Holestine Family

Welcome to Holland

2010-02-01T15:51:00.003-06:00

For some reason today I am feeling very sad for my sweet, hearing impaired little girl. I really don't get like this very often. After all, there has been so much hope, and nothing but success stories since the day she was born. But, every once in a while, I just get very sad that she will always have to work a little harder than the rest of us.

So, I'm posting this poem (which we've all heard) in honor of my baby girl, and this busy, crazy, wouldn't trade it for anything life she has given us.

"Welcome to Holland"

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Parents Day at SJID

2010-01-15T11:43:00.003-06:00

Today was Parent's Day at Abby's school. When I first got the information, I misunderstood and thought it was only during breakfast time. I found out a few days later it was an entire day event where parents could go to the school and meet with other parents, observe the kids day, eat lunch with their child, and then attend some informational seminars in the afternoon. Well, since I only found out it was an all day event at the last minute I wasn't able to take the day off. So I attended from 8am to 10:00am this morning.

I am just amazed at how structured the little 3/4 year old preschool class is. They are so cute, and know their routine so well. When they first get to school, Abby's teacher does hearing checks. She has each child take a turn and go stand by "Brooke" (Brooke is a lifesize doll that they use for a lot of activities in the classroom). The teacher then goes thru the Ling sound drills (oo, ee, a, m, sh, s and other sounds). As she says each sound, the child repeats. She takes a long pause before one sound for each of the kids and when they hear the pause they say "nothing". It was very cute. Brooke is about 10 feet away from the teacher. It was exciting for me to see Abby hear each and every sound from 10 feet away (even s and sh)!!

The next thing they do is circle time where they sing a little song about each child who is at school and they do their calendar time with day of the week, Month, and date. Abby is really doing well with counting and counts to 20 pretty consistently.

After circle time they have an event each day. I'm not sure what each of the daily events are, but today was story time. Abby's teacher has several books sitting out, all related to winter and cold weather. The kids picked out a story and Gina read it, pausing for them to fill in blanks (they've heard these stories a few times). Then, they go to the table for another event (today was show and tell).

Long story short, after 2 hours of sitting activities, they finally get to go and play. Their playtime is also structured by having certain things set out for play. This month they are learning all the language around winter. So they are learning words like snow, scarf, mittens, earmuffs, etc.

Abby was very proud to have her mom there today. She was acting a little shy because I was there, but for the most part she did really well. She is such a hard little worker and now I better understand why she is SO tired in the evenings and on weekends!

A Brand New Year

2010-01-14T15:24:00.002-06:00

When I created this blog, the sole purpose was to keep friends and family updated on Abby's Cochlear Implant Surgery and the progress she made following that surgery. Later, it turned into a Family blog, but if you think about it raising a child with a disability is a family process right? Actually, raising any child with or without a disability is a family process. My goal this year is to be much better at keeping this blog up to date, and to take the time to celebrate the successes that Seth, Abby, and our family have throughout the year.

So...here goes....

Seth Robert is half-way through kindergarten. How he got to be 5 1/2 years old so fast is completely beyond me. I love seeing him grow and I love the sweet heart and spirit that he has. He is very active and hard to get to sit or stand still at times, but he has one of the sweetest hearts of anyone I know. Seth is always thinking about ways to help people. He loves to give, he loves to help, and he loves being a blessing to anyone and everyone. He is beginning to ask some very deep questions and challenges his dad and I to look deeper to find answers to those questions at times. My prayer is that his heart will always stay so tender and he will continue to love others so much. Seth is also beginning to read, tell time, and do addition. It is so incredible to watch my baby boy turn into a big boy.

Abby is half-way through her first year of Preschool and is at 18 months post Implant surgery. She is getting so big. Hard to believe my baby is almost 4. Abby works so hard. So many times I feel so sorry for her having to start school at such a young age, and having to work so hard just to do what the rest of us picked up by mere observation (speak and listen). On the other hand, I am so incredibly proud of her and so thankful for the determined spirit that God has given her which pushes her to succeed. I'm also very thankful for the resources that are available to her and the progress she has made in such a short time. I will try to be more diligent in posting about the specific milestones that she accomplishes.

Seth (big) - Seth is turning 30 this month! I'm very excited about this because we will be in the same decade again, well at least for a few years :) He is an incredible husband and dad and I appreciate so much how involved he is with the kids. He has taken on some really large home improvement projects this year, but when do we not have home improvement projects going on around our house?

Me - well, not much to say here. I work, I clean, take care of the kids, do laundry : ) In all seriousness, I'm hoping this will be the year to return to my 'normal' self. Ever since having the kids my life has become so busy that I have kind of forgotten to really take time for myself. Not in a selfish way, but in a 'keeping my sanity' way. I joined a program at the YMCA starting this year in which I work out with a training 3 hours a week. I cannot believe in just 1 1/2 weeks how much better I feel. I pray for some of the determination my sweet daughter has so I keep up with this : )

OK, so I promise to keep this blog updated more regularly. And, I will post pictures. I promise!!

Love to all,
Hannah

Abby's Birthday

2009-05-21T14:45:00.004-05:00

OK, So I haven't posted in 3 months...I don't know where the time has gone.

We've had a busy few months. Abby's birthday was April 25 and she turned 3. She is SO big.

She had all of her cousins and friends over for her Cinderella birthday party. She had lots of fun and was very excited about her presents.

Abby also LOVED her cupcakes as you will see from the pictures below.

Yes, that IS blue icing on her hands, not fingerpaint!

Abby got lots of great presents, but her favorite present was her Spiderman helmet and kneepads that her brother got for her. Seriously, the girl LOVES Spiderman. Here she is riding her princess bike, with her Spiderman gear on.

Seth also had a birthday and he turned 5 years old. I will post pictures from his party later. He is still waiting on his present from Mom and Dad. It is a HUGE surprise and we are looking for the right one. Sorry to leave you hanging, but I'll post once he gets it.

Sigh of Relief

2009-02-23T21:24:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted about this because I was trying very hard not to worry too much until we found out what was going on.

