that's me!!

we frequently visit the John Tracy Clinic's website to see what's new with them. logan was with me when i clicked on it this morning and he noticed his picture at the top even before i did! click here to see for yourself why he thinks he's famous! (he's in the orange shirt)

I have a triathlete!

logan competed in a triathlon to benefit the Children's hospital here in town.
click here to see pictures.

any suggestions...

we have trouble with logan wearing any kind of helmet...baseball helmet, bike helmet, etc. because he has bilateral implants. he can usually wear a helmet, with just one implant on, but both him and I prefer that he wear both (especially outside when he is riding his bike). have any of you found a solution to doing this? do you have to do your own "maintenance" on the helmet and maybe cut some of the padding out where the coil is? any suggestions?

Deaf girl on So You Think You Can Dance...

So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite shows. i grew up a dancer and spent every waking moment in my mom's dance studio as a girl. i am always impressed with those that can dance with a hearing impairment since music is such an important part.

allison @ Yahoo! Video

and the "best big brother in the world" award goes to...

we have always felt that Tanner (our 7 year old) was a special addition to our family. he truly came equipped to take care of and nurture Logan. i shared this story on our family blog, but thought it was too sweet to not share again...

Logan started soccer this year and although he loves it, he plays very cautiously because his implants constantly fall off. a few times, they have stopped the entire game to call me over and help him place them back on--which has embarrassed him a bit. my husband thought that maybe a head band would help keep the coil on (the circular part that attaches to his head). after a trip to the sports store with Dad, the boys came home like this...

i asked my husband why he bought all three boys a headband and he told me that they all wanted one. but later that night after Tanner's game, i asked Tanner if he liked playing with the headband on. he told me, "No, it kind of itches and I look a little stupid because no one else on my team wears one. But when we were at the store, Logan didn't want to wear a headband, so I thought if I wore one, he'd want to too and not feel so weird about it." Me--(sniff, sniff). and it worked, Logan now thinks its cool and can't wait to wear it during his next game.

i love this kid!

Birthdays!

last week in school, logan talked about parties and came home with a party hat on.

he had so many questions about birthday parties, so...we made another experience book!

Which group does it belong to?

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Great Calendar...

We are working on the days of the week as well as "yesterday" and "tomorrow", so we began doing the calendar activity found here, on the Listening room & Logan really enjoys it.

learning to describe...

A great game to play with your preschoolers is learning to name an object just from hearing clues and then, in turn, learning to describe objects for you to guess. Logan loves this game. He is still trying to get the hang of it and usually just tells me the animal that he is trying to describing, but we all have a lot of fun with it.

We are hoping to improve on clarity in Logan's speech. With the unexpected loss of our baby last month, Logan's "home therapy" has been slightly neglected and it is really starting to show. We are eager to get the ball rolling again.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Breaking News for CIs!

New Cochlear Nucleus 5 System launched the world's thinnest CI last week. Click here to read more!

We have been busy...

We have had a busy & fun summer. After our west coast trip to the John Tracy Clinic, we stayed with Grandma Boyack in Las Vegas for 3 weeks and then to Virginia and D.C. for 3 weeks to play with cousins at Grandma Cragun's lake house.






We had a sad event happen on August 16th with the death of our unborn baby girl. I was 7 months pregnant--you can read more here.

Logan is progressing day by day and we have a lot of work to do over this next year in order to try to meet our goal of mainstreaming him by kindergarten. He is attending the same Oral program that he attended last year and is excited to be back at school.

We went back...

We have been on the west coast for about 7 weeks and just arrived home last week. Our trip was centered around attending the John Tracy Clinic in LA for their 3-week summer session. It was so nice to be back. I have been waiting for the past year, since leaving LA, to return to all of our friends at JTC. I am always amazed at how much information there is to gain and I loved sitting in the parent classes every day from 9 am-4 pm learning--all over again-- how to better help my Logan.

our cute little apartment...


too many in the elevator...
The Family picnic...

playing in the HUGE yard at our apartments...

