Fairwell Baxter B.

This past Thursday we lost a very special member of our family, Sadie's Big Brother, Baxter the Beagle.  Baxter would have been 4 years old on August 1st.  I was out of town when Baxter suddenly hurt his back and lost the ability to walk.  We think he may have had a degenerative disease that affects Beagles between the ages of 3-5.  They are perfectly fine one day and the next they are pretty much paralyzed. 

Baxter will ALWAYS be remembered as the sweetest, most loving dog out there.  He was practically our first child (aka Sadie's Big Brother).  He was one of the most well treated dogs ever.  People teased us that we probably treated him too much like a human.  But he was our buddy.  Our best friend.  Every time you walked in our house, you were greeted by Baxter B.  He was always willing to give you puppy kisses and snuggle up right next to you on the couch.  If you needed a jog around the neighborhood, he was your man.  If you needed a co-pilot for a drive, he was on the console sitting next to you.  All Baxter ever wanted was to show you his love and to be loved back. 

Baxter was also a great big brother to Sadie.  Although a bit jealous of her at first (how could you not be when you received all of the attention for 3 years!), he loved her very much.  He was always there to clean up any dropped food or spilled bottles.  He loved licking her face and giving her kisses.

I hope one day we get to see our Baxter again.  Until then, I cannot wait to share stories with Sadie of her loving Big Brother. 

Rest in peace Baxter B.

It's my turn....

Sadie said MaMa last night!!!!  Oh yea, take that Troy! :)

Outcomes of Children With Hearing Loss Study

Saturday we headed down to KU Med to meet with the gals from the Outcomes of Children With Hearing Loss Study that Sadie participates in.  Their goal is to assess how universal newborn hearing screening, advances in amplification technology, and access to early intervention services affect children's speech, language, and psychosocial development as well as family quality of life (http://www.ochl-study.org).  This was our second meeting with them, the last being when Sadie was just 4 months old.
 
We started off by going over all the things Sadie is doing these days (that took a while).  Then we listened to some children making sounds and we had to indicate if Sadie ever made those sounds, and if so, how frequently.  Sadie has made many of the sounds that we heard, however, she usually doesn't make them with great frequency.  I think this is something we can look forward to in the upcoming months.

Next the ladies engaged Sadie in some activities and she went BEYOND my wildest expectations!  While holding out a car and a block, they said "Give mommy the block."  And Sadie paused, grabbed the block, and handed it to me.  O-M-G!  Next they had a shiny spoon and a baby doll in their hands and they wanted to see if she could resist grabbing the spoon.  (They indicated that almost all children reach for the shiny spoon).  They asked Sadie to pat the baby.  Sadie sat there and looked at the spoon for about 5 seconds and then grabbed the baby!  O-M-G!

Sadie also showed off by saying "ha" when asked what was in Daddy's hand (his hat!).  She pointed to Daddy's nose when asked.  She clapped her hands when asked.  She kissed when asked.  She also showed she was "so big" when asked (raised her hands in the air).  I could not BELIEVE how awesome she did today.  I'm not sure I have ever seen Troy so proud.  He pumped his fists in the air every time she did something correct.

Now, just so my head doesn't expand too much, I will admit that Sadie did fail a few exercises. She wasn't able to point out the chair or the door. She also didn't pick out the car when asked. (These were exercises for children over 1 year old, so I don't really count these :)).

Sadie wasn't quite as vocal during the session as I have seen her at home either. The ladies really wanted to her all the sounds she is making right now, but she didn't feel like cooperating. In her defense, however, the meeting was during her nap time and she was getting a little (okay a lot) cranky towards the end. All in all, a great appointment. We will be meeting with them again in about 6 months to track her progress even further. WAY TO GO SADIE!!!!

And here are a few pictures of her because I can't update the blog without showing her off :)

Happy 4th of July!!!

My Little Football Player

Sadie has started to pull her hearing aids out.  Typically it is when she is either tired or bored (so in the car).  In order for her to wear her hearing aids, I am forced to put her in this hat.  I feel bad when it is 105 degrees out and my little girl is having to wear a hat in the car, but it is the only way to ensure she is keeping her hearing aids in.  Before I had the hat, she took them out 8 times within an hour car ride.  Very frustrating.  So, here is a picture of my baby in her "football helmet" :)  Maybe I should put some bling on it to make it a little more feminine :)