Some Updates

When Claire was a newborn we noticed that she had what we thought was called a "lazy eye". One of her eyes turns outward a little more that the other and loses focus. My dad has the same thing. He said that his was never treated when he was a kid, then it got worse and worse. When we mentioned this to Claire's doctor she said that there wasn't anything they could really do that early and to keep watching it. So we watched and it eventually went away.

Claire at 6 weeks old.

Well, a few months ago the "eye" returned. It shows up more and more, especially when she is tired, when she is eating, or maybe bored. I mentioned it to her doctor again and this time I was referred to a Pediatric Opthamologist. Our insurance is new to the Austin area so the nearest doctor that our insurance would pay for us to see was about an hour north of us in Temple, TX.

Claire after seeing her eye doctor?

Last week we had an adventure. We left the Austin area as a family for the first time since we moved here and went to Temple. The drive went a lot better than I had anticipated and we got there in plenty of time. We checked in, they gave us a little pager (like the kind you get at restaurants) and they sent us to the kiddo waiting room, where they had "The Incredible's" playing and some toys for Claire to play with. Time past. I stared at the pager... nothing... Was it broken? The movie ended, various kids with glasses came in, sat down with their parents, then almost immediately the nurse would call them. We waited at least an hour until I had had enough and asked a nurse if they were going to call my daughter back anytime soon. She looked at me like I was being impatient and said, "Someone will be with you shortly."

A few minutes later a different nurse came in and asked, "Adams?" We were told that something had happened after we had checked in and Claire's file had been lost and we were put down as "no shows". We showed her our lifeless pager. I was ready to ask for our copay back and head home, but then I remembered it took us an hour to get there... But the nurse was really nice about it and said she would try to find us a room right away. The doctor was really apologetic too when he came in. We told him the problem and he said he needed to check and see if she could see out of that eye to make sure that the problem was muscular and not with her vision.

So he had to dilate her eyes... Not fun... Aaron held my poor baby as they put those terrible drops in her eyes. After waiting another few minutes for the drops to set in, her pupils were just about as big as they could get. Then the doctor checked out her eyes. Turns out Claire doesn't need glasses. Her eyesight is normal in both eyes. I guess most kids are somewhat farsighted to begin with and then grow nearsighted as they grow. Claire will mostly likely need glasses someday, but not until she's like 8 or 9, like her parents... But the doctor didn't even address our concern about the "lazy" eye. He said to come back in six months.

The drive home was not as fun. Claire wouldn't keep her sunglasses on, and she was tired and hungry and whiny. Noel was my hero... he slept through it all... just like a good 4 month old should. Claire's eyes remained like Puss in Boots for the next 24 hours. They say it's only supposed to last 6 or 7 hours? What's up with that? Overall I was not pleased with our trip to Temple. Luckily, in September we have the opportunity to switch our insurance. But I'd hate to start all over. What to do?

On a lighter note... here is a cute video of our adorable children. Any idea what Claire is saying to make Noel crack up so much? I haven't got a clue.

Kisses

Claire has become quite the loving big sister. I'm so glad. I don't know if it's because he's just older, bigger and more durable or if she really has learned to be more gentle. I think it's a little of both. Things have been going really well between them. Let's hope it lasts...

Potty?

The other day I decided to take Claire swimming. Just us girls. The only problem is I told her that we could go swimming before I realized that we were out of swimmy diapers. So in order to prevent a two year old tantrum, I put a regular old Sam's diaper on my girl and we proceeded to the pool. "Diaper Heavy!" she says about 10 minutes into pool time. Every time she got out of the pool, I couldn't help but laugh. By the time we got home, her diaper had swollen up so much it was about to explode off of her. It could hardly be contained by the amount of water from the pool it had sopped up. I knew this would be the result. I should probably be embarrassed to show these pictures, but I just thought it was so funny.

"Batten down the hatches... she's about to blow!"

So, Claire is in the beginning stages of potty training. I am trying to get into the habit of putting her on the potty first thing in the morning and a little after a meal during the day. So far, we've had some luck, but not much. When we have success we do a conga line to "Poo poo in the Potty!" and she gets lots of praise and an M&M... Looks like she's enthused I know... Lately she just sits there and sings songs and gets bored and gets up and wants her diaper back.

One friend told me that she just waits till her kids are three before potty training. She says that they don't really get it till age three anyway and she'd rather not have to deal with all the accidents. Any advice? Should I wait a little longer?

Tummy Time and More Fun...

The other day while Noel was having tummy time, Claire decided she would like to join in the fun. Noel rolled over a few times from tummy to back last week. He does a pretty good job with tummy time. Most of the time he is content to just lay on his tummy and bite his fists. Not like Miss Claire, who used to just scream the whole time. Notice the little blue lamb on the right?...

