HLAA Hear I Come!

I was so excited to learn last week that I was awarded a scholarship to attend the upcoming HLAA convention in Nashville this June. What a great opportunity to not only attend some really cool workshops and symposiums (the symposium on Hair Cell Regeneration looks fascinating!), but to also FINALLY meet many of the folks in the D/HOH community that I've connected with online over the past 2 years. I'm also really looking forward to actually attending a convention in lieu of planning one. Before becoming the C.O.O. and lead SLP in my family, I worked full time as a meeting planner, organizing large conventions like this one. I'm sure I'll have the urge to do room checks and plot signage while onsite. Once a Meeting Planner, always a meeting planner :)

I hope to connect with other parents of CI kiddos--please let me know if you'll be there!

Why is it that vacations always go by so fast?

Hang in there, this is going to be a long one...

Christian and I just returned from our little vacation in Michigan. We had SUCH a wonderful time visiting my family and friends, and Christian LOVED hanging out with his Nana and Papa for a week straight! Before I get to the recap of the visit, Christian had yet another LANGUAGE EXPLOSION in Detroit. Check out his new words:

-Thank you (which he very nicely accompanies with the sign)
-Poo Poo (How convenient)
-Meow (Thanks to Nana)
-Cookie (Thanks to Papa)

He also wowed everyone with his rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It". He has become quite the dancing machine, bopping around to whatever music he hears, and pointing to his CI when he hears it. Again, can I just say how AMAZED I am of this technology and my little boy? It's nice to see the long hours of hard work and therapy that I've been putting in pay off so well.

Just before we left, I was really concerned about the trip out to Detroit. I'm happy to report that both legs of our trip went fine. Traveling by yourself with a toddler is a challenge to begin with. I thought for sure that the CI and gear that accompanies it would make it even harder. In all honesty, it was fine. I did chose to have Christian hand-wanded through security, which actually was easier for us than going through the metal detectors. When your hand wanded, you have a TSA officer who gets all of your stuff off the belt and even sets up your stroller, locks it, and helps you get your kid in it. I am all for having all the help I can get! I packed our extra processor in my carry-on in a FoodSaver bag inside of a sunglass case (because the cases Cochlear gave us are SO SKINNY!). I had them hand-wand that as well. It was a no biggie.

Once on the plane, I set up our CARES harness, and it worked like a charm. Christian did fine in it, and I was so relieved to not have to take the carseat on the plane. On our return trip, Christian EVEN FELL ASLEEP in it, with his CI on...while holding the barf bag. Nice.


Soon after Christian was born, my parents converted my old room into Christian's room. They bought him a crib, bedding, and even decorated it with firetrucks and puppy dogs. Their basement bistro bar was turned into Christian's playroom for the week, and their gorgeous backyard was COVERED in toys. It was so nice to go away and not have to worry about my little one being comfortable. I loved being able to take him on walks in the neighborhood that I grew up in. It seemed everywhere we went, we ran into someone that we knew. I miss my hometown.

In addition to playing with his grandparents, his Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nick seemed to be over everyday spoiling him with little treats. Uncle Nick taught him how to completely destroy a tower of blocks (thanks, bro). And Aunt Sarah introduced him to the smallest animal he's ever seen, their kitten Hannah. I won't go into what he tried to do with that cat, but let's just say I had the "WE HAVE TO BE NICE TO ALL OF GOD'S CREATURES" talk with him. Oy.

I was blessed to be able to be in town for the arrival of my dear friend's little boy-talk about great timing. It was such a joy to see them as new parents and to be able to hold and cuddle their little miracle. And, there's something about seeing one of your closest guy friend's get all teary eyed about their kid.


Through everything that we've been through with Christian, my best friend from home, Kate has been my rock. She always was there on the other end of the phone listening to me cry. She'd laugh with me, cry with me, and help me keep my mind off of the sad stuff by always indulging me in our joint obsession with celebrity gossip and lip gloss. Kate and her husband are awaiting the birth of their first child, and her shower was this past weekend, so I was able to be there for that as well. While my Dad, Uncle Nick, and Aunt Sarah watched Christian, my Mom and I were able to celebrate with Kate.


I know I'll have more pics to post from the week once my Dad uploads his camera. He was like the paparazzi with Christian, and I know we have a couple of fun shots from our lunch at The RainForest Cafe (a wonderful language opportunity), Christian's 1st Carousel Ride, and our visit with his Great-Grandparents. We miss everyone already, but we're also glad to be home with Chuck and Sammy the Cat.

And Away We Go

As much as I've been looking forward to going home to Detroit to visit my family, I'm dreading the actual traveling by myself with a toddler part of it. I can deal with the tantrums, the gear, and the complete ineptness of the TSA folks. What I'm a bit worried about is that this will be our first trip with Christian's CI. While it does present itself with a FABULOUS language opportunity, carrying on our extra processor is stressing me out. I have it hermetically sealed in a Foodsaver Bag, inside of a case, in an inside pocket of my carry-on. I've ensured that it can't be corrupted by Graham Crackers, Lipgloss, Juice Boxes, or whatever else is floating around my bag. I'm still worried about it. I mean, it costs more than our car. Seriously.

And, I can't help but be worried about going through security BY MYSELF, with a squirmy little toddler who has a piece of metal in his head that may set-off the detectors. He'll be hand-wanded, with the processor off...and here I thought that the TSA folks making a toddler take his shoes off was crazy.

Luckily, despite all the new things that we have to deal with on this trip, Christian is a seasoned traveler, with more than a dozen trips to his name. I know he'll be ok. I have cars, and books, and Annie's Cheddar Bunnies. We'll be using the CARES Harness on the way out, and hopefully it works.

I missed my wingman...

We headed on up to Dewey Beach, DE this past weekend to celebrate with Claire and Marcellus. They got married April 7th in Maui and held a fabulous reception at Magnolia's in Bethany. Claire looked absolutely stunning! We had a blast with all of our friends. After the reception, we all headed down to The Starboard. Alot has changed in a year! I think Malibu put it best..."This place is so homogenized now!". He is right. It has lost a bit of it's character, but it's still THE STARBOARD.

I was fine pretty much until we got back into our hotel room around 2:30am. I thought about Christian the entire night, but not being able to kiss my sweet boy goodnight was very hard! Chuck and I have been out on many date nights since Christian was born, but we always came home and were able to give him a little smooch. It was the first time in almost a year that Christian wasn't with me at night. I knew that he was safe and sound with Gram back home, but I still missed him so much! He's become my best bud and my little wingman...and it felt very strange to be away from him. Luckily, the night went by fast (especially since we were awoken at 5am by a certain school teacher whose name I won't mention here but rhymes with Raren Kifino).

All in all it was a fabulous weekend. We got home in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day with our little man...