Hat Parade, Fritz's, and a Mayor's Christmas Tree

Such excitement has been happening since my last post!  Sadie had a hat parade at Granny Lin's house last weekend.  Granny Lin pulled out a hat box full of exciting things for Sadie to wear.  Below are a few pictures.

Sunday we took Sadie down to Crown Center to eat at Fritz's restaurant and then to see the Mayor's Christmas tree.  She wasn't all that excited about the trains at Fritz's, but of course she loved the hat!  She didn't really care about the Mayor's Christmas Tree, but she loved the fountain display to music!

 Hmmmm, something is missing?!?!

 My hat...there it is!

 Auntie Nell and me

 Most of the gang!

Pretty Fountains

On another note, poor little girl has got her 2nd ear infection (within 1 month), has a cold, and is getting her molars in.  Needless to say she hasn't been the happiest baby on the block (as you can see from her lack of smiles in the above pictures).  We are hoping she is on the mend and will be cheerful for Christmas.  If not, well, we have an ENT visit scheduled for mid January!

Hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season and I will be sure to post lots of Sadie pix after the new year! :)

Speech Therapy

As many of you know, Sadie has speech therapy once a week.  We have the wonderful Stefanie every other Tuesday and the fantastic Stacy on the other Tuesday's.  During this time Sadie gets the opportunity to play and engage in activities that encourage her listening and speaking.  The past few weeks Sadie has gotten to do a lot of things that she really enjoys.  She got to play with markers (AHH!), as well as play dress up.  It is great that the activities are so fun that they don't actually feel like therapy or work at all!

Hmmm, a marker. This looks like something I can make a mess with!

Trying out the marker

Oh yes! I made a mess! (and didn't come off for two days I might add...washable markers, yea right!)

Don't I look pretty?  I got my hat, sunglasses, bracelets, rings, necklaces, and skirt!

Estes Park, Colorado

Sadie went on her second trip on an airplane a couple of weeks ago. She did great once again.  A little antsy, but hey, who isn't on a crowded airplane!  We headed to Estes Park, Colorado with my mom, dad, and Aunt Deb.  We all had a great time.  Sadie got to play in the snow for the first time.  I don't think she cared for it in the beginning, but by the time we left Colorado, she was really liking the snow!
 

Here is Sadie preparing to go out in the snow:

 Here is Sadie sled riding with mom!

 Sadie sledding on her own...giving the thumbs up sign!

 Sadie passed out asleep on our Rocky Mountain National Park Bear Lake Hike

 The fish hat Grandpa got Sadie

 Sadie going down the escalator at the airport.  We had a 4 hour wait for our plane..what else did we have to do...up/down/up/down.  It was a long 4 hours :)



Halloween 2011

Sadie was supposed to be a Beagle for Halloween, however, she HATED the costume. I guess the head was a little heavy and it made it hard to walk with it on.  Luckily, granny Lin had additional costumes at her house and we were able to find something a little more suitable (she collects them and gives them to Operation Breakthrough).  So Sadie ended up being a mix between a ballerina and a princess for the rest of the night.  We also just put the costume over her clothes so she wouldn't get too annoyed with us :)  We headed to First Baptist Church where they had lots of activities for kiddos. 

 Sadie in her beagle costume

 Mom....I hate this costume!

 Ahhhh, this is better!

 Who needs toys at the bottom of the pool when you can have balls instead?

Bowling!

Walkie Walkie

Well, we pretty much have a walking toddler in the family.  Sadie has really started to take off on her feet.  She LOVES walking and wants to do it all the time.  Great, except when it takes 2 hours to get out of Target because we are taking baby steps :)  And when she throws a fit because I have to pick her up and put her in the car and she isn't done walking....sigh.

Below is a video of Sadie walking about 2 weeks ago. I heart the Frankenstein arms! :)

Here is a video of Sadie walking last week.  You can already see the vast improvement she has made in her balance. 

We took Sadie to the ENT last week to have the wax cleaned out of her ears.  Oh-My-Goodness!  I thought it was rough on a parent when your kid had to get shots....this was worse.  We had to hold her down while she was screaming and crying so the doctor could get the wax out of her ears.  It isn't a painful procedure, she just didn't like being confined.  I am sure we scared off anyone in the waiting room.  The doctor was able to clean out both ears (amazingly) and her left ear actually had so much wax that she probably wasn't hearing very well out of that ear.  So we are glad that she got them cleaned out (even if it was painful on mama and grandma!).  We go back to the audiologist for additional testing on the left ear in 2 weeks.  I am hoping that she hears better out of it now.

Below are just a couple of cute pictures of Sadie to show everyone how much she LOVES books.  And I LOVE that she loves books :)  We can read 20 a day and that still isn't enough for her. 

Love this face.."really mom...the camera AGAIN?"

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we took Sadie to Faulkner's Pumpkin Patch in Lee's Summit.  I wasn't sure how much there would be for her to do (since she doesn't walk quite yet), but I was pleasantly surprised.  I think Sadie had a great time . Below are some pictures that we captured.

