OK, Its a little embarrassing but Its been almost 3 months to the day since my last post. All I can say is life is busy and we have plenty of life in this house! Remember when I said having three kids wasn't that hard??? Well, our little third kiddo has really turned into an active person and let me tell you, 3 is a LOT! I'm trying to remind myself that it's only going to get harder when three are walking and running in three different directions. So enjoy the moment Katie! But I'll do what I have done all along... problem solve on how to wrangle them all in one direction. Whats one more right?! I wonder if it is this complicated when your kids have more of a spread between them? I still believe for us that the closer, the better. Yep, number 4 should be coming soon. We're thinking around Maraes 1st birthday provided her surgery goes well. I grew up in a family with quite the distance between kids. My parents didn't intend it like that, but my older siblings were almost ready to graduate high school when I came along. My closest sibling was 5 1/2 years older. So, as hard as this is sometimes, I'm having so much fun watching all the kids play together.
Marae is now 6 1/2 months, sits up on her own, eats solids, waves hi and bye, vocalizes when she pushes a car, and always has her eyes on those tall yet miniature people who are forever hovering over her.
sometimes all 3 of them will be giggling uncontrollably. Those are the moments my heart melts.
Then there are those moments when Noah is trying to wrestle Marae or like today, poke her in the eye with a straw, and he just doesn't understand that her screaming means NO. We're still trying to teach Noah that Marae is "delicate". Or as Luke likes to say, "delicate like a flower". Only problem is that Noah likes to pick the heads off flowers. He is such a boy!This has been a great summer...if you could call it a summer and All my fellow seattleites will understand what I mean by that. We managed to have a few vacations and do a lot of activities. Here are some pictures of some of the things we had fun doing.
Marae had a break from her auditory verbal therapy. The therapists have schedules like teachers and are required to only work 4 weeks during the summer break. The great thing was that we were still working hard with Marae and she was young enough that I didn't feel like we needed a hole lot of help yet. Plus, we kept in close contact with Star. I would say our biggest issue was trying to prioritize the busy schedules that we were/ are acquiring and making sure we actually have family time, Luke and Katie time, and some time alone with each of the kids. The bigger the family gets, it's insane how busy things can get.
Luke and I have set a lot of goals and prayerfully set some plans in motion for our family.
We decided for Kay's benefit, and my own, we would enroll her in preschool at listen and talk. She is so smart and really needed to be challenged more. She was ready for a classroom environment. Something that was just tipping me over the edge all the time... Trying to do Maraes stuff, make sure Noah feels loved and played with, and then do all the learning things Kay really wanted to do. So she goes to preschool Monday through Thursday from 12:45-3:15.
I miss her but I am so encouraged during this break. The two younger kids sleep in their seats during the car ride to school and for the first hour there after, while I read or do anything I want. Yes... time to myself, something I havent had in a LONG time! Then when they wake up we either go into the school to the family/parent room and play or I take them for a walk in the stroller down the street to the coffee shop and then the park.
I had forgotten how easy it is to get around with only two kids and how easy it is to give them each their own attention. My attitude and energy have definitely improved with this change.
Listen and talk is located in the maple leaf neighborhood just north of the university district and west of the children's hospital. If you are familiar with Seattle, it's a bit of a drive from our house in West Seattle. Luke and I have felt like we are really at a transitional point in our lives. Our three bedroom town home is getting too small and when Marae turns one we would like to start trying for our final 4th child. So we need to move to a bigger house, AND our needs seem to be taking us up North. We discovered that we liked the Shoreline area. Our church has a campus located there, its a very short drive to Listen and Talk, and the school district historically pays for preschoolers with hearing loss to attend listen and talk. This school is not cheap and can cost up to 2k a month depending on the child's needs. So this would be a huge burden off of us. The only way we would not have help financially from the school district is if Marae did not need an IEP (individual education plan) which could be very possible. A lot of children with implants are NOT delayed in their speech by the age of 3. In this case the price is still expensive but not the amount of our mortgage. The shoreline school district is also great and has built in FM systems in most of their classrooms. It's the ideal place for Marae and all three of the kids should get a great education.
At this point we are planning on enrolling our kids in public school or a charter school and this has been something we have talked back and forth on. I don't want to make it controversial or say that other parents have made the wrong decision, as the decision of where and how to educate your children is the right of every parent and should be tailored to each child. It's not that I don't think having a christian education is a good idea, my own husband attended a christian school, but I am concerned that a lot of christian schools promote and breed an attitude of elitism and don't teach the kids about outreach and sharing their faith. Two combinations that can be dangerous. A good number of the schools we've seen are also affiliated with one church and lack any sort of a music or art program. So everyone from that church goes to that school and then you begin to get a stagnant pond with no creativity, as our pastor put it once. This isn't to say that we wont ever place them in a christian school, but it would only happen if we found a christian school that we really felt good about. We also feel like God placed our family in a city that needs Jesus and we want our kids to grow up learning what it mean to share your faith, be that beacon of light, and to love unbelievers just as Jesus did. I think it is so important that our kids know the difference between being judgmental and having a discerning heart.
Lastly, a move to Shoreline would allow for Luke to move around more in the Boeing company. We would be smack between the Everett campus and the Renton Campus. So lord willing we are planning to rent out our town house in Seattle and buy a 5/6 bedroom place in Shoreline. Hopefully this will all happen in the next 18 months or so. But, we are listening and if God should lead us to a different area in the city, we'll certainly go there.
We are in the final stages of Marae's CI candidacy. Last Thursday she had her MRI and CT at children's hospital. She handled the anesthesia really well and it was pretty much a non event. This Thursday she has a behavioral hearing test just to observe what she does to environmental sounds. Then next Thursday she has her aided and unaided hearing test. With that we should know exactly how much she is hearing and how much of human speech she is actually picking up. Right now we're figuring she is just hearing portions but obviously not everything or she wouldn't need CI's. After next Thursday we meet with the Surgeon and discuss the MRI/CT and all the findings from the hearing tests just to make sure everything looks great for the surgery. Then we set a surgery date. Which is where prayers would be welcomed. We are hoping for an end of November surgery date or beginning of December. After surgery she will have 2-3 weeks to heal before the implant is activated. I have said all along that I really want her to hear for Christmas. It's a very busy time of year to be doing all this but it's also the most opportune time. Luke has a large chunk of time off and with all the follow up mapping apts, its necessary for him to be off work for a bit. I'm hoping we can save his vacation days for a special vaca next summer minus children. The other prayer is that she would be approved by the insurance to have both implants done at the same time. It's rare for insurance to approve that before the age of 1, but if anyones insurance will do it, it would be ours. We are really at an exciting time and I'll save all Maraes videos and new sounds for a post coming to you soon. For now, we are enjoying her just as she is, perfectly made and looking just like her sister. Check out the resemblance below. Happy Fall!
Marae 6 1/2 months Kay 6 1/2 months
