Well life has been extremely busy lately which is why I haven't had the time to post. Sorry guys! There has literally been only 1 weekend since April where both Austin and I have been home. If we haven't had an event going on, Austin has to work...if Austin doesn't have to work, then we have an event going on (usually that involves travel). In fact today was the first time we have attended our church in 6 weeks! We have traveled for 6 weeks straight! On top of that, we are trying to sell our house ourselves which involves quite a bit of work. So, sorry everyone, but we won't be traveling anymore for awhile!
New for Maddie Kate: Well Maddie Kate had her hearing test in May which determined that she did indeed need the cochlear implants rather than hearing aids. We then had vacation end of May first of June which was Maddie's first trip to the beach. Maddie started crawling some time in June when she was around 8 - 8 1/2 months. In August, when Maddie was around 11 months, she began taking steps. She has taken her time with full our walking, but within the past week she has been walking everywhere! She is finally ready! Maddie Kate had surgery for her cochlear implants on August 17th. She did great! We really weren't too surprised what a trooper she was. That's just her attitude. She is a strong willed and determined young lady. She received the external piece to her implants on September 14th which enabled her to hear. We were hoping for some exciting display of her ability to hear, but it was overall pretty anti-climatic. :( Oh well. We have seen enough over the last week to keep things exciting. We are very pleased with how Maddie Kate reacts to sound now. We were given several set volume levels for her implants and have slowly been turning up the volume. She is really handling the sound well which could be the reason for the pretty anti-climatic implant activation! The audiologists are surprised at how well and how quickly she is handling sound. She must really want to hear! She definitely reacts to loud sounds and now that we have the volume turned up, she is reacting to our voices as well! She didn't mess with her implants until I turned her volume up yesterday. Now she keeps wanting to pull the right one off. I hope it's not too much sound for her. I may have to readjust the volume on that side.
Developmentally, Maddie is right on track. She had a developmental test last Tuesday and was scored above average for cognition, average for motor skills, and below average for communication (obviously!). We are very pleased with her progress considering her outlook at birth. She is a little firecracker that is for sure. She wants to get into every cabinet and door. I have to daily pick up tupperware or headbands or towels that she has decided to pull out. I have childproofed most cabinets, just not all. She loves to be outside and loves to look at books. A good day for Maddie is to be outside all day and to get as much to eat as she wants! I'm really trying hard to work with Maddie with words now that she can hear, but I have another child vying for attention! Speaking of Abby...
Abby is so funny now. She has transformed from a very quiet, independent child to a loquacious, social child! Today we went on a walk and she just talked the entire walk. Half the time I wasn't even sure what she was talking about! She kept telling me about watching a pretend car movie at pretend school and she had an entire story weaved around that. She's hilarious! She loves to make us laugh, but does not like to be laughed at. She has a very tender heart and does not like to get in trouble. She is very motherly is a really a great big sister to Maddie Kate. Her imagination is wild! She can sit and play make believe with her toys forever or make up stories like she did on our walk today. She also has an unbelievable memory. I'm not sure if all 3 year olds can remember as well as she does, but it is pretty fascinating. Maybe it's only fascinating because I don't have ANY memory anymore. lol. Abby is also becoming more active and less upset over "boo-boos." She fell several times today at the park and hardly made a peep. Before, it would have been drama until a band-aid was applied (even if there wasn't any blood). Another funny thing Abby told us the other day is that she is going to college to be a doctor, but mommy and memaw were coming with her! lol. I am so going to remind her of that some day!
New for Austin and I: Nothing really new for me except that I am just tired from chasing after a 1 year old and trying to communicate with a 3 year old. Austin is actually working on a contract with a physician in Shelbyville. Hopefully we will have a finished contract within the next month. It is taking a while to nail down details but is a necessary evil. We are looking forward to moving back to Murfreesboro within the next year. It will be nice to be close to everyone again!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
It's been awhile...
Sorry that I have not posted in awhile. There have been several new things that have happened. Abby had her 3rd birthday party and it was a blast! Abby had so much fun playing with her cousins and friends in the inflatable! Maddie Kate is growing like a weed. She has two teeth now. Her second tooth came in on April 5th. Maddie is also officially army crawling now, but she is also getting up on all fours and rocking and lunging forward. She will be crawling in no time at all. Maddie Kate's new favorite thing is to pull out her hearing aids and put them in her mouth. It is a battle everyday to keep them in. I guess I'm going to have to start taping them to her head!
