noise maker

Just a quick little video of one of Grey's new "tricks" He's been doing it for three days straight, what a goof!

love the Gibbs Crew.

MAGIC HANDS

I want to post a little video clip of Grey and his morning breakfast routine. It seems as if he's caught on to "hints" as to when he will be feed. In this case the sound of the microwave buttons sends his little hands into a frenzy. (he does this when he gets excited) It's pretty much the greatest/cutest thing ever~! He seems to really enjoy eating breakfast as seen by his hootin and hollerin during the meal. Another interesting/silly thing he does is when we ask if he wants more, he for some reason bites down on the tray of his hi-chair...silly. :) So overall he pretty much cracks himself up every morning at breakfast. Now if only Leigh and I could be that fun and chipper in the morning :)

the g-man says hi to all!

love the gibbs'

Pic Post

our little monkey, all bundled up!
Mommy and Grey
Cheeeeeeese!!!


First off, thank you to all for the recent comments made in regards to the last post. Very thoughtful and encouraging! It's interesting to think about what started as a quick solution to get the word out to friends and family about our son, has transformed into this pretty incredible outlet for both Leigh and I. Not to mention has helped others in similar life scenarios. Another one of those things that God has revealed in the midst of all the craziness.

Anyway, Grey's been doing well and thought i'd share a few new pictures.

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, GRey

One year ago today...

Leigh and I started a blog. Here's how it all started.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately... It's been exactly one year. One year ago today my life was flipped completely upside down. Seriously, I can recall the day's event as if I were watching it on a 52" HD TV. It's still that vivid in my head and will be one of those events that stays with me forever.

I remember the hours before the ultrasound feeling so excited!! To the point I couldn't concentrate on anything, I couldn't sit still, I was just soooo anxious to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Admittedly, my fingers were crossed for a boy :) Finally it was time and Leigh and I made our way to the doctor's office both very anxious yet giddy. This was going to be great...and it turned out it was, the ultra sound nurse confirmed what I had been hoping...A BOY!!!! At this point the smile on my face extended passed my ears, and Leigh was the the same, tears of happiness from us both.

We left the office practically walking on air, we were SOOO HAPPY. In fact, at the time, it was one of the most emotional highs I ever felt. Throughout all the excitement we found that we were pretty hungry, and what better place to celebrate than a local Wendy's!! haha. There I was paying for our Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers when Leigh's cellphone rang and she said "Huh, it's Dr Lagrands office...I hope nothings wrong" After the conversation on the phone the only thing we knew was that they wanted to go over the ultrasound images with us. That's all they would say. At that moment my heart fell onto the floor of that Wendy's. (I still can't and might not ever return to that Wendy's, even driving by it, I get a weird feeling).

I remember returning to the doctor's office and having to wait in a room, the very room that 20 minutes earlier I had feelings of complete blissfull happiness. That feeling was gone, and wouldn't return for a long, long time. I was praying so hard that it was a technical error, like something went haywire with the ultrasound machine and they lost the results and we'd have to do it again or something. I was praying for a "Hey guys, sorry to have you come back, but these stupid PC's crashed again and we lost some of your ultrasound images...we gotta get a MAC." type response from the Doctor.

He opened the door and with the ultrasound in hand, he almost immediately spoke the words no parent wants to hear,
"This is not what we want to see." That's what he said, those exact words, I'll never forget them... ever. He then started showing us the ultrasound and talking about how my sons head was shaped like a lemon and that this was a sign that he may have spina bif-a-something. I didn't know what he was talking about and felt the inside of my body and head erupting into the most horrible fear/panic/hurt/anger I have ever felt. I remember the print off he handed me explaining what spina bifida was, and on it was every possible horrible/awful thing you could imagine. I still couldn't make sense of it. He explained that he didn't see a hole in the spine, and therefore we'd have to go to another specialist to look closer in the morning. He assured us that whatever it might be, this would not be a "normal" baby. I remember holding Leigh tightly trying to comfort her, trying to be strong, wondering how we were gonna care for a baby like this.

Devasted. Afraid. Scared. Angry. Pretty much every emotion that didn't involve joy or happiness we felt that afternoon. My darkest day.

The next morning we went to the specialist where she gave it to us straight.
"Your son has spina bifida." It was confirmed. It was our new reality.

