Next up - Cait!

This sweet little miracle baby here just turned 4 in May!

Don't mind the string that was on the scanner..

I say miracle baby because we wanted a 3rd child SO badly and God had other plans. After 15 months and some major life changes for me, I finally became pregnant with our baby who was to be Caitney Anneliese!

Cait was such a laid back easy baby. Her trip into toddlerhood brought out the aspect of being strong-willed in her personality. Boy, she is going to be one great adult one of these days - we just need to teach her to focus that strong will on things that are good. It is quite a challenge but I know that God will help Shawn and I learn how to best parent her (and each of our children individually).

Here is Cait at Halloween time. She loved coloring her pumpkin!

Here she is right after Christmas.



Notice her poor little eye. Just at the time when Cait really started to enjoy writing, coloring, and spelling out words, we noticed her eyes going inward. They would only do it one at a time and would sometimes literally get stuck inward. The whole, "don't do that or your eyes will get stuck" took on a very real meaning for us!

After a trip to our eye doctor and a trip to a pediatric eye surgeon in St. Louis, Cait was diagnosed with strabismus which basically, in her case, means her eye muscles were too tight in the inside corners. She had eye muscle surgery in March at Children's Hospital in St. Louis by Dr. Gregg Lueder. He was absolutely wonderful!

Cait getting to know her mask...


Cait not thrilled at all about not having ate since 5am :(


Surgery went very well for Cait but waking up was very challenging. For those who have been around her, you will know that she is a very strong, muscular girl. Combine that with itchy eyes that can't be scratch, an IV in her arm that she didn't like, post-anesthesia confusion, and her very spunky personality, waking up from anesthesia was hard on everyone. It really broke my heart and freaked me out to see her the way she was :(

After Cait had her "eyes fixed" she was promised a Happy Napper! Mom and Dad were happy to see a smile on her face after all that!


We hadn't crossed into Illinois before this is what Cait looked like...

Poor sweet baby..

She did perk up by the time we got to Nashville and downed half a blizzard and Daddy's french fries from Dairy Queen! Poor girl was starving! Once we got home, she ate a little more and slept the rest of the night. We didn't leave St. Louis until 6pm so we arrived home around 8pm.

Here Cait is the next morning with her baby brother! You wouldn't have known the previous day happened if it weren't for her demon-possesed eyes!


This was our special treat for the day other than getting to spend the whole day with Mommy..



Fast-forward 3 months and we hardly see her eyes turn in at all. If we do see any turning, it is very slight. Her Dr said that it can take several months for her eyes and her brain to readjust to the longer muscle length in the corner of her eyes. She goes back to see the eye doctor in August. Hopefully 1 surgery will do the trick! We are blessed in that other than the eye muscle issue, her vision is perfect!

Here are a couple pics of our little beauty from Easter..



And here are a few from her 4th birthday..



Cait is enjoying having a few days off daycare this summer while she is at home with her Daddy and siblings. She has turned into quite the reader and reads around 85% of the words out of her story books. It won't be long and she will have Pinkalicious mastered! She loves to draw, color, cut (and yes, she did cut her hair!), and do anything outside. Next school year she will be going to preschool 3 afternoons a week where she will learn many new things and also learn more about getting along with kids she hasn't been around before. Then the next year we will have a kindergartener! Time flies!