(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

This summer has been filled with lots of outside time with family and friends, and lots of swimming for our little fish! Hunter is so lucky to have such involved grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles! Blair and I are too :)

 Cajun Palms- July 2013

For those of you who know Hunter sleeps with a stuffed Santa every night (equivalent to his baby doll- I even caught him signing the ABCs and 123s to his Santa the other night in bed... then saying OK? OK!) Needless to say, he loved the "Christmas in July" camper at Cajun Palms!

This past weekend we went to Blair's friend Chris' camp at Lake Dauterive, and Hunter loved being in the boat because every time he sees any body of water he says "OOOO da Bayou- Boat pass Bayou!" Whether it's a river or the beach, to him, it's all the bayou :) 

We are working on smiling, for now "Cheese" comes out every time I try and take a picture. Sometimes it's over exaggerated (above) and sometimes I catch the end and get a good smile (below) 

And we have been spending lots of time in our yard. It's very nice in the morning and after 6pm. So glad the sun sets on the other side of our house so it's not scorching when we go out there!

A little pedi...

A little cleaning house...

And a little watering the flowers...

But really making a mud pit. Either way, the hose went a long way :)

We aren't ready for summer time to end, but we are ready for fall like football weather. 

Baby Harrison Charles Faucheaux is 21 weeks and kicking (literally, all the time). Hunter calls him "Barson" but we are working on it...Hehe, it's kind of cute. He seems excited to become a big brother! 

I can't believe it's almost August already... time is flying by!

FFB Conference/DC Getaway

 

This past weekend, Blair and I planned a trip to go to the Foundation Fighting Blindness 2013 Visions Conference. Since it was held in Baltimore this year, and my good friend Noelle and her husband Kevin live in Arlington, VA (an hour or so away), so we figured we would kill two birds with one stone and stay with our friends while attending the conference. We also had another couple friend, Stephanie and Brandt, who made the trip up there with us for a little vacay. It was nice to spend the weekend with my childless friends. As much as I love talking about Hunter and talking to other moms about their children, I enjoyed the typical adult conversation where Hunter's name didn't come out of my mouth every 5 minutes. (just every hour or so!)

 

We got there late Thursday night, after a little gate mishap, right Steph? ;) and left yesterday morning. Kevin and Noelle are the ideal hostesses. A souther lady and a southern chef, what more could we ask for? Their new house truly felt like our home away from home. I don't think I went to bed before midnight every night, but it was worth every minute of catching up.

Blair and I woke up early Friday morning to head to Baltimore. We got there early so had breakfast and walked along the water in downtown Baltimore while doing a little shopping.

 

The opening luncheon was accompanied by an amazing guest speaker. His name is Craig MacFarlane and he has a website called cmpride.com. He lost his vision at the mere age of 2 1/2. He went completely blind. He turned his vision loss into inspiration for the world. Craig went on to become a world-class athlete winning over 100 gold medals in a variety of sports (the majority against sighted competition) including wrestling Internationally on behalf of his native Canada, downhill skiing, water skiing and track & field. He is a magnificent motivational speaker and makes you really change your perception on blindness. I will never forget what he said for those parents out there with blind children- he said his mother didn't know how to raise a blind child, so she just raised a normal child. And that really hit home for me. He said not to limit our children, not to try and protect them more than a regular child because it will give them more independence, which is something that blind people lack the most.

 

Here is a video talking a little more about his life, it's truly worth taking a moment to watch.

 

http://youtu.be/RuzHML7SHUk

 

After the luncheon we broke into different sessions, one being an Usher Syndrome group where I actually got to meet a few of my fellow members of the Usher Syndrome Coalitions Board of Directors and Governmental Relations Committee. They talked a lot about genetic testing and the basics of Usher Syndrome, including the different types. They opened most of the session up for questions, which was nice. So I asked the doctors if there was anything at all that I should be doing with my 2 year old who has already been diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, 1C. They said at this point, he is too young for any types of Vitamin A treatments or any real extensive exams of the eye because at age 2, patients still need to be sedated to be given the test. They also pointed out that a well balanced diet is the most beneficial thing for a child right at his age.

