We Have a Date

Jason's surgery is scheduled for April 20. It is not exactly as soon as I wanted (I am all for getting stuff over with so I don't have to worry about it), but this was the only doable option.

We don't have to go back to the opthomologist again until we see him on surgery day, which is good. The opthomologist's office is going to handle all the paperwork for authorizations and the like. All we will need to do is take Jason to the pediatrician the week before surgery to have a well baby---or um, toddler--check up and register him at the hospital.

The procedure will take approximately 30 minutes because both eyes will be aligned. Jason should be at the hospital for no more than 3ish hours. We'll put drops in his eyes for a week and then all should be good. A follow up will be scheduled for July/August.

Jason has about a 70% chance that this will be all that he will need to correct the alignment of his eyes. The opthomologist did say that they "sometimes" experience some challenges with aligning preemies' eyes and have to go back in to "tweak" things (his words not mine), so he can't give us the usual 90% success rate that full term kids get. I say we expect to be part of the 70% on this one. It stinks to always be on the wrong side of the odds. Sounds like a plan to me!

Dr. Google had already told me much of what I wanted to know before we went to the opthomologist, but I did learn something. (That's what we pay him the big bucks for, right?) The opthomologist said not to be too worried if Jason's eyes are not instantly corrected. That doesn't necessarily mean that the surgery was a failure. He made sure to say that while most kids will see immediate improvement, some may take a few days or weeks until their eyes look aligned. (Good to know. Note to self--don't freak if eyes aren't perfect 10 seconds after he wakes up. Got it.)

I'll update again should things change. :-)

Jason's Eyes

Jason has been diagnosed with Acquired Non-Accommodative Esotropia, which is a fancy way of saying that his eyes cross. The good news is that it doesn't look like his vision is negatively affected--because both of his eyes turn in at different times, there is no indication that amblyopia, or decreased vision, is developing in either eye. Yeah!

Actually, the eye crossing began before Jason's first birthday and was initially corrected by his glasses. Unfortunately, children can sometimes be responsive to glasses but later developed an additional eye crossing even when wearing the proper glasses. This is what Jason's eyes have done.

Isn't he a lucky guy?

Interestingly, this condition has nothing to do with him be a preemie. One to two percent of children have esotropia, and we have seen the eye crossing in other family members before him. While being a preemie didn't help, this one is based mostly on bum genetics. (You're welcome, Jason!)

The treatment of this condition is Strabismus Surgery. From what I understand, the surgical recovery is fairly quick, which is also a good thing. Jason and I go in for his surgery consult on Wednesday afternoon. My guess is that the actual surgery will be within the next few weeks.

I'll keep you updated.

Who Was It?

And the biter was.....

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Seems that my little quiet one is learning how to fight back!

Uh oh.

Now I am really in trouble...

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Survival of the Fittest?

What do you get when you have two boys who want the same thing?

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Two crying children...

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A broken toy...

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A hollering mother!

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And a bitten arm.*

(which was still red the next day)

Sibling rivalry at its finest.

Sigh.

*Any guesses as to the identity of the biter?

FYI: This is post 333! Not too shabby if I do say so myself. And I do!

Our little blog was started 834 days ago (Nov. 5, 2007), which means I average a post every 2.5 days. Go me!

It's Official

My children are deeply submerged in what is known as "the TERRIBLE TWOS!" Oh, help me.

According to About.com,

"Characterized by toddlers being negative about most things and often saying 'no', the terrible twos may also find your toddler having frequent mood changes and temper tantrums."

In reality, the boys were gifted in this category. They started this stage before they were two. I know! I'm lucky!

Frankly, About.com says it too nicely. "Frequent mood changes" doesn't quite cover the extent of the emotional range we hit minute by minute around the old homestead. In any given five minutes span, we laughed, we cried, we screamed, we chit chatted, we hit each other (or me), and we fought over toys. People, that was only in five minutes! If they were any older, I'd swear they were bipolar.

It's exhausting.

And they say this is normal? (Personally, I believe this is yet another design flaw in the baby, you know like the whole teething torture.)

I suppose that's why they're made so delicious, though...

How could you not love faces like that, even if they do act like little beasts? :-)

Still, it doesn't mean that I am not looking forward to when this stage is over...

Shawn & Jason were born on October 27, 2007 and are 2 years and 4 months old.

You have 253 days - 0 hours - 39 minutes - and 16 seconds until your children are out of the terrible twos phase.

But who's counting? Certainly not me...

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Got a Guitar String on Ya?*

You know darn well I can't LEAVE without a guitar string!*

(you got to say that with a southern drawl)

I cleaned out the spare bedroom to make it a playroom for the boys. In the corner of the room is Isaac's guitar. The guitar is in its big, black case, so the boys had no idea what it actually was, but they were of course very interested in the mysterious thing.

The other night, Isaac pulled out the guitar and played it for the boys. They were in absolute heaven. (yes, all of them) It was so sweet to watch them together--just daddy and his boys. Awww...

*Borrowed from Pecos Pest, Jerry's guitar playing, string breaking uncle from Tom and Jerry cartoons.

What Does $1300 Get You?

Some itty bitty orthotics! (Thank goodness for medical insurance because pleeeeeaaaaseeee.)

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We finally got Jason's orthotics on Monday. Frankly, I think they were waaaay over priced. I mean, there isn't much to them.

This is them inside his tennis shoes (size 7!). You can barely see them sticking out of his shoe.

Don't these look like adult shoes? Jeez!

