The good little church boy.

So this evening we thought we'd give going to church with a small baby a shot and got ready for the 5:30 service at Ada Bible Church. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get ready and made sure the little guy had a belly full of food so he'd be happy, and off we went. My whole life it just drives me crazy when i hear a baby crying in church, and then hear the parent "shhhh...shhhhing" them as if they will really listen!!! Just take the baby out!! I'd yell to myself, feeling my temperature rising!! And so now I enter into that category of my life, the parent that bravely enters the sanctuary, child in hand, and with one mission...keep this little guy quite throughout the entire service. Sure I guess it be OK if he belted out a few crys during the opening worship songs, but i was banking on him being zonked out the entire service.

And so we found a seat, near the back, at the end of the aisle, easily accessible was the exit just in case. Trust me, I wasn't gonna be that guy with the baby crying his head off, and just sitting in my seat thinking he'd shut up eventually. I thought this one through. hehe.

Let me just say that when we finally settled in and sat down, Leigh holding greyson, me sipping on that wonderful church provided coffee, it was like the Gibbs family came full circle. Let me explain...
Last september, when we found out our little guy had SB it pretty much knocked me down to nothing. This was hurt I had never experienced before, and hurt I wont ever forget. But that September at Ada Bible was a series that spoke directly to Leigh and I, to the point that we thought our life was being "bugged" and used as an example every week during the teaching. The teacher spoke of "Detours" and how these were not simply found on our Michigan roadways (Michigan roads are horrible) but also show up in real life. A perfect example would be Leigh and I's situation with greyson. We're driving along going a little over the speed limit in my 88 caprice classic and then we want to start a family and Leigh becomes pregnant, and we keep going on the road all is good, life is amazing, and then we get to 131 Northbound and find out our little guy has something called spina bifida and it will Permanently effect him for the rest of his life... This is OUR DETOUR. So we reroute and find our way around...months and months of worrying, wondering, praying, crying, researching, crying, regrouping, and finally discovering hope, peace, comfort.
So this is how we have approached our Detour in life... WE've been re-routed, our plan has changed significantly, but our ultimate destination remains the same. WE still need to raise this little guy to be the strongest, smartest, kindest, most self-suffient man we can. So the goal, or destination hasn't changed, just how we get there.

So sitting in church holding our little greyson, (we'll maybe at that time we weren;t holding him, he is a popular boy these days) we were reminded of the Detour we were on and how it seems by just having greyson here with us we;ve in someway got back on the road headed north and are crusing with the windows down again. At least for a short while, we know other detours are ahead of us but we feel we've found our way again. oh and Greyson didn't make a peep in church, much to the delight of his old man. :)

love to all,

the Gibbs Crew.

PS sorry no pictures this time. I wasn't please with how todays shot turned out, its was the lighting or something. hehehe :)

We can't get enough

So there's nothing really new to report today, but i spent a good chunk of the day taking pictures of the little guy and just want to post a couple new ones. It's so much easier to snap a shot without him being hooked up to a monitor. IT's so great to have him home!

enjoy,


love andy, leigh, & grey

Out on the town!

So it's been a few days at home with our little guy and things have been going quite well. Any sort of scheduling has been thrown out the window, in fact we had an appointment at 9 this morning, but realized that would be tricky to make happen so re-scheduled for the afternoon :) We have to add some "cushion" time in to anything we do at this point, because we are trying to figure out how long things take with a little guy. It's been much easier because its been both Leigh and I tag teaming to figure things out this week. The real test will be next week when i head back to work and leave Leigh to fend for herself. But from what I've observed, she's a natural at this mom thing and will have no problem at all.

This week has been great, we've had visitors every day, and even better every time someones come to say hi to greyson, they've also brought us food! It's been wonderful not having to think about making a meal and such. thank you to all!

So greyson has hit the town on a few occasions this week. His latest venture was to his pediatrician appointment this afternoon. The little guy did pretty good considering he had to take all his nice warm clothes off and be poked and prodded. And according to the Doc he's doing well falling right into the middle percentile with pretty much everything. His back continues to look better everyday and sure enough, he keeps getting cuter every day.

This has definitely been different than any other "vacation" i've taken off of work. But honestly have to say its been one of the best. Lounging on the couch, catching up on spring training baseball, dozing off, me and grey are getting really good at all these things! :)

So today is his 2 week birthday. It's funny how he's changed just in 2 weeks. I look at him and the pictures i took on day 1 and think "wow, this little guys getting big" I guess thats what 9 oz does to beef up a little guy.

So we just wanted to drop an update and let everyone know that we are hangin in there and fully embracing parenting. We just ask for continued prayers for greyson as he has his follow up ultrasound monday to see if his ventricles have increased. We will keep you all posted as to the outcome and how the next week will unfold.

love

andy.leigh,grey

HOME!!!! part two

So yes, somehow i've taken over the role as head blogger of the family, something i would have never guessed i'd be involved with months ago, but here I am, and its actually been quite helpful as we've gone on this journey. So anyway, yesterday was quite a ride for us hearing the news that we could actually take our G-man home!! This was a complete surprise to us, we were preparing for a tuesday surgery, pysching ourselves up to deal with the Dr telling us "Yes, his ventricles have increased, and yes, he will need the shunt surgery tuesday" But, "No" instead he said there was no change, and that he'll be checked in a week. We were somewhat torn. Was this just delaying the inevitable or was this an answer to our prayers the previous night? We've learned to hang on to even the slighest bit of hope these past months and this is no different. Remember the previous post when i said i was fed up with the hospital and had to get out!!! Well guess what, next day and we're outta there! And yes, i know the statistics and yes he probably will need a shunt, but for this week we've got our little guy where we want him, at home!!!