Abby's speech is improving everyday. She still says a few funny things though. For example, when she pluralizes words, she adds an "a" before the "s". So instead of saying "socks," she would say "sockas". We can't seem to break her of this habit. She also says "crap" instead of "crack." She told me the other day that her chip had a crap in it. She is becoming the regular helper nowadays. She likes to help me with Maddie Kate and likes to help me clean and grocery shop. She tells me she "loves to shop." Oh boy! She also has a little baby doll that she has named "little Maddie Kate." She also has taken one of her purses and turned it into a diaper bag for little Maddie Kate.
Things to come: We have Maddie Kate's next hearing test on May 2nd. This hearing test is called a behavorial hearing test. The test will be done without her aids on. The audiologist will play sounds and increasingly higher decibals until Maddie Kate responds to the sound. This is how we will know exactly how profound her hearing loss is. It will also let us know whether she will for sure need cochlear implants or if she would do well with just the hearing aids. Also, Austin has a couple of interviews set up with some clinics in Middle Tennessee. One in Shelbyville and one in Murfreesboro. Obviously we are not signing any contracts until we know what we are going to do about Maddie Kate (whether she will need to attend school at the Vanderbilt Mama Lere Hearing School or not). Another thing coming up is that we are getting professional pictures of the girls. We are going to try and get this scheduled for next week. We have not had any professional pictures taken of Maddie Kate yet.
Abby's speech is improving everyday. She still says a few funny things though. For example, when she pluralizes words, she adds an "a" before the "s". So instead of saying "socks," she would say "sockas". We can't seem to break her of this habit. She also says "crap" instead of "crack." She told me the other day that her chip had a crap in it. She is becoming the regular helper nowadays. She likes to help me with Maddie Kate and likes to help me clean and grocery shop. She tells me she "loves to shop." Oh boy! She also has a little baby doll that she has named "little Maddie Kate." She also has taken one of her purses and turned it into a diaper bag for little Maddie Kate.
Things to come: We have Maddie Kate's next hearing test on May 2nd. This hearing test is called a behavorial hearing test. The test will be done without her aids on. The audiologist will play sounds and increasingly higher decibals until Maddie Kate responds to the sound. This is how we will know exactly how profound her hearing loss is. It will also let us know whether she will for sure need cochlear implants or if she would do well with just the hearing aids. Also, Austin has a couple of interviews set up with some clinics in Middle Tennessee. One in Shelbyville and one in Murfreesboro. Obviously we are not signing any contracts until we know what we are going to do about Maddie Kate (whether she will need to attend school at the Vanderbilt Mama Lere Hearing School or not). Another thing coming up is that we are getting professional pictures of the girls. We are going to try and get this scheduled for next week. We have not had any professional pictures taken of Maddie Kate yet.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Spring is in the air...
Well spring is officially in the air. Yeah! I cannot wait for this summer. I am looking forward to all of the fun things we are going to be able to do with the girls.
Maddie Kate has cut her first tooth. She cut it on March 3rd. Also she is officially sitting up! I am working on uploading new pictures and videos to our shutterfly site so check them out at www.themackensfamily.shutterfly.com. It may take a few hours to upload so maybe check back tomorrow. Maddie is also wants to crawl really bad. She is almost getting up on all fours, but is not quite there yet. When she scoots, she usually either moves in a circle or scoots backward. She has not been able to pull herself forward yet.
Abby is getting very excited about her Dora birthday party coming up! We sure hope it doesn't rain so that we can have the inflatable for the kids! Abby has been a very big helper lately and helps do the dishes almost every night. She also is gettting to where she likes to help with Maddie Kate more.
Maddie Kate has cut her first tooth. She cut it on March 3rd. Also she is officially sitting up! I am working on uploading new pictures and videos to our shutterfly site so check them out at www.themackensfamily.shutterfly.com. It may take a few hours to upload so maybe check back tomorrow. Maddie is also wants to crawl really bad. She is almost getting up on all fours, but is not quite there yet. When she scoots, she usually either moves in a circle or scoots backward. She has not been able to pull herself forward yet.
