Thursday, February 07, 2008

What's New With You?


Sigh. Well, for starters, the girls are sick. Stuffy noses, coughs, fevers... Holland has had a very high fever for the past two nights...105.9 on Monday night, and 105.0 on Tuesday night. Luckily, it comes down with Motrin, and only runs low grade during the day. She is in an acceptable mood, and best of all, so far, no wheezing! I took her to the doctor today, just because the fever gets so high and has lasted for more than 2 days. Her sats were 96, even with a rotten cough, and her lungs sound clear. So, for now, it's just a virus and we'll wait it out.

Eden had an audiologist appointment this past Wednesday. In the sound booth she proved that she is growing up, and wasn't interested in the silly reinforcers that used to work all the time. They would present a sound, and she would look up at the bear playing the cymbals or the doggie barking. This time she only reacted to the loud sounds, and totally ignored the soft sounds, even though I KNEW she could hear them. We moved on to a new method of having her point to body parts and repeat the ling sounds. She responded to the body parts down to 25db, and the ling sounds at 30db (the lowest we tried). Normal range for cochlear implant users is 20-40 decibels, so she is right where she needs to be and can hear all of the sounds necessary for speech.

We also tried a picture/vocabulary test, which is a quick way to see if she is hearing/understanding one-two-three syllable words and compound words, as well as discriminating between words with the same beginning sound (ball, bat, bird, bell, etc.) The last time we tried this was about a year ago, and she just didn't get it yet. This time she got almost all of them. Funny enough, she missed most of the food words. LOL. She got birthday cake and french fries, but missed popcorn, hamburger, sandwich, and cupcake. No surprise there!

Holland had an eye doctor appointment at the end of December, and got a new pair of glasses last month. We couldn't get the ear wraps on the frames I really wanted, so we ended up with the only other pair that went down small enough. They are very similar to her old glasses, and no one has noticed without me telling them.

Her prescription has gotten worse, especially in her left eye. Kind of a bummer, but she is still using the weaker eye, and it is correctable with the glasses, so no biggie. Last year her prescription was -3.00 (+0.50 astigmatism) in her right eye, and -7.00 (no astigmatism) in her left. Now it is -3.00 (+1.00 astigmatism) in her right eye, and -8.00 (+0.50 astigmatism) in her left. We are continuing to patch her left eye for at least 2 hours a day (more if she isn't complaining).

I need to do another (not)eating post soon, and I'm working on a preschool post (yes, they are actually going to make me send my children AWAY, sob). But until then I'll leave you with a couple of cute stories...

Holland, meaning to say I have a stuffy nose, says "I have a nose." I reply, "I have a nose too!" Holland says "Mommy, your nose is very pretty." Mommy melts into a puddle on the floor. Awwwwww.

Eden is playing with toys on the family room floor while I am working on the laptop (aka blogging). She rolls over to the couch and says, "up-a, up-a, up-a." I say, no, we don't say up-a." She replies, "up please Mama." So I pick her up. She sits on my lap, looks at the computer screen and says, "wow, that's pretty cool!" What I think is pretty cool, is that Eden can say "that's pretty cool."

13 comments:

Sheila said...

Aw, I hope the girls will bounce back quickly from this virus. Yes, E is pretty cool!

Miranda said...

Sending healthy and hungry vibes your way Billie. I hope they get better quickly. And really, both girls are pretty cool!

Sarah said...

1) get well soon, girls! Glad it's "just a virus". :^/

2) Don't you love how they parrot the things we say? S says "awesome" and "cool" all the time.

abby said...

I'm sorry to hear about the crud that has descended upon Holland and that she has such high temps, but am really quite pleased that her lungs are staying clear. That's a very good thing.

And I loved the stories of the girls at the end of the post. Both of them are really, really cool. And Eden looks so much like you...

Anonymous said...

I hope Holland and Eden get better very soon!
They are just so cute. :)

Beth

winecat said...

Wow, how wonderful that Holland is holding her own and not in the hospital. You must be so pleased. And yeah for Eden with her hearing test.

As for awesome and cool, just so awesome and cool. Who would have thought just a short time ago that she'd be able to say that?

Anonymous said...

Adorable children you have! Praying that they get better quickly.

-Kathryn, NC

ps- Has Eden's CI processer always been pink?

Billie said...

Kathryn,
How observant you are to notice! No, it used to be beige (skin color), as they did not make the pink when she got it. The last time we had to order replacement parts, we asked for a pink one and got it a couple of months ago. It's so much cooler!
Billie

Anonymous said...

My fingers are crossed that the "bug" passes quickly. Luv u guys and hope to see ya soon. PS Eric says he knows you can do a better face than that! Luv Liz

Ani said...

hope the girls feel better soon! my 2 year old has picked up "cool beans" as his new fave expression -i really need to watch what i say around him :)

Anonymous said...

That is very cool!

Vickie said...

Very Cool!

Lisa said...

<3 <3 <3