The Day in a Life of a Stambaugh

New Tattoo!

2011-09-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exhaulted among the nations,

I will be exhaulted in the earth."

~Psalms 46:10

Ten On Tuesday

2011-08-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

Ten on Tuesday - August Edition

10. I am admitting I have a problem. I am addicted to pop.

9. While on a biking trip from Kalamazoo to South Haven my mom hit some loose gravel and flipped her bike. Since they were between check points she had to ride to the next one before they could take her to the ER. Her leg isn't broken, but it's the size of a melon and strange shades of purple. So glad she's okay!

8. I am also admitting that I am addicted to WordFeud on my phone. I play a scrabble-like game with different people. Right now I have a game going with my hubby, my mom and my mom's friend. It's pretty cool.

7. My mom just called and told me she found a baptism outfit for Mollie - but it's a doll's outfit! She girl is so tiny she can fit into doll clothes! LOL! I will make sure I post pictures.

6. Troy is going to be the next great gymnast in the Deaf Olympics. That boy has so much energy that we have started him in toddler olympics. He is so good at it!

5. Last week our work did our 2011 community day. All 2000+ employees chose 1 of 20 projects to volunteer at during the day and then we got a free Whitecaps game at night. Thom and I worked at the VSA (Very Special Arts) of Grand Rapids. We worked with over 200 special needs kids of all abilities to do art projects. It was very rewarding!

4. My 5K is next weekend! Grand Rapids Mud Run HERE I COME!! I am running with my girlfriend from 2nd grade :0)

3. Next week (2 days before my 5K) my husband has dual carpal tunnel surgery. I have a feeling I am going to be doing A LOT to help him!

2. Dean ended up in the emergency room at 6:00 am on Sunday morning. He woke up with a crazy rash at his Aunt's house and she had to bring him back home. Luckily with some antibiotics and steriods, they are under control.

1. SCHOOL STARTS 3 WEEKS FROM TODAY!!! My kids aren't excited but I'm thrilled!

Confirm that I am not doing this for no reason....

2011-06-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

Any readers? Who are you? Where are you? HELLO? Is there any reason for me to continue this thing? H-E-L-L-O???

Mollie's 3 Month Photos!

2011-06-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Mollie's 3 month pictures are here (only about 1 1/2 months late). I love them all (the third one is my favorite) and I just thought I would share. ENJOY!!

Ten On Tuesdays

2011-06-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ten On Tuesday

#10. 2 year old soccer is NOT what I thought it would be. We all dread going each week. Troy doesn’t understand the concepts. We usually just spend a lot of time by the net letting him kick it in and go and get it out. He seems to love that.

#9. Daniella made it into National Junior Honors Society. WHAT A SMART COOKIE! So proud of her. Last Wednesday we drove up to Kalkasa to watch her invocation and then for a small gathering at her mom’s house. It was nice to get together with her mom and show the kiddos we can get along. Plus it was nice to see where the kids live (been there a few times, but never inside).

#8. Our nanny starts again next week Tuesday! She is bringing her 1 month old with her to watch my kiddos. I can’t wait! I miss her so much!

#7. We are switching bedrooms. Since it is taking much longer to get the 2 additional bedrooms built we are going to do some moving for a few reasons. Mollie and Daniella are going to share the boys’ room (which is across the hall from us) and the 2 older boys are going to move to Daniella’s room in the basement. Mollie needs closet space – BADLY and it’s too hard to let her let her cry herself to sleep when she’s 4 feet from us. TIME TO MOVE!

#6. My boss went to his son’s graduation the other day and heard the name “Troy Stambaugh”. He double checked the program and sure enough…Troy Orin Stambaugh just graduated with his son! I honestly never thought there would be another Troy Stambaugh out there! (I do like the sound of Troy William Stambaugh much better!)

#5. I don’t think my garden is going to be accomplished this year. I really wanted to dig up, split and re-plant my hostas, and put a garden where the hostas are, but I honestly don’t see it getting done. With it so crazy hot 50% of the time and raining the other 50%, it is too hard to take a 4 month old outside. Unless I do it at midnight…it might have to wait until next year.

#4. Allergies are slowly killing our family. Troy is clawing at his skin on a daily basis until he bleeds. The doctor’s office finally gave us cream, nose spray and chewables for him. Poor Mollie’e eyes are watering every day. And me? Daily: 3 different allergy pills, eye drops, nose spray, and nasal irrigation. And allergy shots once a week. AND I just got prescribed an Epi Pen! UGH!!

#3. The new rule at our house is ‘dimes’. The kids get dimes for helping and being good. They lose dimes for being disrespectful or naughty. We are going to try this during the summer and see how it works.

#2. Thom and I are going to attempt and take Troy to his first movie when Cars 2 comes out. He is OBSESSED with “Cars” now and I’m sure between the popcorn, pop and movie he will sit through it. Or not.

#1. By the end of this week, I will have: a daughter in 7th grade, a son in 5th grade, a son in 4th grade, a son done with his first year of Deaf/HH school. **Sigh**

This Weekend

2011-05-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT weekend this weekend.

Luckily I kept my camera nearby and was able to photo-journal most of it!

Saturday morning I took Brady and Troy with me to go pick up Dean. On the way home we picked up doughnuts from Susie's Doughnuts. We just happened to walk in as the 4 most amazing looking cinnamon rolls were being put in the case. Now, these weren't any regular cinnamon rolls, they were the LARGEST cinnamon rolls I've ever seen (see below for a photo compared to a regular doughnut)! The boys talked me into getting all 4!

We then spent the morning playing. Our 10 year old, Brady, loves to play chess. So on many occasions Thom and Brady will play a game or two. Troy loves to be just like his big brother! Below is a photo of Thom and Troy "playing" chess:

Soon it was lunch time. We were able to eat the most delicious watermelon! Below is a photo of Troy eating his 3rd piece in full watermelon gear (apron) to keep his clothes from being destroyed:

The afternoon called for some sister bonding time. Daniella is so wonderful with Mollie. Dani was able to find some of Troy's puppets and put on a puppet show for her little sister. Mollie LOVED it!

That evening the children at our church put on the musical that they have been practicing for months called "Happily Forever After". Dean played the roll of Sir Court Lee. It was a great fairy-tale version of the kindgom of God. Dean had 21 family members come to see him! We were all so proud! Then our church had a free carnival and a silent auction. We all came home happy and completely exhausted!

Dean as "Sir Court Lee" in the black & red outfit in the middle

Sunday we woke up and decided not to go to church (this is a very rare occurance that I am not proud of). Every Sunday Thom makes the whole family pancakes and sausage, but as I forgot to buy syrup this week we were treated to cheese omelets, sausage, toast and coffee. Usually the coffee is just for Thom and I, but Troy loves it too much to deny. So this morning as he sat on my lap (as I held Mollie in the other arm) Troy was able to have a 1/4 cup of cold coffee:

Then the newspaper came and Daniella and I were able to coupon! I love couponing because I am now saving about 60% on my grocery bills. Here is a quick snapshot of my coupon binder:

Then as I cleaned the kitchen I noticed that all the kids were gathered around their sister. I was able to sneak in on them as they were playing (that's why no one is looking) for a rare moment!

After a quick run to the store it was lunch time. With 4 kids and a very hungry husband, every meal is quite a production. I thought I would give you a little idea of why we go through food so fast:

Normally the kids would eat outside on the deck, but with the weather being so nasty, they decided they wanted to have another kind of picnic:

Now lunch is cleaned up, Troy is asleep, Thom and the older 3 are at the hobby shop and Mollie is just waking up. Time for a little me time.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed my weekend!

Super Savings!

2011-04-22T09:25:00.001-07:00

I have recently started using coupons! They are soooo much fun! Look at the deals I got today:

Walgreens: Buy a 40 count Zyrtec - Get a 12 count free = $29.99 - $14.99 = $29.99
In-store coupon = $29.99 - $1.00 = $28.99
Mfg coupon = $28.99 - $4.00 = $24.00!!
**Then the lady at the cash register thought that was too high. So she re-rang it
and I got it for $17.50!!! (Total savings of $27.50!!!!!!!!)

Meijer: Kelloggs cereal: 4 for $10 PLUS buy 4 get a gallon of milk for free.
Normally: $3.29 + $3.19 + $3.19 + $3.19 + $2.99 (milk) = $15.89
In-store deal = $10.00
Mfg Coupon = $10.00 - $1.50 = $8.50
Purex Liquid Detergent: Normally $5.99 on sale for $2.99
Mfg coupon = 2.99 - $1.00 = $1.99

TOTAL STORE SAVINGS: $23.95
TOTAL COUPON SAVINGS: $7.50
____________________________
TOTAL SAVINGS : $31.45!!!

****HOLY COW****

Some of my favorite new pictures

2011-04-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Troy decided to pour his own cereal one day:

Grand Rapids Children's Museum had a day

for special needs kids. Below is a photo of Troy with

his teacher and one of his friends:

Troy kissing his baby sister as Papa holds her:

The 4 oldest kiddos at Christmas. About 20 days
before Mollie was born:

Brady had a chess tournament. One of the photos

of him deep in thought:

Ten on Tuesday

2011-04-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is my first Ten on Tuesday attempt. From what I am understanding it's just a list of Ten things you want to blog about. So here I go:

#10: When my husband's ex-wife is nice to me, it makes me happy. The woman actually took a swing at the back of my head a few years ago (in front of all my children) and has been particularly nasty to me since Thom and I have been together. However, she has been pretty nice the past month of so. She called a few weeks ago to let us know that gas was going to be going up overnight and she "just wanted to let us know so we could fill up our tanks". Also, she emailed me today to let me know she is mailing me some coupons for diapers, baby items and allergy pills since she knows I have allergies. Weird....

#9: My sister and I have gotten a lot closer lately. I freakin love it!

#8: Troy has had bloody noses the past 2 mornings. Since the weather has been terrible with snow (yes, snow at the end of April) I am assuming it due to the air in our house being dry.

#7: Thom got a Keurig coffee maker from my parents for his birthday. I LOVE that thing. We just ordered a case of "chocolate glazed donut" flavor coffee. I can't wait until it arrives!!

#6: Dean got 20 out of 20 on his spelling pre-test this week, so now he has the challenge list - those words are HARD. My 3rd grader has to spell archaeologist (wait...did I spell that right??)

#5: Troy starts 2 year old soccer on Saturday - it's going to be soooooooooo cute! I explained to his coach last night about his processors and that I was going to be on the field signing to him, so if he needs to explain something to Troy that I could help.

#4: I just realized today that the outfit my friend gave me for Mollie to wear on Easter is waaaaaaaaaaaay to big (since Mollie is still only 10 lbs). This means I get to go shopping! Shopping for an Easter dress?!?!?! How much more excited could I get?? NONE!!

#3: I'm bummed that my next door neighbor is moving. I bought the house that I grew up in from my parents and she did the same thing - so we've known each other since we've been born. She only moved back in last spring, so we haven't had much time together. I love that her kids come and hang out with Troy and Dean and now they're leaving! To New Mexico they go...only good part is that I get a gently used dryer for relatively cheap.

#2: I'm annoyed with Thom because I want to go on a marriage retreat on October 7-9 (October 7 being my 31st birthday) and he says it's too far away and too much money. Whatever. I'm so annoyed. Check it out: http://www.winshaperetreat.org/index.php/come/programming/marriage_programming/romantic_adventure.php

#1: I am finally giving in and putting Mollie on a schedule. This eat every 1/2 hour from the time I get home to the time I go to bed is killing me. Someone suggested the "Babywise" book, so I am going to get it and start reading ASAP!

Okay...how did I do? Hopefully you didn't fall asleep at your computer. It felt like a mini "rant" session to me, so I feel better. PHEW!

Let's Try This AGAIN!

2011-04-15T09:52:00.001-07:00

Well, I obviously fell off the wagon. What wagon you ask? The blog wagon.

