Time for an update...

I remember thinking that when we brought Grace home, I couldn't possibly get any busier.  When we were deciding to add Elena to the mix, those first crazy days with Grace were long over and I just figured it would work itself out, as it had with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc...
Well...it's been crazy all right! In retrospect, perhaps summer time is not the best time to bring a new person into an already insanely active household, but we don't get to chose these things, and inevitably there are little indulgences that get put on the back burner.  And that's a very long way of saying I've been negligent in keeping this blog up to date. 
But, James is away with 3 of the 5 and it's just Eric, Elena and me home this weekend and I find myself with a few minutes to write about the great news we got yesterday.
We had our first appointment at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto in the Vision clinic and were treated like gold (not surprising for this hospital - but very nice).  Albinism has obvious traits associated with it.  Most noticeably are the minimal pigment in the skin and hair and vision related problems.  What I discovered yesterday was that there is a lot more going on in the brain that one can't see of course and it's quite fascinating.   That aside, we did lots of tests for Elena's vision with very positive results.  Her vision currently was measured at the low end for normal sighted people and the very high end for people with albinism.  She has a very well formed fovea (which is the part of the eye that gives us the most detailed images).  I was overwhelmed with joy for her.   She will never see in 3D because of the Nystagmus (wobbly eyes) which will make going downstairs etc... more difficult, but she's already modifying her own behaviour and being careful when manipulating shadows beneath her feet.
We will return twice in the next 6 months to do some brain scan tests and something else I can't remember right now.  Eventually we're hoping for some surgery to move her NULL point (the area where her eyes see best) from the upward position to straight ahead to eliminate how much she needs to tilt her head to see things at their clearest.  This will come later but it's encouraging to hear that it can be done. 
If I can find the time,  I want to dedicate this blog now to our journey of parenting a child with vision related issues in hopes of encouraging others to embrace the idea of adopting visually impaired children without the fear or worry (okay, maybe less worry!).