The Ensign Family: December 2011

11 December 2011

Blessing Day

December 11, 2011

Blessing Day

Today I am a proud Mama. We blessed Kelsey at church today. She looked beautiful and never even cried; even with 11 men standing around her. She was blessed to be an adventurous spirit, and to have much patience and love for those around her. Thank you to all the family members that traveled to be to our meeting at 9 am. For the family that wanted to be there, but could not, your spirit and love was felt. Thank you all for your love and support!

Kelsey is a little angel that has come to our family. She is such a happy, calm, peaceful baby. She absolutely adores people. If you make eye contact with her you are most likely going to get a smile from her that will melt your heart. I treasure the moments I get as her earthly mother. I love to snuggle with her. I love holding her and talking with her. It has been so fun having another baby in our home. She brought a piece of heaven with her to share with our family. I am grateful for my bright, smiley, blue eyed baby girl. She is a ray of sunshine and makes all those around her happy. I love you Kelsey girl!

09 December 2011

Bedtime Story

Usually the kids will pretend to be asleep so I will carry them up to their beds.

This night they really were asleep.

As often as possible, I try to "tell" the kids a bedtime instead of "reading" the kids a bedtime story. This means, however, that I have to be creative at coming up with new stories all the time. When I just can't seem to bring my 'A' game in the creativity department... I usually end up ripping off the storyline to some movie the kids have never seen. Most of the time I can come up with stories that keep the kids entertained. Recently our stories have been lasting several nights before reaching their conclusion. Last night we finished up one of our multi-night stories, but I had a tough time finishing after Cassidy asked a funny question.

Brief synopsis of where we were in our story....

"The two children are attempting to find treasure in the dark cave. They are using the light from the boy's watch to explore the cave. Together they find shapes carved into the cave room floor. There were Squares, Circles, and Triangles. The kids began to follow the pattern of shapes..."

Cassidy loudly interrupts: "Dad, there were no rhombuses!?"

Sadly I had failed to include the wonderful rhombus shape in the cave floor carvings. I know...careless on my part. It is nice to know she is paying attention at school.

05 December 2011

Kelsey Update

We have had a bit of a busy month as we continue to learn all that we can about Kelsey's hearing loss and the options that are available to us. The next logical step in our adventure with Kelsey is to determine IF or to what extent Hearing Aids may provide sound to her. To do this we visited with a very helpful Audiologist who created an ear mold for Kelsey. This is done by attaching a small piece of foam onto the end of a string. The foam is placed into the ear canal to ensure nothing gets past, and then the ear is filled with a pink silicone like substance.

Once the plaster like material has dried it can safely be removed.

The ear mold below was then shipped away where a company will make the actual piece that will fit inside her ear and attach to the hearing aid. Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, we needed to wait two weeks to get her molds back.

While waiting for her ear molds to be shipped back to us we visited an Opthamologist to ensure Kelsey's vision was free from any abnormalities; mainly Ushers Syndrome. We were less concerned about this appointment as she smiles whenever making eye contact with us.

Kelsey's exam room.

Waiting for the Eye Doctor. All of the results from her vision tests came back normal.

Before Kelsey could be fitted with her new Hearing Aids we once again visited with the Audiologists who performed an additional hearing test. The results of this test were then used to program her new Hearing Aids to the appropriate frequencies.

The sticker on her shirt says, "I had a hearing test."

Finally her ear molds arrived in the mail and earlier today we once again traveled to meet with the Audiologist to have her fitting for her hearing aids. Unsure the extent in which these hearing aids may assist her, we are simply borrowing these aids "on-loan" for a three month trial period.

Mom and Dad taking turns putting her hearing aids on. After a little practice and some very patient cooperation from Kelsey we started to get the hang of it.

Both Hearing Aids on for the first time.

We will continue to explore all avenues available to us. Kelsey is such a sweetheart of a baby. Other than choosing to have a very late bed time, she sleeps through the night and is very happy during the day. As we continue to learn more and explore other avenues we will continue to update this blog with her adventures. Thank you to all of our family and friends for their continued love and support.

Cassidy's REFLECTIONS

This year Cassidy entered the "Reflections" contest in two categories: Visual Arts, and Literature. We are proud of her and the lessons she learned while thinking about this years' theme- DIVERSITY MEANS...