Friday, December 28, 2007

Happy 10th Anniversary To Us

December 27, 1997





And this is not exactly 10 years later but close enough.

I couldn't find a family picture of us more recent but you get the idea. Usually, one of us has the camera so its hard to get everyone.

I think we've improved a bit in 10 years. Well, maybe a lot. Looking over our wedding photos I'm amazed someone didn't say "stop,you can't get married. You're just kids." We were discussing last night over a romantic dinner-Costco pizza and some Italian wine which we ate standing in the kitchen so we could talk- the kids were at the table and having a lively conversation of their own. Sorry for the long sentence but I'm just going to leave it.

Anyway, we were discussing how we liked getting married when we were relatively young ( 20 and 22), because it gave us a lot of time to have an influence on the other as we were changing. I think I have the changed the most in my life in the last 10 years and I am really glad Shane was around to have an influence on me. It is nice having so much history together already. A third of my life right now. It has been a very eventful 10 years. Can't wait to see what the next 10 brings.

More Christmas Pictures

Pippin tries out his new drill on Papa, and everything else he can reach. The boys playing. Cameron started it when he pegged Shane with a snowball and then ran inside- just as we were getting in the car to leave. So, of course Shane got some snow and hunted Cameron down. so then they had to take it outside. Nothing like a rousing wrestling match in freezing snow and mud to round out Christmas Day.


Shane helping Cyril and Leon with Cyril's circuit board kit. He's really enjoyed it and the other night I went to check on the kids and Audrey and Cyril were still creating things- at 12:30 am. I guess its a hit.
audrey reading Pippin's new George books while Pippin draws on Kateri's sketch pad.

Christmas Pictures

It started to snow just as we were sitting down a late breakfast it didn't accumulate too much but the flakes were huge and it was very cozy just to watch them come down. Of course all the kids wanted to run outside and play.
Christma Morning, not the best shot but the others turnid out kind of blurry. I was trying Shane's new camera.
Breakfast at the Wheeler's with the famous breakfast dish and orange rolls.
Here is one of the blurry ones. It still has a warm feel to it though.
Kateri and Pippin go head to head at Battleship.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Shane's Home from San Blas



This is Shane, not sure exactly where.

He actually came home on the 16th but we've been busy catching up and getting ready for Christmas so I didn't get to post about his trip. He'd been in San Blas, Panama for 12 days and a couple days in Panama City too. He and his dad went on a trip aboard the Discovery, a ship co-owned by people who all like kiteboarding and adventuring and seeing lots of neat places. So this year Shane picked the San Blas leg of the journey and his dad got to go with him. He said it was a blast and he enjoyed it all- even his 5 mile down-winder in 10' swells across the open ocean from the Limon Cayes to the Coco Banderas Cayes.


They have sattelite internet so he got to write ocassionally to say he made it on another adventure or to rave about the fabulous dish Nico, the chef, made that night. I was a little worried about feeding him when he got home. The meals sounded, and looked, impressive. I might like to go for cooking classes. And the warm water.


He came home a day early as he did not want to spend another day in Panama City as he had planned. So instead he got to spend an extra day home with us.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Ring-Around-the- Rosy

Tirzah, Jack, andMatteas came for a visit the other day. It had been awhile since we'd gotten together and about and several teeth marks later we remembered why. The kids just and abundance of energy so Tirzah decided to help them direct it with a game of ring-around-the-rosy. Kateri and Jack finally figure out the hand holding thing.

Pippin had a hard time keeping up with his little feet so Tirzah rearranged things so she was in front of him and went slowly.
But finally it just got too much and they all collapsed and changed the game to lets bounce on Auntie Tirzah. I was glad I got to be the photographer. The kids can get pretty rough.
Matteas was shocked with all the commotion.

