Olivia's 18 months old

Miss Olivia Jane turned 18 months old this past week. She weighs 23 lbs and is 31 1/2  inches tall (50% percentile for both). I was holding her today cradled in my arms and I thought about how she's so small compared to her brothers at that age. Eli was almost 30 lbs at 18 months and several inches taller and Isaac was a big baby as well. She is still wearing size 3 diapers and is in 12-18 month size clothes. I'm letting her bangs grow out so right now they are below her eyes when it isn't pulled back. I love watching her little personality develop- she definitely lets you know what she wants.

What can Olivia do now?


Olivia is on the go everywhere, climbs up and off things with ease, and tries to jump (she doesn't get off the ground but she says "jump" and makes an effort to squat and come back up). She especially likes stairs and inclines and thinks it's great fun to go up and down one hundred times. She will go down our stairs holding the rail but I still like to stay close by her in case she falls. I haven't put a gate at the bottom of our stairs and most of the time she leaves them alone... exceptions are if someone she wants goes up. With Eli I had to barricade everything. I also don't have cabinet locks... She has 2 kitchen cabinets she knows are hers to play in and the rest are Mommys'. Occasionally she will try to get into one of mine but really minds well when I tell her no.

She is a great eater and isn't very picky at all. Her favorite foods are oatmeal, spaghetti, bread, fruit and peanut butter. She definitely has a sweet tooth and loves anything with sugar- which we limit! She does pretty well with a fork and spoon as well.

Olivia absolutely loves her pink silky blanket and has become unbearably attached to her pacifier. When she was a little baby she didn't even like the paci and would barely take it at bedtime. I don't know why she decided she wants it but she asks for that thing continuously. I'm going to have to suck it up and take it away before long.  She is a great sleeper which I am soooo thankful for. The older I get the more I need my sleep! That's one thing that keeps me from wanting #4... sleep! She goes to bed around 8:30 and sleeps until around 8 the next morning. At bedtime we read a few books, take her 'ears' out and then turn off the light. She will say "bed" when she wants me to lay her down in her crib to go to sleep.

She was all interested in the potty a while back and went for about a month pee peeing in the potty before her bath. Lately she's decided she's not very interested in it so I haven't pushed anything. She does love her bath and fights with Eli over who's turn it is to drink the cold water from the spigot.

Language? Oh yes.. she's a verbal little thing. We are well over 100 words now and she's starting to combine words together. This afternoon she was suppose to be napping and I heard "Mama, Mama". I went in her room and she said, "Poo Poo".  As I changed her she said, "stinky, dirty diaper" and then said "up" and "down" as she lifted her little legs up and down. She knows clothing items, body parts including: hair, eyes, eyebrow, teeth, nose, mouth, ears, head, belly, knee, hands, toes, feet. When you count she will say the next number up to 10. She loves books and asks to 'read' all the time. She follows directions very well and right now I'm working on getting her to find two critical elements. Sometimes she will only pick the last item she hears so we are working on increasing her auditory memory skills. She's also working on speech babble for auditory memory as well. I will give her a pair of nonsense sounds to repeat such as "meebow" and she has to repeat. She will usually get first part but not always the second. As far as speech she is using all developmental speech sounds. She will even put /s/ in words such as 'horsie" so I know she's hearing it! We went to Asheville to have new ear molds made and ordered pink with gold sparkles this time. She does great keeping them in except when she is tired. If she gets sleepy those things are first to go and if I don't catch her in time she pulls the mold from the tubing. I now have a set of thin tweezers I carry in my pocket book for putting the tubing back in. She begs to get in the car to watch her "moomie" (movie) I think because with her FM system she hears it so well.

I always imagined being a boy mom... but it's so fun having a daughter and amazing to see the differences between boys and girls. Olivia loves shoes, bracelets, necklaces, baby dolls, and having her nails painted. She asks to wear her 'bows' and wants to prance around in her boots. She can sit and watch me put on makeup (on the rarity when I do) as long as I let her. Her favorite show right now is Sophia the 1st. I was such a tom boy when I was a little girl I think it's funny that she is so girly.

