Svea's Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party!

 Svea wanted a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party this year!  She got into Strawberry this past spring and hasn't looked back.  It was popular when I was younger and I had a S.S. room too.  Kind of fun that she is still around!

 As we got closer to her birthday Svea said she wanted to be a princess.  Yes, I just said that...blah:)  I suggested a Strawberry Shortcake Princess and she was all for it.  Here's her spread.  We had a lot of sugar!

 This girl got A LOT of presents!

 Looking at the pumpkin she got from Peyton back in Paynesville.  Lynda and Gina came to the party and they brought it with them.

 So excited about her first gift!  It took awhile to open presents.  Svea wanted to open and try out almost everything. 

 Kieran kept stealing Grandma D's camera and was pretending to take pictures. This little boy seriously melts my heart.  I am loving this age!

 New light up shoes!

 Boys can play Strawberry Shortcake too!

 We sang Happy Birthday and Svea was very pensive....almost embarrassed to have the attention on her.  It took about 4 blows, but she got her candles extinguished! I can't remember if it was at her birthday party or on the actual night of her birthday, but her wish was for everyone to get a birthday:)

 We took pictures with people as they left.  Papa and Lynn came and stayed with us the night before.  Before they left Kieran said, "Papa, stay".  It was so cute!

 Extra hugs from Lynda and Gina!

 A rollder blading excursion outside with Grandma D! They came to visit us for Svea's birthday and to see us and the new house.  It was so nice to have them here and in two short months we'll go to them for a post-Christmas in Wisconsin.  Svea brought last year up the other day btw....and her cousins and something that else that I can't remember.

 With Gaga and Grandpa Ron! I love how her Strawberry Shortcake's have to be in almost every picture with her.

 See! Ha!

 We hadn't taken a picture with Daddy yet so we snuck one in that night.

 This was Svea's idea.  She loves to do the goofy ones.

Family picture!!!

 

It was a really fun birthday party!  The best part was having all that family together celebrating the special day.  I can't believe she is already four!  She looks so grown up in some of these pictures. 

 

A few things that I want to remember about Svea at four.  She is afraid of the Big Bad Wolf even though she talks about him all of the time and wants to play the Three Little Pigs over and over.  She is very thoughtful of other people sometimes.  After Grandpa Ron's surgery she and Kieran went to Jamestown for the weekend.  Ron had just had his kidney surgery and she made sure to ask him how he was feeling and how Papa's hip was too.  She is starting to be more agreeable and helpful around the house such as being responsible to put her clothes away, pick-up (although some days this is an epic battle), and get dressed/brush her teeth.  She is in speech for f, p, and s sounds.  Her teacher doesn't think it'll take her long to exit.  Svea loves to play babies and play with the other kids at daycare.  I love it when they are outside when I pick up the kids and I can see them all interacting.  It's fun! She loves to pretend play or play with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls.  She loves to make "crafts" which is just me taking out a big bin full of scrap paper, stickers and fabric.  It is fun! Right now she is into Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon.  She tried to switch what she wanted for her birthday on me the night before. She still has some separation anxiety although this is much better.  When it is time to say goodbye she gets a little OCD about giving hugs and kisses.  We know it's best to set boundaries with this, but I could just hug and kiss her all day long so it's hard to do that too:) She is struggling hardcore with bedtimes.  Since we moved

 

I will do another post to Moorhead she has had more fears at bedtime, which seems normal for a big change and/or her age.  We really don't watch any t.v. because when she naps at daycare she can't get to sleep until 10:00 some nights.  This girl naps at daycare, but just won't at home.  It's so weird!  By the time we get her to sleep we are exhausted and on a few rare occasions I've fallen asleep before her because I am so tired and well....it's late and she's still up.  She's a night owl or doesn't need as much sleep.  I'm not sure which?

 

We love you Svea Grace so much and Happy 4th Birthday sweet girl.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and as we look back on the past four years with you we can't help but smile...and laugh!  We love you!!!

 

I will do another post shortly on the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa D!

Happy 4th Birthday Svea

I did the interview with a 4 year old.  It's the same questions from last year.  You can tell this year that someone is in love with Strawberry Shortcake loves lots of people:)  Svea has had a wonderful birthday today.  Mom's heart was breaking though...I didn't get to see her until after school.  We also had a wonderful birthday weekend with Dan's parents here and all of my parents to come and celebrate for her Strawberry Shortcake party.  Lynda and Gina came too from Paynesville.  We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family.  I will post pictures from the weekend as well as from her birthday party soon!

