"Outshide"

Sadie has been LOVING this warm weather.  From the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed, she is saying "outshide."  She loves to run around in the yard and also to "sing" (swing).  I don't mind being outside, but 7:30 am is a bit early for me to start my day outdoors.  If I tell her "no", she gets this sad face and starts crying "outshide."  It is pretty pathetic.  Usually I can convince her to eat breakfast before we head outdoors.  Oh, and she always wants Louie out there with her.  She loves running around chasing him and shouting "Louie" and "No potty!"  I told her it was okay for Louie to potty outside, but she didn't seem to care.  She just likes being the "older sister" and yelling at him.  Here are a few pictures of the past couple of weekends that Sadie has been out and about.

 Ah, this is the life.  Got my drink, got my shades, and got my swing.

 I like swinging so much I fell asleep.

 Taking a break from the swings and getting ready to head down the slide. 

 Back to the swings.  Being off them for 3 minutes to go down the slide was just too long.

And of course, we can't forget Louie!

Oh, and this picture is just cute :)

Mom finally caught me smiling on camera.  Only took 30 tries!



Craziness!!

The past two days have been extremely crazy around the Lovins house.  Troy left for Qatar for 6 days, so my fantastic mom is staying with me to help with Sadie and the puppy.  There is no way I could watch both by myself.  Friday my dad was admitted to the ER because he was sick and dizzy.  His blood pressure was extremely low.  They kept him overnight and discovered that he has an ulcer.  Luckily they can think they can treat it with medicine.  Hopefully he can come home soon too!
Saturday we got Sadie's 18 month pictures taken.  She did "okay."  She didn't really want to stand still and pose or smile.  Finally, the fabulous Wendy got out the bubbles and we got lots of smiles.  I can't wait to see the pictures. 

Later Louie, Sadie, Mom and I spent some time outside playing since the weather wasn't too shabby.  Here are a few pictures!

 Later that night I tried to manage both Sadie and Louie on my lap at once. Talk about two squirmy animals!

After realizing two on my lap wasn't going to happen, I finally decided to give Louie a tiny bit of a dog bone to entertain him. Sadie kept saying "bone"...it was cute. Then she got up, pointed to her high chair and said "eat." She hadn't eaten much for dinner, so I figured she was hungry. I got her up in her chair and said "what do you want to eat" and she said "bone!"  I was like, uh, honey, those are only for Louie.... how about strawberries, those are good too :) Love that kid! 

Sunday Sadie turns 18 months old! I can't believe how big she is getting.  And her vocabulary is exploding. I can't even keep track of how many words she has. She pretty much just repeats everything you say.  A few of my favorites are "Hey Ya'll," "Cheerio," and "Louie" (which sounds like ooo-ee).  I was telling Louie the other night to "get down" (he was trying to jump into the dishwasher). He kept persisting and so I said "Louie, what did I say?" and Sadie says "Down!"  Hey, at least someone was listening to me!

Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss Part 2

Last month we traveled back to KU Med to meet with the fantastic folks who work for the Boystown Study.  Sadie participated in some activities and was evaluated by the staff.  We received her results in the mail a few weeks later and were excited to learn that she is still speaking at the same level as children with normal hearing :)  The Outcomes of Children With Hearing Loss has also started sending out a newsletter to keep the parents up to date on the project.  The first newsletter got sent out today and guess whose picture was on display?  I must admit it took me a minute to determine FOR SURE if that was Sadie.  Such a bad mom, but to be honest, I haven't looked at pictures of her that young in so long....so cut me some slack! :) 

This past week Sadie's language has really started erupting.  She is saying more and more words and is getting better at putting the ending consonants onto her words.  She surprised me the other day in therapy by saying yellow and purple when asked the color of something.  She has also become the QUEEN DIVA of temper tantrums.  I thought they were bad before, whoa!  And I am sure they will only get worse.  Ah, good times :)

I will try and update the blog next week with more pictures. I have been slacking!

No Pictures, Just Progress

I apologize that I do not have any pictures to post, but I do have a progress update for everyone. 

Today her speech therapist, Stefanie, came over and did a Pre-school Language Scale Test.  This is a test that they do for normal hearing kids.  Here is how Sadie scored:

Receptive Language (what she understands):

Sadie’s Score: 150

Age Equivalent: 2 years, 11 months

Expressive Language (what she says):

Sadie’s Score: 133

Age Equivalent: 2 years 1 month

Total Language

Sadie’s Score: 145

Age Equivalent: 2 years 6 months

Standard Score of 85-115 is normal range

Sadie is 99^th percentile!!!!!!!! 

I could not be more thrilled and am so thankful to have grandparents, family, friends, and therapists who are all involved with Sadie's life and have helped her to get where she is at.  She couldn't do it without them. 

Next up - Calculus! :)

Christmas 2011

Sadie had a wonderful Christmas this year.  She was spoiled rotten by all family and friends!  I won't write too much as I know everyone just wants to see pictures!

Our first Christmas party was at my manager's house.  Sadie dressed up and ready to go!

 How dare you set me down, mom!!!

 Okay, I have recovered.

We spent Christmas Eve at my grandpa's house.  Sadie had a great time opening her presents!

 Hmmm, what's in here?

Oooh, a new magna doodle.  Thanks Auntie Chris!

Christmas morning was spent at my parents house with my brother and his wife Nell. 

 Or course a bow is a hat.  Anything can be turned into a hat!

 Opening more presents.  This is tough work!

 A New HAT!

 And another new hat!

And a fur coat.  Dad says I look like a pimp :)

The Tuesday following Christmas we celebrated my grandpa's (Sadie's Great Grandpa's) birthday.  Her and her cousin Xavier were the center of attention for most of the night!

 Check out my sweet dance moves!

Who knew tissue paper could be so much fun!

Sadie has also decided that vacuuming is a bunch of fun.  Fine with me, she can do all of it!

 This is pretty fun!

 Um, should I be getting paid for this?

And finally, Sadie has decided she needs a new accessory to go along with her hats.  She now LOVES her bibs and wants to wear them all the time.  Hence the 3 bibs she is wearing below.  What am I going to do with this girl? :)



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!