60th Anniversary party...

It was my Grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary last week and we had a party for them!!! 60 years is a long time.... they are such an amazing example of TRUE LOVE!!! Congrats Mammy and Papa!!!

The two love birds on their wedding day...

Still crazy for each other 60 years later...

My kids all cute and ready to go to the party. None of my pictures turned out very well, but I am sharing them anyways:)

The party was at the Shilo Inn in a big conference room. It was a perfect spot for a big group and the kids had a blast running around. We ate, visited, danced a little, and played musical chairs!!! This is all the kids playing.

Me and my favorite uncle... David!!! I just love him. He was giving me quite the snuggle here:)

Drake won a candy bar playing musical chairs. He was happy!!!

My mom and sisters

Our family

Me and the hubs!!!

Trev and Laynie...

 Laynie had the time of her life. I seriously think it might have been the best night of her life. She had room to run around, had her own balloon, kids to chase, and plenty of people admiring her. She was definitely the life of the party!!!

Me and my momma

Laynie is going through a phase where she doesn't want to nap, but most of the time she can't quite make it to bedtime. It is pretty much lose/lose for everyone involved. I tried to keep her up and just put her to bed at 7. Well she was up for 3 hours in the middle of the night when I did that. Then the next day she still didn't want to nap and she fell asleep at 5:00pm. I tried waking her up about 45 min later and she was NOT ready to wake up. I tried so hard and she was so mad. So this is her from 5:00-7:00pm...

I would try to wake her up and she would fall back asleep sitting up.

And this is her from 7:00pm-midnight:)

I think we have a problem!!!!

And here is my best little buddy!!! He sure keeps me good company!

Another cochlear implant appointment...

We went down again to the audiologist to get her cochlear implant mapped. The audiologist was very impressed that she likes wearing it and has never once tried to pull it off. I told her we weren't getting much response and she said that was fine and it takes a little time. She mapped it and turned up the volume quite a bit. This first video shows what happened...

She had a great response to her name!!!!!

This next video is her playing with the audiologist. This is one of the ways they teach her to hear. When she is putting her hand over her mouth she is copying the audiologist because she is putting her hand over her mouth when she makes noise so Laynie can't see when she is making noise. It is pretty cute:)

 

We also got to meet another CHARGE family for lunch. They are the same family that we met last fall at the Endocrine appointment. We have kept in touch with emails and phone calls. They even left a cute gift in the waiting room for Laynie during her last surgery. They are a really nice family!!! It was a lot of fun to be able to visit and see their cute little CHARGEr!!!

 

She sure is a sweetheart and a good traveler. I am so lucky that she is such a good girl!!! I am also so grateful for good friends and family who are always willing to help. Trevor couldn't miss work this week and some of our other family members were also tied up, so I was in a bind trying to find someone to drive us down, because I can't drive her alone. So many friends, neighbors, and family always offer to help and it is so appreciated! My in-laws drove us down and my sister brought us home. Also my friend Whitney kept Drake all day. She has been my best friend since 5th grade and is always so willing to help with anything. I am so thankful for good friends and family.

She has 3 settings again on her implant and this time she needs to wear each setting for 5 days and then I will turn it up. I took of her cochlear implant off  for her bath and after her bath she was trying to put it back on. I was trying to get her hair brushed first, but she was very persistent about wanting it on. It is so awesome that she is liking it!!!

This week...

Laynie is all dressed up and ready for church. She hasn't been in a long time because we have been trying to avoid getting her sick, but we just crave normalcy sometimes and we are ready to stop "project hibernation". I know there is still a lot of sickness out there so we are still being careful, but it is just too hard to live like a hermit for so long.

Sword fighting with daddy. These two just LOVE playing with dad!!!!

I got home from my weekly errands to find this. Laynie loves her nurse Holly so much:) We are so lucky to have her!!!

This is a first...... it was a very big moment so I had to take a picture. She is VERY averse to anything in her mouth. She will put some things/food/hands in her mouth by herself, but if someone else tries to put something in then she just locks her jaw and will NOT let anything in. We have been working on teeth brushing for a long time. It is her goal for occupational therapy right now. She has never had her teeth brushed, gross, I know!!! Yesterday she put the tooth brush on her teeth and started brushing a little. It didn't go inside her mouth, but it is a good start!!!

My little babies.... I just adore these two!!!!

She insisted on her OWN piece of corn on the cob and loved licking/tasting it! One day you will be able to eat it baby girl!!!

