Planting Flowers on a Beautiful Day!!

Today, was so beautiful so Emily Grace and I planted flowers. Notice the pint size garden gloves, kneeling knee pad, and shovel. She just loved planting the flowers...some of the flowers lost their heads due to the toddler handling, but I feel sure that they will grow back :o) She is recovering well and we will find out how successful the surgery was this week. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Almost a week after surgery...her "whites" are still pretty red!! But she is back to her self!! Hooray!! We will find out if the surgery was a success on March 26th

Recovering

Emily Grace is recovering from her surgery pretty well I guess. She has very blood red "whites" of her eyes (she even had some bloody tears in the beginning) but she doesn't complain much. I think that the redness is even more red today than right after the surgery. When it hurts (which apparently isn't often) she runs to me and says "Hurry Momma, I need my tylenol." I get it for her and that is all I hear of it. She has been spending most of her time in her favorite past time...The world of pretend role playing and putting together her jigsaw puzzles...one after another. She LOVES puzzles!! She will probably be ready to go back to Miss Kim's on Wednesday of next week and very ready to get back to her little friends, but I do worry how they will treat her with her blood red "whites" of her eyes. Although, she has only been surrounded by family and only positive words have been said, she is self conscience of it a little bit. I just wish that I could "love" the redness away and make her well :o) We will not know if the surgery was a success for another two weeks. It takes that long for the brain to decide what to do with what the doctors have done. I AM PRAYING that it was a success the first time. Some children with strabismus require 2-3 surgeries. My heart needs this one surgery to be the only one :o}
BTW: WANNA LAUGH? You will love that Emily Grace thought that since there was make up smudged on the inside of my phone that she would wash it in the sink. It is very clean but no longer works. :o) Ahhhh....Life with a 3 year old. So if you haven't heard from me or can't reach me...this is why. :o)

Emily Grace's Surgery

First let me thank all of you for your prayers and support!! You will never really know how much it meant to us!! Emily Grace's surgery WAS this morning around 10am. It was very successful!!! God is so Good!!! Emily Grace asked to wear her scrubs and doctor's coat to the surgery so of course I let her :o) She was extremely cooperative for all of the nurses and doctors and THEN it was time for the procedure to begin and she clung to me out of utter fear and wouldn't let go. THEY TOOK her from me and put the anesthesia mask on her face and she just looked at me with the most helpless pitiful eyes and looked at me like I was betraying her since I was helping them. I was as strong as I could be until she fell asleep and then I just broke down. I just felt awful!! There is no way to prepare you for that one...THey only let one of us go back there. Now I know why. It is just too awful for two to have to be consoled. Finally, she was returned to us still groggy, but feeling pretty well. The Doc said that everything went well and that it will be about two weeks before the redness disappears and before the brain completely registers the new eye alignment. He said that her weak eye may go in or out while adjusting. (Glad he prepared me for that one :o) Now that it is over, I can finally breath!!! Here is a couple of before pics and one after to see just how her eyes look post surgery.

We are getting to leave for the surgery

I am up and getting us ready for the surgery. We have to be in at 8am and with morning traffic, we will have to leave around 6:45am. The actual procedure begins at 9:30am. I am letting Emily Grace sleep as long as she can. She did ask me if she could wear her doctor's scrubs and white coat to see the doctors. So, last night, I washed and pressed this cute little outfit for this morning. WE APPRECIATE THE PRAYERS so very much and WE request that the prayers continue until she is out of surgery and the healing of her eyes has occurred. I hope this isn't too much to ask, but it is for our sweet amazing baby, Emily Grace.
God Bless all of you who have been so supportive during all of this!!!
I will post a pic of her all dressed up to meet the docs later.

Please Pray For Emily Grace

Emily Grace's surgery is scheduled for 9:30am Wednesday March 11th. At times, I deal with the idea well and at times (more than the other) I am a complete mess and every time I look at her, I have to say a mental prayer for the success of this surgery and her complete well being. I don't know what is wrong with me. I understand all Moms deal with the first time their baby has surgery are filled with tons of anxiety, but I think that I am abnormal :0} I am so in love with this baby and she is more than I had ever imagined we would have in a baby ... AND we waited forever for her...I just don't want to rock the boat. Does that make any sense? PLEASE SAY A PRAYER FOR EMILY GRACE...not in a minute and not later for fear that your life will distract you and you may forget, please take a minute and pray for her well being before you click away from this blog!!!
I thank you in advance for your prayers!!!
God Bless you,
Amy :o)

Emily Grace's 3rd Birthday Party

Yesterday, we celebrated Emily Grace's 3rd birthday (today is her birthday) at Gymboree. Of all the days to get snow in Georgia, we received it yesterday. It literally snowed little slush balls from 10:45am till about 4:00pm. Everything was covered except the roads. It was beautiful, but slushy. I would have a picture to show, but I was too busy with the party. In spite of the weather, we still had a great turn out for the party. This is a little surprising because most everything stops for the slightest snow in Georgia. The party was a HUGE SUCESS!! Emily Grace practically had a smile on her face for the entire 1 1/2 hours. She just loved sharing her birthday with so many of her friends and cousins. Every few minutes she would run to David or me and give us a big heart felt hug and then run right back to what she was doing. She also pretty much hopped from place to place, she was so happy. I would have shed tears of joy if I had had any time to just watch, I am sure. I was running just about as much as she. It was a wonderful joy filled day and our little family is so very thankful :o)

Emily Grace's Surgery

Emily Grace has to have surgery to correct her strabismus (her left eye occasionally turns out when focusing on an object far away in her visual distance. If left untreated, she could lose the vision in her left eye altogether and the eye would permanently remain turning outward) This surgery requires that the good eye be cut on as well. The plan is to attach a muscle from the weak eye to the strong to always keep them aligned. I have to say that I am EXTREMELY uneasy about relinquishing my daughter to be put to sleep and to have both of her eyes cut on..especially after seeing the possible risks from the surgery on the papers that we are required to sign. I promise you that I will need some sort of valium to go through with it. Currently, the surgery is scheduled for March 11th. May I please ask all of you for your prayers during scary but necessary time for us??!!! Please pray that Emily Grace emerges healthy, whole and with a successful surgery behind her without any complications. Please also pray that I am strong enough for her during this time!!!!!
I thank you in advance for the much needed prayers!!
Amy

Valentine's Day

After giving our sweet little Valentine her gift on Valentine's morning, we made cup cakes together for her to give all four grandparents as their gift. She was so excited!! Check out her first hair cut pics below as well!

Emily Grace's First Hair Cut

Just before Emily Grace's 3rd birthday, she finally had her first hair cut. Bless her heart, she was still pretty much bald at 13 months and it took forever for her to have enough hair for a bow let along enough hair to cut. Well recently, she had enough to put in two thin pigtails, but there was still quite a bit in the back of her hair that was not long enough to go up in the pigtails. So during craft time, a little girl at her baby sitter's house decided to cut a CHUNK of that remaining hair (that we waiting to grow in) so we had to cut all of her hair to make it look normal. She had to have about 2 1/2 inches cut from her length to even it out. Emily Grace was worried that she wouldn't have enough hair for her bows. I promised her that we would figure out how to wear her bows and not to worry.