For the past couple months we have been noticing that Seth hasn't been hearing as well as normal. It was kind of strange because it didn't seem to be consistent. One day he would hear me call him from the next room, and the next day he wouldn't hear me talking to him from 3 feet away. We really started to get concerned when other people started mentioning that they were noticing it as well.

So, Abby had a 6 month post-surgery appointment about a month ago, and I took Seth along hoping that Dr Clary would look at his ears even though he hadn't had a hearing test at that point. Dr Clary, being the wonderful, caring Doctor that he is, did look in Seth's ears while we were there for Abby's appointment. He said that Seth had quite a bit of earwax plugged up deep in his ear canal (sorry to be gross). He wanted us to put drops in his ears for several weeks before attempting to remove it.

Even knowing that this was most likely the cause of his hearing loss, and that it would be temporary, I was still worried. Having one hearing impaired child, I kept thinking what if Abby's hearing loss is genetic, and just now showing up in Seth at the age of 4 1/2. During the month that we were putting the drops in his ears, we also got a note from his teacher that he didn't seem to be hearing well....and just as luck would have it, his school had a vision and hearing screening in which he failed the hearing portion of the test. Talk about stressful!!

Well, today was finally the big day that we had our follow-up with Dr Clary. I told him about the failed hearing test and that the results were that Seth was hearing at about a 35 decibel loss. Thankfully Dr Clary was able to remove all of the wax from his ears and commented that the amount there was could certainly cause a hearing loss at that level.

We left the Dr's office with a HUGE weight lifted off of my shoulders for sure. As we were walking out I whispered Seth's name from behind him a couple of times, and each time he turned around quickly....he also asked me why the elevator bells were so loud as we got on the elevator. I have no idea how long his ears have been 'plugged' but I'm so thankful that this was all the problem was.

We still plan to schedule him a follow up hearing test, but I have no doubts he will pass it!

I think I have the "Flea"

2009-02-22T17:00:00.002-06:00

We were leaving church today, when Seth Robert started sneezing several times in a row. After about 5 sneezes he says "Mom, I think I have the flea."

Knowing he meant the flu, we played it up with him for a couple of minutes...telling him he couldn't play with his dog or he might give him fleas...he couldn't go to school and spread fleas.

Finally we told him he doesn't have the FLU...something in the air was just making him sneeze.

What Next!!??

2009-02-06T09:29:00.002-06:00

The last couple weeks have been full of stress and not much fun for our family. We certainly need to schedule something fun to make up for all of this.

1. All of us had a stomach bug (each about a week apart).

2. Boeing laid off 10% of their IT department last Friday. The days leading up to that were very stressful, but thankfully I'm not affected by the layoffs. This is the first time I've been through the possibility of layoffs in my 11+ years at Boeing. It is very sad to see peers and friends who will be leaving in about 2 months.

3. Abby got sick yesterday. A few weeks ago when we all had the stomach bug, Abby didn't have a very big 'case' of it. I guess she made up for that yesterday when she couldn't keep anything down for about 10 hours.

Now for some fun!

This week is going to be beautiful and I plan to get outside and enjoy it! I think a trip to the Park would do us all some good : ) Tomorrow is my grandma's 92nd birthday. Can you imagine living 92 years! We will go to Waterloo tomorrow to celebrate with her. It will be fun for the kids to see all of their cousins from my side of the family.

I realize I haven't posted any pictures here in a while. Maybe I can work on that this weekend too!!

Vacation For Mom!

2009-01-21T23:15:00.002-06:00

Well, Kind Of. I'm in Seattle all week this week on business. I have joked with my friends that it's like being on vacation even though I have to work. It's kind of a nice break to have no one but myself to take care of for a whole week : ) It helps a TON to have such a great husband who is able to take care of everything with the kids so I don't have to worry while I'm gone.

I haven't gotten to do much while in Seattle, except for the nightly eating out. I'm traveling with my boss, and he has the car : ) I am perfectly fine it though as I've had lots time to read, watch TV, and other things I don't normally get to do.

Last week was quite the crazy week. Both of the kids had a stomach bug and Seth and I each had to miss a day of work to stay home with them. Friday night, I woke up around midnight with the same stomach bug. It's amazing how quick the kids bounce back from being sick, and how long we as adults are down. I think I stayed in bed a total of about 20 hours between Friday night and Saturday night. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to make my flight on Sunday, but luckily woke up Sunday morning feeling great!

I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend with the family when I get home.

6 Months Post Implant!

2009-01-06T14:09:00.003-06:00

This post is long overdue!

The kids and I were off the last two weeks of December and just returned to work and school on Jan 5. However, I somehow could not find the time to get a post in during that time : )

When I started this blog, the purpose was to keep everyone updated on Abby's surgery and follow up speech and language progress. I've been really bad about keeping updates about Abby's progress. I think sometimes I just take the things she is doing for granted because despite her hearing limitations, she is a very normal child. However, when I really think about what she is able to hear, understand, and speak compared to many other people in her situation, her progress just blows my mind!

So, let me see how much I can get everyone up to date on Abby. She has had her Cochlear Implant for 6 months now, and it has been turned on for 5 months (almost 6). Words cannot describe the progress she has made in the last 6 months. Her vocabulary contains (I'm guessing here) at least a couple hundred words, and most of those words are understandable not only to Seth and I, but to others as well. She is becoming much more clear in some of the words that she knew before the implant as those 'gaps' in the words that she was not hearing before her implant are now being filled in with her ability to hear so much more through the implant. For Example she has always called Seth "Brother" because in the word Seth all she could hear was 'e'. Brother started out as some 2 syllable word starting with a 'b' sound; something like 'bu-u'. Brother now sounds like 'bu-der'...much more like you would expect a 2 year old to say it. She also tries to say Seth now...it is more than just 'e' but I cannot really describe how she's saying it. What is so cool at it is that now she knows she is hearing something before and after the 'e' and she is trying to repeat that. We are still working on the 'th' sound because that one is also new to her, but she does have in in some words like 'toothbrush'.

