PSEUDO, say it, SUE-DOUGH

When Rich and I lived in DC, there was a pug that lived down the street, but it was half pug, half something else. Rich would call it the pseudo-pug. The best part was that Rich thought that pseudo was pronounced "piss-way-dough." So it was the piss-way-dough-pug. I loved it. That has always been one of my favorite words.

Now I like that word even more because it explains my beautiful little Eloise. She has something called pseudostrabismus.

Stabismus is when the eyes are crossed or not aligned and pseudostabismus is the false appearance of crossed eyes. It appears as if her eyes are not aligned because of the wide bridge of her nose and the epicanthal folds (folds in the inner corner of the eye). As her facial structure matures, her eyes will become uncrossed. I mean, will appear to be aligned.
Really- this is FAKE!


On another note. For some reason the waiting room at the opthamologist was filled with tiny babies, 5 lbs, 6 lbs, 7 lbs, sets of twins, and micro preemies. They all were doing their follow-up after coming home from the NICU. I can relate to the exhausted and worried faces and am so glad we are in a different place now. I was shocked at the small size of the babies and can't even believe that my now healthy active babies once were smaller and more fragile than that!
Eloise was the oldest patient in the room. She had turned on her charm full force and was shrieking and laughing and dancing on my lap the whole time, even after getting her eyes dilated. This girl can put on a show and knows exactly when to turn it on. She turned it on just in time to give a glimmer of hope and some light at the end of the tunnel to those exhausted and scared parents of tiny little babies. That was me last August. How far we have come...