Sunday, September 30, 2012

The eyes have it



At Jacob's 3 month old check-up it was noted that he had clogged tear ducts in both of his eyes.  They had been that way since he was born; getting all gunky with yucky green stuff each morning. The pediatrician recommended I wipe them with warm wet washcloths several times a day and I did.  But nothing changed.  

By the time he was 5 months old I was beginning to be concerned about the upcoming 6 month check-up so I took the advice I had received from more than a few mommies and squirted breast milk in his eyes.  Jake, I am sorry if you are reading this as an adult and are appalled, but that's what I did, and guess what?  The next day your left eye was clear and never became clogged again.  

The right eye however, would not clear no matter what I tried.  So at the one year check-up the pediatrician said it was time to address this and have a specialist look at it.  We went to eye surgeon Dr. Brooks and he recommended Jake's right eye be aspirated.  "Such a simple procedure, it'll be over in 10 minutes, no side effects... but we will need to put him under anesthesia and be at the hospital.  But don't worry."  Yeah, okay, sure, no worries.  AAAAHHHH!  

I can't imagine the stress of having a child undergo a procedure that is actually dangerous, (as I know some of you dear friends have had to do,) because I was very stressed about this. So stressed in fact that I rearranged the living room furniture the morning beforehand and washed all the bedding in the house.  (I like distractions.)  

Adding to my stress was the fact that Rob was unavailable (due to a work commitment) and Jake and I needed to be at the hospital at 6 am.  My sweet sister offered to drive down and help with the big kids, but thankfully a woman from church generously offered to take Charlotte and Toby at 5:15 am and even got Charlotte to school for me.  (While managing her own 5 children's morning routines.) Thank you, thank you, thank you!  (Also, Pam, I fully expect you to make that trip sometime in the near future now just to play with me.)

So... the procedure DID go smoothly and WAS over with quickly.  And now nearly a week later, Jakey can see clearly now the gunk is gone.  He can see all obstacles in his way.  Actually, he had no problems seeing before, but isn't that a great song?  

Dr. Brooks did tell me there is a 1 in 20 chance that his eye will re-clog itself because his passageway, or whatever, is very narrow on one side.  (I'm so technical, huh?)  If that happens, then Jake will need a procedure to put in tubes- similar to when kids have tubes put in their ears.  But thankfully that is unlikely, and so far all looks well.  I am very thankful for modern medicine and that this was not a lifelong problem for Jake as it may have been in days gone by.  That said, I hope we don't have to go to the hospital again anytime soon.  For that matter, I hope YOU don't have to go to the hospital anytime soon either.  Let's just all be healthy and not go to the hospital, k?  

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Toby is grrrreat!

We've just recently celebrated Toby's 4TH birthday!  My little man is getting all grown up. For his birthday, he wanted us to go the zoo together, (like we did for Charlotte's birthday last year,) and he wanted a yellow cake, with chocolate frosting and a T-Rex, and a soccer ball on it and his favorite colors blue and green... but we'll get to that in a moment.

 These are a pair of robots, that Toby built, dancing. I don't know why he poses like this so often.

This is a fort that Toby built during Jake's naptime one day.  He truly is our little engineer. 

For his birthday, like I said, we went to the Riverside Zoo in Columbia, SC.  This time we took the tram to visit the Botanical Gardens for the first time and they were really nice.  This was in the little children's area and you could play music on it by hitting it with a stick like a xylophone. 

We have to ride the carousel whenever we go to the zoo.  (Jakey loved this.) 

 Almost got all 3 kids' attention.

Our big 4 year old boy had a great, sweaty day.  It was 96 degrees out by the time we left in the afternoon.  Around Toby's neck he is proudly wearing his new "finoculars" he picked out in the gift shop as his birthday present. 

This is his soccer, dinosaur, blue & green cake.  It is not pretty. 

But he liked it.  :) 

Hmmm, I wonder what he wished for. 

Toby is also playing soccer this season and as a veteran soccer player, is doing much better.  His team is called the Rapids, but he thinks it is called the Rabbits.  Goooo Rabbits! 

 Hangin' around with Coach Nick.

He really has improved and his coach this season is much more geared toward 3-4 year olds (yay!) Whenever Toby kicks the ball he yells, "heeee-yah!"

I seriously don't have words for how much I love this sensitive, sweet, handsome little man.  Every year I worry that he will grow out of wanting to cuddle with his mom or telling me his secrets, but thankfully it hasn't happened yet.  I hope he never does!  It will be a very sad day if and when it happens.

Here is Toby's birthday interview:

What is your favorite color? Blue and green and brown.
What is your favorite food? Banana and oranges and apples and pineapple and broccoli and peas and cranberries. (this is a much healthier list than last year.)
What do you like to play? Build with my blocks and look at my fish and soccer and feed my fish.
What's your favorite animal? A frog and an elephant.
What's your favorite movie? Blue's Clues and Batman and Spiderman.
What's your favorite song? "The Snowman melted in the sun" (Once there was a snowman.)
What do you want to be when you grow up? The sign maker (he's fascinated by road signs right now,) and I'm gonna build houses too, but not building roads, only houses, and I'm gonna be in a dumptruck.
What's your favorite thing to do with Charlotte? We love to get flowers for you (me- awwww.)
What's your favorite thing to do with Jacob? Sword fight with him carefully.

PS.  This is my 300th blog post, and I've now been blogging for 6 years.  Time flies.  ;)