the good news

First, I would like to thank you all for the encouraging comments on the last post....there was a little frustration there. There definitely is more positive so I decided to focus on that in this post! HUGE thanks to Elizabeth & Clare who found an awesome website (http://www.littlefoureyes.com/) full of info, advice & encouragement for parents of little kids in glasses. It also had a patch chart & fun coloring patches of a kid wearing a patch & glasses. There is this whole world out there full of lingo like "patching" and "PO" (pediatric ophthamologist)! A lot of the advice about patching is suggestions like, "tell him it's a sticker!", "let him decorate it!"...Ok, he is 1. He has no idea what a sticker is and would eat the markers. Then, I found a post by a mom of an 18month old and I was hopeful for advice. Until I realized her kid wears one for 30 minutes a day. Somebody was about to be punched.

Anyway, on to the really GREAT news: We are SO beyond lucky that the Hill family hooked us up with an amazing pediatric ophthalmologist named Dr. Cogen in Birmingham. (Thank you, thank you!!) He gave us a very different approach to the eye situation than the Knox doctor. He wants us to definitely do surgery sooner rather than later BUT he wants to do a permanent lens implant & normal glasses!!!! I was so happy I almost cried. (almost=did) NO scary glasses and NO contact! Also, he may have thrown around the word, "curable". I know. I can say that I left there feeling as if our future had shifted for the better. It was a huge relief. We scheduled surgery for Feb. which seems so soon, but Dr. Cogen said, "Time is not our friend."I am beyond relieved about the outlook that he has!!!! This was especially helpful as right after arriving home from Bham, we had to take Anderson to the doc where he was diagnosed with a staph infection. We don't play around in this house. If there is a vision problem, it is hard core. If it is an infection, it's not going to be something cute like a sinus one. Always to the extreme.

Since we keep having to go back for checkups, he has had 6 doctor appointments in 10 days. (Hello deductible, nice to meet you! )My poor boy. I am getting a better grip on my emotions though because the only time I came close to crying during this infection situation was when I had to remove the eye patch because the tears from the pain of the doctor lancing it were stuck in there. It is a little heartbreaking to see him all bandaged, but he is such a trooper and hangs in there with everything. And even the hardest day with him is better than the best day before he was here.

Clearly, none of this effects him. Some pictures of the cuteness.....

Helping me clean the dishes after thebday party. In his pirate pjs and pirate shoes, of course.

He gets pretty hard core into vacuuming with the play vacuum. I have got to figure out how to get some electricity and suction into it.

We went crazy and grew afros.

Despite all of the new toys, his favorite is the $2 CVS clearance find that plays Christmas songs, lights up, etc. What can I say, the boy loves a bargain. I guess he recognizes how expensive eye patches are.

OBSESSED with taking off and putting on the lid to anything. He is especially excited about the milk container.

He still loves him some Lily. Unfortunately, their visit was cut a little short because of the doc appointments but if anything can cheer him up, it's her!

This video is hilarious. The best part is the end when Lily pushes him down & then says, "Oh, no!" like he fell. I love them.