Learning to hear is hard work!

So, Lilli has had her aids for a full week now :) She is doing so well. It takes her a few minutes to get adjusted once they are on, but the therapist says her 10 minute adjustment is wonderful because it is usually a 30 minute one. We have therapy once a week and the other days it is up to me and tony to "homeschool". We are thinking of homeschooling her anyways so I guess were getting some good practice now. When it is time to actually teach her to hear, we put her aids in, turn EVERYTHING off, TV, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer etc. While the world is not a quiet place and she will need to learn to hear with background noises we have to work hard now to just help her learn to identify sounds and where they are coming from. We sit her down and play while engaging in front of her we create sounds behind her, wether it is a rattle, a toy bird etc. The goal is to get her to at least stop what she is engaging in and hopefully turn torwards the sound. We also play 2 sounds in front of her such as her lamb that plays a longer song and sort of interupt w/our voice or another sound like the quack of her toy duck or oink of her pig. The goal of this is for her to turn her focus to the interupting object. This is the foundation laying part of learning background sounds from important ones. Getting her aids in has gotten so much easier over the past week, what used to be a 10 minute process is now a 30 second habbit. The aids have created so much stimulation in her brain that she is now sleeping through the night. The goal for pediatric hearing aids is for children to wear them at least 2 hours a day and work up to all waking hours. Tony and I are so nervous and anxious to ensure her developemnt is not hindered that she pretty much already wears them all waking hours. She does get tiny breaks, when she needs a nap or is hungry. Feeding w/them is difficult because the way she lays in our arms causes feedback/whistling which isnt anything that can hurt her but it is very annoying to us. All in all this has been a much smoother transition then expected. I have only really had one breakdown because it is hard sometimes to get her to want to listen and that streams into me thinking this isnt fair why us, but then I am reminded its not why did this happen to us in a bad way it is why Lord did you trust us over everyone else we know to bless us with this baby :) Continuing to pray for good progress and so excited to see what is instore :)

LILLI GOT HER EARS!!

Today Tony Lilli and I went to the dr to get her hearing aids. We have such a wonderful audiologist. Not many doctors this day and age allow you to sit in their office past 5:00 to ensure all of your questions are answered. Lilli did so well with us putting them in and it is very obvious she can hear better now because she blinks at random sounds. When we got home she had a minor meltdown because she heard the car door shut and it scared her to death! We took them off of her so she could calm down because her crying was so loud to her she didnt know what to do! It kind of broke my heart. Today has been bitter sweet. Bitter because it is all real now, sweet because now she can hear everything. She LOVES all of her musical toys, which in the past had just been fun to look at. She laughed and was so excited she was literally shaking when we played her musical sheep which had always been her favorite, she now loves it more! My mom and I sat in the floor crying at her reaction because it became obvious that she had never heard it before. I am so excited to go through this next chapter of our lives with my best friend/husband and our wonderful families and friends. I know that through all of our struggles and triumphs that the Lord is in control and this is all happening to bring Him glory! There is so much more to write about but I am exhausted as it has been an emotional day for us! I will update again soon since we have hearing impaired therapy in the morning! :) XOXO