Summertime...

Sydney's school ended with a bash at the end of June. They played in the water, finger painted, and ate lots of food that parents brought in. She wasn't shy when it came to playing in the water or eating the food. It's nice to relax a little and not have such a busy schedule with school and home visits, but I also feel a little lost on activities to do with Syd. Especially the more structured language activities.

I signed Syd up for a mommy and me swim class. She is loving the water. We live in such a hot area and I was a fish growing up, so it's important to me that she knows how to swim and is comfortable in the water. I don't like the fact that I have to take her hearing aids out and it is rather difficult to sign with her as I am holding her up in the water, but she seems to catch what I am saying most of the time.

Syd enjoyed watching her uncle in the Clayton 4th of July parade. She loved watching all the kids on their bikes, scooters, ATV's, wagons, and motorized bumper car pass by. It was pretty hot by the time the parade was over so she became a crabby patty. But nothing a cold drink and grilled cheese couldn't fix.

We also took Syd to the county fair. She loved petting all the animals in the petting zoo. I thought it was pretty neat too until a deer tried to eat my shirt off me. She got excited watching the model trains chug around the little mountains. She was memorized by all the fast spinning rides. These aren't the same fair rides I remember when I was a kid. There were roller coasters and lots of rides that spun really fast. But these were bigger and faster then ever. But we just watched because $12 for all of us to ride the merry-go-round was a little steep for me. We all enjoyed ourselves.

Lost & Found...

Thank goodness for pictures and angel Moms without it we would be out one hearing aid. We decided to take Sydney on a hike at Black Diamond mines with the dogs this week. Beautiful weather, happy Sydney, life was good. The mines were cool to see both figuratively and literally. The air that blows out of the mines is so cold and refreshing.

We hike up the stairs to the next mine snap off some more self portraits and continue around the mountain. Halfway through Bernard asks me to check Sydney's hearing aids. *Panic* her right aid is missing. Luckily there is plenty of soft white sand up there since it is a silica mine. I play in the sand with Sydney and Bernard back tracks looking for the aids. Meanwhile I look at the pictures we just took in the camera and I can see her aid in one picture but not the next. Bernard comes back empty handed. Now with grumpy baby in tow and two tired mutts, we back track again. Still no luck. We ask hikers in the area...nothing. Ok in my mind it is gone forever someone either picked it up and is going to make a nice profit on E-bay or a coyote is going to have super hearing somewhere. We post a missing sign at the entrance of the trail and leave empty handed and broken.

I felt like a terrible mother, I didn't have a back-up and she was going to be without sound in that ear for up to a month. It made me sick to my stomach. I jumped into fix-it-mommy mode and called the audiologist to make a warranty claim and went to the notary to get a letter published so we could get the new aid ordered. I filed a missing report with the police, called the rangers of the park, and posted an ad on Craigslist. Still no luck.

The following day I decided to go back out to look for it. I examined the photos one more time and pinpointed where I thought she may have lost it. I believe in this photo is about the exact moment when she ripped the aid out. Armed with a walking stick and flashlight I trekked back up the hill. I climbed the steep hill next to the stair case where I thought hypothesized the dry grass swallowed her aid. After 20 minutes of searching, no luck. I prayed to my mom to help me find her aid and within 2 minutes, nestled in the dry grass, out of sight was her purple hearing aid. Thanks mom and Happy Birthday! We love and miss you.

Sydneyrella turns 1!!!

It's been a busy and exciting month for us. We took Sydney to Disneyland for her 1st birthday. We all had a great time. There were no lines and the weather was nice. Sydney enjoyed all the rides. She would sign "again" when the ride was over. On "it's a Small World" we were able to go "again" because there was no line. Two times was all I could take before I went crazy. The ride operator was right when she said it was the scariest ride there, because you can't get the song out of your head.

Syd dressed up as Cinderella for her 1st birthday and we bought her some Minnie Mouse ears. Although they did not have hearing aid accessories for them, hmmm....I will have to make some. We went three days total, though dada was done after the second day. So Syd and I tackled the park first thing in the morning and got more rides in than most people get in all day. I loved watching her face the most and seeing her look at everything. Then it was time to hit the road and take the long boring trek back home. The dogs were ecstatic to see us, and they even lost a couple of pounds (which they needed).

The celebrations didn't stop there. She had a party at her pre-school with cupcakes. She celebrated with her Dada's side of the family with a huge yummy dinner and Minnie Mouse cupcakes. Then she celebrated with Mama's side of the family for our Spring birthday's celebration. Lots more food, cakes and presents. I am so caked out. We are so lucky to have all her family close by to celebrate.

Sydney the Signer

Here is a picture of Sydney after dyeing Easter eggs with her cousins. I think she splashed more dye on herself than on the egg, then she cracked them...oh well. She had fun hunting for eggs at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She didn't know what to think of the Easter bunny. She didn't cry, she just looked at him wide-eyed trying to figure him out. She also enjoyed her feast at her other Grandma's house, spending time with the family and playing with her cousins.

It's really exciting now that Sydney is starting to sign. My biggest fear after finding out she had a hearing loss was that I wouldn't be able to communicate with her. I sign and talk to her constantly and some days I wondered if she was understanding any of this. It is a wonderful feeling now that she is signing back and babbling so much.

Today I took her to the library to hear a story being read. Then we sang Twinkle Twinkle (one of her favs). After the song was over she signed "again". It was too cute. I felt bad that we couldn't oblige. It was getting close to lunch time and I was worried about how much longer she was going to last before she started getting fussy. She let me know by signing "food". I rushed out of their quickly and got her a cracker before the melt down began. It great to be able to communicate with her at such a young age. It just shows that baby's are smart thinking individuals and if you give them the tools to communicate they can express themselves.

