SB clinic...

Today we had our first spina bifida clinic. For those of you aren't familiar with this, this is somewhere that you go and get all of your appointments done at once. You see the neurosurgeon, orthopedic doctor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, dietitian, and a pediatrician who is also a rehabilitation doctor. Our clinic doesn't have a urologist as of right now, but they hope to have that as well within the year. So...as you can imagine this makes for a veeeeeeerrrrryyyyy long day!!! We knew that it was going to be long but had NO idea that we would be there for 4.5 hours. I would almost just rather go to all of these doctors separately, rather than stay in a little room waiting for that long. Anyway...Greyson was a champ and did amazing! He showed off to all of the people that he saw and they all seemed to be very impressed with his head control, tracking of objects, and his overall happy and laid back personality. We met with a new orthopedic doctor and liked her very much. She really believes that Greyson will be able to walk one day, with the aid of braces and perhaps a walker/crutches. This was very encouraging for us to hear. Part of me was a bit terrified for this appointment, with the limited movement that Grey has in his legs, we sometimes get ahead of ourselves and wonder if it will be possible for him to walk. But, these doctors have seen many cases similar, or worse, then Greyson's and they know what they are talking about. :) With every appointment that we go to, the fear of spina bifida gets smaller and smaller. We know that we can handle whatever we are told at these appointments, but news like this always makes us feel good!

Well, Greyson continues to get bigger and cuter every day, and every day we are amazed at how blessed we are to have him. Thank you all so much for your continued prayers for Grey and our family, they mean so much to us! Here are a few more pics of the little man...one with his new boots (AFO's) :)

I hope this finds you all healthy and happy!
Leigh (Andy and Grey)

Leigh's First Mother's Day

So Grey and I had the task of making Leigh's First Mother's Day the best ever!! And after bouncing some ideas off eachother we think we gave mommy a great first mother's day! It started with a stack of pancakes, pancakes made just how she likes them (kinda runny in the middle) weird, I know, but she likes her pancakes slightly uncooked :) Grey and I also picked out her favorite photo of the 2 of them and put it in a nice frame so she could take it to work with her. This wasn't my idea, but Grey thought Leigh would like a massage at one of those salon places. I agreed, and got her a gift card so she could go when she was really upset with her boys and needed time to relax :) The rest of the day was just as enjoyable as the morning, we hung out with both sides of the family and although they're were plenty of other mothers around, Grey pretty much stole the show. One other fun gift we got for Leigh is a clay foot impression of his little feet. Thanks to aunt emily for her help with that!
Speaking of Grey's feet, last week we got his Ankle Foot Orthotics (AFO's) These are to be worn most of the day, and will help straighten out the "bend" in his feet. And after only a week of wearing them, it seems to be helping. So the weathers getting nicer here in Michigan, and thus resulting in more opportunities to take Grey out for walks, which we love!

Grey's officially 3 month's old and it blows our minds! He amazes us every single day, we love him so much, and he and I are pretty darn lucky to have such a great mommy in our lives!

love the Gibbs

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.