Another sound that we are really working on is 'S'. She does not seem to be responding consistently to the S sound, however it's kind of strange because on occasion she will say the 'S' sound. Her speech therapist thinks she is hearing it, but just hasn't connected yet that it's a sound because it is such a soft sound ( I know that probably sounds crazy and all of this did to me when we started this journey, but I do understand what she means by that now : )

Over Christmas we were doing something and out of the blue Abby counted to 10! I had no idea she could count to 3 much less to 10 so of course ever since then I've been setting different objects out for her to count and she consistently counts to 10.

I will try to be more consistent in tracking Abby's progress on this blog. I also want to take some time to write Abby's Story from start to present. I think it would be helpful for other mom's ( and dad's) of newly identified hearing impaired babies to see the possibilities and normalcy their children can have with this disability!

Too Cute

2008-12-16T14:51:00.001-06:00

Here is a cute, funny fact about Abby. When there is snow falling from the sky she points and says 'it's nowing,' and when there is snow on the ground she points and says 'Marshmallows.'

How DOES Santa do that??

2008-12-01T13:07:00.002-06:00

Last night was the official opening of the Holestine fireplace this season and Seth and Seth Robert were going to build a nice fire. They were stacking the kindling wood into the fireplace (before lighting it) and I noticed Seth Robert kept leaning in and looking up the chimney.

Finally he says "Dad, that chimney sure is dirty. We will have to clean it or Santa will get dirty." Then he looks again, "Dad, how does Santa fit in there, and how does he not get burned?" The wheels continued turning, "Dad, we will have to make sure we clean the chimney AND not have a fire the night Santa is coming. I guess he will have to use magic to fit down the chimney."

I love the innocence of believing in Santa!

Still Here!

2008-11-18T19:46:00.002-06:00

Yes, we are still here! I cannot believe it has been over a month since I last posted.

It's been a very busy month (but aren't they all). The kids are still doing great in school. Abby is consistently saying 's' (Sarah) and is working so hard on her speech and vocabulary growth. I had a progress review session with her therapist earlier this week. I was a little disappointed to see that her verbal communication is at that of about 18 - 21 months (she is now 30 months old), but at the same time she is continuing to grow and learn everyday. She has about 100 words that she can speak now, which is really great. One really cool thing I've noticed is the kid can really carry a tune. She can sing the itsy-bitsy spider, and although she doesn't know all of the words, you can recognize it by the tune. That is really amazing to me. She has really adjusted to her schedule at school and LOVES all of her friends and teachers. Every day on the way to school she tells me everyone who will be there.

I also had a parent teacher conference with Seth's teacher this week. He is doing great academically in school. He recognizes all of his letters, knows the sounds for most of them, and is learning to write his letters. I would say he can write at least half of them. He is at the age where he is asking me to spell everything so he can write it down. One area he is having a little problem with is being able to sit still (surprise surprise). They try to really break things up so there isn't too much sit down time all at once, but we need to work on that. This is a kid who can't even sit still thru dinner and has to be constantly reminded to keep his behind on the chair, feet in front of him, etc. I remember my area to work on when I was that age was 'talking'. I used to talk too much in class, so I guess (hope) he'll grow out of it. We are talking about getting him into Karate. We didn't want to start the kids in extra-curricular activities at too young of an age, but he is now 4 1/2 so I think it's time.

I have some good news this month as well. Many of you know I've been in a really crazy situation at work. I don't want to go into details, but we had a management change earlier this year, and it has not been a good change. There are several people in our work group trying to get out of the situation, and I was lucky enough to find a new position. I start this Friday, and will be working on a new system. This system will eventually support all of the Billing for both Boeing Commercial and Boeing Defense. It's excited because I've not been involved in the commercial side of the company before. I'm really looking forward to the change and to learning something new. I will also have a desk at the office for teh first time in about 5 years! I'm excited about this because 5 years of working virtually is a LONG time without daily face to face interaction with people. I will be going in 3 days a week and working from home 2 days a week. Like I said, I'm excited, but I'm a little scared about schedules. I'm sure it will all work out, but it will be yet another change to our schedule.

Guess I should update about big Seth too. This is November, so it is his time to go hunting with his dad. He was gone last weekend and will be gone this weekend too. Sounds terribly cold, and boring to me, but he loves it and looks forward to it every year. He didn't get a deer last weekend, but ironically he got one on his way home from work Monday. He was driving behind a lady who hit a deer, so he stopped and he and another guy drug it off of the highway, it was still alive. Seth still had all of his hunting stuff in his truck from the weekend and was going to kill it (I won't tell you how...OK, he was going to cut it's throat) when a cop stopped. So, the cop shot the deer and gave Seth some kind of conservation donation paper and told him to take it home. DISGUSTING!!!!!! So he cut up the deer and let Seth Robert watch him. OH, I sure lived a sheltered life as a child. I cannot imagine watching someone cut up and animal. I'm just thankful the kids and I don't eat deer meat. I prefer my meat packaged and processed thank you very much!

Beautiful Days!

2008-10-09T22:14:00.002-05:00

I love Fall. I love waking up to cool mornings, leaving the windows open all day, and listening to the bugs in the trees while falling asleep at night. The weather the last several days has been absolutely perfect.

We are having a bonfire tomorrow night and have several families coming over. I'm really looking forward to it, and the cool evening weather will be perfect! I cannot wait! Other than the bonfire tomorrow, we don't have a lot of plans for the weekend. I'm hoping we can take the kids to a Pumpkin Patch this weekend and take advantage of being outside in this beautiful weather.

Birthday Pictures

2008-09-29T11:49:00.006-05:00

OK, so I'm only about 5 months behind with this, but we finally finished Abby's 2 year and Seth's 4 year old pictures. There are so many cute ones to choose from....thanks to having a mother in law as a photographer (http://www.janeholestinephotography.com/), we did this over a couple months, and a few shoots!
Here are a few of my favorites. Now, I just have to figure out what to order!!!

Here are a couple of Seth.....

and here is Abby.....

