Precious in His Sight...: January 2011

I really feel like this month has been a blur. I have no idea how it is almost February. I literally have taken no pictures. Not. A. One. I really should get a bad Mom award. I spent the majority of the month throwing up, seeing as we are expecting child #3. Most of you know that I think. So this will be a modpodge of updates, mostly to help me remember what went on with my precious kiddos this month.
First off, telling Abby Kate that she was going to have another brother or sister was one of the funnest nights of my life. She is so giddy and absolutely convinced it is a girl. She refuses to call the baby anything but "she." Because I am considered high risk, she went with me when they did an early ultrasound (7 weeks) and was so cute and excited. She showed the pictures to everyone as we exited the doctors office. And my sweet brother scanned me last weekend and she got to see it too and exclaimed, "look how big she has gotten!" And the sweet one sucked his/her thumb and moved all around for us and every time he/she did something new, she cried "OHHHH! How SWEEEEET!" I really could not ask for a more perfect or precious firstborn.
We went for our eye check-up which I asked to be moved up. Bo has refused to wear his glasses since he began walking. As I understood it last time, I needed to try to keep them on him but if he wouldn't wear them, he would eventually see that he desperately needed them and would keep them on. I think this is easy when they are older. We have had NO problem with Abby Kate. And she has corrected so quickly. Both of them have astigmatism. Bo's is more severe than Abby Kate's. His vision is worse too but both of them have a dominant eye. In this case, you have to strengthen the weak eye which we did with Abby Kate by patching after she had worn her glasses for 6 months with little improvement. After the patching, which we did for 4 months, her eyes seemed to correct quickly. This appointment, she had 20/20 for the first time with her glasses. We were thrilled! She is very responsible and has been SO good at wearing them all the time. She never fights me.
Bo, on the other hand jerks them off the second I put them on him. I could hold his hands down and try to get him distracted but the second my hands moved, it was seconds and he had them pulled off. Most of you have seen the pictures of his glasses. They are adorable and VERY durable. Perfect for a baby. But they have not fit him well since the beginning. They have a strap and his ears have always folded down when he wears them. I am sure this is annoying to him. He also has his Daddy's super-duper long eyelashes so they also are being smashed seeing as these particular frames have no nose piece. They rest right against the face. So I am not sure if it is his head size and shape or what but they don't seem to fit well.
But Bo's eye started turning in when he was tired. It wasn't super noticeable but I noticed he couldn't bring it to mid-line when he was sleepy. It then began watering all the time. Their sweet opthamologist got us in and we got very hard news with him. His vision had moved into the severe range. He literally is seeing very little. He is compensating, but my sweet Daddy and OT SIL both reminded me of how important vision was in preventing learning disabilities. Just another added urgency. SOOOO, we decided to invest in a very expensive pair of glasses for him. We are praying this was a wise decision. They are a frame that is so lightweight you barely know they are on. They have a cable arm that loops around his ear and they are custom fitting the lens and frame to fit him perfectly. Because his prescription is so strong, they are also specially making the lens to be as thin as possible. The frames are rimless so he looks like SUCH a little man. Please pray with us that he will wear them with little or no resistance and that his vision will begin improving immediately. I know God can heal ALL things and I just pray my children's vision will be restored fully.
And sweet Bo has finally dropped down to one nap and has stopped waking at the crack of dawn, which is a GIANT blessing for this tired Momma! Abby Kate is still loving school and thriving and learning a ton. She has been fascinated lately with learning (at home) about the Devil and more about Jesus. She has asked us literally thousands of questions and is SO curious about good and evil. It has made for such interesting and GOOD discussion!
I will leave you with a prayer Abby Kate said last week that made her sweet Daddy and I roll and tear up at the same time,
"Sweet Jesus, we want to bless your name. We want to baptize you. We love you Jesus. And we love all the people in the world. Even the bad guys. Amen"

Abby Kate is crazy about her cousins. Literally, each one. Kourtney is her idol. Liv is the "Cutest thing she has ever seen" and then Luke has become SO special to her too. She just "loves him SO SO much!" She wants to hold him ALL the time when we are together!

Christmas jammies!

Um, strong much? This pic scared me to death. I was just waiting for Bo to wallop Luke on the head.

With Aunt Krista

We had a WONDEFUL time with our family this Christmas. These last few pics are of our time with B's family and we went to look at a nearby town square the looked straight out of the movies! It was so magical and the kids LOVED it (me too!). It was FREEZING but such fun memories singing Christmas carols on the way down and just being together!

We really had so much fun this year. I definitely want to be more intentional next year with things that will keep the focus more on Jesus. But overall, it was so special and being together was SUCH a precious gift. Having Daddy gone all week has been tough so getting uninterrupted time was so wonderful!