Emilie's surgery yesterday

Well, in the tradition of collecting surgical signatures, Emilie had both of her eyes signed yesterday by Dr. S. about an hour before going into surgery. Right before she went in, the nurse read her onsie p.j. which said, "I heart my auntie." The nurse said Emilie must have a pretty big fan, I told her that I know our little girl has lots of fans, but Aunt B certainly is one of the biggest ones.

Both eyes were checked to see which was worse and which needed to be operated on.

The left eye won that contest with a pressure of 35, which is how high her eye pressures were when she was born. The right eye is still registering at high normal which was 19. Dr. S. said today in Emilies post-op visit that if the pressure goes up in the right eye, then we would consider surgery for it, but that he is satisfied with how it is doing right now, so he prefers to leave it alone.

Emilie now has a shunt in her left eye. It took about 15 minutes to go in. The shunt makes her eye look like she's been in some type of horrible fight, and the doc said that we will always see a little white bubble when she looks down or over that is where the tube is. He did see that the tube was placed and laying correctly today, all of which is good news. They did also go ahead and check her left eye pressures and they were registering in at 16 even while she was screaming. Doc said that he expects that they are close to 5 when she isn't screaming, which is good.


As Emilie heals, she will gain some scar tissue that will make pressures go back up in the left eye. It was his expectation that she will have to re-start some type of eye drop again in around a month. The last conversation that I had with the doctor this morning was hopeful that Emilie would re-gain some vision in her left eye, but that her vision would probably not completely restore for the left eye. We keep guarded optimism that this is the case. We continue to be thankful that her right eye stays the way it does, this is good news that things are under control in her right eye and that is what we do want to hear.

Emilie will undergo anesthesia again in a month to check her pressures while she is asleep (which is when it is most accurate). Emilie immediately following surgery was pulling her patches off. She may not get perfect vision from that left eye, but she sure knows when it is covered up. Other than dealing with some pain, she has been a happy happy baby today. She smiled every minute of the last hour just before she drifted off for nap.

We are thankful to have another surgery down and to be one step closer to a better seeing child.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

At this moment four years ago, I was arriving at the church to discover that the groom's cake was missing strawberries. It was the worst part of my day, so we frantically sent Elanna to scrounge the metro for chocolate dipped strawberries to put around the outside of the cake. Sometime around this time is when Blake, Jake, and Nick were convincing Kasey that he could escape out the back of the church. A joke that I can only laugh about now, because even when Kasey told me about it back then I was fuming, even after the wedding. I remember having to be ready by 1:00 p.m. to be ready to take the pictures with the Asian guy and "Becca" whom we later, upon reflection, realized wasn't "Becca" at all, but rather "Backup" as she was the one taking the second set of pictures. Either way, Impressions Photography did a great job.

And, as is customary, I have to use our anniversary to reflect on how much Kasey and I have changed. We thought about what we are doing tonight, which consists of going to Red Lobster and maybe going for a movie. We already sound like we are celebrating our silver or pewter or we-are-old-as-dust anniversary, but the truth is that Kasey and I are reality tv hacks and we want to go taste Jeffrey's dish (who is the guy who should have won Food Network's "Next Food Network Star") which is currently on their menu. We could go somewhere nicer, or quieter, or even more local or authentic, but on a night where we are celebrating why we work so well together, it seems only fitting that we would spend tonight chasing down some probably OK dish that reality tv created. Oh, and we'll love it. Even if it is an awful experience, we'll love it.

And is it just me, or does four years not seem to do justice to how long it feels like it has really been? Not long as in "this has been torturous" long, but it seems crazy that four years has brought two kids and two job changes and two high school reunions for each of us. We are still proud of what we have achieved and we are just thankful for each other, thankful for our families, and thankful for our health.

This week's new developments

Well the girls have both hit new milestones this week, and we thought we would share both.

First, Grace has started potty training. (Pictures, for the sake of her dignity not included) She has pee peed 4 times in the potty, recieving M&Ms as well as suckers for her prize. She is doing okay with the progress, though sometimes she cries when we have to take her to the Restroom for the 6th or 7th time. We have gone through more Pull-Ups than I can describe, and today resorted to just putting her in panties so that we can wash the panties if they get dirty. We are on day 2 and I am exhausted. The worst part is that every time I go with Grace to the bathroom, my Pavlovian brain tells me that I too must use the restroom, so I have been pottying much more than Grace has these past few days. And no, don't even wonder about any possibilities, I swear I am only going because we have to sit in the bathroom and think about pee all day long. But enough of the urethra functioning of the household.

Emilie is currently working on two new tricks. She has almost mastered the art of sitting up. She can go about 5 seconds without assistance, so she should have the sitting thing mastered before the end of the month. Also, she got a new jumper gym toy that helps her strengthen those legs. Grace is dangerously excited about it and I would post that video, but we haven't pulled it off of the phone just yet. Here are the pictures in the mean time.

Kasey and I start school soon. I go back on the 13th and Kasey goes back on the 17th. Until then we are captives of the house until Grace gets her confidence up with potty training! Talk to you all again soon!