Lazy River, Lazy Days, Lazy Eye....

This is how I spent my weekend....
Sort of!
The picture doesn't show anyone laying by the pool bouncing a 6 month old baby on her sunburned knees. Even so, it was blissful. Lincoln and I got to float around in the lazy river, go to a fantastic cooking class, eat plenty of seafood (just me, not Lincoln), have a manicure and pedicure, drink pina coladas, and enjoy the plentiful shopping in Scottsdale, Arizona. Stewart was busy in meetings and on the golf course but he managed to spend some time floating around the lazy river with Lincoln as well.

When you have your first baby, you can't believe how busy you are and how much time it takes up of your life. When you have three and you get to leave 2 at home, one is amazingly easy. I really enjoyed the break. Lincoln is a great traveller; he still sleeps in his car seat so he felt right at home. He wasn't a huge fan of the Arizona heat but as long as we found him some shade or kept his little toes in the pool, he was very happy. He loved not wearing socks. I think he discovered his toes this weekend. He would sit in his stroller with his legs stretched out gazing admiringly at his feet and then he would grin and coo at them. I'm with you, Lincoln. Being barefoot is great!

Enough about my lazy days and the lazy river and on to the lazy eye. We found out in January that Hadley has a lazy eye. At first it wasn't that big of a deal. She just had to get glasses. I was definitely more upset than she was about the glasses. I feel like it's not fair. She's had to deal with so much in her life already. Last Monday we went to the eye doctor to see how we are progressing with the glasses and she hasn't made any progress so now she has to wear an eye patch. Poor little kid. We are now wondering if we should just go ahead and put braces, head gear and a helmet on her and send her off to school each morning. She is a metal detector's worst nightmare with all of the gear on and in her head! She's a pretty good sport but it's hard because she still relies so much on visual cues to figure out what's going on around her. Her cochlear implants are amazing but she misses some things and still lip reads a lot. When she is wearing her patch, she's sort of withdrawn. She likes to just go read or watch a movie and doesn't like to interact. I guess it's frustrating for her to follow conversation with her good eye patched.

Maddox and Lincoln are going to be tested in July. Stewart had a lazy eye as a little boy and it is hereditary. So far, though, Hadley seems to be the only one that has inherited all of those random annoying genes. The deaf gene that we never knew we had, the allergy gene, the lazy eye...any other family defects out there that I should know about? 'Cause I'm sure she will end up with them! Luckily, she also got Stewart's gorgeous eyelashes and my quick wit so she will be okay.

One of the hardest lessons as a parent is that you can't take away your children's pain. I know it builds character for her to have these experiences but how much character does one little girl need? Don't misunderstand me. I recognize how blessed she is and how blessed our family has been to know and raise Hadley. I just wish I could make her path in life a little bit easier. I am afraid sometimes that I spoil her too much because I try to make up for some of the harder things she has had to deal with. I have to keep reminding myself that she is such a happy person and that she's going to make it through this with flying colors, just like everything else in her life.