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.....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Two crying children...

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A broken toy...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A hollering mother!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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.)

---

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!