Each orthotic has two straps that go over the top of the foot. The orthotics compresses the foot into position, so we have to make sure that the straps are pulled tight. (In Jason's case, he has very flat feet and his ankles and knees turn in because of that. He gets that from Isaac. The orthotics will force his ankles out the way they should be and form his arch over the next several months.)

It is a bit odd to put the orthotics on Jason because it feels like I am putting them on wrong. The way they are created, it looks like they're on the wrong feet, but they're not.



Jason picked out a nifty construction vehicles and school buses design for them. He's all about the school bus at the moment. Sadly, the design lost something in the translation, so he wasn't all that interested in the school buses when we finally picked them up.



Here they are, all ready to put on his feet...

FYI: Isaac had to point out that the shoes and orthotics are on the wrong side--the right shoes are on the left, and the left shoes are on the right.

Right now we are getting him used to the orthotics by having him wear them for an hour with a half an hour break (to check for pressure points/blisters/calluses). We increase the time an hour a day until we get to full time wear, which should be on Friday.

He seemed okay with wearing them yesterday, but last night he threw a fit when we tried to put them on him. I am hoping that was just a fluke.

Right after this picture, he threw the shoe and left. I swear I heard him say something about "no, no, no" as he was going down the hall. Maybe I was just imagining things.

Stay tuned. I still can't wait to be complaining about him walking around and getting into everything. At that point, I give you my permission to tell me all the "I told you so's" you want. I won't even take offense! :-)

Hanging Out with the Boys

What things looked like around our house tonight.

Shawny waits...

Boom! Jason is thrown over his daddy's body onto the pillow!

Laughter for everyone...

Fun times! :-)

Someday, before I know it, these moments will be long gone. I am definitely trying to treasure them while they last. I am most certainly a lucky girl!

Question of the Week: Are You A Strict Scheduler?

Multiples and More is a community of families of twins, triplets, quads, and more. Every week, they post a question for their readers to answer. (This is the place that makes me feel less like a freak when I read that other MoMs, moms of multiples, have the same issues we do!)

It was really funny actually, when I saw what this week's question was. It was only a few minutes after I had instant messaged someone that I couldn't do something because it was right in the middle of nap time. I even wrote to her that "nap time is sacred!" You see, around here things are fairly scheduled and have been from the moment we brought the boys home from the hospital. When you are blessed with more than one child at a time (and I imagine if you have several children of various ages), it is important to have some sort of schedule so that the parental units (i.e. Isaac and myself) can actually do something more than focus on the babies' demands. Well there's that and I am selfish enough to want to pee and eat on a regular basis!

How old are your kids now? Have you always followed a rigid schedule?

The boys are now nearly 28 months old actual (gasp!) and 25 months adjusted. Shawn and Jason were just over three months old when they were released from the hospital, so that meant we started out from day one with the boys on a schedule. I think the schedule is the one thing that made life manageable, especially in the early days.

Do you think that your schedule is conducive to healthy sleep patterns in your kids?

I am going to take this opportunity to brag a little about the boys and how they sleep. Let me just say that they are MASTER sleepers and rarely get up during the night unless there is an illness or something out of the ordinary. I have to believe that this luck is directly related to the schedule they have been on.

Do people give you a lot of flack for being a strict scheduler? How do you respond?

I am not obsessive about the schedule, but I will stick to it for the most part. I will not allow it to prevent us from doing something fun as a family for instance, but I do tend to ensure that the schedule is intact if the outing doesn't involve all of us. (hence me not doing something with my friends because Isaac was going to be gone, too)

No one has really said anything negative about what we do, but I am sure there are a few out there who can't quite understand why it is so important. I am also lucky in that most of my friends are teachers, so they are used to living on schedule on a daily basis, too!

Has your routine become more relaxed as your kids have gotten older?

I would never have dreamed about breaking the schedule when the boys were younger. Ever. OMG, I knew just what was in store for us when we did--and let's just say that we were all happier when we were on schedule.

I am a bit more relaxed about the schedule now. I will allow the boys to tell me when they are tired and ready for a nap, for instance, rather than insist the go down at nap time.

How do your kids react when they are completely off their schedules- and how do you get them back on track?

The boys are really well behaved when we go out now (please, don't let me jinx myself by saying that), so we are fortunate to not have any serious melt downs if we are off schedule. They are so used to things be scheduled that it is really easy to get back on track should we have an off day or two.

So what is our schedule?

Our schedule usually like this: (weekdays)

7:00 - Milk
7:30 - Head to grandma's & I can go to work
7:50 - The boys lay back down for an hour
9:00 -Breakfast
11:30 - Snack and milk/juice
12:00 - Nap
2:30-3:00 - The boys wake up from nap and eat lunch
5:00 - Snack and milk/juice
5:30 - Shawn goes down for a second nap on most days/Jason has quiet time in the living room
7:30- Dinner
8:00 - Baths
9:00 - Bedtime

(On weekends, the boys get out of bed around 9:00, but the schedule is pretty much the same.)

So there you go. Our life in a nutshell

Jason's Day

Two years ago, February 3 was a Sunday. It was the day our family finally became complete. Jason was released from the NICU!

Here are some of the last pictures we took from the NICU--ever!

(notice that Isaac and I look a bit more tired in these shots--Shawn had already been home for ten days and we were wiped)



Plus, we were in a state of shock. I don't think we ever thought this day would come!

Woohoo! All decked out in his car seat and ready to go.

I think Isaac and I ran for the doors, just in case they changed their minds!

Finally at home with his brother--right where he belongs.

(Jason's under the light blue blanket at the top of the screen)

Happy Gotcha Day, Jay. Mommy and daddy love you so much and are so thankful you are in our lives!