Lola REALLY Likes Her New Crayon Markers!

Lola Meets John Coltrane

The Beasleys Get to Stay Home!

We apologize for not keeping up the blog better, but it's definitely been a very busy summer. We have gotten to be at home for a weekend or two here and there, but we've also made trips to Vincennes, Wooster and Columbia, and we have several more trips to go! Always busy... Lola did get her knew Harmony processor on Wednesday July 18th. She wasn't scheduled to get it until December, but somehow our fabulous doctor got us moved up the list. The new processor has a much higher fidelity, so she should be able to differentiate sounds much better. It should also help a lot with music. Derrick played her some John Coltrane when they got home (see next post), and she was definitely intrigued. She is talking a lot more now and her words are becoming clearer. It's all very exciting!

The Beasleys Go to Austin!

Our friends Lana and Ben got married in Austin, so we got to visit our old stomping grounds and see all our great friends. It was Lola's first trip to one of our favorite towns. She once again was an excellent flower girl and made a new best friend, Una (below). It had been 4 years since my last visit, and we cannot let it go that long. It was great fun and we know the nicest people there.

We hung out with a bunch of old friends -- Claudia and Nate's boy William got along famously with Lola.

The Beasleys Go to Tuscaloosa!

The Beasley Clan recently completed a jaunt to beautiful Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the wedding of Susan's dearest friend Cathy. While Susan and Cathy did girlie things, Lola and her daddy did other, even more girlie things at the Children's Museum:

Cue heavenly music . . .

Does anyone need a Lola? We've got a few to spare:

The Signing Fool: Horse

The Signing Fool: Carrot

Of course, Lola charmed everyone with her mad karaoke skilz at the rehearsal dinner . . .

and looked stunning at the wedding in her handmade dress by Sandy Schiavi!

CUT HER OFF!

The Beasleys Go to Los Angeles!

The Beasley Clan recently completed a quick three-day trip to sunny L.A.! Advanced Bionics hosted us and we were able to tour the facility where Lola's robot ear was created. Unfortunately, we can't show you because photographs were not allowed. We did take photos of the kind people there who showed us around. This is Martha and Frank from Advanced Bionics (photos by Lola).

We also visited friends Anne and Paul (not pictured) who showed us around town and took us out for delicious Mexican food and margaritas on Sunday.


We spent the rest of the time going to see various entertainment-related stuff like the diner from Mulholland Drive (Derrick's highlight!) and the house from Six Feet Under:

On Monday we also went to Venice Beach where Lola was able to see the ocean for the first time! We played the classic run-up-to-the-water-and-run-away-from-the-waves game (Susan & Lola's highlight). It was great fun! Lola was somewhat obsessed with chasing pigeons, as you can see in the following video.

Warning: for hardcore Lola fans only!

Lola's Signs part 2

We can't keep up. Not only can we not keep up with her list of all the signs she knows, but we can barely keep up with learning the signs to keep up with her! She does have a show now - she LOVES Signing Time! It's a PBS show, and the library also has it on DVD. She's kind of a Signing Time addict. But we do all learn so many signs from watching. We know all kinds of animals, and she even put together her first signed sentence. Derrick and Lola went to the zoo on Saturday, and she signed to him "Giraffe Drink" when they watched the giraffe bend over and get a drink from the lake. She continues to make lots of sounds too and gets closer and closer to many words. This morning it sounded like she said "dog. She does a great "ball" and "bye-bye."

We were scheduled to be in LA right now to test out new equipment for Advanced Bionics, but the prototype wasn't ready for Lola to test, so we will have to reschedule in April, hopefully. We are really looking forward to getting a tour of the place where the magic happens! Lola is currently trying out a new set of equipment. We are definitely getting used to it, and everyone likes the purple flowery design!

Let's Get Groovin'!

