Update

I think this will be come a yearly update blog, I just can't keep up with writing.  Life is just so busy and seems to be going faster and faster the older I get.

Our CI wearing kids continue to do amazing things.  Jared is heading into year 3 of his CI.  He finished his sophomore year of high school with a 3.2 GPA.  He passed all parts of his graduation test for the state of Ohio.  He got his driver's license in April and is enjoying the freedom that comes with that.  He will be heading to the career center this coming school year for automotive technology, we are looking forward to having someone in the family that knows how to work on cars, just think of all the money we will save.  He has a job working at our church and has a small lawn mowing business also.  He is learning that money doesn't go as far as he thinks it should.  Next week Jared will be going with 9 other students from his youth group on a week long missions trip.  

Allison finished her freshman year of high school and to say she excelled would be an understatement.  3.9 GPA!  She has worked very hard and it shows.  She will be taking honors English this coming year!  She got her temps in April and has been working hard at babysitting to earn her part of the money needed to pay for her drivers ed classes.  She started those a few weeks ago and now only has 2 more classes to go.  I am not sure why I am having such a hard time with Allison driving, more so then with Jared.  I really need to get her out and have her practice driving.

Jordan continues to love school.  He finished up 5th grade and was sad to see the school year end.  He is already to start 6th grade, be in middle school and get a laptop computer to do his work on.  He has continued in Twa Kwon Do and has talked his cousin into starting also.  He really enjoys it.  He has also developed a love for the piano.

Bill and I will be married 19 years in Nov and are enjoying this stage in life.  The kids are older and not so needy.  Life is pretty normal, something we never thought would happen when we began our CI journey almost 14 years ago.  For those of you just starting out, please know it does get easier, life will be normal and oh so amazing!   

Time to Brag a Bit

It is time for me to brag on my CI wearing kids...Report Card time.  Jared has had his implant for just a little bit over a year and the gains he has made in his grades are AMAZING.  He made honor roll his 1st 9 weeks, missed it by 2/10th of a point his 2nd 9 weeks and made it again this last 9 weeks.  After getting his report card the 1st time and see his grades, I asked him what he thought the difference was.....he took of his CI and said "this, I can actually hear what my teachers are saying".  With tears streaming down my face, I gave him a hug.  Here are his grade for this report card
Freshman Literature and Composition-A
Sports for Life(PE)-A+
Algebra I-B
Algebra +-A+
Physical Science-B
American History-A
GPA-3.600  Honor Roll

Allison continues to do great in school.  She has never really struggled like Jared has, but that does not diminish the hard work that she has put in.  Her grades are AMAZING also!

Language Arts-A-
Math-A
Physical Education-A+
Choir-A+
Spanish-B+
Health-A+
American History-A-
Science-A-
GPA-3.7217  Honor Roll

When you don't think it's worth it......

Just when you think your children don't appreciate or understand the sacrifice you have made for them, your daughter writes you this note and you think...."hmmm, she gets it".

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am thankful and glad that God gave you guys to me to be my parents.  I am thankful that you sacrificed so much for me.  One of the them being all you had to go through with my C.I. and I am glad you made that decision for me and I think it was the best one you made for me.  I appreciate that you worked hard with me during my speech therapy and that you do so much for me.  I also appreciate that you taught me about God.......

Sigh,  I love this girl!

Trying again.