And this is my favorite...it doesn't get sweeter than this!

6 years? Really?

2008-09-29T11:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was Seth and my 6th year anniversary! Time flies so fast. Seems like just yesterday I was waking up at 5am to be at the gym by 6am for our early morning workouts. Of course, that all changed after we got married and I wasn't so motivated since he was right there beside me every morning.

Now it is 6 years, 3 houses, and 2 kids later.....Time really flies! Here is one of my favorite snapshots from our wedding...

Settling In

2008-09-15T13:57:00.002-05:00

I think we are all finally settling into our school time routine. Seth LOVES Jr Kindergarten and is learning so much already. I am really impressed with the program his school does for JK. They are doing a kindergarten curriculum and next year, in kindergarten, they will be doing an advanced curriculum. He is certainly tired when the day is over. In the afternoons he goes to PEP club (extended care) and he has finally resigned himself to take a 30 minute nap. That helps him not to be wiped out completely in the evenings.

I took Seth to the Magic House the day before he started school. I had to laugh (as I could related well) to one of the factoids posted on the wall; "The average four year old asks 437 questions a day." How true, how true. It seems Seth is starting to contemplate the meaning of life and asks some really tough questions. The other day he asked me if you get to pick who you marry. I asked if he had anyone in mind, but he blushed and said he did not : )

Abby is also settling in. She is growing so much in her speech. She is continuing the N, P, and still working on TH. Just the fact that she is working on TH means she is hearing it now, so that is really great. She is also using S more and more often. I've noticed it most when she says "ou-si" (outside). I am so amazed at her ability to adapt to all the changes in her life this last few months. She is definitely my miracle girl!

I love this time of year. The weather is beautiful and we can start counting down till Christmas !!!

Crazy, yet Exciting Times

2008-09-01T18:48:00.003-05:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Abby has been in school for two full weeks now. It took her some time to adjust. The mornings go fine, but the afternoons have been really hard for her. Afternoons are lunch time and nap time, and I think she is just so tired by lunchtime, that she's just completely crabby. Anyway, she is starting to adjust better so hopefully things will just keep getting better.

SO for the exciting times part of this post....Abby has made several new sounds in the last week. I have heard an "S" (eeese A.K.A Cheese), "th" (look at THAT), "P" (POP). She is really starting to speak so much more, and so much more clearly which is so exciting! She works so hard at getting the words out as correctly as she can. Poor kid will keep repeating us as long as we keep saying words over and over again. You can tell she really wants to get the words right.

Work has also been crazy, but don't want to waste anyone's time listening to that mess. But, tomorrow I have taken a vacation day so I can spend the day with Seth Robert. Tomorrow is his last day before school starts so we are going to do some fun things (and run some errands) tomorrow. I think we are going to try to go to the Magic House if they are open in the morning. So here's what's on the agenda tomorrow: Take Abby to Speech 8:15, drop her at her class 9am, Appointment at Fontbonne University 10am, Magic House and lunch, Seth's "Meet the Teacher" time starting at 2pm, pick up Abby from school at 3:15. It will be a busy (but FUN) day.

I still have Abby's first day of school pictures to post. I'll post them when I post Seth's in the next couple of days. Hopefully things will settle down a bit and I can start updating more often!

First Day of School

2008-08-20T19:17:00.002-05:00

Monday was Abby's first day of school! We had an open house early on Monday morning where I got to meet her teacher, some of the other parents, and all the kiddos. As hard as it is to leave a 2 year old in 'school' it is also SO exciting for me because I know Abby is going to grow so much in her speech this year while she is there. I know this because Seth Robert attended the Toddler class at St Joe's 2 years ago when he was 2. He was a hearing peer for the hearing impaired kids. He only went 2 mornings a week but by Christmas, he had grown so much with his speech. I know part of it was normal development, but I also credit much of it to the great therapy he got by being a part of the class at St Joe's.

Anyway, back to Abby's first day......I couldn't believe how easily Abby let me leave her in her new class. When I had to leave I said 'bye Abby' and she said 'bye Mommy' and ran off to play. I was worried about nap time as she has never slept on a cot, but apparently she was great with that too! She has been really tired at night and I even had to wake her up this morning at 6:30 (she's normally up by 6am like clockwork). Tonight I put her to bed by 6:30pm...and she was asleep by 7pm. Hopefully she will be fully rested tomorrow!

Back to school has been tiresome for me too! Probably because I stay up way too late watching Olympics : ) Last night I was up late watching USA win the gold AND silver for balance beam...it was awesome. Anyway, getting the kids and myself ready and out of the house on time is a little stressful. I am very thankful that Seth's hours have changed and he is here until 7am and does a TON to help me get the kids ready for school.

Seth Robert starts school 2 weeks from today. He will be in Jr Kindergarten from 8:15 to 11:30 then extended care from 11:30 to 3:30. He is so ready to go to school. His aunt Faith has been watching him the last few weeks and he is going to gymnastics on Thursday's so that is a really fun treat for him this last few weeks of summer.

I will post a pic of Abby on her first day of school later this week. I think she was most excited about her Princess lunchbox and her book bag than anything. Ahh, the simple joys in life!

Lots to talk about

2008-08-15T17:59:00.006-05:00

I haven't posted in a while so I have a lot of catching up to do.

First, here is a really sweet picture of Abby in her Big Girl Bed.

And here is big brother snuggling her to sleep one night. The pictures are a little grainy as we took these with the lights off. As you can guess it ended up with lots of giggles and no sleep until we broke up the party.

Next week starts the first day of school for Abby. After thinking about how hectic our schedule is going to be we decided to make a few changes. Seth has school from 8:15 - 11:30, and he will stay in extended care from 11:30 - 3:30. Abby has school from 9am to noon. She will be in extended care at her school from 8:30 - 9am, and then from noon to 3:15. I have gone back down to part time hours. 35 hours a week/ 7 hours a day, and will just work while they are in school.

