Not so normal thursday night...

Well after work, Ami and I got together to run three miles, this picture is before the run... she's a little slow ;) hehehe

Well we proceeded to run and it's very hot in West Texas weather...

well... duh, it's the desert.

It's very hard to take a picture while running... hahaha

Anyways- we get to the two mile mark and Ami had an attack of Hypoglycemia which in other words is low blood sugar. Ami and I both have it. We stopped running because neither one of us had our phones and I didn't want her to pass out on me! We headed back to the house so she could have some peanut butter crackers to get her blood sugar back up!

mmm, peanut butter crackers. anyways, she rested up and felt better then she had to go pick up her son, Lane (He is soooo cute!!). After that, I normally go to Jiu Jitsu, but after a long busy week and being so exhausted, I decided to take some time off for myself. Big mistake. HA. I sit down to relax and my dogs just decide to pick on me. Marley likes to pick on Maddie and upset her. Look at her here, you can tell in her eyes....

and here is Marley playing "keep away" from Maddie...



Maddie gets tired of it and puts Marley in a headlock... She's a pretty tough pup for her size!

Maddie also has a ear piercing bark.. it's even high pitched for me and I can't even hear that great! Marley is even scared of it...

>>Maddie is right there but you can't see her..

I got fed up with them and decided to take them for a walk because it just wasn't relaxing at all and walks can be relaxing.

Marley does really good on her walks and loves it, Maddie is a whole different story. She likes to walk in between my legs and trip me or sit in front of me like this....



and WHINE to try to get me to pick her up. She also almost got herself ran over twice last night, no joke. She's nuts... but so is Marley! By the time we get back to the house, it's RAINING! It's been so hot and the rain was so nice and cold, we played outside for the whole 5 minutes that it rained!



Then, I finally got to relax on the couch like I wanted to!

Here are a couple of pictures that I thought were funny and wanted to share:





If you're completely deaf, then how do you hear with a hearing aid?

I actually get this question a lot, but I never really gave it a whole lot of thought except... "I just can". Then, Kalee asked me this question the other day and said her friends always ask her that and after that I really started thinking about it and so my Mom put it in a way that I actually understood how I can hear from a hearing aid even though I am deaf.

I have profound hearing loss. In one ear, I have no hearing at all even with a hearing aid. In my other ear, I can hear sounds at 110 decibels, which is the loudness of a chainsaw or a single jet engine. With my hearing aid however, I can "hear" about 55-75 decibels.

They told my parents that it would actually be wasteful to put hearing aids on me because at that level I was only responding to vibrations, not to sounds. Against all odds, with the hearing aids and the speech reading, I can hear. As my mom said, it's a desire to hear and the willingness to put on a hearing aid. If my parents had never forced the doctors to try the hearing aid, I would most likely be totally deaf and not be able to speak and rely fully on sign language. I give my parents so much thanks and credit for where I am today and I'm glad that they fought the doctors to at least try and to give me a chance.

As an added note- My mom says she gives me all the credit for wanting to hear and wanting to know. My first signed sentence was "what's that?" She said that I also had a desire to speak and that I have inflection in my speech which isn't commonly present in deaf people. Thank you Mom for explaining it better and for the sweet comments about me!

I hope this helps y'all understand it better and if y'all have any questions, ask away!

Below are some sites if y'all want to learn a little more about it:

http://www.hearingaidknow.com/2007/03/07/how-loud-is-too-loud-decibel-levels-of-common-sounds/

 

http://www.hearingaidknow.com/2007/06/17/mild-moderate-severe-and-profound-hearing-loss/

 

A Few Things about Me

Hey guys!!

For my first post, I thought I would tell y'all a little bit about my life. First of all, for those of you that don't know, I am deaf. I was born completely deaf. I am the only one in my family that is deaf. Most people can't really tell, but some can. I talk very well, read lips, and wear a hearing aid. Here is a picture of me with my hearing aid on (along with Tara and Jason).

I was born and raised in Midland, Texas. Yes, that is where George Bush's hometown is. Midland is a small town with not much to do, but I love it here.

My first priority in life will always be my family. I was raised by my two amazing parents, Sydney and Rick. I don't know where I would be without them. I was also blessed to have my little sister, Tara. She is and always will be my best friend through everything. Tara has a serious boyfriend and his name is Jason. Jason is pretty cool in my book... I guess ;) I also have a HUGE extended family because my awesome grandparents had seven kids. I have 11 cousins from my aunts and uncles and i'm the oldest of them all and the youngest is 1. My family is pretty crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way because they always will be there for me.

In Feb. of this year, I bought my own house and i'm very proud of myself! I live here with my two dogs and love them to death. Marley is nearly one and she is by far one of the weirdest dogs I know. She is a Red Heeler/Husky mix. She loves people and just loves to love on them. She also loves to "swim" in her water outside. My other dogs name is Maddie and they said she was a lab mix but i'm thinking she is mostly Border Collie. I just got her at the beginning of this month, she is about two months old. She was abandoned and put in a box with her two other sisters outside of an oil company in Odessa. She was covered in fleas and tics when they found her and I wanted to rescue her. Marley and Maddie are getting along great!

I think that's enough for tonight and I will post more when I figure this thing out! :)