31 for 21: Cabbage Patch

This summer we took Ella to Babyland General Hospital where Cabbage Patch babies are born. I went when I was a little girl and still remember that visit! I am SOOOO glad that my little girl loves to play baby dolls like I did....and possibly even more!

Both of my babies sitting in the giant cabbage when we first got there!  Ella was just a little excited!

Looking at older Cabbage Patch Dolls...that are now worth $15000! The 3rd one in this pic is the 2nd one ever made, in 1977!

In the incubator

Ella playing with the babies!

Grandmom and Ella at the wishing well!

Look, they have matching noses!!!

Holding one of the "newborns" that we watched be born!

My sweet boy, he was so good!

Ella got to choose a baby. She carried all 5 of these "Babyland exclusive" exclusive babies around. Here was the final lineup to choose from!

The winner!

Watching the 2nd baby be born from mother cabbage. It's SOOO cute!!!

Ella saying the adoption oath. She had to repeat the oath line by line and did so good! She promised to be the "best mama to her baby."

It's official! She is the mama to Lexi Caillou.....lol, that is the name she chose : )

Handing me the birth certificate!

Hunter, Ella and Grandmom in front of the hospital.

Here is what they looked like up close......"too bright!!!"

I just love this boy!

Babyland General Hospital. Cleveland, Georgia

Ella LOVES her new baby! Thank you to Grandad and Bebe for getting it for her!!!

31 for 21: Ella's Birthday Part 2

Birthday Party # 2 at Grandmom and Grandad's house (Ella's Great Grandmom and Great Grandad)!!!!

Grandmom and Ella baked the Birthday cupcakes!!!

Cracking the eggs!

Putting in the liners

"Smixing!"

Grandmom let her lick the batter....shhhh don't tell Grandad (that is his job!)

Paige came over when she got out of school! The kids frosted and decorated their own cupcakes!

A little assistance by Nana and Grandmom!

Mr Nick and Mrs MaryAnn came over to help celebrate too!

Ella and Grandmom make the best cupcakes!!!!!!

Then it was present time!  Mrs MaryAnn got Ella a Birthday crown and glow in the dark princess wand..

and a sticker book!!

Mommy and Bubba got her some books and a waterbottle....gotta love a kid who says "NO WAY!!!!" in excitement over every little thing!!

Nana got Ella some airplanes from the movie Planes....she was so excited! No WAY!!!!

Opening Grandmom and Grandad's present

a fun game like the Leap Frog game she has been playing over there....

AND a Barbie head for hair styling!!!!  She is OBSESSED with playing hair salon!!!!

She also got some more hair salon accessories!!!!!

Exciting stuff!!!  "NO WAY!!!!"

After presents Hunter practically ran out of the house to get back on his beloved tractor!!!!  After he rode around for a bit he got to wash it....while Grandad supervised : )

The boy LOVES to drive that tractor!!!!

31 for 21: Vision

I posted this little story on Facebook back in March.....

 

Hunter and I picked Ella up at school and decided to go to the park. We stopped at Walgreens on the way for bottled water and to let Ella use the bathroom. As we were picking out our water this elderly lady (we are talking probably in her 90s) kept staring at Ella. Not smiling. She looks at me and said "that is just so sad," while pointing at Ella. Hunter looked up at me with a look of question on his face and I could feel my pulse speeding up. I was thinking very carefully about how to have a respectful conversation with this lady, how to explain Down syndrome. I started with "no she is great! Nothing to be sad about." The lady shook her head and said "it really is so sad. She is so young and has glasses already." I literally started to laugh. The lady said "how do they even know she needs them?" I explained very briefly how they test Ella's eyes and told her that Ella does really well with her glasses. The lady said "well the important thing is that she can see." Indeed. I'm soooo glad it ended up not being the conversation I feared!

 

Phew. LOL.

Ella's vision....

 

Ella first started wearing glasses in October of 2010, at the age of 4. I CRIED the day the eye doctor told us it was time for glasses. Seems silly now, but it was just one more thing that made her different. Also I just KNEW that she would NEVER tolerate wearing glasses. Boy was I wrong. Ella took to her glasses right away, and besides having to figure out how to adjust them to stay up on her little no-nose, we had no problems!

 

                                                                 Ella's 1st day of glasses

 

 

 

On March 10th, 2011 (her big brother's 7th birthday) Ella had her first eye surgery to fix her strabismus (eye crossing.)  In this surgery they loosened the inside muscle in each eye. Ella was a rockstar and her eyes did not seem to bother her except for when she was asleep and then she would try to rub them.

 

 

All seemed well after the first surgery....for awhile and then the crossing began again. The doctor said that Ella was crossing mostly when she was trying to focus up close so she put Ella in bifocals. Now that was a pain in the butt. When a small child wears bifocals, the line is supposed to bisect their pupil. Weird right? That would drive me nuts. As usual Ella did great with them once we fought with the glasses place about where the middle of her pupil was. If you look closely you can see the lines.

After a while the bifocals no longer fixed her crossing. Surgery #2 was on September 27, 2012.

 

Getting ready to head back for surgery.

 In this surgery she had the outside muscle of her right eye tightened, as well as the tear ducts in both eyes probed. When she came out of anesthesisia she tried clawing her eyes out but after that she was fine.

9 days after her 2nd surgery we were sitting at Hunter's soccer game. Ella was sitting between Chris and I, kind of sitting sideways in her chair.  A teenager kicked a ball behind Ella (during a game, not doing anything wrong) and it nailed Ella on the outside corner of her right eye. Yep the same eye that just got "fixed." The ball sent her glasses flying and left the markings of the ball on her face. We of course took Ella into the eye doctor and she was worried that the force of the ball could have knocked out the stitches that were holding her muscle tight but all we could do was wait and see.

 

She looked good from a far

                                      But this is what her eye looked like up close still makes me nauseous

We had her 8 week post op appointment and it was determined that she would indeed need a 3rd surgery. Ugh. This time she cut into both the outside and inside of her eye. This surgery was the worst for Ella. She woke up in extreme pain, crying and covering her eyes. It was SO sad. The pain continued through that day and we would have to cover her eyes with a washcloth to calm her down. This kid doesn't really show when she is in pain so it must have been pretty bad.

The great news in all of this is that the last surgery seems to have done the trick!!!!  We have gone to the eye doctor every 3 months since that surgery and I am thrilled each time when the doctor says that her eyes look better than ever! Phew!!!!! Her vision itself is changing every time it's checked though, which is not only expensive (to keep getting new lenses) but also a bit worrisome to me.  She hardly has any vision correction (as far as near/far) in either eye, just a little nearsighted in one eye, but has pretty bad astigmatisms that keep getting worse and will keep her in glasses. She got some new glasses this past spring, after wearing her old ones for 2 1/2 years! She outgrew her old ones, never broke them! 

Ella's new glasses!