 

The next session we went to was on Vitamin A treatments for patients affected by retinitis pigmentosa (the vision loss aspect of Usher Syndrome). The doctor who spoke for this session developed the treatments and truly has the data to back up his success in his patients. While other organs can be affected by these accelerated doses of Vitamin A, such as the liver, he does not allow patients with any liver issues to received the treatment, and he does not recommend more than 2 alcoholic drinks a day by anyone receiving the treatment. Now this treatment cannot be given to anyone under 90 lbs, so this is not anything that we would be able to look further into for a few more years, but it was nice to actually be able to hear the doctor talk about it.

 

I'm not sure if the travel or the baby was giving me headaches, but when I woke up with one on Saturday, after having one all day Friday, we were sure we weren't going to make it to the second day of the conference. The drive on Friday took a toll on us, and driving Noelle's car made me a nervous wreck. So we decided to spend the day in DC with our friends, and it couldn't have worked out better. We feel like we got all the information we really wanted on Friday, we got better educated, but we also know that Hunter is too young for anything at this point.

 

Here is a picture of Blair and me in Baltimore.

 

 

When we got back to Arlington Friday night, my WONDERFUL friends had a Baby Harrison Celebration dinner for us, and it was absolutely perfect. I have some pretty great friends :) PS. Harrison Charles is the new baby's name!

 

Brunch near the Eastern Market in DC on Saturday

 

 

A little sun :)

 

And dinner on the water in Georgetown Saturday night at an amazing restaurant called Farmers, Fishers and Bakers. I HIGHLY recommend this place for anyone in the area!

 

 

And back to real life on Sunday. It was a great trip all around!

 

**Coming 12.12.2013**

It's a....

 

Hello, Summer!

This past week Hunter took swimming lessons all 5 days. The beginning was a little rough, on all of the children. It was 4 two year olds, so there were lots of tears and lot of "Mama!!!!" being yelled from the water. But everyone did so great and by the end of the week you could tell they were more comfortable in the water than they were at the beginning of the week. And being that my parents have a pool, we were insistent on having some sort of swimming lessons. The biggest thing Hunter learned during this week was how to grab on to the side of the pool, which could be a life saving move! Hunter took with his cousin Kell, which we thought would help to have someone there he knew.

I was a bit nervous because we were going to be taking his ears off to get in the water. We have been taking them off at my mom's but this was a new person he had never met before. And every time he was waiting for his turn, like a broken record Hunter would say "Kell turn" because he did not want to be next! But by day 4, he finally started saying "Hunter turn", even without his ears on. The instructor would tap him 3 times before he would go under, or count to 3 with her fingers. Then she would blow in his face so that he would hold his breath before going under. I told her to give him a thumbs up when he came up from the water because he's a big fan of the thumbs up and good job. And even in the middle of his screams he would give us a thumbs up. And when he saw me videoing him, he would even say "Cheese" in the middle of screaming and trying to hold on to the wall!

Here are a few pictures from the beginning of the week:

Here are Day 4 videos:

And here are a few pics and videos from Day 5!

He felt a lot more comfortable during Day 5 and even this past weekend on my mom's house.... he was entirely too good to just sit on the steps anymore. He was like a little fish! 

Oh and we insist on sunglasses at my mom's every time we are in the pool. We ALL wear them together!

Hunter singing Happy Birthday to You

My video didn't upload in the last post, so here it is :)

Memorial Day Weekend

These days, Hunter in public can be hit or miss. Sometimes he will sit in a high chair for an hour, no complaints, and sometimes he wants out the minute he gets in. He is in constant.motion.all.waking.hours. Since our beach trip last summer, Hunter hasn't really been on a family trip so we decided to go to the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium of the Americas with our friends Courtney and Chris and their 2 year old James. Hunter and James get along very well and feed off of each other, so we knew it would be a good time with the two of them. It's still a lot of parallel play at this age, but they definitely know when each other is there and ask where they are when they are apart.

Saturday we started at the zoo around 11 and left around 2. There were a ton of people, but it was so big that you could hardly tell. There were lots of shaded areas as well, which was nice in the 86 degree weather.
Here are a few pictures from the zoo:

Here are a few pictures from dinner, and a video. We lucked out and picked a place with a completely empty ball room upstairs where the daddys took the boys to run pretty much the whole time we were there!

The boys found a mic upstairs, and while James was singing Life is a highway, Hunter was running, and running, and running and running. Until he finally got the mic, and broke out into HBDTY! Haha. They reminded me of Sophia Grace and Rosie, the male version!

And a few pictures from Sunday at the hotel and the aquarium. It's true, temper tantrums followed us to New Orleans, but overall we had a GREAT trip and are so glad we went!