Both of my kids love Elmer. He is so patient and nice to them. Drake has a special spot for his snuggle buddy in his heart though. The other day, he said he wanted a big dog. I said maybe some day but right now we have Elmer and Ernie. He said, "I know, we can give Ernie away and get a big dog." I told him that wasn't very nice and Ernie would be so sad. He also insists that Ernie is a girl (he is really a boy). haha I guess he doesn't have the same love for Ernie that he does for his snuggle buddy Elmer. Laynie actually really likes Elmer too!!!

Here is a good picture of her cochlear implant device that she wears. She has pink, purple, and white to choose from!!! She is up to the highest setting and doing great. She isn't responding to very much, but they said that can be normal. She gets it turned up tomorrow, so we are excited to see if it makes a difference!

Laynie's cochlear implant activation

Yesterday was such a special day for all of us!!! Laynie got her cochlear implant activated. First, we had an appointment with the amazing Dr. Shelton who did the surgery to make sure her incision was healing well. He gave us the clear to go to the audiologist to have it activated:)

We will forever be grateful to this doctor for giving Laynie such a gift!!!

We turned on her implant and she didn't react much. She was busy playing and it was obvious that she could hear something, but would also ignore it a lot. We kept turning off the implant and then turning up the volume. We did that about 3 or 4 times. Then finally it got to the point where she could clearly hear things and she did NOT like it!!!! After distracting her and letting her calm down she didn't mind it. So that is where we are going to keep her settings for this week. She has 3 setting on her implant and it is on the lowest setting right now. During the next week we are going to work up to the highest setting and then during her appointment next week they will give her louder settings to work on. It is a very long process to get her at the perfect setting!!! Right now it is pretty low and quiet, because we don't want to scare her.

This next video is my FAVORITE!!!! When Drake woke up this morning he said, "Did Laynie get her hearing????" I told him yes and he was so excited to see her. She slept in a little and when she got up I put it on her and this is what happened. Warning.... it might melt your heart a little:) Laynie is so lucky to have such a sweet big brother!

 In this picture she is hooked up to the computer at the audiologist clinic getting "mapped". This is what we will be going to Salt Lake to do. The mapping figures out the proper settings for her and it takes a lot of time to get it perfect for her. My sister Afton and Ivy also joined us for the appointment to watch her hear for the first time.

 We walked out of the appointment and Laynie got to hear an airplane for the first time. I can look at this picture a million times a day. It makes me so happy and excited about the possibilities for her future. It is so exciting that she gets to experience something that most of us take for granted.

 We went to dinner afterwards with Jordan and Darcy. She wore her cochlear implant the whole time and didn't have a problem. She doesn't react to a lot, but her settings are really low and we have to be patient because it is a long process. We are just so thrilled that it worked and that she had a reaction. So many blessings have been seen on her behalf. We are so blessed!!!

Don't mind her bed head, but this is what it looks like. The magnet just attaches to the magnet inside her head and then she wears the processor on her clothes.

Just us.....

Laynie is recovering like a champ. I took off the bloody steri-strips and replaced them with nice, clean, fresh ones. It looks so much better:) She doesn't really bother it, but every once in awhile she points to it and signs "hurt". I am assuming they are shooting pains which can be normal after surgery.

We already go back to Salt Lake on Thursday to get the implant activated!!!! I am trying not to get my expectations up too high, but I am sooooooo excited. It kinda feels like Christmas morning. Our little Laynie will be able to hear in a few days!!!! The audiologist told us not to have huge expectations because it is a really long progress and they might not even react at first. I just always think about those you tube videos of activation day and it is so amazing. So, even if she has no reaction it doesn't mean it didn't work. It takes a lot of time to get good results. We are still super excited though!!! We will definitely record her reaction!!!

I painted our TV table and I am beginning to think I am a professional. I love how it turned out!!!

Is it sad that a new coat of paint makes me so happy?

Doggy pile on daddy

Recovery and random stuff...

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Salt Lake last week. Drake loved playing with his cousins. This is blurry, but I still thought this was cute of Drake and Ivy. They are only 9 days a part in age.

Drake and his cousin Jaxon who he absolutely adores:)

Grandma Debbie put Laynie in the sink and curled her hair. Laynie felt so proud up there!!!

Laynie and Aunt Afton

Laynie is doing really well. Today is the first day completely off of her pain medicine. Well she has gotten it once because she pointed to her head and signed hurt, but I don't think she was in serious pain. I gave it to her anyways though!!! On Sunday night she was in serious pain and vomiting everything. She couldn't keep her pain medicine down and she was super miserable. By monday afternoon she was feeling so much better. I feel like she had a migraine or something. It was really weird. We were also a little concerned about her bleeding, but it finally stopped on Monday also.

