Jared's Living Wax Museum- Cy Young

The computer finally allowed me to upload Jared's 4th grade project.  This year his class did a living wax museum.  He was Cy Young.  He did a great job and worked so hard on it.

Proud Momma Moment.

Here is another proud momma moment.  Allison singing right along with her class at her 3rd grade program.  I am truly amazed at how far she has come.  These moments make all of the hard work so worth it!

Easter 2012

New Email Address

Just wanted to let you know that we have a new email address- krull5@columbus.rr.com

The streak has been broken.

We went almost 11 years without stitches( well, ok we had stitches from many, many surgeries) but those Mommy did not have to watch being put in.
On Monday, I had just finished preschool with Jordan when the dreaded phone call from the school nurse came....."hello, Mrs. Krull, this is Mrs Lombardo the nurse at school, Allison fell off the monkey bars and cut her head open, it looks pretty deep, like maybe needing stitches deep." 
I sprung into action, called my MIL to find out if she was available to watch Jordan, called my hubby to fill him in, checked to see what time Children's Urgent Care opened, it opened at 3:00, it was 11:30, called hubby back to find out where I should go, headed over to my in-laws to drop Jordan off and then to school to pick up Allison.
There is an Urgent Care close to our house so we went there.  We walked in and I saw all the people waiting and I thought, "oh great we are going to be waiting forever".  The person behind the window asked what was wrong, I told her and she looked like she was going to have a stroke, she grabbed my ID, and insurance card and ushered us right back, yelling to the nurse that Allison had split her head open. The nurse came in and looked at it and declared it to be "not too bad, probably would not need stitches( yeah, what does she know?)  My husband and I were a little concerned about Allison's implants, that maybe she had damaged them when she fell, Allison assured me that she was hearing fine.  I asked the nurse about it and the only thing they could do was take x-rays.  Everything on the x-ray looked fine and she is still hearing fine.  The doctor finally came in and took a look at the hole in Allison's head and declared that he could probably close it with staples, this is not what Allison wanted to hear.  After closer examination, the doc decided that staples would not do, stitches was the only way to close this.  I had to prepare Allison for the worse part of all.....the numbing medicine.  What started out as "not so bad" ended with 3 internal and 4 external stitches.  At least they didn't have to shave her head, be happy for the little things.

Decisions, Decisions

I remember wondering if Jared and Allison would be ready for K because of their hearing loss.  Would they be ready for a typical K class, should we look into our local Hard of Hearing program? Bill and I felt very strongly at the start that they would be raised oral, they would be mainstreamed and they would succeed.  We decided to home school Jared for K because of the fact that Allison was still in the auditory oral preschool, I just could not figure out how to be in two places at the same time, I'm good, but not that good.  Once Allison finished with preschool, we sent them both to the Hearing Impaired program in our county.  They were mainstreamed into typical classrooms with support from their SLP and HI teacher.  They have done great!  We just got their report cards and they are both reading at or above grade level( pretty good for a of HI boy and deaf girl). 

Now we are faced with the decision on what to do with Jordan.  He is not HI or deaf, in fact he has such good hearing that he can hear his father opening a Little Debbie wrapper from upstairs!
Jordan turns 5 on Sept 12th, in Ohio he is able to go to K because he turns 5 before Sept 30th, but does that mean that just because he can go, he should?  I have been doing preschool with him here at home and he is doing great.  He knows all his letters, can count to 100, knows all his shapes and colors.  All those things that the checklists say he should know before K.  I am just not sure if we should send him to school and have him be one of the youngest kids in his class.  I guess we can take care of this problem by homeschooling, he would be still be the youngest in his class, but when it is a class of one, I guess it would be OK.  Then there is the issue of his size, he is really small for a 4 year old.  If we gave him another year, he would not be the youngest and he might even have a growth spurt.  I guess I also have to face the fact that I may not be ready to let my baby go, he is our last.  So comes the decision that needs to be made, send him or don't send him, home school or traditional school?  If we send him to school we have to deal with his schedule not jelling with his brother and sisters, different start dates, different winter, spring breaks, different end dates.  If I home school, I can put him on the same schedule and we might be able to get a family vacation in.   I let you know what we decide, I guess we need to made a choice soon, it is about time to register for K.


I am so thankful that God have us this precious little boy.  He fills our lives with such joy.  Whatever the decisions is, we know that he will jump in with both feet.  No fear that is the motto that Jordan lives by.

Seven Years

Could it be really that long?  Seven years ago we were preparing for the unknown.....Allison's 1st CI surgery.  Were we making the right choice for her?  Would it work?  Would she hear well enough to talk?    
It has been a long hard road that we have traveled.  The trips to the hospital, the weekly,the daily therapy sessions were all worth it.  I will never forget the moment when Allison heard for the 1st time, she didn't cry like we had been warned she might, she just looked at us, buried her head in my shoulder and smiled.  Or the moment when the 1st wonderful word escaped from her lips....."help"  She wanted me to help her put her shoe on so she could go outside.
Life does not get any better than watching your deaf daughter reading to her little brother or listening to her talk to her grandparents on the phone. 
Life is so normal now, so common that I sometimes forget that she is deaf, that is until she takes off her CI's for the night. 

Oh, Allison, it was the right choice for you, it really did work and you can hear well enough to talk.  Mommy and Daddy are so proud of all your hard work, you are an inspiration to us all.  You are a strong willed little girl who is growing into a determined young lady, nothing can stop you.  Who knows what you will accomplished in your life, but know this, we will be there to cheer you on