All's Quiet on the Eastern Front

So, I took Dane in to get a referral for hearing, and they did a simple hearing test, you know, the one where you raise your hand if you hear the tone in your ear, and according to that he hears fine. So, perhaps I'm just a little overly paranoid. Although the doctor did make a few comments that were not true, like a child who has no problem with speech hears just fine. Totally wrong. Anyways, perhaps I'll just let it go and stop worrying. I have noticed that as Dane gets older his mumbling is not as bad and he doesn't say "huh?" as much. Most likely it is nothing.
Last night I spent the night at the hospital with Alex. Who'd of thought that I'd be sleeping at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Weird. He was just having a sleep study done so he can get back on his CPAP machine. And, no doubt, the test showed apnea. No surprise. Already knew this, just needed another sleep study so he could have the correct pressures on his machine. I hate staying at the hospital, espcially if you are NOT the patient becuase your sleeping conditions are even worse! A fold out chair that you cannot fully stretch out on. I guess I know what Todd felt like staying at the hospital with me after I had the children.
Seth seems to be getting so much more aware of his surroundings and doing so many new things. He was in his walker today and watched me go out the kitchen door, go to the garage, and come back in the house. So he heads to the kitchen door and is like running into it trying to figure out how he can get out too! He is so cute!
Alex is at a campout for Scouts with Todd tonight. There is a flash flood watch in effect in the area they are camping. I hope all goes well for them.
We've been having so much fun with Sarah and Ed and their children. It's always great catching up on old times and all, but it's even better when you find their still strong in the gospel! Even more reason to rejoice! Better close for now as I've been up since five a.m. Oh, did I mention we visited the thrift store today? Very fun.

I think I'll side with the Speech Teacher on this one!

Today a Speech Teacher came to visit and do her evaluations on Seth. She is very nice and will be a lot of fun to have around helping to teach us to communicate with Seth. How we'll communicate with Seth is still up in the air as we need to figure out if he's really hearing us or not. His last ABR showed that he has severe to profound hearing loss. With his hearing aids, he'll be able to hear some speech, but not all as hearing aids can only amplify so much. Here's the very encouraging news. She listened to Seth's hearing aids and thought that they weren't set at the right settings. For as little as he can hear, they should be amplifying a lot more than what she was hearing from them. With that being said she also was very surprised at the responses she was getting from him. She commented that with hearing loss as bad as he is suppose to have, he shouldn't be responding the way he does. He has startled several times from unexpected noises in the room! He was sleeping in his swing and Karsten came running in yelling something and Seth startled, in his sleep! I don't think I've ever seen that. And my sister told me tonight that he did the same thing when someone shut the door! We are so excited to see this! And in the speech teacher's opinion, as much as audiologists swear that ABR's are very accurate, she has had clients that out perform what the ABR's are saying. So, we see an audiologist in September and she is going to come with me! I've always felt that Seth could hear better than what the tests were saying, but thought that perhaps it's only wishful thinking. I know he'll never hear perfect, but the more he can hear, the better. Even if we still have to supplement with signing, the more verbal conversation we can get out of him, the better!
On the same hearing note, I'm going to have Dane's hearing tested. Perhaps he is just fine. But the more I've talked to audiologists and speech therapists, the more I wonder if he's got some mild hearing problems. I always thought that it was just who Dane was, his mumbling and his use of the word, "huh?" all the time. I just thought he needed to speak up and pay attention! After finding out that these are signs of hearing loss, I thought it can't hurt just to have him tested. So, we'll see. Tomorrow I go in for a consult with the doctor to have a hearing test ordered. If Dane does have any amount of hearing loss, which I really hope he doesn't, than I'll have all the kids tested, just to be sure. Kate and Karsten I'm not really worried about, but I'd be more suspicious of Emily and perhaps Alex. Anyways, call me paranoid, but oh well.
Alex has a sleep study tomorrow night at Walter Reed. Yippee! I get to sleep in the comfy hospital tomorrow night! I've got a book to read, so that's the only thing I'm looking forward to.
Now, off to the struggle I'm having with Alex's schooling. Argh.

