The Future of Emma's Eyes...

Oh, what a week! I took Emma to the eye doctor on Friday...the wait is always so long...especially for a 5-year old! We got there about 15 minutes before her appointment, at 2:05pm and didn't leave the office until 5:00pm! CRAZY! This was considered her "annual" appointment, so they did all the basic measuring, examining, measuring, dilating, waiting for the eyes to dilate, measuring, examining, waiting, then FINALLY get to see Dr. Chris. What a pain! Fortunately, I was unhappily expecting all this waiting, so I brought paper and a pen (which Emma drew some FABULOUS pictures of our family and a family of butterflies and ladybugs!), her Ariel (Little Mermaid) barbies (two of them), and then when that was boring her, I had games on my cell phone she played with.

So once we got to see Dr. Chris. I pulled out these pictures. Contrary to what they look like, they are NOT mirror images! They were taken one after the other...this is what her eyes do! Once I showed them to Dr. Chris, he totally agreed with me that they have not gotten better and we are at the end of the list of ideas to try to help her eyes correct themselves on their own. So, we talked about surgery. He said it's a fairly simple surgery, only taking about an hour. It's a bilateral medial rectus recession....which basically means he will "loosen" the medial rectus muscles on both of her eyes. He said she'll be asking for pizza by the end of the night...kids are so resilient to this surgery! He couldn't promise that this would be the last surgery, since no one can predict what the eyes or brain will do, but he has a patient who had this surgery at age 14 and then again at age 58! So, she may or may not need her glasses afterwards and her vision is still excellent...but, as Dr. Chris said, the goal of the surgery is not to get her out of the glasses, it's to get her eyes to be straight! The surgery is scheduled for the morning of April 28th and we have the same types of procedure as we did for Bradlee's tubes surgery! Call the day before for the times, outpatient surgery, etc. etc. We've talked about it quite openly around Emma, and she hasn't asked about it yet, so I'm not going to really talk about it until it gets closer. By the time this one's done, we will be pros at this outpatient surgery stuff!

Our "no-ma"!

We got a "butt-load" of snow Sunday night/Monday morning, causing the kids and Tony to have a snow day! When I got home from work (someone has to bring home some money! LOL), I took the kids outside while Tony shoveled. We had a great time, and although I was concerned about Bradlee getting fussy as soon as we got out there, he was SO excited to get his "booooooo"s (boots) on!! We got outside, and aside from having trouble trying to stand up, he had a great time crawling around! I even put him on the little sled and had him slide down some of the snow that had built up around our back deck. He LOVED it! He even allowed Emma and me to build a snowman (or in his words, "no-ma"!)!! Here are some shots...

18 month update!

Well, it's probably closer to 19 months, but Dr. Banerjee was out of town the whole month of January (he was visiting family in India!)....so Emma and I took Bradlee for his 18 month check-up this afternoon. He weighs 24.6 pounds and is 30 3/4 inches tall...solid. :) This is below the "average" (whatever "average" is...), but doctor says he's growing well...he even showed Dr. Banerjee his "sweet eyes" (see previous blog!)!!! It was great.

Bradlee got 2 shots today (dTap and Polio)...Emma told Dr. Banerjee, "I don't think it's fair that Bradlee has to get shots today. He's just a little boy!" Dr. Banerjee giggled and looked at her and said, "Do you want me to give them to you instead?" "Uh, NO!" LOL

As she watched us hold Bradlee's legs and hands to give him his shots, she started getting tears in her eyes! What a sweet big sister! Dr. Banerjee said to her, "Emma, you are a great big sister!" My little boy AND my little girl are growing up!!!

It's Show Time!

Tonight I pulled out the camera and took some videos of the kids "performing"....after all, that's why we have kids, right? To perform for us and entertain us?! :)

First, we have Mr. Bradlee...

Today at school, his teacher, Ms. Debbie, taught him and another little boy how to bat their eyelashes...their "sweet eyes"....how adorable! :) I take him for his 18 month appointment tomorrow, so we'll have to show all the ladies at the office!

Then we have Ms. Emma....Act 1:

The reason she keeps looking to the side is because she was watching her reflection in the oven door....what a diva!

Ms. Emma....Act 2:

I don't totally understand the meaning behind this song...but she loves singing it...and is quite good at it!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a nice day! Although we weren't all together for the day, we still were able to spend most of the morning together! Once we got the kids dressed in their Valentine's Day outfits, I took the opportunity to get some pictures...

In honor of Aunt Julie, I had to post this picture...her and Scott had gotten Emma a doctor set for her 1st birthday...and sine then, she's received maybe 2 or 3 more...so we keep them all in one big "doctor's briefcase". Emma had the toys out this morning because her bear was sick (!) and Bradlee found the toys while Emma wasn't looking...here he's checking to see if he has any pages from the hospital...don't you just love the pink stethoscope?! :)

Tony took the kids out to his parents' house so Emma could run some errands with her aunt and I headed down to my friend, Julie's, house (the one from the baby shower in my previous blog). She seemed a wee bit overwhelmed with all the baby gifts and such from her shower that I offered to go to her house and help her organize, put things away, offer advice (if asked!) and basically just be with her. She's only got about a month left of bring pregnant, and although it seems like a long time ago, I totally remember how I was feeling a month before Emma was born! We got the clothes sorted and put away (some even washed!), the bassinet assembled, and the bouncy chair put together. We even enjoyed a wonderful turkey chili and homemade corn muffins for dinner! It was a great way to spend Valentine's Day....with my friend I love like she were my sister!!