Monday, December 10, 2007

More fun

The kids decorated the gingerbread house yesterday. The big kids did the ends and the little ones did the roof. Cyprian was so careful placing his sweettarts along the lines of icing I made for him.We got an abundance of candy and not have a big box of leftovers. Maybe we'll decorate something else if we run out of projects.This side is Audreys. From across the kitchen I saw Pippin putting something large and orange in his mouth. I asked him what he was eating. He looked at me and said, "Cheese, mom". I thought it was great he preferred cheese to the bowl of candy in front of him. I think Kateri must have served him, although he can open the fridge himself.
I decided the make Cornish Game Hens for dinner. I thought the kids would think it was neat. And they did. Kateri was so thrilled she couldn't wait until hers was cooked to hold it. I was preparing them for roasting and I turned around and she was holding one. Before sanitizing her I took this picture. They are pretty tiny and cute. So is she.
I cut one in half for the little kids to share. Cyprian was not quite sure how to eat his so he stabbed the half and then took bites off.
Kateri told him,"NO, Pippin. Like this". And proceeded to rip off hunks of meat with her hands. Dinner turned out to be a messier enterprise than the gingerbread house. But they all liked it and ate alot so I was happy. The big kids enjoyed eating their own chicken and feeling like giants. I made an apricot-ginger glaze and they were pretty yummy.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Kids activities

Cyprian has been carrying around this cardboard box and he tells me he has puppies- with a french accent its more like poopies- but not in his diaper. The box is completely empty but he thinks its great fun. He carried it up the stairs and when he tripped he looked inside it and told me they were sad. Got hurt. He is so compassionate when it comes to imaginary animals. Not so much his sister. So, I got the kids flashlights for events like power outages and they have been going through the batteies using them for light sabers or anything else. THey like to play blackout and turn off all the lights and then run in circles around the house until they trip.
I tried to convince them to play hiding in the catacombs and being absolutely silent but Cyril pointed out that if you were found you'd get killed and then you'd go to heaven and that would be the best thing. So I just let them come up with their own games.
But yesterday Pippin and Kateri invented a new game we call the "Rodney King Christmas Special". They pull down my little Christmas tree and beat it with their flashlights. It has bells on it so it makes nice sounds as it is being bludgeoned. I love how creative they are.

Christmas Crafts


Kateri had to have her picture taken and had to be making this face. Not sure why.



I've been trying to think of fun things for the kids to do. My sister says her days go much better if there is some planned activity to give the day more structure- and incentive to get the mundane things done too. So I've tried to think of something new each day and so far it has been good. Yesterday we broke out the foam stickies from Grandma Trudy and had fun making North Pole winterscapes. I thought the penguins were particularly cute. Cyprian had fun chewing on them as well. We worked on them on and off all day and even this afternoon they were still making pictures. It's fun cleaning up all the backs to the stickers but it is so much better than paint or markers- which we did the other day. That project turned out well. THey had little wooden vehicles at Michael's for $.75 each so we painted airplanes and cars. The clean up was a little messier so we might wait a few days before we revisit that activity.


Today after breakfast we made Christmas cookies to freeze. It was a good sticky time with lots of pretty blue sprinkles. They didn't care so much for the actual cookies but the process was a hit. And Pippin had to have a pumpkin cookie too. I liked the blue stars and snowflakes.


Cyprian's latest saying is "You can coook." He got it from Ratatuille where the chef' tells people "anyone can cook" Cyprian's French accent it pretty funny. He then goes through the whole family Pippin, Papa, Mama etc saying each one can cook. So he especially likes it when he can help cook. Its pretty cute.


I just went to check on our little chef who was whipping up a culinary delight in the bathroom sink. Plug, fill, add one roll of toilet paper and stir with your toothbrush. And your sisters. In fact the more toothbrushes the better. I'll clean it up later. At least it was sink water.


Tomorrow St. Nicholas will hopefully bring a new activity, maybe some ornaments to color or something. And then I got little nativity sets for them to paint too and we might be really brave and get together with Tirzah and Jack and make that one a group activity. And once we clean up all the sugar from today we'll pull out the gingerbread house kit.


