Update on Eli's Eyes

The vision in the right eye has improved but not sufficiently enough for the doctor to feel comfortable about doing the surgery. We are going to be patching him for the next 6 weeks for longer periods of time during the day. Then we will go back for another follow-up. Hopefully that will be when we schedule his surgery.

Beware of the 6-Toothed Monkey

Recently spotted in our neighborhood was a rare but beautiful 6-Toothed Monkey. His trademark look features 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth with his tongue hanging out. He has 2 calls currently, "Ba-Ba" and "Mom." He moves about with a skidding motion on his belly pulling himself with his hands. He enjoys eating and pulling hair. He is very friendly but will drool on you if given the opportunity. Below is a picture of this wild creature!

He readily feeds on just about anything but especially loves fresh pears, carrots, beef, chicken, and yogurt.

Abortion without Restriction

The newly inaugurated president has promised that one of his first acts of business will be the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). Its deplorable, despicable, and homicidal.

Boiled down to center, the FOCA is wholesale murder that removes any and all restrictions on abortion including reinstating the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion and withdrawing all parental rights where teenage daughters are concerned - parents won't even have to be told! A girl could have her soccer coach or math teacher take her for an abortion and no one would be the wiser.

Though the unborn babies are the most vulnerable victims, this unconscionable piece of horse manure legislation - actually it would do well to be equated with horse manure - is dangerous for the women, too. Less restriction means less safeguards and more casualties and side effects.

The FOCA also states that any hospital or clinic that refuses to offer abortions will receive NO federal funding including Medicare and Medicaid payments. This holds true for faith-based hospitals as well. Right here in Nashville the St. Thomas group which owns Baptist Hospitals as well is a Catholic based institution. They have already decided that regardless of legislation and losing federal dollars they will NOT perform abortions! Congratulations to a large organization that isn't buckling to leftist, pro-abortion, anti-life wackos that want to force murder on the hands of the entire country.

Please go to the Fight FOCA website and sign the petition, I DID!

Elisha's 1/2 Birthday!

Imagine you just turned 1/2. How would you celebrate? Take a lesson from Elisha. Find a comfy spot (in his case,momma's arms), grab a snack (teether biscuit), and eat your way to a nap!

Pictures of My Babies

I took these on Thursday while we were doing school.

Thomas is doing Literature.

Thomas mugging for the camera while doing Literature.

Thomas and Lily coloring between class and lunch.

This is what most pictures of Lily look like when taken with a digital camera. Everything around her is still, and she is in motion! ALL THE TIME!

She is only still in this one because I asked her to show me her crayon.

When Lily is tired she finds a blanket, whether it is hers or not, this one is Eli's from Aunt Leanne, and beds down like a cat or deer. That spot is where she sleeps unless we move her.

I had the hardest time finding a stocking for Eli this year because we wanted to continue the penguin theme. My dad found this one. The running joke was that Elisha could fit in it. As we took down the Christmas decorations and prepared the tree for burning I decided to take this picture. (This was taken New Year's Day)

Once Thomas and Lily saw Eli in his stocking they had to try their own on for size. Their fits were a bit more snug. (This was taken New Year's Day)

Elisha and his ever-faithful friend Lou the Penguin.

Resting on Mom. What's cuter than a diapered baby?

Signs of Good Parenting

At some point or another every parent wants to know if they are successful. We all want to be sure that we are raising little people that will one day be wonderful ladies and gentlemen.

There are thousands upon thousands of books about parenting. Some are good resources. Some are a waste of perfectly good trees.

Everyone is a guru. Spank. Don't spank. Time out. Blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum, ad nauseum . Rarely is anything they say of value.

It drives me crazy to hear, "Children don't come with an instruction book." UHM, Bible, anyone?

Anyway.....those very children often gives us signs that we are doing well. I recently got some hidden affirmations that I almost missed.

• Last week, I got a loaf of sourdough bread which is one of my personal favorites. As it happened it wasn't a very sour loaf. It was rather disappointing. My lovely older children said, "Mom, this bread is weird. Its white, and it doesn't have any stuff or nuts in it." I'm paraphrasing, of course, but you get the idea. My kids think white bread is weird. Dark bread with seeds and nuts is normal! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!