Superman, Spaghetti & a Shower!

Although I haven't posted any pictures lately, after emptying the memory card on the camera, I guess I have taken some great pictures!

Sometime in the last few months of gift-giving, Bradlee received a pair of Superman PJ's...cape included! I put them on him and he just LOVED them! Then he found one of Emma's headbands and wanted to wear it....so it only made the outfit complete!

One of Bradlee's favorite foods is spaghetti. He would probably eat it every day if he could! A good thing about spaghetti is that he can feed himself...of course, we already plan ahead that it will be a bath night! He really loves feeding himself everything, and usually pitches a fit if we don't give him the spoon right away. He's gotten really good at it and most of the food lands in his mouth!

While we were getting ready to go somewhere, we pulled out the camera and took some pictures...I love this one of Bradlee and me, 'cause he's looking at me like, "What are YOU doing?"!!! I also really love the one with Emma because it really shows what a goof-ball she is. She's so sweet and not only loves to act silly, but especially loves it when you act silly with her!

I mentioned in my last post that Emma and I were invited to a baby shower this past weekend. My best friend of 25+ years, Julie, is due in March! The shower was VERY nice and both Emma and I had a great time. Emma was only "little one" there, so Aunt Julie asked if Emma would hand her the presents to open. Emma took the job with gusto! She handed her gift first and made sure Aunt Julie looked at everything.

For being pretty shy when we first got there, she opened up pretty quickly and was entertaining everyone with her comments! When Aunt Julie opened the cool mist humidifier, Emma comments, "My baby brother has that elephant humidifier! I have one too, but it's not an elephant, it's a dragon...a RED dragon!"

She was familiar with so many things Julie received, it kept her really interested in the whole shower! Emma even won the first game of "Baby Shower Bingo" and got to take home a little tea cup of flowers! Talk about one proud little girl! She's already asked to come with me to visit Aunt Julie when she has her baby. What a big girl. She really is amazing...

Here she is with Aunt Julie, holding her gift for the new baby girl!!

Looking back, I think that was one of the nicest baby showers I've ever been to...and lunch was delicious, too!! The only problem was the MAJOR sugar buzz Emma was on when we left....after Dove chocolates, M&M's, mini cheesecakes, lemonade and cake, Emma was flyin' high!! While I said goodbye to Julie and her mom, I just let Emma skip around the table...at least she didn't even fall asleep on her way home from a diabetic coma! Can't wait to meet the new baby girl!!!

Where did January go?

I cannot believe January is over already....amazing.

Again, I don't have any pictures...although, I may have some that I've forgotten about, so if I find them I'll be sure to get them on here....

January ended with a bang. On the 14th, I got a call at about 8am from Tony's assistant principle. He told me that Tony slipped on the black ice in the parking lot, is going in and out of consciousness and they called an ambulance to come and evaluate him and probably take him to the hospital. He called me back a few minutes later and said they were taking him to Hurley....so I called into work and met him a the hospital. He, thankfully, didn't break any bones or do any real major damage, but he did have a pretty good concussion and bruised the HELL out of the left side of his body, especially his hip. He was able to walk out of the ER, so that was good. Friday I made him get out and go "mini-grocery" shopping with me. He was moving pretty good! Sore, but still doing really well....only taking OTC ibuprofen...so we are so thankful that this was only a minor injury...to make it better, though, I told him that we'll get a whole bunch of money from our supplemental accident insurance (sort of like Aflac), so he volunteered to slip on the ice every month or so....YEAH RIGHT! :)

Bradlee has had 3 molars poke through in the last 3 weeks! He was out of school all last week because he had the runny nose, cough, and was just plain miserable! He let me put my finger in the back of his mouth to check, and the top two and bottom right are all through...the bottom left is swollen, but not through yet. Poor baby! I'm so glad I don't remember how painful that was!!! We didn't have any ora-gel at first, so I used some whiskey we had....just dipped my finger in, rubbed it on his gums, and he was a happy camper....didn't mind the taste or anything and it calmed him down so he could sleep. He chews on his fingers quite a bit, still...

Emma's doing well. She's all excited to be going to a baby shower with me this weekend. The invitation came addressed to both of us, so she felt so special! She also has a birthday party to attend next weekend and of course, there's school and gymnastics still! She's become quite the helper at home, helping to set the table for dinner and making sure everyone has a napkin. She's also the one who "reminds" us to pray before we eat, saying, "IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER....." to get our attention. It works, even for Bradlee! He will put his food or cup down and really concentrate on folding his hands, to end with us in a big "AAAAAAAAAMMMMMAAAAN" (amen)! :)

I promise I'll look or take some new pictures! :) Maybe Bradlee will show me his new teeth?! :)