So going to school is quite the experience. I had a ton of forms to fill out and had to get Abby's immunization and other Dr records. I have to take time off work just to get all the right forms signed by the right Dr's : )

I'm excited about Abby starting school, and I'm so glad we made the decision to keep her there for extended care everyday. She will be with speech therapists and other deaf educators all day long. It really is the best place she could be!

Seth starts school Sept 3. I know that's really late, but they lengthened his school day by 30 minutes so they will still get out by late May.

Exciting, busy times!

Where's my baby?

2008-08-06T19:29:00.002-05:00

I have been asking myself this question all week. This week it seems Abby has suddenly gone from a baby to a very grown-up, Big Girl! Here are all the Big Girl milestones that she has accomplished within the last week.
1. Moved to the Big Girl (toddler) bed. This was a bit traumatic, as Abby does not like change. She was fine with the toddler bed coming into her room, but was VERY upset about the crib leaving. She got over it pretty quickly and now gets into her big girl bed at bedtime and stays there until she falls asleep.
2. PeePee on the potty! This was a one time thing, but Abby was so excited about it. She is well on her way to potty training. I think as soon as we take the time to work on it with her she will be trained in no time.
3. No more Paci. Abby hasn't taken her pacifier during the day for a while, and all of a sudden this week she decided that she doesn't need it at bedtime anymore.
4. This is my favorite! Abby got her ears pierced last weekend! She has little pink diamonds and she looks so cute with them. The experience was not as traumatic as I thought it would be. She did cry for just a minute after the first one, and of course then knew what was coming with the second one. But, once she saw them in the mirror, she was very proud!
So, no more babies for me! They grow up so fast it's unbelievable.

I'll post some pictures of Abby with her new earrings later this week.

Picture Day

2008-07-31T10:16:00.002-05:00

I had the kids pictures taken on Sunday. One thing I definately need to learn is patience when they get their pictures done. I expect way too much out of them.

Anyway, here are a couple of the pictures. I'm sure we'll have more to come.

Scroll down to the post called "My Challenge"

http://www.janeholestinephotography.typepad.com/

Fish Story

2008-07-26T21:29:00.007-05:00

Today Seth and Abby spent the day at Mammie and Papa's house. (I spent the day doing some scrapbooking and getting my hair cut). Seth was laying on my bed watching cartoons this morning and was reminding me all I needed to pack in his bag for his many activities. He had an entire agenda lined up for Papa. They were going to ride Gidget (the miniature horse), swim in the pool, and go fishing in the pond.

I dropped the kids off around 9am, and when I got back at 2:30 this is what I pulled into the driveway and saw................

Seth was very proud to tell me he caught this fish, all on his own, on his Lightening McQueen fishing rod. He also was sure to tell me Papa only caught a small fish that he had to throw back in, but he got the BIG fish.

Needless to say, Mr. Catfish is gone. When Daddy got home from work, he was filleted and deep fried. Papa and Dad enjoyed the fish; Seth Robert did not care for the fish, but loved the fact that he caught it!

Busy, Busy

2008-07-25T08:41:00.002-05:00

Wow, I haven't posted in over a week! Life is so busy and lots of changes getting ready to happen. Seth Robert will be starting Jr Kindergarten in September! He will be going to school everyday, from 8:30 until 11:30, and then will stay for "Lunch Bunch" from 11:30 until 12:30. He is getting so big! I cannot believe some of the things that come out of that kids mouth; he is so full of ideas. He is certainly not a 'little boy' anymore.

In addition to Seth starting school, Abby will be going to St Joe's everyday as well. She will go from 9am to noon daily, for a toddler class in which they really stress speech and language development. She will also be with other kids who are hearing impaired, wear hearing aids and/or implants, and she will have hearing peers in her class. A hearing peer is a kid the same age as the rest of the class who is 'hearing' and has normal development for speech. It gives the kids a chance to see a 'model' of what other kids their age are doing and hopefully encourages them to grow their language even more. Seth was a hearing peer when he was 2, and I think it really helped him understand his sister's disability.

Ok, so on top of all these changes we are also changing babysitters : ( We FINALLY found a sitter that the kids LOVE and I have never had a single reservation about leaving the kids with her. Unfortunately, her youngest child will be starting preschool this year and she wants to get back into the workforce. The kids (and I) will definitely miss Sarah and her kids. They love going there and when they get home, they talk about all the kids and what they did that day. It helps so much to know your kids are being cared for in a loving home, and they are having fun as well. Anyway, we found a place to send them in the afternoons following their morning school. It is a small 'Learning Academy' and is very close to home. This center is only licensed for 10 kids, and is staffed by the owner and a full time assistant. I'm hopeful it will work out for us!

SO here is a rundown of our daily schedule once school starts: Drop the kids at their schools, work FROM St Joe's while Abby is in school, take a lunch and get Abby from class, pick up Seth from school, drop them off at daycare, back to work for about 4 more hours. It's going to be crazy. The driving is the worst of it. If I was closer to everything I wouldn't have to figure in all the long commute times. I'm really starting to think about going back to Part time. Even dropping 5 hours a week would make things much easier. We'll have to see...I have a new manager and I'm not sure how open she is to that sort of thing.

Two Talkers & Scary Morning!

2008-07-15T12:48:00.004-05:00

Most people with 2 children end up with one talkative, one quiet; one active, one more reserved. We however have two very active, Chatty Kathy's. This is a great quality for Abby to have as hearing impaired kids can become introverts easily. Maybe because her big brother has always talked her ear off, she wants to be just like him.

This morning we went to speech therapy as we do every Tuesday morning. Judy (her speech therapist) was trying to show me how to 'start over' with Abby's listening skills since she has to learn the basics of hearing again through the implant. Seth Robert went with us, and before we went into therapy I reminded him that this is Abby's time to learn and he needed to remember not to interrupt Abby or Judy when they were talking. By the time we got into Therapy, he had forgotten our conversation. He wanted to do everything first, say everything first....kind of reminded me of myself as a Big Sister!

