Happy Holidays!

Sorry we've been such bad bloggers! Quick update: Lola is constantly surprising us with her language development. She loves the alphabet and can say all the letters and sign them. She likes to point to them and say them aloud. Her speech is getting clearer all the time. And she's finally using her language to tell us what she wants - during one of our many car trips this past week, she asked "where's cookie?" with both sign and vocalizing. We'll post more soon. Hope you all had lovely holidays!

Holiday Family Time

We were lucky to squeeze in family time with both sides for the holidays. Susan's entire family got together for the weekend, and we were with Derrick's family for the actual holidays. Lola and her cousin Jessica had a wonderful time together and were so cute on Christmas morning with the presents and boxes and wrappings. Good times!

1st Annual Louisville Cookie Party

We had our first cookie party inviting nieces and neighbors. I've been making holiday cookies with my sister supposedly since I was born, so I wanted to start the tradition with Lola in our house. We had a great time - they all made very beautiful cookies! A quick check for Lola's hearing: just say the word "cookie" - I swear she can hear that from across the room over other conversations.

The Gash: one year later

We couldn't possibly imagine last year at this time that this scar would ever heal flat, but it has! I've kept her hair trimmed to even out her side mullet, and it's almost even now, so we might just have to let it grow and see what that looks like. Although she does look awful cute with short hair!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

One Year Hearing Anniversary

It's hard to believe, but we started this blog over a year ago on the day that Lola had her implant surgery. She was "turned on" September 20th 2006, so we celebrated her "hearing birthday" by going to a party Thursday night (see picture) and a concert Friday night with Uncle John and cousins Zoe and Vivian in Jeffersonville. Sometimes it's hard not to compare her to other children her age or younger and see how much they are talking, but then we are reminded that it's only been a year that her implant has been activated and she is making incredible progress. If you compare her to a one year old, she is right on track. I think this great video will give you an idea of how well she's doing.

Lola has really been vocalizing lately. This video may seem like regular baby babble to most people, but it's a big step for us! Remember, she's completely deaf.

Notice the stylish Four Roses Bourbon tattoo on her arm!

Lola on Horseback

The Beasley/Dognaux clan took a short trip to Barren River State Park in southern Kentucky this weekend. Susan attended a conference on Monday and Tuesday while Derrick and Lola went swimming and rode horses. Lola's definitely a Kentucky girl (although Susan constantly has to remind me that Lola was actually born in Indiana); she couldn't get enough of that horse! We had to take her kicking and screaming all THREE times she rode Sam. Oh, and the woman that runs the stables has a cochlear implant!

Born cowgirl.I'm not quite sure where she got this, but Lola kept waving one hand in the air like she was in a rodeo!

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!