1. What is your favorite color? pink

2. What is your favorite toy? Strawberry Shortcake

 

3. What is your favorite fruit?  strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show?  Jake and the Neverland Pirates

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? mac n cheese

6. What is your favorite thing to wear?  Strawberry Shortcake

7. What is your favorite game? dress up in strawberry shortcake 

8. What is your favorite snack?  cookies

9. What is your favorite animal?  kitty

10. What is your favorite song? "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" theme song

11. What is your favorite book? Strawberry Shortcake

12. Who is your best friend?  Jayley and Brody and Haley and Rider and Ollie, Henrik. Kieran, and Mommy and Daddy

13. What is your favorite thing to eat for supper? hot dogs

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? go on the swing set in our backyard

15. What is your favorite drink?  milk and juice
16. What is your favorite place to go? to Gaga's house and Grandma and Grandpa D's house
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my baby and my other baby and my bunny

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  sloppy joes

19. What do you want on your birthday?  Strawberry Shortcake Costume

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Strawberry Shortcake 

Pumpkin Patch2014

Peek a  Boo!

 Last year we didn't make it to a pumpkin patch, but to an apple orchard, which was neat too.  This year I was hoping to check out a local patch!  It was also a hobby farm and Svea plugged her nose like this for the first half hour.

I got a text from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing group stating that there was going to be an event for families at the patch.  It worked out perfect.  We got to do the patch AND I was also able to meet another Moorhead family whose two kids are older, but in the Moorhead school district. 

 They liked the stage coach.  At one point Svea was calling to Kieran to stop his horses because there was a visitor at the window.

 Svea at the reigns!

 I don't have a lot of pictures of the kids picking pumpkins because by this time it started to rain and we were a little rushed through this process.

 They are so heavy:)

 We went over Kieran's nap time so I knew he would zonk out on the way home.  We made a pit stop at Old Navy so that I could return some items and he could sleep in the car with Gaga and Svea for longer.

 When we got home we painted (markers) our pumpkins.  Svea also used her Minnie Mouse accessories this year too thanks to the Ottos!

 Concentrating so hard:)

 By this time Gaga had to get going back home so we attempted a group shot, but we were only 2 for 3!

 It's always fun to go to the Pumpkin patch each year!  This fall has been amazing!  It got just cold enough for all of the leaves to turn and then it has stayed SO warm that it's been almost a solid month with the pretty leaves!  It was CRAZy windy today so we'll see how many are left tomorrow:)

 Thanks for coming with us Gaga!

 

My Aunt Jane

My Aunt Jane is dying. She has lung/liver cancer and she doesn't have much time left.  Dan and I were able to go out and visit her (thank you Mom for watching the kids) last weekend and it was such a gift.  She could talk to us, ate at the table for lunch, and asked Dan to do her funeral.  It's so hard.  I am not ready to say goodbye.  I am going to miss her....she has been an important part of my life and loved life so much.  She loved the outdoors and hiking/camping.  She loved her kids and she loved her grand kids.  She organized family events and had great ideas for how we could bond and do more things together.  She was part of the glue that has held our extended family together.  I don't have much else to say.  It is just a hard and sad time.

 This is the last family get together that we had where we didn't know she was sick yet.  This is how I will remember her. Loving the lake and all it has to offer.

 She got Svea over her fear of the water by tossing her a rock back and forth and slowly inching her to come deeper. Dan wasn't able to be there then so I couldn't play with her in the water, but had to chase Kieran.  She made she had a good experience.

 Happy!

It still doesn't feel real and I wish it weren't true.  I'm so glad we have happy times to think back on and remember her by.

Kieran Gets Hearing Aides

 Kieran the night before he got his new hearing aides.  He looks SO incredibly grown up!

It's been a week and a half that Kieran received his first pair of hearing aides.  If we would have known how much he would have reacted we would have taken a video of it.  His head jerked around and his eyes got really big and he looked all over the room and responded to his audiologist calling his name when he wasn't looking.

We couldn't be more pleased as well.  He doesn't try to take them off and gets upset when you take them out for nap or bedtime.  He has been using his words more instead of whining at us to get him water or whatever he is needing.  He actually already sounds more articulate.

We are so thankful that he is transitioning so well with them.  We pray that his makes a big difference for him, that he can hear better and be able to communicate with us too.  He seems happier and more smiley and that is priceless:)

I will post pictures at a later date with him wearing them.  This moving to a new town, working full time and balancing two kids in services is exhausting and takes up a lot of time.  I am not able to blog like I used to. Svea is in speech now too and will see a speech path two times a week on top of Kieran's two times.  Thank goodness they overlap on one day so Tuesday-Thursday we have teachers coming in or we are bringing Svea to the school.  We'll get through it.  We are just taking one day at a time:)  We have so much to be thankful for.

As you can see they are not too big.  Obviously you know they are there, but I don't think they distract you from his cute little face:)  Kieran's thought process......Now, should I use Mom or Dad's toothbrush to throw in my mouth and then drag across the floor/maybe brush the cat with???

New House!!!

We are moved into our new house and have been here for over a week now.  Things are slowly being put away, but I'd say we are doing quite well.  Except for being a little wary about new noises and fears of things breaking (it takes awhile to trust a new house right?) we are just enjoying being here.  I never thought I'd love the location as much as I would, but I do. It's so quite.  Our house is situated at this weird angle so when we are in the backyard we don't really have any neighbors who can see us.  We love the lay-out and how much we are together.  The kids have adapted to it no problem and much better than the rental house. I will eventually post pictures of it when everything is up and done, but for now here is a couple of pictures from when it was up for sale. These are the old owners photos.