A scary thing happened with Seth Robert this morning. I got out of bed around 6:15 and went to check on him, and he was not in his room. I started panicking because I knew he wasn't in my bedroom or the bathroom and he usually doesn't go anywhere but those two places when he wakes up. I walked by the front door and saw his little red head standing on the porch. I opened the door and he was just SOBBING. My first thought, was how long has he been out here. Then I realized Seth had left for work a few minutes after 6am. After I got Seth Robert calmed down, I asked him what was going on. He said he heard his daddy leaving for work and wanted to say good-bye so he ran outside.....HOW SCARY! I called Seth and he had no idea that Seth Robert was awake much less that he had followed him out there. I think we are going to start a new routine where I get my behind out of bed when Seth leaves so I can lock the sliding lock at the top of the door : )

Update

2008-07-14T08:35:00.001-05:00

Sorry I didn't post on Thursday after Abby's second Audiology appointment with the implant. Time just seems to get away from me.

So we went back to St John's on Thursday so they could do some testing in the booth, and see if Abby's implant could be adjusted any to allow her to hear more. Unfortunately, Abby was not in the mood for Audiology testing (even though she's done this many times before) and was not cooperating with the testing.

So, for now, they left her settings where they are. We will go for about 2 weeks and watch at home for new things she hears. We go back to St John's in 2 weeks and hopefully Abby will be a little more cooperative : )

I'm still trying to get the videos on my computer. I haven't had much time to mess with it, but I do plan to post them once I get them transferred from the tape to my PC.

Not much else going on right now.....

She's On!

2008-07-09T20:06:00.002-05:00

What an awesome day! We went for Abby's Initial Stimulus at St John's Audiology this morning (this is where she gets the external piece of the implant, and they turn it on). It was not as eventful as other kids initial stim's that I have heard of or seen via video. However, it was very exciting for us.

In Abby's case, she has heard SO much with her hearing aids, that she is very used to hearing a variety of sounds. While getting ready for her turn 'on' I tried to take the hearing aid out of the right ear, but she she did not want that so we left it in, but turned it off. Then came the first sounds she heard through the implant. When they first turned the implant on, several people in the room were talking, and Abby immediately pointed to her left ear (the ear with the implant). We knew right away that she was hearing through the implant!!!! She was NOT scared, startled, mad, or really even confused; she almost seemed just kind of curious like "what is that I'm hearing".

I asked the audiologist what she was hearing and she said the way adults with implants have described it as either clicks & pops or Mickey and Minnie sounding voices. Eventually the brain will just 'click' and the brain will start interpreting those noises as identifiable sounds. So, we really don't know what Abby heard, but she definitely heard something! We did a little bit of testing with Bev ( the audiologist from St. Joseph's who will follow Abby). Abby did a great job of playing the listening games with Bev. The St John's audiologist programmed the device while Abby and Bev playing their listening games.

I wish I could say it was more remarkable than it was. For me it was definitely an incredible experience because we knew right away that thing they put into her head and inner ear was working. However, Abby's reactions were nothing overwhelming (this is a good thing).

Later in the day after Abby's nap, I put the implant on first before putting on her hearing aid. After putting on the implant I said "SSSHH" and Abby looked up at me really quickly. I did this a few more times, and she looked each time I said "SSSHHH". This was probably the highlight of the day for me. SSSHHH is a sound Abby has not heard before unless you REALLY yelled it, and then we were never quite sure she really heard it.

I have some video from the initial turn on and once I figure out how to get my videos to clips on the PC, I'll post them.

Oh, we go back tomorrow for more testing and programming of the device. I will keep you posted on how she's doing/hearing tomorrow.

Let Freedom Ring!

2008-07-06T22:30:00.003-05:00

What an awesome Holiday! Independence Day... The day we can celebrate our freedom! Despite if you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc, we ALL love our country and the freedoms we have here!

We had a really great weekend. Friday morning we went to a breakfast at my in-laws church. A very close friend of the family, who Seth grew up with, is a Marine and had 3 tours in Iraq, spoke for a few minutes after breakfast. How great it was to see someone who loved his country enough to put his life on the line day after day (this is a man who signed up after 9/11 and the beginning of the Iraq and Afghan wars).

We also went to a BBQ at my sisters house this weekend. The kids had a great time playing with all of their cousins, eating lots of food, playing in the sprinkle, and of course watching their uncle shoot off fireworks. We had to leave before dark (because my sister lives about an hour away and the kids were ready for bed) but they enjoyed watching the snakes and the whistlers.

This is going to be a great week! Abby's 'turn on' is Wednesday and Thursday this week. I am in a training class Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday - Friday. It's always a great week when you don't have to work : )

I'm so excited about Abby's implant getting turned on. I've heard lots of stories of kids and their reactions to the turn on. It is a very strange sensation for them; they have electrical stimulus running into their inner ear, and sometimes, it's scary, sometimes it's exciting.....We are ready for any kind of reaction. The audiologists start out very conservatively so I'm not anticipating a very great reaction. I will definitely be taking pictures and will video tape it. As a matter of fact, I need to get into the habit of keeping the video camera running. I've seen video's of other kids with new implants, and hearing things for the first time that Abby has been hearing all along with her hearing aids. Abby has done so well with her hearing aids that she can hear the dog barking outside (from inside), she hears you call her from another room, she hears so much it is truly a miracle.

When she said "I wub oo" (I love you) last weekend, it brought tears to my eyes. I cannot wait to hear her say SETH. Right now Seth is just "E" She cannot hear the S or the TH in his name. I think the day she says Seth will also bring me to tears.

I will definitely be posting more often this week. I will let you all know how it goes with Abby!

Great Weekend

2008-06-30T08:57:00.002-05:00

What a great weekend! We went to Tulsa for a family reunion. It was so great to see all of Seth's aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I think I meet new people in the Holestine family each time we go! Seth, Abby, and I left around 7pm on Friday night and got to our hotel at around 1am. Seth Robert rode down earlier in the day with his PaPa, Aunt Alissa, Claire, and Lawson. Abby did really well in the car. She was awake until about 10pm which is really late for her, but she just played and talked and ate Pringles.