She is finally back to her happy self and is doing great. We are still trying to keep her healthy so she can heal well and not be prone to any infections.

We have to wait 2 weeks for her incision to heal and then we go down for a post-op appointment with the surgeon. If it is healed properly then she will get it activated the same day by the audiologist. That will be so exciting!!!

Back to her happy self:)

What her head looks like today. She can finally have her bandage off since she isn't bleeding anymore. It is pretty yellow and starting to bruise. The steri-strips can come off on Saturday.

Mom and Drake went on a special date to Walmart and to ice cream!!! He is such a good boy and puts up with getting way less attention than his sister sometimes. It is so hard to balance motherhood when one child requires so much more than the other. Thank you for being so sweet and patient Drake. I love you to pieces:)

Cochlear Implant Surgery

Laynie had her surgery on Friday. We were so worried and concerned about the surgery. We had a CT scan on Wednesday under anesthesia to look where her facial nerve was so the surgeon didn't hit it during surgery and paralyze her face. That went great, but Wednesday night she came down with a little cold. I was so sad because I thought we would have to post-pone the surgery again and we had tried so hard to keep her healthy. On Thursday we had a pre-op appointment with the surgeon and an appointment with the audiologist. Her cold ended up being very mild and the doctor said it wasn't too big of a deal because she is always sick and it was mild, but it would be up to the anesthesiologist to make the final call.

Also, he said he still couldn't see the facial nerve very well on the CT scan and he was nervous about it because it is in a weird location. He also said that her anatomy is very different in her ear and he would have to remove her ear drum and possibly have to close off her entire ear canal in order to have enough room to do the surgery. So if you were to look in her ear with an otoscope, you couldn't see in, it would be completely closed off. We were extremely concerned about this because one of the major risks of this surgery is an ear infection that is left untreated and then causing further infection or meningitis. Also she has always had ear tubes her entire life because she has a high risk for ear infections and she couldn't have tubes if it was closed off. He made it very clear many times about how unusual her anatomy is and how difficult of a case she was going to be. I left that appointment feeling so overwhelmed, worried, and confused.

Trevor and I talked that night and even thought to not do the surgery at all. We just wanted to do what was best for Laynie, but we were so scared...

She got a great blessing from Trevor and his dad and we kept remembering the things that were said. Trevor was finally the one that reminded me that we need to have more faith and she was going to be alright. We felt good about it and were excited, but we were still scared. You would think after all the surgeries she has had we would be used to this by now, but this one was the hardest so far.

She had so many people thinking and praying for her and by the time Friday came, we felt really confident and good about everything.

 

Giving my girlie a good luck kiss before surgery...

She was a huge sweetheart before surgery. Everyone around her was commenting about how adorable and sweet she was!!!

Laynie and daddy before surgery...

The surgeon came out and talked to us after about 2 1/2 hours. He said he was able to get all the electrodes in, which he didn't think he would be able to do. He said he was able to stay clear from her facial nerve, which he was the most nervous about. And he said he was able to save her ear canal. He said it was one of the most difficult ones he has ever done, but we couldn't have received a better report. Seriously, it was a miracle that all of those things happened. Thank you everyone for the prayers. They were definitely heard and answered.

She was extremely miserable after surgery. After she got the good pain meds (morphine), she was able to calm down and get some rest, but it took a long time!!! This morning she was feeling pretty good. She is still on pain medicine, but is doing fabulous!!!!

She got her bandage removed this morning, but there is so much bleeding that she is wearing another bandage for a few days.

Warning.... this picture is a little gruesome so if you have a weak stomach skip it!!!

 

She got her hair shaved. They shaved a lot more than I was expecting:(

This is her incision. She has stitches under the skin that will dissolve and then steri strips over the incision. Ouch!!!

The sweetest thing happened.... They only let one parent go back to the recovery room while they are waking up, so of course I go running. When Trevor met us in the hallway when we were wheeling her up to her room she saw him and was happy. Then he was walking behind her bed and she couldn't see him and she kept signing and crying for him. It was so sweet, she didn't want her daddy out of her view. She was also signing for her brother too, but he wasn't there. He stayed at my sister's house during surgery and played with his cousins and Grandma Debbie!!! He had a great time!!!

Thumbs up.... our little rockstar did awesome. Time to head home!!!!!

We are so proud of you miss Laynie. You are braver than anyone I know. You help us all be strong!!! You are such a joy and we are so excited for this new adventure for you! You did amazing and we all admire you!!!! Get well soon sweetie!