• Lily and Thomas are such veggie hounds that when they ask for seconds we say no until they eat their meat. They would rather have olives than candy. Thomas goes to a sit down restaurant like Logan's or O'Charleys and asks for the steak. Inevitably the waitress says, "fries with that?" He says, "No, salad with honey mustard, please."

• Family and friends who hold or watch Eli for any length of time ask, "Is he always this happy?" That alone would be great but then I can truthfully say, "yes."

• Just the other day Thomas used his words very poorly and hurt someone's feelings. He got punished and since it was late evening he was sent straight to bed. That's not the victory. This is: The next morning he climbed up in my lap, said good morning and asked to call the person he hurt because he "didn't use good words" and needed to apologize and invite them back over.

• Lily was at the mall with my parents and Thomas. They stopped for a treat. When Dad and Thomas went to the restroom, Lily said, "Nanny, thank you for this drink. It was very thoughtful." What a precious girl! (No, that wasn't paraphrasing. That was verbatum.)

For those that think I am tooting my own horn, well, maybe just a little and some for Thad, too. But the reality is that we just venture to raise them as God sees fit, not us. We planted the seeds but those tender baby hearts allowed them to grow.

As long as I'm here I might as well add my two cents to the blah, blah, blahs of the world.

Children that only eat junk food aren't the problem. Parents that only feed them junk food are the problem. If your kid won't eat vegetables its because you don't serve them. If you serve them and your kids refuse, they shouldn't eat. In our house, I am not a short order cook. I don't take orders. You eat what I serve or you go hungry. If you think that's cruel, you're wrong. Children have a very active survival instinct. They won't allow themselves to starve. They'll eat eventually and might even discover that broccoli isn't all that bad. At our house, this has never lasted more than about half an hour.

Never turning away a hug or kiss shows them that you value their affection. Children that are loved will love others.

"Do as I say and not as I do" is pathetic. Be a good example.

Lastly, we all make mistakes. We all need counsel. Don't turn to a book or a stranger. Go to God first then turn to your parents and grandparents or a trusted close friend that has grown children. They have wisdom with experience. Oprah and Dr. Phil are not parenting or relationship experts, especially when compared with the One who wrote the manual on children and parenting!

Love to all....

Eli's Eyes

It's scary to think that something is not quiet right with one of your children. Thomas was in the NICU for 11 days after being born 6 weeks early. God once miraculously healed Lily of Meningitis, and now, Elisha needs surgery.

Bea, I, and many others have noted how cross-eyed Eli is. He is 5 months old now and his right eye tends to settle right up against his nose, while his left eye is tracking straight or off looking at something else in the room.

My sister, who also had a lazy eye when she was young, and currently has a son with a lazy eye, said, "Hey little brother, you need to get Eli's eyes checked out. They are a little too crossed." We didn't really pursue it initially because both Thomas and Lily had googly eyes that passed with age. A few weeks later Bea took Eli in to have a rash looked at when the Dr. noticed how his eyes were tracking differently. (They sometimes remind us of those plastic eyes that wobble all over everywhere.) She says they are "way too googly." It noticeably concerned her.

So, she made the arrangements for Eli to go see an ophthalmologist. I managed to arrange for some time off of work, and off we go.

The nurse that first examined Eli was wonderful. She had definitely worked with kids before. She was able to keep Eli's attention, and get all her initial testing done fairly quickly. She also worked well with Lily and Thomas in the room.




Then the Dr. came in and did several more tests (pictures below). After some discussion, the Dr. did confirm that Eli is cross-eyed, and that it is pretty severe. Ultimately, he recommend surgery to reposition muscles on his eyes. The surgery is more successful when the vision in both eyes is even. Of course the vision in his left eye is stronger. So in the interim, we will be using a patch about 3 hours a day to try to get the eyes to equalize for the next 2 months. In February we will go back to have his vision reevaluated and to see if the disparity between his eyes has improved. Surgery will probably be scheduled that day. It is possible but highly unlikely that patching alone will cause improvement enough for the surgery to be unnecessary.

We have been patching for a couple of days now, and Eli seems to be dealing with it well. He is starting to look at things more with both eyes, instead of just with the one.