A year ago today we were told our baby may never walk.
A year ago today we were told our baby may have brain damage.
A year ago today we were told our baby would have bladder and bowel issues.

A year ago today...we were given the option to terminate the pregnancy.

I cant even begin to describe the emotions I feel when I start to wrap my head around the possibility of living my life without my son, and the fact that the option to give up on him came up so "casually" from the doctor. Ughhh, it gives me a stomach ache just thinking about it. Speaking of stomach aches, I had one continuously for months after finding out about Grey's spina bifida. It just lingered with me everywhere. I wanted to feel normal again. But as with most things, time heals. And this was no different. The feeling of despair and anger slowly turned to hope. Hope is a powerful force, more powerful than I realized.

If I were to measure the amount of growth I made in this past year as a person I'd say it crushed the Richter scale. I was knocked down to my lowest low and had to rebuild. I kept some of things in me, but dropped a lot of things that were getting in the way of making me a better version of myself.

And so I sit here today watching my son (a son whose head isn't shaped like a lemon, and a son who doesn't have brain damage) crawling, laughing at his winnie the pooh piano, playing with his mom, and it makes my heart burst with love!!! I thank God every single day for my family, and for His perfectly crafted gift to us, Greyson Neal Gibbs.

thank you all for your love,

Andy, Leigh, Grey
:)

Our neurosurgeon drives a mini cooper...

Andy says that he just earned mad points in the "coolness" department. I should also mention that he IS NOT a small man. Anyway, back to the point of this post...Grey's MRI results...they were pretty much what we thought that they would be. The Dr. started by saying that Grey's ACM II (malformation of the cerebellum) was present, but that it had good flow, and since he is showing no signs of it being symptomatic, it most likely never will be...very good news! He also said that Grey's spinal cord is tethered (100% of people with SB have a tethered cord) but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will cause problems. He said that the most common times when tethered cord issues arise are during growth spurts, so around the ages of 3-4 and 10-11, but like I said, it may never cause a problem, it's just another wait and see. He also mentioned that Grey has a small syrinx very low near where the cord is tethered. This is another thing that could cause problems at some point, but again, may not. One last thing that the Dr. mention was that Grey has something called corpus collosum dysplasia. I am NOT going to google this as I'm a bit terrified of what I will discover. I am going to take the Dr. at this word and consider this "no biggie." This is something that could effect coordination. These are all "normal" in the world of spina bifida and the Dr. was in NO way concerned about anything at this time.



So, overall, we have a positive outlook and a good feeling after that appointment. We know what to look for should any of these "maybes" come up. In the meantime, we will keep lovin' our boy! I should also mention that the Dr. was VERY impressed with Grey's sitting, rolling over, and crawling. Sure, he REFUSED to crawl on cue, but we threatened to pull out the videos and the Dr. believed us. :) Have a great weekend!!

Love,
Leigh, Andy and the G-man

Long Day...

As with all things Greyson...What were we so worried about? Grey did amazing!! I fed him last night around 9:30pm and the MRI didn't start until 11am and we barely even heard a peep! He was his laughing, smiling self all morning long. He got a bit antsy around 10ish but fell asleep. The MRI lasted about 2.5 hours and we were able to see him before he even woke up. I went in and said something to him and got a smile right away. We stayed in recovery for about 20 minutes and then went into our holding room (or whatever it's called) fed him, and 20 minutes later we were on our way home! We were at the hospital for about 7 hours total, so it was a pretty long day and we are VERY happy to have this first MRI behind us. His shunt was checked as soon as the MRI was finished and he hasn't shown any signs of something being off with that. He is such a little trooper and of course, all of the nurses just loved him! We are yet again, reminded how lucky we are to have been chosen to be his parents!!

Now the waiting for Friday begins, to be perfectly honest, we really aren't too worried about it. Grey is just doing so well, that we know whatever we are told, we can handle. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers today! We will update again this weekend and let you know what we find out on Friday!

Love to all,
Leigh, Andy, and Grey

Big Day Tomorrow...