On a trip to Chicago last weekend, Lola visited a Children's Museum in Naperville with Susan, Grandma Sue, Cousin Jessica and Aunt Dole. She banged on drums, played with bubbles and many other incredibly cute things:




Lola has a new dance she loves to perform with her Fridge DJ. At least we know she can hear -- she changes the dance every time the song switches! She also attempts to sign the letters when the Alphabet Song comes on. Again, cute.

Drawing and Chocolate

Lola has recently discovered markers and large, blank surfaces! She loves her bathtub crayons so much that she will stay in there long after the water is gone. The other night she even laid down and closed her eyes while continuing to draw.

Derrick made his first batch of chocolate chip cookies - with double chocolate chips! He can officially do it all now. Everyone was a big fan, including Lola. Enjoy this video of Lola hepped up on goofballs and making her new silly face!

LOLA WALKS!!

This weekend Lola started walking independently, rather than between two people! Watch the excitement in full living color below!

and the chase begins...

Lola has been walking holding a person's hand for ages. In our very first blog post, she is seen holding her dad's hand and walking the hospital hallway. People thought that once she got hooked up, that would be the final piece for her balance, but that came and went, and she was still not walking on her own. So in our new First Steps plan, we started working with a physical therapist, Michelle who is great. She gave us some tips and has been working with Lola, but she let us know that really we were doing all we could. Lola just had to decide to do it because she could do it, she just wasn't. We all felt that being around kids that were walking was going to be what finally got her going on her own. So she started school, our neighbor kids started to walk, she got together with her cousin Jessica.... Finally at our big family get-together to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday, Lola took off! There were 27 of us there that night (Dad said it felt like 40), and 7 of those were walking kids, and I guess it was the last straw. She just started going and she would not stop. She walked between everyone's legs and in the middle of her cousin's game and still kept going. I gave her a bath and as soon as she got out, she was off again. Walking naked through the house, we finally had to catch her to put her diaper and pj's on. And she didn't stop with just walking either - she started going in circles! She even had a ballerina tutu on, so it was even cuter than you can imagine. Going, going, going...we were so happy and so proud! Sunday - wouldn't take one step. I guess she was exhausted. Monday night she started back up again, as you can see in the video in the next post.

What a difference a cord makes

Our dear friend Matthew was visiting us from Texas over the weekend, and Lola's cord from her magnet to her processor snapped on Friday night. Why do things like that always happen on a Friday night? So we started calling the doctor's office in the morning, but later found out that she was out of town. We eventually start calling all our therapists for any suggestions. We were able to get ahold of Paula who also called Elizabeth, and the two of them called all their families until they found someone with an extra cord we could borrow! Thanks again to both of them and to the very nice family for the loan! She was back on that evening! Matthew commented on how interesting it was to see her without it. She was happy all morning, smiley as usual, but as he said, she was really in her own little world. She never makes a sound when she's not hooked up, and she just played by herself. As soon as that magnet hit her head, she was blabbing up a storm and walking from person to person! It was interesting for someone else to witness what a difference it's making to her.

Look Who's 2!

Cyborg Lola Jane celebrated her second birthday yesterday with her cousins Zoe and Vivian who came over for homemade cupcakes. Lola invited all her friends to ArtSparks on Sunday for a rousing afternoon of playing, drawing, building and painting!

Birthday Bash

The Beasley Clan traveled to beautiful Wooster, OH this weekend to attend a dual birthday bash for Lola (2) and great-grandpa Jack (82). We all had a grand ol' time:

Lola opened presents:

Uncle Jim and Mommy tried to teach her how to blow out candles, but she was more interested in the clapping afterward:




Then we all had a delicious piece of cake while Cousin Jessica posed for the camera:



Mammie made Lola a puppet theater for her birthday and we all enjoyed a rousing show with Squallis Puppets until Lola figured out what was going on. It was a very Wizard of Oz moment:






The kiddos then took a bath together to clean off all the birthday cake:



Despite a dog pooping in the car on the way up and some extremely scary weather on the way back, we had a great time!