Wonder of wonders

Nate started crawling this week! He's still getting the hang of it, so he isn't a speedster yet or anything. In fact, he doesn't yet realize that he can get anywhere. He is so used to being able to reach things within only a few feet that he often doesn't go after a toy if it is across the room, and he still cries if I leave the room, not realizing he could follow me. It's funny!

Trip

We are going to Virginia next month. I leave with Nate May 17, and Jon arrives May 20. Then our friends Neil and Casey arrive the next day! I am so excited they are coming. I was so thrilled and a bit surprised when they booked their tickets and it was true they were actually coming; so often, you talk about these kinds of things with friends, saying, "We should get together for dinner some time," or "We should all go to such-and-such one weekend," but it never happens. It is actually happening with Neil and Casey! They are definitely follow-through friends, and it is one of the reasons I love them. :)

The five of us will probably stay at Hanshill, the house in the country (15 minutes away from my parents' house). My parents will probably stay at their house at night. It will be so nice to relax, enjoy the not-too-hot-or-humid-yet weather, go on walks, explore, read, eat together, etc.

Then on Wednesday, May 24, we will leave Nate with my parents, and the four of us will drive the three hours to Washington, D.C. and spend three nights there. Neil, Jon, and I have never been to D.C. except for driving/flying through. We're going to stay in one room at the Washington Marriott. And it looks like we are going to be able to get a private tour of the White House, as Jon's cousin is in the Secret Service! We are all very excited about that. We haven't scheduled any other activities, but I'm sure we will eat good food, visit a museum or two, see some monuments (Mount Vernon is on the list), and have a wonderful time. Jon and I are going to consider this trip our fourth anniversary gift to each other.

Neil and Casey fly out of D.C. on the 27th, and Jon and I will drive back to Lynchburg, where he flies out late that afternoon. Nate and I will stay with my parents for several more days before flying home on May 31.

Although I'm really looking forward to a refreshing few days with Jon, I'm pretty nervous about leaving Nate with my parents while we go to D.C. The nervousness has nothing to do with my parents' ability to take care of him; it's more because he has spent nearly every moment of every day with me for the past year (more if you count the pregnancy). I'm sure the separation will be harder on me than on Nate, but I still have a worried feeling in the recesses of my heart that he will somehow be emotionally damaged. I know, I know, it sounds crazy. If he could understand language, I would already be preparing him and talking every day about the fun time he is going to have with Granny and Papa (those are not the official names yet, as my mom keeps wavering on what she wants to be called and my dad hasn't said one word about a name for him) while Daddy and Mama go on a trip. Since I can't do that with him yet, I'm left with this nervous feeling and know that I just need to pray! :)

Surgery update/Happy Easter!

Jon is doing great today! He slept for most of the day yesterday and then all night last night (thanks in part to a prescribed Zanex). He woke up with his eyes feeling a bit dry, but he used the eye drops the doctor gave him. I drove him to his follow-up appointment this morning, and I went into the exam room with him for them to do his test. He sees 20/15 in his right eye and 20/25 in his left! That's better already than he saw with his contacts. With contacts, his left eye was 20/40. And the doctor said they will probably get even better as they heal. Jon looks completely normal/fine and says he feels fine too. It's amazing how fast the eyes heal. He isn't supposed to do any heavy exercising like basketball for a week or two (and then they'd like him to wear sports glasses), but he can go running and do regular activity starting today, just making sure he's careful. He isn't allowed to rub his eyes for 3 months! (That's because they actually cut a flap in your eye for the surgery, and obviously you don't want to aggravate that or open it back up.) We asked the doctor when Jon can start driving, and he said today, so he drove home from the appointment. I'm so excited for him.

We're still going to take it easy around the house today. I am going to make chocolate-covered strawberries as one of the desserts we're bringing tomorrow for Easter, since we're having Easter dinner at Scott and Kim's house (Colleen and Jennifer left for Missouri today). I'm going to bring the strawberries tomorrow and am just going to buy two pies for dessert--there will be 16 people there tomorrow at the Eichlers', and I don't think I have the energy to make enough desserts for that many people today. :)

Surgery

Jon is having LASIK tomorrow. We are excited! Jon has worn glasses (or contacts) since he was in grade school, so this is really cool for him. Recovery is pretty easy, but he is supposed to lie down and take it real easy for the rest of the day tomorrow, so I'll be his nurse.

UPDATE 4/14/06
Jon's surgery went well! He is on his way home right now (his dad's driving him) to rest for the day.

Howdy! I'm 11 months old.