We have a new sound to report:) because we live in a community with a army base every morning and night someone plays the taps....on the bugel its always nice to hear!!! Well Aubrey heard it for the first time in her life! I know i hear it from our house...when windows are open always.....we are about 5 blocks further out from the school.......but even at that the school is about 2 miles away!!!! YEAH AUBZ

Cochlear Limited is undertaking a voluntary recall of the unimplanted Cochlear Nucleus CI500 cochlear implant range. While less than 1% of CI512 implants have failed since launch in 2009 , Cochlear has identified a recent increase in the number of Nucleus CI512 implant failures. In an abundance of caution and with our recipients in mind, Cochlear has issued a voluntary recall of the Nucleus CI500 range of cochlear implants while it further investigates the issue. No implants outside the Cochlear Nucleus CI500 range are affected by this voluntary recall including Nucleus Freedom implants which remain available. The Nucleus 5 external devices (Nucleus CP810 Sound Processor) and any previous generation sound processors are not affected by this recall. It is important to note that all existing Nucleus CI512 implant recipients can continue to use their system as normal. If a Nucleus CI512 failure occurs, the implant safely shuts down. In the event of a failure, recipients can be re-implanted with the Nucleus Freedom implant range which remains available. Nucleus Freedom is fully compatible with the Nucleus 5 Sound Processor System which is not affected by this recall. For people considering a cochlear implant, Cochlear recommends the use of the Nucleus Freedom range of Cochlear implants which are fully compatible with the Nucleus 5 sound processor system. This combination of Nucleus Freedom and Nucleus 5 sound processor system does not sacrifice any of the performance benefits of the Nucleus 5 processor system. For more than 25 years, cochlear implant reliability has been of paramount importance to Cochlear, and we remain committed to providing high quality, high reliable cochlear implant systems.

Good Morning:)
I am so excited to be back into the routine of school. It feels good! I will admit it is very busy for us, but busy children are happy children!! and that makes for a very happy mom:)
Aubrey and I had a conversation this morning about her new "mapping" for her implant and she said she "LOVES IT" she hears the whoosin sound that the toilet makes. She knew the toilet makes sounds, but she now hears the "woooSHHHING" sound. It is amazing what a little tweak can do! Honestly, she now can hear the SHHHHHH. WOW! AND the one complaint was the bell at Great falls High...it was too loud and hurt, she really hated it! Well yesterday, she said the first time it rang she didn't hear it...."because I was so focused on what i was doing" and then the second time it rang, it was soft, she knew it was the bell, but it didn't hurt or overwhelm her any longer. These may seem like such small things but as i think about it, I am so amazed.....it is so awesome! who would be excited about the woooSHING sound of a toilet? WE ARE, WE ARE!!!

~Been a LONG time~~

Afternoon everyone!
my mind is racing and i feel like i have so much I need to share! I need to make it a point to write at least once a week! if not every day, especially since Aubrey is in high school and new things are happening:)
Well lets think here for a moment....We are headed to Belgrade Montana tomorrow too see out audiologist from Denver! I guess she can come here to Montana three times a year without getting her licence here and she has a LOT of Montana kids....thought it made sense to come here at least a twice a year and do mappings!! We are excited! I HATED that drive to Denver!!! So tomorrow we will learn exactly what Aubrey is hearing and how she is hearing it! We have yet to even have one mapping since she was activated, it has only been barley 6 months!
Life has been awesome for Aubrey, she now is a high school student!!! wow, I feel old! But she seems to be so "normal" I watch her and every time i see her doing sports, expressions of silence or even studying....my eyes weld up with tears. She is so AMAZING. So strong, such a go getter! Nothing has slowed that kiddo down. She is involved in high school volleyball....she is actually good too. She wants nothing more then to do more and do better. She wants to learn how to be a score keeper, not exactly sure what the official name is for those people in VBALL....but she wants it:) I sometimes get lost watching the interpret and i drift off to my brain and thinking to myself, wow, she could be the next president, watch out Obama:) Aubrey See's nothing as a challenge....she See's what she wants and dives right in for it! Why am i amazed, well can I be honest? yes, sure I can this is MY BLOG:) Well as a hearing person i was clueless as to what Aubrey was going to turn out to be, I was scared of what kind of limits this was going to put on her....I didn't know and understand deafness, implants, hearing aids. I always caught myself wondering how and if she was going to be able to do certain things. I was scared. I remember the day Aubrey and I had the conversation about babies, she came to me with tears in her eyes, wondering if she would be able to be a mommy~~~now i know nothing is wrong but she cant hear, but i couldn't answer that for her. I didn't know. I remember wondering about sports, how can she play, her ability is there but would they let this "deaf kid" play? I didn't know....I remember wondering HOW ON EARTH can she drive? not that she isn't smart as a whip....but how would she be able to know the fire truck is a block away racing to whiz past her. I said something a few lines up and as i re-read that word "limitations" I can say I am learning that I can be the one to limit her if I am not careful.....I have met a few AMAZING people who are involved with the deaf community elsewhere and I have learned so much in such a short time. Whenever there are questions and ones that i would be scared to say out loud I truly know Davida will give it to me like it is! I have learned that I need that support! I need to explore deaf culture, hard of hearing or not I can understand and it is my job to learn and pass on this gift of acceptance to others along my journey:)
~~The sounds just keep coming for Aubrey...the wind, the waterfalls, the birds chirping (if it is a crow) the jingles of the dogs collar, the obnoxious typing on the computer keyboard:) other people mowing their lawns....the car turns signal...sweeping the floor, whatever that kind of sound makes. OH and when you are in the gym and that crazy scretcky sound the shoes make on the gym floor, that one drives her crazy!!! The part that I really love to hear is Aubrey correct her sister....she is often teling madie that she says something wrong and teaches her the correct way:) that to me is a neat moment!!!
~~So let me end this blog now by saying I am so blessed and I am so proud! I am going to make a better effort at blogging....sharing our life, i know I have learned things from others along this path, and I want to be able to share our experinces in hopes something might strike a cord with someone else!!!