Here Claire decides that she would now like to participate. It is, after all, her quilt. So the now two year old is content to do tummy time with her brother.

"Oh! Exercise, Exercise! It's so good for you!" -to the tune of jingle bells

(from some weird Sesame Street thing that always gets in my head...)

So the other day, Noel was laying on this quilt in the living room and got a little fussy. Claire, being the good big sister that she is, ran into Noel's bedroom and came back with this lamb. "Baby brother is sad!", she said. She basically pushed this lamb into his face. (Still a little rough around the brother). To my surprise, Noel's frown was instantly turned upside down and he went straight for the lamb's ear. Yum!

"Come here, Lamby!"

"Yum... lamb..."

Sunday Best

Aaron took these pictures of the kids last Sunday while I was getting ready for church. I feel so lucky to have such cute kids. Plus, so lucky to have such good relatives and friends who donate clothes to their cause...
Thanks to Grandmother Adams we have this pretty dress. I am very sad to say that when we picked her from Nursery it was ripped near the hem. I'm working on getting some ribbon to try and fix it so she can wear it again. I'm pretty sure it is repairable. I'll update my progress with some pics some day soon. I need some motivation to get out the sewing machine. I love sewing, but lack the work space. Maybe I can use this towards one of my personal progress goals.

Personal progress, you ask? I am trying to get some ideas for Young Woman Value projects. I never got my YW Recognition Award in high school. They changed the YW personal progress like three times while I was a young woman and I got tired of starting over again. (Let's face it, I was a big time slacker). Anyway, since I am serving in the YW now, I have the opportunity to redeem myself. I look forward to the experiences and the projects ahead. Do any of you have memorable experiences with Personal Progress? Any good ideas for projects?

You'll never know unless you try...

When Claire was born I quickly realized that doing things outside the home would be more challenging. My mom reminded me when she was here for Noel's birth that, with Claire, the first few weeks I refused to leave our little apartment in East Lansing. Thank the heavens for Johanna! She had had a baby boy about a month before me and had moved in across the street. She helped me immensely! It was so nice to have a friend who was more adventurous nearby. We started having "playdates" with our kids and going on walks and outings together almost everyday. I was worried that she was going to get sick of us, but she stuck with us and I'm so glad that she did. We both went back to work in the fall as our husbands needed the support while in school. It was nice to have a friend to be able to talk to about the pressures of being a Mormon working mom. One of Claire and Ezekiel's first "playdates"

First "Pool Party"

Halloween Party... Claire is the chicken... EZ is the Ninja...

Claire and EZ in Texas last summer

When Aaron graduated, the first job offer he got was in Texas. I was literally going crazy working full-time and not being able to be with Claire. So, he took it. I sometimes wonder if we should have been more patient, but I try not to think about it. What helped is that Johanna's husband got a summer internship with the same company. I was so happy to not be working and we were back to doing something together almost every day. At the end of the summer it was hard to watch their family go back to Michigan, but we had hopes that they would be back with an offer from Dell the next year.

Netta and Noel

So now here we are another year gone by and they are back! The number of children we have between us has doubled. I had Noel in April and she gave birth to Netta in May. It has been so nice catching up and getting acquainted with the new little ones. One of the best things of all is that for the first time since we moved here, Aaron and I went to a movie with no kids. I guess that isn't entirely true - when Aaron's parents came to visit we have been able to make it out to see Harry Potter 5 last year, but still, that was over a year ago! Anyway, Johanna and her husband took care of all four kids on Saturday and let Aaron and I go and see Prince Caspian. I can't say enough how grateful I am for the chance to get out. Aaron and I haven't been able to afford a babysitter since I quit working and it is so nice to able to have someone here who is willing to swap services. Since we both have two kiddos and the ages line up I don't feel guilty, like it's more work for her than it is for me or vice versa.

So we have gone swimming together and had each other over to our homes. Things have gone relatively well. Until this week... We tried to go to my ward's playgroup this week at the Brushy Creek splash park and that was kind of a disaster when Claire ran into a couple of boys and fell and hit her head on the pavement. Her crying set off Noel's crying. So Johanna got Noel calmed down while I sat with Claire. We ended up leaving disappointed. Then... another disaster was a trip to the dollar theater to try to see 'Horton Hears a Who' with all four kids. Neither Claire nor EZ wanted to stay in their seats and were fighting in the isles. Noel was fussy, but wouldn't eat. Netta, the sweet little girl, slept through the whole thing thankfully. But we decided to leave.

I guess the point of this post (inspired by her post) is to thank Johanna for her friendship and for getting me to try new things with the kids. Things haven't gone ideally this week, but I'm so glad that you guys are back and close by. Some things are going to go well and some are going to go badly - hopefully we'll be able to look back and have some good laughs. But I'm glad to have opportunities to get out and have experiences and make some memories. Mostly, I'm so glad to have my friend back.