So our December crafts are off to a good start. And we have not gotten a tree yet either so there is another day.

Monday, December 3, 2007

December 1

Decmeber got off to a great start. It snowed most of the day and the kids were so excited to go out and play. Shane had already put up some lights, which always look prettier in the snow, and I had a few things up in the house so it felt very wintery-wonderland festive.
The kids had fun playing and sledding. I had a great time dressing and undressing freezing wet kids and trying to keep the door closed. I didn't remember those parts of snow from when I was a kid. Cyprian was not to be left out and followed the big kids whenever they went out. Regardless of clothing . I don't know how he stood it. I put on my jacket and carried him out for a little while and was very soon ready to come in and sit by the fire. It was windy too so it felt extra chilly. In the evening we tried to venture out for dinner at Tirzah and Aaron's- lured by mushroom-cognac soup and pomegranat salad and a roast. Yes, I am still sad we had to miss it. But half way there, cars were doing 720's, which was kind of strange to watch, and the snow was not slowing down so we decided to turn around and make the long journey home. Made even longer by a bus that got stuck on an incline and cars were going around it in both directions- on a two lane road.
Back home we made some warm treats and opened a bottle of wine and though we still missed the company- and dinner- had a nice evening watching the snow.
The next morning we were awakend to a fresh blanket of snow that by 3pm turned to rain and melted everything. Now there are power outages and flooding and Shane said attendance at work was down a bit. We are all up and running and will hopefully stay that way. We are supposed to get some wind today as well. I think I'll go get some flashlights today just in case. It is still raining so we are back to our typical December weather. I think I might have to make soup for dinner.

I'll upload the video of Pippin's strip show tonight. He thought he could fix being cold by shedding whatever article of clothing he thought was making him cold. Then he'd march off to the door to go play some more. It didn't stop until all he had was a diaper and shirt, which he still tried.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Thanksgiving

I started the thankful list in my head just now. Bleach, Lysol, and baking soda were at the top but only because they were the most recently used gifts. And because now I can walk into Cyril's room without being accosted. The boys decided to see if a toilet was really necessary or if they could spend a day without leaving the bedroom. They did pretty well and luckily only used plastic receptacles that could be bleached or thrown away. Oh, and I am thankful for washable crayons. Cyprian felt inspired by the public bathroom atmosphere and decided to grafitti al over the wall. I have not pictures of the above events. I was too busy scrubbing and trying to supress the gag reflex.
But on to better things, the kids had a great time with the cousins and the adults all got along nicely. ONe of my favorit highlights was m brother in law, Dave's, impersonation of Sean Connery in the role of Saurumon. Complete with facial expressions and all. Too bad we didn't get in on video. Something to put on the list of things to do for next year. I have more pictures but a lot turned out kind of fuzzy and I can't fit any more on this post anyway so I'll add some later.


The house felt so empty after everyone left on Sunday. The kids have been a little restless. I've been working on collecting Christmas projects and things for them to do. After one trip to Michaels- where we actually had to stop at Kohl's to buy Cyril some pants because his jeans all have holes and he won't wear those but only his cut-off shorts-I decided I had better find some things on-line instead. I did find some nativity people and maybe we'll paint a character a day. I want to get some ornaments they can help make too. I think they had some at Michael's but we did not make it that far. We did, however, find the little flying Santa candy stick with a propellor. I decided that was exactly what Pippin needed and he immediatly was quiet. And stayed entertained all through lunch at Red Robin. Considering it was just myself and the 4 kids and I got to eat my lunch, I was feeling it was $5 very well spent. Cyprian "Ah coookeen dinner a Papa" He was helping saute the apples and leeks for the dressing. And as you can tell by the look on his face, taking his kithen duties very seriously. He did see Ratatouille the night before.
Friday night the guys all went to see Beowolf in 3-D. Pippin thought the new glasses were pretty sweet.
Trudy brought her warming dishes and we set up a buffet. I think that is the way to go for keeping things warm for seconds and thirds. And they look so pretty too.