Olivia, we are so blessed to have you in our lives and can't imagine it any other way. You have us all wrapped around your little finger and when you grin with those dimples we just melt. I love you my sweet girl!  Love, Mommy

                                         Here's a little clip of Olivia reading her favorite book

Hearing testing, FM, and breakfast

Thursday we journeyed 3 hours back to Chapel Hill for new hearing testing and to pick up Olivia's FM system. She did great during testing in the booth and our audiologist was able to get a complete audiogram. Her hearing is staying stable and I am so thankful to God. I always breathe a sigh of relief when we compare the last two audiograms and they look the same!

We also got to pick up Olivia's new FM system! The downside is that it added a little bulk and weight to her hearing aids, but it's well worth it in my opinion and Olivia hasn't seemed to mind . We knew as an infant that sometime after her 1st birthday this would be an option. Because of the wonderful resources for children with hearing loss in our state we were able to get help offsetting the cost which is $5000.00!

 For those of you who don't know what a FM system is, basically it transmits sound directly from the microphone (which I wear) to the receivers (which are connected on the bottom of Olivia's hearing aids). She's already loving it and use more words. Yesterday, she was in the kitchen playing in her cup cabinet and I was in the living room.. I was able to say, "Oh, you are playing with the cups" and she heard it directly into her hearing aids, bypassing all the environmental noise.. aka.. Eli. She responded "cup" with a perfect /k/ sound!

The FM will be great to use in a noisy restaurant where typically she would have trouble hearing me even with her hearing aids in.  I'm sure we will be using it at the park as well... when she walks away from me I can call her name and she will hear it loud and clear. The car is another great place to use her FM. Car rides have been challenging because the road noise it makes it difficult for Olivia to hear me or hear her DVD. So on the way home, we turned on her FM and plugged the auxiliary cable from her DVD into the box and ta da... She loved hearing Sophia the First amplified right into her little ears. Another big perk is when she goes to pre-school or elementary school, her teacher can wear the microphone and Olivia won't miss any instruction!

Friday morning I was asked to invite family and friends and share my story at a breakfast hosted by BEGINNINGS.  BEGINNINGS is a non-profit organization provided to help parents of children with hearing impairment, by providing recourses and information. The breakfast was at 7:00 am in Asheville (which is a 45 minute drive) so it was tough finding anyone crazy enough who wanted to drive to Asheville that early. Thankfully we had some sweet friends and family that volunteered! Josh fussed at me on the way up and said for me not to volunteer for anymore 7:00 breakfasts! I had no idea what I was going to say until I got up there (like usual!) but Josh said he was proud of me so it must of gone okay.

I've also been asked to be a support parent for hearing loss, so I attended a training on Sunday afternoon. I feel that God has blessed me tremendously by giving me knowledge about hearing loss and language development and I want to be a blessing to others. Early identification, amplification and intervention is the key. The two other parents at our meeting shared their story about how their pediatrician brushed their concerns away, an audiologist didn't do correct testing, referrals were not made and how this has negatively impacted their children. Because a professional dropped the ball and parents didn't have accurate information, their children weren't amplified until age 2 and the time for critical language development was missed. I want to help other parents going through a similar situation to make sure their child doesn't fall through the cracks and can benefit from being amplified at an early age.

At the mall before our appointment

Playing in the grass

Oliva's hearing aids with the FM receivers on the bottom. You can see where they made her aids longer.

Olivia's NEW Language scores

Ms. Hannah, Olivia's Auditory Verbal Therapist/SLP came out last week to do a home visit and her bi-yearly testing.. and guess what... SHE ROCKED IT! I knew she was going to score high during the testing but I had no idea how high. For my non-SLP friends, this is a standardized test that is normed for children age birth through 7 that do NOT have hearing impairment. So the fact that she did Ahhhmazing is especially cool.  For my SLP friends.. I threw in her chart with scores :) Also this was based on her chronological age (16 months) not her hearing age which is (13 months). Hannah wants us to decrease our sessions from weekly to every other week because Olivia is doing so well. 

	Standard Score*	Percentile Rank	Severity Rating
Auditory Comprehension	128	97	Above Average
Expression Communication	129	97	Above Average
Total Language Score	130	98	Above Average

We will continue wearing our awesome pink hearing aids and inputting language because it's working and Livi is thriving. A year ago I was worried because I didn't know what to expect and today I'm so thankful for our blessings! Click here to see how I was feeling a year ago when Olivia first got her hearing aids.