A week full of events!

We've been having a lot of fun lately! Dennis, Sandra, Grant, and Rebecca came for a visit. Dennis dropped off Sandra and Grant at our house and returned a week later to visit for a few days. Rebecca had Girls' Camp as well, so she went back with her dad as well. Sarah and Ed and their children also came to stay with us for a few days while Sandra and Grant were visiting. It was a lot of fun and exhausting! The following are just a few pictures of the things we were able to do.

Our first ride on the Metro. Karsten looks so thrilled.
This is the Metro stop where we got off. It is right on the National Mall. Grant modeling here in this photo for us.

One end of the Mall is the Capitol Building.

The other end is the Washington Monument.

We saw our first protest at the Mall while we were there. Something about democracy in Iran.

The Washington Monument.

This is the Worl War II Memorial.

The Vietnam Memorial.

Here is a majority of us in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Before we took this picture it started raining really hard and we got pretty wet. We took refuge in the Lincoln Memorial until it stopped.

Then we turned around and took a picture with the Washington Memorial in the background.

It was such an exhausting trip for Dane! I think we walked about two and a half miles!

Karsten taking a nap on the Metro ride home.

Sunday night we went to the Washington D.C. temple. It is acutally located in Maryland not too far away from where we live. It's like we're still in Utah having a temple so close!

Karsten and Dallin having a little disagreement with Hannah looking on.

Emily showing off her webkinz.

Grant, Sandra and Dennis's son.

Katie Bug.

Me and my sister, Sarah.

Hannah, Sarah and Ed's little girl.

Dane.

Jacob, Sarah and Ed's oldest boy. He is so sweet. Alex and Jacob have become really good friends. Jacob is autistic, so I thought he and Alex would just be in their own worlds and not notice each other. But there is something special there, because they are really good friends now. When we go swimming, they swim all over the place with each other. And because of Alex, Jacob decided to try his first piece of pizza! Sarah says this is big deal to Jacob because he usually doesn't try new things. They are so cute when they play together.

Dallin, Sarah and Ed's second son. He is also known as "the original Dallin" as he and Seth share the same first name. Dallin likes to call Seth, Dallin Seth. (Confused?)

Tuesday we went to the zoo. It was very humid that day.

My sister-in-law, Sandra, who avoided the camera on many occasions. We like to take the "-in-law" part out of the relationship and just consider her our sister!

A zoo person telling us about the Cheetahs.

While visiting, Dallin celebrated his seventh birthday with us!

His birthday had a Mario theme to it, so Kate made decorations to match!

We had so much fun with everyone! Sarah and Ed and family left on Friday to head to Florida to visit Ed's family. They will be back to stay with us for two and a half weeks until they head to Japan! They will be living there for a few years!

Dennis and Rebecca returned the next day, Saturday, to visit for the weekend. We all decided to go to Arlington National Cemetary and visit the tomb of the unknown soldier. Again, another hot day.

Karsten's favorite way to ride the Metro, standing up!

Here the kids are riding the longest escalator in North America! It is at the Wheaton Metro stop.

Grant at Arlington National Cemetary.

The tomb of the unknown soldier. It is guarded everyday, all day, rain or shine. During the summer the changing of the guard happens every half hour. In the winter, every hour.

Hello Grandmas and Grandpas!

Look at me, I'm getting so big! I am sitting by myself more comfortably now!



Here is the beginnings of me getting ready to crawl!