Cyprian, Kateri, and Elijah looking for Goldbug.


Friday, November 16, 2007

PIctures, finally

I finally found where the pictures mysteriously go when I load them onto Shane's computer. This was the dinner we had last night.

This is the picture of Cyril's patch job in his bedroom. Apparently, a laundry basket somehow smashed a crater half the size of a baseball in his wall. Two days later he told me it was all fixed.
"It was easy" he said. "All you need is paper and some glue".

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Beaujolais Nouveau

Today is the third Thursday of November, when they release the Beaujolais Nouveau for the year. Last year we had a fun time with the George Debouef we tried and I was hoping for a similar experience this year . Unfortuantely, we were both pretty disappointed. It was advertised as "fruity", which I guess was somewhat true just not necessarily desireable in this one. I told Shane it smelled like a banana popsicle and he looked skeptical. Then we tried it. It tasted like a watery banana popsicle. Luckily I had also gotten a Root 1, which is becoming our standard lately, so we quickly switched bottles. It was too bad. The 2006 really was a good time.

I had made a nice meal to go with it that turned out mostly better than our first wine. I made lamb shank with a mint-rosemary sauce ( it was from Costco) which turned out to not have too much mutton flavor-bad for Shane- but had some - bad for me. I'm not a huge fan of it but Shane has recollections of some tasty little lambs from his Ireland trips. I remember the lamb stew our neighbor from England used to make for us. I remember how the smell of the meat permeated the fridge. This one definitely smelled real but tasted a little beefy.

I also made a butternut squash soup. The last time we were at Girardi's I asked if the chef would give out the recipe for it. He came out later and told me how he made it. I didn't have heavy cream- it has half and half and heavy cream- so it wasn't as rich but was still good and once I add the cream I think we can be quite content staying home for a bowl. And a bottle of Root.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Does anyone want a kitten?

I know it hasn't been that long but unfortunately we have to give up our kitten. The kids are pretty sad but getting more used to the idea. I know it still won't be easy. We're hoping to find somebody soon and local and not have to put out ads. So if you, or anyone you know, wants a sweet little kitten complete with a bed/travel cage, litter box, some food and litter please let us know. She's had one set of shots and a flea/mites treatment and has been living in our garage. WE intended to transition her to outside eventually. She could make a cute Christmas present. Her pictures are in an October post.

Corrections-not many

So I got the real story from Shane. around the middle C range is her worst hearing. If you get up to a ferquency of 8000 Hz it gets to a normal level -about a 10 decibels less than her right ear , which is the closest they ever come. The worst being a difference of 65 decibels at 25o Hz. He wasn't sure exactly if it was the middle or inner ear that was worse. The doctor said they usually send a written report along with test results after an appointment so maybe that will have the details.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Follow-up on Kateri

Kateri finally had her appointment at Children's yesterday. To make a long story really short, compared to the day, the hearing tests showed about the same results as the first one- only a little worse. The next step is to try and find out why. Her inner hearing is better than her outer -or maybe it was middle- but you can't really bypass the outer. Anyway my brain is pretty mushy but I did have the presence of mind to ask for a copy of the test. They said in her right ear her hearing at a pitch about middle C on up- or was it down- is pretty bad. as is my memory right now. Until you you get to a really high pitch. So they ordered some more tests- a CT and an EKG. Apparently there is some strange connection with heart issues and hearing loss. Shane and his mom both have irregular heart rythms so Dr. Sei thought we should check it out. I was impressed with the people there- not so much with the wait time-and their system seems very well organized. We will schedule the tests for 3-4 months out as she should have a hearing evaluation again- and routinely every four months or so for a while- so we will do them all in one day. And pack a lunch this time.

