Communication via signing

Aiden isn't speaking yet but he is communicating as you can see below. He is signing for more food by bringing his hands together at a point in the middle.

First Birthday and First Christmas

We had 2 milestones this month. Aiden had his first birthday party and he also had his first Christmas. His birthday isn't until Dec 31st but we had it early so everyone could come.

Thanksgiving Fun!

Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like a little case of roseola. Aiden started having a fever Wednesday afternoon and it was a roller coaster ride after that. His temperature was up and down between 100 degress and around 104. The fever finally broke Saturday night and Sunday morning when we went to give him a bath we found what you see pictured below. Here is some more info on roseola from the mayo clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/roseola/DS00452

A Year to be Thankful For

It’s almost Thanksgiving and Aiden is almost 11 months old. He’s not far off from being a “big boy toddler” as a friend recently put it. Over the past few months he has reached many important milestones:

He can pull himself up and “creep” along furniture.
He can wave hi and bye-bye.
He can clap his hands when we ask him to (or sing certain songs).
He can eat table foods like eggs, cheese, toast, and tonight he had macaroni and cheese!
He can tell us what a “horse says” by blowing raspberries.

Got his first two teeth.

We are so thankful this Thanksgiving to have such a happy and healthy little boy. Aiden has had his struggles his first year of life, but he is so resilient and strong willed. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged us and supported us along the way. We are excited to see how he will change in the months and years ahead!

This past weekend, Aiden had his first “official” photo session for Christmas pictures. You can go to this link to view the pictures: http://www.jennifer.smugmug.com/

Go down to “Johnson Gallery” and the password is “Laura”.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Party!

We attended Emerson's first birthday/halloween party on Saturday. Aiden had lots of fun and got to hang with his new friend Emerson.

Peekaboo!

Recorded this in the car with my cellphone so the quality isn't too great. Enjoy!

If your happy and you know it....

CLAP YOUR HANDS!
Aiden has started clapping along to this song.

Poor little guy

Aiden wasn't feeling well yesterday afternoon and this what I found in the back seat when I got him home from daycare.

Saturday morning at Ashland

We spent saturday morning at the Henry Clay estate taking some pictures of Aiden. Here are some of the better ones.

Helmet has arrived.

Aiden's cranial molding helmet finally arrived and he is taking to it like a duck to water. The only time it bothers him is if he gets hot since it makes his head a little sweaty. Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks. The last picture was taken tonight when Laura went to check in on him before bed, he had a long day.

Mr. Curls!

Here are some pictures after tonight's bath. As you can see red and curls are now permanent.
Our blog is also now part of Deaf Village.com, a community of online blogs/websites of deaf and hard of hearing children and families.

Update for August

Aiden is almost 8 months old, but is almost as big as a one year old! He is tipping the scales at 20.5 lbs.! He is approximately in the 75th percentile of height and weight and 97th percentile in head circumference. He has reached many milestones in the past few weeks. He is now sitting without support for longer stretches of time (several minutes). Some nights Aiden looks like a steamroller rolling across the living room floor, although he much prefers rolling so his left ear is down against the floor. He is learning to “speak” new sounds, including the long i sound and the h sound (which is a very quiet sound, so we’re quite pleased.) He can randomly say mama and dada, although he doesn’t use it referring to us yet. Sometimes, when he’s really cranky, it sounds like he is saying “I want my mama.” He’s done it on several occasions and it always gets us tickled! He is a quite a flirtatious and giggly little boy. He loves to smile and laugh all the time.

Most of you know, Aiden has plageiocephaly (it sounds worse than it is, it just means a flat head). He has a customized helmet on order to help alleviate pressure on the back of his head and apply pressure to the sides. This will help his head shape become more “normal.” UK fans will love the new look – just in time for football season. Pictures of his helmet will follow, once he is suited up ready to take the field!

Can't get enough bluegrass

We found out something interesting tonight. Aiden loves music, especially bluegrass. We plopped in front of the Grascals on KET tonight and he was hoooing and haaing all over the place. Here are some recent pictures including his Grascals obsession.

Long Day

This is what a long day looks like.

Shakertown

We visited Shakertown today for breakfast. We went for Laura's brother's 24th birthday. It was a beautiful morning, not too hot with a little breeze. Here are some pics of Aiden's first Shakertown visit.

Aiden 2.0

Aiden got his hearing aid and it is like he is truly hearing sounds. His face lights up everytime we show him a toy that makes noise, like he is hearing it for the first time. Two nights ago he slept from 9:00PM to 6:00AM, although he didn't give us repeat performance the next night. So far he loves bananas, tolerates sweet potatoes and hates squash. As you can see from the picture below he likes to "help" and he still has his red hair and blue eyes.

