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!