I started this whole thing when Troy was born deaf. So much of our family is in Indiana that I started this to keep them updated on Troy and his progress. I was doing great for a while there - I loved writing this and sharing our family's story. However I started to notice that less and less people were reading it and I thought...what's the point.

So I'm starting again with 1 rule: that you let me know if you read (via email, comments on here, comments on facebook...I honestly don't care. The comments don't need to be each time, but it's nice to see that I'm not doing this with no readers). If no one reads, then I'm not going to waste my time. So let's try this again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the past few months we welcomed the newest addition to our family: Mollie Elizabeth. She is currently 10lbs, 1 oz of pure baby love! Below is a picture of her this past week (12 weeks old) with one of my dearest friend's new baby "Ellie" (short for Eleanor - a name I absolutely LOVE).

Mollie is a GREAT baby! She only cries when she's hungry, which seems to be all the time between the hours of 6pm and 10pm. Last night she slept in her crib for the 3rd night in a row and slept for 9 1/2 hours - only waking up once!! S-C-O-R-E!

Baby Troy is not a baby anymore! My little deaf boy is now 2 1/2 years old. He has listed many words to his small vocabulary which includes: bye-bye, NO, MINE, and Mollie (both "no" and "mine" he tends to yell). Troy goes to his deaf/hard of hearing school each morning and 4 days a week is bused to Kindercare in the afternoon.

Daniella, Brady and Dean are all so big! Daniella is now in 6th grade. That's right...I said 6th grade. And as of last Sunday, Daniella is now 12 years old. Only 360 days until we offically have a TEENAGER! UGH!!! Brady is awesome! Still the strongest kid I know...he is now skateboarding. It's awesome to see how much he loves it. Dean is still awesome and this summer is going to have another new sibling on his dad's side of the family. All three kids love to be together and love their younger siblings.

I am hoping to get some pictures of the kiddos up soon! They will all be here this weekend so hopefully I can remember!!

This Pregnancy

2010-10-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

Holy cow this pregnancy is FLYING by! I can't believe I'm starting my 25th week today! Maybe it's because I'm not having a massive baby boy who started kicking at 14 weeks. This time I seem to be having a smaller, gentler girl who kicks like a lady :D

My in-laws just scheduled a baby shower in Indiana for December 11th. It's hard because it's right around the holidays, but it gives us a great excuse to get down there and visit. It's also nice because my house is overrun by boys that I have NO little girl things.

This picture of me is at 19 weeks. In the past 6 weeks I haven't grown a lot - which is amazing to me. I've only gained about 14 lbs altogether which is also amazing to me because with pregnancy #1 I gained 80 and with pregnancy #2 I gained 40!

I suck...

2010-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well...I suck.

Yup...I do.

Why? BECAUSE IT'S BEEN 9 MONTHS SINCE I POSTED!

That's why.

So let's start updating:

Troy:

Troy turned 2 on Saturday! 2 years old already! How the time flies. He has been attending his special D/HH school for 2 1/2 weeks and LOVES every morning. In the afternoons he is bussed to Kindercare. He loves it there too! He loves the bus. He loves his teachers at both school and daycare.

Troy can now say Mama, Dada, Owwww, and Uh-oh!

**Big news: Troy has his 2nd cochlear implant surgery next Thursday. Yup...he will be bilateral! I'm scared to death for his surgery, but am very excited that his world of sound will be increasing!**

Dean:

Dean is in 3rd grade this year! Yikes! He is excited to learn cursive and do math at a harder level. His reading is still several levels behind, but we are working on getting him "level appropriate" books to help him. Dean is attending after-school care this year. He absolutely loves being able to go there after school, eat a health snack and play games. He even promised he would make me something to hang on my rearview mirror out of fuse beads.

Brady & Daniella:

Brady is in 4th grade and Daniella is now in 6th. Both kids seem to really be loving their school (the little they want to talk about it on the weekends we see them). They are being bombarded with loads of fundraisers that we are trying our best to stay clear of :)

Thom & I:

Thom and I are doing really well! Both working 40 hour weeks and enjoying our jobs. On top of our normal day jobs, Thom teaches 1 night a week and attends school for his master's program 1 night a week. I run a kitchen for a churched based recovery program 1 night a week and attend choir 1 night a week (additonal nights are needed if I'm on praise/worship team that week). Thom feels like his life is lived with his nose in his book and I feel as if I live at church.

On top of all that we are also re-doing our basement. We are in the beginning stages of changing our very large family room into 2 more bedrooms. So far we have torn down the original walls, pulled up the carpet and bought the 2x4s. We have also gotten 2 egress windows installed to make them legal bedrooms.

So...why are we increasing our space? Oh yeah...I'm 22 weeks pregnant! That's right! In approx 16 week we will be welcoming a little GIRL to our family! We are so thrilled!

Time to play catch up!

2010-01-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I get so busy with everyday things that I forget there are my friends out in cyber-world waiting for my important updates (yeah right!)

Anyways...we had a WONDERFUL Christmas here in the Stambaugh household. We were able to have all 4 of our children which was the best present possible. My in-laws came up and visited overnight which was a huge surprise. Thom and I had vacation PAID from Christmas day until January 4th. Here are some of our pictures:

Dean very excited to get a new DS!

All 3 of my older children playing on their electronics and Troy deciding to terrorize them all!

Troy playing with a new toy from Paumee.

One of my favorite presents!

Troy got a new Curious George hockey stick. Posing here with Uncle Ryan.

Me...very excited about an over the toilet stand.

Troy beating Brady with one of Dean's new presents.

Troy very excited about Uncle Nate's new golf club.

Kids opening gifts at our house Christmas morning.

Thom got a new drill!

My son's processor won't stay on!

2009-12-11T13:43:00.001-08:00

Okay CI mom's...I need your help. We went with Cochlear's baby worn system for my son and everything is going...well honestly it sucks. The behind the ear processors will N-O-T stay on!! As you can see by the picture, it just hangs there!

We have tried toupe tape and regular 2 sided tape (from Home Depot) and neither sticks to skin very well. He won't wear his aviator cap anymore.

I'm out of ideas! I need your help!!

Activation Video

2009-11-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

Well you can imagine my SURPRISE when I come to the blog and notice that my dearest HUBBY has updated it! What a wonderful man! I'm so lucky!

Well, it's offically been 1 week and 2 hours of hearing for our baby boy. It's going good, but honestly the last week has been stressful!!

Last year, while I was still pregnant, my husband and I found a WONDERFUL daycare lady to watch over Troy once he was born and I went back to work. She has watched him since my 9 weeks of maternity leave were up. Well...when Troy's processor was activated, I was nervous with the other kids at her house, it would be a lot for her. However, we moved forward knowing that God would take care of any situation. After giving her a run-down of how everything worked on Tuesday afternoon, I went back to work on Wednesday. Everything seemed to be going okay, until she called me on Thrusday afternoon to tell me that it was just too much for her. How my heart was broken, but I couldn't be mad. Honestly, Troy does need one on one attention right now. THANKFULLY and by the GRACE OF GOD, my sister does not have a job and is now Troy's full time nanny! She is also there to get Dean off to school in the morning and waiting for him when he gets off the bus in the afternoon. God is so good!!

Anyhow, as my dearest hubby's post told you, Troy's activation went great! He is a trooper and I will get some pictures of him with his processor up as soon as possible!

The video my mom took is about 8 1/2 minutes and is much to big to be linked to here, so I am letting you know that if you click HERE, it will take you to the video on YouTube!

Thank you all for your prayers and we are excited to move forward from here!!

Troy is activated!!

2009-11-17T12:06:00.000-08:00

So, This is Thom.. I went on the Blog today and noticed that Shell has not been able to update everyone.. God bless her, she's at home today making sure that the daycare provider is up to speed on what she needs to know and making sure that Troy is as happy as he can be.

SHE IS A GREAT MOMMY!!

Ok, enough about my awesome wife..

Troy was activated and we were all excited. His Nana and Aunt Coco was able to make it to the hospital to help with video, pictures and general keeping up with Troy. It was as I expected.. THERE WAS NO MAJOR REACTION.. not in a bad way of course.. we knew he may do it but his cracker was much more interesting to him than the new noises in his head.. That is until the audiologist kicked the processor up a notch.. Level 2... He looked at me, then at Shelley and buried his head into his Mommy's lap with a little bit of crying. We were saddened and happy that we knew he was getting something.. but we moved back to level 1 for the rest of the day.

As anyone that has been through this can attest to it is a fun battle to keep it on his head. Thank goodness for aviator caps.. they are the best thing ever.

I am sure Shell will get on here, realize I beat her to the punch, change her password, and then post pictures and the link to the Youtube video. We were not able to load it here or on Facebook due to the size of the video clip of the actual activation..

Thank you all for keeping up with our family.. God bless you all....

"King"? Thom

4 days until ACTIVATION!!

2009-11-12T07:55:00.001-08:00

That's right...Monday, November 16th at 1:00 TROY GETS ACTIVATED!!!

I AM THRILLED!!!!!!!!!

24 Days until activation!

2009-10-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

I just scheduled Troy's activation with the hospital:

Monday, November 16th at 1:00 pm!!!!

I can't WAIT!!!

~*~*~24 days and counting~*~*~

Surgery is OVER - Picture Update

2009-10-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

The cochlear implant (left side) surgery is OVER!!! Sorry I did not update earlier, but I was a MESS. Here are the pictures of how it went. We go to get the stiches out in about 1 hour.

6:00 am on Tuesday, October 13. Troy was all smiles as he got to play with some bubbles. His mom, dad, Nana, Papa, Pummy and Grandma Kelley were all there.

Right after surgery. It may look like he's smiling, but he's just waking up and crying pretty hard. I was crying pretty hard too...

After 16 hours of not eating, he finally got some glucose water in the recovery room. And then the meds made him pass back out.

Waking up a few hours later in the hospital room, he got his first bites of good food. Some vanilla pudding and crackers (his favorite) were yummy. Too bad he threw it up all over mommy an hour later.

Aunt Coco came over from her job at the other part of the hospital. Troy really was happy to see her, but too tired to deal with company at this point.

Look at the doll Nana brought him. She even put a bandage around it's head so it could be like Troy! I love this picture - so innocent!

Even big brother Dean came up to visit that night. Troy was tired and getting sick of company, but was VERY happy to see his big brother.

He's always happy when his Nana holds him.

Much better now that I threw up again. Notice mommy's change of clothes?

It was night time and I decided I didn't want to go to sleep. I would much rather play in my metal hospital crib.

At 3:00 am I still didn't want to sleep, so nice Nurse Kim decided to take me out to the nurses' station so mommy and daddy could sleep for a while. If you notice the clock in the background (on the wall) says 3:00 am!!

Just as the doctor predicted, the next morning Troy was feeling MUCH better. He would wave out the window inbetween taking bites of Mommy's breakfast.

2 days after surgery mom and dad get to remove my "helmet". I am happy here because Mommy cut my chin strap off.

Showing off my new do. 18 stiches that daddy says "looks like a worm". The incision was much bigger than mommy and daddy thought it would be. They also shaved off more hair than they thought...I didn't have much to begin with!

Troy is 1!!

2009-09-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

Troy turned 1 at 8:07am this morning! Here are his 1 year old pictures! Enjoy!!!!

Surgery Freak Out

2009-09-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

WE GOT APPROVAL FOR TROY'S SURGERY! Yay us!

But since we have gotten approval, I have had 2 full blown anxiety attacks that he is going to die during the surgery.

Now, please don't give me a lecture. Anxiety attacks are not something I have asked for or want. These are something I have been having for about 4 years and they come and go, but now they are back in FULL FORCE. I am trying (with my therapist and medication) to get a handle on them, but they seem to be kicking my butt.

What am I anxious about? In the height of an attack, I am convinced that Troy will fall into the small percentage that will die during his surgery. I am convinced that something will go wrong and we will have to bury him and that I will not be able to live my life without him.

