Amelia's in school..and loving it!!!!!!

Hello all,

I hope everybody is enjoying a great fall season. It's always easier to say good bye to summer and welcome winter when you don't have winter blast you in the face Oct 1st.

This September and October have been huge months for Amelia. Not only did Amelia start school this year but she also went on a family trip to Newfoundland earlier this month.

Amelia has adapted really well in to her school surroundings , and really loves going to class to see her teacher and class mates, especially her cousin Joclyn . Its great that Amelia has someone she knows in her class that can help with her classmates to understand better what Amelia uses to help her hear . so far Amelia has shown that she has that itch to have a pencil or crayon in her hand. She has started well at writing her letters and numbers , and I have had the great pleasure of having Amelia start to read and that so amazing that I cant even put it in to words. Amelia's family are so proud of her and her older brother Ethan. Ethan sometimes doesn't get the attention that her sister does and yet he does not complain and for a 7 year old her puts up with his sister pretty good , and Mom and Dad both know Amelia does not make that a easy task for him. So if you ever get to meet him , your meeting a pretty special young man in his own rights.

Now on to our trip to Newfoundland...........

I am sure most of you dont know this about me , but before Oct 6th I had two real big fears and 1 of them was flying. At 8 am Oct 6th... Always gone Dad here conquered that with the help of Ethan Amelia and Mom... We all packer our pages and flew to Halifax then again off to gander Nfld.. At the airport we were greeted by Granda Winter , who drove us all to his home on the coast in a small place called badgers quay ... What a special 10 days we had... and for me it was a time I will never forget for so many reasons. We had a week and a half of no cell phones..no sirens..no stop lights!!! Amelia and her brother had the greatest time with there Granda and Nan... Every day there granda would take them to the store ..spoil them... then take them to there wharf to fish..or to the local fishery to catch some rock cod like the one Amelia's holding in the picture. As always the good time had to come to a end , and it was not easy saying good bye but we did have the best time and I have to say, the world feels a little more open to me now that I have got past my fear of flying , so that being said, I know we will go back very soon to visit with our family and friends in Newfoundland.

I have posted a small video of our trip so please enjoy

Till the next time ,

Hug your mate..... they need it as much as you do

Amelia's Daddy

Voice camp Connections

Hello everyone far and wide,

I do hope that you all had the most enjoyable summer , and that everyone made it through safe and sound and maybe just a little tanned.

I thought it was way over do to give everyone a little up date on Amelia , and I have to say she has had the greatest summer yet.

Amelia has just returned
from visiting her Great Grandmother in Newfoundland , and as always she left her mark on the rock with family and friends. Amelia has always been so very unique and very open to her feelings and nothing showed that more then on her return flight from nfld to Toronto. Her grandmother who was on the flight with her informed us when they got home that the trip back was full of unsettling turbulence, and this for Amelia meant it was amusement park ride time. At one point the shaking got so bad that most adults were concerned , but not little A.K what does she say??? " Plane going down ..plane going down????? " with a huge smile on her face. That from what we were told brought some smiles back on peoples faces and Amelia if you have met her , knows that she has always been able to do that . :)

For Amelia and her family the highlight of out family summer time was VOICE camp. VOICE camp is help annually in august at a beautiful camp ground in the Haliburton Highlands. Its gives kids with different hearing levels of hearing loss and there families a chance to get away for some fun, share stories and most of all a real opportunity to meet people that truly do know how you and your child feel cause everyone there has that common aspect of there lives , and to me that is whats best about the camp. Just being amongst so many families that have this commonality made me and I know my wife as well feel a little less alone and we made a few new friendships along the way .

I was truly humbled as well at VOICE camp. We had never been before so we did not know what to expect , so as we were making our way though the first night , a very nice woman came up to Amelia , she had recognized her from this website and then she turned to me and said " your always gone Dad!!!" ( That`s us in the picture above .) I must say that was pretty neat , but what was most special about meeting this woman is that she had told me that our little blog here inspired her to write her own blog and that right there at that very moment made all of this blog worth it. Outside of keeping track of Amelia`s Journey , and the thoughts of a Dad that is always gone, that is the reason I do this ..to help others , to let them see that there not alone , and that regular people like the people in Amelia`s family when they stick together and support each other, can accomplish anything.