Yes. Santa makes all trips.

After a great weekend in New Orleans, we spent Memorial Day by the pool at my parents' house. ALL Hunter has been talking about for weeks now is the boat behind Pappy and Nana's house that he saw. So Blair put his boat in the water to take Hunter for a ride, but he cringed as we walked towards the wharf, whined because he appeared scared to death, and he never set foot in the boat, after all that! We tried.... maybe another time :)

CI Mapping 05.10.13

Hunter, Blair and I hit the road Friday, May 10th for a mapping appointment with Mrs. Tanya at Ochsner's in New Orleans. Our last appointment was in January and she did not change any of his settings. She wanted us to go back in 3 months (which ended up being 4 because of tax season) just to check in on things again. The one piece of advice I will never forget when first researching Cochlear Implants was to have them mapped (programmed) as often as possible. So I am definitely not opposed to making the trip, even though we were most likely not going to change anything. She asked if we were having any problems, plugged his ears in to check to the programs, made Hunter say a few things, hit the sound booth for a minute and we were done!

Here is a of video from the sound booth after the appointment. They play a low sound from either the right, left or front and Hunter has to look. Once he looks they turn on the lights and a louder noise, like a rabbit playing a miniature drum.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of my mom friends, and even my non-mom friends. Thank you for everything you have done for me since I have become a mom to Hunter. It definitely takes an army to keep our lives going and to keep it all together. So thank you to every single person in our support system, big and small. You all make numerous impressions on Blair, Hunter and myself and none of us would be where we are today without you. The people I surround myself with are who make me the mom I am today. I got numerous sweet thoughts yesterday about being a great mom to Hunter. But the truth is we start to take on the habits and attitudes of the people we surround ourselves with, and all of you have contributed to my strength as a mom. Thank you all! 

The following video was probably the 3rd time that day that Hunter sang Happy Mother's Day to me and it was the best part of my day! I got to sleep in while Blair took Hunter to an early mass (which is a task in itself) and I even got to shower and put on my makeup ALL.BY.MYSELF. That doesn't happen very often anymore. Well Blair and Hunter walked into my room with a plant and a card READY to sing, and I have to say it TOTALLY made my mother's day. For those of you who don't know, Hunter is obsessed with singing happy birthday to anyone at anytime. So singing Happy Mother's Day was just as satisfying to him to be able to sing it to me, his Nana, his Gammy and his Nanny yesterday. I caught this one on video after breakfast while playing at the gazebo in downtown New Iberia. 

And here is a picture of me and Hunter :)

And here were Blair and Hunter when they came in to wish me a Happy Mother's Day! Saying cheese of course..... ;)

Hunter's 1 Year Hearing Birthday 4/27/2013

To all,
We have reached the 1 year mark, the most exciting 1st year with so many milestones I can't even begin to express how grateful we are for Hunter's ears. It has changed his world while he has changed the world around him. The joy and laughter and words and sentences, yes sentences, bring a smile to my face that only the mother of a child born deaf can understand. Hunter still amazes us every single day. His memory blows me away. The things he picks up on constantly makes me wonder if we are challenging him enough.

Oh and a few things I don't think I ever addressed on here. We now just have to travel to Breaux Bridge for therapy on Wednesdays instead of Baton Rouge. The Chesney Center hired a therapist who drives to Breaux Bridge once a week to meet with their patients from the Acadiana area. Also, we switched out the color of Hunter's coils from tax to brown and they blend much better now!

Here are a few videos from Hunter's AV Therapy session last week. They just make me smile big big!

Blair and I tried to compile a list of new things he was saying last week and here are a few of them:

Good job buddy getting ball

Daddy where are you?

One, two, three throw!

Ready, set, go throw

Bye dogs see you later

Boat pass pappy house

Close door nana house

See you tomorrow

McDonald's french fry with Gammy

I love you more

Nice to meet you

Go get towel mommy

Get Icee Friday?

Mama play bubbles outside

Now this was probably two days worth of things from last week and I haven't even had a chance to write down new ones from this week, but he just keeps stringing new words together every day! He has even started saying Thank You without being prompted and his use of the word please has increased as well! 

Thanks to everyone who constantly works with Hunter, he has made progress like I've never imagined he would. We are so grateful to be blessed with such an amazing support system of friends, family and therapists. 

Here are a few recent pictures as well.

And one from his hearing birthday: