The Bill

The price has certainly gone up substantially since the last time. Let the Second Great Humana War begin!

CI Surgery, Pt. II

Lola's "revision" surgery (nice term for it, huh?) went well and we are just waiting for the incision to heal so we can get her back online. Similar to the first surgery, we took some pictures and you can view them here.

Not so fast!

Lola's cochlear implant has had a catastrophic failure. The internal piece needs to be taken out and replaced. We are working on getting the surgery set up as soon as possible. That means more posts!!

Final Post (Maybe?)

Since we post most things on Facebook now, it looks like this will be the last CheeseMoreCheese post. The end of an era! This coincides nicely with Lola's last week at Heuser Hearing, which we will all miss very much. She'll be mainstreaming full time into the public school after Spring Break! We'll leave you with a great example of how well Lola is doing on her journey. Click below to watch a video from Christmas:

From Rudolph

"Doctor Make Teeth Shiny"

Lola went to her first dentist appointment today (I know, we're negligent). She was hilarious and she loved it. After they were all done, she said "doctor make teeth shiny!"  She got a great checkup -- they said she had beautiful perfect teeth.

4th Annual Number Pictures

Baby Z, Part Drei

Awww, s/he's so shy!

Happy 4th Birthday Lola!

Post-party sugar crash.

Great Ice Storm of 2009

Kentucky was hit hard by an ice storm the last couple of days.  400,000 people were without electricity in the freezing weather and the National Guard has been called in.  Yikes!  We were lucky -- only lost power for about 12 hours.  We also lost the gutters along one side of the house.  You can see how thick the ice was on the tree branches in the first picture . . .

Our back yard . . .

The house across the street looks very bad . . .

Baby Z, Part Deux

We had another ultrasound of Baby Z yesterday.  All the parts are there, but the doctor said we were two weeks behind where we thought we were.  Dunno about that . . . 

With this newfangled technology they've got these days, they were able to give us 3D images of the little guy/girl cookin' up.  Here's a nice foot and crotch shot, for those of you inclined to analyze such things:

And finally, here's a semi-creepy shot of Baby Z looking rather Homer Simpsonish.  The blob on the right is Susan's adorable placenta:

Lola's First Haircut!

Lola went to the salon today for her very first real haircut.  She obviously enjoyed the pampering and the attention.  Thanks Rebecca!

Baby Z Beasley!

Lola found out some exciting news -- she's going to be a big sister! Baby Z is due in May.

Savannah May Beasley

We went up to the Chicago area this past weekend to visit Derrick's brother and family including the newest addition, Savannah May! Lola was much more interested in playing with her cousin Jessie and all her toys than pay the new baby any attention. Every once in awhile she would point and say "baby" and keep on playing.

Where Are You Bus?

Well, Lola got on the bus to school for the first time. Of course, she loved it! It was a little harder on us, I think . . .

Ooh la la!

Lola has become quite interested in mommy's makeup lately. We woke up one morning to find that she had found a lovely shade of red!

The summer has been really busy, and we apologize for not putting up more blog entries. Derrick's first official movie theater event is this Friday - if you're in Louisville, be sure and join us! Check the website for more info: www.louisvillevanguard.com

Just Something Cool

This has nothing to do with Lola, cochlear implants, our family, or anything else. This is just something cool I went and saw this morning. Watch the shorter building in the middle after the puff of smoke on its left edge:

More Songs

Derby Mayhem on Wheels

Lola chose Derby Day, of all days, to try her hand at driving an actual powered vehicle. It was pure terror for the parental units.

Lola and her dad also went to the Pegasus Parade together. Lola was very interested, but was mainly into the horses. She kept saying "ready for horses" when they were coming and "more horses" after they passed. When told she would have to wait for more horses, she got a little upset. So we walked down the side street where the horses were feeding into the parade and there were horses for blocks and blocks! More horses than she could ever hope for! At the end, she said "wow" and I said "yeah." Then she said "Ready for cows."

Bad Bloggers

We have been very bad bloggers, and we apologize. We just recently downloaded our digital cameras and had pictures from way back in December, so I've added several posts going back that far.

Lola's speech is definitely exploding. I had the very good fortune to have just returned from a wild women's weekend in Cape Cod with 5 amazing ladies, and when Derrick and Lola picked me up from the airport, she did not stop talking all the way home. I handed her a shell I had brought her back from my trip, and she took it and said perfectly, "a shell." She didn't repeat it - we didn't even know she knew that word! Derrick also informed me that while I was gone, he called her a baby, and she corrected him, "not baby, girl." It's so exciting because now she's really sharing her own thoughts with us. And we know she's got lots of them, so keep it coming! We thought her energy had reached a whole new level when she turned 2, but it's reached yet another level now that she is 3. Wow! She's definitely keeping us busy!

Snow

What a crazy amount of snow! So much snow, they even closed the library, which never happens! SNOW DAY! We went sledding, we played with the snow inside, we ate snow ice cream, we played hide & seek inside, we built a snowman, and we went for walks. Lola loved the snow, but not so much the cold, wet part of the snow - she didn't last too long outside, but was very happy to play with the snow inside (and eat the snow ice cream!)