Cameron X2

Cameron and I were discussing who he was named after. Well, Wayne and I both loved the movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and the character Cameron Frye. Soooo...that lead to our baby boy being named Cameron. Anyways, here's a side by side that I put together. :-)

Thought for the day...

So Wayne spent 45 minutes cleaning the downstairs shower/bathtub (the one that me and the kids use...he uses the upstairs one!) last night. My question is this: How can an area designed to CLEAN people get so dirty?? :-)

Prom 1991..Mom why aren't you with Dad?

While going through some old stuff, the kids came across this picture of me and my old boyfriend Jim. This was at my senior Prom in 1991. A few things to note:

1. My hair was huge! I've never did big hair and this one just got outta control!
2. The kids noticed that Mom was super skinny. Anna says, "Look!! You can see your bones!"
3. Cam wanted to know WHY I wasn't with Dad. Well, I didn't know him then and he would have been 25 years old and not allowed to come to a high school function. But I did meet him about 1 year after this picture was taken!
4. The dress. Oh how I loved this dress!!! Pink and satin...Molly Ringwald, look out! I still have this dress somewhere and would love to get back into it again!
5. Oh, you're wondering what ever happened to Jim? He's married with 3 boys, lives in Grand Haven and is doing well. We had always planned on going to Fiji. Guess those plans are out the door!! LOL!

In the news....

So...I know some people still think that I exploit my kids or all the volunteer work that I do, well, here's another installment. The Ludington Daily News does a daily blurb about notable people around the area. Well, I was picked!! Imagine that! Seriously, they pick just about anyone, so it's not like a huge honor, but who doesn't like seeing themselves in the paper? LOL! Unless it's in the court sections. :-) Anyways, this is about the H.O.S.T.S (Helping One Student To Succeed) Program. I volunteer one day a week for 2 sessions. If you read the article it gives better details as to what we work on. I've had a lot of fun with it and hope to continue. :-)

Bet you thought I was kidding...

Here are a small sample of badges/ID tags from some of my conferences. I was trying to put my whole collection together and this is all I can find. My most prized one is from Deaf WayII. I know it's packed away somewhere. Deaf Way was the first major deaf/hard of hearing conference I attended. It was in Washington, D.C. in July of 2002. My other prized one was from the 2004 EHDI conference. I was a opening plenary speaker and it was a great honor. That conference was also in DC (see a pattern?!) and I had a super time. Anyways, I just wanted to post these so everyone would know that I actually do go to these conferences!! Oh wait. The other Super Prized Badge is from HLA-NC. That was the conference that I attended this past September in Chapel Hill. That was truly an amazing conference and I had so much to learn and met tons of very cool people. If I ever move, I moving to North Carolina. The services for the deaf and hard of hearing are beyond words. Anna would just flourish in an environment like that!!

It was 43 degrees and sunny, so...

I did what any other mini-van driving mom would do. I cranked up the heat, opened the SUNROOF and cranked my iPod up. It was gorgeous today and I've got spring fever in January. I checked the temp in Raleigh earlier this week, it was 71. I was thrilled about the 54 degrees we had earlier. Jeez!! So anyways, I'm sure I got a few odd looks as I drove around today, but I couldn't resist. The sun was out, 43 isn't THAT cold and well, I'm so ready for winter to be over! :-) Oh yeah...perfect song to cruise to is Saves the Day's song, Shoulder to the wheel. It jams even in the mini-van. Wooohooo!

This was when we got the van back in 2006. My ride needs to be PIMP'ed!!!

Wrong number

So while I was talking on the house phone yesterday, my cell rang. I didn't want to answer it, so it went to voicemail. Plus, I didn't recognize the number (908) area code. Well, it was a wrong number. The lady was nice enough to leave a message to tell me it was (so I wouldn't call her I suppose!) and then she gives a little chuckle at the end. It just makes me laugh to hear her laugh. She seemed to be in a great mood. I don't know how many times I've dialed the wrong number but never left a message. Maybe I should from now on! ;-)

Motormouth as sung by Julia

Julia loves listening to Anna's iPod or CD player and today she was listening to Naked Brother's Band. I love hearing her sing, so I started to take video of it. I wish we could find headphones/ear buds that would fit her. With only having one ear, it makes using these difficult. :-( She still has a great time anyways! Enjoy!

