Eye update & Garden Soxx

Four days after surgery and Gabriel is doing fabulous. His eye looks remarkably well; the swelling is almost gone and he's already blinking some very deliberate blinks. The incredible thing is that Dr. R said the swelling should last about 6 weeks and it's about 85% gone now.

And I was a little nervous about how different Gabe would look after the surgery as I was accustomed to seeing his perpetual wink every time I looked at him. Somehow, and I'm not even sure this is possible but he got even cuter!! See!!!

a little blurry, but a close up of Gabe's open eye!

our boy with both his beautiful eyes open wide

Gabe, his surgery marks and a toy!

And now an abrupt change of subject. This past Spring our church handed out 300 Garden Soxx to needy families in our city. A Garden Soxx provides all the vegetables a family will need for the year in a small, above ground garden-esque tube.

The Garden Soxx were sponsored by the Filtrexx Foundation where a friend's (and church members) husband works. And now the Filtrexx Foundation has applied for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project for $25,000. For $25,000 1,000 Garden Soxx will be handed out, feeding thousands of people from horribly depressed areas in Elyria, Lorain and Oberlin Ohio!

The top 10 ideas get $25,000 and right now 9 out of the 10 are to save animals. And while I love animals as much as the next person (maybe), I think ensuring children and families don't go hungry is a bit more important.

So click below and vote!

Doppelgangers

One of my favorite television shows is How I Met Your Mother. I know it's a little off the wall and some of the story lines are not very classy but I'm an adult and I think the show is it's hilarious. And since we don't have cable, it's one of the few shows we get. And since we don't have cable we have started investing in buying TV on DVD sets when they go on sale.

When I saw HIMYM on sale at Target a while back I knew I had to pick it up. Each episode has a snazzy name and the last episode of last season was entitled "Doppelgangers" In common vernacular a doppelganger is refers to a double or look-alike of a person.

***spoiler alert coming in case you want to watch and have not yet seen the last episode last season's HIMYM***

HIMYM has 5 main cast members and all but one (Barney) has had a doppelganger seen by the group. In this episode Lily thinks she sees a doppelganger of Barney, thus providing confirmation that she and her husband Marshall should start trying for a family. Through twists and turns, it comes out that she didn't see a Barney-doppelganger but Barney himself.

And Lily is disappointed; disappointed because she thought that the confirmation of the 5th doppelganger was natures way of saying it was okay to begin a family and also disappointed that she's become a person she never thought she'd be - waiting for someone else to tell her it was okay to do something and not being the artist she's dreamed of but a kindergarten teacher wanting a baby.

Robin (my least favorite character) wisely tells her that each of us are our own doppelganger. That 5 or 10 years ago you probably never pictured were you would be now.... and probably not recognize yourself either.

And while I'm not sure I have a doppelganger out there [smile], Robin's comments really stuck with me. 10 years ago I was approaching high school graduation (eek!), deciding between colleges, majors and prom dates. I thought I would go to a prestigious college, major in engineering (ugh), achieve a fabulous job making lots of money and maybe start thinking about marriage around the age of 28.

10 years later I'm a college graduate not from a prestigious college but a wonderful state school all the same. I gave up engineering because of the torture they called Linear Algebra and never even found a job in my field. Instead I worked at a child development center where I formed the deepest, most intrinsic and valuable friendships I could imagine.

Rather than getting married at 28, I got married as a fresh-faces 23 year old and dreamed of having a family almost immediately.

And while I always wanted to be a mom (I remember answering that to the "what do you want to be when you grow-up question in grade school), I figured I'd have time to be a mother when I was ready. I was just ready long before I had initially planned.

5 years ago I would have never envisioned that I would be a SAHM to a 'special needs' child or that I would have chosen that path either. I also never would have envisioned that I could have the love for a child burn so deeply that I haven't seen, touched or even know if they've been born yet. Oh, how people change.

So I am my own doppelganger. As a soon-to-be high school graduate I am 100% positive that I would not recognize myself today. But somehow I managed to be right where I'm supposed to be.

Are you your own doppelganger, or have you perhaps seen your doppelganger? [smile]

Our Tiny Soldier

Yesterday morning we headed out at the early hour of 5 o'clock. Fortunately, at 5 AM there is little traffic on the road; unfortunately we were heading downtown for Gabe's 2nd eye surgery.

Two eye surgeries in less than 8 months and 3 bouts with anesthesia in just under 11 months. That seems like way too many procedures to me, but Gabe took it like the little champ that he has become.

Gabe was super in a really good mood all morning while we signed consent forms, waited in the waiting room and then waited some more in the hospital.

Gabe with Daddy making a silly face

Another silly face while showing off his hospital gear.

And then it was time for a little Versed, a drug that made Gabe a little silly and unable to remember being put under. Last time Gabriel became quite a bit frightened when they had to hold the gas mask over his face, the Versed makes it so that he was more relaxed and even if he did fight the gas mask (he did a tiny bit) he wouldn't remember.

Gabe feeling a little silly from his medicine.

Then Dr. R. came in to make a black mark above Gabe's right eye to ensure there were no misunderstandings, and then off Gabe and I went to the operating room. One of the nurses remembered our sweet boy from last time and couldn't believe how he was talking as we waited for everything to start.

Gabe was put to sleep and I went to join Matt and my mom in the waiting room. 55 minutes later Dr. R. came out to say that Gabe was done, that the surgery took a little bit longer than expected because they were about 10 minutes in when they realized Gabe's lid wouldn't be straight so they had to start again :( The extra waiting was horrible but knowing that they already corrected a potential problem was quite relieving. Dr. R left telling us we could see Gabe in about 15 minutes.

Well about 15 minutes later Matt went off for a little walk, heard Gabe crying and went back to the room himself. Shortly after a nurse came and got me and I walked back to Gabriel's recovery room while hearing the most heart wrenching sound ever. Evidently Gabe woke up before they came to get us and the nurse picked him up and tried to help him. We obviously didn't make it clear enough that he would not do well if he didn't see us right when he woke up (I thought we had) and Gabe woke up alone and scared, without his Mama and Daddy. Seeing him cry, sob and cling to us in confusion for an hour broke my heart. Eventually his sobs subsided, he had a couple of sips of water and milk and we were on our way home.

Matt navigated the icy roads and we were soon at home. And while Gabe was a bit fussier and more clingy than usual, he was still quite happy. Especially when he was finally able to have some breakfast!

It's pretty remarkable to see both of his blue eyes. Although in this picture his left eye is a little scrunched up from trying to cheese it up for his picture!

Gabe's resiliency astounds me and although he fights the 2 different types of eye ointments that have to be applied 7 times a day, he is soldiering through and in the back room playing with his Daddy right now!

Thanks for all your prayers for our boy!

Just a few cute pictures of Gabe doing what he does best... playing!!!