Abby is getting very excited about her Dora birthday party coming up! We sure hope it doesn't rain so that we can have the inflatable for the kids! Abby has been a very big helper lately and helps do the dishes almost every night. She also is gettting to where she likes to help with Maddie Kate more.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
New things for Maddie Kate
Maddie Kate is 5 months now. Yeah! As of this past weekend, she is now rolling over both ways!! We think she may be cutting her first tooth. She has had some sleepless nights lately and has a little place on her gums that looks primed for a tooth. Her new favorite thing is jumping in her jumper. I think she likes it so much because she can stand in it, and she loves to stand! She can sit supported and is on the verge of sitting unsupported.
Maddie's hearing aids are still working very well for her. We have to get new ear molds about every month because her ears are growing so fast. She definitely vocalizes a lot more with the aids on but we still don't know how much language she is getting. When she is able to sit up independently and turn her head towards sounds, they will do another hearing test. They do not want to do the same test they did when she was 3 weeks old because they would have to sedate her now to keep her from moving during the test.
Abby is growing too. She will be 3 years old next month. She is talking a lot more and a lot more clearly now. She is definitely at the imitating stage too and she loves to be a big helper. Last night she helped me wash the dishes. So cute! She loves school and loves learning. She knows how to count to 10 in spanish now. She has lots of "favorites" now. Her favorite TV show is Dora the Explorer, her favorite stuffed animal is pokey puppy, her favorite color is pink, and her favorite book is Lady and the Tramp. These could of course all change next week. She has many more favorites and likes to tell you things that are her favorite all the time. For example, we were eating soup the other day and I said "why don't you take a bite of carrot. You like carrots." And she said "mmm, carrots are my favorite!" Of course the corn and the beans in the soup were apparently her favorites too.
Maddie's hearing aids are still working very well for her. We have to get new ear molds about every month because her ears are growing so fast. She definitely vocalizes a lot more with the aids on but we still don't know how much language she is getting. When she is able to sit up independently and turn her head towards sounds, they will do another hearing test. They do not want to do the same test they did when she was 3 weeks old because they would have to sedate her now to keep her from moving during the test.
Abby is growing too. She will be 3 years old next month. She is talking a lot more and a lot more clearly now. She is definitely at the imitating stage too and she loves to be a big helper. Last night she helped me wash the dishes. So cute! She loves school and loves learning. She knows how to count to 10 in spanish now. She has lots of "favorites" now. Her favorite TV show is Dora the Explorer, her favorite stuffed animal is pokey puppy, her favorite color is pink, and her favorite book is Lady and the Tramp. These could of course all change next week. She has many more favorites and likes to tell you things that are her favorite all the time. For example, we were eating soup the other day and I said "why don't you take a bite of carrot. You like carrots." And she said "mmm, carrots are my favorite!" Of course the corn and the beans in the soup were apparently her favorites too.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Maddie Kate update
Maddie Kate is just such a miracle! We had labs drawn today at her GI appointment and all have improved. Her bilirubin is finally normal at 0.6! Yeah! So no more medicine for Maddie! Her liver functions have also improved. The GI doctor says we won't have to come back for another 6 months! Can you believe that in 6 months Maddie will be 10 months old? Time sure is flying.
Other firsts: Maddie has started solids. She has had rice cereal and pears. She is not crazy about the rice cereal but loves the pears! We plan on trying sweet potatoes next. I had planned on waiting until closer till 6 months to start solids but when she started waking up in the middle of the night starving and she was already taking full bottles during the day, we decided it was time. Also Maddie Kate has started laughing. She really does have the sweetest laugh! She is still rolling over front to back but is not quite ready to roll back to front. She has discovered her hands but not her feet yet. And she is gaining abdominal strength and will be sitting up before we know it!
Ok, I bid you adieu. I hope God blesses your life in an unimaginable way like he has ours.
Other firsts: Maddie has started solids. She has had rice cereal and pears. She is not crazy about the rice cereal but loves the pears! We plan on trying sweet potatoes next. I had planned on waiting until closer till 6 months to start solids but when she started waking up in the middle of the night starving and she was already taking full bottles during the day, we decided it was time. Also Maddie Kate has started laughing. She really does have the sweetest laugh! She is still rolling over front to back but is not quite ready to roll back to front. She has discovered her hands but not her feet yet. And she is gaining abdominal strength and will be sitting up before we know it!
Ok, I bid you adieu. I hope God blesses your life in an unimaginable way like he has ours.
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