They gave her pictures to color and stickers and she was completely in her element. She loves the attention and is very co-operative. Plus she was there with just mom and dad so it was special. ON the way home we stopped at Varlamo's for pizza. As did most of Laurelhurst. I finally overheard someone commenting that Monday was 1/2 price calzones. So be warned if you stop in on a Monday. We waited it out and finally got home around 8:00. We'd been gone since 2:30 so it was a long day. And I am still tired. Sorry for the not terribly informative post. I'll talk to Shane and get the real story of what happened and post any corrections later.

Friday, November 2, 2007

All Souls Day




And I found some pictures. But I can't load pictures from today so I'll have to wait.
There are so many occasions to post but I'll just try one at a time. These are from our neighborhood costume party. I decided to forego the the kimono and sari as it was really cold. So I donned my snowboarding attire- for the first time- and I was very, very cozy all night. Maybe this year I'll try it out for real in the snow.
Shane went as Anakin and the girls as fairies. Cyril was Robin Hood. It was a fun party. I think we are going to skip November and just do a Christmas one in December. I offered to have it at our house as it is very kid friendly and it will be too cold to have much of it outside. And we could set up the garage for extra space too. We had talked about doing a progressive dinner but being cold and dragging all the kids around could be not as much fun as just staying put and staying warm.
Today was All Souls Day - the day we remember and pray for all the departed. It was especially personal as the anniversary of my brother's death is in three days. We had wanted to get all the family together on the 5th but it wasn't working out so we - or as many of us as could-got together at Holyrood where Bishop Tyson was saying mass. He actually said the funeral mass for my brother too. It was good to be there together. I did fine until I tried to sing. I decided I'd better not.
Afterwards they had coffee and cookies so I let the kids grab one for the walk to the burial sites. Kateri was munching on her cookie and I asked her if it was tasty. She said,
"Yes, that was very nice of God."
"What was nice of God?" I asked.
"To give me this cookie" she answered.
The hunt for the burial sites was a little funny. We tried to locate my younger brother Aidan's in the children's section but couldn't find the marker. So we trekked down to the familiar area where we stood last November, to locate Karoly's. The stone will be done and set next week so we looked for the small marker. Without much luck. So after much wandering we gauged the distance from the road and a monument and tried to find the most likely unmarked grave. And possibly gave roses to a stranger. I'm sure Karoly wouldn't mind.
Then we came back to our house to do the obvious- eat. We had a great feast and could have fed a lot more. But it ended up being a long day and we never had to stop to cook.
We thought the day had been emotional enough but the big event came later in the day when we tried to check on the boys ( Cyril, Liam-8- Colin-5) who had been digging at the edge of the woods for over an hour. And they weren't there. We searched the house hoping they had come back in unnoticed. They hadn't. My sister and I hiked down a ways calling them and got no answer. We started screaming for them and still nothing. I called Shane and he left work right away. Then I called the police. The ravine is pretty steep in places and I was having trouble finding a path or the way I had just come. And you can't see houses when you are back there. The gulley runs at least a mile long and somewhere we knew there was a stream. And who knows what else. I came across a couple teen age boys who had not seen the kids but said they would look for them. I wasn't sure if that made me feel better or worse.
Mrs. Sauvage called her mom for prayers and I petitioned faithful St. Anthony. Poor Shane was stuck in traffic and had had to stop for gas. All the while refraining from running people off hte road and envisioning searching with flashlights all night. My sister got in her car to try some other access areas and finally she heard some voices. It was so echoey I could hear them up the street so I don't know how far they had to have been to not hear us. I ran to the back yard and into the woods calling to give them some direction and finally saw them down below. They slowly made their way up. Cyril had gotten scared and was crying. Which I think taught him better than anything else to obey the rule of not going into woods without Papa. They had found the stream- being boys, peed in it. Cyril's hands were so numb he couldn't get his jeans snapped. And of course, being boys, none of them had coats on so they were all freezing. I called Shane- and the police-and now am pretty much emotionally spent.
Shane went to play poker at Aaron's house. I think after getting the kids in bed I'll take a nice hot bath. And thank God all my children are here and safe. And not much else matters.
May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Still not sure where the pictures are...More Cyrilisims

Shane showed me where the pictures were and they were somewhere on the J drive but I looked yesterday and I could only find old pictures. I am such a ludite. Poor Shane. I don't know what I would do without him.

