pirates and birthdays!

I wanted to share something cute that happened Tuesday night.  We went to dinner with my parents and Javier, Stephanie, Hudson and Tenley. When Hudson saw Ellie wearing her eye patch he quickly handed out pictures he had colored for us and said pirate when he handed Ellie's picture to her.  Then he quietly said to Stephanie that he wanted to be a pirate like Ellie.  I thought it was so cute. I hadn't thought about Ellie being a pirate. Ellie didn't have any response when Hudson said he wanted to be a pirate like her. She doesn't think it's funny and it doesn't make her upset. Kind of odd to get no response from her about something.

Ryan gave me a card this morning and it was hilarious so I wanted to share it.

For my wife on her birthday.
The top 10 things I don't say often enough...

10. I hate to miss the game, but this floor could really use a good scrubbing.
9. Why don't you buy a nice new pair of shoes to go with that outfit.
8. Let's rent a romantic movie. If I see one more car chase, I'm gonna hurl!
7. Yeah, I'm pretty tired, too, so let's just cuddle.
6. Why can't they show real-looking women in those lingerie catalogs?
5. My thumb's getting tired. Would you mind holding the remote for a while?
4. I'm not sure we've seen enough family lately.
3. You got enough blankets over there?
2. Sure, I'll be glad to hold your purse while we're standing next to this construction site.
1. I'll love you forever! (and I sure hope you know it!)

This was funny to me.
It was nice to start my day off laughing!

I did have a spectacular birthday! I took the day off to pamper myself since I had some gift certificates to use up.  I got a pedicure with a friend Hannah, then had lunch with Hannah and Collette, visited Ellie at school for a little while then went to a massage! The whole day was wonderful. Ended it with a fun evening outside on this beautiful day with the fam.  It was a blessing to have Facebook today also.  So many friends wished me a happy birthday. It made me feel so loved and special.  Thank you all, everyone out there, thank you!

Happy 76th Birthday Dad on Thursday, March 31st

Happy Birthday to Ellie and Nate's cousin Ethan on April 1st!
and Happy Birthday to Hudson on April 9th!

Nathans

I started this a few days ago but didn't have time to finish so now I will and finally post it.

16 years ago on March 26, 1995 Ryan lost his best friend Nathan Bertram.  This is a picture of Nathan.  From that day forward Ryan and I became close friends.  When we were married and talked about  names for our children, we decided to name our boy after his friend Nathan Bertram that died.  So that is how we get to our Nathan.  We miss you Nathan and always think about you when we see eagles or hawks.

Who is visiting my page?

I put a Live Traffic Feed gadget on the blog and would like to know who in particular is visiting from places like Baxter, Iowa, Decatur, IL, Alabama and other exotic places likes that.  When you visit can you please post a comment and let me know who you are.  I know there are so many people I don't even know following the blog but I would like to know how you came to follow our familie's story.  Thanks so much for your cooperation!

Patches, patches, Ellie's eye patches

We headed to Iowa City Friday hoping to see more improvements in her eye sight.  We hoped we could do less days of atropine, dialating drops.  This wasn't the case however.  Her eyesight was the same or slightly worse.  20/20 in her left eye and 20/40 in her right eye.  Last time she had 20/35 in her right eye.  Anyway, they thought maybe atropine had done all it could do for Ellie so the next thing is patching.  The good eye will get the patch on it so the weak eye has to do all the work, all the time.  So Ellie is going to wear a patch on her left eye all the time for 4 weeks.  She will be checked in a month to see how the progress is going.  Patching 100% of the time is supposed to have quick results.  She is also a part of a study for patching now.  So during the month we are to do an eye test online to see how it's going partway through and if it varies from what they find in the clinic.  They had some way cute patches for Ellie to take home and wear.  This makes it easier for her to agree to wear them.  We are also doing an incentive calendar.  A sticker each day she wears it all day and doesn't take it off or mess with it.  She is rewarded at the end of each week.   

Here are pictures of her the first two days. She wanted to put a patch on the eye of her kitty stuffed animal so it could be like her.  At least she is taking it well right now and still smiling.  She wasn't embarassed to go out in public with it today.  She was embarassed and wouldn't go to the UNI Panther Sports camp with it though.  I really hope this isn't going to make her less social.  She says she won't be embarassed by it with people she knows.  We will see!

She told me this afternoon that sometimes she forgets she is wearing it.

March 25th Eye appnt.

Hi all! It's been a long time since I have updated, because not much has been going on other than living everyday life.  This Friday, March 25th, Ellie has an eye appointment in Iowa City.  We have seen much improvement in her face and eye movement since the May 2010 nerve graft surgery.  We are praying all these atropine, dialating, drops has continued to improve her vision strength.  We did see a nice improvement last time so we are hoping to see 20/20 in both eyes and possibly cut back on atropine drops a couple days a week.  I will update after the appointment.

Ellie is also improving in her reading skills.  She had fallen behind in reading so her teacher has been spending more time with her before and after school to get her caught up. Now a past English teacher both Ryan and I had in middle and high school is going to start helping Ellie one morning a week at school to help her teacher out.  Sooo Ellie's teacher reported to me a couple weeks ago that she is improving but has more to go still. I was happy to hear this!