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.
Monday, April 16, 2012
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.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Update 12/9/11
Well we are at chuck e cheese and Abby and Austin are off playing games so I thought I'd take a moment to update the blog.
Let's see...what's new? Well we got a call last week saying maddie needed a liver biopsy because her liver functions were not improving. So we scheduled the biopsy for the 8th. We already had an ID appointment on the first and were scheduled to get her hearing aids on the 2nd. They told us she needed an ultrasound and blood drawn before getting the biopsy so we did that on the 1st as well. Then we got a call on Monday this week with the results of her labs. They said that her liver enzymes had gone back down and her total bilirubin was around 1.5 (I can't remember the exact number). Because of this, they cancelled the biopsy! Yeah! What a blessing!
The ID appointment was just a check up. We told them we had discontinued use of the valganciclovir because we felt there were just not enough studies to prove that cancer wasn't a consequence of long term use. They said that was fine and that we wouldn't need to see them anymore unless we changed our minds.
The hearing aid appointment was great! We got Maddie's loaner hearing aids which are 2 different colors. She said that if we wanted the same color, we would have to get a lower model aid. It didn't matter to me because when hers come in, they will be pink! The hearing aid brand is Phonak and the model is Naida. I have researched these and apparently they give them back 80 decibels of sound! Maddie really seems to be responding to them! The first time we put them in, she just cooed like crazy! I have been praying daily for God to allow Maddie Kate to hear and what an amazing blessing we have received!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Update 11/29/11
Well we got snow here in Jackson yesterday and today. I can't remember the last time we've had snow in November! Abby enjoyed it. We're going to have to get her some snow boots though because she's grown out of hers from last year.
We go Thursday for an appointment with Infectious Disease. We decided to take Maddie off the valganciclover because the drug is still relatively new and not enough studies have been done to prove that there is no cancer risk in humans. I just don't want to take the chance. Also Maddie has an appointment on Friday to get her hearing aids. I am anxious to see how she does with them! Also, we found out yesterday that she is going to have to have a liver biopsy next week because her liver enzymes are not improving. I guess they just want to be on the safe side and make sure nothing serious is going on.
Other firsts: Maddie Kate laughed for the first time today! I had her sitting in her Bumbo seat and we were playing patty cake when it happened. So cute! I wish Austin could have been there to see it.
I guess that is all for now.
We go Thursday for an appointment with Infectious Disease. We decided to take Maddie off the valganciclover because the drug is still relatively new and not enough studies have been done to prove that there is no cancer risk in humans. I just don't want to take the chance. Also Maddie has an appointment on Friday to get her hearing aids. I am anxious to see how she does with them! Also, we found out yesterday that she is going to have to have a liver biopsy next week because her liver enzymes are not improving. I guess they just want to be on the safe side and make sure nothing serious is going on.
Other firsts: Maddie Kate laughed for the first time today! I had her sitting in her Bumbo seat and we were playing patty cake when it happened. So cute! I wish Austin could have been there to see it.
I guess that is all for now.
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