 Front view

 Backyard...they left the swing set and the kids have been enjoying it!

 Downstairs family room is nice and big and cozy!

 It's very open.  Upstairs we have our bedroom on the right and then the kids' rooms are straight ahead.

No backyard neighbors!  Yeah! There is a road, but it isn't heavily traveled.  We also have a walking path back there too.

Svea-isms

I've been hanging onto these for awhile, but just wanted to get them out there.  I love saving these to look back at and giggle about with her!

-After being told that we would need to leave in just a little bit from the park, "Oh Mommy, that is just a figure of speech."

-After sliding down the slide and bumping into Kieran and me we all were laughing and she said, "That was so funny I just peed my pants a little.  Now let's keep playing."

At the library just the two girls and I'm reading to her.  Loudly she says something to the effect of, "sometimes that's what happens to my butt". I asked what she was talking about, but she just kept talking about her butt...somewhat loudly.

Kieran's Hearing Update

 The little guy is getting hearing aides tomorrow.  To make a looong story short we basically got to FM, took him to his bi-yearly hearing check-up and our new audiologists red flags were blazing red after looking at his results from SIX MONTHS ago when we were brushed off that his tests must have been "off" because of his cold.  To say that we are frustrated is really an understatement.  I don't even want to talk about what this could mean for him because it makes me so angry....so I just won't.  I'll save my energy on focusing on what we can do now.

 We had a repeat test called an ABR a couple of weeks ago to tell us more definitively what his loss was.  The last one he had was at six months when he was diagnosed with a unilateral sensory hearing loss in his right ear.  Basically he couldn't hear one pitch at normal conversation levels in one ear.  We were told he would develop normal language and his left ear would compensate. We were also told that it is extremely rare for the loss to progress and would probably not go to the other ear.  Now 1.5 years later he has a bilateral loss (meaning both ears) with each ear struggling to hear two different pitches at that conversation level.  On top of that they diagnosed him with audio neuropathy, which is a whole different story.

 We are so thankful that we have moved to Moorhead right now.  Our old school district would not have been on top of things like this one is.  I casually mentioned to the preschool screeners for Svea that our son had a hearing loss and less than a week later they were at our house to start the evaluation process.  Kieran will be receiving speech and developmental therapy twice a week. 

 So the whole auditory neuropathy.  We found out today that he is the ONLY child birth to 12th grade that has this in the district. This is a town of 40,000 people and it was really a blow.  It's hard to diagnose so I just keep praying he either has a very mild case of it or it's a wrong diagnosis.  Basically what it is is Kieran hears static on top of his hearing he does have.  Sometimes the static is lighter than other times.  If you google a simulation you can hear what he hears.  The brain and the nerve don't communicate in the right way. Hearing aides DO NOT help for this and my head is about ready to explode from explaining it.  Hearing aides may help him, but they may also just amplify that static.  I've been getting frustrated with people who say, "Well now it'll be better.  He is getting hearing aides."  Or, maybe it will get better".  It's not getting better.  It's nerve damage and it's permanent. He was born with this genetically more than likely and all we can do is hope and pray it does not progress further..the hearing loss or the auditory neuropathy.

So, today is the last day that Kieran will be hearing aide free for the rest of his life.  He will never again not have them and I don't know why, but that feels so strange to me or makes me slightly sad in a way even though there is a 50/50 chance they will help him tremendously.  I sure hope so:)  Here is what we pray for Kieran.....that he can develop normal oral language and be able to pronounce words correctly.  He is so bright, but if he can't speak correctly people generally interpret that as lower intelligence.  That he won't be picked on or teased.  That he will be safe and will listen and learn from us when we teach him about car and other safety and the need to use his eyesight more instead of relying on his hearing.  We pray that he will be an advocate for himself and if he doesn't hear someone that he asks for clarification.  We pray that he will be happy and that this won't cause him major frustration.

 

Overall, Kieran is going to be ok.  He has a hearing loss, but he's healthy and happy.  We are SO thankful for that.  This is his life journey and we just hope to do a good job of being there for him and while he's young making the right decisions for him.  We will start sign language with him in case his speech doesn't take off.  If it doesn't he has the potential to just drop the language and then he's going to need a back-up way of communicating.  Our current audiologist said he would have aided him at six months.  That means we should have been hitting sign language harder than we did when he was a baby and think of how much further along he may have been if he had been.  ARghghhghg!!!!  Ok, see there I go getting so angry.  If anyone struggles with hearing loss and you live in St. Cloud area let me know.  I'll tell you where NOT to go:(

 

We will update on how he does with the aides.  We think we may be in for a battle, but are trying to remain hopeful for a smooth transition.