Olivia Jane

Olivia's Audiologist Appointment

Olivia had updated audiological testing today at Chapel Hill. We were able to get all frequencies in both ears and even test 8000 Hz which we had previously not been able to test. She did phenomenal! Her hearing continues to be stable which we thank God for. Olivia participated just like she should and would imitate the words her audiologist was saying during testing. Her audiologist told us that most 14 month olds (even with the exact same hearing loss) cannot do what Olivia did today and remarked on how smart she is. Josh and I were both so proud of her. We had new molds made (clear with pink starbursts) and even had a live session with Ms. Hannah (we usually work with Ms. Hannah through the computer). We also ordered an FM system  which will attach to the bottom of Olivia's hearing aid and have a lapel microphone transmitter which I can wear to directly input my voice into her hearing aids. This will be especially helpful now that she's mobile and doesn't always stay within an arms length of me.

Taking a walk with Daddy on our road trip

Morning breakfast in bed (Starbucks muffin) at the hotel

Getting ready with Mommy

In the sound booth getting ready to start testing

Sacked out on the way home- She didn't get to nap until after 4:30 

Livi is walking!

Olivia finally decided to walk... at 13 1/2 months!  She's been taking up to 10 steps for a couple weeks but this past she's become much more coordinated and is officially walking. She isn't at all afraid of falling or turning loose and those little chubby legs look so cute on on the go :)

This and that

This is my 3rd Father's Day without my dad. He was just 60 when he passed away and I was 30- way too young for both of us. I love this picture because his grin was so contagious. He loved to laugh and make a joke. He had a nickname for everyone. 

Sunday

This Father's day I celebrated Josh and what he means to our family. Being such the good wife that I am ;) Josh got to partake in all his favorite activities: golfing, sleep, and shooting guns. On Saturday he took Isaac golfing and I stayed home with the babies. On Sunday, I let him sleep in and got everyone ready for church and in the car! We hosted a cookout at our house with all the Allisons and      that evening Josh, his brothers 

    and dad went shooting at our homemade firing range. Happy Father's day Josh if you ever decide to read my blog! 

Monday, I started a new job with a local private practice in our area doing a bit of contract speech work. It was interesting getting 'back in the saddle'.  It's amazing how rusty I felt after just taking a year off. I may just work a few hours but I definitely want to stay current and keep up my skills- I've worked too hard for my brain to become Mommy Mush.

This was our dinner on Monday and I had to snap a quick picture. I baked chicken breasts with honey mustard sauce in the oven and made twice baked potatoes from our left over cookout potatoes from Sunday. My secret to twice baked potatoes or baked potatoes in general is an old favorite that my dad and grandmother got us started on- Dean's French Onion dip. Wow.. add a bit of Dean's dip instead of sour cream with bacon, cheese, and chives- it's so tasty!

Tuesday-
 Isaac went to baseball camp (he's been going all week from 9am to 12 pm) and the littles were up early. Eli went outside without asking (again!) so he was in trouble. When he sits in time out, I tell Siri to set my timer for 3 minutes- I don't know how effective it is since he did it again about an hour later! I'm thrilled Eli loves the outdoors, playing fetch with Sampson, and tramping through the woods- but it scares me to death that he might get bit by a snake, carried off by a coyote, or lost in the woods. I don't think those are unrealistic fears either. We have 40 acres surrounding our house and we border the forest preserve which is who knows how many acres! Eli has no fear and wants to take Sampson for long walks, deep in the woods. It doesn't even phase him that he can't see the house- being barefoot doesn't stop him either. Honestly I think the boy could give the ancient Indians a run for their money with his feet of steel and love for the outdoors.

I worked for about 3 hours again and then came home to rush all 3 kids out the door to take Isaac to an orthodontic consult. How excited was I when the orthodontist said he did not recommend braces, and that Isaac's teeth are nearly perfect! Isaac has a little spacing issue one side of his top teeth but that's it! The big issue is that his canines are completely sawed off from where he grinds his teeth so much. We actually hear him do this during the day- I think it's become a habit. So anyway the ortho recommended retainers for him to wear at night that will stop the grinding and fix the spacing issue. I'm pumped we won't have to shell out thousands in braces for this kid- let's hope the other two could be so lucky.

