Tom and Jerry

I was thinking today about how much Kerwin loves Tom and Jerry. He just sits and laughs and laughs. It started one day when we rented a Tom and Jerry video for him. We thought he would enjoy it because it's all action and no dialogue. He watched it over and over again. Then we realized that it was on TV on a regular basis so we started DVRing it (I loooove DVR). I will have to post some video of Kerwin actually watching the show. It's so cute.

We had a great Christmas. We visited with both sides of the family and we are now enjoying a few days at home before we all go back to school. It is so nice that Mike and I have the same breaks (for the most part) as Kerwin. It makes things so much simpler.

I am still feeling great. I am sleeping great and taking full advantage of my time to rest before baby gets here. Baby has been starting to get much more active and I can feel [her] quite often now. The first time I felt [her] kick was at Kerwin's school Christmas party. They had the music going really loud for the kids and I was sitting still watching the kids play a game and I finally felt something. I had been waiting for a couple of weeks thinking it should be any day. So I was ready for it. I go back to the doctor in two weeks. They will do another ultrasound and hopefully we'll be able to see the heart this time and get some confirmation on the gender.

Hope you had a great Christmas. We are looking forward to a blessed 2009.

Kerwin in the paper

Early on in our adoption process, a friend of ours from church, Andy Olsen, approached us to ask if he could write a story about Kerwin and our family. He was not sure exactly what would come of the article at the time. Andy followed us to Haiti last summer and has spent many hours with us documenting Kerwin's first year and a half with our family. Now Andy and his wife Erika are working for Northwest Haiti Christian Mision in various capacities. Tomorrow the article wil come out in the Lexington Herald-Leader. It will be a three-part series on the front page running Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. So check it out if you can get the paper. If not, you can see the article at Kentucky.com.

It's a girl???

I went for an ultrasound yesterday and as best they could tell everything (brain, internal organs, weight, heart rate) looks fine. Now onto the imiportant stuff. Unfortunately, our new little one was being unccoperative already. She (we are calling her a she) didn't really give us a good view of the parts but the tech seemed to think that it was a girl. I'm going to have to take her word for it because my untrained eye was having a hard time telling that it was even a baby. The heart was also difficult to see so they want to do a follow-up ultrasound next visit. So hopefully we'll have a better view next time. For now, we are registering for pink and will start to consider girl names. Yeah!

Top 10 Ways to Raise A Psychologically Healthy Deaf Child

Our sign language instructor gave us this list at our last class. I thought it was good information for us and perhaps for those who support us along our journey.

Top 10 Ways to Raise A Psychologically Healthy Deaf Child
10. Educate yourself on issues related to hearing loss. Find someone who will give you unbiased information about all options.
9. Find a communication method that your child will clearly understand. Use that communication method whenever your child is present.
8. Seek support from family, friends, and professionals to deal with your feelings about your child’s hearing loss.
7. Assume your deaf child can do anything a hearing child can do. Help your child learn to be his/her own advocate.
6. Teach your child about your family, values, and culture. Involve your child in all family activities.
5. Look for and praise your child’s strengths, efforts, and positive actions each day.
4. Teach your child about personal safety, body parts, appropriate touching and ways to ask for help.
3. Introduce your family to deaf adults and children who will be positive role models for you and your child. Include your child in social activities.
2. Participate in your child’s education. Ask your child’s teacher for ways to enhance learning at home.
1. Balance firm and consistent rules and consequences with unconditional love, respect, and acceptance.

By Lisa A. Marshall, Ph.D.