Life just seems to be getting in the way of this blog.  I was pretty faithful in writing when my kids were younger, but as they have gotten older I just don't seem to have the time.
We are now a 2 cochlear implant family.  Jared, who is 15 is one year into his cochlear implant journey.  We discovered that he had lost what usable hearing he did have in his right ear, so we made the decision to get an implant for him.  Dec 4, 2015 was his surgery date.  To say he has taken off is an understatement.  He has told us he never realized how much he was missing.  He is a freshman in high school and is doing fabulous!  A's and B's on his report card and a 3.6 GPA!  He is actually talking about going to college, which he never did in middle school.  It was a long hard fought battle with our insurance company to get them to agree to pay for it.  They fought us every step of the way, saying that it was not proven that cochlear implants worked( hmmm, have they seen our daughter).  We even had his teachers writing letters to the insurance company sharing how his grades were slipping because he did not have access to sound.  I just took him on Monday to the ENT and his doctor asked if we wanted to implant his other ear.....UMMMM YES!  We are starting the process to get that done and hope to not have to fight so hard this time around.  My husband changed insurance companies and they seem to be a little bit more cochlear implant friendly.
Allison is in 8th grade and is doing fabulous as well!  A's and B's and 3.7 GPA!  I can't imagine what life would be like for her without her CI's.  She is 14 and has been doing some babysitting for people in our church.  I love that she is a normal teenage girl.  Nothing stopping her!
Jordan is 9 and is in 4th grade.  He is still schooling at home and loves it!  His favorite subjects are history and reading.  Life is good!  He has enjoyed the fact that his cousin lives down the street from us and can come play whenever he wants!
I will try to do better with my updates, but I don't make any promises.

I'm Back

Wow, has it been almost a year since I posted anything?  Going by the date, I guess so.  There really is no other reason for not posting except.....LIFE!  Life with 3 very active children tends to get in my way of blogging.  

Let's see if I can condense life into a few short sentences.  
Finished 5th, 4th and Kindergarten
Went on a much needed family vacation
Allison and Jordan turned 11 and 6 in Sept
6th grade camp for Jared where he broke his finger
Jared got his braces off
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Winter Storms and Cold Temperatures
Jared's 13 birthday in April
IEP meetings for Jared and Allison.

I go today for Allison IEP meeting and I thought I would share some of the comments by her teachers.  These are the moments that I wish I had a crystal ball that could show me the future, back when we were just starting this amazing CI journey.  It would have saved me many sleepless nights and saved us tons of money on tissues from crying.

Academic:  Allison is mostly on grade level in all content areas, with some need in the area of spelling, math and vocabulary.  When given the Fourth Grade Ohio Achievement Assessment(OAA) in Reading, Allison received a score of 427, which is proficient.  Allison's strength area reflected is in the area of reading processing and understanding the reading process.  When given the OAA in math, Allison scored a 437, which is accelerated. Allison is reading on grade level.  When assessed using the Stanford 10 intermediate II assessment, in the area of reading comprehension, Allison received a score of 663, which is also the grade level equivalent of 7.7.  In the area of spelling, Allison received a score of 681, which is a grade equivalent of 9.9.  In the area of math, Allison scored a 661,which is a grade equivalent of 7.2  I am not writing this to brag, OK, maybe just a little bit of bragging, but this shows me that Allison is not letting her hearing loss stop her.  She never uses her hearing loss as an excuse, she pushes through. She is one tough little girl.

I go next week for Jared's IEP meeting and I am expecting the same. My children are hard workers and when given a challenge they rise to the occasion.

On a side note.....

The aqua bags for the cochlear implants really work!  Allison went swimming this afternoon with one on and she could hear in the pool.  The only downside......with her thick hair she had a hard time keeping it on her head.  I have sent a note to her audiologist about getting a Earbandit, hopefully that will help keep the bag in place.

CI Mapping

I took Allison for a CI checkup and let me tell you, it was wonderful.  I use to dread these appointments, I just didn't want to hear any bad news, especially after having her right ear done and Allison not progressing with it.  There was many times when I thought we had put her through a major surgery for nothing, she would never hear with the right implant and we would have to be happy with the gain she had made with the left.  But I was wrong, very wrong!  According to the testing this past week......her right side is actually doing better then the left.

At 20 dB she is hearing 100% word recognition( right ear) vs 88% ( left ear)

She is hearing 15-25 dB across the board.

We don't have to go back for 1 year!!  Life is good, life is normal.  YAY!!!