Happy 2nd Birthday!

It was my sweet baby girls 2nd birthday today! Cannot believe 2 years has gone by already! Couldnt be more thankful for such an amazing daughter! And what a 2 years its been! wouldnt change anything for the world!  Here are some pictures from her party today :)

Where is Ryder

I don't even know where to start anymore. As time moves on i should be feeling excited about Progresses we are having with Savannah. But it seems as time moves on I'm more &  more worried. Yesterday we finally had some hearing tests. The results where clearly showing a 10db drop in her mod/sev ear along the 2000 & 4000 freq. I have suspected some changes  in listening skills, comprehension & new language over the last 5 months. The trigger for me was the fact her language has really come to a halt. She was doing so well & now we haven't even been getting some of the easy words she used to say. I will admit, its becoming extremely disheartening.

The Audiologists have suggested to turn the volume up on her hearing aides as a solution ... BUT my main concern is, what if turning up the hearing aide is in fact distorting the quality of sounds she is hearing?

They also commented on the amount of Wax they had seen in her ears. So today i took it upon myself to ask for a quick sneaky appt with the ENT whilst we where at the school for playgroup. Luckily our ENT is awesome & said she was happy to clean out Savannahs ears! 

So she retrieved a very disgusting amount of wax & noticed Savannah has a double ear infection???? How on earth does a double ear infection go missed is beyond me! She is teething so it could be apart of that too?
So todays quick lesson was to get her ears REGULARLY checked for wax & other nasties!!

Straight onto antibiotics & what do you know, this afternoon Miss Savannah has been talking every ones ears off..Coincidence?? Maybe, but in the last few hours tonight this girl was listening & talking more than she has in the last few months! So maybe it was just some wax after all?

We are back to the ENT in 2 weeks & another round of Hearing tests as well so we will know more then! But for the moment I have strapped the FM on & we are going to work on some new words with her & it gives me some hope that this could only be a small issue & not a progressive hearing loss issue.

I don't even know where to start! its been so long since i have blogged, the time has literally just slipped out from under me! With Christmas, Summer vacation, my trip to NYC & then straight back into it with Kinders & School. To put it bluntly I'm exhausted already & its only feb!! LOL
Christmas was magical with my little family as always, was even better this year that the two older boys are starting to understand it more, Savannah was totally loving all the new toys & Ryder well he of course enjoyed the paper more than anything! LOL as always our kids got spoilt. Santa was cheeky leaving all those gifts ;)

Shortly after i left all my 4 babies with hubby for 10 days to visit my best friend who lives in New York. Had an absolute ball, the kid free time was awesome, but at the same time i missed them like crazy!!!

On my return we spent lots of time at the beach & the swimming pools with the kids, enjoying summer whilst it lasts! We didn't do alot of work with Savannah over the holiday break, i always feel guilty not doing it, but she enjoyed herself. We did see some things here & there from her, but we haven't had alot of "new words" for awhile. She does continuously babble all day long & never stops talking, but we cant understand her yet. As i said there are a few words here & there but not alot.

Savannah just recently started the Early Learning Program at her school which is she does for 3.5hrs twice a week. Shes not even 2 yet so i think that's plenty for her. She didn't do very well the first day i left her :( it was so hard, but i can understand because she has never been away from me since she was diagnosed. So the ELP program will be amazing for her! She gets better each session & hopefully it will help her language come along.

Because its been so busy in this house i missed my first ever hearing appt for her! It was meant to be a round of hearing tests too! I was shattered because we haven't had tests done in over 8mths & we really need to see whats going on. We couldn't get back in now untill late march & she has the ENT then as well.

We are slightly concerned that she isn't hearing as well as she has been. We have noticed she is relying on lipreading alot more & gets confused when we ask her things. Don't get me wrong she still does alot of things we ask, im just wondering if she struggles to hear what we are saying more. Hopefully when we do the hearing tests we can see whats going on.

 We are just cruising along with her & hoping that we hear some new words soon. With Savannahs 2nd birthday coming up this little Miss has really come into her own. She refuses to be dressed by me, she MUST pick her own clothes out...LOL lovely choice with the socks hahaha

We almost had a small breakthrough with toilet training, we actually arnt training her, but her older brother blake was toilet trained over christmas break & she figured she would have a go, she did well but didnt quite understand. And her personality is just amazing, she is so cute, cuddly & funny, but then she turns into a stubborn tantrum throwing nightmare..LOL the joys. but gotta love her ;)

Posting this link I found about the stem cell trial for hearing loss in kids, very interesting article & video :)
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/53686-cord-blood-childrens-memorial-hermann-fda-approved-stem-cells-hearing-loss

We are Alive :)

I know its been forever since i updated about Savannah, things have been so crazy here with christmas/holidays & back to school things, i promise i will finish the update i have been drafting for awhile LOL and get it posted shortly! Hope everyone is well & look forward to reading up on everyone elses fun :)

Shes doing great!