New Year's Eve and Julia's puzzle

Here are a few recent pictures. The first 2 are of our New Year's Eve dinner at Scotty's. We took the kids out for dinner. Cam ordered something other than chicken strips for the first time!! He ended up getting perch and really like it. YAY! Anna got a steak and Julia ended up with the famous french onion soup. They've asked to go to Scotty's again and well, it wouldn't be so bad but it's one of the most expensive places to eat in Ludington! The other pictures are Julia. She was working on her puzzle in the kitchen and fell asleep. Her head is on the puzzle box! It was really cute!

A look back

I love this picture!! This is Julia (she's was technically still Lu Yin Gui) after her first bottle and bath with us. We got her at 4:00pm and this picture was taken at 6:40pm. Imagine that! Anyways, she wanted me to post this picture after looking at our China trip photos. :-)

Weirdness Abounds

Tis the season...for lots of weird things lately. A few close friends have had relationships fall apart, another has a hurt back, another is having money troubles and car troubles. So why is it that the season of giving has turned to bad? Does anyone know? I sure don't. I thought the start of the new year was suppose to bring a renewed sense of well being. So far, I'm not seeing it at all.

Mom...I want to be...

Julia: Mom, I want to be a scientist
Me: Really?
Julia: Yeah, I want to work in a scary house.
Me: What's a scary house?
Julia: I don't know
Me: How about you work in a nice place that helps people?
Julia: Like where? China?
Me: Sure...you could go back and help other kids that are waiting for mommies and daddies
Julia: Sounds like a good idea, mom.

Love

Love is mighty powerful thing to fight. I have loved, been loved and been in love. The one thing I know about love is that either it wins or you're miserable. There is no compromising love. There is no 'make a deal' with love. It wins or you lose. Love is not logical. Love doesn't care if boys like wiggly things. Love is not practical. Love doesn't care if you have the money or not. Love is not reasonable. Love doesn't care if you have the time or the energy or not. Love doesn't care if you are already exhausted. It doesn't care who needs therapy. It doesn't care how full or dirty your house is. Love doesn't care if you are old or afraid. How can you fight love and hope to win?

This is a quote that I borrowed from Cindy Champnella's book: The Waiting Child

Keychains and my ADD (LOL!)

So, when my ADD kicks into gear, I try to do something constructive (not necessarily productive!) and today was one of those days. Here's what I worked on:

My presentation with Janet

Here's the description of the presentation that I will be doing with Janet (my idol!) Can't wait!


"Hey, What About Us?" - Supporting Families of Young Children Who are Hard of
Hearing

Authors/Presenters: Janet DesGeorges, Melissa Wagner

Room: Grand Ballroom A – 1st Presentation

30 Minutes

For families whose young babies and children are identified as hard of hearing, the support
needed as they journey through the EHDI system often brings with it a myriad of questions and
unique considerations when sorting through information and decision making. Assumptions are
often made about children who fall under the “mild – moderate” range of hearing loss by both
professionals and parents. This session will be presented by two parents of children who are hard of hearing, and will discuss the journey from the standpoint of the emotional reaction to the
“news”…to communication decision making…to transition/school planning from the viewpoint
of the “hard of hearing” experience.

One of my favorite songs and Anna

Hey all...I've been thinking a lot about my upcoming presentation for New Orleans and I wanted to pass along a little of what I presented when I was in Chapel Hill, NC. The above song is by a group called Nickel Creek. My sister Samantha got me started on them and we've attended at least 3 of their concerts (or is it more, sis?) Anyways, this song I posted is called This Side. It reminds me of Anna. As I was thinking of things to write about for my presentation, I think of how my journey with hearing loss has taken me from being scared to being totally at peace with how life's path has changed. The lyrics talk about it being foreign on this side and to me, that represents how I felt. It didn't seem right, like we were somewhere we had never been and people were talking in a language we didn't understand. There's a line that says, "There's no path to follow once you're here. You climb up the slide and then you slide down the stairs." There is no path for parents that have a child born with a disability. No one way is the right way, but whatever choices you make for your family are the ones that are right for you. (Haha! To all my H&V readers, you know where I got that statement!!) So, anyways...I need to get back to working on my presentation. :-)

Michigan Association of School Boards 2007 Education Excellence Award Winner

This is something I stumbled on and had forgot about. Back in...May, I think, our PAC (Parent Advisory Committee) (I'm the Mason County Central rep, by the way. There are parents on the committee from each school district (or at least there is suppose to be in theory!)) won an award for our DVD project! How cool is that? For the majority of the project, there were only 3 parents involved. Me, Lora (who went to Tampa with me) and Laura (who has since moved) spent quite a few nights working on this with Dick (who is an AMAZING producer among other things!!). I am really proud of this DVD. It's a tool to help parents that are new to the special education process. Anyways, just another shameless plug for one of my projects. ;-)

Finally....PICTURES!

