Motherly Instinct?

I guess it's that time again...time to update the banner image and showcase just how big Greyson's getting! Admittedly, we kinda set up the shot and kinda put his hands in his pockets. It was hard to resist!

I just wanted to share a quick story about Leigh and "Motherly Instinct". First off there is no doubt that Leigh possesses this thing that many refer to as motherly instinct. I knew that from day one. And truthfully, I'm very thankful for this type of "radar" moms seem to have, becasue I can guarantee there will be plenty of times when I'm clueless about some parenting issue and Leigh will swoop in and just know what to do. It's good to have that on your side. :) I've seen it come into play many times already in the first 4 months and am amazed. Here's the thing though, This weekend Leigh tried to use this "motherly Instinct" on something far from parenting. Let me explain:
Leigh, Grey and I are in the car going somewhere, I can't remember where, but as we often do when we see a car that we like, we typical say something like.
"ohh that'd be a nice car to have someday"
Well I just so happen to say this and made reference to some sort of Pontiac driving by us. Leigh almost disgustedly glanced at me and was like,
"Uahhh, are you serious? I don't like Pontiac's"

I kinda chuckled to myself and was looking forward to hearing her reasoning, of which I knew she had no "real" reason not to like a Pontiac. So I ask Why?
She responds saying,

"I can't really explain...(she pauses) it's just my Motherly Instinct"

Ohhhhhhh OK, that makes sense. Let's just say I'll ask Leigh to leave her Motherly Instinct at home when we do any future car shopping. HAHAHA


Other than that things are good with Grey! In about a week he'll return for a head ultra sound and another visit to the SB clinic. He's a very happy boy and we're getting pretty good at making him laugh!

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, and Greyson :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Hello everyone!!
It's been a week or so since we posted, so I thought I'd update how things are going here in the Gibbs house. And to put it simply, GREAT! Little Grey amazes us everyday, and no matter how tired or drained Leigh and I are, we instantly get recharged when we get a smile or even better, a belly laugh out of him!!! It's funny how the outlook of an entire day can be flipped by the simplest of things...a smile.

So we all had a day off this Monday and celebrated by hanging with the family on uncle Jake's boat. Leigh and I were both a little nervous about taking him on the boat with a bunch of his rambunctious cousins, but we thought if he had all the proper boating attire, he'd be good to go! (see picture) :) Turns out grey, and his mom and dad had a pretty nice time on the lake!

love

Grey, Leigh, and Andy

Pic Post

We were camera happy this weekend, so we thought we'd share a few.
Grey's getting so big!

love to all,

The Gibbs Crew

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.

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!!!

So little...but SO BIG!!!

That is what we are thinking these days...Greyson is so little, yet getting so big at the same time! This past week was a VERY busy one for our little guy. He had OT, an ultrasound on his hips, an appointment with his urologist, and we went to visit the conductive learning center. His appointment with the urologist went very well. His kidneys and bladder haven't changed since the last ultrasound that he had done while in the nicu. This mean, that for now, we don't need to think about cathing...YAY!!! The meeting that we had with the conductive learning center went great as well! This center helps kids who are dealing specifically with spina bifida or cerebal palsy and happens to be 5 minutes away from our house. The program has helped a lot of children both physically and cognitively and Andy and I feel encouraged that it will do the same for Greyson! We start our weekly sessions there this Thurs. This week is another busy week in the Gibbs' house. Greyson has appointments with the neurologist, orthopedist, OT, and PT at the CLC. I also have an appointment, so between the two of us we are staying very busy!

Greyson has started smiling more and more! I think that I've gotten at least 5 out of him today! He is also getting a bit more vocal. :) He makes sure that I know weather he is (or isn't) enjoying something! :) He has been sleeping great at night (about 7 hours) and during the day he likes to take short cat naps (not my favorite, but I'll live) He's been eating about 5-6 ounces at a time and the proof is in his chubby little cheeks! Andy and I feel like the luckiest parents in the world!!!

I hope that this finds you all happy and healthy.

love, leigh, andy, and greyson

Hello all!

Today grey's OT came to the house and she worked him hard. Hard enough for him to zonk out mid-way thru his "exercises". She showed Leigh some techniques to keep his legs limber and so we will continue to do these throughout the week. His legs are definitely getting chunkier, and it appears to LEigh and I that his right leg and foot is moving a little more. It's quite remarkable the joy and hope we receive by the simple bending of a knee, or the movement of a toe. In fact, as I write this Leigh just belted out "yeeeaahhhhh" Grey was moving his legs!!!

Speaking of moving legs...I've starting running again. It's about this time of year, usually while at a sports bar partaking in the viewing of a march madness game that i begin to think about training for the River bank run here in Grand Rapids. So this year was no different as I hit the pavement and began to train. However, what has been completely different for me is my motivation. Perhaps you know where I'm going with this... Yup, Greyson has already been such an inspiration in every part of my life, so it's not a big surprise that he's inspiring me to stick with my running. Funny how much we take these things (legs) for granted. We just go about our day walking, running, and occasionally skipping :) never thinking about how different our lives would be if we didn't have the complete use of our legs. So as one might imagine, I do think about how Grey's life will be and just how well he'll be able to get around and if he'll be able to walk someday.

So I run, (sometimes I walk, I'm not in really good shape yet) and on every single run I thank God for everything I have. Because, truthfully I am blessed, even though it didn't seem like that not too long ago. But I am. If you could measure the amount of love I have for LEigh and Grey and somehow store it and use it as an alternative fuel to run the next generation of SMART cars...We'll lets just say everyone would have a full tank of gas :) hehehehe So where was i going with this...oh yeah, I run. and when my legs hurt after running, I don't complain. And I don't think I will ever again.

love you all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Time for an update...