After the orthodontist appointment, I took the kids to the mall and bought Olivia some Stride Rite walkers. Both boys had the high top white walkers so I thought she needed some as well since she is getting closer to taking off. Yesterday she walked across the living room to me. We met Josh for dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant and Eli slept through dinner on my lap which never happens. He was so cuddly laying there with his mouth open and I kept stealing kisses on his cheeks.

I think his eyebrow looks like Tierra-able in this picture- for those of you that watched last season's Bachelor

To top the day off my mom had surgery. She has been having gallbladder attacks for a few weeks, so she had an appointment to see the surgeon, and he decided to take her gallbladder out later that afternoon. We didn't get to see her before her surgery, but she did great and is home and gallbladderless (is that a word?). I hope this helps her because she's felt really bad lately.

Wednesday-

Olivia had her educator and service coordinator come out around 9:00.  She is doing so well.. I really can't even keep up with how many words she's saying now. One of her new words this week is 'flower', and she goes around pointing to all the flowers in the house while saying "flower". We go back to Chapel Hill in July and will discuss an FM system at that time. I think it would be great because she is getting so mobile and doesn't always stay within an arms length of me now. She says "Isaac" and "Eli" now and likes to point up to Isaac's room while yelling for him (I have no idea where she got that from...sigh).

 After therapy, my sister and I worked on our business- entering data into Quickbooks... so fun. Audra's kids were at her mother-in-laws and Eli was with his Paw-paw so it worked out well. We've tried to do the books with all four little kids underfoot and it doesn't happen. I left to go pick up Isaac and his 3 cousins from baseball camp around noon and then we continued working.

                                 

                                       The boys lounging after baseball camp

Around 6:00, one of my best friends since pre-school, Kellie, came over to hang out with us. She brought cupcakes to make with Eli, and as you can see, he had a lot of fun. We had pizza and then went to go see her new house that she's building. It's in the woods with huge-- I mean bolder size rocks all around. Eli fell jumped into a mud puddle and his legs turned a different ethnicity. Kel has done a great job laying out the house and it's going to be adorable when it's finished. I have no desire to ever build again- that kind of stress is not enjoyable. 

Eli and the beaters

Kellie and Eli making cupcakes

Girls can ride tractors too!

Olivia thinks she's as big as her brothers and big cousins and is on the go! She took 7 steps the other day by herself but still isn't 'walking'. Yesterday, she climbed up on Eli's tractor and kept studying the pedals... then all of a sudden she pushed it and took off ( of course I was right beside her). She didn't get scared a bit either.. she loves for Eli to ride her around in his blue truck as well.

Sweet hugs for Nana

My first pony tail

I like this thing!

"out" video

Olivia is loving the word "out". She likes to tell our dog, Sampson "out" when he comes inside. Here is a cute clip of her saying out as we sing "10 In the Bed".

Olivia's 12 months- oh yea that's O-N-E

Here is our last 'sticker' picture. Sniff sniff. 

Yep, that's me.. I'm ONE

I'll chew this finger and think about smiling

Don't get me Mommy!

Mommy's sweet girl!




Olivia is officially one. She weighs 20 lbs (50%) and is 28 1/2 inches long (25%). She is wearing 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers and size 3 shoes. Her hair is growing and I just love putting big bows on her head. I still think of myself as a boy-mom but I'm quickly learning how to be a girl-mom! This child has a plethora of dresses and pink. I'm such a sucker for those smocked dresses.

She is now weaned and on whole milk. She has always loved a sippy cup but when I put milk in there she spits it right out. However, today she took milk from a cup like a champ- maybe our days of bottles will be gone soon. I saw all my pumping stuff and medela bottles in the cabinet earlier today and made a mental note to pack it away. She eats mostly table food with a few 'squeezies' thrown in there for convenience sake.

Olivia's top two molars are partially through and she has cut another upper tooth beside her top tooth.. so that makes 7 so far.

She is standing without holding on to anything and will squat and come back up as well. If I hold one hand she will take steps and walk beside me. She also loves to push her walker around the house. She seems to become more interested in walking by the day.

