Srgery went GREAT. I kept hering them talk about how wonderful this was...or how easy that was.... Kind of strange, but comforting - I'd hate to hear something like "uh oh..." ha!
I'm on valium & pain meds...so if this is a little crazy, sorry...
The surgery was 100% painless. They put numbing drops in my eyes, then some other drops... then something to hold my eyes open, which I didn't even feel... It was so wierd. I was laying under this machine - dr at my head...and it looked like she was sticking a tool in my eye & moving around my contact...only it wasn't my contact...it was my eye ball! Then more drops... then this laser...and the most awful smell - like burning hair! Then more drops.... It was so easy.
I now have on like a contact band-aid thing... I'm in a little pain... just feels like I got something in my eyes...and they burn like crazy. My eyes want to stay closed...
Guess I'll take a nap...
A WHAT?!?! Yea..not sure when the last time I took a nap was. I'm just not a napper... Though I'm not sleepy.... I feel a little dead.... like my brain is going but my body is just laying here on my bed. ha ha
Hopefully I'll be good as new soon. I can already see better!!! CRAZY!! Also, there are no restrictions as far as me exercising & such. I just need to stay away from small kids so I don't get my eyes bumped....and absolutely no rubbing...
That is great! I can't believe your eyes are already working--I was wondering how you were going to read all your messages!!! Let me know if y'all need anything.
I kinda wish I was there to see you on pain pills. I will never forget when you got your wisdom teeth out.haha And the whole time I was talking to mom she was saying "Leave your mommy alone!" So I guess the girls were trying to check on you.haha
I had to wear contact bandage when Greyson just near about gauged my eye out! I'm too farsided for any kind of surgery, but Ive always been interested in how that felt during the actual procedure!
Today is the day!! I'm headed to have PRK surgery!
Hopefully, if all goes well... I'll be able to see for the first time in about 18 years without coke bottle glasses or contacts! YAY!
They say there's a 5-10 day recovery period...whatever that means. I'm thinking it just means I'll be uncomfortable??? And I know I won't be able to drive... Thank goodness dear 'ol mom came to the rescue to chauffer me around & help with the girls! I've got my pain prescription filled & ready to go.... so let the fun begin I guess....
Something about someone cutting on my eyeballs just doesn't give me that all over happy feeling........ ha! I'm ready to get it over with...I'm excited!
I don't think I could do that! I am such a wimp, and I can't stand things near my eyes. I have had contacts since I was 16, so I know what you mean. I have never worn glasses. I have them for backup, but they give me perception headaches... Wish I were brave enough to try lasiks...
I hope you eventually found the perfect surgery outfit this morning. I'll be thinking about you as they are cutting out your eyeballs and making it hard to blink.haha At least Makenzie and Annie know EXACTLY what is going on!! I'm kinda sad I won't be able to make fun of your blindness anymore. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find something else :) LOVE YOU!
Umm...ACTUALLY, Makenzie said they're going to cut my eyebrows off.... and then annie said that will be hard to blink! lol yes, I'm sure you'll find something else to make fun of me for.....you always do. ;)
The girls decorated the tree at Cookie & Grumps' house
When I got back from NY we all headed to east Texas to visit family...again.
The girls are crazy about their new cousin, Kate!
And...only in good 'ol East Texas do you find a pot bellied pig in the back yard!
and ride a moped up & down the street...
The girls had a blast playing at Brandon's grandmother's farm with their cousins
We had Christmas with our families - the girls loved it!
Makenzie wanted a cat - Santa asked Mommy & Mommy said no... so Brandon's parents gave her this one
Annie asked for a baby with a bottle & a paci & a stroller... She got it!
We visited Brandon's great Aunt & Uncle - Mildred & Lester Sparks. The girls had a blast - we enjoyed seeing them so much. Mildred Sparks was my mom's home economics teacher when she was in the 8th grade - how funny!
The girls watched Uncle Lester drive the train around for the longest time!!
We had breakfast with my cousin Ryan & his family
We went to Whitney's wedding! Brandon insists she's only 7 & is NOT old enough to get married..... ;)
Makenzie & Lauren at the wedding
Our little cousin was the flower girl - the cousins just don't get to see each other enough!
Kenzie with her cousins Ryan & Grant - she LOVES to play rough with them!
Mommy & Annie
sweet kisses from my girls
Annie & Whitney
The whole family!
the Bride & the Groom leaving
This looks like a serious conversation between cousins!
Makenzie & her cousins - though on different sides of the family!
I think Annie was getting ready to go home!
