A couple weeks ago Lu and I paid a visit to the eye doctor.  2012-08-30 iPhone 59992 I watched that girl interact with the amazing dr. assistant who was initializing the visit and got a little emotional about what a long way she has come from our last bout with eye doctors back here.  She was a mess back then (which made me a mess too), and here she was, a perfectly mannered little sweetheart giggling and willing to do anything the doctor asked.  Sometimes I get so overcome with what a blessing this girl is in our lives. I started worrying a little bit when she couldn’t see some pretty obvious numbers and pictures she was supposed to.  I knew her eyes were getting worse, but not to a –3.25-in-both-eyes-with-stigmatisms kind of worse.  I know lots of kids have bad eyesight, but this significant drop only signifies what is to come in the future for kids with her syndrome. The doctor really recommended transition lenses, and warned us it may be a little adjustment for her to get used to the stronger prescription. The poor lady at the eyeglass store didn’t know what she was in for when I told her we needed transition lenses.  Although I’m sure they are awesome and a ton of people wear them, the only people I know who have them are those with special needs.  For some reason this little picture just clicked in my brain and made me get teary.  I called Dave when I left, still trying to hold the pools welled up in my eyes.  Oh I love him.  He talked me through it.  He’s usually the worrier but I needed him….and he helped me through that glitch in my put-on-a-happy-face routine. The next hurdle was to get her to wear those things. At first there was no way she was gonna do it.  She wasn’t touching those things with a ten-foot pole.  She wasn’t even intrigued by the fact that they turned into sunglasses. That is, until she realized one of Claire’s best friends has practically the same glasses. That was the clincher.  2012-09-14 misc 60327 There’s nothing like a little peer help to do hard things that are good for you.

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21 Comments

  1. Shawni,

    I work for an eye doctor in MT and I would say 60% of our patients (men, women and children alike) get transitions. She looks great in her new frames!

  2. Shawni,

    I have been a reader for the past several months and I thought it was time to comment! I am so thankful I found your blog! I am a young newlywed at BYU still working on graduating.

    I first started to get into blogging when I got married. I followed all of these popular blogs. I was reading young talented girls blogs about fashion and food, etc. However, I felt overwhelmed at everything they could do and that I couldn't do it all. The more I read the more I wanted to be like them – travel, the world, wear beautiful clothes, be a master chef, etc. But soon I found that keeping up with all these blogs were taking too much time and they didn't help improve my life.

    I started to think about my life and my ultimate goals – I want to be a mother, and raise my family in the gospel. None of those blogs were helping me accomplish that. Who really cares if I am the most 'fashionable' person on the block, or I can turn my home into a DIY masterpiece. Those things weren't important.

    So I un-followed all the blogs. I only kept up with family and friends blogs. And then I found your blog – and let me tell you: it is the only worthwhile daily read. And that is because I want to be like you! Your love for motherhood just seems to leap off the pages. And your honesty about the realities are refreshing. So THANK YOU. Thank you for your inspiring words, your love for your family, and your goals in the gospel. I really appreciate it – our world needs more blogs like this. Blogs that focus on the things that are REALLY important.

    Lastly, I am a recreational therapist. My ultimate goal (in a job setting – if I ever get the chance) would be to work with kids with disabilities. Recently, for a class I watched this devotional from BYU. I thought it would be a good watch for you and your family maybe?

    I know you already have a good perspective about Lucy, but this talk is really inspiring 🙂 Plus, you have more ability to influence than I do – you could maybe share it with mothers who are struggling with similar things. It might not work for people who aren't religious, but for people who are – it is just so wonderful.

    Here is the link -http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=2021&view=2

    I would watch it rather than reading it – much more inspiring.

    Thanks again for your real take a real life perspective. I hope I can be as great of a mom as you someday!

    Carly

  3. I got transition glasses at 26 becuase I needed to wear the glasses and wasn't paying for RX sunglasses. I am terrified of contacts so that was the best option for me.
    But if it helps, I felt like I was trying to be one of those fake-sophisticated people from early 1980's commercials when I got them. 🙂 I still don't know why…maybe that's when they came out with the cool concept of transitions…I have no idea.

  4. You have the most adorable family! I love her cute glasses! I'm guilty of texting friends and family ahead of time to get them to reinforce a concept to my boys. Advice is always different coming from someone other than mom and peers can be invaluable in that department (and make me crazy sometimes too!).

  5. Hi Shawni – the transition lenses are so nice because they really protect the retina from the sun without you having to switch her glasses. Both my girls have had them, Ashley cannot see through the darkness anymore, so she has the yellow tint, but Carly still wears them. (My husband and I wear them too – they just feel more comfortable in the glaring sun.) They are not just for special needs… They are great for everyone!

  6. Totally off topic. I just saw Spider Man – the new one. Is it just me or is your son the new spider man? Looks just like him! The whole time I kept wondering "why does that guy look so familiar?" It dawned on me that I've been looking at so many pictures of your India trip and that's where the familiarity hit!

  7. Shawni, thank you so much for writing so candidly about your feelings re:the glasses. I think you wrote it just for me. My daughter has a rare developmental defect in one eye, giving her about 2ft of vision, the other eye is perfect and works hard. At our last appointment our opthalmologist prescribed "protective eye wear" to protect the good eye from being damaged, and I about died, for the same reasons you've struggled with Lucy's transitions. Nobody I know is dealing with vision stuff with their kids, so I've felt a lot like nobody really understands, except you 🙂 Thank you again for writing the truth and helping me feel like I'm not the only mom struggling through some of this life stuff.

  8. Just a follower, but my daughter does not have similar syndrome, but does have astigmatism and myopia. We got her Transitions last year and you should not consider them for Special needs. They are necessary to protect their eyes from the harsh Arizona Sun. She loves them and requested them.

  9. Shawni I love your blog oh so much. It has inspired me in so many ways. My husband is in his last year of optometry school currently and I happened to work for an optometrist for two years before we had our first child. We recommended transitions for every child we saw. It is so important to protect eyes from the sun. Unprotected eyes can cause so many problems for all of us in later life. Transitions are perfect for protecting the eyes of busy kiddos. I do not pretend to understand how you must feel dealing with all that comes with Lucy's syndrome. You are so strong and so lucky to have such a great family and support system through all of this. I do hope that you can have some peace with this latest trial. Best to you, Lucy, and your amazing family.

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