So when the doctor finally gave him the official OK to leave it was beyond surreal. After saying goodbye to our two favorite nurses we had to ask a few times "so we can just leave?" "Do we have to scan him or something?" But no, he was ours and off we went. Walking out of the hospital we just really didn't think it was real, he was gonna come home. After pulling the car up front we securely fastened him in, I tugged on that latch plenty of times and made sure he wasn't going anywhere. And so he was in and we were off to make the 10 minute journey home. Leigh sat in the back as to "protect" him from anything the car seat couldn't. I'm wondering how long she'll sit in the back there with him. hahaha. It was like i was back taking my drivers ed test, hands at 10 and 2, yielding, cautiously proceeding at intersections. I was beyond cautious. This i'm sure is the mindset of every mother or father driving there child home for the first time ever. :)

So we made it home and after a tour of his new digs Leigh and I had a moment of "Ok, now what?" "I dont know, we could put him in his pj's?" "Ok, sure lets do that"
So we bundled him up and I did the only thing I thought was right at the time. I placed him on his side on the floor and put my face 1 inch from his and just looked at him. His little hands would occasional touch my face...my heart melted even more. :)

The first night went well I think, It's not like i have anything to compare it too, but he got up at 1 and 5 AM and Leigh and I tag teamed, changed, fed, cleaned, rocked, and back to bed. His noise machine is amazing, its like a babbling brook is running right through our bedroom. hahaha. So today has been pretty chill, adjust to life with our new little roommate. Trying to figure out what we needs, when he needs it and how much he needs. So we continue to pray for the health of this little guy and pray that he will continue to bless our family as he already has so much.

Love,

the Gibbs'

HOME!!!

Andy is typically the blogger of the family, but I just couldn't wait to share this news!! Our G man is finally coming home! I just talked with his neurosurgeon and he has escaped a shunt for this week! Most likely he will still need one at some point, but not tomorrow! We will continue to have weekly head ultrasounds to check him out. I'm sure that andy will post a much more entertaing post soon, I just wanted to share our great news!

Love to all
Leigh Grey and Andy

One things for sure...

the little man's hair appears to have a reddish hue to it. And if anyone has seen my "beard" before you'll know he gets it from his old man. So we'll see if this auburn shade sticks with him and if so we'll stock up the SPF 100 for our fair-skinned little dude. Anyway, this Sunday was a fairly busy day with visitors and such. It appears his loyal fan base is local and he has several guests everyday to admire him. Today, however was the first day where I felt really "trapped" in our space on the third floor. All 8 of Greyson's roomates parents were in to visit and it just made things cramped and gave me an uneasy feeling. Leigh and I are both so ready to leave and make Grey comfortable in his own room. But we learn patience, and know when we finally get to take him home it'll be even more meaningful.

It seems like Grey's been making some friends here among the nurses as well, we've just heard that three nurses have requested to care for him on monday and tuesday. Either they really love this little guy or they are just interested in an easy work day because he's the easiest to care for in the room. Either way, he's pretty popular. :)

So tomorrow he'll have his tests and we'll know for sure about the shunt surgery. It seems likely he will indeed have it. Man, it'll be hard to see him go thru another surgery. But we are pretty confident this little one has the right attitude going in, he'll be cool, calm and relaxed. That's just how he rolls!

love to all,

Leigh, Andy, Greyson

The Weekend at the NICU

So Leigh and I have determined that the hospital is getting a little old, Sure we know exactly where to park, what hours the cafeteria are open, and how to get up to the third floor the quickest. But we are ready to take greyson home!!! But we go one day at a time and enjoy ever second we get to hang with our little buddy! And lately things have been pretty exciting!!! Yesterday marked the first day that Greyson didn't have to be on his belly! And basically they Ok'd him to be in any position he's comfortable with. WE still are leaning on the side of precaution and not setting him on his back for too long, it's just a little scary. But the Docs say he's fine and his attitude wouldn't prove anything different. He's very content. So now that he's up off his belly he we can hold him!!! Yes an amazing feeling that we've been not so patiently waiting for, for over a week! Yesterday afternoon Leigh was able to hold Grey for the first time like a little baby should be held. Obviously the love for our little guy was overwhelming as she held him. I'm pretty sure she didnt let go or share him with anyone else for 4-5 hours. I don't blame her! After some convincing I was able to peal greyson away from Leigh so that i could hold my buddy. Wow, finally. It was incredible!

This morning as we walked in, Greyson had what looked like earmuffs on, but earmuffs that were from Star wars or something. Turns out he was having his hearing screening done...and he passed. So that cools, the little guy can hear. IT must be from when i set my ipod next to his head those first couple days. Gotta get him started early on learning what good music is all about! :)

Today has been great, We've held him, washed him, squeezed him, and pretty much gaze at him and are perfectly happy. I loose track of time because im so focused on him. So he hope to just enjoy the rest of the weekend hangin with our new best friend. We know what Monday/Tuesday will hold and dont want to get caught up on that. Monday he'll have another head ultrasound and his shunt surgery is in the books tentatively for tuesday. So all please continue to pray for Greyson has he's gonna have to put his game face on again and get tough for another surgery. We pray that the Surgeon will perform his finest surgery and that all will go smoothly. WE love this little guy soooo much and its clear he's loved by so many others just from those following his journey on our blog. Thank you all, it touches us deeply that people that have never met us or greyson can be so connected in the effort to love and bring this boy home as soon as possible.

love to all of you out there,

Leigh,Andy,Grey


enjoy the pics...i've got hundreds more :) hehehe