Professional Christmas Pics

Duane's Syndrome

Today we took Essie to her eye appointment at Ark. Children's Hospital in Little Rock.  She was officially diagnosed with Duane's Syndrome.  Basically that means during her development her 3rd and 6th optic nerves crossed and fused together.  This prevents her from moving her left eye to the left.  So when she looks to the left her right eye moves over like it's supposed to and her left eye freezes in the middle.  This means she cannot see to the left.  There is nothing they can do for it and it will never go away or improve.  She will just have to adjust and adapt to it as she grows.  The only advice they gave us was to make sure she always sits on the left side of the classroom when she begins school.  That way she only has to look to the right! Her eyesight is good and this syndrome should not affect her life in any way.  She was sooooo good the whole time and I was so proud of her.  Travis' parents came down to eat lunch with us and wait with us at the hospital.  She was so happy to see them and wanted to go home with them.  We got to do a lil bit of shopping and went to dinner with Trav's sister as well.  Here are a few pics of our trip to ACH!!!

sickly sunday

Ive got an awful cold and Essie has a runny nose so we spent the whole day at home.  We've spent the whole day cleaning and resting.  Here are a few pics of our day together.

just a saturday in pictures

This morning essie looked precious in this sweet cordouroy smocked outfit but after a messy diaper when had to strip her.  She was much happier in her diaper and Elmo socks anyway.  And see all those baby wipes? That's her favorite thing to do is wipe the floor with them for hours on end.

We spent the day baking and decorating cookies for our neighbor's little girl's birthday.  She is having an owl themed party and I loved how our cookies turned out.  The colors of the party are fab!

This afternoon we were watching elmo and i dozed off and Essie laid her sweet little head next to me.  Travis  happened to capture a few pics of it.

And here are a few other pics from our Saturday.

Rockin' Apple

On Monday morning I received a phonecall in my classroom from a local radio dj telling me that I had been selected for this month's "Rockin Apple Award". Each month they select a teacher in Northeast Arkansas to spotlight. Students and parents can nominate and they pick a teacher from those nominations. This month I had a parent write in an email for me that got selected. I was completely blown away, shocked, humbled, etc. This afternoon the radio guys and reps fom Best Buy came to our classroom for a big party. They brought pizza, a giant cookie cake, sodas and tons of prizes. The kiddos were so excited! They devoured the pizza and got to play guess the celebrity for tshirts. Each kid got a tshirt and autographed redwolves football! I received a brand new Kodak digital camera from Best Buy, a tshirt, passes for bowling and the movies, a framed certificate, an apple trophy, etc. It was such an amazing experience and I am blown away by the generosity of the radio station as well as the local businesses!