In Makiya's Eyes

Almost a year and a half ago, I first shared our steps into Makiya’s eye troubles.

Makiya is now just over three years old, and “very bright” in the words of her doctor today. She is very smart, high energy and full of humour.

She has become very comfortable with these eye appointments, obviously loving the little games, videos and puppets that are part of her examinations. In the days leading up to her appointments, she can barely contain her excitement and eagerness for the day to come. Her ease, of course, has made the journey of learning what is really going on a little easier each time we go.

Her eye has not improved, although we hesitate to say that it has actually declined. I have found comfort now that she is able to talk in that she is able to tell me now that her eye is more irritating than painful. Another positive that we see, in hopes of it signifying, well really, anything in the way of good news, is that Makiya can completely control her eye when it does wander out. She actually finds it to be a funny little game, “Look Mommy/Daddy!!” as she lets it wander outwards, and then with a little smile, brings it back in. In having this control however, it makes it very difficult for the doctors to really see what we see on a daily basis. Though we were previously given the two names, Intermittent Exotropia and Divergent Strabismus, we don’t know exactly where Makiyas condition sits within those terms.

Last month we had another of our bi/tri-monthly visits to the eye specialists. Dilating drops were given so that they could really take a look inside her eyes and see what was going on, and as always, Makiya was a trooper through it all, three exams from three different people and not a fuss from her. More difficult for me, was seeing her response to the eye drops; she could not see properly! One nurse had given her a fancy ring on our way out and as excited as Makiya was to have it, she couldn’t see what was on it! What I clearly saw as a star, she saw, hesitatingly, as a flower. After the appointment, I took her for lunch before heading home, and it was hard to witness her struggle with how much sunshine was pouring into her eyes; she was seriously bothered. Then, when we got home, she became excited at all the “pretty colors” she was seeing as we entered the door; her eyes adjusting from the bright lights I can only assume.

Another distressing part of that visit was that she seemed to be having a new found difficulty with some of the pictures that she had previously excelled at. My heart sinking as I watched her sit in the chair struggling to figure out what she was supposed to be looking at. Where we had previously been reassured that her vision was perfect, I was then told that it seemed that she in fact had some trouble in the eye that WASN’T wandering. We hopefully considered that it was due to the drops and scheduled an appointment for this month to re-examine.

Today was a scene similar to the one that played out nearly a year and a half ago; Daddy, little red haired girl, and Mommy holding hands as they enter the tall brick building en route to the Orthoptist. Parents nervous, child excited.

She raced to press the button for the elevator, exuberantly shared her joy in riding the elevator, walked purposefully to the books once in the office, and then, leapt out of her chair excitedly as the doctor came out to greet us. “Hi!” said Makiya as she practically ran into the examination room and hopped up in the chair.

Today, the inability to see and name the smaller objects on the screen was even more pronounced then last month, in that it seemed to bother Makiya that she couldn’t figure them out. It was not caused by the drops, but is in fact a flaw in her vision that was announced to be slightly worse than first thought; although still not enough to warrant treatment.

Her wandering eye was hard to “break” again today, meaning that the doctor is not able to see it to the full extent that we do on a daily basis. Frustrating for the doctor who is being told something is there, but she can’t fully see and frustrating for the parents who see it continuously and only want their child to be okay.

Surgery talk came back to the table today, as she is not improving and concerns arise the older the child becomes. If necessary, it is preferred to provide this surgery before the child is of school age so as to eliminate/lessen any problems that would likely arise as they head further out into the world. Not a simple cut and dry decision in the eyes of the parent, on so many different levels.

We have decided to make another appointment for a few months down the road, at which point we will take another look, and, decide whether we in fact want to proceed with the journey towards surgery or continue the watching, waiting and hoping.

Caught Up Catch Up

I have been caught up lately in a multitude of things that I won’t even begin to get into now, but, to catch you up to speed, I will share some of what has been occupying my mind these days!

My mind has been taken over by ideas, books, Pinterest, websites, and it’s been time to start putting some of the new found and broadened knowledge that I have been compiling.

Gardening, self-sufficiency, healthy eating for our family, composting, worm farms, heirloom seeds, oh the list could go on!, have all been on my mind for a while now, and it’s coming to that time of year where I am getting anxious and eager to make another attempt at growing some fruits and vegetables of our own. Since last year, I have been reading TONS of stuff, chatting with mom, Linda Hoye, and growing tons of ideas inside my head. This year, we’ve changed what we’re growing a little, added some extras, and are trying to start a few from seed indoors. Due to a change in our living circumstances, this year, I will also be trying to grow our “bounty” in containers; a HUGE learning curve!

I shared that we were making an attempt to grow our celery, the cutting from store bought, and at first it seemed to be doing wonderfully, until one morning I came in and found it completely wilted over, and surrounded by little flies; my mom had the same experience, but I was undeterred! We started a new one a few weeks ago, and again it has taken off! Surprisingly to me, and more similar to my moms experience, this one didn’t sprout roots immediately, but it finally did and we just transplanted it into a pot yesterday. I am excited and hopeful that we’ll have better luck this time. Makiya as well, she gave it the familiar little pep talk, encouraging it to grow healthy and strong.