Doctors, babbles and bubbles....

It's been a while since I've posted last. I guess I got caught up in the craziness of daily life. I did't know a 10 month old could command so much attention. Sydney has been a busy girl between school, doctor's appointments and playing at the park.

We finally got her test results from the Usher Syndrome after an axious month of waiting. The test came up negative for the 4 of the 6 known types of Ushers they are able to test for. I was able to exhale just a little.

Syd had a couple of colds over the holidays that left her with fluid in her ears. I noticed that she seemed a little less responsive. We went to see her audi and sure enough her typanogram was flat indicating that she has flud in both ears. It took a good three months for it to clear up. After many booth tests and ENT appointments we finally got the good news that the fluid has drained (yeah!). The booth tests actually showed better responses in her right ear than her original ABR which was a little good news. I am glad we didn't have to get tubes, hopefully this won't be a reoccurring problem.

She also had an "in the ear" measure of her hearing aids which I read in a hearing loss magazine should always be done. It was quite the process and her poor 36 week pregnant audi in a 85 degree office was so patient with her. Syd has always been very good about allowing the audi to mess with her ears. It was a big feat trying to get this needle thin rubber tube in her ear with the hearing aid without it falling out. We got it done and she made some adjustments to her aids as a result.

Syd had this puzzling head tilt for the first 7-8 months of her life. It would last for months at a time and would switch from left to right. The PT ruled out torticollis. It seems to have gone away for the most part. But every now and then she will wake up with a head tilt. She will be lethargic and pale, and then vommit. It wasn't until this time around that it is not a stomach virus. This is the second or third time it has occured and seems to happen about once a month. What really concerned me this time was her eyes were jutting back and forth like she was watching the room spin. I thought maybe she was experiencing vertigo. So I looked up the symptoms on the internet and I came across a condtioncalled paroxysmal torrticollis which describes her symptoms exactly. Many times it is a benign condition that can eventually lead to vertigo and migraines later in life (if you want to call that benign...) and sometimes it can be a symptom of a larger condition. So now I am on a mission to find out what is going on. Her MRI came up clear which is a huge relief. We are meeting with an ENT next week so hopefully he can give us some more insight.

On a brighter note. Sydney started babbling about a 6 weeks ago and hasn't been quiet since. She says "baba" "dada", and seems to enjoy babbling at all waking hours which for her starts at 0530 (ughh). It's so great and cute and just love hearing her little voice. The beast is when she gets excited, like when I took her to see the fish at the pet store today. She can't contain herself and screams an ear piercing scream at the top of her lungs. I am surprised the fish were able to take it. People were starting to give me dirty looks, I was torn whether to muffle her a little because I was just happy she was so vocal about it.

Syd has made huge progress in the last couple of months. I do sign with her throughout the day as well as work with her on her speech. It is amazing how much she comprehends. I will verbally ask her to get some books to read, and she will crawl over to her books and pull them off the shelf. This morning I asked her where her foot was, and she grabbed onto it. And this eveing she she did the same for my nose and eyes. I am so happy I have this opportunity to spend with Sydney. Nothing is more rewarding and fulfilling than spending the day blowing bubbles and babbling with Syd.

Baby no more...

It is amazing how quickly Sydney has grown. Gone is her little infant face and her imobile self. She has taken on the toddler characteristics and is scooting around, but not quite crawling. She is very responsive and social one, always trying to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Her usual babbles consist of "aaaaah" or an earsplitting squeal.

We were thrilled to see her first sign "more". I don't think she knows how to use it in context, but if you say the word "more" she will put her hands together and then look at you patiently waiting.

She visited Santa with her cousins and was happy as could be pulling on his beard (she was making sure he was the real thing). She also really enjoyed Christmas in the Park in San Jose. She loved all the lights and the animated scenes. She bent over backwards to see the snow bubbles falling from the sky. We are very excited to have our first Christmas with her.

Picnic of Hope...

Sydney's teachers are so wonderful in her early intervention program. They are all so compassionate and passionate about helping deaf and hoh children. One of her teacher's comes to my families house once a month and teaches us sign language and is so patient with our families sarcastic antics.

Another of her teachers just started a meet-up group for all of the local counties deaf and hoh kids. This really means a lot for our family, and others out there that can assimilate with us. We had our first potluck picnic at the park across the street from our house on Saturday. It was rather chilly but when the sun peaked through the clouds it briefly warmed us up. There were about five families that showed up. Everyone was so nice and I was so thrilled to see all the cute kids with their hearing aids and cochlear implants.

Ever since Sydney was diagnosed with a hearing loss I had been in search of people I could relate to that were experiencing the same journey that we are. I managed to find some on-line in forums like Help Kids Hear that made me feel not so alone. Nothing could match actually seeing people face to face and seeing how well their kids are thriving. Hearing all of their experiences gave me the hope that I needed to know that Sydney will be just fine. You would be as amazed as I was to see how cute and wonderful these kids were. They were all so well spoken, I would've never known they were hoh or deaf. I could see some of them signing to their parents from across the park. These parents once were where I am now, and to get the reassurance and see the proof that everything will be OK is all I need for now.

On a different note, please keep Sydney in your thought and prayers that her test for Usher Syndrome comes back negative. We will have to wait a long dreadful two months for the test results. The geneticist was pretty hopeful that this isn't the case, but nonetheless all of these tests are scary until they pass.