Tomorrow, Grey is having his first MRI. I know that he will breeze through the day like a champ, but Andy and I...not so much. :) Grey's neurosurgeon just wants to get a baseline MRI while Grey is happy, meaning when his shunt is working and he is showing no symptoms of something being wrong. This will be a full brain and spine MRI and will last approximately 2.5-3 hours. Because of the length of the test, Grey will need to go under general anesthesia. One of our major concerns is Grey's shunt. His shunt is programmable by a magnet, so as you can understand, the idea of Grey being surrounded by a HUGE magnet for 3 hours is not something we are looking forward to. His shunt will be programed back to to right setting as soon as the test is done, but we just worry what the change in pressure for 3 hours could do. So if you could just keep little Grey (and his mom and dad) in your prayers tomorrow we would be very grateful. We won't have the results of the MRI until Friday, but we will update once we get them. As far as the results go, Dr. Foody is looking specifically at the severity of tethered cord, Arnold Chiari malformation, and any possibly syrinxs. (I wouldn't recommend googling ANY of these things as Google has a unique way of scaring the pants off of anyone looking up info on any sort of ailment.) But really all these things are actually quite common in kids with SB.) :) Grey is doing GREAT so even if something pops up, we won't let ourselves get too concerned. Thank you to all who continue to go on this journey with us, we love you all!

Leigh, Andy, Grey.

It's Official...

HE'S MOBILE!!!!!!! :) We are SO proud of our Grey and couldn't wait to share it with all of you! He started scooting on Thurs. and today (Saturday) he is just going all over the place! YAY Grey!! :)




Oh...AND he has his first two teeth!! Grey has been very busy this week! :)




Love to all,
Leigh, Andy and Grey

Back to "School"

I'll always remember that feeling i would get around mid-to-late August every year. The Back-to-school ads would pop up more and more and I would become heartbroken...because summer was coming to an end, and school was around the corner. I remember the first time post-school, when i had graduated and somehow found a job soon after and that summer turned to fall... I had to convince myself that "hey wait, im done with school, no more of this, I can enjoy this time of year" And that's what I've been doing every since.

So wait where was I going with this...Oh yeah, School. Thankfully I'm done and there's been several occasions I've turned to Leigh and have mentioned how glad I am to be out of school. haha (sorry to rub it in for those still studying, keep up the hard work :) hehehe. Anyway, what i was getting at is that our little Grey starts his version of School next week. After having the summer "off" (not really, Leigh pushes him hard during the day) Grey will resume his Physical therapy. Tuesdays he'll be at the conductive Learning Center, Wednesdays he'll start a new class for babies, Fridays PT comes to the house. And Leigh just informed me that she will be signing Grey up for a swimming class!!! Wow, this kids gonna be busy! But this busy is a "good busy." We've already have seen results of working hard with him. It's truly amazing to see Grey hit these milestones as any other "typical" baby would. We're just really proud of him!!!

Remember how I said I've been enjoying the fall...we'll here's a few pictures of us doing just that!




Grey just being cute.



Love you Mommy!


Kisses for mommy.


Love you daddy


"Here Dad, let me fix your hair"


love you all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Our Vacation...

Grey is on his first summer vacation! This past Friday we came up north to Mitchell lake (or Lake Mitchell, we're not quite sure) with my family to get some much needed R and R. We have been having a great time and Grey has been enjoying many firsts...

His first ride on (and steering of) a paddle boat...


His first time tubing (with mommy holding on VERY tightly!)


His first time on a water slide (he LOVED it!)


His first time being SO exhausted at the end of the day that he can't even make it to his bath and pjs before falling asleep!

Overall, we are having a great time and Grey is loving the water as much as his daddy! We Just LOVE experiencing all of these "first" with Grey and hope that he is having as much fun as we are! We hope that you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are!


Love to you all,
Leigh, Andy, and Grey

Six Months...

Then:



Now:



Today our Grey is SIX MONTHS OLD!! I can't even believe it. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital after 12 long days in the NICU. Days filled with uncertainty and worry. We had so many questions before he was born...Would he need a shunt? Would there be many shunt revisions? Would we have to start cathing right away? Would we be able to come up with a bladder/bowel program so he could be like all of his friends? And the ever pressing...Will he walk? We certainly don't have all of those answers, but what we do have is an amazing son, who is smiling, laughing, rolling, sitting, and a faithful God who has shown Himself to us over and over and over again in these past 6 months. We have faith that whatever challenges come up, we will get through. I no longer fear the future, but look forward to it. I can't wait to hear him say "mama" for the first time, to get a hug, and to hear his first joke. These past 6 months have been nothing short of amazing and I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us!

some new pictures...