Its been a long 6 weeks since i last blogged, and if you had asked me 6 weeks ago how i was feeling about Savannah's progress i would have told you, that i wasn't happy. I was in a bad place, tired from the baby not sleeping at night, exhausted from the busy year & of course worried about Savannah's hearing & her tests. Of course i must have been the only one thinking this though, because even though Savannah had fluid in her good ear & was testing in the sev/prof range she was talking. Her Speechy said she was doing amazing, she was talking at age equivalent & saying things that some kids her age are not yet saying... Why is it that i do not listen to what people tell me? They are telling me Savannah is doing well & they have no concerns, yet here i am freaking out & wondering whether or not i should push for a CI?
I can honestly sit here now & remember that we have been told over & over that there will be periods that Savannah will have huge burst of Language & then times of nothing new at all. These times are when she is listening & learning & getting ready for her next burst... Well DUH! how could i have not seen this before??? They are right, Savannah goes through waves & right now she is sitting right on the top of a HUGE burst!!!!
I think my NY resolution is to seriously stop stressing & just relax & listen to all the great advice i have been given lately! LOL
I started using the Fm alot more around the house, in the car at the store & during activities in the house.
Ive learned over the last 6 weeks i do not give Savannah enough credit. This little itty bitty 21mth old is AMAZING! she really is! Anyone who has meet her will tell you that you wouldn't know she was deaf! She has come ALONG way since she was diagnosed & im soooo proud of her.
I have lost count as to how many new words we have had in the last few weeks, but to name a few are:

Thank you
Please
Drink (Dink)
Barbie (lol)
Ryder
Blake
Hayden
Nanie
I Love you
More Please
Drink Please
Nie Nies Mama
No more
Not mine
No mama
Stop that
over there
Shoes on

These are just naming a few (because i don't write things down & i have a memory of a shiv lol )of what she is saying, but she is putting 2-4 words together now & of course is still followed by mumbo jumbo , but alot of people have been noticing recently that they can understand her "talk". I am very slack on getting a video of her, i definitely need to capture all these words she is saying, its really awesome :)
She also had her 6mth check with the ENT surgeon who was extremely pleased at where Savannah was. She calls Savannah "an extremely good Hearing aide user." never heard it like that, but she is so right! Savannah has/is done amazing with her hearing aides & is travelling along wonderfully. We still go back for reviews every 6mths to make sure everything is ok still, but there is definitely no CI on Savannah's horizon at this stage...
She does have some hearing tests again next week, which hopefully be better than last time!!

That's all for now, everything is winding down for Christmas Break & thankfully as im exhausted!! Im actually heading off to New York City on the 30th Dec with no kids to visit one of my best friends that lives there!! very excited :)

When your up....you must come down

After a few months of feeling pretty good where we where at, today just made me realize that we are still riding that roller coaster, because we are now taking the turn down.
Savannah was due for some hearing tests this morning to determine exactly what she was hearing after having had her hearing aides turned up in the HF 3 mths ago.
She wasn't even in the booth for 10mins & the Audiologist said she wasn't responding to sounds she would normally. So she checked her ears & said they where blocked & that the ear drum wasn't moving...GREAT! So now Savannah cant hear anything out of either ear :( Not sure as to why this has happened as she doesn't have a cold, but now i have to take her to a dr to make sure that there isn't anything else going on.
I had noticed that she wasn't responding as well the last few days & wasn't talking like she normally had been, but didn't think much of it. So now even with the HA's in she isn't hearing much from her good ear. shes shifted into the sev/profound range :(
How long will this last i do not know, but this age is sooo crucial to learning & hearing new things & I'm worried that we are only going to get behind & fall back if this doesn't resolve itself soon :(
If only she had an implant in her profound ear i wouldn't be worrying right now, because at least she would be hearing something!
We don't go back for more tests until Dec 22nd now. Not wonderful timing with Christmas coming up, but don't have much choice :(
So hears hoping this clears up soon, otherwise I'm not sure whats going to happen.