We have also realized that Sadie enjoys helping us with the laundry (score!).  Here are a couple of pictures of Sadie "helping" Troy :)

Recent Happenings

I have recently been told (by more than one person) that I do not show enough pictures of Miss Rose.  So here are a few that we took over the weekend.

In this picture mommy is trying out all of Sadie's new hair bows.

 This is what happens when Sadie is allowed to do her own hair.  Yikes!

 Sadie is a happy camper eating lunch!

 Sadie has now learned how to wink on command (okay, really she just shuts her eyes).  Below she is practicing.

And for those of you not on Facebook, here is a picture of Sadie wearing her cute hat!

Sadie continues to do very well with her therapy.  She is imitating a lot and talking more and more (see sidebar for her current vocabulary).  We had another sound booth test (#7 I think) on Monday.  Sadie did great with her right ear.  She is hearing low frequencies at 55dB.  Her left ear, though, she didn't respond hardly at all to any sound.  We think that since this was her 2nd ear to be tested, she got tired of listening and turning her head.  She was also paying a lot of attention to the audiologist who is in the sound booth with us entertaining her.  We will head back in 6 weeks for another test where we will start with the left ear.   Of course, as a mom, I was a little worried about her not responding to sound with her left ear (this is/was her better ear), so of course, I took it upon myself to do a little testing at home :)  I took off her right hearing aid so she only had her left one on.  Then I said her name (which she turned to) and then said "nite nite" which she responded "nite nite."  So that made me feel better that she is at least hearing with the aid in.  The speech therapist even mentioned that when Sadie is focused on a toy or an object, she will not pay attention to you at all.  So let's hope that is all that was happening.

We also found out that Sadie has ear wax build up (gross!) in both of her ears.  It isn't a barrier to sound yet, however, it could be in the future.  Therefore, we are heading to the ENT in two weeks to have it cleaned out (it isn't something I can do myself).  There was also a little fluid in her ear so we need to ensure there aren't any concerns there either. 

Other than that, Miss Sadie hasn't been up to much....other than starting to throw temper tantrums!  I thought this is something I would have to deal with when she was 2 or 3, not 1!  But oh my goodness, if she doesn't get what she wants, she throws a fit...tears and all!  If anyone has any ideas on how to prevent this (other than giving her everything that she wants), please let me know :)

What is she saying?

I decided it would be fun to document everything that Sadie is saying these days.  When she looks back at this blog, I think she will enjoy seeing her progress.  So, over to the side of the blog (above the family picture), I have now indicated a list of the words that Sadie says (or attempts to say).  She is by no means proficient at every one of these words, but she gives it her best attempt...and I have no doubt she will be proficient soon!  Stay tuned for more words!

Reminiscing

Ever since Sadie has turned one year old, I have been reminiscing about the past year.  One year ago today we were told that our precious baby girl had hearing loss.  As you can imagine, the news was devastating.  We had no idea what this meant and what the outcome would be for our baby. 

I remember when she was first diagnosed with hearing loss, everyone kept saying "well, it is so great that you caught it early."  I always just ignored that comment because it didn't really make me feel any better....until now.  Now I absolutely believe in early intervention. 

I never imagined that Sadie would be doing so well 1 year later.  I am beyond thrilled at the progress she has made and I just pray that she continues to do so well in the future.  A heartfelt thanks goes out to her grandparents who watch her every day and work with her everyday, her audiologist who is always there for her, and her speech therapists who work with her weekly to ensure she is making progress and to teach Troy and I the things we need to be working on with her. 

I know we still have a long road ahead of us, but if this past year is any indication of how it will be, then Sadie is going to excel beyond belief.  I am so proud of you baby girl!!!!

Below are some pictures of Sadie's first airplane ride to Houston, Texas to see her Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins.

 On the plane to Houston!!!

Chilling in the pool!

 Visiting the waterfalls in the pool.

 I love my boat!

Reading with cousin Caleb!

ONE YEAR OLD!!!

This past week my sweet baby Sadie turned 1 year old.  I cannot believe how fast the first year went.  I had no idea what the journey of parenthood would entail, especially one with a hearing impaired child, but I could not be more blessed with a perfect daughter.  I love her for exactly who she is and am so proud of her accomplishments thus far.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for my sweet princess.

We started Sadie's birthday off at the Lake of the Ozarks. She got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Lovins and her cousins Caleb and Nolan during the day, and then in the evening we hit the pool.  Here are a few pictures of her opening her presents from Troy & I while we were at the lake.

 Yes, I made my baby cry on her birthday.  I took out her pacifier so I could see her face and hear her talk when she opened her presents.  Cutest sad face ever!!

Bath time after we hit the pool.  Had to wash all that sunscreen off!

Saturday morning we headed home from the lake and had Sadie's birthday party that evening.  The theme was "Hats Off to Sadie, She is Turning One."  For anyone that doesn't know, she is OBSESSED with hats.  She doesn't really like to wear them, but she loves to hold them and say "HAT."  So I figured the theme was appropriate.  And boy did she LOVE it.  She had such a great time seeing everyone in their hats!