On Saturday night we went out to dinner...all 50 or so of us. We had several tables pushed together in and L shape and had (like I said) about 50 of us at those tables. It was very noisy and I never know how well Abby will hear in those situations. We were sitting across the table from Aunt Linda and Aunt Nan. They were talking to Abby and I wasn't sure she was hearing them or not. Aunt Nan starting singing "I Love You" to Abby. Over and over she would say in a sing-song voice "I Love You". Abby was just smiling and loving the attention, then out of nowhere Abby says "I wub oo". I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. Here we were in this very noisy environment, Abby has only one hearing aid in right now, Aunt Nan was not talking loudly to her, just in a normal voice and not only did Abby hear her, she repeated what she was saying. I am just amazed at what that girl can do with those hearing aids. It is truly unbelievable that with her level of deafness, she is doing so well.

Ok, so we also followed up with Dr Clary last week. He said he is really happy with how everything is looking. Abby is only taking the antibiotic now and no pain medication. She will keep taking the antibiotic until end of the day on Tuesday and then will no longer take it unless she starts getting a cold or runny nose. We have to make sure she doesn't get any ear infections while everything is still healing.

Where'd it go?

2008-06-26T09:20:00.002-05:00

Since Abby got her implant, she has been sticking her finger in her left ear, shrugging her shoulders, and saying 'where'd it go'. Once you get a CI your normal functioning ear functions no more. So any 'residual' hearing that Abby had in the left ear is now gone, and therefore no reason to stick a hearing aid on it.

We have a follow up with Dr Clary today. She is still doing amazingly well. I only give her Tylenol w/ codeine twice a day and she probably doesn't even need that anymore. I think this weekend I will try just regular Tylenol and see how she does, and then move her completely off anything for pain. She will keep taking anti-biotics for at least one more week.

Audiology called yesterday and wanted to move Abby's initial stim up to next week. I would have LOVED to do this, but Seth and I have already scheduled vacations for the original dates of 7/9 & 7/10 so we will keep the dates as is.

I just was pointed to a really awesome website www.deafvillage.com. It has links to tons of blogs of families dealing with deafness. I sure hope to make some new friends there as many of them have already been thru experiences we are just beginning.

Update

2008-06-24T09:34:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've updated. Things have been pretty uneventful lately. Abby started getting REALLY dizzy on Friday, and was still pretty dizzy on Saturday. I figured this was normal since her inner ear fluid had just been disturbed and her inner ear was 'drilled' into. However, I wanted to be sure and called the Dr on Saturday. He said it's normal and that she would eventually adjust to the change in her inner ear fluid distribution.

It was kind of (half) funny watching her though. She was walking around with her head cocked to the left side and almost walking in a circle she was so off balance. She is healing very nicely. She had a few days of LONG naps, but unfortunately that is over and we are back to her normal once a day, 2 - 3 hour nap : )

On another note, I spent Abby's nap time last week updating our master bath. I was going for a 'spa-like' look and I think I accomplished it. I painted the walls a very light, icy blue color; put up a bright white cabinet; nice big fluffy white towels; and a few other decor items. It turned out very nicely. Seth is hanging white wainscoating for me today so hopefully I can finish everything up tonight. I'll take some pictures and post them after it's all done.

Doing Great...and Seth

2008-06-19T21:14:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple days. Abby's doing great. The first night at the hospital was very long. She keep moaning in her sleep, and would wake up and cry. Seth and I took turns semi-sleeping in the bed with her. Dr Clary did come in late in the evening and told the nurses they could be 'more liberal' with her morphine. So they up'd the next dosage around 1am and she was in a little less pain. She started waking up around 5am and I tried to get her to sit up and start playing a little. she did and by 5:30 she wanted a banana and more Sprite. Around 9am she decided to get out of bed, and there was no stopping her then! She road all around the hospital floor in a wagon with her baby, her drink, her princess balloon, and a cell phone. I have some cute pictures I will post later.

We went home around noon and picked up big brother! Abby was so happy to see him! I had asked Seth if he wanted to go to the hospital the day of Abby's surgery or if he wanted to spend a few days at Cousin Lawson's house and go to Vacation Bible Camp. Thankfully he chose the more fun option and had lots of fun with Claire and Lawson. But he was very happy to get home and see his sister.

Abby has a about a 3 inch incision that runs behind her ear from the top to the bottom, she also has a tiny incision a little above that. Dr Clary is the best as far as I'm concerned, but he's not too good of a hairdresser (J/K) There was a good chunk of hair shaved off. The poor girl is going to be a little lopsided for a while until I can take her somewhere to try to somewhat salvage her doo. For now, I've been trying to keep it all pulled up to the other side so her hair doesn't get into the inicison area. Oh, we took her bandage off today so we've got to watch her even more closely that she doesn't bang her head on anything.

More to come.

Success!

2008-06-17T19:46:00.005-05:00

The sweetest words we could hear! Dr Clary came in around 4:45 to tell us that they were done, and Abby was in recovery. He said everything went exactly as he had hoped and the implant was successful. One of my biggest concerns going into this was the fact that Abby's cochlea's are not formed properly. This is not the reason for her hearing loss, but a factor to consider in placing the implant. He was not sure the electrodes would 'slide' in as best as possible. However, he was very pleased with the placement of the electrodes, and was able to confirm in an X-Ray that it is positioned very well into the cochlea. The audiologist who was in surgery also did some initial testing of the device and everything is working as expected.

Abby will not get her implant 'turned on' until July 9 & 10. They call this the initial stimulus. They wait until 3 weeks after surgery to allow her time to heal. When they turn on the implant they start out very conservatively, but it can be extremely scary for some kids. Probably another reason they wait a few weeks. The surgery is enough trauma for now!

So, Abby is now out of recovery and is in a really cool pediatric room. They just opened this wing of the pediatric unit last week so everything is brand spankin' new. There is a nice couch and recliner for Seth and I to spend the night in. Abby is not very happy yet (as you can expect). She has been sipping on the same Sprite since she was in recovery around 5pm and she's still not done with it. She seems to be in a little pain (hard to tell since she's so young) and she is getting Morphine thru her IV right now. Dr Clary will be back at 6am and plans to discharge us at that time. He expects here to be up and running tomorrow morning.