Yum, Carrots!

This is either Aiden trying to eat carrots or a picture of him with facial hair.

Slobber Monkey

Aiden is getting to the point where he is constantly doing the following.

Hearing Aid

Today, we went to order Aiden's hearing aid and to get more information about unilateral hearing loss. We learned many interesting things. Here is some information about why Aiden will benefit from his hearing aid:

"Children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) can be at risk for academic, speech-language, social, and emotional problems, and often require special services to address these needs. Children with UHL do not have the advantages of binaural hearing (hearing with both ears), and consequently have difficulty localizing sounds, detecting/understanding speech directed to the impaired side, and understanding speech in noisy and/or reverberant environments. " From About.com

One interesting point they made was that the left side of brain processes speech. The hearing from the right ear is also processed on the left side of the brain. Because both of these processes occur on the same side of the brain, he has an advantage. If it had been the other way around, then it would be a little more challening learning to speak. Once he gets his hearing aid, his hearing will be very close to normal. The audiologist said he should have excellent "clarity" in that ear.

His hearing aid is an excellent hearing aid. It is programmed by a computer to adjust the volume for various frequencies, as needed. He will need less amplication with the lower frequencies and more for the higher frequences.

We opted for a UK blue hearing aid and a white and blue ear mold. This will make it easier to find if it falls out (or gets pulled out... he loves touching his ears!) plus we had to do UK blue becuase many of you know how much Aiden loves the C-A-T-S! Once he gets older, if he would like, we can order him a flesh colored one with a clear ear mold. Insurance will cover a new hearing aid every three years.

We were surprised at how small the hearing aid will be. Below are a couple of pictures, so you can get an idea of size. To us the most important things are his speech development and safety, both of which will be aided with the hearing aid. We look at the hearing aid as a piece of equipment, to help him get the most of out life. To us, it's no different than a pair of glasses some people need to improve their vision.

Finally, we are working with The Lexington Hearing and Speech Center. If you would like more information about the center, you can click on this link: http://www.lhscky.org/

Aiden hates tummy time

We are trying to do more tummy time with Aiden to help with his neck muscle development but as you see below that isn't working out to well. He is now up to 15lbs 3 oz.

Hearing Test

We went for a 3rd hearing test today. He has failed the previous tests in the left ear and this time he also failed. We have a follow up appointment with the ear doctor so they can perhaps determine what is causing the hearing loss. We are also going to make an appointment with another doctor to get a hearing aid so that his speech development won't be affected.

The last month

The last month has been interesting. He has been gain weight normally and is now up to 14 lbs. He has gone through several illnesses in the last month. He first had a bronchial problem which required him to be on a neubulizer which gave him vapor meds. After that he moved onto an ear infection which he is still getting over. Laura took him to the doctor today and he now has GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease). This would explain the problems we have had with feeding him. He will go on meds for that as soon as the insurance company approves it. The medication is very expensive although we would only have to still pay a $10.00 copay. Here are some pictures from Aiden's first Easter/My (Kelly's) Dad's birthday.

Aiden and Poppy Steve

Aiden, Mommy and Daddy

Aiden and Aunt Lisa

7 weeks and smiling

It has been a interesting 7 weeks and Laura and I are still learning as we go. Aiden is now in full time day care and is settling into that just fine. He has started smiling and sort of giggling and we were lucky enough to get a picture of it last night. Next post will be around Mar 4 when he is scheduled for his 2 month appointment with the doctor.

1 Month Old

Today Aiden is 1 month old. He has changed a lot over the past month but he still has his blue eyes and red hair. He is no where close to sleeping through the night but we hope that will change in the next few weeks. He is eating well and gaining weight. He is almost up to 10 lbs.

2 Weeks

Aiden has now passed his 2 week mark. He had his 2 week appointment on Monday and he is back up to 8 lbs 6 oz. We will go back in one more week to recheck his weight. They like newborns to be back at birth weight by 2 weeks and he was 6 oz shy. We took some time to take some pictures with Laura the other day and below is the result.

Special Delivery

UPS made a stop at our house today. Funny thing is we weren't expecting anything. To our suprise it was a gift from AAA where Laura works.

Aiden's jaundice has cleared up and he has started gaining weight. He is now burning through formula like crazy. We want to thank everyone for everything through this period of adjustment with the baby.

Blue light special!

We had our first followup appointment today and found out a couple things. He is now down to 8lbs from the initial 8lbs 12 oz. His level of jaundice has increased enough to require a billi light. The picture below is him using the billi light when we put him down to sleep this afternoon. We will try him on this for the next couple days and will followup with the pediatrician.