I Can Be So Selfish

Ok, so, all I have to say is, do you think I'll ever learn? As we were in the process of moving and all, I'm wondering what the Lord has in store for me in Maryland. Hello, did I ever stop to think that perhaps moving to Maryland could be for reasons other than me? I met a lady on Sunday who works at the Maryland School for the Deaf, specifically with the 0-5 year olds. She's assigned as my visiting teacher. Today two ladies from the Infant and Toddler program come to asses Seth and I realize what a wonderful program they have here and how many resources are available. We fed the missionaries last Thursday, and one of the elder's has a cochlear implant. Do you know who I am alluding to? It just occured to me that perhaps Heavenly Father sent us here to get the best help for Seth? I can be so selfish, I tell you. I'm sure there are other reasons as well, but I just had this light bulb moment today. I need to stop worrying about what I'm suppose to get out of this experience and take a look around me. I'm so excited for Seth. For his physical therapy, we have a goal set that in six months we will have him walking! I was like, really? Crazy, but he's been a baby for so long that it's hard to imagine him not being a baby! Seth is moments away from crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees. He can also drag himself to things he wants. Of course he's protesting all the while he's doing this because he wants to know why he has to work so hard to get something when you could obviously just hand it to him. I don't know. He's very determined. That's how the therapists described him today.

Odd and Ends

Today was just another ordinary day. I talked to Tonnia on the phone and we were talking about our blogs. I mentioned to her that I love reading what's going on in everyone's lives, and then I realized that perhaps I should blog more so everyone can keep up with us as well. So this blog isn't about anything special or exciting, but just a glimpse into our everyday lives.

Seth's ear has been draining so I am attributing his fussiness these past few days to an ear infection. He has turned into a mama's boy. He has decided that I am the only one who can make him happy, even if it means just holding a bottle for him. I fed him bits of homemade bread at dinner tonight. He loved it! He kept smiling at me. I wonder about his hearing. Sometimes I feel like, fine, he can't hear, I can handle this, perhaps we'll learn sign language. Then at other times I feel like I know he hears better than what he's testing at. Dagnabit. I wish I could just know the answers to things right now.

I went to the church last night to practice the organ. I take my turn as being organist on the 2nd of August. There are six organists in our ward now, so every one just rotates. This ward is definately not in need of musical talent. The pedals are intriguing to me. I remember my piano teacher teaching me how to play the organ and how to use a toe heel method. So I spent last night google-ing pedel techniques. Yeah, someday maybe, but not today.

We have a free membership to a private pool here in Silver Spring thanks to the last tenants of this home. Thankyou! I took the kids there today and we were like the only ones there! The high cost of membership could be worth it. There's never really a crowd and the older children love jumping off the diving boards. Although I am a bit miffed about the children not being able to wear their life jackets in the pool. Ok, I won't get fired up about that one. I dip Seth's feet in the water and he's beginning to like the feel of the cool water. At least he doesn't cry any more. Now it's more of a startle and then a little kicking and smiling.

I am excited for our first visitors who will be coming to visit this weekend! Dennis and Sandra and family and also Sarah and Ed and family! It will be a housefull, but the house is big enough to fill! Ok, going to bed now. It's two hours later than I'm use to. Yes, still wishing I was living in Mountain Time.

Come visit us and see some of the fun stuff too!

So I just wanted to post these pics real quick because I think they are so cool. Perhaps the novelty of it all will wear off and I won't think it's so cool in the future, especially after the deer try to eat all my plants. Anyways, this picture is taken looking out to the back yard! At one time we had six deer grazing behing our house. They stay mainly in the wooded area behind our house. The edge of the grass is our property line and then it's undeveloped park land for quite a while. There's even a stream back there where the kids have caught toads!

And this is a picture of the Pentagon! We went there on the fourth of July to watch the fireworks that are shot off at the National Mall. My brother in law works here, well, for now anyways, until they go to Japan. We will be sad not to have had a whole lot of time here with them. But there are going to stay with us for a few weeks in August! Yeah! Anyways, Ed took us on a brief tour inside as he has special priveleges of getting in. I guess it goes with the territory of working there. We have been to the Museum of Natural History and we have plans to go to the zoo. We also hope to visit Ocean City, Maryland as well sometime here in the near future! I hear it's a really nice beach!