Above is a picture of Abby right after recovery and looking very ticked off. The red bandage is a compression bandage over the incision area. I'm sure she will use this one as blackmail on us later...to remind us of her ordeal : )

Here we go

2008-06-17T14:02:00.004-05:00

Abby's surgery is finally underway! They got her back about an hour late, around 12:45. So far everything is going well. Don't have much to post except that she will be SO happy once someone gives her food or drink this evening. We woke her up for a snack around 10:30 last night in hopes it would hold her over somewhat this morning. She woke up this morning around 7am and immediately pointed towards the kitchen. She was very upset no one would give her anything to eat or drink.

Here is a picture of her in the hospital this morning. She was very happy to have her own TV and remote control. She also enjoyed standing outside her door and telling everyone 'HI' as they walked by.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow....

2008-06-16T09:53:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day! The day we have waited for the last two years. Abby is having her implant surgery tomorrow at 11:50am. The timing isn't the greatest because she cannot have food after midnight and can only have water until 7:20am tomorrow. She is going to be MAD at us tomorrow when we don't feed her. We will have to find something distracting to do in the morning so she doesn't think about being hungry. Maybe I'll wake her up at 11:50 tonight and make her eat a full meal : )

I am so excited about this! I'm really not nervous (yet) but I'm sure as soon as they take my baby girl away tomorrow, the nerves will hit.

I will take Seth's laptop to the hospital and try to post updates throughout the day. If she's up for it, I might take a few pictures later in the day and post those...No promises. Tomorrow is all about her and making her comfortable.

Talk to you all later.

Super Heros?

2008-06-10T18:50:00.003-05:00

I was raised in a house of all girls so it was all Barbies and baby dolls. I had no idea boys (at the age of 4) believed in Super Hero's. Seth is really into Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Monster Trucks (are they super hero's? : ) Anyway, when he grows up he is going to be Superman, and he runs around the house using his 'Super Powers' on all of us. Really, I did not know this started so young. So here is a recent picture of my little Super Hero.

Piggy Tails

2008-06-10T16:46:00.002-05:00

OK, so since Abby was born, I've been wanting to put cute hair things on her. So, she was born with very little hair, and didn't really have any hair until she was almost one. So, the first year of cute hair thingy's was out. Then she slowly started growing hair, but would not keep ANYTHING in her hair. She has very fine, thin hair so usually her hair is just a matted mess...even just minutes after I brush it and wet it down.

Well now that Abby is two, and somewhat understands the concept of 'threats & bribes' we are able to keep piggy tails in her hair.

12 More Days!

2008-06-05T09:17:00.002-05:00

OK, so far I'm not so good at keeping up with this thing. It's a lot of pressure, and I don't have much to talk about : )

Abby's surgery is just 12 days away. People keep asking me if I'm nervous, and really, I'm not! We have been waiting for this day for over 2 years now. I know Abby has the absolute best Doctor performing the surgery, and I am just at peace with everything that's going to happen. I also have complete confidence that God is taking care of her and that everything will just go great!

I'm very anxious to see the changes in Abby once she gets her implant turned on. I really believe her speech is just going to take off within a few months of her 'initial stimulus' (turn on of the implant. She gets her implant turned on July 9 and 10, so between that and her surgery I have lots of excuses to take time off work!!

Ok, I REALLY wil try to get some pictures uploaded here over the next day or two.

Where to Begin??

2008-05-30T13:51:00.001-05:00

Well, I finally jumped into the Technology Age and created a blog. I'm a Technology expert (go figure) but I have put this off for a long time, so here goes......

I'm a working mother of two. Seth, Jr who is four years old, and Abby who is two. I work for the Boeing Company, but thankfully I am able to work from home. This means I'm only 10 minutes from my kids sitter rather than over an hour away.

I have been married since Sept 2002 to Seth. He is an Auto Mechanic and works for Jay Wolfe Toyota in West County. He is a wonderful hardworking guy who I probably don't thank enough for all he does.

Our family is always very busy. Seth and I are very involved in various ministries at our Church. We are on the road a LOT as we live in a rural area and are pretty far from just about anything. Our faith is very important to us, and we hope to raise our kids with the same values and morals we believe.

Seth Jr will be starting Jr Kindergarten next August. This is very exciting! He just finished 3 year old preschool and knows how to write all his letters, and numbers. He recognizes all his letters and is working on the phonics for them. He is a very loving, imaginative, little boy. He has his daddy's big brown eyes and can pretty much use them to get his way on just about anything with his mommy.

Abby is quite the big girl these days. She is my little blond-hair, blue eyed princess....well, really she more of her daddy's princess these days. She has him completely wrapped around her finger and cries for him every time he leaves her sight (no hurt feelings from me : )

For those of you who don't know, Abby was born hearing impaired .... She is classified as deaf. Thankfully Missouri instituted a required newborn hearing screening in 2002. Abby was identified as deaf at birth. This has been such an advantage to her as it used to be parents would only find out around the age of 2 that their child is deaf. Abby has been going to St. Joseph's Institute since she was 2 months old. She got hearing aids at 2 months and her and mommy go to speech therapy every Tuesday morning. Daddy goes with her when he can. She is doing really great with her speech, but there are definately sounds she misses out on such as 's' 'ch' ' f' 'p' , etc. Because of this her speech is still very hard to understand.

The exciting news in our families lives right now is that on June 17, Abby will be getting a Cochlear Implant!!! If you've never heard of it visit this site http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp. It is a WONDERFUL piece of technology that will enable Abby to hear much more clearly than with the hearing aids. With the implant and her continued speech therapy she will most likely have speech so close to perfect that most people will not realize she is deaf as she grows older.

So, the big surgery is on June 17. I'm hoping to use this blog to keep everyone posted on her progress following the surgery and her progress as she continues to develop her speech.