All Grown Up!!!
I am sad to be writing my last blog about Rylee. She is now 18 years old and heading to college. She has grown up to be such a wonderful young lady and i am so proud of her. She just graduated High School. Watching her walk across stage to recieve her diploma was such an amazing feeling. I remember the day we found out she was going to need a hearing aid because she was hard of hearing. I thought her life was over, but it wasn’t. She grew up just the way i wanted her to. She went to a regular school with hearing kids. At times she has issues with hearing and people teasing her about her hearing aid but she is a tough cookie and managed to always stay positive. She will be attending UNO in the fall and wants to study Business. She is excited about starting college and i am even more excited that she will be staying at home. Her and i have such a wonderful relationship. After she finishes college i hope for her to get a good job and just live her life they way she wants. She plans on doing the Disney college program one semester while at UNO. I want her to always be happy in everything she does. I want her to always know that i am here for her if she needs me and i will always do what i can to help. She is very involved with our church. She helps with the sunday school and also attends bible study each week. She enjoys this and i hope it is something she continues throughout life. Her hearing as of now hasn’t gotten any worse. If it does as she continues to get older i think it will be a challenge but nothing that Rylee can’t handle. Everyone in this world goes through struggles at some point in their life, you have to choice to make it what it is. I have always taught her to stay positive and dream big and i think she will continue for years and years to live that way. I don’t think that getting a job will be difficult for Rylee once she graduates college. As of now She is very excited about the summer being here. She is excited to hang out with friends and she is also looking forward to our family vacation to the beach. When Rylee was younger she would use her sign and then it faded for a few years. She really didn’t need it to communicate. When she was about 10 she met a friend at church who was deaf. They really connected and Rylee started becoming a part of the deaf community. She learned so much and started attending deaf events regularly. I love the fact that she can do both, sign and speak. She can communicate with hearing and deaf. I am glad she is apart of both. I am one proud Mama and i can’t believe how fast she has grown up. Looking back i wouldn’t change a thing. I am very happy with the way our life has turned out!
Add a comment June 13, 2011
Tags: EDSP4420
10 years old
So… i recently found out that my husband has been cheating on me. He lost his job and found a new girlfriend. She has been supporting him and he has also been living off of our savings. This comes as a complete shock to me. I thought we were happy and that we lived a fairly normal life. He went to work, and i stayed home taking care of everyday chores and also taking care of Rylee. I guess what we had wasn’t good enough for him and he wanted something more exciting. Im not sure what i am going to do at this point for an income. I might start working for my neighbors company cleaning houses. It pays well and it is something that i can do during the day while Rylee is at school. I am worried about insurance for Rylee because she was on Steve’s Insurance. Paying for insurance each month is going to be a huge unexpected expense. Luckily my Parents are willing to chip in until i get things together. Rylee is 10 now and doing great in school. The school is wonderful and really works well with her. She sits in the front of the classroom and rarely has trouble hearing. We are still continuing to work with a speech therapist once a week! She is getting to the age where she is becoming such a girly girl. She has a best friend named Holly who goes to school with her. They are like sisters and are always having sleepovers. I have become very close with Holly’s Parents and feel very comfortable with Rylee sleeping over there. They have been a huge help with her since i found out Steve wants a divorce. I don’t always want my parents to know how upset i am so they have been keeping her when i am having mental breakdowns and need alone time. Rylee is handling the divorce well. She is confused about it and so am i. Steve still calls to talk to her once a week, but can’t really visit since the asshole decided to up and move to mexico. I am currently working with a lawyer to see what i can do about child support. I wish that i wouldn’t have to see a lawyer and we could work things out on our own. But hey i picked a complete idiot to marry who can’t act like an adult to save his life. Hopefully things start looking up soon! I will continue to stay strong for my child and just know that our life is in the lord’s hands!
Add a comment June 10, 2011
Tags: Deaf Children, Divorce, EDSP4420, Parents of Deaf Children
4 Years old
WOW! Time sure does fly. I feel like just yesterday Rylee was 2 1/2 and now here i am blogging again and she is already 4 years old! She is still progressing very well. Her speech has improved and continues to improve every day. Her hearing aids are working out great. We visit the doctor every 6 months for him to test her and make sure the aids are working and fitting properly. Her hearing has pretty much stayed the same, no worse and no better. She doesn’t speak 100 percent normal, she still has a some words that she has trouble saying. The speech therapist is still coming to the house 3 times a week. I feel so lucky that we are able to provide Rylee with the therapist, I feel as though without her Rylee wouldn’t be as advanced as she is. We still have her in the same school, she has really learned a lot there and i am going to be sad to take her out. We are starting to look at schools to send her next year for pre-K. I want her to be in a regular classroom with hearing children. She shouldn’t be treated any different just because she is hard of hearing. She uses some sign language but it is starting to phase out since her speech in improving so much. We belong to a play group that we meet with once a week. The group consists of hearing, and hard of hearing children. I think Rylee does well communicating with all the children and also learns a lot from the hearing children. As time goes on i do worry about the possibility of her hearing getting worse and her not feeling like she is a normal child. I know we will never make her feel like that but i know how harsh kids can be, especially as she gets older. I know all i can do is take it day by day. I will tackle to the problems as they come and try not to think the worst.