As you all know...we are a bit crazy (but in a good way) about our Grey and LOVE to take his picture. Here are a few from last weekend. I also wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who has sent us emails, called, and left comments about Grey's latest trick (rolling over), it is so amazing to us, that there are so many of you out there cheering him on and loving him as much as we do! Thank You!!

OK, so he may be a bit small for the swing, but we're pretty sure that he liked it!

Grey LOVES to fly!

Totally pretending to sleep. It was too sunny for him!

Grey and his Daddy

Grey and his Mommy

What a goof!
The best $6 that I have ever spent!

Keep rollin...

over that is! Greyson's been working really hard at trying to roll over from his back to his tummy (He's been rollin tummy to back for quite a while now) lately and yesterday the G_man did it!!! and get this...Leigh happened to be rolling the camera! So we got it, he's on film. From what I understand we can upload video to the blog so here goes! and keep your eyes on how happy Grey was when he finally did it. enjoy!




In addition to the progress hes making at home, rollin over and such, we also got some encouraging news at his orthopedics appointment today! After looking over Grey's hip X-ray the doctor determined that at this point his hips are in joint and his feet are looking good. In fact he only needs to wear his AFO's at night. She was also pleased with his hip movement and how he was straightening his legs from time to time. I cant even explain how much joy we get when Leigh and I see the slightest movement of his legs and this past week we have seen him moving them much more! Now we aren't gonna sign him up for the long jump event just yet... :) but even this seemingly small step is so huge to Leigh and I. We are so proud of our boy!

We've kinda been slacking on our posting, but we promise to try harder :)

love Andy, Leigh and Grey.

We're Back!!

Ok, technically, we didn't actually go anywhere, we've just been a bit busy doing who knows what and haven't had time to post. Not too much has been going on around here. Grey had a check up with his neuro last week and all is well!!! Grey and his shunt are doing fantastic! WOO HOO!! Dr. Foody did mention that he wants Grey to have a baseline MRI done before his next visit (Sept.) just so we can see how everything looks while Grey is "happy". I totally understand why he wants this, but the mom in me is a bit nervous. First of all they will have to sedate Grey for the MRI...no fun! Secondly, there are many things that could "pop-up" on an MRI. Dr. Foody will be looking for any signs of a tethered cord (something that can be common in kids with SB, the scar tissue around their lesion site can build up causing the spinal cord to become tethered, or pulled down), syrinxs (fluid buildup in the spine, kind of like hydrocephalus of the spine), and he will also be looking at the extent of Greyson's arnold chiari malformation (this is the cerebellum being pulled down a bit and what caused Grey's hydrocephalus...the whole reason that he needs his shunt). Like I said, Grey is doing great and shows no signs of any of these things, but I'm his mom so of course I worry. Andy and I just continue to pray that our little guy stays just as strong and healthy as he has been, and that nothing new will "pop up".
Grey has started back up with his therapy at the Conductive Learning Center, he had 4 weeks off for summer and now he is back at it! We have been working on sitting (he's getting VERY good), kneeling, and gettting in and out of the sitting position. We are so blessed to live close to such an amazing place for Grey's therapy.
We also had a family reunion a few weeks ago and were lucky to get a 5 generation picture taken! Grey got to meet many of his relatives for the first time. I think that most of them probably felt as if they already knew him just from reading this blog! (Hi everyone!!!)

It's been an amazing summer so far...we're looking forward to the second half!!!
Please continue to keep little Grey in your prayers and we will continue keeping you updated! :)

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

So it appears as if summer has truly arrived here in Michigan and with nicer, warmer weather we've been getting outside a lot. I thought I'd quickly post some photos from this weekends "photo shoot" at Riverside park in Grand Rapids. Oh and by the way Grey's 5 months old already!!! ahhhhhh! it can't be true !
But he continues to do well, so we give thanks everyday for his good health. He has an appointment this Friday with the neurosurgeon to check his shunt/head measurement etc. We pray that these types of appointments will become fewer and farther between with how well Grey's been doing!! Please pray that this is the case.
so here ya go, a few pics from the weekend.

My First Father's Day.

First off, look at the banner image... Does anyone remember the first time i took a picture of the G-Man on that chair... he was just a little squirt and had to rest his head on the armrest, not anymore! He's getting so big!!!

