Busy Summer

Just when we think that things will slow down once the kids get out of school......the summer "fun" hits us. We have been running crazy the last two weeks with performance courses, basketball games, football games, cheerleading practice, church responsibilities, Logan's therapy appoinments, and the list goes on. Despite our busy schedule everyone seems to be doing well.

Kaitlyn and Andrew have been enjoying their performance course sessions and have both been really successful in the team sports they have been playing. In fact, Kaitlyn ahd to play in a basketball game the other night. Two of her team mates fouled out, 2 were sick or out-of-town, and one was injured so they had to play 3 on 5 for the last few minutes of the game. Her team was actually only down by 4 points when Kaitlyn swished a 3 pointer. The other team made a free-throw shot and Kaitlyn again shoots a 3 pointer. This one rolls around the inside of the rim and then out of the basket. It was one of the most exciting games I have seen in a really long time. Her team ended up losing by only 5 points but I thought that was pretty good considering they were playing with only 3 players.

Brie has gone to visit her mom in Amarillo for about 2 weeks. She road up there with her Aunt Ashlie and her grandma will bring her back down here right before the 4th of July. She's been a really big help for me since school has been out. She has been very willing to help with the younger boys and go with me to run errands. She has cheerleading practice a few times before August and then will have camp at the beginning of August. She's really excited to be participating in cheerleading this year and I hop she has fun.

Logan has had a few more therapy sessions (both speech therapy and occupational therapy). Both of his therapists are now saying that they think he has another diagnoses that hasn't been identified yet. They are very quick to say that they can't diagnose anything themselves but are encouraging us to get him evaluated further. One of the things that they have made mention of is autism. Unfortunately the center that we need to take him to has about a 2 month waiting period so we woun't know anything for a while. Both David and I have struggled with this but I think we are STARTING to come to terms with the fact that he will need more attention and maybe have some permanent developmental delays. It's not an easy thing to deal with but we're trying.

Hope everyone's summer is going well. I'll try to get some pictures loaded soon. I joined Facebook a few weeks ago and have some pictures loaded there but haven't been able to find a way to load several at a time to the blog so we'll see.

I'm beginning to realize.......

I'm beginning to realize that there really aren't enough hours in the day to do everything. I've wondered about it before but I've finally decided that it's actually true. And on a vacation or holiday the time in a day is reduced by even more.

Now, I know this isn't an actual fact, time passes the same way every day but this phenomena would definitely explain all the things that we never have enough time to do. Things like scrubbing toilets, washing baseboards, cleaning under the major appliances, or even fun things like reading our favorite book or researching our family history. One of these days someone will invent a way to do all the "chores" in life at the same time as doing all the fun things. He/She would make millions!

We thought this summer was going to be pretty quiet. The economy being what it is, we didn't plan any vacations. Then one-by-one various camps and rec leagues came up and now the summer is going to almost be busier that it is during school. Andrew and Kaitlyn are attending a general sports endurance camp that is every weekday morning in June and July. Andrew, Kaitlyn and Brie will all be attending church related camps. Andrew is playing 7 on 7 football tournaments in June and July, as well as participating in rec basketball games. Kaitlyn in also participating in rec basketball games and practices. Brie will attend cheerleader camp in August. Andrew will start high school football 2-a-days in August. Logan is having speech therapy once a week and occupational therapy once a week (hopefully until the end of the year). Matthew and Ethan are the only ones that don't have anything scheduled yet. But, with the way things are going, something is bound to come up. I think we'll all be ready for school to start so we can have a little (and I mean little) break from the madness.

MRI Results, Hearing aids and Family update

We got the MRI results back and they were normal. Whew! This means that Logan's hearing loss is not due to a structural abnormality and there is a lesser chance now that his hearing will continue to deteriorate. They will do another MRI in March so they can continue to track his hearing and make sure that it has stabilized.

Logan will finally get his hearing aids on Feb. 3rd. After MANY frustrating calls with the insurance where they continued to tell me something different with every call, I was able to get the aids covered this one time. We decided (because of this) that we would get the best ones we can in hopes that they will be able to cover his needs for the longest period of time.

Just a bit of info that I've discovered: Hearing aids (at least for kids) last about 3 to 5 years. They cost between $1,000 to $4,000 A PIECE (Logan needs 2 - one for each ear). Most children get the behind-the-ear models so that the ear molds (which are like a flimsy piece of rubber, molded specifically for each child) can be changed out about every 3-6 months while the child is growing. These cost about $300 for a set so they are much more affordable to replace than the entire hearing aid. Also, there a very few insurance companies that cover hearing aids (I was totally shocked!).

Now on to the update:

For the older boys, Andrew and Matthew, basketball season will be over in the next few weeks. Individually they have both played really well although their teams haven't always done their best. They've enjoyed playing and it's been good for them to have these extra activities to do on Saturdays.

Andrew has already started practice for spring football season. He plays on a rec team in the area. It keeps him busy and helps him continue to improve his skills.

Matthew usually plays spring football, but this year they were unable to find enough boys to field a team for his age group. He's a little disappointed but is looking forward to the extra time to play with his friends.

Kaitlyn has started playing basketball with Young Women's. I don't think they take their games too seriously but have still played well. It's a fairly short season and will be over in a few weeks as well. She also starts practice for spring soccer in about a week or two. She had to cut her season short last season due to an injury so is really excited about the season starting. They have reorganized the teams so that they are a little more even as far as age of the girls so her team should be pretty competitive.

