~Evynn Reese~

My daughter, Evynn Reese was born on 11/1/2010. At 10 months old she was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss in both ears. This blog documents her journey to hear. It includes ups, downs, testing, hearing aids, cochlear implants, therapy, school and everything else going on in our crazy but wonderful life! Evynn is such a strong, incredible little girl and we are so very proud of her!







Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Mmmm.....

Today Evy had her weekly session with her deaf educator. Both her teacher and I were quite impressed with how well Evy did! Since she has now mastered saying "Mama," her teacher said we should start working on getting her to say other M words such as "more" and "milk". We were very surprised at how well Evy did with imitating sounds.
Her teacher would give Evy a mini M&M and then when Evy would reach out for more, the teacher would withhold it and ask Evy if she wanted MMMore? Initially Evy fussed and wanted the candy right away, but she eventually repeated the MMM noise, indicating that she wanted more! Of course we would applaud, and then Evy would proudly clap for herself!
After her teacher left, Kyle and I decided to try doing this exercise ourselves...and it worked! Her teachers always joke, saying that Evy strictly works for food! And they're right, Evy will pretty much do anything for an M&M!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Getting the hang of this!

It seems as though we put our little Evy to sleep one night and when she woke up, she was a big girl! I can't believe how quickly she is learning and growing, it's so exciting to watch! She has tackled so many obstacles in the last couple months. The most obvious being her new ears, but she has also transitioned from a crib to a toddler bed, perfected her walking, and is also working on giving up her bottle- I know, a little late, but it has been such a comfort for her. Her little personality has evolved so much since being introduced to the world of noise. She is interacting with us and everyone else around her and has even made some new sounds. Right now we have mostly noticed the MA and BA sounds. It is like music to my ears and the first time I heard Mama it melted my heart!





 Evy has really started to love and appreciate her new "ears" and we couldn't be more excited about it! Every morning she wakes up and immediately points to her head, asking us to put her ears on. After her activation, Evy gave us some trouble about wearing the implants and initially, there were lots of tears. At times, Kyle and I became a little discouraged, but her teachers and audiologists kept telling us not to worry and that very soon Evy would want to wear them all the time. At one point I was seriously doubting it, but as always, Evy's teachers lead us in the right direction. I am now proud to say that they were right, and here's the proof!




There are a lot of changes that will be happening in our house in the months to come! Since Evy's diagnosis in September 2011, her deaf education teacher has come to the house once a week to work with Evy and teach us as well. It has been wonderful, but we are excited that Evy is now old enough to actually go to her school, The Moog Center, and learn as well as interact with her other hearing impaired classmates! I think it will be wonderful for her and we will be counting down the days until her first day, June 18th! On top of that, Evy's big sister Patiyn will be starting Kindergarten in August. I can't believe that both my babies will soon be in school!   :(

Lately Evy is obsessed with being outside. She'll stand by the back door and whine until we take her out to play! She loves to people watch, go for wagon rides, and play at the park. Thanks to Sophia's mom, we now know of Unlimited Play. It is an organization that makes playgrounds for kids with disabilities. Evy cannot play on certain types of equipment that cause static (slides, tunnels) because it could potentially cause damage to her implants or processors. At Brendan's Playground in O' Fallon we did not have to worry about this, which made us all very happy! It is an adorable playground and quite possibly, Evy's new favorite place!

With Summer approaching, I know Evy will have some adjustments to make. Simple things such as vacation, sand and swimming will be more difficult for her but much like every other obstacle she's endured, I know that Evy will succeed admirably! We're so proud of all her progress so far, and I feel so blessed to be able to witness a miracle everyday!