They had a "sibling program" that Tanner attended. He absolutely loved it. He made friends, played games and learned a lot about hearing loss and how to help Logan...



The siblings acted out how sound goes through the ear, to the brain. Tanner played the 'stapes'...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

some yummy treats that we received from Wonderland Bakery...
Logan and his teacher, Sarah...
Logan and his SLP, Meghan (Meghan was Logan's preschool teacher when we attended a year ago)...

All of our new friends...

WISCONSIN STUDY!!

We went to Wisconsin a couple weeks ago to participate in the Bilateral CI study. We had a fabulous time. We spent 4 days there, two days were spent testing. After each test he got to choose a sticker to put on his sticker box and after every three tests, he got to pick a small prize out of their fun prize box...he loved this!

It was interesting for me to see the different tests that were conducted and to see how Logan is really hearing. He was such a trooper and did great.


The airplane ride there...
a "study break" during the second day of testing...


auditory tests...

expressive language tests...

showing off the "sticker box" and the "prizes" he got for "good listening". ..

We found a homemade popcorn shop and stopped to get a fun treat at the end of a busy day...

Another "study break"...

posing by some of the prizes...

When all the testing was done, they let him choose from a big prize box. This was the "prize" he choose he loves it and it hasn't left his side since...


This isn't a great video, it was day two of the study and the end of the day, so needless to say, he was a bit worn out. Also, it's a little difficult to hear and the picture is dark, but it's a little bit of our time participating in the study...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wisconsin is first to require cochlear implant insurance coverage...

Logan and I are currently in Madison, Wisconsin participating in the bilateral Cochlear implant study.

We have been here for two days, and already have had about 10-12 people congratulate us and ask how we feel on the new bill past last week. The first few times I smiled and nodded, not knowing what they were talking about-but figured it was something to do with hearing loss or Cochlear Implants. I then got to a computer and searched the internet to see what they were talking about.
I found that last week, Wisconsin lawmakers acted to become the first state to require insurance companies to cover cochlear implants for children with severe hearing loss. This was fantastic news and it was awesome to see how excited the locals were about something that didn't really affect them.
"Sen. Lassa [one of the authors of the Wisconsin bill] also noted research that suggests that Wisconsin taxpayers stand to save as much as $5,000 to $10,000 per child per year in reduced or eliminated special education services and a savings of about $1 million per person over their lifetime if more children can receive hearing aids and cochlear implants. Currently, thirteen states require that insurance companies cover hearing aids."

Click here and here for more info on this bill.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bilateral study 2009...

Logan has been chosen to participate in a a federally funded research that is conducted at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He will be tested in order to gain more insight into the benefits of bilateral implantation vs. a single ear implant . He is scheduled to travel to Madison in about two weeks.
When I heard of the opportunity for him to take part in this, I jumped at the chance because their first study on bilateral implants is what helped my husband and I decide to go forward with getting a second CI for Logan.

They sent us some pictures for Logan to become familiar with to get ready for some of the testing they will be conducting. Out of 24 pictures, I was concerned that he only knew 7 of them--but in only 2 days he has mastered all 24. We made flashcards out of them and have developed different games to help him understand and say the different words.

Tonight we had him choose a card and draw the picture on the driveway with sidewalk chalk...

"Pe-Pa, Please!"

We went out to eat tonight as a family. Logan usually likes to talk to the waiter and order for himself, so I always sit next to him to "interpret" for him. Tonight when the waiter came to our table, Logan spoke up and had an entire conversation with the waiter...ON HIS OWN! Not only did he clearly understand everything the waiter was asking, the waiter understood all of Logan's responses. I just sat back and grinned from ear to ear.

WAITER: Hi, my name is Jon and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with anything to drink?

LOGAN: I want juice.

WAITER: Juice for him, and for you?...

...WAITER: What can I get you to eat?

LOGAN: I want pe-pa please.

WAITER: Pizza?

LOGAN: Yeah, pe-pa.

WAITER: What do you want on your pizza?