Anyway, the other day Cyril and I were making hashbrowns and he was having a deep thought moment so we had a discussion. He was complaining about having to wait so long to get married and have his own family and it just seemed like forever- never mind that he usually ends up sleeping on our floor at night- until he could have kids. And a job.

"Because when you're a grown up you can go to work- then you don't have to be annoyed. Like Kateri. She can be really annoying sometimes."

Hmmmm.


The other day we were discussing what he might want to do when he grows up. I said he seemed to have a gift for talking. Incessantly. He said he could go to meetings. Because all they do is talk.
Shane had taken him to work one day and he got pretty bored sitting through some meetings. I'm not sure that is his calling. I'm not sure what it is either.

Shane and I have been watching Doctor Who episodes lately. I saw some old ones when I was young and they freaked me out. I wasn't sure about the new doctor but I got to like him. Then we hit the next season and he changed. But I like this one too. NOw his sidekick just got switched. I'm not sure I'll like the next girl. It's fun seeing them. I really like the humour. And the new ones have more character developmont than the ones from the 60s or 70s- whenever they came out.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Not so great pictures-not so tasty dinner

So, my computer bit the dust and Shane had to get me a new hard drive or mother board or whatever- which he did. And he was able to recover a bit from the old one- luckily the only thing I was too worried about were pictures. He got most of them but they are not on my computer yet so I am using his today but he put the pictures somewhere new and I can't find them. I am sure he will laugh when he reads this. I've searched high and low and the only thing I could find was this aerial shot of Jetty Island where he goes kiteboarding. He's working on a website for it so there it is. It just seemed boring without a picture of some sort.



Things here are going pretty well. The kids and I have little colds but nothing too bad. We had really nice weather yesterday. It was sunny andvery warm. It felt nice to be outside. But today is rainy and cold and right now it is getting misty. It is very cozy and makes me want to start a project and drink tea. Or read a book. Actually, I just started reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand on Sunday. I was talking to Shane about Ayn Rand the other day as there was an article about teh 50th anniversary of Atlas shrugged in the Journal and I was saying I thought she was too cold and utilitarian and eventually he had to ask if I had actually read any of her books and I had to say no. He thought Fountainhead was a good one to start with so I am reading it. Its long so we'll see how I do. I prefer articles because I can get through on in a cup of coffee.



The kids are still enjoying "Precious" as they are now calling the kitten. I'm not sure when they'll settle on one for good.





I am bummed I can't get to my pictures because I took one of a dinner I made last week and it ended up being a funny story. At least I was amused.

I was going to be working at the Museum of Flight for a wine tasting event and thought I'd make a nice big lunch -it was a 9x12- so Shane could just pop it in the oven and have leftovers for dinner. I had a recipe for chicken and artichokes with a sherry-cream sauce that I have had at Shane's mom's and it is tasty. I decided to pour it all over a bed of wild rice mixed with quinoa and some other tasty things and he could just heat it up all at once. I got it all done and in the fridge with instructions for heating and felt very good about him being taken care of while I was gone.



I called on my way home to see how everythin was going and Shane told me about the dinner. He did as the instructions said and dished up bowls for everyone. Of course they moaned and froaned about the foreign looking food but he told them they had to eat it all and then they could all watch a movie. Then he took a bite. He said he was really glad he had not dished up too much for himself, as he would have to eat it all too. He said it was so bad they finally negotiated down to one bite of chicken and then they could order pizza. I was glad he did because I was really hungry when I got home. I tried the chicken first and it was definitely a little off. I did use marinated artichokes but rinsed them really well- I thought. But I undercooked the rice medly a bit so instead of a nice chewy texture it was more of a gummy hardness. It sounds better -or worse-with the picture but oh well. Later.



