Grey's Dedication

This past week has been a wonderful/busy/exciting week for the Gibbs Family. It started with some good news on Wednesday, when Grey had his head ultrasound and the results came back great! His ventricles are where they need to be, which means the shunt is working properly!!! We go back for another checkup in 2 months.

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to have Greyson dedicated at our church. This was a big day for Leigh, Grey, and I. We were happy to share it with our incredible family and friends. We were asked to prepare a blessing for Greyson so as the official blogger of the family I guess that made me the official "blessing writer". And so I wrote, and when i was finished I considered asking a friend or family member to read it for me, knowing there was no way to get through it and still look tough. :) hehehe
But I felt it would mean more if it came from Grey's dad, so here is what I said:




It's funny to think how much leigh and i have learned about life, family, friends, and faith from a little guy thats only been around for three months.

From the moment we found out we were going to have a baby boy our longtime dreams came to the surface and we blissfully awaited his arrival... and as all of you know this blissfullness last about 20 minutes. We heard those words no parent-to-be ever wants to hear.

"There's something wrong with your baby"

devastated, afraid, angry, confused, you name it, we felt it.

We felt these feelings for a long time....until finally that moment on february 12, at 7:48 aM we got our first glimpse of our baby boy... and almost instantly those feelings went away. And somewhat to our surprise, he was REALLY CUTE :) And although it was quite possibly the most emotionally and physically draining day we've encountered, it was by far our proudest moment.

our little gibblet..., I wish i had a great story or deep meaning behind Greyson's name, but truthfully we kinda just liked how it sounded, and thought grey was a cool nickname. Greys been thru more than most of us will ever go through and still has an uphill battle his whole life. But we have Hope, and Hope lifts us up,

it lifts us up everyday, and everyday we pray for strength... strength for grey, strength for us, just strength in general to help on those tough days.

But we've experienced what love is, and every single one of you as shown it and we are truely blessed for that.

Greyson has flipped our lives upside down, but in the best possible way. and hes been an inspiration not only to Leigh and I, but to just about everyone that meets him.

And today we have one simple yet significant task, one that spina bifida, or a shunt surgery, or 11 days at the NICU doesnt change. Today, Leigh and I dedicate our baby to our Heavenly Father. And promise to raise Greyson to become a strong, independent young man.

We know that Greyson's a special little boy and will without a doubt, continue to amaze us.

we love you all.




So after blubbering through the blessing,(The minute I started reading, I knew I was in trouble) :) Leigh's Dad lead us in prayer, It was a very special moment for all of us. Thanks to all for sharing that moment with us and supporting our little Gibblet.

love, Leigh, Andy, Greyson


(heres a picture of Grey and his cousins after his dedication)

Our "Not-So" Little Gibblet

First of all, look at the new banner image above. Isn't the little guy getting big!!! As much as Leigh and I love that image of grey resting on the lazyboy, we felt we gotta keep things up-to-date, and just happened to take a ton of great shots this weekend.

So like I said in the last post, Leigh was due back at work on thursday. And even with all the apprehension and tears, she did in fact go back. For all you working mothers, im sure you can relate to what Leigh was feeling, and I think it was even harder for her because the little guy was getting over his first runny nose, coughing cold. funny thing, grey gets through closure surgery at less than a day old, and brain surgery at three weeks old, with no problems...but a runny nose and cough and the little guy is miserable!!! No fun to have your child feel bad and this was the first time we had to deal with it. So anyway back to Leigh's first day, she made thru better than expected and in fact was pleased to see the girls (and DR Dan :) ) at the office. Sure it helped that Grey made an appearance at lunchtime and gave her the biggest smile of ALL TIME when she came to pick him up!! Next week will be even easier I'm sure :)

In other Grey related news...it was mostly a rainy weekend in GR, MI, so what do you do on a rainy Saturday afternoon? well you have a impromptu photo shoot with the family!! it was great, we "cleaned up" the house and shot all kinds of fun shots. So we'll have plenty to share for future posts :)

this week proves to be a classic busy week for Leigh and grey. Grey has his monthly head ultra sound and checkup this Wednesday to check if his shunt is working properly. We pray everyday that it continues to function how it should. To our untrained eye, it appears it is, so lets just hope the doc confirms this!!

So lets send out prays for Grey this week that his appointments go well this week and we keep a steak of good appointments going strong!


love you all!


Gibbs crew!

Babysitting?

So yesterday Leigh asked if I could "babysit" grey for a few hours in the evening.
I responded by saying, "you mean parenting? yeah sure i can do that!"

So other than that one time Leigh ran out for a few minutes to get some much needed sour cream for our tacos, I never have been fully "in-charge" of watching little grey...until last night.

And I'm happy to report that I was a great Babysitter :) We hung out mostly, He ate, I ate, we did his exercises, I looked outside noticed it was still raining and didn't do my exercises :) and watched a little t.v. This babysittin' things great. haha. But seriously, Leigh does an amazing job taking care of our little man all day, and am very thankful for her and my boy.