The wedding was absolutely beautiful! We're so glad to have Adam in our family! I'm still wondering if Emily & Adam know what they've just gotten themselves into....marrying into this family!
Spent some good quality time with my baby sister
Makenzie & I had to take a funny picture
When we got home we had to do some serious work. Since we drove straight through (I somehow get the night shift) everyone slept all day on Sunday. We drove in about 15 minutes before church started - we rushed to unload the car, change clothes & we made it. Then everyone slept all day.... everyone except good 'ol Mommy that is. I unpacked EVERYTHING and started the laundry. whew! We had to hurry & do Christmas shopping too...
The girls had to make Santa cookies
I rushed around like a madwoman trying to get Christmas thrown together. I managed...somehow.
Christmas eve our "Teakwood Family" (neighbors) all got together for a little party. The kids all came in their pjs. Alison brought a Christmas book to read to all the kids.
But Annie was more interested in her boyfriend Alex than anything else...
Alex (10 yrs), however....was not very flattered. He said to me "Ms. Leah, we need to have a talk." umm..ok sweetie. "Let's go to my room." *we walk to his room* "We'd better shut the door....this is SERIOUS". I'm thinking - oh my...what on earth is going on?!?! So Alex, as serious as can be... Says "Annie's going to have to stop following me around....I've got a girlfriend you know! She's even MY SIZE!" How cute is that?!? It was so hard to be serious & not crack up.... He was very concerned when I told him that when we were in Texas Annie told everyone he was her boyfriend. He said "oh no! I'm going to have to go tell them that's not true!!!" Chill man...she's not even 3 yet. But in about 10 years...you'll so be into her! ha!
We ate so much! We have a bad habit of doing that when we all get together....which is pretty often.... It's yummy though!
My family watched on the computer this year as the girls opened presents! (last year Brandon's family watched) Isn't technology great?!?!
Annie was so excited about her doll stroller! (Makenzie got one when I was pregnant with Annie...but since they pushed eachother around in it so much it kind of.....fell apart...)
We had Christmas dinner with our friends who go to church with us here & use to live in downtown Savannah but have moved to Beaufort, SC. The girls missed sweet Eden so much while we were gone & they were all so excited to play together again!
Ok... So I'm a little caught up now. I've got pictures from New Years (more stuff with the Teakwood fam) that I'll tr to post later this weekend.
Mom will be here tomorrow for a week!!! YAY!
Today I threw away my last pair of contacts EVER. (At least I hope so.) I'm also not going to be wearing make up for the next week or so.... I go in Monday morning for PRK surgery.
This is so long...sorry...HAD to get these up though! Hope everyone is doing well!
Well, looks like I got behind on posting…..again! We’ve been so busy lately - and I wasn’t always around internet…
We are back home now! We left my parents’ house in Texas about 6:30 pm on Saturday and got back home about 10:15 am on Sunday. We drove straight through again…that seems to work well for us. We got back just in time to unload most of the stuff from the car, throw on some clothes & go to church!
Anyway, I guess I’ll get started with continuing my NYC adventures!
On Saturday we went to see Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day…but wow, was it windy!!! There wasn’t a big crowd, either…which was nice!
Replica of the face - is this wrong???
Staircase up to the crown…
Original Torch
View of the City
Just me
Us girls
Ellis Island
These stairs were where the immigrants were separated into lines of who got to stay, who got deported, etc…. It was so interesting!
The only word understood by everyone was “coffee”… ; )
Some people had to be tried in order to see if they could stay in America or if they would get deported….This was the room:
Light & ceiling in the registry room (I believe only 17 tiles have been replaced!)
Benches where the immigrants would wait for their turn…
View of the registry room
Chandra
At the Statue of Liberty with NYC in the background
We had a little incident with the birds… Chandra had PERFECT timing on this picture. As horrible of a picture as it is of me…. I absolutely had to post it…we laughed & laughed. Hysterical! The birds really liked us… A few minutes after this picture I was about to bite a cookie…and a big bird swooped down from behind me, bit my finger…and stole my cookie! *humph* L
We had so much fun doing these tours! What a neat thing to get to see….
On Sunday we decided to do our Chinatown shopping. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Chinatown in NYC…it is definitely an experience. I must admit I was a little afraid! People walking up to you on the street saying “wanna rolex, I gotta rolex, wanna buy a rolex, what u lookin fo…” Then then little Chinese people asking you “Gucci, prada, dooney burke? You want bag?” If you tell them yes they take you into the little store (open front, narrow shop with purses & such all up the walls)…you go behind the cash register & through the “fake door”… then they shut it behind you & you’re stuck in this little tiny back room with the good fake stuff… Then you find what you want & bargain for the price. Nice. I bought a few… and some other fun stuff that you can probably only find in china town…
Then we headed to do some more sight seeing….
