Long Time, No Post

So Hi! How have you been? I'm alright.... It's been awhile.... Did you miss me? I missed you... I've been meaning to write for some time now, I just haven't. I'm a horrible friend, I know.

So what's going on? Well not a whole lot here. Just a few things have changed. Since I last posted (August of last year) my family and I have been learning sign language, I got a job as a special education aide, and Lois finished her masters classes.

If you don't recall my youngest son was born deaf, hence us learning sign language. It is a very interesting, challenging, and literal language to learn. Also the deaf community is amazing. Recently we went to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Conference in Madison, WI. We attended a number of sessions about a variety of topics related to the deaf and H.H. community. But by far, the most interesting and educational part of the conference was just being around the deaf community. When we attended my wife and I had only been learning sign language for about 3 months, but we found that we were able to understand and communicate with so many people there.

We were also able to talk with a number of people who were in the same boat as us (hearing parents, no known family history of hearing loss) and had had a child with profound hearing loss. We were able to connect with them and see how they were handling things. Some of them had decided to go the same route as us (cochlear implants) while others had decided to stick with only signing.

Our oldest son, who is hearing, within the first couple hours of being at the conference made a friend. While this isn't all that uncommon for him, the fact that the little boy that he met and befriended was deaf and he didn't care was awesome! The best part was that the boy, who is only a year older, is from the next city over and wants to come over and play! So next week they are coming over! We are all excited. The mother and the little boy are both deaf, the father and the youngest son are both hearing. It will be an interesting and entertaining night I'm sure.

Speaking of the Cochlear Implants, the little woman and I have been talking about whether or not to have bilateral (both ears) or unilateral (only one ear) implanted. We have finally come to this point. After all the doctors appointments and all the months of waiting we finally have made it to the implant time. We originally decided with bilateral and that is what was sent to the insurance for approval, but now Lois is having second thoughts. While at the conference we met a 15 year old young lady who only had one implant and was very happy with it. She functioned just fine and had made the decision that she didn't want the other side implanted.
This put the doubts into Lois' mind. I on the other hand am still firm on bilateral. There are so many advantages to have both ears implanted. To name a few, sound location will be much easier, comprehension is faster, and it just makes sense to have both ears working. Yes they may come along with technology that can restore hearing, but that technology isn't anywhere near being ready.

Another subject change. My new job. As I mentioned earlier I am now gainfully employed. I work as a Special Education Aide at a semi-local middle school. Although I am not certified to teach Special Education I am working in a special education setting. It is a field that I had previously considered going into. I am really enjoying it. I work with two students every day and each day is a new challenge. My cooperating teacher (for lack of a better term) is a lot of fun. She is around the same age and has the same humor as I do so we get along well. My students have a number of different challenges. Once of them I am slowly teaching sign language too and it really seems to be helping. The other student is one who has some social problems as well as a learning disability. Each day is tiring and frustrating, but when I look at the progress the students are making it makes me so happy that I am doing what I am doing.

Last, but certainly not least, Lois got her masters degree. While this isn't a huge surprise, it's a great moment in our lives. She has been wanting to get her masters for some time now and she was finally able to do it! I am so proud of her. She now has a masters in marketing psychology. She is awesome and I can't wait to attend her graduation ceremony in June.

Well that's really all that's all that's new. I'll try to blog more often..

Superman!