Brie is doing pretty good in school and has a birthday coming up in a few months. She is REALLY excited about turning 12 and being able to go to Young Women's. We live next-door to a family with four girls (ages 8-14). Both Brie and Kaitlyn go over to play at their house quite often. The two older girls are already 12 and Brie looking forward to being able to go to church activities with them (they are members of the church - very convenient).

Ethan is very active and very UN interested in potty training. He will be four in May so this is a big source of frustration for us. We're working on it though and hope that someday soon he will get the hang of it. He loves to play games on the computer and is learning visual recognition of the letters (He already knows how to sing the alphabet).

David is really busy at work. He had a client significantly decrease their mailings; thereby decreasing David's profits. They are slowly starting to increase their business again but David has been diligently trying to make up for the lost business. Besides work he has been working with the older boys on scout projects and goes to as many of the kids events as possible.

I've been doing well - just busy trying to keep up with all the different appointments and family events.

David's dad, Rodney was able to come and visit at the beginning of the month. It was great to see him. The kids really enjoyed having their Grandpa Dotson visit. We hope that we'll be able to see him again soon.

I think that about covers everything. As you can tell, I still haven't been able to find the time to post pictures yet. Hopefully soon!

Potty Training & Logan's MRI

It's official.....Ethan has gone "pee pee" in the potty for the first time this morning. We have been trying for several months to get him interested in going. He has had ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST. We didn't want to force him and have it be some traumatic event so we just waited it out. We tried the potty book. We tried the reward chart. We tried the "big boy underwear". Nothing seemed to be working. Yesterday I got the Feel 'n' Learn pull-ups and he was really excited. He tried a few times last night but nothing. We told him he would get a small sticker for each time he tried and a potty sticker for his potty chart if he actually went. I was with Logan this morning (he was having an MRI) and David stayed home with Ethan. He called about 10:30 with the big news. Now I'm even more excited. I just hope we can keep it going this time. It would definitely make things a lot easier if he is potty-trained. Wish us luck!

Logan had his MRI this morning. We won't know the results until our follow-up visit with the ENT doctor. They won't even make that appointment until they receive their copy of the report. I hope it's soon because all this waiting is driving me nuts. He did really well. They have to sedate him so he will lie still. He actually fell asleep (while I was holding him) while we were waiting for him to be taken back to the MRI room. It made it really easy for them to give him the "gas" so he was out for the procedure. He actually recovered better this time than when he had his ABR. He fussed a little but seem to be more alert quicker. I just hope he won't have to have many more of these sedated procedures. He seems so fragile lying unconscious on the hospital bed. I know he's fine but it's just hard to see.

Christmas and Update on the Kids

Christmas was pretty quiet for us this year. We had the older kids until Christmas Eve and then they went to their mom's house for several days. As is customary in our house, if we have the kids up until Christmas Eve, Santa comes on the night of the 23rd and we open presents on the morning of the 24th. A lot of times we plan a trip or have family visit around Christmas. Since my mother's accident last year we haven't had much in the way of family visits. and, because the economy is so bad now and we just moved into a new house this year, we decided not to go anywhere for Christmas.

David's dad, Rodney, was able to come down and visit us from Canyon, Texas. It's about 6 hours away. He was able to drive down this last Thursday and stayed until yesterday. We all really enjoyed his visit and we're very glad he was able to come. He also assisted David in giving our youngest, Logan, a blessing.

This is a whole different topic but I'll touch on a few of the specifics. Logan was born healthy and happy. The hospital did a newborn screening test (as they do on all newborns) and did not indicate any abnormal findings. Logan is almost 2 and has yet to say any deciferable, meaningful word. He makes noises and, at times, will attempt to say something, but he is unable to form the right sounds. We had his hearing tested (the first step in a speech delay evaluation) and found out (just before Christmas) that he has moderate hearing loss in the lower and middle frequencies and almost no hearing in the upper frequencies. This helps to explain a lot of our concerns.

The treatment for this is hearing aids and extensive speech therapy. This loss is different from the loss that some kids have from having repeated ear infections. It's classified as a sensorineuro hearing loss. This basically means that the loss is permanent. One of the next steps is to have an MRI done. This will tell us if his inner and middle ear formed properly and evaluate his brain to make sure there aren't any abnormalities there. If there is a malformation in the ear, there is a greater chance that this could be a progressive hearing loss. Otherwise, if his sturctures are normal, they will continue to explore other explainations.

He is a very happy, healthy kid and (other than not talking)seems perfectly fine. We are just having to spend a lot of time in doctors' offices and doing testing. We have a lot of unanswered questions as well a lot of decisions to be made over the next several months. We are trying to get him all the help that he needs and expect him to get completely caught up within the next year or so. We just hope and pray that there is not something more severe developing.

So, other than the craziness of the doctors' appointments, things have been pretty quiet around here. We have had some time off from school and sports, but those activities resume this week. As far as the older kids:
Andrew is playing basketball through school, as well as through a rec league (can you believe it - he is actually 5'8" already and still growing)He's in 8th grade this year
Kaitlyn is in 6th grade. She's plays in the percussion section in band. She still likes soccer but got hurt last season and hasn't been able to play for a while. She hopes to start again in the spring.
Matthew is playing basketball through a rec league. He is in 4th grade this year and really enjoys playing football.
Brie is in 6th grade. She is in choir and was a cheerleader this last season with the rec football league. She hopes to join the middle school squad next year.
Ethan in every bit a 3 1/2 year old BOY. He is very active and loves to play computer games and help daddy in the yard.

I think that's a "quick" (HA HA HA) update on all the kids. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to post pictures, so I'll ask you for a little more patience for those. We've had some computer problems recent;y and have just been able to get everything ironed-out. And, now that the kids are back in school I have a LITTLE more time on my hands to get things updated.