Life

Things are going pretty good right now. Ken has been busy with house fixes and he recently put Jack's big boy bed together and we got his room all fixed up nice. We are cleaning out for spring and this weekend he is going to build Aunica a loft style bed for her room. It really frees up a lot of space. Steph, if you are reading this...that castle bed is going to YOUR place now LOL I bet Amelia will love sleeping in it with the bed tent on it. I don't think Aunica will be able to use it once her bed is that high. I am doing good too. I am looking forward to spring break and maybe seeing my playgroup friends---it has been a long time since we did anything here, I think maybe Anthony's birthday last November. Anyway, I digress. The kids are happy in school, most days LOL I am back on the eating right wagon, it is so much eaiser when Ken is doing it too. I have to admit that I am not exercising much these days, 2-3 days a week if that. It's hard because I will get into a groove and then things come up. Like, school. I am always at the kids school. But, since February I have lost 14.75 pounds...so I feel good about that. But i must keep going because I want to lose another 29 in the next 20 weeks. Not asking too much am I? That's like 1.5 pounds per week, even less than that actually. I can do it!

Jack's room

We decided that we needed to change Jack's room a bit. He is too big for a baby room, so we got rid of the firetruck bed and went a little bit "bigger" boy. Ken used a loft style type bed frame when he was a younger guy living at home before we got married, and he kept that frame. So we got it out of the garage and now Jack's XL twin mattress is on it. He'll eventually need the XL so we got it now. Aunica will also have a loft style bed, but daddy will need to build hers. I will post some pics so you all can see his new room. Other than that we are good here. Just trying to get through the next couple of weeks and then it's Spring Break!!!!

Hmmm, what's new?

Well, my friends are all moving away! I am happy for them, because they are going to be happier in their new home. But I am sad because they aren't just a short drive away anymore. One is off in the Yuccca desert (LOL) and the other is going to Riverside. Not too far, but far enough you know. I can't wait to help my friend Steph move into her home. She has been waiting for years to have a real house...that she owns! It will be nice when she has us over for weekend BBQ's (hint hint Steph). Alas, her DH will have a longer drive to get to his favorite Beef place though...we'll have to pick him up stuff when we come up to their house. And I am a little green with Envy too. Yes, I have a house, and a great backyard with lots of fun stuff...and I live in a great neighborhood with good public schools. BUT, my house is old and small and needs work. My friend Steph is getting a bigger house than mine WAHHHH :) And my other friend is off in the desert Holy land, of a small town that I have always wanted to be a part of. If I could find a place, that I could move to that is cheaper than here, the homes are bigger for less, the towns are smaller, AND my DH could find a decent job, I would love to go there.

Last night I went to see Grease at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. It was good, not as good as some of the other shows I have seen there, but good anyway. My mom gave me her CC number and had me buy 4 tckets to How The Grinch Stole Christmas for her, my sister, Aunica and I to go to in December at the Pantages. I got really good seats for a Saturday matinee and the tickets were only 90 each. A deal!

Jack is doing really well at school. I have him all registered for Kindergarten at our home school (Clegg) for next year. I am excited that I will have both kids at the same school next year. I hope everyone is having a good Sunday!

Yo what's up ladies!

I guess I can't complain about other people who haven't blogged for awhile since I haven't done it myself for awhile...so here I go. I got rid of Jack's baby bed and he has a new big boy bed, his dad is building him a loft bed style frame for it. I can't wait for that to be done...then he is building one for Aunica, so now her little friend Amelia will have her very own castle bed complete with bed tent. Okay, now that I have written something I can call out Michelle, Steph and Kelly and tell them to get on their computers and blog something...I am board and nowhere to roam and read! So get to it! :)

Jack's ENT appointment

I am so relieved! Today Jack had the ENT's audiologist give him a hearing test, and she said he was old enough for the "big boy" hearing test---no more blocks or games, just the wearing of headphones and raising his hands when he hears the sounds. I was not in the room, because I am a distraction to him usually. So she said after the initial test, the audiogram looked the same as the Providence audiologists so he was hearing at a 50-70dB level (depending on the frequency). So that's wasn't good news. BUT, then she did the test after bypassing the middle ear, using a bone conduction test. He did the test again and his audiogram looked much better, just as good and even better than the ABR in some frequencies. So now we know that he isn't having a progressive loss in the nerve. Nerve damage hearing loss (or sensorineural hearing loss) is bad, it is permanent and is not fixable. The problem is somewhere in the middle ear, but it's weird because it is in both ears. Both ears improved dramatically after they bypassed the middle ear. So we are now on high dose steroids (twice a day) plus the nasonex and now we have been switched to singulair pills (not cheap, we paid 35 bucks and the insurance paid 85 dollars for 30 pills). The hope is that the drug cocktail will clear up the middle ear and whatever is muggling up the sound. This is hard to follow so let me say it another way too.

Okay, Jack has a mild hearing loss---it is sensorineural, within the nerve pathways. But this loss is mild, not bad,but enough to need aids to help him with certain consonant sounds. Now, he also has a conduction loss on top of that. Many children have temperary conduction losses due to a variety of reasons. Mostly fluid in the ears from chronic ear infections, allergies that cause swelling and inflammation of the middle ear and surrounding tissues. So he has what they call a "mixed" hearing loss. The good news is that conduction loss is almost always reversible and treatable. We are hoping the meds clear him up. We go back on March 31st for another hearing test.