Category: life

OK, now that I’ve gotten that out, I feel much better.  This week I feel like the Gingerbread Man…run, run as fast as you can.  You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.  I’m really runnin’ at mock speed this week…big assignments at school…Valentines madness…12 + mile runs…kids’ homework…classroom helper…psuedumonas…TOBI.  I honestly love being super busy, but there are a couple of elements that I would remove with my magic wand if I could.

So, last week Olivia was fitted for her hearing aids.  I took my personal bias and placed it on a shelf for this appointment.  I went into this appointment with the goal that I want Olivia to have the opportunity to hear just as good as everyone else.  I don’t want her to miss out on anything because of her hearing.  The only aspect of this whole hearing aid business that made me second guess my original goal is the social aspect.  I’d like to skip admitting that there will be some social ramifications for wearing a hearing aid to school.  Let’s just face it…some kids can be pretty mean.  Some parents often neglect to instill into their children the value of accepting diversity in others whether it be the color of one’s skin or a little gadget attached to one’s ear.  So, despite this, I decided I want to give Olivia the opportunity to hear the best she can regardless of what others think.  I want her to give it a try and to see what she thinks and to make the decision for herself.

Olivia, on the other hand, is super excited.  She had some squishy, pink clay squirted into her ears to make a mold of the shape of the inside.  After that, she got to pick out what colors she wanted.  I wish I could have filmed her excitement.  She was so ecstatic.  She picked out purple for the part that goes behind her ear and pink, purple, and white swirl for the molded part that goes into her ear.  Olivia’s hearing aids will be quite the fashion statement.  She can’t wait to get them and try them out.  I can’t wait to see her in them!

On to Julia…ah, Julia.  Julia had a phenomenal clinic visit this month.  She is blowing a like a champ.  Her lungs are blowing at 98% capacity which is just fantastic.  Culture results were a big disappointment.  Julia cultured pseudomonas again.  Big downer for us because she has been pseudo negative for quite some time after her clean-out.  She seems to be well, but I have noticed a difference in her energy level.  Julia hasn’t napped for months and months and now she gets pretty run down at the end of the day.  For example, it’s noon right now and she is crashed out on the floor.  Not typical of my little Julia.  Julia is back on TOBI which adds an additional hour per day of treatment time.  I feel like we’ve lost the pseudomonas battle and Julia is married to it.  The game plan now is to simply treat it with TOBI and see how it goes.  It does worry me that it’s there slowly damaging her little lungs, but I’ve accepted pseudomonas into our family as a permanent fixture.

Austin is fantastic.  He’s been busy with school, boy scouts, ice skating, and skiing.  He is great!

We are hanging in there…always looking at the bright side of things.  Spring is almost here.  We’ve had some pretty warm days hitting numbers in the 50′s.  I look forward to what adventures warmer weather brings our family.

Julia practicing with a mouthpiece. If any parents have a suggestion how to make the transition from mask to mouthpiece, please let me know. Julia is anti mouthpiece right now.

Austin and Olivia waiting to go out on the ice.

Olivia started out in Snowplow Sam 1 and was quickly moved up because she wasn't crying and rolling around on the ice like the rest of the kids.

One of Snowbirds many lifts. We live just minutes away from this paradise.

Austin is getting a good handle on skiing. Joe looks forward to hitting some black diamonds with his favorite son...someday.

My two favorite guys!