Mom (be sure to check out this link, different from the one above, this is her Gardening Glog!) was down for a visit a few weeks ago, and brought with her, the second annual Sunflower and Pumpkin Seed Kits for her and Makiya. A little eager perhaps (?!) we have already started them, and they are growing along beautifully!

I am also counting the days until we can set up the new greenhouse mom brought for me!! Spoiled gardening newbie = GRATEFUL!! 

I was thrilled to be able to attend a community Seed event last weekend, where we picked up some Heirloom seeds, and of course, tons of information on topics including permaculture, worm farms, CSA Farms in our community and an assortment of other idea inspiring literature.

I got to work later in the week, and prepared some seed cups from toilet paper rolls; I have heard mixed reviews on these, but am optimistic that they will work out just fine. We started some Mini Bell Assorted Peppers in those, and in larger pots began, what I am quickly realizing, TOO MANY Broccoli seeds! I began to panic when they sprouted after only two days and how many healthy extras I have, but decided that I can always give them away to family and friends once they get bigger and stronger; in fact, I think they will make a wonderful little gift! I was worried about the pots/containers I would need in the meantime, but have come up with a plan to make our own paper pots, I will let you know how THAT turns out!

I desperately want to get a compost started, and would love to get a worm farm going; things to come soon! I HAVE started saving my coffee grounds and eggshells though, and for the time being have begun using them on my house plants.

Again, inspired by Pinterest, I have begun to create a few little things, with, of course, a mind full of projects and pictures to come!

                                                                     Our birdfeeder...

                                 My jars and vase freshened up...the pics don' treally do it justice...

And a little from my little artist girl…

More to come soon!

I Found the Moss!

It was a beautiful and sunny day here, and FINALLY warm enough to get out and have some fun!

Of course, with moss on the brain, between snow angels, snow shovelling, sliding and checking out all that was covered in snow, I went searching for materials for the terrarium I have been excited to make.

I wandered through the garden area, and was surprised to find two clumps of moss covered dirt! Well of course that ignited the drive to find more. And there it was, still growing on the tree!  A little brushing away of the snow, a little screwdriver that was just close enough to grab and I was able to peel away some nice batches of moss. A few rocks, pinecones and a little stump (I think it looks like the foot of an elephant!) that had been cut away from our Christmas Tree, and inside we went to create our little terrarium.

I quietly held onto the cover from Makiya’s birthday cake (thank you Grandma for the DQ Ice Cream Cake!), dreaming of ideas, things we had around the house, what we could use to turn it into a beautiful little terrarium. Along with our outside treasures, we added some cat grass seeds that I hope will get sprouted in the next couple of days. (I have some plants almost ready to take cuttings from, and as soon as they are ready, we will add them too.)

And here it now is!

We both had a blast putting it together, and are excited to watch it grow!

Random Catching Up...

I have gotten off to a bit of a slow start in the way of keeping up with my theme of Motion for the year. Although I did get a major start on organizing our disaster of a basement, it was only to find baby girl and I SICK the very next day, and two weeks later we sit with not much else accomplished.

During this down time, I have being quietly pinning, pining and planning away over on Pintrest, and boy have I come up with some wonderful ideas to do around the home, crafts with Miss Magoo, gardening ideas, recipes and oh I could go on! My husband actually pinned me down on it last night; “So, how many pins do you have now, thousands?! What are you going to do with it all?!” Well, honey, that’s just it, I hope to DO all of it, eventually! My mind has been working around several of the ideas, and I am getting excited to get to work!

Adding to our downtime was the frigid temperatures we have endured for over a week now, and thankfully, we are finally coming around to warmer days! I am eagerly awaiting getting outside to play, explore and get moving after being stuffed up inside for some time now. I have an idea for a little terrarium for Makiya, and, perhaps crazily, am hoping to find at least some of our different mosses surviving beneath the snow, somehow!

On the topic of gardening, mom (and check out her new GLOG!!) and I started celery indoors, another idea found over on Pintrest, and are surprised to see how quickly each of ours is growing. Excited about growing veggies, or at least starting them indoors, Makiya and I just set a potato up to start growing as well. I love watching her excitement and curiousity every day as we check in on our new friends, she gets real close, kind of brushing her cheek on the celery (well, really ALL plants and flowers) and whispers to it, “You’re beautiful, good growing!” She randomly comes out with suggestions for this year’s garden, which I also love.

I’ve been collecting pretty much everything that I would often toss away or into recycling this past year, mostly with the intent of using them for crafts, but that has grown into gardening ideas and home décor crafts that I am also looking forward to creating; I love the idea of repurposing items into something fresh and new, and even more, the idea of NOT having to spend money on these “new” items!

So, looking at just a few of our pictures from the past few weeks, I guess I am making a wee bit of headway with the whole "motion" thing... Can't wait to keep moving and creating!