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╚╗╔╝☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*•.¸☆★☆¸.•°*”˜♥
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╚══`.¸.MY FAMILY

Well it has been a while since i have sat down and wrote a entry in our journey, so here I am. I must say that this process is mpt for the weary, nor a quick fix, it is exactly what the title of my blog is...a journey. You must be committed to this process and make sure that everyone is keeping busy and challenging you (Aubrey)keeping everyone on their toes!
I would love any ideas on listening games and things that you have had success with....everything and anything are a great thing to add to our already large list! Please throw out ANY and ALL ideas...I want to make sure that we are keeping her brain busy. I did have to get after her school today as they don't think her auditory training takes priority...they seem to think that she needs to get caught up from the weeks she missed as we were in Denver having surgery for the implant! So that was a challenge, I am honestly surprised at the lack of care and lack of leadership they had taken. so again anyone with ideas please drop me a note...
As to Aubz and her hearing it has been a exciting thing to be apart of..to see her eyes go big thinking something didn't make noise and all of a sudden hearing it for the first time. The other day she texted me saying "do you realize how much noise the broom makes when you sweep" nope, not at all...haha that was just one of those things i tune out! She seems to be a little overwhelmed when there is lots of background noise~~trying to get her brain to process it all

~~~day 3, really:)

Well today is Sunday afternoon and we are so ready to go home! We miss Madeline and Dad so very much! As much as the Ronald McDonald House is AMAZING and so wonderful, it is NOT home:) These people here are one in a million, everyone has a different story and it is as unique as a zebra print! The one thing that I have really learned is we as people need to show more compassion, we need to reach out more! everyone somewhere is having a bad day...a bad moment... We don't know what is going on in their lives, and who are we to judge. That almost sounds funny~~coming out of my mouth, because I know I have a strong attitude and opinions...But something in the last few weeks has blossomed inside!
~~~~~Before i go on to chat about Aubrey...please send hugs and loves and healing thoughts to DENVER, the Children's hospital, and the families who have such heavy hearts!!~~~~~~

****We went to the Denver Zoo yesterday and truly it was a day that I will never forget! just the excitement in my daughters eyes, sharing such a fun filled day. We also had crazy Moe girl come from Texas her wonderful boyfriend Jason and Mama Moe to share the ZOO experience with! Once I get home to MY computer I will post more pictures, and the few videos we have, so much we share on facebook too, so if any of you are not on my friends list reading this...feel free to ask for a invite:) ANYWAY, we did learn that the birds, which she has so wanted to hear are to high of a pitch so we need to chat about that when we see Jennifer on Monday. The geese were out like crazy and those guys she heard! I think she was ready to kick them:) As we were going from all the exhibits she was just in love with those big animals and amazed at the Bright colors of so many of them. The elephants and monkeys and zebras...OH the apes stole our hearts. As we were walking by the "horse" exhibit, not sure what exactly they were....not a horse not a mule but a ancestor of a horse....they were making their sounds (neigh), Aubrey stopped us because she heard something she wasn't sure what exactly it was. It happened again, I had to quickly pull together my world to think about what was going on and what sounds she could be talking about....as it happened again he turned to see them and that was it....she had never experienced the sounds of a horse! wow, think about that....a simple sound that I have heard a million times....this time was the best of the best! At the end of our day we ended it in the gift shop~~~wow, does Denver have a gift shop, it was two floors. We were on a mission:) A very nice older lady was working there and she immediately came to us and wanted to help us....she says 'now tell me what you need' inside my head I was worried her arms were bigger then my basket!!! So after naming everything we wanted to all the special people back in MONTANA...this woman, says tell me your story, my husband is a doctor. So we shared little pieces of our journey and this woman was now standing in front of me with tears welding in her eyes. She expressed how beautiful Aubrey was and how amazing her voice was....I wanted to take her home with me (she reminded me of the little Sicilian grandma, and she needed to fit in my back pack) Then we talked about her heart surgery and she shared with me that her husband was a cardiologist...OH, this woman was amazing! she was so sweet and so compassionate! So after a huge chunk out of my wallet we were on our way back to the RMH.
******Then she was off again, this time to a LACROSSE game, and that even got a rise out of her, she was excited to hear the buzzer...and she giggled when she had to take off her processor when the woman was screaming at the referees...she was a little angry and very LOUD!!! but it was nice, it was a great experience:)
*****coming home, watching her take off her processor, it was like AHHHH, this is great! Aubz said...that was a great feeling for her. At times just taking it off and being in a quite world:)

Day 3