Yes....she's cute AND knows it.

This is as close as Cam wanted Anna to be to him that night. ;-)

Samantha and Julia working on puzzles.

Wayne using Poppa's dinosaur dial-up

Me and JuJu Chang (yes, there is a real JuJu Chang, but she's Korean)

Anna and me hanging out, waiting to do presents
Cam and Wayne
Julia and Grandma Darlene
Ok...here's the scoop. This is a bread bowl. A HUGE ONE! My mom bought it for dinner, it's full of Christmas colored rolls. I thought it was pretty cool. Kids liked eating red and green rolls.

Julia took this picture of the salsa. No idea why, other than it was sitting right in front of her.

Here is Poppa, me and Anna.

My superstar Showgirls!!

The girls acting all silly

Presents/Stockings

Cam, Julia and me
Wayne in the U of M Wolverines hat that Cam got. Too funny!

Cam finally wearing the hat
Little brother (aka nephew) and Big sister (aka Aunt)...acting all of their age

Another famous Samantha and Melissa photo...tired of them yet?

Theresa and JuJu!

Another goofy pic
Anna trying to get me to act like a Vegas showgirl!

Julia peeking in on a great photo of Poppa and Tyler
Julia took this one of me after I put her in the her carseat last night.

Christmas morning 2007

Merry Christmas and Red High Heels

First, let me start by saying Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays or Happy Whatever-Else-You-People-Celebrate. ;-) (Remember this is my PC blog...haha!) I hope that everyone is having a great time with their friends and family. After the snow storm we had Sunday night, I was deciding that I'd sooner be somewhere warm and south...New Zealand perhaps? They are having their summer time right now. Although, what is Christmas without snow? It's nice I tell you!!!



So Saturday morning was spent with my dad's family at the Stewart house in Pentwater. It's still weird to be there with no Grandma and Grandpa around. I have fond memories of eating M&M's, getting new jammies and slippers as presents and sitting in the "backroom" playing cards and hanging out with my cousins. Now's it different that I have a family of my own. But, we still manage a good time. Sorry, there are no pictures of this event as I forgot my camera at home. Imagine that heartache. Any fellow family blogger knows that you can't leave the house without a camera in hand. Ugh.



Moving on to Sunday. We spent the afternoon at my mom's parents house in Hart. We're there like every weekend, so it's no biggie to be there. :-) Too much food as usual. My Aunt Pam makes the best shrimp dip. MMMmmm....didn't help my diet, but it was good. The kids had a great time and I did remember my camera, so there will be pictures to follow.



Last night we went to my parents house for dinner and presents. Theresa surprised us with a HUGE gift certificate to Great Wolf Lodge for our family. My parents also got us one. The kids can't wait to go. You've seen pictures of us there before, it's a giant indoor water park in Traverse City. We have a great time (and now I can walk around in a bathing suit not worrying what I look like!! Wohooo!) and the kids love having dinner there. Samantha got me 2 really cute porcelain dolls that are dressed in Chinese Christmas outfits. I couldn't figure out what they were at first, but...they are really neat and will match my collections of Chinese things. Again, I remembered my camera and will be posting pictures.



This leads up to this morning. The kids are heaven unwrapping gifts and showing us everything that they got. Anna loved the white stud belt we got at Hot Topic and Julia really liked her puzzles and Aquadoodle. Cam got a new bike and some really cool new Ps2 games. It feels great to be able to give your kids the things they wanted for Christmas...except.....

RED HIGH HEELS

Yeah...we had one small meltdown over red high heel shoes. Apparently Anna has been listening to Kellie Pickler a little too much on the iPod. LOL! She had wrote Santa to ask for a pair of red high heel shoes and mom wasn't going for it. So hence no shoes to open this morning. She cried, I explained that Santa thought the shoes were a bit too grown up for her and that maybe when she was 8 years old that she could get some. She liked that reasoning, but was still a bit ticked over not getting the shoes. This kid got her OWN iPOD for Christmas! What has this world come to?? HAHAHA! She's a good kiddo, just has some very interesting taste. You'd think that she had a dominatrix as mother. ;-)

Well, here are the family photos that you all have been dying for. Have a great Christmas and I will thinking of all my regular readers today. Take care!!

(FYI...Pictures will come later. Blogger is giving me grief and I can't get to the photos! WEIRDNESS!)

Julia sings