We went to Wall Street
Had some NY pizza
Liked this “No cars” sign
I had my 1st Subway ride
This was a statue that was in front of the Twin Towers…it is now over at Battery Park
Any Seinfield Fans?
Went to see Ground Zero and we went through the 911 Museum. It was so interesting. It was tough - they had videos of people talking…there were grown men walking through crying… It was very depressing but I’m so glad we were able to see it.
We also went through more graveyards & saw famous graves… Toured some of the churches…
We ate dinner in Little Italy. I loooooooved Little Italy. Apparently the Italian men love little blonde girls from the south. They didn’t speak much English…but they kept bringing us “complimentary” stuff… It was great. And the food was soooooooooo good!!!!
I hailed my 1st Taxi (by the way, don’t tell them it’s your first time to ever ride in a Taxi….the jerk bumped our fee up $1 when I told him that!!!)
On Monday we woke up at 4am & got dressed to head to the Today Show! What fun! By the time we got dressed & actually got in line it was already 6am… we should’ve been there about 4:30... It was so neat though!!!
We thought we had a good spot…but with the way they had the cameras they were shooting across...and we were right in the middle! *sigh* oh well…
My poster fell apart!
We were so close to Scarlett Johansen & Samuel L. Jackson
Ann Curry was right beside us
We met Al Roker - he really liked my poster & commented on it twice. He had soft squishy hands… ha!
And we were incredibly close to Tom Cruise - how cool is that??
We recorded the show & watched it when we got home… and being the goofballs that we are…we took pictures of the tv…
Chandra is on the far right…and there’s part of my poster
See my white hair & my flashy poster???
So we weren’t on tv really…but we were super excited to be there & experience all of that!!!
Next we stopped off at the Magnolia Bakery (any Sex in the City fans?)….we got our 2 cupcakes each (which we did at like EVERY bakery in NYC…) and went to the middle of Times square to have our yummy treats! Of course…we had coffee too….
We went to Macy’s… the things I do to get a good picture!
Did the Empire State building…SO WINDY!
You could feel it swaying… a bit nauseating!
Saw them recording Law & Order SVU
We walked around the city & saw lots of random sites….
Including Hotel Chelsea
Oh…and we ate at a gay restaurant on accident. Lovely. The food was good!!!
We ate at so many little bakeries…and boy did we indulge!
We had sooooooooo much fun!!!!
On Tuesday we had breakfast at a cute little place in New Jersey…they had like 60 different kinds of pancakes. No kidding. And wow - they were soooooo good! We got 4 each…on a HUGE platter…and we both could only eat one!!! Then we took 2 boxes of my stuff to the post office to mail home…
It started snowing on the way to the airport!!! Of course…. I should mention that I love cold weather & snow… I had visions of NYC at Christmastime… snow everywhere… The day I flew out of Houston it snowed & stuck 4 inches!!! The girls made a Snow girl - complete with a tiara! Unseasonably warm weather in NYC… and then as we drive to the airport the snow starts to fall! ha!
It was hard to get on that plane…I did NOT want to come home… if it hadn’t been for my family waiting for me I may have just stayed up there! I LOVED it!
Thank you Chandra for letting me stay with you & being such a wonderful tour guide!
Your trip sounds so fun. Now, you're back in boring, old Savannah! :) Sorry I missed talking to you yesterday morning--I think you got stuck inside. Wasn't it nice having so many (at least for our group)? Any fun plans this week? Or are you just wanting to relax?
I want to go to NY so bad now. I have always wanted to go and Frederic has been several times for business and says it's not that great but I really want to go. I'll have to get him to take me!
How fun!! Did you go to church up there? I haven't been there, but my family has been to worship with a group that meets in someone's apartment, I believe. I love getting to know Christians that work with groups like that! Sounds like the trip was a blast. I'm still sad I didn't get to see you while you were here. :(
I was so on tv with Tom Cruise. You'd have to know to be looking for me...but as Chandra says:
I had a supporting role in a television show that starred Tom Cruise.
Don't worry...I took pictures of it on the tv and will post them later. I've got to go in chronological order though... And there are a lot of pictures before that so it may be a day or 2.... ;)
and much less exciting - I met Al Roker... he commented on my poster TWICE. And he has the softest, squishest hands I've ever felt on a man.