Right now I am fine, but during the attacks all reason goes out the window. Sunday was bad because I realized that his surgery was 1 month away. For some reason I thought we had longer. When I say "I thought we had longer" my mind says "he only had 1 month to live and you better enjoy him". During an attack I plan out what his funeral will be like. During an attack I am convinced that when (not if, WHEN) Troy dies I will become a crazy, bed ridden woman who has to give my other son away because I cannot handle being a mom at all.

During an attack I pray. I pray constantly. So please don't tell me that I need to give this to God. This is something I have been trying to give to God for 4 years, so telling me (yes, I've had this happen) that I am not giving this to God or trusting God enough is a slap in the face.

My therapist and I have made a plan of attack for the surgery. I will knock myself out with medication. I will sleep through the 2 1/2 hour surgery and hopefully wake up to good news.

I have 29 days left until his surgery. I know I will have many more attacks. I have medicine to knock me out when this happens, but if they happen during the day at work or at home, I cannot medicate. I am scared. I pray for help. I have weekly therapy appointments and might have to make them twice weekly now. I am scared that these next 29 days are leading up to his death.

Always, Sometimes, Never

2009-09-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

I always
*want chips and cheese
*know exactly how much is in my bank account
*give my sleeping kids extra kisses on their heads before I go to bed
*like to grocery shop
*wanted a big family
*talk to God
*am thankful for my husband

I sometimes
*leave dirty diapers on our bed after I change Troy in the morining
*go out to eat, even though I know we don't have enough money
*dream about high school, never the people - always the school work
*don't look at the weather and dress my kids totally inappropriately
*admit to my Facebook addiction - but not often
*watch bad reality tv shows

I never
*stop worrying about my family
*dust
*go anywhere without my purple calendar
*stop thinking "how does my hair look"
*let my family take the Lord's name in vain without a lecture
*want to regret my life

Lousy News!

2009-09-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a call from the audiologist at the E.N.T.'s office today...

Troy's information has been submitted to the insurance company, but only for 1 cochlear implant (left ear) instead of bilaterials. This is because the state of Michigan can only implant babies a 1 year if they are profoundly deaf.

Troy is severe-profoundly deaf in his right ear. This means he cannot hear anything unless it is 90 db or higher (standing right next to a jackhammer). Apparently he can get the cochlear implant on his right ear when he is 2.

Yes, this means he can still have bilateral implants, but at 2 different times. Two different surgeries, 2 recovery periods, twice as must anxiety for us...

Let's Catch Up! (Long post...sorry!)

2009-09-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

What's been going on with us in the few weeks that I haven't posted, you ask? Wait, you didn't ask? Oh well...

Thom (DAD)

On Friday, August 14th we found out that Thom would have to be going to California for 2 weeks. This made me sad because I would miss him terribly, but also because we had just paid $110 for my 10 year reunion and I didn't know if I could go without him by my side (not too many of those people were nice to be back then). Also, we had the boys baptism coming up (more on that later) and we had just had a deck built, but Thom was adding more to it - so he had to work on that. THANKFULLY, GE decided that he could fly home on the weekend between his two weeks in Cali! So sweet!

On his way to Cali he got laid over in a few different spots and lost luggage (eventually found 48 hours later) and a whole mess. Thankfully he made it there and home in 1 handsome piece!

Deck we had built
Deck Thom is building

Shelley (ME)

The last couple weeks have been hard without Thom around. I remember when I was a single mom to a 3 year old, but playing single mom to a 7 year old and a 11 month old is hard work!! Mostly it's just been day to day stuff. I went to my 10 year high school reunion. I was really hesitant to go, but ended up (after 7 glasses of wine) having a GREAT time! Other than that I am just working away and trying to get Dean ready for school starting next week. Besides getting 2 new decks built, we have descovered a hole in our wall, which we discovered is 2 10x10 foot sections of water damage - which thankfully the insurance will cover. But we also discovered why this water damage is happening - a bad roof. That's $4000 the insurance will not cover :(

After getting my hair done for the reunion

Daniella & Brady

Unfortunatley, Dani and Brady's mom has been uncooperative with allowing the kids come to visit us and working with Thom's schedule going back and forth to California. The last time we saw the kids was the first weekend in August. But we get them this weekend and we are taking all 4 kids for a surprise day trip!!!

Dean

Dean has had a great summer so far! I set up a reading program for him and whenever he hits so many pages, he gets to do something fun. So far he's read over 2000 pages! This is amazing considering that last year he had to be in a special reading program. He is getting ready for school and is going to be in 2nd grade this year with Mrs. Holmes. He is so excited! I am also really proud of him becuase he decided to get baptized this past Sunday. This was completely his choice and I didn't force him either way. At our last church they only did infant dedication, so he was dedicated when he was 2. But on Sunday he declared his love for the Lord and decided he wanted to live God's way. I was soooo proud!

Troy

A lot has happened for Troy! We are back down to only being able to feed him potatos, carrots, blueberries and pears because those are the only foods that he tested negative to being allergic to! But I have slowly added in shredded chicken and he doesn't seem to be allergic to that. Other than that, he STARTED TO WALK! We were so excited because he took his first steps only 5 minutes before daddy had to leave to fly to California!! Other than that he is doing great. We are still waiting on approval from the insurance company for his surgery. He was also baptized on Sunday. He looked so handsome in his suit! I can't believe he will turn 1 in less than 25 days!

Frusteration

2009-08-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Back to the hospital for more tests!

You thought we were done with our tests? SO DID WE!!

When we went in for our hearing aid test, the audiologist only tested with hearing aids. She never did a test without because she thought she had seen something in our file about having a test without. Well, we had so many tests in the beginning, I couldn't remember one from another, so I couldn't verify or deny.

So, while I think we are in the insurance process, we are actually still in the evaluation process.

SO MAD!!

About half way...

2009-08-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

On top of being deaf he has allergies - but not normal allegies...

2009-07-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we decided to get Troy allergy tested. That's right...any allergy test on a 10 month old! I couldn't stand it when Dean got his allergy test done at 6 years old, let alone a baby! However, the results of these tests turned out much different than I expected!

I am allergic to: dust, pollen, grass, leaves, trees, cat, dog, horse, bunny, hay, and mold. Let's just say that I am an environmental mess.

Dean (age 7) is allergic to: hay, corn husks, bunny, trees and dust

This means, I was CONVINCED that Troy would test positive for environmental factors. Whenever I wake up with dry, itchy eyes, his eyes are swollen. We got rid of our dog because whenever Troy would lay on the ground he would sneeze = allergic to dog, RIGHT?!?!

NOPE!!

TROY IS ALLERGIC TO:
MOLD, TOMATOES, PEAS, BANANAS, APPLES, & PEACHES!!

WHAT THE HECK!?!?!

That's right, my 10 month old son is very allergic to Mold & Tomatoes!! Who would have thunk? Apparently the peas, bananas, apples, & peaches are mild allergies that are causing his eczema and will more than likely go away with time. But it seems that mold and tomatoes will be around for a long time/lifetime.

Since Troy tested positive to Peas, this means that his is susceptible to anything in the "legume" family. Yup, we can not feed him any beans!

On top of all of this...the allergist informed me that he is susceptible to developing VERY severe food allergies to nuts and eggs! NUT ALLERGIES ARE INSANE!! So, to keep this from happening, he cannot eat eggs until the age of 2 and any nuts, shellfish or fish until the age of 3!

So, on top of our lives changing because he was deaf, we now have to deal with TOMATO allergies! No ketchup, pizza sauce, salsa, some bbq sauces, and spaghetti sauce (see the blog about the spaghetti I made him last week - OOPS! No wonder he ended up with a rash!)

That boy is a constant wonder!

Okay blog readers...I need your comments

2009-07-30T06:28:00.001-07:00

Hello? Hello out there! Does anybody read my blog?

I started this to keep my family and friends informed of Troy's progress.

I used to get comments on each one of my posts.
Now I get none.

Yes, I need affirmation.
Yes, I need kind words - heck...I need ANY words!

If you read but can't comment, let me know by emailing me at Shelleyrae33@gmail.com

If nobody reads, I'm not going to keep writing this thing...

Last of the evaluations, now the waiting game...

2009-07-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Thom, Troy and I were BACK at the hospital for Troy's hearing aid evaluation.

Everything went well, minus the part when I snapped at the audiologist (oops!). I really didn't mean to, but it's hard as hell to get that little boy to wear his hearing aids! I know she wants what's best for him, but I also know she has not had to sit by a screaming 10 month old in his highchair for hours on end just so he won't pull out the hearing aids he hates so much. So when she told me 5 hours a week wasn't enough my response was "Well, it might not be a lot to you, but it's tons to us!" My husband then gave me that look that said you're being a jerk again. Oops! It's just so frusterating!

Anyways...Troy tested with his hearing aids on. I don't think that the test was very conclusive considering we set in a sound-proof triangluar room and she talked into the speakers and looked to see if he would turn to them. Well...YES he will turn to them if everytime you talk in the speakers they light up and have a Spongebob toy spin!! So I'm frusterated as hell, but I know we are done with the evaluations now.

At this point our ENT collects all the paperwork and sends it over to the insurance for approval. It's a long and frusterating waiting game, but it has to be done!! If you could send some prayers our way...I would greatly appreciate it!

Sometimes you have to be resourceful...

2009-07-23T16:47:00.001-07:00

Troy's dinner the night of Thursday, July 23...

As Troy munched on an appetizer of veggies...
(side note: I found frozen cut up veggies at Save A Lot, just thaw out for 5-10 minutes and they are a perfect healthy snack for kids!)

I looked in my fridge to decide what to make him for dinner. I realized we didn't have much...

I decided to make some baby food from scratch. I boiled some water and added some spaghetti. Once I cooked it until it was super soft, I strained it, and put it in the food processor with some sauce and corn...

Instant Baby Food!!!!

End result...a kid who loves spaghetti!!!

Sienna's CI Surgery

2009-07-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

To my dear family and friends,

This is a story about little Sienna. I am posting this story for you because I want you to catch a glimps of what October 14th will be like for Troy and the Stambaugh family...

Please visit Sienna's story here: Sienna's CI Surgery.

Random Picture Update

2009-07-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Troy with his sign teacher, Mrs. Jane.

Troy enjoying the melon I put in his mesh eater.

Being goofy...what's new??

Troy decided that he want to eat the turtle's head

2009-07-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

NOT ME MONDAY!

A weekly forum to confess the things we would NEVER do (wink wink!):

I decided that since the doctor told me to start feeding Troy more finger food I would cut up some carrots into bite sized pieces and boil them until they could be easily mushed by his 3 baby teeth. Once on the stove I DID NOT completely forget they were there and went about my day as normal. 45 minutes later I DID NOT start to wonder what that burning smell was.

I DID NOT attempt to feed my child the burnt carrots...not once, but twice.

I have NOT decided that it is much easier to forgo all clothes on my 9 month old during the summer on the days I am home.

I DID NOT decide that since my 9 month old is doing so well on finger food, I would give him some of his brother's macaroni and cheese. No I am a better mom than this...I would never give my child dairy before 12 months.

4th of July (only 9 days late)

2009-07-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I admit, I am failing as a blogger. Heck, I don't even know if anybody reads these things anymore...but here goes another attempt.

4th of July in Ludington was great! We went up to see my dad's side of the family that we never get to spend time with (most of them had never met Troy before!)

Nana helping Troy wave to the parade.

Papa and Troy playing during the parade

Apparently the green cup was much more fun than watching the parade.

Dean, Brady and Daniella watching the parade (hoping for candy)

Nana and Troy

Waiting for the fireworks to start down at the marina...thankfully they put in a pretty cool playground that the kids played on.

Dean hanging out on the monkey bars

Dean and Brady waiting for the fireworks to start

Daniella loved the glowsticks all the aunts brought.

Troy and I watching the fireworks (yes...he stayed awake)

Watching Troy to see if he was watching the fireworks :)

Moving forward toward IMPLANTS!

2009-06-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

I just got off a pretty extensive phone call with the audiologist from the E.N.T. office. Now that we have confirmation that Troy has cochlea and they seem to be implantable, we can take these next few steps.