It's been a few days since our last post and we figured that you may be wondering what was going on with our little guy. This week Greyson started with his weekly appointment of occupational therapy. He started off strong, impressing the therapist with his great eye contact and ability to track objects. However, midway through the session he got all tuckered out and fell asleep! Not to worry though, we will have these appointments every week! Greyson also had an appointment with his orthopedic doctor. His feet (especially the left) kind of curls inward. His physical therapist noticed this last week and wanted us to have it checked out. Well, the doctor agreed that there was a bit of a curve to the feet but nothing to worry about now. He wants to see him again in 6 months to check again. He also noticed that his hips were a little tight. Often times with spina bifida hips can be out of socket so he wants an ultrasound to see if that is the case with Greyson. He did say that as long as the hips are mobile (which Greyson's are) that physical therapy is the way to go. He doesn't like to do surgery for this and says that it shouldn't hinder him from walking one day if he is able. All in all, it was a good appointment.

It has been confirmed this week (written in the baby book) that he gave me a smile! It was the most amazing thing that I have ever seen! Pretty much all we do is sit around and try to bring out that smile! He continues to amaze us and really is so happy and alert. He has become a spitter, it doesn't bother him at all but I'm pretty sure that my laundry load has tripled!!!

This coming week is a busy one for Greyson. We have four appointments. We will see his OT, have his hip ultrasound, see the urologist, and meet with The Conductive Learning Center at Aquinas College. They specialize in helping kids with spina bifida and cerebral palsy. We are going next week to check it out and to see if they will be any help to Greyson.

So here I sit on a Friday night just watching Andy and Greyson "play" on the floor, and I realize that no matter how busy life gets with doctor and therapy appointments, I couldn't be luckier! Enjoy your weekend, as I'm sure we will be enjoying ours!! :)

Leigh (Andy and Grey)

The Outakes

So it's pretty obvious I have a favorite subject when it comes to photography. But just to let you know, not all the photos turn out as planned. And actually those have become some of my favorites. So here are a few fun "outakes" of our favorite little boy. We can't even imagine life without this little guy!

love to all,

The Gibbs'

This Friday the 13th...

wasn't scary at all.
In fact, it was a very pleasant day filled with plenty of good things! The best of those good things was the fact that Greyson's follow up, post-op appointment with the neurosurgeon went great! Everything looked good and the shunt is working properly and set to the correct setting. He'll have to go back in three weeks for a similar follow-up. This news sure made the other good things even better! and that other good thing happened to be my birthday!!! What, a birthday on friday the 13th, sounds like it's destined to be doomed! Quite the opposite. In fact it was a great birthday and I got to spend it with my little buddy which was by far my best gift. Although my new running shoes fit really well and look striking on me :)

Oh one tidbit about my Friday the 13th Birthday...

As I have in the past I like to make unusual request for a birthday treat at the office, this year was no different. After realizing my big day would indeed fall on a friday, i immediately thought, " I want A Friday the 13th horror flick themed cake with blood red frosting" So in my explanation I must have got my horror film movie stars mixed up and said i wanted freddy kruger on the cake...opps what i meant to say was Jason. yeah know, Jason the guy with the hockey mask. WEll anyway it was too late and the cake was made and sure enough I celebrated with a Friday the 13th Freddy Kruger cake. The mix-up made it even better than I imagined!

Ok enough about me... Leigh and I took grey out for a walk in his stroller today, and although it looked like it was 60 degrees and sunny, it was much, much colder than we expected. But Grey was bundled up in his Caribou/Elk/Reindeer/Moose jumpsuit that looks very warm. I wish i had one. So the walk was great, just cut a little bit shorter than we thought. Spring where are you? Come soon please!!

coming soon... some "outake" photos of Grey :)


love to you all

One Month Old!!!

Holy cow, our little Grey is already one month old!! I guess time really does fly!

This week we have had a few appointments. On Tuesday, we met with the plastic surgeon who helped with his back closure surgery. He was so pleased with how his back is healing, that we won't need to see him again! One less doctor to worry about! :)Today we met with Greyson's physical and occupational therapists. There was quite a bit of paperwork that needed to be filled out during this first appointment. While I was doing this with the occupational therapist, the physical therapist got busy checking out Greyson. She noticed (as have Andy and I) that both hips can move pretty well. She did recommend that we continue to do the stretches that we were taught while at the NICU to keep his leg muscles limber. I mentioned to her that his left leg and foot always wanted to curl under his right and she said that this is something that should be looked at by an orthopedic doctor. This is something that will be done in the near future. She also gave us a few other things to work on this week...Greyson seems much more comfortable turning his head to the left, so we need to work on getting him to turn his head more to the right, his arms and hands seem pretty tight so we are working on getting those a little more flexible. Other than that, she was really pleased with what he can do (he is only 4 weeks so it's kind of hard to determine what exactly that is). She said that he is making great eye contact and tracking objects really well. Andy and I are both really excited to start with Greyson's PT, we want to do all that we can to give him the best chance at walking some day.

Friday Grey goes into the neurosurgeon for a post-surgery checkup of his shunt. We pray its a quick in-and-out, everythings OK type appointment.

Anyway, it's been great having him home for a "normal" week. Were aren;t sure what normal is yet, but its feels a lot better these days :)

love Leigh, Andy, Grey