Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I SEE you.

Oh, how we love our Cade.
This guy is the picture perfect first child. 
(so far... I mean, let's not jinx ourselves ;))


We had another trip to the eye doctor today. Just me and Cade....three hour excursion.
There was great news and not-so-fun news.
(To get a brief history on Cade's eye condition, click here)

The GREAT news is... he hasn't worn a patch for 6 months, and his vision is... ::drumroll::
20/20!! 
No need for glasses!! :D That means that the patching worked, and his "lazy" eye is now staying up to par with the other eye.
I got choked up to hear that. It meant so much to me, and was such an answer to prayer. 

The not-so-fun news is, he has a surgery scheduled for November.
Why you ask?
 If you notice in the picture above, Cade's head is tilted a little to his left. I (and the doctor) noticed this a while ago. What happens is that, just like any muscle in the body, when full function is not happening, and certain muscles aren't being used as much as they should (in this case, the one muscle in Cade's eye that has no function) then the other muscles start to tighten up. So now his left eye is starting to pull to the inside. He still wants to use both eyes together, so he has an ever-worsening case of the head-tilt-to-the-left. 
This can affect many things, including his neck. For sports, reading, his social environment, etc. etc. etc. it is best to just take the center muscle on his eye, and move it a little over to the left side, to straighten out that eye, and straighten out his head. 
We need this kid to perform in the batters box, ya know?!

So we are doing it.
The only concern is that it may happen again eventually in the future, and a surgery may have to happen again. Because of him having no nerve in the very left muscle on his left eye, there is no way to ever fully "condition" those other muscles, or "exercise" them. Surgery is the only fix.
So there is no guarantee the fix will last forever. Those muscles could tighten up again in the future, and he may need to do it again sometime.
The surgery is still very non-invasive. It's an outpatient surgery and he should be good to go to school after a few days, and good to go after a couple of weeks of swelling and bruising.

I am grateful for modern medicine. I am grateful for this woman's knowledge and ability to help my son so that his vision didn't continue to get worse, and this head tilt. More so, I am grateful that my son can see, and for the no-need for glasses, and for his eyes being able to serve him in this life.

So much to be thankful for, but most of all, our trooper, Cade!


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Jon's 38th

For Jon's birthday this year, he took a trip down to Boise, ID to watch The Cougs vs. the Broncs!
He had a great weekend with his dad, brother and nephew!


When he got home Friday, we threw a little family party for him. He didn't want a big party this year, but we at least needed to sing to him! :)


The boys worked hard with me that day present shopping (golf shorts) and slaving away on their homemade cards...


 Boston cream pie is one of his fav's, so being the great wife that I am, I made these tasty nuggets! ;)





 Tyce's kiss face! Love you Daddy! 

Saturday, on his actual birthday, we went to lunch and on a family hike on English Point Trails.


That evening I FINALLY got him all to myself and we ate at his favorite steakhouse and caught a cute baseball movie. :)


We love having you as our head honcho! Happy birthday! :)

Cader Brains

Just a little post to brag about my little Cader brains. :)

First of all, this kid has always been so bright and on top of things. We have always made mention of his smarts, and his freaky-deaky memory and attention to detail. Needless to say, he is LOVING school. In fact, while helping him with homework one night this week, he sighed and said, "I love learning." He must get that from Jon. ;)

Cade had his Idaho Reading Indicator test this week (a state-mandated test to assess reading readiness).

They time him for one minute in two areas:
Letter naming fluency
Letter sound fluency

If he scores an 11, he is at grade level. 3-10 is near grade level, and 0-2 is below grade level.

He scored a 29 in letter naming (29 letters in 1 minute), and a 27 in letter sounds (27 sounds identified in one minute). Well over double what is considered "grade level."

'nuff said. :)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Wordless Wednesday


Goodbye Sweet Summer

I was sitting and reminiscing with my phone pictures about the fun, every day summer days.


laying out just isn't the way it used to be...

lots and lots of bike rides with my biking buddies.

Picnics at the park 

...or at home (with friends Aaron and Leah Frantz)

swimming in Nana and Papa's pool
(Cade with friend Ayden Pulsipher)

Many trips to Silverwood (gotta love when Daddy rides the kiddy rides with you!)

The classic North Idaho Fair

Tyce trying to grasp what that massive, oinking hunk of bacon is.



We will miss you.
That fall nip is already in the air.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Cranberry Jam Photography











Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Back to School

First Day of Preschool and Kindergarten!
Little Builders  &   Frederick Post

My handsome {crazy} boys.






Jay ran into school like it aint no thang. 
No problem, mom. I don't need ya. ;)
(Cade was in the same school last year, and Jay knows most the kids in his 6 student class.)

 I said goodbye to Cade at the fence to the playground (They wont let you in without a guest pass and it was a zoo). He left a little unsure of where to go and what to do in the sea of people... then he spotted his two best friends on the playground (Ayden Pulsipher and Aaron Frantz) and they all put their arms around each other with a sigh of relief! 

That's when the tears started rollin'.
Really? Am I THAT mom?
My baby is all grown up. He's no longer ALL mine. He's officially in the world.

5 1/2 years flew by. In another 5 1/2 he'll be in middle school. 5 1/2 after that he'll be dating and driving. Ugh.

I better soak 'em up every day!

Labor Day Weekend

This is the FIRST time Jon and I have taken our kids camping with JUST our little family.
It was the bomb.

We went to Round Lake near Sandpoint. It's a little fishing and canoeing lake. Very calm.


We went canoeing twice and we are happy to say only one man went overboard.
Tyce.
No big deal. Just breaking him in. ;)

We also enjoyed a nice hike on the back side of the lake (canoed to it), bike rides ("mountain biking"), a family baseball game, yummy food, cards, swimming and catching pollywogs. 

For Labor Day, we got cleaned up and went double dipping to TWO barbecues with both sets of grandparents. Yum!

Goodbye sweet summer!