1) An evaluation with Troy's hearing aids with the audiologist at the hospital

2) A speech and language evaluation with the audiologist at the hospital (yes, I know this doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. These audiologists with be meeting with Troy once a month after his implant to work on speech, so they need a starting point).

3) Audiologists fax the ENT's office their results

4) ENT submits and gets approval from our insurance for BILATERAL implants. The audiologist said she has not had any problems getting approval for bilaterals from Priority Health (our insurance co).
~For those of you who don't know: bilateral implants are a HUGE deal. This is GREAT news and insurance companies in our area have just started to approve bilaterals in the last year! Troy will be the 2nd kid at his deaf school with bilaterals! This is a HUGE deal!~

5) If all of this can be done by late September we will have surgery OCTOBER 14, 2009!!!!

Please say your prayers that all of this goes as planned. These next few steps should go off without a problem. My biggest fear is the insurance company, but the audiologist saying that she's not had any problems reassures me.

Cochlear Implant Process (update)...

2009-06-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, two weeks ago Thom, Troy and I spent the day in the hospital for Troy's MRI and other tests. Yesterday we got GREAT NEWS...Troy's cochlea are normal and ready for implant in early October! YEAH SOUND!!

Here are some pictures from his testing:

The nurse getting Troy ready

Trying to get Troy's oxygen reading

Troy's hospital bracelet and some cream on his hand to numb it so they can look for veins.

Cut little toes trying to get a reading.

After 2 hours of trying to find veins on his hands and feet, the only one they could use was one in his head. It was VERY traumatic for both Troy and Mommy.

After the MRI, Troy sleeping in his hospital crib

Hospital audiologists running the BAER test.

Sensors on his head for the BAER test

Picture update...

2009-06-15T08:00:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's been a while since there has been a picture update.
So...here you go (sorry there are so many!)

Aunt Holly & Troy watching mom get dinner ready

Troy's first time in his swing!

Eating watermelon rind, his new favorite!!

More swinging!

Hanging out, being goofy!

Troy loves to get into Daddy's Wii controlers. Shhhh...don't tell Daddy!!

Hanging out in his indoor swing.

More watermelon rind

I made the mistake of giving him this big piece of watermelon. I didn't realize how much he could actually eat with 1 tooth! It was quickly taken away.

All the kids on the back deck, bummer Brady's eyes are closed!

Daniella being an awesome big sister!

Two of my boys being manly men!

Questions for my friends with deaf children...

2009-06-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

The other day I came across a boat-load (yes, a whole boat-load) of blogs of deaf children. Many of them have already had the cochlear implant process.

My question to these parents are: what type of CI (which company) did you choose for your child and why?

Troy's Test Day

2009-06-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your many thoughts and prayers during Troy's tests yesterday. We are doing much better today. Yesterday was rough for both Troy and I, Thom was able to handle it like a champ!

We arrived at the hospital at 9:00 am and went into the children's radiology unit. At this point Troy had not eaten for 10 1/2 hours and was a little fussy, but he's a very happy baby, so was able to do well. The nurse got us back right away and started putting numbing cream on the back of Troy's hands and inside his elbows for an IV. At about 10:00 am it was Troy's nap time and he started to fall asleep in my arms. The nurse told us she didn’t want him to sleep yet because he had to swallow some medicine to make him go to sleep (ironic?...just a little bit). We woke him back up and he was PISSED!!! At that point the nurses started trying to get the IV in. Yes, I said TRYING. It ended up taking 3 nurses 1 1/2 hours, and many, MANY pokes in the back of his arms and inside his elbows. Most of the time they were unable to find veins, and the few times they were able to his veins were so dehydrated (it had been 12+ hours without eating/drinking) his veins would collapse. Troy was SCREAMING this whole time and at some point during this I started to become very upset, especially when they noticed a good vein in his head and mentioned an IV would work there. I had to step out of the room and go watch "Finding Nemo" in the waiting room. After about 20 minutes they were able to get and IV in a vein above his right ear and I was able to return and rock Troy to sleep.

They rolled Troy away to his MRI and Thom and I were able to go visit our friend from work, Maria. On Memorial Day her husband and her were riding their motorcycles when an illegal immigrant pulled in front of her husband. He t-boned the car and ended up flying 30 feet in the air. At this point they think he is going to live, however they do not know what kind of mental capacity he will have. We were glad to be able to visit.

Upon returning to Troy's room, they were in the middle of the BAER test. This test measures activity of the brain as different level sounds are placed in his ear - it tells us the extent of his deafness. Yup…Troy's still deaf :). However, we were able to find out some good news. When they first did the test (when he was 4 weeks old) they thought they were able to see a 5th wave in Troy's right ear. We are not sure what exactly a 5th wave is, but it means that there is some level of activity in Troy's right ear when they test at a 90 decibels (we speak at 45 decibels, so 90 is REALLY loud). This is a GOOD thing because if there was no cochlea, then there wouldn't have been able to see a 5th wave at all. So, it seems that we have a "some-what" working cochlea at least on 1 side!!!

Troy eventually woke up and we were able to give him some apple juice which he gobbled right up. He then drank a whole bottle (what a pig!!)

We were able to leave the hospital at about 1:30. The rest of the day Troy slept on and off and was really wobbly. When he was awake he acted stoned.

While at the hospital Thom requested a copy of the MRI. When we got home he was able to look at the scans of Troy's head on the computer. It was really cool!! We were able to see his eyeballs, sinus cavities, top of his spine and other various things. During our 8 months of dealing with deafness, Thom and I have learned what a cochlea looks like and low and behold…we saw 2 beautiful cochlea in his MRI scan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, don't go getting too excited, because (this might surprise you) Thom and I aren't doctors and even though there are 2 cochlea there, they still might not be able to be implanted.

We are keeping our fingers crossed and saying lots of prayers. We should find out no later than 2 weeks if they cochlea are okay to implant!

Thanks again for thinking and praying for us! We will let you know what we find out!

Profound

2009-05-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, thanks to the internet, I have been able to run across other families with deaf children. Sometimes I feel the need to post their stories here as most of them are so much more well written than anything I could write.

Many of you have read the story of Little M. A beautiful girl from Cali who is profoundly deaf and has since gotten a cochlear implant. I follow her mom's blog and like to see how Little M is progressing.

Today, what Little M's mom brought tears to my eyes. She recounts the story of finding out Little M was deaf. This story would touch anybody who read it, however as a mother to deaf child, this opened the floodgate of emotions and memories. Her mother writes her story so beautifully that I would like to share it here.

Little M's Story

On June 2nd we make another attempt at finding out if Troy is a canidate for cochlear impants or not. If so, we can move forward and hopefully have his implants by late summer/early fall. If not, there is really no other alternatives. Our family will enroll in sign classes and we will move forward on step at a time.

I {heart} Faces!

2009-05-19T13:06:00.001-07:00

Every week, I {heart} Faces holds a photography contest.

There is no real prize except the glory and praise of knowing your picture won.

Last week's contest was "laughter" and I wanted to join, however I submitted my picture too late.

This week's I {heart} Faces photography contest is "My favorite face picture"

No, it's not your eyes. This picture is a tad bit out of focus, but I love it too much to get rid of it!

Diclaimer:

am submitting this photo into the http://www.iheartfaces.com/ Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Double Disclaimer:

No, I have not figured out how to make the little hearts - so, until I learn, I will use {heart} as my version!

Tarred and Feathered?

2009-05-13T15:18:00.001-07:00

Nope!

More like blueberried and rice-krispied

Dearest blog...

2009-05-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

Dearest blog,

No I have not forgotten you. Nor have I forgotten my readers. I am in a major blogging slump. With spring now here we have been super busy with different events and I have very little time to sit in front of my computer (except here at work).

I promise I will try my best to start updating you again.

Love always,
Shelley

Easter (sorry, it's a little late)

2009-04-27T15:28:00.001-07:00

Easter in Indiana

Ear Infections...that's right...PLURAL!

2009-04-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

Life is crazy here in the Stambaugh household...

A few weeks ago Dean started complaining about his ear hurting. He would say "it feels like I slept on it wrong." Nobody thought anything of it. We went to Great Wolf Lodge and had a great time. A few nights after we arrived home Dean started having something along the line of night terrors. For 2 nights in a row he woke up crying for several hours. It was one of the weirdest things I have gone through. On Thursday morning I took him to daycare for a day with Ms. Debi (Dean was on spring break). Not long after I got to work, Ms. Debi called to say that Dean wasn't feeling good and was complaining about his ears. I talked to him and he told me his ear hurt inside. Sure enough, a few hours later at the doctors office, we find out he has a double ear infection and a ruptured ear drum in his right ear. Dean is on medicine.

Troy is doing great. Monday of this week we went into his pediatricians office for his 6 month checkup. He is 19.6 lbs (75th percentile) and 29.5 inches (92nd percentile). Overall he was doing great. The next day Thom, Troy and I had the first of many cochlear implant discussions with his ENT. His ENT (great guy) told us that with my history of tubes if Troy has 2 ear infections before his surgery he will have to get tubes before his surgery. Within 5 minutes of getting that information he looked into Troy's left ear and what did he see?? AN EAR INFECTION!!!! UGH!! COME ON!!! This is a little ridiculous.

So, both boys are on Amoxocillian and doing much better.

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-04-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

For our yearly spring break trip, we took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge. It was by far one of the best vacations I have been on. Below are some of the pictures.

Our hotel room "KidCabin" The kids had their own room with a set of bunks for the boys and a single for Daniella. They even had their own TV.

After dinner, we needed a family shot.

The 700 gallon bucket in the waterpark that dumps every 5 minutes.

Great action shot by Thom.

The kids and I playing in one of the pools (sorry the coloring is so funny).

My sister came as our "nanny". This was her and Troy playing the water "squirters". He loved them!

Troy loved the water!

Troy playing with another of the "squirters"

Troy showing off his new swimsuit.

Brady pushing Thom down the lazy river. Brady liked to be the "motor".

Daniella and Dean enjoying the lazy river.

Brady on the lily-pads. Look at all those muscles!!

Dean on the lily-pads.

Daniella had a tough time on the lily-pads because she's so tall!

The kids posed for a shot in the "squirters"

Thom, Daniella and Dean in a water fight.

Dean climbing up the tree fort.

The infamous tree fort

The back of the tree fort.

Kitchen Creations - Dutch Babies

2009-04-07T09:49:00.001-07:00

I've decided that since I like to cook so much, I would start a new post called "Kitchen Creations". Unfortunately, I thought of this after we had baked and eaten our latest creation, but you can read about it below. Next time I will make sure to take pictures ;

-----------------------------------------------------------

Last night Dean and I thought it would be fun to try something new for dinner. If you know Dean, you know he has a crazy obsession with pancakes, waffles, and french toast (pretty much anything that involves syrup). So last night I jumped on line and looked for a variation of pancakes and low and behold, we came across Dutch Babies.

After completely burning my hand and thinking I would have to pack up the kids and drive myself to the ER, our Dutch Baby was created.

It is the oddest dish. It has the consistency of an omelet, but tastes like flour.

I didn't like it but once Dean put syrup on it, he loved it.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dutch-Babies-II/Detail.aspx

Picture Update

2009-04-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted some pictures in a while, so I thought I would catch you up. (By the way, starting in 2 weeks I will be taking a photography class. So hopefully there will be better quality pictures to come.)

St. Patty's day. Another great shirt from Aunt Holly!

Dean getting ready to race his car at his Pine Wood Derby. 3 sets of grandparents and both sets of parents came out to see him race!

Dean's car: green with lots of neon orange polka-dots

He came in 3rd slowest, but got a huge trophy!

What a great picture! All 4 kids together at the Pine Wood Derby race.

Troy getting ready for his first stroller ride without the car seat!

Me wearing my new MeeUP! baby carrier! I love it!

My heart breaks... (calling all prayer warriors)

2009-03-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I love my blog. I love the community it links me to. I love that friends and family can read about Daniella, Brady, Dean, Troy, Thom and I whenever they feel the need for a little "Stambaugh time".

