, exciting and entertaining.  But I guess, I'm the sucker....I left the television on for a couple hours while the NBA's bench-warmers competed.

The Food Network's "Worst Cook in America"

The Food Network has some competition shows that I enjoy - the Next Food Network Star, the Next Iron Chef. the Great Food Truck Race.  Their current competition is the Worst Cook in America.  I just can't get into this show.  At all.  When a contestant wins this show, doesn't it just mean that the Food Network probably shouldn't have let this individual on the show in the first place because he or she is clearly not really one of the worst cooks in America?  Shouldn't the first contestant eliminated from the show really be the show's winner?

More Pictures from Nemo!

Elizabeth and her exersaucer part 2

Oh...I can see it in her eye. Is she starting to turn?

She is showing her teeth! Uh Oh!

And let the tantrum begin!

Elizabeth and her exersaucer part 1

Playing with all the fun toys!

She Looks so happy!

How about a kiss?

Pure Joy

Look at that smile!

My good looking hubby!