Implants!

No, not that kind. A couple of months ago I lost a contact and figured that was a sign to finally get Lasik. For the past couple of years my eyes have been so red and irritated looking all the time. I've worn glasses since kindergarten, contacts since I was nine. So it was about time. I found a great eye doctor (unfortunately an hour's drive away) and went for a consultation. He told me my corneas were too thin for Lasik, but I could do either PRK (which is like Lasik but on the surface of the eye) or implantable contact lenses. After many hours of research and talking to several people I decided on the contacts. Of course that was the more expensive option, but also it was safer, fewer side effects, less recovery time, etc. The office gave me a pair of soft contacts so I wouldn't have to wear my glasses all the time, but I could only wear them a few hours at a time and they'd start to bother my eyes. I got so sick of wearing my glasses, they're an old prescription. I went to the eye dr. for 4 total visits, each time having very specific measurements taken. 2 weeks before the surgery I had to have 2 little holes poked (by a laser) in my eyes to relieve pressure (so that the contacts wouldn't increase the pressure when they were placed). That was pretty scary! My surgery was this past Wednesday. Scott was out of town so I got a babysitter to spend the night and put the kids on the bus, and I took a very expensive cab at 5 a.m. Everyone at the surgical center was very nice, and since I was given some valium to relax I think they seemed even nicer! I was worried that I would be able to see the instruments going into my eyes, but because my eyes were so dilated I couldn't focus up close and really saw nothing. I had numbing drops and couldn't feel any pain, but there were some weird sensations. The whole thing only took about 20 minutes. Afterwards my eyes were sore, but only like I'd been wearing my contacts too long or crying for a long time. Within a couple of hours I could see pretty well. By my post-op the next day my vision was 20/15 in one eye and 20/25 in the other. It is awesome! I never realized how much I'd had to think about taking out my contacts or packing eye stuff to travel. I still feel weird going to sleep without doing anything to my eyes. I have drops I have to put in for a couple of weeks yet, and I have a couple of small burst blood vessels in my eyes, but they feel fine and I am so grateful that I can finally see!

Ethan's Guitar

Ethan got a guitar and lessons as an early birthday present this year. A couple of years ago he expressed an interest in guitar, but we told him he could only start playing after 3 total years of piano, and he had to continue with piano. Well he did, in fact he's doing quite well with piano, and we decided to go ahead with guitar. Ethan was in band this year, playing the trombone. He worked hard, but never really enjoyed it too much. Frankly, the trombone is neither a convenient or (unless you're really good) an attractive sounding instrument (in fact if someone breaks wind Noah says, "Trombone!") Also the band students missed some of class for their lessons, and Ethan's teacher was not very willing to let Ethan make up the work he'd missed. We made him stick it out through the last concert, but let him quit band a few weeks early. Anyway Ethan has had 3 guitar lessons now and is doing great. Because of his piano he has a good grasp of music theory has picked up the basics very quickly. I've always thought the guitar was such a great, useful instrument (and girls love a guy who plays guitar!)

On His Baldness (with apologies to Milton)

Noah had hair when he was born, and for the next almost 3 years. It was a beautiful silky blonde. Then one day I noticed that he was shedding a lot of hairs. At first I was worried about a thyroid problem, but it turned out to be alopecia, a condition (more common with Down syndrome) where it's like you are allergic to your own hair. Over the next couple of months his hair got thinner and thinner and finally all fell out. His eyebrows soon followed. Of course we saw a specialist, but the creams and ointments he prescribed didn't do any good, and the next step was shots into Noah's head. No thanks! Last summer Noah's eyelashes started falling out, which I have to admit was difficult for me, not just because they'd been so long and beautiful, but because they help protect the eyes. Anyway, Noah is pretty blase about his hair loss - - if you ask him what color his hair is he'll just say it's all gone. He's such a cute kid anyway, but his appearance does sometimes provoke stares and comments. Several people (including complete strangers) have asked why we shave his head. I'm tempted to reply that we shave his eyebrows and pluck his eyelashes out too! Other people have thought he was going through chemo. A friend of mine has an adult brother who has Downs and alopecia as well. Once he came to our ward and a little girl saw him and went running to her mom, "I just saw Noah but he was all grown up!" Anyway we love little Noah's smooth bald head. Sometimes he'll grow a hair or two and Scott will lather him up for a "haircut," which Noah enjoys. Bald is beautiful! And I must say Scott appreciates having someone in the house with less hair.

Derby Picture

Ethan is on the far left, Noah is the short little guy with the big smile.

Pinewood Derby

I'm starting off the family blog with a bang. Today was the Pinewood Derby, and the boys did great. Ethan won for the second year in a row and Noah got third place. While Scott was assembling the cars Ethan asked him to make Noah's faster. What a sweetheart! But as luck would have it, Ethan was the big winner. Noah couldn't have cared less, he got his trophy and his paper certificate and won't let them out of his sight. He had a great time. It really was mostly luck that we won, we only started working on the cars on Thursday and Scott didn't put the wheels on until this morning. This is Ethan's last derby, but Noah has 2 more.