But lately, blogs have been breaking my heart. On Friday, I ran across a blog in which the 8 month old baby boy, Sage, who died of SIDS. Not only did this cause me to sob like I had just lost my own child, but have two anxiety attacks (one of which I needed to be medicated). I have not been able to get this family out of my head since. On Sunday at church I lifted this family up to Christ our King once more and prayed for peace for the mother and father of this little boy. I am heart broken for this family. I will not add the link to this family's webpage as I do not want any of my readers to have to go through the same heart break from seeing these pictures.

I also have been reading another blog about a sick little boy. MckMama is a very famous blogger who has blog-named each of her kids after a McDonald's food (it sounds silly, but it's really cute). He youngest baby, little boy Stellan (aka McMuffin), was born with an enlarged heart. Stellan is only 5 months old and is having some serious health issues which has landed them in the hospital. Thankfully, due to the popularity of MckMama's blog, a lot of people are praying for little Stellan.

After reading these blogs, I have been having a hard time letting go of Troy. My heart is broken and my anxiety levels are at an all time high. For the past couple nights I have a hard time putting Troy to bed and kissing Dean as though something might happen. I know this is very unreasonable, however as a mother with high anxiety, unreasonable thoughts are all I have.

I am not writing this entry for pity. I am just asking you to life up Sage's family and Stellan's family and doctors. Please keep them in your prayers as they need all the prayers they can get right now.

6 Months

2009-03-28T14:01:00.001-07:00

6 months of sleepless nights
6 months of poopy diapers
6 months of spit up
6 months of doctor visits
6 months of day care bills
6 months of exhaustion

(his face is so red because he's sick)

6 months of smiles
6 months of giggles
6 months of soft baby skin
6 months of playtime
6 months of learning new things
6 months of loving siblings
6 months of tickles
6 months of pure joy

Shelleyology

2009-03-22T15:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, I love these dumb survey things....

***********FOODOLOGY******

What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Carrabas
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Pasta
What are your pizza toppings of choice? Ham, onions and extra cheese
What do you like to put on your toast? Butter (however, I don't like the texture of toast - so it's untoasted for me)

***********TECHNOLOGY***************
How many televisions are in your house? 4
What color is your cell phone? Pink
Do you have an Ipod? Yup

***************BIOLOGY******************
Are you right-handed or left-handed? right
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? A baby :)
What is the last heavy item you lifted? Suitcase
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? In 7th grade with a basketball that was punted across the gym. Hit me square on the top of the head and I passed out.

************BULLCRAPOLOGY**************
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? NO!
If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Sorry, not something I ever thought about. Probably something cool like "Supreme Master of the Universe"
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for 1000 dollars? Hell yeah!

************DUMBOLOGY******************
How many pairs of flip flops do you own? 3 or 4
Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Sorry, don't remember.
Last person you talked to? Dean
Last person you hugged? Troy

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************
Season? Summer - it stays light late, baseball games, playing outside
Holiday? Christmas
Day of the week? Saturday
Month? December

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************
Missing someone? I want my hubby to come back from dropping of his kids
Mood? Dandy
What are you listening to? Cartoons in the other room
Watching? Words pop up on my computer monitor as I type
Worrying about? Family

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************
First place you went this morning? To get the rental car
What's the last movie you saw? I don't remember the name but something crazy my dad picked out
Do you smile often? More often lately than I have in years past
Sleeping Alone Tonight? Nope :)

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************
Do you always answer your phone? No
Its four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? A wrong number. No one I know is up that late.
If you could change your eye color what would it be? A beautiful, bright green. No more of this gross hazel crap
What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? Sorry, there are no Sonics up here. And since I've lived in the same 10 mile radius my whole live, I wouldn't know. But I do find it irritating that they advertise them on our local tv networks.
Do you own a digital camera? A few
Have you ever had a pet fish? Yup, my ex and I had 2 oscars, mine was Bob Dole and his was Jimmy Dean
Favorite Christmas song(s)? Oh I HATE Christmas songs!!! Don't EVEN get me started!!
What's on your wish list for your birthday? Something expensive
Does the future make you excited or nervous? excited
Can you do push ups? nope
Can you do a chin ups? absolutely not
Do you have any saved text? huh? Like on a phone... or like on a computer? What?
Ever been in a car wreck? No, but once my boyfriend rolled a car but we were fine
Do you have an accent? People in England think I do
What is the last song to make you cry? Don't know
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? oh yeah
Name 3 things you bought yesterday... Corn Starch, lemon, jelly
Have you ever been given roses? Yes, my hubby is WONDERFUL
Current worry? Job security
Current hate right now? economy
Met someone who changed your life? My husband
Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? Yep, I'm a long-termer
Do you have any tattoos/piercings? Yep.
Will you be in a relationship 4 months from now? Hope so, I'm married
Does anyone love you? snort. How stupid is this?
Do you like to cuddle? NO. I have a BUBBLE!
Have you held hands with anyone today? No
Who was the last person you took a picture of? Troy

Mama plays with the camera...

2009-03-20T17:43:00.001-07:00

Dean Speak Vol. 6

2009-03-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Dean: "Mom, when I grow up I want to have identical twins. But you won't be able to tell them apart, so I will take a permanent marker and put a number 1 on one of their foreheads and a number 2 on the other one's."

Mom: "Will you call them Thing 1 and Thing 2?"

Dean: "No Mom! I will call them Bob 1 and Bob 2!"

Mom: "Huh?"

The Sound of Sound

2009-03-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have made many friends in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing world already. One of my friends just went through the surgery part of a cochlear implant with her daughter, "Little M". Little M's mom found this article one day and posted it on her blog. I have copied it below because it is such an amazing article about what happens after the cochlear implant is implanted.

I hope you enjoy as much as I did...

The Sound of Sound
Written By Jennifer Rosner
What it's like to be a little girl with a cochlear implant. What it's like to be her mom.

For my 4-year-old daughter Juliet, hearing is optional. She was born profoundly deaf. Juliet has a cochlear implant, which brings her access to sound, so long as she wears her external processor — a behind-the-ear device that looks like a hearing aid with a small magnetic disk that attaches to the implant in her head. Throughout each preschool day, Juliet wears her processor, and with it she hears. And she talks. She hums. She sings. Juliet's language and music are wonders to behold. But when she arrives home from school exhausted, she often wants to take her processor off.

"I don't want my sound," she says, and she piles the mound of earmold, wire, and magnet into my open palm.

If a restaurant is too loud and Juliet is tired — yank — I have to rush to catch this several-thousand-dollar "ear" before she sets it down on a table smeared with ketchup or blue cheese dressing. Just as quickly, I race to settle Juliet into a comfortable position because, with the blessing of quiet and the shut of her eyes, she falls asleep in seconds. On weekend mornings, Juliet asks to wait before putting on her processor. She enjoys puttering around the house in silence, tuning us out, ignoring our demands. When she wants us, she just stands in place and yells (she has no idea how loudly) until we show ourselves in her visual field. Juliet signs, and we sign back, yet she often chooses not to reason with us when her sound is out. Sometimes she won't even look our way, disabling our speaking voices and our signing hands. To be sure, Juliet can be ornery with or without her sound. But without it, her face takes on so much expression that her glower can send us packing.

Juliet rips her processor off at the sight of the blender or the vacuum cleaner. She puts it back on when she spies a book I could read to her or a video she wants to watch. Like a baseball cap: off for the bath, on for the playdate, off to run through the sprinkler, then back on for the cupcakes. I wonder sometimes whether to encourage this. But why should she hear the babies crying at the pediatrician's office if she doesn't have to? Why not miss the jackhammer blast when the car is stuck in traffic? Juliet senses everything that's happening through vibrations anyway. Whether her sound is on or off, she knows when someone walks into the room, and she can read a face like a book. As she reminds me with a scowl when I repeat in sign what I've said aloud: "I know what you just said."

It's impossible for me to know what Juliet's experiences are like, with sound or without it. When I first heard a simulation of how a voice sounds through a cochlear implant, I was horrified. It sounded like Darth Vader speaking through Demi Moore as she imitated the Wicked Witch of the West. "We're going to drill into her tiny skull for this?" I asked the Boston Children's Hospital cochlear implant team. Can I never expect her to hear the timbre of my voice, or to distinguish between voices? And what will her voice sound like? I was placated, ultimately, by the sight (and sound!) of other implanted children at the playground of a nearby school for the deaf.

Juliet's cochlear implant surgery took place on her first birthday, and it lasted five hours. A few weeks after, her sound was "turned on" — the external processor was programmed and activated. It was set at a low volume, so as not to scare her, and it came with extra settings that grew gradually louder.

We were warned that most implanted babies cry when they hear sound for the first time. I wrapped my arms around Juliet as the audiologist attached the processor — glop — and the external magnet glommed onto Juliet's head like a magnet onto a refrigerator. Instructing us to be quiet, the audiologist handed Juliet a drum and a stick. Juliet whacked the drum, then jumped back like a startled animal at the sound of the boom. She searched our faces with wide questioning eyes. She beat the drum again. And then Juliet thrust back her head and laughed.

For the next hour, she used the drumstick to beat other things: the audiologist's pant leg made almost no sound, the metal file cabinet made a loud clanging boom, the tone of the wood chair was different than the thicker wood table. Juliet had become a scientist, studying and experimenting with sound.

According to the audiologist, all sounds would come in as beeps and blips at first. It would be months before the neural pathways between Juliet's auditory nerve and her brain would be forged and able to translate the input into meaningful sound. That is, it would be months before "moo" could be distinguished from "quack" and pinned on its rightful farm speaker. And months before Juliet would turn at my calling of her name. In the meantime, we would put in a lot of "moos" and "quacks." We would point out and comment on nearly every sound that could be heard in our home: the sizzling of an egg in the skillet, the full rush then drip drip of water from the faucet, the stray cock-a-doodle-doo of a neighbor's rooster, the metallic scritch of a zipper running up a coat. "I hear it," I'd say, pointing to my ear, as the phone rang, or the heat kicked in.

The flop of a pancake. The shake of the milk bottle. The sound of the birds as we walked outside. The click of the car seat buckle before we drove. The clank of carts and the thunk of grapefruits as we shopped. Every sound: listened for, acknowledged, remarked upon.

Each morning, I'd put on Juliet's implant processor. I'd also stick a hearing aid into her nonimplanted ear. I was used to hearing aids. Juliet's older sister, Sophia, has a lesser hearing impairment, and hearing aids enable Sophia to hear and speak. Juliet objected to her aid, but I persisted. Set at its highest volume, it might give her access to new sounds.

Then, to keep things cheery, I'd chase her around the house. One snowy day in February, when Juliet was 1 1/2, we were running round and round. "I'm going to get you, Juliet," I yelled, offering her the lead, then trailing in the sea of squeals and laughter that floated in from the room ahead. At one point the tea kettle whistled and I broke the chase for a quick hearing lesson. I stood still in the kitchen until Juliet knocked into me, and as she caught her breath I pointed out the high-pitched whistle, thick steam shooting up at the kitchen cabinets. "I hear it," I said, pointing to my ears. Then I switched off the stove and resumed the chase.

Time out had to be called several times because Juliet's processor magnet slipped off, dragged down by the weight of her controller, which flapped in a pocket I had hastily sewn onto her T-shirt. Juliet took the time-outs like a puppy halted mid-nip to scratch an itch. Her hair came loose from her topknot. Her eyes sparkled. At one point, as I gained on her, sock-skating into the dining room, I called out, "Juliet!" and she turned her head to look at me.

I stopped in my tracks like Road Runner.

"Juliet?" I ventured again. By now she was smiling a huge smile — she had heard and recognized her name.

"Juliet," I choked, and I scooped her into my arms, "I got you, Juliet. I got you. I've gotten you."

Dinner Time!

