Time Sure Flies!!

Sorry I've been gone so long! I didn't think it has been almost two months??? Whoa.

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Update:

I cannot believe it’s been over a month since I last made a blog post. I guess it happens.

Angel just celebrated her 9th birthday. She got an alarm clock that she’s always wanted (as an added bonus for this mom, it’s child-friendly to boot). She also got a summery dress, too. She’s just growing too fast. Sigh. Where did my baby go??

On the CI (cochlear implant) front, I had my 6-month mapping and in some areas I am stable and in others there is a marked improvement. I don’t see too much difference myself hearing-wise since the 3-month mapping, though.

I had a CI moment!!! A couple of weeks ago, I took the dogs outside on a bright, sunny morning. I heard birds, most likely robins, chirping their morning songs (or should I say,…dramatic pause…their morning gossip??) I’ve heard the birds chirp before with my hearing aids (HAs), but they all sounded the same to me, except for maybe the doves. If I wanted to, I’m sure I could distinguish each bird’s sound if I learned which one belonged to which bird. I never realized that the blue jays had such a low chirping sound. I’m sure I’ll be able to learn to recognize that. :Cool, huh??

I still have “deaf moments”. After all, the CI doesn’t make me a hearing person. I’m still deaf and coupled with the RP, I don’t have the sharp visual cues most d/Deaf people use and in a way, it makes me “deafer”. I don’t know how I can explain that. If I had normal vision, I’d catch more hand movements by someone trying to get my attention or something like that. Without being able to see that hand waving at me, I’m not “hearing” it. Does that make sense?

I also have more words to list that I mispronounce:

Decadent (I keep saying “de-CAY-dent” because I think of the word “decay” as in bad or bad for me-like a decadent cheesecake. It’s yummy, but bad for my waistline. LOL).

Chihuahua- “she-wah-wah”??

Sliver-somehow I end up saying “slither”. Ugh.

Years ago, I could not even pronounce the word “beat”. I kept saying “bth” as in, “I bth you.” I don’t know why. It’s how I picked it up.

Having two dogs in the house is a lot of work. Right now, Onyx is a shedding machine with the on-again-off again spring weather we are ‘enjoying” here. I’m sweeping the floors every other day and get a lot of black Onyx hair. And having Topaz (a.k.a. Dust Storm) tear through the house and make the dog hair/dust fly!! I admit I have “why do we have two dogs??” moments. We just got through a puppy stage with Onyx and now we have another puppy. It’s almost like having a toddler and baby in the house, only they are potty-trained. Am I crazy?? (Wait, don’t answer that.) But Hubby is happy to have his hunting dog (Topaz) and I cannot complain about something that’s important to him. I tell him why do we have dogs? Because they are entertaining (and, should I add, stress relievers who give unconditional love??)

I cannot believe it’s April already. We are moving into the year 2009 pretty quickly, aren’t we?? I was just telling the girls that in another two months, school’s out for the summer. (If I keep going at this rate, I’m going to be old….acck. LOL.) We had a few days of nice weather in the 60s followed by a drop to the 40s. Now there’s just snowed last week after a good warm spell and now we are back to comfortable temperatures again. Welcome to Wisconsin and its fickle, typical weather.

I am also participating in the first-ever Wisconsin VisionWalk in Milwaukee. How exciting to try to be a part of this fundraiser for Foundation Fighting Blindness!! We are so close to a breakthrough to finding a cure for degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Usher Syndrome, and Macular Degeneration. I just have to believe that!! I’d be happy, too, if they-researchers, scientists, and doctors- could find something to just halt the progression of RP if they can’t reverse it.

If any of you want more information on that, please email me with the link to my email I have provided on the sidebar.

I know I am not blogging as regularly as I used to, but I’ll try to just post a line here and there.