LOGAN: Cheese, please.

WAITER: Do you want pepperoni on it, too?

LOGAN: No, cheese.

Walk 4 Hearing 2009!

PARTICIPATING IN THE GROUP WARM UP, STRETCHING BEFORE THE WALK...

FUN BEFORE THE WALK...

THE 4K WALK...

FINISHING LAP 1...

MY OLDER SON RAN AHEAD BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT "LOGAN'S TEAM TO LOSE" (HE WAS UNAWARE THAT IT WAS NOT A RACE)...

ENJOYING PIZZA AFTER THE WALK...

We had so much fun and the boys did great. Even Logan walked (most) of the way. We hope to be able to participate again next year.

Top of The Mornin' To Ya!

Duh, Mom...

As we were walking to pick my older son up from school today, I heard a bird "caw-ing" high up in a tree. I stopped and said to Logan (as we always do with new or interesting sounds), "Logan, Do you hear that?" He continued to walk, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, Mom. Bird." It was if he was saying, "So what, it's just a bird. I hear them all the time."

I realized then, how natural environmental sounds are becoming to him, just as they are to you and me. I loved how a simple moment, became so extraordinary today.

coupon code...

Use the coupon code, MARCH29, on all orders $25.00 or more for the shirts below (expires march 29, 2009). I think it gives you 17% off your order.

Great CI shirts at reasonable prices...

Click here to see CI shirts for all ages to raise
awareness for Cochlear Implants!

Our new medical bracelets...

I received an email a few weeks ago from a woman named Linda who owns a company that makes medical bracelets. She said that she came across Logan's blog and wanted to give him 4 bracelets as a gift. We were thrilled! We ordered him this one a few months ago, but it is slightly uncomfortable so he doesn't like to wear it. Linda and her husband developed these bracelets because they have a grandson with down syndrome and he, too, would not wear the "typical" medical bracelets. Logan loves these because they are "cool" and just like the bracelets the older kids wear.

Click here to order one for yourself, they have a lot of colors and sizes to choose from and are very affordable.

Thank you, Linda, for your kindness.

Our new dentist (Dad is getting too busy)...

TVs in the ceiling, a red balloon to take home and neon sunglasses to block the dental light...SWEET!

Peaceful sleeper...

No real post today, I just love this picture of my little Logan sleeping in his spiderman costume...

Bean Bag Fun!

I had some left over material left over from a sewing project, so the boys and I made some bean bags. I never knew a bag filled with rice could bring so much joy for an entire day!

We took masking tape and made shapes on the floor, we then played a listening game. After repeating a word or phrase you got to throw the bean bag on one of the shapes, but you had to say out loud what shape you were aiming for. Even my older son enjoyed the activity until about an hour later he said, "Wait a minute, is this like a game to help with Logan's talking? I should have known!"

Watch a live Cochlear Implant Surgery...

I saw this off another CI blog and thought it looked interesting.

On Tuesday, the 24th, you can watch a Sequential Bilateral Cochlear Implant surgery performed from University Hospitals Case Medical Center Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. The surgeon will even be taking questions from viewers, via email.

Click here for more details!

SUPPORT LOGAN'S TEAM!

We have registered for the Walk4Hearing produced by the Hearing Loss Association of America. Do you know that one in ten persons in the United States has a hearing loss? The goal of the Walk4Hearing is to increase awareness about the causes and consequences of hearing loss and to raise funds to provide information and support for people with hearing loss.

We are trying to raise just $200.00 as a team. Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in the lives of many! It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause - you can make your donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. Any amount, great or small, helps in the fight. Thank You!

If you would like to donate click here , and click on Logan's name. Then click on "Make a gift".

Deaf contestant on The Amazing Race 14

Click here to read more about Margie & Luke.

Happy Valentine's Day...

Logan had a great Valentine's Day party at school with themed treats and exchanging cards...

Giving Ms. C.J. her Valentine...

and one for Ms. Vergie, too...

Our Valentine fun at home...