2009-03-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I finally broke down and bought Troy a baby seat for the kitchen table. I decided it was time to start baby food and it was just too hard to feed him as he flopped around in his bouncy seat. It was so cute the first time, I left the camera on the table and just kept taking pics all week...

Our first dinner with Troy at the table with us!

Troy's first bite of baby food - applesauce!
Troy's reaction to his first bite of applesauce..."Hmmm, what is this stuff?"

Dean showing Troy how to properly eat carrots
Troy was not a big fan of the carrots. He proceeded to spit them out for the rest of the night. We have two burb rags and 1 baby outfit stained orange.

Troy not paying attention to his mommy as she tries to feed him. Oh no...the dog is WAY more interesting!

This is some GOOD stuff!

Meeup Baby Carrier

2009-03-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

I just ordered my Meeup Baby Carrier (I ordered Gossip Tree Sky).

I can't wait to get it and WEAR my baby boy!

I will take pictures when I get it and figure it out!
(the picture above is from the website - no I did not suddenly get really skinny and chop my hair off)

Happy baby wearing to all!

Picture Time

2009-03-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

After climbing on the back of our couch to the window behind him, Dean decided to jump onto the couch. The camera caught him in action.

Great pic of Troy!

Chewing on Mommy's knee

Cuddling with Daddy

Not so sure about what's going on

Chilling with Mommy while she checks her blog :)

Talking with Daddy

Nana thought Troy should ride Dean like a horse

Trying to sit up!

Almost there!

Got weighed again today....

2009-03-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

Losing Weight

2009-03-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

Anonymous Comments

2009-03-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Melissa for giving me this idea (I had no idea this could be done).

Today, I decide to enable anonymous comments on our blog. I realized that we have some family members who enjoy reading about our lives here, but are unable to say hello because of the way we had things set up. Now, instead of feeling like you are "looking in through our windows" (by the way, this is how I want you to feel - just not in the peeping Tom way), you can click on the comments button below and tell us how much you love us and miss us! :)

Little M's Surgery

2009-02-26T10:31:00.001-08:00

I've made a friend! Woo-hoo!

Okay, maybe saying I've made a friend is going a little too far - but I HAVE connected to a new blog. GoodbutHard is a blog about 2 young parents who have a profoundly deaf (like Troy) daughter. Their daughter, Little M, just had cochlear implant surgery.

If you want to see what Troy will be going through in about 6 months, click on the "GoodbutHard" above and you can see Little M's progress.

God bless, Little M! We pray that your recovery is quick and painless. We pray that you get some sleep and let your mom and dad do the same ;) And most of all...we pray that you are soon blessed with SOUND!

Picture Updates

2009-02-25T16:28:00.001-08:00

One of Dean and my favorite things to do is play Big Chef/Little Chef. We had just finished making peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips in them and Dean is finishing them off with melted chocolate chips. (Let's just say I didn't follow my Weight Watcher too well that night!)
Yup! Today, Wednesday, Feb 25th Troy is 5 months! What a big boy! No really...I mean what a BIG boy!
Dad came home from work and decided that Troy looked like some sort of a super hero with his aviator cap and his bib on backwards. Leave it to Daddy to be so silly!

Mommy found Dean's old Johnny Jump-Up! I really like it - except sometime I get stuck (see below for example)

Mom, I'm not sure, but I think I'm doing this wrong...

Tearless Tuesday

2009-02-24T11:55:00.001-08:00

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give Thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Another Tuesday, another day to truly be thankful for each and every one of our days. Our thanks to Blogbaby for creating this blog carnival that celebrates Tuesday Fiona Whitt's life - by choosing to be thankful in all circumstances.

My Husband - My husband is wonderful, and I can't say this enough. This weekend we went to a marriage retreat (second time for us) and even though most guys would complain about having to do this, he was willing and even excited! As days turn into weeks and we get busy with everyday life, I tend to forget the great gift God has given me in Thom. I have never met a more perfect match for myself. He is great in all things I am lacking and vice-versa. He is compassionate, kind, brave, strong, loving, fair and thoughtful. I am nothing with out him.

My Parents - My parents are beyond great! I feel this way always, however after leaving Troy with them for a good portion of this weekend, I am reminded how truly great they are. They are wonderful parents and even better grandparents. I cannot thank them enough to just open their arms and hearts to my children and step-children. They are kind beyond words. Plus, they must have some sort of 'saint-hood' in them to put up with my crap for 28 years!

My Children - Each one of my children is a special blessing. I continue to get to know Daniella and Brady each time we get to see them, and I love the young adults they are growing up to be. Dean is one of my two greatest accomplishments in this world and I am reminded everyday of what a gift I have through him. Troy is amazing and in the 5 months he has been on this earth has made me laugh every day. I cannot get enough of my children.

Weight Watchers Update

2009-02-24T06:07:00.000-08:00

Drum roll please....

Down 15.8 lbs! WOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!!

Only 4.2 lbs left to go until my pre-pregnancy weight!

Pretty sure those 4.2 lbs will take a few weeks (hopefully only 2). Thom and I went to a marriage conference (Weekend to Remember) and we ate out a lot. Oh well...I would take a nice date with my soul mate over losing weight any day!

I must also give mad props to both my sister, Courtney and BGFF, Holly who have lost 5% of their body weight! You go girls!

Deaf Village

2009-02-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

I just found this AMAZING new website called Deaf Village! I am thrilled because I can find other bloggers who have deaf children. Woo-hoo...go internet!!!

BTW...Troy is 5 months tomorrow! I want to CRY!

Updates

2009-02-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. I've been neglecting my blog. For all you avid blog readers, I apologize. Here are some photos of our life over the past week...

Daddy and Troy chilling in the recliner

Dean's new mohawk. Mommy made the mistake of telling him he could get "whatever he wanted"

Yup, that's my lip...Troy's new favorite place to hold while breastfeeding

Troy's new aviator cap. It keeps him from pulling out his hearing aids.

My New Friend the Frog

2009-02-16T12:06:00.001-08:00

Meet Frog, he's my new buddy!

Don't worry, he's not going anywhere

Looking at myself in the mirror

Who's that cute man I see?

I got him Mom!!

2009-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

Yup...it's time for another Not Me! Mondays
(Do I sound like a game show host? Becuase I do in my head).

I did not decided to buy a slightly used 2008 Chrysler Town and Country because it was red. Noooo...I would have much more sense than to buy a brand new car because of it's color.

I would NOT let my seven year old go to Snip Its! and let him get "whatever he wants". I would definitely NOT let him get a mokawk and then proceed to laugh the entire time. I would not let the said seven year old continue to wear this mohawk without shaving it off.

While bowling at a church event this weekend, I would not tell my husband that I would be dammed if my 9 year old daughter got a better score than me and then secretly celebrate when I beat her by 4 points. I would NEVER be so selfish and caddy. Noooo...not me!

I would never feel jealous of both The Meyer Chronicles and Our Family Circus 's cute little headers with pictures of their kids. No, I would never be jealous and then declare my jealousy on my blog when they are my only two dedicated readers! ;)

I would never decide that we wouldn't go to church on a Sunday morning just because we didn't feel like it. Noooo...we are much better Christians that that!

I would never sit here and do this at work on a Monday morning instead of doing my job. Nooo...I am a much more dedicated worker than that.

MY version

2009-02-05T05:01:00.000-08:00

I liked this post from "4 Little Men and Girly Twins" and decided to copy it and make my alterations. Brittany's (from 4 L.M.&G.T) is in black. MY revisions are in YELLOW

my bathrooms sparkle, except after boys use it

MY bathroom sparkles, except when the kids use it or when I'm running late and my hairdryer falls to the floor and stays there for days with everyone walking over it

I make a nutritious meal every night, except when we eat out

I make a nutritious meal every night, except when we eat out or I am too exhausted by the stress of my job to cook right, or my 4 month old needs to eat - in which case I throw the first frozen meal I can in the oven...yum nutritious

my children are not loud, except when they raise their voices

MY children are not loud, except when they are trying to talk over each other, or (in the case of my 7 year old) cannot control the volume of their voice

the dishes are always clean, except when we use them

MY dishes are always clean, except when the dishwasher is full with clean dishes and I would rather pile them up by the side of the sink then take 5 minutes to unload the dishwasher and put the dirty ones in

my children don't eat sugar, except when we have treats

MY children don't eat sugar, except when we have treats or I give into their whining and let them have those disgusting baby bottle pops or one of the grandparents decides to spoil them and I think it would be too much of an argument to explain why they can't have the candy, so I just give in

we always use cloth diapers, except when we use disposables

All I can say here is cloth diapers - YEAH RIGHT!

my children cloths always match, except when they don't

MY children always match, except when they have tried for several times to find an outfit that matches and I finally give in because they just don't get it. OR when daddy dresses them ;)

my children always go to bed on time, except when they stay up late

MY children always go to bed on time, except for when I'm busy doing something and they ask to fall asleep on the couch and I'm just enough of a push over that I let them.

I never say anything wrong, except when I misspeak

I never say anything wrong, except when my emotions get the best of me and I lose control of my mouth

I am never stressed, except when I have too much to do

I am never stressed, except when I'm awake

I am put together everyday, except when I don't take a shower

I am put together everyday, except when I have to stay up all night with a teething 4 month old and when 5:30 am rolls around I decide that putting on make up is just too much of a hassle

my hair looks perfect, except when I have a bad hair day

MY hair looks perfect everyday, except when my baby spits up in it

my windows are clean, except when little fingers touch them

CLEAN WINDOWS???

I always finish my to-do list each day, except when I don't get it done

I always finish my to-do list each day, except when I don't, in which I just turn the page and make my to do list for the next day and repeat the same item. I continue doing this until I realize that the item I originally wanted to just just won't get done and then I will drop it off my to do list all together.

Wordless Wednesdays

2009-02-04T17:23:00.001-08:00

Dean Speak Vol. 5

2009-02-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

As we are leaving the Meijer parking lot...

Mom: "Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. You look like a monkey, you smell like a pig."

Dean: "Home again, home again, jiggity-boo. You look creepy and smell like poo."

Dean thought this was so funny he proceeded to crack up the entire 5 minutes home.

25 Random Things

2009-01-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

25 Random Things
This has been directly copied and pasted from my facebook page. Thought you all might enjoy it too!Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

Yes, I already did this on Facebook, but I'm a huge dork and love doing these kind of things so I'm going to it again and make it different this time.

1. As does Melissa, I love Lost. The wierd part is that I didn't even watch it for the first two seasons until Thom and I were bored one winter and decided to catch up on the first two seasons before the third season started. I waited all year for it to come back last week and guess what? I FELL ASLEEP! Then I missed last night's episode. I don't sound like that much of a huge fan, do I?

2. Since I have requested to start playing on my hubby's pool league on Wednesday nights, I asked Thom if we could get a DVR so we could watch Lost. Of course, it's coming today and not yesteday, so this weekend I have to watch last week and this week's episode on the computer.

3. My all time favorite T.V. series is Gilmore Girls. Lorelai is hilariously witty. When Thom and I found out I was pregnant, we decided we wanted to name the baby Lorelai if it was a girl. Then I decided that no matter how much I love the show, I just COULDN'T name my baby that. Alas, we had another boy.

4. I love, and I mean LOVE, to balance my checking account. I look at Lake Michigan's website several times a day to see if anything has changed. Yup, I know you're thinking it, so I'm just going to say it...DORK!!

5. I am trying to lose weight (baby weight from baby 1 & 2). I'm down 10.2 lbs in 4 weeks. When watching the Biggest Loser 10.2 lbs in 4 weeks seems pretty low, but then I remember I'm lazy and don't work out - so it's pretty good :)

6. My biggest fear is driving off a bridge and being submerged in water with my two kids in the van and not being able to get them out.

7. Lately I am growing increasingly concerned that I will get cancer at some point in my life. This is not a totally unreasonable concern based on my family's history.

8. I get frusterated easy. If you know me, then you know this to be true. I also cry easy and get mad easily. In general, I have very strong feelings about everything.

