11 Months

This photo was taken 2 days ago.  He doesn't smile for cameras too much but I'm glad I got this one of him smiling because he really is the happiest baby I think I have ever seen.  He has his bad times, sure, but for the most part he is happy and so good.

He said 'goodbye' to being 10 months old with surgery, what a celebration right?  His left eye had become quite crossed (they told us originally that was normal with aniridia so it wasn't a huge shocker) but it was worsening so we did surgery.  It was called "Recession and Resection" but basically they went in and cut the muscles surrounding his eye, moved them to correct the cross-eyed-ness (yes, I know that's not grammatically correct), then reattached the muscles in that spot.

We woke up at 4:30 AM yesterday so we could be to Riverton Hospital (PCMC's other location) by 6:15 AM.  It was a relatively safe surgery but I have to say that it's about the most horrible thing in the world to send your baby off, have them undergo anesthesia, then see them laying there, helpless, and trying to come out of the anesthesia.  I can't imagine what some parents go through when their children have to endure multiple surgeries for whatever reason.  Jeff was quite nervous/nauseous about it and couldn't eat and I won't say I didn't get a little misty-eyed, though we both knew that it needed to be done sooner rather than later.  Luckily, Landon is a champ and seemed to do GREAT with everything.  He kept food down right from the get-go and other than sleeping pretty much all day yesterday he has been good.  I can't get over how much that little boy has taught me.  I complain if I don't get as much sleep as I'd like yet he deals with all the pokes and prods and eye visits and such and is so good.  I seriously love that boy more than I could even express.  He's doing well today and definitely has all of his energy back.  His eye looks disgusting (bloody) and he keeps trying to rub it so we have to keep these braces that the hospital gave us on his elbows to keep him from rubbing his eye and causing damage to it.  Fun stuff. 

In other news, he is pushing off things and doing pretty well with his balance but he doesn't want to take steps (intentionally) yet.  That's fine, all in his own time.  He is getting better at feeding himself cereal pieces or crackers, prefers drinking from a real cup than a sippy, holds his own bottle, is extremely ticklish, turns the pages in his books, and pretty much loves everyone.  I was in Big-O last week waiting for a tire rotation and saw our insurance agent (Russ, who I barely know).  He recognized me and came to talk and Landon leaned toward him so Russ held him and Landon just snuggled into Russ.   It was cute and Russ and his wife about melted.  He's lovable, that's for sure.  He's also still a climber, still has 6 teeth (no new ones since June), and absolutely loves swimming.  I went to my friends house this week to swim and put a life jacket on him and he just laid there in it, not a care in the world.  It had us all laughing at how relaxed he was about it.

Not much else has been going on.  We celebrated my mom's birthday with an adult-only dinner out and my best little nephew (12) and niece (9) watched Landon, they are so good with him.  My birthday is also coming up, which I'm pretty much dreading.  I know a lot of people look forward to their birthdays but not me, I have a mini-mid-life crises every year.  Not sure how to get over that...

It's been a good month with the normal ups and downs.  Life is good and we're blessed.