Schools OUT for SUMMER!

I'm glad that summer has finally arrived. We are loving the sunshine and warm weather and we are managing to keep very busy.

We've been going to a lot of baseball games.



It's so fun to watch Ethan play this year.  It's his first year where they use a pitching machine instead of a T.  He's really getting the hang of it and having fun. 



Allison has fun too, but her T-ball attention span is pretty short (as it is with most of the team, these are 5 year old girls after all).  It's fun to see her learn the game and she is so proud of herself when she runs around the bases.  She was thrilled that she got to be on the "Pink" team. 

 

We've been working in the garden.



We have potatoes, onions, lettuce, carrots and sweet peas coming up already. I'm really excited about it. We have green beans and cucumbers planted, and I need to get some tomato plants.  Not too bad, right?  

 Having a fun cousin sleep over.


I love that we live close enough to family that these two buddies can get together once in a while.  They had been playing outside for hours and you can just see the dirt on their faces.

Just enjoying the outdoors.

And of course, we've been spending lots of time cuddling and taking care of this little guy.

  

 Evan had his first cataract surgery (on his right eye) just two days ago.  From the way Evan had been acting I KNEW that the cataract in his left eye had gotten much worse.  When the Dr. examined him he confirmed what I knew, and we go back to the hospital tomorrow to do everything again for the left eye.   

Overall, Evan is doing really well.  The surgery went great and I'm thankful he came out of the anesthesia well and didn't react badly to it.  Let me just say, that little guy is amazing.  I am so thankful for him and his sweet temperament. 

I guess I've always taken my good vision for granted.  I don't think I'll do that anymore. It's been so hard watching Evan's eyes get worse and worse.  Many times I've looked into his eyes trying to get him to SEE me, to look at his mama, and he couldn't.  I am so thankful to live in a time where through the miracles of modern technology, skilled doctors are able to do something to help my baby see again.  If he had been born at a different time he would have lived his life blind.

I am so thankful for the prayers of friends and family in behalf of Evan and our family.  Despite Evan being so hungry and being picked on every few minutes by many different nurses he remained so sweet and calm before his surgery.  I was amazed and thankful, and I know it's because of prayers and the blessing he recieved before his surgery. 



Right before they came to get him and take him back.  See what I mean about him remaining calm? He was so, so hungry and still practically fell asleep in my arms. 







Just over a couple hours later.

This is what he'll look like for the next week. After tomorrow we'll add a second shield on the left side. I'm not even sure how we are going to fit them both on his poor little face. 

The challenge for now is to keep the shield over his eye so that it can heal.  I cringe whenever I think about how my baby actually has stitches in his eye! They should dissolve sometime in the next 6 weeks.  We put drops in his eye pretty much every two hours throughout the day.  The worst part of that is untaping the plastic shield so we can get the drops in.  He gets so upset when taking the tape off that getting the drops in his eye can be quite the challenge.  I have a hard enough time getting drops in, I have no clue how I'm going to get contacts in his eyes in a little over a week. I'm sure we'll figure it out and get a system down. 

After Evan's surgery the doctor let me look through a lens that showed me about how Evan's vision would be now that he doesn't have a lens in his eye.  Wow.  To me it just looked like big blurry masses of color.  They said he should be able to see that a person is standing there, but wouldn't be able to see what the person looks like. See a chair, but not see any type of detail on it.  What amazes me it that this is SO much BETTER then what he has been seeing (nothing but black/grey, darkness).

It's all a little overwhelming, but we are hanging in there.  I'm so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who I know has been watching over us and helping us through the ups and downs. I'm thankful for Bryan's parents who have been busy watching the older kids and feeding us all many meals as we stayed at their house before and after Evan's surgery. I'm thankful for their love and support.  I'm thankful for my fabulous husband who keeps me calm and is understanding and patient when I do melt down! I sure am a lucky girl.