I will admit when the lights went out and I had a moment to think about what this woman had said to me.. I cried a couple humble pie tears (haha ya me king crier) I honestly never did think that I would meet someone that followed this and got out of it what I had hoped for so it was really a humbling experience for me .

I hope to have a update real soon as Amelia is set to start kindergarden in sept so that I know will be full of firsts and I cant wait to share them with you all .

Till next Time , stay safe and sound , and remember to put your heart in to everything , as you never know when your actions will become inspirations.

With Love

Amelia's Daddy

Amelia's dancing !!!

Hello everyone,

I hope your all enjoying the approach of summer and good times out doors with family and friends. We up in the Haliburton Highlands are trully enjoying the green trees and all the lakes in the area.

I can not believe that Amelia has had her cochlear implants activated for over 2 years now. The time has flown by quickly and it really has been amazing watching Amelia climb mountain after mountain. Come this September Amelia will start attending JK , and Amelia could not be happier about that. She has been attending day care 3 times a week for months now , and she just loves being with her friends playing and learning.

On Saturday June 6th, Amelia took a big step in her world. She performed in her first dance recital and oh lord was this Dad and her family very very proud. It was great seeing all the kids of different ages performing there routines, there was a lot of talent and by the size of all the performers smiles , the most important thing was reached and that was having a lot of fun.
I did my best to record Amelia performing and I was able to make a small 2 1/2 minute video that I posted on youtube , so please I hope you enjoy a small sample of Amelia live on stage.

I can not put in to words the pride I felt when I watched her on stage, She has never had anything come easy to her, and yet no matter what it is, Amelia always tries her best and to this date has been able to do very well at anything she wants and does really well at the things she loves to do , and she loves to dance!!!

Take care everyone and enjoy the summer that is coming ahead.

Keep your smile bright and heart upbeat!!

Amelia's Daddy

So many changes!!

Hi everyone .. long time , no blog..and yes I know .. I have let a few folks down on that dept.

I dont always find it easy to type things down ..it seems my heart needs to be feeling everything I write , or it just does not come out the way I want it too.. I will try harder..I promise :)

Now on to Ms Amelia,
Amelia has made the biggest strides in verbalizing her self... It seems like every week that I come home, she speaks more and more, and speaks with a greater clarity . She has the grasp of most words she hears and as a result of that she understands what the word means and whats its used for, now if I could only master that!!!!.

In the coming weeks Amelia will start dance class. Everyone in the family has noticed how much she loves to dance.. Just a few weeks ago she danced and sang Beyonce's "Halo" while she watched the music awards with her Grandma Somerville. Just what this world needs ..Amelia as a idol wanna be hahahahaha.

I wish I could say that this journey with Amelia has been all joy, but it has not.. Amelia has found her temper and its a LIVE one.!!
She does her very best to test and test and test her mother's paitence multiple times a day , and her brother has felt the rath of her temper a few times himself.. but being the big brother he is.. he does a real good job at keeping his own temper in check..Way to go Ethan, you have a heart and soul that we wish we had!!

Lastly I want to take a second to talk about Amelia's Mom
This woman has so much on her plate..She cooks she cleans she feeds the dogs she works 3 jobs one of them far away from home, and all this she does mostly on her own. I am hardly home so she does not have a husband to turn to .. It's all by herself and at her own expense.. I cant tell you all how much I wish I could just take her away some where nice , so that she might get a chance to re charge her batteries.. One day Honey.. one day...Thank you Sonya for all that you do , day in and day out ..With out you it all falls apart.. You are the piece that keeps us all together, and please know its not un noticed..I see it every time I go home and see the life in our kids eyes.

Well thats all for now, hopefully I will have some dance pictures to put up soon as Amelia loves to dance in her round in round ( that means dress in Amelia's world) hahaha!!!

Till next time remember...........With out love there is no you and me..with out love there are no children ..with out love there is no world..

Take care everyone.. love you all for reading.

Amelia's Daddy