Eye Spy

Well, Elyse had her Opthamologist appointment on Friday at Children's Hospital. They are concerned because she is "Significantly hyperoptic" or far sighted and more so in one eye. Her eyes also turn out but being far sighted actually helps them turn in. Apparently when eyes turn out they usually prescribe glasses to make you far sighted as this corrects the turning out. Well, Elyse has done this for herself. She's so amazing. haha.

Also, an interesting self-healing fact.... She has an eye that doesn't blink all the way closed and stays open a crack when she is sleeping. This is not good and can damage the eye if it should dry out. Well, Elyse, as amazing as she is, has a plugged tear duct which is keeping her eyes very teary. Pretty cool!

All in all things are looking good and they just want to keep their eye on her. (harhar) We'll be back there for another appointment in 2 months.

Bye for now!

Life can't get much better

It's interesting when a song will come on the radio and it triggers a memory. This happened to me the other day with some 80's song (I don't remember the title or who sings it) but it placed me at Crescent Beach with a bunch of friends back when I was like 14 or something. That summer was the best and apparently this 80's song was a big hit that summer. I remember thinking then - life can't get much better.

I had that same "Life can't get much better" feeling today but under VERY different circumstances. The kids finished their swimming lessons and Russ and I planned to meet up for a picnic at the park. He brought the food, I brought the kids. Well, we're sitting there, in the shade as Russ is allergic to the sun, Paige and Micah were off running around in the spray park, Elyse was cooing in the stroller and I got the feeling - life can't get much better. Now a couple years later, I realize part of that feeling is knowing how blessed I am and being so thankful!

Well, the bliss ended when Paige transitioned to her rather evil alter-ego and got control of the spray nozzle that you can swivel around to spray people. She asked a little girl (who was about 2) to stand in front, and as Paige went to hit the button to turn on the water, the girl's Grandpa stepped in and whisked the girl away to safety. I also felt somewhat badly for the naive mother who walked within the reaches of Paige's evil power - the water sprayer - and Paige blasted her and kept the water trained on her until she was out of reach.

Now, I did scold her (Paige that is) for that but I was also killing myself laughing (when Paige wasn't looking of course). The mother wasn't too thrilled with her antics and was probably wondering who would raise such an evil kid that parades around so sweet and friendly. Well, like I always say, don't wander around the spray park if you don't want to get wet.

Tuesdays can be worse than Mondays

Well, the day finally came. It was time to take Elyse to the Ear/Nose/Throat (ENT) Doctor. I had my page of questions I had been collecting since we first met him in the ICU when Elyse was just 2 days old. However, when our visit was finished, I left his office feeling... very frustrated and a little mad. I did not have an opportunity to ask my questions and when I answered his questions he didn't believe me. Who was I mad at? Mostly myself because I should have been more assertive and said what needed to be said. So, our next step is to inform him when Elyse's heart surgery will be and he will go in and do a scope to get a clearer picture of her nasal cavity and throat.

Now, for some good news... I am eating my words from my last post about Micah's swimming lessons. While I was at the hospital with Elyse, Micah did amazingly well by putting his face in the water repeatedly. How does that happen literally over night? Well, whatever the reason I'm happy that my $60.00 didn't go totally to waste!

Water

Kids just love water! My kids love water so much that they sometimes get distracted when washing their hands, fill the sink to the top with water and sit and play until one of us parents finally notices them MIA. So, I was excited that Micah was finally old enough to go into swimming lessons this year. I thought he would love it. I thought he would be the best little swimmer in his class. Um, yeah. Not so much. I paid $60.00 for him to sit on a step in the water, blow the odd bubble, and watch the other kids dunk under the water. As I contemplate the next round of lessons, I have deicded not to put Micah back into organized lessons until he can show me he can get his face wet. We can do that in the bathtub for free!

No surgery this month!

Well, Children's Hospital called today. They have booked an appointment for Elyse to go in to be seen by her cardiologist and have an echocardiogram on July 30th. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that means we won't be in for surgery before then. I guess you never know for sure and I may be eating these words (I hope I do). I must say I am getting a little concerned that we could be staying in the hospital when it is "Back-To-School" time. Hmmm... that would suck! I'll just keep praying!

Did I smile today?

Today was one of those days. I realized that the birthday party Paige was to attend was starting in 30 mins, it is a 20 min drive away, and we were about 30 mins away from being ready to go out the door. In the end, she was only 15 minutes late. A small miracle but a situation I find rather stressful. One of those days...

It is currently 9:35pm and I think Paige and Micah are still awake conspiring in their shared bed room. They were put to bed at 7:30. It's one of those days...
So far they have been up:
- for a drink of water
- requesting a leg rub because they have growing pains
- needing help to find their ring
- to ask for the bed rail to be put back in so Micah doesn't fall out of bed
- requesting the hot water bottle for sore legs
- crawling into the master bedroom just to see what mom and dad were doing
- requesting ice for their sore legs
- making a communal bed on their floor for a "Sleepover" (even though they share a bunk bed)

Now, even though they have been disobedient by not staying in bed, the worst part is I know how tired they are going to be tomorrow and we have a long day ahead of us. That is when we as parents will really need our patience. For now, I think I will go to bed and see if I can fall asleep first. Time to put this day to a close...

Jumping in with both feet

We are the Gorsline's - a family of 5. Russ is the Dad and our latest news is that he has "The Apnea". Stay tuned for more details as he is getting his C-Pap machine next week. Yvette is the momma and she gets rather sleep deprived with night time feedings and busy days. Paige is just about 6. She is our little diva, very enthusiasic, dramatic and lot of fun! Micah is our sensitive little 3 year old. Because he takes a while to warm up to people and situations, everyone thinks he is so quiet. On the Contrary!! He is also in love with Yvette and plans to marry her. Elyse is our surprise miracle baby born in March. She has fought the odds her whole short life and continues to thrive despite so many medical challenges. We are currently awaiting a call from Children's hospital to inform us when her open heart surgery is being rescheduled to (they cancelled her June date due to staffing shortages).

Well, this is my attempt to have a blog. I first decided to do this as a way to allow people to read up on Elyse's medical status but I decided it is a good way to share little daily anecdotes that make me smile and/or chuckle but then are otherwise forgotten. I'm hoping that documenting some of them will allow me to treasure my kids and family that much more.

Now, I'm trying to think of something that made me smile today... Ah! I Know....

We have a bucket of Tinker Toys (the retro wood ones). They had been hidden in the garage as the last time I had them out, the kids were quite proud of their muscles and the fact they could snap the sticks. So I came across them the other day and thought, "Hmmm... maybe it's time to bring these out again." Well, Micah's eyes lit up. He promptly dumped them over the floor, grabbed 2 sticks and started drumming. It was fine for the first 20 minutes but then it starts to grate on you (especially since he was drumming on the metal lid). Well, today the Tinker toys once again got dumped out and I heard Micah say, "Paige, Wanna play Chinese food with me?" I looked up - having never heard of that game before. Apparently they had been teaching themselves how to use chop sticks.

Also, Elyse gave me a hug today. I don't think she had any idea what she was doing but to me it was a hug (and Russ saw it and called it a hug too.) She placed an arm on either side of my neck and rested her head against my cheek. Sounds like a hug doesn't it? She's a very advanced 3 month old. haha.

I'll be posting much more in the days ahead. Thanks for reading