So its been a week or so since Father's day and haven't had a chance to share, so here goes.

That week, Leigh got Grey his first set of paints and paint brushes, However, the paintbrushes were not really used. Apparently Grey prefers to express his visual inspirations thru that of finger painting! and thats just what he did. He painted me two amazing paintings, paintings I will frame and keep for my entire life. These are by far more valuable than any other piece of art or design I own!!!

Here's a couple pictures of him working on this intense design solution!




And here's the final Masterpiece!




I still can't believe Leigh let him get all "dirty" with paint. I guess she knew I'd really like it! :) She was right. So after Grey gave me his paintings, we played for a while.



Later that day the family took uncle Jake's boat out and Grey had his first "swim" with daddy. I'm not sure what he thought about it, I still think he was a little self-conscious about the dorky life-jacket mommy made him wear. I think i heard him say something like, "Come on mom, this thing has a dorky turtle on it and my name's not Kent, why does it say Kent on here?"
Anyway, since his maiden voyage we've discovered he is a big fan of the water and even likes being dunked!



So after a busy Father's Day what else is there to do then to take a nap!



My First Father's Day was amazing and look forward to so many more!

love,

Andy

Appointment Update...

Greyson had a VERY busy week last week and I thought that it was time to update all of you on how his appointments have been going. First, he had his 4 month check up with the pediatrician (we still can't even believe that he is 4.5 months!!!) All went well there, he is weighing in at 15lbs 10oz. and is 26 inches long...50% for his age in both...we'll take it! :) He also had a head ultrasound and a check up with his neurosurgeon to check on his shunt, we are VERY happy to report that his shunt is working just as it should be! I have to say that whenever anything is just a bit different with the G-man my first fear is always that shunt! If he doesn't eat as much as he usually does, or sleeps a little longer, or cries just a little bit more than normal, I immediately feel his soft spot just to make sure that it feels ok, I don't know what I'm going to do when that soft spot closes! I guess that is something that will always be in the back of our minds. Anyway, back to the appointments...:) While we were at the SB clinic to see the neurosurgeon we also saw one of the other doctors there, he says that Greyson is doing GREAT!! He was very impressed with his head and trunk control (all of that tummy time is paying off!) Speaking of tummy time, Greyson is not a huge fan of it and has started rolling from his tummy to his back! He has been doing this for awhile now, but it is becoming much more of a regular thing! I think he sees how happy I get whenever I see him do this, and he knows that it is the best way to get out of that tummy time! We have been working on rolling from his back to his tummy, but he's not quite as good at that yet. We also had a kidney and bladder ultrasound and an appointment with the urologist. All is well in that department as well! His kidneys are growing as they should and not too small or enlarged and everything is still looking healthy! I'm always a bit nervous for these appointments knowing that cathing will most likely be in our future at some point, but the longer we can put it off the better! :)

Well, I think that it is for our appointments. Like I said, it was a very busy week, but one filled with good news! :) Greyson just continues to do so well and we are amazed by him every day! If we only knew what life would be like with him, we could have saved ourselves A LOT of worrying in those months after we found out about the spina bifida. Life is so good. :)

Trip Up North

So this past weekend Grey made his first real "road trip". We all packed up and headed north with some friends to Boyne City. We weren't quite sure how the G-man would do, but figured when he fell asleep after traveling a full city block, we thought we might be in the clear for the full duration of the trip. Although when Leigh told him he had to ride in the backseat for over 3 hours this is how he looked at us. :)



As to say, "seriously..., you want me to ride in my car seat for how long?" hahaha He was a champ though, made it all the way to Boyne city and the minute the car stopped, he woke up and was ready to go!! (eat that is) :)
Anyway, the entire weekend was incredible, great weather, great friends, great place to stay (thanks tom and jess!) great food, just a really nice time to relax and get away. Grey seemed to have a good time as well. And guess what, he pretty much stole the show. Even when I ventured out on the water to rip it up wakeboarding...sure enough he was on the dock gettin all the attention. I mean, come on, I nearly pulled off a 360...look at me!!! hehe :)

so here's a few pics from the weekend.





This last photo just shows off our amazing parenting skills...when the little dude has to spit up, just hold him over the dock. :) haha.

Here's one more photo just cause i love his shirt and love my son!!!!