She sleeps from 8:00pm to 8:00 am -give or take 30 min or so.. depends on when we get to bed. With baseball games our nights have been getting longer. She usually takes a morning and an afternoon nap as well.

Her new words this week are: cracker, up, more, out. She will use all these spontaneously without me giving her the model. 'Cracker' has become the new favorite in the car.. she starts saying 'cracker, cracker'. When she wants me to pick her up she reaches her arms toward me and says "up".. and pops that /p/ sound on the end.

Olivia Jane, you add so much sunshine to our lives. Your brothers absolutely adore you and they will be your fiercest protectors I'm sure. You have Daddy wrapped around your finger and I'm constantly amazed at your determination to learn new words. We love you!

Better Speech and Hearing- Olivia's article

May is Better Speech and Hearing Month so...I submitted an article to our local newspaper about our journey with Olivia's hearing loss and resources out there for parents. Check it out!

Livi imitating vowel sounds

She doesn't have her hearing aids in because we are in the car.. but watch this girl imitate sounds!

Livi's new words and sparkly purple molds

Olivia's new purple molds came this week and I have to say that I trimmed the tubing just right on the first try! Usually it takes me a few attempts but this time... ta da! If they are too long they will fall off her ears and if they are too short.. well we won't go there because then I would need new tubing!

I like the purple molds but they are very 'eye catching'. I've been used to pink and they blend in with the skin a little better than the purple. It's okay though because we aren't ashamed of our hearing computers.. they are super cool.

Olivia has added new words this week!
-bottle
-out
-up
-down
-ut oh


Isn't that AMAZING! We are up to 17 and she isn't even ONE!

Our "Little Lady" as Eli like to call her graduated to a big girl seat this week. Her infant carrier only goes up to 20 lbs and she has met the mark, so I went ahead and turned her around. I know... the recommendations are to leave them rear facing until TWO... but this sweet baby HATES to ride. We can't leave her hearing aids in on our car rides because she pulls them out and eats them and so the child is facing backwards with nothing to look and doesn't have stellar hearing. I wouldn't like being in that isolation either. She's a much happier camper now that she can watch the family.

Love those leg rolls

New little shoes.. I got these handmade from Groopdealz for $10.00 They are super cute and the bottoms are leather. 

New purple molds

Olivia is 11 months!

Okay so you've seen my posts where I have interchanged "Livi" and "Livie" and it's because I'm trying to figure out how I like it spelled better. Suggestions??

So Olivia is 11 months... I'm guessing she is about 20 lbs right now. I don't know for sure because she hasn't been weighed lately. She wears size 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers and size 3 shoes. My friend Amber, who is a mommy of two girls, told me that when her girls outgrew their dresses she would use them as a shirt. Today Olivia wore one of her 3 month size dresses from last summer as a shirt with a pair of leggings! I'm going to try and see if we can re-cycle any other cute outfits from last summer as well.

Our sweet girl is not yet walking... really she is showing no interest in walking. She will crawl, pull up and cruise around on the furniture. Occasionally she will walk if you hold her hands but usually she just  collapses in a pile on the floor. I suppose she will walk when she is ready.. I'm really in no hurry.

She is eating mostly table food, and some baby food. She still likes the squeezie packages that you squirt in your mouth...they are so handy for going out to dinner as well. She is nursing in the morning and before bed.. I am supplementing with a bottle or two of formula.  She isn't getting much breast-milk  because my nursing days are about over. That last stomach bug sucked every bit of milk out for two days and though my milk returned, my supply has been pretty low. I really wanted to keep nursing until she was 18 months, but I just don't think it's going to happen.

Most of the time Olivia sleeps great. I usually rock her for a few minutes and then lay her down with her pink silky blanket and paci and she goes right to sleep in her crib. She goes down around 8pm and sleeps until 7:30 am. She takes a morning nap and and afternoon nap as well. This mama is such a happier person with sleep!

Super cute things Olivia can do: When you say "How big is Olivia?" she will raise her arms and approximate "so big". When you tell her to blow kisses she will say "mmm wahh" and blow you a kiss.  She knows where her bows go and will try to put them in her hair. She loves to pull her hearing aids out and will hand them to me. One day she tried to stuff one back towards her ear.. I really think she was trying to put it back in. She is doing great with her speech and language and is making all sorts of sounds, babbling and saying WORDS!! Here is a list of the words she can say.. I'm so proud of her!