The wine tasting turned out to be one of the better events. It was actually a party for Providence but they were advertising a winery - MaryHill- in Eastern WA who donated all the wine. It got good reviews from everyone - esecially the Syrah. I didn't try it myself but I am curious to now.



It was a nice group of people and they had a live band so it was more entertaining than some parties. They had a wedding reception on the top floor last month that was really pretty and fun and had a great view of the sunset. So that was lively. But this was nice too. An older gentleman and I found common ground in that we both liked to read a particular article in the Sat/Sun edition of the Wall Street Jurnal. Which was handy becdause it gave us something to talk about while I tried to wrestle the Boston shaker for his Manhattan. The shaker won this time. Oh, and I got to donate my pour spouts to the Hilton when and the other bartender didn't realize I had brought my own spouts- because they never have enough- and threw away all the bottle tops. At least they weren't the expensive ones. But that was all. And Shane had leftover pizza for me when I got home. And I bought myself a new pair of Josef Seibel shoes. My old ones were really worn but still so comfy so I broke down and ordered a new pair.


So next posting I should have pictures to put. On Sunday we are having a neighborhood costume party and I'll remember to get pictures. I didn't at our get together last month, which was really fun again. But we are moving it indoors this time to our next door neighbors garage so we'll see how all the kids do. Shane is going as Anakin Skywalker because Trudy had made a really nice costume for Cameron a couple years back. I am not sure what I'll go as. Either Madam Butterfly- because she also had a kimono- or Princess Jasmine because Shane brought me a silk sari from India. I think the kimono would be more comfortable. Trudy also brought over wings for the girls and is making a Robin Hood suit for Cyril. So if you need a costume call Trudy. I did.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Kateri

Just to catch everone up on Kateri's ear appointments I thought I'd post some info here. I just went today to pick up the records from her first test so I can take them to her appointment at Children's Hospital next month. So I got to read the doctor's notes as well. They should just give you a copy as a standard practice. Then you wouldn't have to go back and drag four kids with you to sign a form that gives permission to realease the records to yourself. I would have just faxed it but the machine is out of ink.

Anyway, I took her in last month after expressing some concerns with her speech with our regular doctor. I asked for a referral to have her hearing tested so DR. Josh gave me a name to call. The Otolaryngologist- that would be a great Scrabble word-wrote in her report that Kateri was a pleasant, well-developed, well-nourished, alert, oriented, and conversant 4 year old. I was very releived. She also asked if I'd taken her in for speech evaluation at the local school district. I'm not sure why I find that so irritating but I did.

Then they did the hearing test and discovered she has mixed hearing loss in her right ear. Her speech reception threshold level for her left ear was 10- which is normal- and her right ear was 40, which puts her in the moderate hearing loss range. They called it mixed hearing loss. I am not sure exactly what that means. That it is mechanical as well as something else that I forgot. So they referred her to Children's. She got tired of the tests- it was 2 hrs long-so hopefully they won't have to repeat all of it at Children's. I don't know how it translates to what/how she actually hears. I have to say I felt a little vindicated when reviewing the test with the doctor. She mentioned they may want to prescribe a hearing aid for that ear.

It has made me mor conscious of how I talk to Kateri. I was whispering to her in Liturgy to do something and then realized I kept talking into her right ear. Not that that is the reason for all the delays to do as she is asked but it could be a contributing factor. I'll update after her next appointment on Nov 12th.



Kateri thought it would be funny to wear Pippin's PJ's . So I put hers on him. They thought it was pretty funny.
Sometimes I wondered if it was just hard to hear through all that hair.

Last night she was telling Shane how she wants to go to Hatteras again and to go to the "hairport" to go on a "hairplane". I think her head could be a "hairport."