LET'S CATCH UP

At the Fair

Laurel ate her corndog and half of Noah's!

Practicing for one day she can show a horse

So what can I say about this week?? Oh my- busy busy busy. Friday night we went to watch Aunt Rach and our cousin Cole show at the State Fair. Rach also won "Best NC Scene" with her picture of Noah running through the tobacco field. Congrats to her. That's a HUGE deal.

Then Sat. we took the babies back to the Fair to ride a ride, eat some food and see the animals. What we were thinking taking 2 two year olds to the Fair , I have no idea!! But, we still had a good time. Then, Sunday evening Noah got his first throw up stomach virus. Poor child, but thankfully it only lasted a few hours. Monday, Laurel had her visit with the eye doctor to check on her strabismus (crossing eyes). Well, Praise God, she DOESN'T have it and no other eye problems that she is very prone to due to her premature birth, age, condition and a whole host of other things. So that is one less thing we have to do. We'll recheck with that doctor in 4 months to make sure she is still on track!!

Then, early Tues. morning Mike and I both got the horrible stomach virus. We thought we were going to die but God was good and the kids were really easy that day. We definately couldn't have made it w/out our families that day. We were worried Laurel would get it but she's a tough Ukrainian girl and she hasn't so far. By Wednesday morning, we were better and off we went to get Laurel's hearing test under sedation and tubes for her ears. We had to wait 2 hrs. past our appt time due to the fact that a girl in a group home swallowed a laytex glove and a pencil!! I would have like to have been a fly on the wall in that surgery!!!

So...... here's the diagnosis..... Laurel has "Auditory Neuropathy". Basically this means that her nerves are not sending the sounds to her brain. B/C of this diagnosis, they could not tell how much she could hear. This can only be done with a Behaviour test which Laurel really does not cooperate with. They did see a little fluid so they did put tubes in also.

Today, we went back to UNC to get yet another Behaviour hearing test. Once again, she failed it b/c they couldn't condition her to look at the screen when she could hear or feel a sound. They say it's pretty common for 2 yr. olds to not be interested in the screen and toys. So the Dr. won't put hearing aids in her ears until she passes one of these tests. We have to keep going back until they get some idea of her level of hearing. We are scheduled to go back in November to get the test again and to meet with the ENT again and schedule and MRI. So we are just at the beginning of this journey but the Audiologist really believes that we will be able to do SOMETHING to help her hear. Our only concern is getting the devices as quickly as possible b/c they have told us that ages 2-3 are the CRITICAL times to get language in a child so they will be able to speak. But that didn't get past God and he has chosen that our journey to have Laurel hear will take a winding path and go a little longer. Thank you all for your prayers and concerns. We have a peace that God will work this out and do what is best for our little girl. She's tough I tell you (and smart to I've been told) ;) I'm very proud of her already.