She says:
dada
mama
bye bye
papa
hey
dog
woof woof
bite bite
hello
thank you
diaper
ball

Livie's Audiologist appointment

Sunday evening Josh, Olivia and I made the trek down to Chapel Hill again for Olivia's audiologist appointment on Monday. We had dinner at the Melting Pot near our hotel. I've not been in forever and after seeing my friend Misty's pics, I had the urge to go. It also helped that we were down 2 kids! My favorite was the chocolate peanut butter fondue... The graham coated marshmallows dipped in chocolate were amazing! Olivia loved the fruit, without chocolate of course. We headed to our hotel afterwards and went swimming. Livie just laughed, splashed and kicked. Even though we are making the trip for medical necessity, it's fun spending time with just her. She gets Mommy and Daddy's undivided attention and loves it.

Today we stayed at the hotel for a while and then went to the mall to shop around and eat before her appointment. We kept hoping she would take a nap in her stroller but that wasn't happening. As soon as she got in the car she passed out and luckily squeezed in a 30 minute nap.

When we arrived, we were taken back to the sound booth. I stayed in the sound booth with Olivia while Josh went into the testing area with our audiologist. Ms. Hannah that works with Olivia through the REACH program met us as well! It was great to see her in person. I would recommend Chapel Hill to anyone dealing with pediatric hearing loss. It's worth the drive and hotel stay to know that we are in the best hands!

I have been worried that Olivia's hearing had changed because for about 2 weeks I couldn't get her to respond to /s/ and /sh/ when doing Ling sound testing. I didn't voice my fears to Josh for awhile because I didn't want to alarm him or contemplate that her loss had progressed. I even tried to take her one of our local schools to run tympanometry to see if she had fluid in her middle ear to no avail. So I've been a bit anxious about today's appointment.

Olivia was a champ during testing. Her ear drums looked great and she had good movement on her tympanogram testing; indicating no fluid in her middle ear. During booth testing our audiologist was able to get 7 different frequencies in BOTH ears, as well as bone conduction testing. She was very happy to get all this information because often they may only get a couple frequencies in one ear; it depends on how well the child conditions to the testing and cooperates.

Olivia's hearing hasn't changed...which is wonderful news! We had her hearing aids reprogrammed for the new frequency information and had new ear molds made as well. Thankfully her ears are starting to slow down with the rapid growth and her molds are lasting much longer. We ordered purple sparkly molds this time :)

Livi's video

Usually she will make her hand do the spider motion but she didn't do it in this video. Of course.. they never cooperate when you are filming.

So Big!

Olivia is 9 months

Our little princess is 9 months old. It makes me sad to think that in 3 months she will be one! I am 98%  sure that she is our last but I still can't get rid of my maternity clothes or baby stuff. My head says that 3 is plenty.. 3 college tuitions, 3 cars... they are expensive little buggers. Josh doesn't want to make any definite decisions until she is older. The past two weeks when I could count my weekly sleep on 1 hand, had two sick needy babies, and I've been sick myself I think my percentage went to 99.99. 

Olivia's  hair is getting thicker and dark and the little bows are staying much better. I'm excited to be able to let her hair grow and I suppose I will have to learn how to do girl hair. As you see from the pictures below she is pulling up on everything and she was trying to pull her sticker off her onesie. She loves to crawl to the toy cabinet, pull up and pull toys out. Livi is weighing in at 18 lbs 3 oz (50%) and is 27 1/4 inches long (50%). She is still wearing size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes. 

Even though she is much smaller than the boys were, she loves to eat, and is eating soft table food and baby food. She continues to nurse during the day and most nights (I need to put a stop to the night time deal because she is definitely not hungry!).  Her two bottom teeth are through and it looks like the front top teeth will be breaking through really soon. 

She had a great report at the pediatrician, only needed one shot and aced her Ages and Stages. When the Dr came in she started saying 'dada'.. he has similar features to her daddy. Livi is a mama's girl but gets super excited to see Josh. Lately she starts squealing and crawling to get him. It's super sweet and Josh just melts when she looks at him. He has already said he's going to have a hard time disciplining this one.