Tuesday, November 01, 2005

A Happy Hearing Halloween

As you can see, the girls were ladybugs for Halloween. I LOVE Halloween. I am so excited to have kids now because I can live vicariously through them. I love getting them dressed up, and I think that trick-or-treating is the most fun ever. This year we took them door-to-door to a few of our close neighbors. Just to show them off really. And so we could eat all the candy! I can't wait till next year. We're already coming up with ideas for costumes. There are so many cute things you can do with twins!

Eden had her big day yesterday. She was hooked up and turned on! Activation days one (yesterday) and two (this morning) went very well. It was cool, and exciting, but also somewhat anticlimactic. Before turning her on to the outside world, she was hooked up to the computer and the audiologist presented beeping sounds and we all watched and looked for any kind of response. Eden was really good and sweet, and she played intently with her toys. Occasionally she did look up at us when she heard a sound, and that was really cute and exciting and we all made a big deal out of it. Once she was turned on and could hear us talking she really didn't seem to care or notice one way or another. We knew this would be the case because in hearing years she is a newborn. I haven't met a newborn yet who responded to my voice! So now Eden has three ages...her actual age (15 months), her adjusted age (11.5 months), and her hearing age (newborn). I am anxiously awaiting any overt sign that Eden is hearing us, and will report back to all of you with the news! For now, we will be going to the Cochlear Implant Center for weekly Speech Therapy with Ellen, and bi-weekly Programming and mapping with Eden's Audiologist Brandi. After a while, as we see how Eden progresses, the follow up appointments will become more spread out. We plan to continue with Auditory-Verbal Therapy over the next few years.

Holland has big news to report too...she can get herself to sitting from her belly! She has a really funny way of doing it. She pushes herself back with her hands until she is doing the splits, then brings her legs around. It looks like a really impressive gymnastic move. Unfortunately her PT says it isn't such a good idea, and let us borrow some HipHelpers to help her learn a more developmentally appropriate pattern. My mom is going to make her some in a variety of colors. Holland has generally low tone and her legs tend to froggy out into a W when she tries to get on her hands and knees. This will hold up her crawling and walking for a while, but she'll get there with a little work. Knowing that she will have no problem doing all of these things eventually, I am in no hurry for her to crawl. Holland is a pistol, with a very strong will, and we are in trouble once that girl can get around!


11 comments:

Kate Giovinco Photography said...

Happy Halloween to the cutest lady bugs online.

That is awesome about Eden hearing for the first time.

Any day Holland will be on the move. Wow amazing how fast they grow!

Kendra Lynn said...

Wow...they are so cute in their little costumes! I"m so excited about Eden's hearing! I know she'll be responding to you in no time!
Bravo, Holland! Keep up the good work...and start crawling soon so your mom can get a good dose of "wild baby syndrome". :)
Love you all.

Anonymous said...

YYYEEEY! they are so cute! i am so happy to hear the good news about eden. soon enough, she will be loving the sounds of your voices! i can't wait to see miss holly's acrobatics. i love you all. thanks again for the pics, they always brighten my day. oh yeah, are they getting HUGE or what? i love it!
lisa

Anonymous said...

Hi Billie,
You have the two cutest ladybugs I have ever seen! I am so happy that Eden can hear now. All day yesterday I was thinking about you guys. I can't wait to see how she will respond to the sound of your and John's voice in the coming months.
I am glad to see that Holly is making great strides toward being mobile. Before you know it she'll be into everything!

Emily Avey

Anonymous said...

The girls' pictures was the first thing I saw this morning as I fired up the computer and it moved me to happy tears. How far they have come. They are getting SO big! Please hug and smooch them for me.
Love, Mamma Jules

Anonymous said...

They are two of the cutest ladybugs I have ever seen!I love the pics!
I am happy that Eden's session went well! I can't wait for the updates on her progress!
Thanks for sharing all the cute pics and the great news!!
Dawn

Anonymous said...

Such cute little lady bugs!
I'm glad to hear of Eden's hearing progress and Holland's victory with sitting up, too.
It looks like Holland has some "natural curl" with those piggy-tales. And it's cute to see that you even managed a pony tale for Eden, too.
They are both dolls.
Love you all

Amy said...

The girls looked precious. I'm glad to hear the cochlear implant is working. I've only recently began to read your blog and went back to the beginning. You and your husband are amazing parents and your girls are just darling.

Anonymous said...

Hello Billie,

Thank you so much for all the pictures and information about Holland & Eden ! I love to see the pictures and read your text very much ! Although my English is not enough to understand the meaning of all the words but I can catch the general idea you express !

I can see that the Twins are your great inspiration to write, is it right my writer ? I wish I can have great amount of vocabulary like you to express whatever I like in this life! Maybe, when I get married and have babies in future , we can share each other more !

Anyhow, we love to see all of you very much in this blog !

With all best wishes to Holly, Eden, you and John !

Van family.

Anonymous said...

Dear Billie,
Mary Jo, Kathy and I have been waiting anxiously for news about Eden's activation. Sounds like it went well. Her responding to the clicks was encouraging. Please give one of us a call and let us know when we can get started again. We miss seeing both of the girls.
Nancy Roddy

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on Eden's getting switched on. That's great that she didn't find it upsetting. What a big milestone. Looking forward to hearing about her progress in the months to come. Very happy for her, and for you.

And those ladybug costumes are adorable! Honestly, how can you get anything done all day, surrounded by all that huggable cuteness?

Admiringly,
SheilaC, mom to 5-y-old triplets