Oh by the way, Leigh goes back to work on thursday... GULP. I'm sure she'll have more to say about that soon :)

keep rootin' for grey everyday!

love,

the Gibbs'

2 month checkup

This past week was another busy week for the G-man and the Gibbs family. Several weeks ago we searched out a local chapter of the Spina Bifida Association here in Grand Rapids and on Monday we had the opportunity to meet with the group. Not really knowing what to expect we headed downtown to the Mary Freebed Hospital and after a few wrong turns made our way into a conference room. WE honestly had no idea what it would be about or how many people would attend, but we thought we'd give it a shot. What we discovered was what seemed like a once healthy and flourishing support group, that today seemed burned-out and in need of some help. The information we got was at times helpful but at other times not relevant to us at this time. The members all had boys with SB age 15-22, so although it was nice to hear that these boy are doing well today, we have a long way to go to get to some of the issue they are dealing with. I feel the idea of a "support group" has changed dramatically, especially with our generation. For one, this blog acts as a great support group for Leigh and I. Leigh also is involved in a wonderful online support group consisting of mainly new moms with SB children. So after the meeting we had mixed feelings about it, but feel its to early to bail on it at this point. Perhaps the group needs to be shaked up a bit and maybe we can help with that :)

Greyson also had his 2 month check up on Friday and he's doing great!
The G-man now weighs 12lbs 7oz and is 23 3/4 inches long. He's growing right on track. Greyson also needed his 2-month shots and as strange as it sounds we were hoping the little guy would scream his lungs out when those shots went into his legs!! Something I think only a parent with an SB baby would understand. Although Grey didn't cry when he got his shots his little leg shot up so fast! Which means he has some feeling in his legs! His hips also appeared to bother him the rest of the afternoon, especially when we pressed on the sore spot. I know, doesn't that seem horrible, pressing down on your child's shot "wound" and then smiling when we reacts to it. Again, I think any SB parent could relate.

So our boy keeps getting bigger and cuter everyday, we give thanks for him and how happy and content he is. We pray everyday that his shunt continues to work properly and continues to get stronger.

love to all,

the Gibbs'

hi from grey

Mommy and Daddy said they've been busy lately and that I could write an update for them. I'm still learning this laptop (ughh, I usually work on Daddy's MAC, so forgive me if I mispel anything, im not used to this keyboard)

Anyway, I'm doing good! I had a nice Easter with my family. My cousin Parker found some Easter eggs for me, but mommy wouldn't let me eat any because I spit up most of my bottle.

I love my mommy and daddy.

Grey

PS I just learned how to upload photos, heres one of me on mommy's laptop and another of mommy holding me.

Spring Break 09

Well in the Gibbs house its not really spring break... Leigh and I haven't had one of those in some time, but it seems like a lot of other people are on break these days and to be honest we have a little break of our own. No appointments this week! not exactly livin it up at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, but nevertheless, a not-so hectic week for Leigh and Grey.

So we look forward to the spring and getting outside more with grey, but for the time being, its cold and very "un-spring" like, so we've been hangin inside a snugglin' with our little man. Which we are perfectly content with :)

Today is opening day and also Greyson's first tigers game. Turns out greyson's not the Tigers good luck charm, as the Tigers got rocked 12-5 this evening :( oh well they have 161 more games.

So we continue to pray every day for grey, for a number of reasons... but we've found ourselves more often giving thanks to God for this amazing blessing he's given us!! It's hard to comprehend, but we love him more every single day!

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

7 weeks

So let me ask how this works...

How did the 7 weeks prior to Greyson's arrival seem like it took FOREVER!!! The waiting, the worrying, the excitement, the rescheduling, the waiting again. I swear that stretch of time was the longest and hardest to endure for Leigh and I.

OK, Now cut to today... 7 weeks since our little G-man made his debut and this thing called time, seems to be traveling at a very accelerated pace! Has anyone experienced this one? hehe :) I mean, WOW, it's like these past 7 weeks have been bunched up and have all blended together into what feels like a week. Our little man isn;t so little anymore. But he sure seems to be falling into that "Daddy's Not so scared he's gonna break him" size. In other words, I pretty much can't help myself from pickin the little guy up any chance i can! I love it!

So besides seeing our boy getting bigger before our eyes, we've also been busy with appointments. This week has been no different. Leighs usually the go-to-guy(girl) when it comes to getting grey to his doctors, but today, my schedule was such that i could join them for Grey's appointment with the neurosurgeon. So a part of me was happy that I could be there and support the two of them, but there was a part of me that kept recalling the previous visits to that same doctor. The latest, and still vivid in my memory was when we got the tough news that grey's vents were getting bigger and he needed the shunt. So needless to say, its not a real "fun" place to visit. However... Leigh and I had a good feeling about this visit. And I think the fact that we only had to wait 30 minutes to see the doctor even got us more pumped up!!! hahaha, isn;t it twisted that we were excited that he was only a half-hour late! but seriously this is unheard of when it comes to this guy. Anyway, the DR checked the incisions and his shunt settings and confirmed what we thought all along...that Grey was doing very well so far!!! So finally I walked out of that office smiling, and I hope we can continue this streak we've been on!

Grey goes back in a month to be checked out again, and like I said, let's keep this streak going! WE also got the results of his hip ultrasound early this week and it appears like they are where they need to be. So that's more good news! So lets give thanks and continue to pray for Grey as he's been doing so well lately, we ARE SO PROUD OF HIM!

love to you all,

Andy, Leigh, and Grey

P.S. We've been getting more and more smiles out of him. BEST THING EVER!!!