9. My 4 month old son is 100% deaf.

10. Yesterday my 4 month old got hearing aids and hates them. The first time I tried to put them in I cried (refer back to # 8).

11. I would like to think that my children eat healthy. Unfortunately, I give into their sweet tooth much more than I probably should and it's causing them to have bad eating habits.

12. Since I've started Weight Watchers I have been increasingly judging of what other people eat. I really don't mean to, but in some sick, twisted portion of my brain I think that if I start eating healthy, everyone should. I am not saying this makes sense, it's just the facts.

13. Any day now I get to start working from home on Monday and Wednesdays. My work finally gave me approval to get a laptop and work from home on these days so I could participate in Troy's deaf schooling.

14. I go to Ada Bible Church. However, after 6 long years, the church is starting to loose it's appeal. It's just to big, too far away and we don't really know anybody. This is very hard after growing up in a church where you know everyone. Somebody mentioned Crossroads the other day so Thom and I might check that out.

15. When I was young I used to have a deer collection. I don't know what got me started on this, but I think I got up to 30 at one point.

16. I love my family. Yes, I love my husband and kids, but I am talking my parents and siblings. I understand that everyone (well, mostly everyone) loves their family, but I mean I NEED my family. I cannot go for longer than a few days to see them. Some of my favorite times are when we are all together. My Mom is my all time best friend. I can't go longer than a few days without talking to her or I feel like something is wrong with the world. My dad and I are growing closer and I now find him hilarious (which is kind of scary because I used to find his jokes lame), my brothers are fun to be around and my sister and I have a lot in common and are starting to get along better.

17. I have my heart set on having 2 more children.

18. I know it sounds stupid but one of my goals in life is to be able to live in a house that I pick. The last two houses I've lived in have been owned by my parents and have been provided because of circumstances. I must admit that I am very lucky to have this "problem", some day I would like to pick a house because I like it.

19. I have a fear of choking on cough drops. They just seem the perfect size and slipperyness (pretty sure that's not a word) to go down a throat.

20. In High School I let two girls pierce my belly button with a safety pin. I am not sure if it was sterilized or not, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. They couldn't get the pin out to get a earing in, so they left the safety pin in. It got infected soon after...imagine that :)

21. I talk to my kids about drugs and smoking all the time.

22. I like TV. I like it a little too much.

23. It secretly makes me happy to see people gain weight after having a baby. I know it's incredibly bitchy, but it makes me feel like I'm not the only one.

24. It really makes me sad when I don't think anyone is reading my blog. Seriously, it's only a blog and I shouldn't let it get me down like that, but really it does make me sad.

25. It has offically taken me 2 hours and 47 minutes to finish this - I think it might be some kind of record :)

Momma's 2 boys

2009-01-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Troy's teacher showed my how to sign SAM SHEEP CAN'T SLEEP for the boys. So one night before bed the boys cuddled up and let me sign it to them TWICE!! But they were so cute together I had to get some pictures first.

First feedings

2009-01-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

This week we started Troy on rice cereal. He loves it...

Both boys at dinner

(don't ask me how I got both of them to look at the camera at the same time)

Rice goes in the mouth...and then hands go in the mouth

So yummy I want to spit it back up just to taste it again!

First bites

Weekly Wrap

2009-01-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

Sunday
Woke up in the morning (not planning on going to church because neither Troy or I felt good) and called the doctor (after calling my mom to see if I should call the doctor). The nurse who called me back listened to Troy over the phone and told me to take him in to the emergency room. Once there we found out little man has RSV and was soon admitted due to low oxygen levels. The rest of the day was spent sitting around the hospital taking care of little man.
Monday
After a lovely nights stay in GR's best pediatric hospital, we woke up with sore necks not looking forward to the not-so-lovely hospital food. Since little man didn't sleep that well through the night we were all tired. Thankfully about 11:00 our pediatrician came in and said that we could take little man home. We were finally discharged about 12:30 and home by 1. Thom when into work while Troy and I snuggled.
Tuesday
I stayed home with little man in the morning and got Dean ready for school. Since Troy still couldn't go to daycare I watched him until daddy got home about 11:30 and I went into work. That night Thom cooked us some Cornish game hens and we had a nice dinner. Then I snuggled with my boys some more and we all went to bed early.
Wednesday
Since I am now working from home on Wednesdays so little man's teacher can come over and work with us, I got to sleep in until 7!! At which point I had to wake up and get Dean ready for school. Once he was ready and down to the bus I got little man and I ready for him to go get his hearing aids fitted. We went to his school and met with the audiologist. While there Troy decided he needed to work on the biggest poop of the week. Eventually we got his neon blue hearing aids fitted and were able to go home so he could eat before teacher Jane came over. Of course, the hearing aid outing threw little man off his schedule, so he slept the whole time Jane was over, which ended up working out okay because Jane taught me how to sign one of the kids' favorite books "Sam Sheep Can't Sleep". After she left I was able to do a few hours of work before I had to go and get Dean. The three of us then proceeded to Meijer to do some Weight Watchers conscious shopping. Of course, little man decided that he needed to start hating his car seat at that point and screamed bloody murder the entire 1 1/2 hours we were there. (Several times during that trip I actually considered leaving the entire shopping cart full of groceries and grabbing the kids and just leaving.) We eventually got home and I was able to sign "Sam Sheep Can't Sleep" to the boys twice before they went to bed.
Thursday
About once a week, little man decides he needs to wake up for a feeding at 5:30. By the time I am done feeding him it's too late for me to back to sleep so I start getting ready for the day. Of course by the time we get to daycare and I can actually get to work a little early, little man starts to, once again, scream bloody murder. It's at this point I have to sit with him to try and get him calmed down because I could never leave one of my kids to just cry. So I end up getting to work late. After work/school, Dean goes over to his dad's, Thom goes to teach, and I meet with a lady at Dean's school as I am the newest hospitality coordinator for Orchard View. Then little man and I come home and fall asleep early in the recliner.
Friday
So far so good...

Home from our visit to the hospital

2009-01-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

Yup, you know it's cold and flu season when your child has the dreaded RSV. Not only does my child have RSV, he has Broncholitis. Not only does my child have RSV and Broncholitis, his oxygen levels were so low they decided they wanted to admit us to the hospital OVERNIGHT (UGH!!!) During our not so lovely 27 hour stay at Butterworth's childrens hospital Troy was on oxygen and constantly monitored. Finally they had him off oxygen long enough to be convinced he could go home. Thankfully we are home (Thom went into work) and Troy is finally resting comfortably. Without trying to be too morbid, I decided to take some picutres of my little boy's experience (yes, I keep a camera in the diaper bag).

Trying to get some sleep with this stupid oxygen tube on my nose.

In the metal crib with Daddy watching over me.

Mommy having fun taking pictures.

My oxygen sensor on my foot that kept setting off the alarms because I can't stop kicking my feet :)

Me feeling much better without the oxygen tube in my nose

Troy - Thom Look A-Likes

2009-01-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

During Christmas in Indiana we put Troy next to a picture of Thom when he was that age. Look at the incredible resemblance!

Father-Son Cake Bake

2009-01-10T13:40:00.001-08:00

On Monday night Thom and Dean had the Father/Son Cake Bake for Boy Scouts (girls were aloud absolutely no imput or help). There were 5 catagories that you could enter: tallest, most girlie, transportation theme, boy scout theme, and best overall. Everything used to make the cake had to be 100% edible. Amazingly, Thom and Dean won Best Overall out of 25 cakes!!! Below are some of the pictures of their cake and some of the other winning cakes:

The end product, a "campsite" theme. The water is blue jello with gummy fish. The rocks are seafoam covered in chocolate. The logs and bench are the pirouette cookies. The tent is a chocolate cake. Everything is covered in coconut to make it look like a winter scene.

Checking everything out.

Best Overall!

Tallest winner (look at it compared to the people standing behind it)

Best transportation theme! Can you believe this?!?! The wheels were oreos and it was filled with cinnamon sugar to look like sand. It was AMAZING!

Weekly Wrap

2009-01-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

I got this idea from another blogger and liked it! So here's my first attempt.

Sunday

After church Thom and Dean worked all day on their father/son cakebake for boy scouts (yes, I still have to post pictures. I was going to post them last night when we realized that the camera had been left on and the battery was dead). The best part about the cakebake was that they had to do all cleanup.

Monday

After school and work we have Boy Scouts. Normally only Thom and Dean would go, but I really wanted to see the other cakes. Thom and Dean ended up winning "best overall" out of 25 cakes. I was soooooooo proud of my boys.

Tuesday

Dinner with Nana & Papa. Uncle Ryan cooked pork tenderloin. It was yummy.

Wednesday

Troy started school. His teacher, Jane, came over for the first time and worked on some sign language with Troy and I. About noon I dropped Troy off at daycare and headed to work. I had to stay at work late so Thom picked up Troy from Ms. Debi's and Dean from his first day at his afterschool science club (which he loved!) We spent the night cleaning.

Thursday

Early morning, up with Troy at 5:30. He has his first cold and is hacking/coughing all morning. I got to make some omelets for Thom and I before work which was nice. Dean had a two hour delay, so I could take my time getting the boys to daycare without fear of missing the bus. Work was hectic and I had to stay late again. I stopped by Meijer after work to get some salad fixings and Thom and I worked together in the kitchen to make us a healthy dinner (it was kind of romantic). Thom didn't go to school because he was sick, so he spent the rest of the evening laying around trying to heal.

Friday

So far so good. I had my first Weight Watchers weigh in and am down 6 pounds. Thom is going to get Daniella and Brady after work.

The cough goes on...

2009-01-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Dean had a cough...

Dean gave his cough to Troy.

Troy has a cough...

Troy gave his cough to Daddy.

Daddy has a cough...

YUP!! That's right! I'm the only one left (out us who normally reside there)!!! I'm just biding my time.

CELEBRATION TIME!!

2009-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share with my thousands and thousands of readers our good news...

I just got approval to work from home 2 days a week to assist Troy in his schooling! GOD IS SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!

Children vs. a clean house

2009-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

My grandma always told me that you either have children or you have nice things. I found this to be true, however I've come to find out that you either have children or you have a clean house. Obviously, I've taken the children route, so my house is TRASHED. When I say trashed I mean...

unfolded, clean sheets sitting in an unfolded wad on our dining room table (in the mean time we are sleeping on flannel, polar bear sheets that hardly fit our bed)
stuffed animal stuffing is littered across my boys' bedroom floor because I haven't found the time to get a vacuum upstairs
2 seperate piles of unfolded, unmatched socks, one in the bedroom, one on the dining room table (of course we now have no matched socks - so this morning while getting ready for work I had to dump out the laundry basket full of socks in my bedroom to hopefully match up two of them)
8 unwashed wine glasses from new years eve. Of course everything else can go in the dishwasher, but noooooooooooo not these. So of course they are going to sit there next to the sink until I find the time and desire to wash them by hand.
1 tub overflowing with clothes that no longer fit my 7 year old. Of course I haven't found the time to go through them to decide which ones are going to Goodwill and which ones go down to the basement. So instead, the tub just sits in the den.
1 inch thick dust on some of the picture frames. Of course I noticed this dust for the first time this morning as I was standing in the hallway blow-drying my hair (because, OF COURSE, the stupid fuse blew again)
No pillow cases on our pillows, becuase they are sitting in the same pile of unfolded sheets on our dining room table (do you see a trend with the dining room table here??)

So...I've decided that I either need to sell my children on the black market, hire a maid, or just DEAL WITH IT!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-04T12:11:00.001-08:00

I realize that I am a little behind in positng pictures, so it's time to catch up...

The kids decorating the tree

Christmas morning, Thom reading the story of the first Christmas from the bible.

Thom's new Wii

My new iPod Touch

The kids opening various gifts

All 4 kids at Nana & Papa's house Christmas morning.

Troy in his new Bumbo

Troy's first Colts outfit

Daddy is sooooooooo proud!