2 comments June 8, 2011
Tags: Deaf Children, Deaf Toddlers, EDSP4420, Parents of Deaf Children
2 1/2 Year Update
Well, My Rylee is 2 1/2 years old and i am happy to say she is doing great! In the beginning i was worried about all the challenges i would have to face, but i can’t complain about any of them. One challenge is not being able to understand her sometimes but i guess that can also go with any child at this age. She babbles a lot and is trying hard to put short sentences together. We have a speech therapist come to the house 3 times a week to work with Rylee and that is a huge help. The hearing aid really helps to improve her hearing. The audiologist did a great job in picking out the right one for her. We go every few months to the audiologist to make sure that it fits right. Her learning is a bit delayed but for the most part she does well in school. We have her at a day care that is close to our house and she is in a class room with hearing children. No one treats her any different. Some kids do ask what that thing is in her ear and why she has it, and the teacher Ms. Julie just has to explain that it is something that helps Rylee hear because her ears aren’t as strong as theirs. Her teachers at school are wonderful. They are very helpful and also very patient when communicating with her. She has now learned how to walk up the stairs, so we recently had to put up a gate to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself. She is a normal child who just has some problems hearing. I was worried in the beginning that life wouldn’t be normal for her or that others would look at her different or treat her different. I was also worried about the costs of hearing aids and a therapist, but my insurance covers most of the cost. And when it comes to the well being of my child, money is the least of my worries. We do what we need to do to make things better for Rylee. I am hoping that things continue looking up for our family.
Add a comment June 8, 2011
Tags: Deaf Children, EDSP4420, Parents of Deaf Children
June 5,2011
Today was a rough day for me. I met with the Audiologist this afternoon and she told me that Rylee is hard of hearing. Dr. Kate explained to me that there are different categories of hearing loss. She said Rylee falls somewhere between moderate and severe and that it is considered sensorineural loss. She also told me that her right ear is worse then the left. Waking up this morning I didn’t expect her to say anything was wrong with her hearing. I thought to myself, this could never happen to me. There must have been something wrong with the first test, but i just knew my baby had perfect hearing. I was happy to hear that there is a good chance Rylee will be able to talk and that the hearing aids will only help her hear better. I guess i should feel some relief that she isn’t completely deaf. I am worried about the cost of the hearing aid and also the cost of the upkeep that comes with them. This is an unexpected cost that i didn’t think i was going to ever have to face. The next step is to get the hearing aids made and I am meeting with Dr. Kate again next week. Next week she is going to also go over the results from the hearing test.I am going to try and read up this week to learn more on children who are hard of hearing. Also i am going to try and remain calm and just remember that everything happens for a reason.
2 comments June 7, 2011
Tags: EDSP4420
Hopes for my Baby
Jessica Fabre
Dear Journal,
Today I am 30 weeks pregnant. It is very scary thinking that in only a few short weeks I will be responsible for the life of another human being. I sometimes wonder how I am going to do it when I sometimes have anxiety of my own life. I get scared sometimes thinking of all the freak accidents that could happen. I sometimes think that I am going to be one of the freak parents that follow my child around to make sure they don’ t get hurt. I know I can’t always be around her so I hope that growing up she makes smart decisions in her life. I had most things I wanted growing up as a child as and only hope I can do the same for my child. I want my baby to be healthy and never feel any pain. Considering this will be the first girl born into my dad’s side of the family in 25 years I’m thinking she will be VERY spoiled. I am hoping I can give her what she wants while also disciplining her. I want her to live her life and be happy. I never want to feel like she is being forced into anything. I am very lucky to have such a supporting family that is going to be able to help me with her while I finish school. I want my daughter to have a happy childhood and keep the memories for a life time. I hope that her father and I can stay together and give her the life she deserves. And if we aren’t together I don’t ever want her to feel stressed about our problems. I hope that she is smart and will love school. I see too many kids these days getting involved with the wrong people and ending up in bad situations. I don’t want to keep her locked up but I want her to make smart decisions while growing up. I can’t wait to teach her things, play with her, read to her…etc. I am glad that I will be able to stay home with her for the first 5 months of her life and spend quality time with her. I know many parents don’t get to do that so I feel blessed. I am also blessed that I won’t have to put her in day care because my Granny will watch her when I do return to school next spring. I am full of emotions thinking of my baby being born. I am excited and nervous. I am ready to meet her and hold her. I am going to try and be the best mom I can be. I am a true believer in things happen for a reason, so I can only do my best and let things fall into place.
2 comments June 6, 2011
Tags: EDSP4420
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Add a comment June 6, 2011
jfabre1 