Kids waiting to open gifts at Paumee & Papaw's

the day after Christmas in Indiana

Troy and Uncle Ryan

Dean Speak Vol. 4

2009-01-02T07:00:00.001-08:00

Santa and his reindeer ate the cookies and apples left for them on Christmas Eve. When the kids woke up, they found a cookie left with a bite in it.

Dean: "Thom look! Santa left a bite! We should sell it on the internet!!!"

Dean Speak Vol. 3

2009-01-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

Dean: "Mom, I'm hungry."

Mom: "Hi, Hungry, I'm Mom. Nice to meet you."

Dean: "Mom, I HATE it when you do that!!

Picture Updates

2008-12-21T16:49:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted pictures in a while, so here are some new ones...

My yellow outfit with a stupid yellow hat that wouldn't stay on.

Thanksgiving 2008 at Nana and Papa's

Thank you Aunt Holly for the awesome

"gobble till you wobble" shirt!

So handsome

Dani, Brady, and Troy with Mr. and Mrs. Clause

(unfortunately Dean was at his dad's)

Sitting with Santa

R.I.P. Grandpa Warren

2008-12-21T16:12:00.001-08:00

As many of you know, Thom's Grandfather passed away on December 2nd. Unfortunately, my Grandfather passed away yesterday morning at about 2:00 am. We are all very saddened by this news, but not surprised. His last couple weeks go like this:

When Thom, Dean, Troy and I got home from Indiana on Sunday, December 7th, we called my parents to let them know that we were home and they could be done babysitting our dog. When I got a hold of my mom on her cell phone she told me that her and her sister (my grandparents only children) had taken my Grandpa to the hospital because he had been hallucinating. Apparently, the week before that his leg had begin to hurt and they had taken him to see his doctor. The nice doctor prescribed some medicine but my grandpa was not eating or drinking, just taking the pills. Apparently, the hallucinations started because of dehydration.

While in the hospital, they found that my grandpa was filled with stage 4 cancer (the worst stage) in his lungs, liver and bones. We were all VERY surprised by this information because this was the FIRST time any of us had heard this. My grandpa had to stay in the hospital a few days and once his fluids were back up to a respectable level, he was released home with hospice.

When he got home, hospice brought a hospital bed and all the necessary items. My grandma, mom and aunt all hired an additional nurse organization to come and assist my grandma with grandpa whenever he needed to get out of the bed to use the bathroom or anything else. These couple days were hard on everybody because the nurse couldn't be there all the time so my mom and aunt were taking turns staying with them. My mom even spent the night in her old bedroom for the first time since she moved out to go to college.

Within a few short days time my grandpa had deteriorated so rapidly that he could no longer get out of bed, eat and was awake only for short periods of time. Unfortunately my grandma became a total wreck. The family decided to move him to Kent Community Extended Care facility. Grandpa was moved to the hospital on Monday during the day. Both my mom and aunt stopped going into work so they could sit by his bedside at all times. My grandma was brought to the hospital periodically, but it was hard on her since she can't drive in the snow. Tuesday afternoon, grandpa decided to say "goodnight" to everyone and went to sleep. This was the last time he was awake.

Tuesday night at 11:00 pm my mom and aunt both got calls from the hospital saying that my grandpa started having sleep apnea and wasn't breathing normally. They decided to get ready and go in about 1:30. Eventually his breathing evened out, but my mom and aunt were at his bedside for 16 hours that day with no sleep. From that point on, my mom, dad and aunt took shifts as bedside. The hospice nurse could tell that his breathing was becoming more and more labored.

Yesterday morning we received a phone call from my dad that my grandpa had passed away at 2:00 am Saturday morning.

We are all very surprised that he hung on as long as we did. We appreciated the care and dedication of the hospital and all the great nurses (including hospice).

My grandma is doing okay at this point. She has been amazingly strong but has had her moments. The visitation will be tomorrow night (Monday, December 22) and funeral at my parent's church on Tuesday, December 23.

Curious...

2008-12-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

Do I have ANY readers to this blog?

I like doing it, but I mostly do it so other people can keep up on our lives. If you read this and don't comment, that's fine, however I like to know that someone is actually reading it.

God bless you today!

Not Me! Monday (despite the fact that it's Wednesday)

2008-12-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

My friend has a friend (do we sound like we are in highschool yet?) who does "Not Me! Mondays". A chance to be brutally honest about the things we would never do as a mothers/wives/women
(yeah right...)

I would never be lying in a hotel bed with my newborn next to me and then forget he was there. Not only would I never forget he was there, I would never tell my other son that he could lay next to me and motion to the bed next to me and accidently hit my newborn in the head. No, I would never do this...not me!

I would never pick my new born up to give him a kiss and drastically underestimate the distance between us until his forehead smashes into the bridge of my nose. Not only would I never do this, I would also never then be in so much pain I would actually drop him the 6 inches to the pillow as I gasp in pain. No, I would never do this...not me!

I would never let my 7 year old stay up until 9:45 on a school night so he can decorate a cake drawing to try and win a free piece of cake. No, I would never let my child stay up that late for something so stupid...not me!

I would never lie to my husband and tell him it's his turn to wake up in the middle of the night (even though Troy slept through my turn) just so I could get some sleep. No, I would never be selfish like that...not me!

I would never forget to buckle my newborn's carseat and drive the 2.3 miles to my parent's house. I would never be so careless...not me!

New Troy Photos

2008-11-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

Hanging out with Daddy
I'm already 2 months

Cool new hat that Mommy bought me for winter

(it makes me look old)

Dean Speak Vol. 2

2008-11-26T05:28:00.001-08:00

Dean: "Mom, do you think the letter "G" is gross?"

WHAT?!?

2 Months!

2008-11-25T18:31:00.000-08:00

Troy is 2 months today! I can't believe that time has flown by so fast. This week has been an interesting adventure so far. Yesterday I started back to work and Troy started daycare. Dean doesn't have school this week so he's been at daycare these couple days too. Yesterday when I dropped him off it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be - I think I was yearning for adult interaction. However, when I called in the afternoon I found that he had been having a hard day, which made the rest of my day much worse. Then today I was more reluctant to drop him off and called and checked in with Ms. Debi (our daycare lady) a few hours later. Luckily he was having a much better day today.

Next week we have an appointment with the school we are looking to send Troy to. If we choose to send him to this one a teacher will come out to the house one day a week and work with Troy and I.

Other than that Dean, Troy and I went to Chuck E. Cheese tonight for my friend's son's 2nd birthday party. Let's just say one parent taking two young children to Chuck E. Cheese is CRAZY! As Holly describes it...it makes your ovaries want to shrivel up and drop out!

10 Things We Have Learned About Troy

2008-11-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

10 THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT TROY IN THE PAST 8 WEEKS...

10. He is cold ALL the time! You have to keep the kid bundled in an undershirt, outfit and a warm blanket does his little lip stop shivering.

9. He can't wear socks. This really doesn't help with the whole cold thing listed in #10. But there is something about the size / shape of his little tootsies that prevents him from keeping socks on.

8. He has to sleep on something soft. It's against what the SIDS people tell you, but he has to sleep with blankets and pillows.

7. He does this creepy thing with his eyes when he sleeps. He doesn't quite shut them all the way, but his eyes still roll back into his head. All you can end up seeing is the white of his eyes...creepy!

6. He LOVES to be held. They say that at this age you can't really spoil them by holding them too much, but this has proven to be FALSE. This kid will only fall asleep if he is being held, if he wakes up and isn't held he won't go back to sleep. Yes, I completely blame this on myself, but GEESH!

5. This kid is NOISY. Along with his age, this is one of the many reasons you cannot tell that he is deaf. He makes noises all the time. Half the time you don't even think that he is asleep because of all the crazy noises that he is making.

4. He LOVES to eat. He actually loves to eat a little too much. If he wakes up and you are not feeding him within 30 seconds, it is an all out, bloody murder type of scream. Actually, it's kind of ridiculous.

3. He gets the most terrible hiccups. All the time. I don't mean once or twice a week, I mean 3-4 times a day. They shake his whole body when he gets them, and you just feel terrible for the little guy.

2. He is a stinky little farter. The worst part is that he farts ALL THE TIME. Ask anyone who has held him, he feels like a little vibrating doll. The one time I took him to my mom's school to visit her classes, he farted in some girl's face. It was funny, but really embarrassing at the same time.

1. This kid is perfect. We love him so much and know that God meant him for us. We don't care that he is deaf or has to be held or even farts constantly. We love this kid.

Dean Speak Vol. 1

2008-11-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

Mom: "Dean, now that you have gotten so much birthday money what are you going to do with it?"

Dean: "Buy my own sofa."

How do you test a baby for deafness?

2008-11-10T08:39:00.001-08:00

I've had several people ask me how we already know that Troy is deaf. Most people, as I did before this whole ordeal, assume that you learn that a child is deaf around 2-3 years old when they are not talking. According to some research my mom and I did, only 20% of hospitals test newborns for deafness, so it's not uncommon for people to find out their child is deaf by not speaking at 2-3 years old.

In the hopsital they run a test that looks at the neural response to sounds. There are sensors put on his head and little earplugs in his ears. The earplugs then do a series of clicks and beeps. The sensors can record which sounds his brain responds to. Unfortunatly, Troy did not respond to any.

Troy had that test ran on him twice in the hospital and once a few weeks after. About 4 weeks after he was born the hospital did a diagnostic test (a similar test to above) that told us that he cannot hear up to and probably past 90 decibles. We could have tested him at 120 decibles, which is the volume of a jet engine, however we felt it was kind of unnecessary.

I added a picture!

2008-11-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

I figured out how to add a picture! Go MSU!

Meet the Stambaughs

2008-11-08T15:51:00.001-08:00

I have offically started this blog because our youngest son Troy was born over a month ago and is deaf. We have many family and friends who want constant updates on him, the other children, and how we are handling the situation. I thought instead of answering multiple phone calls (not saying that I don't LOVE talking to each one of you) that I could update this every so often instead.

Many people ask about how we found out about Troy's deafness so early. According to some research my mom and I did, 20% of hospitals in America check a baby's hearing at time of birth. We just happen to be blessed enough that we were in one that did. The second night at the hospital Troy was brought back in the room from the nursery with a purple card in his bassinet saying he failed a hearing test in both ears. I must admit that I was pretty upset that no one told us, instead they just stuck a card in his bassinet. It was also hard to handle because it was 2:00 am. We talked to some doctors and nurses and they said it's not uncommon for babies to fail the test in the hospital and pass just fine in the weeks to come. Two weeks after being released from the hospital we repeated the test and Troy failed MISERABLY! He was supposed to get 160/160 and he got 7/160 in his left ear and 16/160 in his right ear. This was the hardest day of them all so far. We made an appointment to meet with an audiologist 2 weeks from that date to do a diagnostic test. On October 22nd, we met with an audiologist and found that Troy has what is called Profound Hearing Loss because of nerve damage. His hearing will never get better, however we found out that Kent County is the best county to live in if you have a child with hearing loss. This is because of their great schools and doctors.

We have since meet with the doctors office that will be doing Troy's cochlear implant when he's 1 year old. Apparently, in the state of Michigan you have to use hearing aids for 6 months before you are a canidate for cochlear implant. More than likely the hearing aids will not help, due to the fact that they amplify hearing and Troy has no hearing to amplify - however it has to be done.

Currently we are preparing to meet with Kenoshea (not sure if I spelled that right). Kenoshea is the special needs program here in GR that will assist us for Troy's first 10 - 20 years of life. They will help us set Troy up in a school for the deaf. I am also in the process of teaching Thom and the other 3 kids to sign. I have taken a sign language class in college and have learned various other signs while growing up in the church.

Other than that our family is doing great. We are having a birthday party for Dean tomorrow at Craig's Cruisers to celebrate his 7th birthday!! I can't believe it. Dani and Brady are moving schools again thanks to their mom, however they seem excited. Thom is doing great but very, very busy. He has to go to Chicago several times in the past couple weeks and has to go back this week for most of week and some of next week.

Hope all is good with you readers! God bless you all as He has blessed me.