Pumpkins

I love fall!  Pumpkins and cooler weather and all the fall activities.  It is awesome!  We've had a blast going to trunk or treat, picking an carving pumpkins, and being together.

 

We had a blast at the pumpkin patch.  The kids rode the ponies, played in the corn, rode the barrel train and picked their own pumpkins.  The hayride to the pumpkin fields was fun.  On the way back, the tractor ran out of gas, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise.  The tractor stopped right by where they are digging a new pond so Jed was entertained by the bulldozer while we waited for gas.  It was an awesome afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James got the kids the biggest pumpkin ever!  He remembers always wanting a big pumpkin as a kid, so I guess to relive his childhood, he got a ginormous pumpkin.  The kids loved it and had so much fun carving it.

 

 

The kids are officially ready for Trick or Treating.  We went to trunk or treat at their preschool, and they had a blast.  We also went to trunk or treat at a local church.  I made the mistake of taking Julia to that event with her patch on and she really had a hard time.  It was one of those situations where you could really tell that she is impaired when patched.  She was stumbling over the concrete and having trouble locating things.  About half way through, I took the patch off.  I wanted her to enjoy herself and I figured a half hour of patching wasn't worth it.  Now we are just praying that the rain stays away on Halloween!

Birthday!

Can you believe my little girl is 2 years old?  Seriously, I am wiping away the tears as I think about how quickly time passes and how much my baby has accomplished in two short years.

From this:

 

To this:

 

To this:

 

I seriously love this picture of her.  It is refreshing to see her without her glasses.  And even though her eyes look different and you can see the "problems" with them, all I see is a lovable, sweet, happy little girl playing with a naked baby.  Because what little girl doesn't like to play with a naked baby doll?

 

Julia's birthday was a smashing success.  My husband and I have decided that the cost of paying for a party is a worthwhile trade off for the craziness of cleaning, cooking, and prepping for a party.  So we had her bash at Pump it up.

 

Julia loved the slides and the bouncy houses.

 

Seriously, we all had a blast.

 

Even the grownups!

 

 

I had an epic mom fail moment when I realized (the morning of the party) that the store I ordered her cake from didn't open until 9:30 and the party started at 10:00.  So we grabbed a cake from the grocery store and called it done.  And really, it must have been meant to be, because there was a pink camo cake in the cake section!

 

Turning two also means starting preschool!  Julia will be attending United Services two days a week.  She spends the morning in a special education room that is provided by First Steps.  They have speech activities, PT, OT, all kinds of things to help her continue to develop.  The amazing thing is that she does not touch her patch AT.ALL. when she is there!  She fights me tooth and nail, but will leave it on at school!

 

 

Notice her holding the patch in her hand?  That is where the patch spends most of its time nowadays...except at school, like mentioned above.  She really does like school.  The only hard part is drop off.  She didn't cry the first day, but now she realizes I am leaving and cries when I try to sneak out.  It is heart breaking.  But just one of those things that you file under the "times it is hard to be a mom."  Of course, that file is SUPER big and I am realizing there are lots and lots of those moments on a daily basis.  When Julia says, "No patchy!" and buries her head in my lap to avoid getting stuck with an eye sticker - that is definitely one of those moments.   When you see your daughter struggle to navigate a trunk or treat event because she is patched - another moment.  When she takes off her diaper and poops on the floor - another moment (and yes, that really happened - you can stop laughing at the mental image now.)

 

But even with that super big "hard to be a mom" file, there is an even bigger "being a mom is fabulous" file.  With moments like these:  watching your daughter jump in a bouncy house and grin from ear to ear, hearing your son ask your daughter if she is his "best friend" and then hearing her say yes, and watching your daughter pick up a small toy off the floor (and you almost cry because you realize she can see the toy).  Those are the moments.  Happy Birthday Julia.  It has been a roller coaster couple of years, but I have loved every moment. 



 

 



 

 









 

 

 

Better late than never

So I have been super neglectful of this blog.  School started, it was back to work, and suddenly I don't have a free moment to breathe, let alone blog!  I swear that some days it feels like I am barely treading water with my nose in the air trying to keep breathing.  Work is SUPER busy.  It seems like the challenge of a new tract to teach was a little more than I expected.  Add in supervising detention and tutoring to make some extra money, and my days are busy.  Then I still have IEP's to write, meetings to go to and data to collect and compile.  So much to do!  Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it seems the requirements for teachers has increased tenfold this year (thank you Common Core.)

There is not one pic from that morning with his eyes open.  Oh well.

Jed started preschool this year.  He goes two days a week to an inclusive preschool.  The preschool (and daycare) is where several local school districts provide Early Childhood Special Education, so there are always a lot of teachers and helpers in his room.  He loves it and is learning a ton.  But with a new school comes a different drop off on those days and a new routine.  We also have to add in a plethora of birthday parties to attend for all his new school friends.  Julia will be starting there in a couple weeks after she turns two.  She actually will have her mornings in a special education setting to work on her speech and vision impairment.  I am excited to see how she grows and develops when she is in a class with peers.

A Hawaiian luau for the neighbors birthday. 

But now for updates.  Julia saw the eye doc early.  We couldn't wait until October because she suddenly started refusing to wear her glasses. Her prescription changed again.  It has changed every 8 weeks.  So now she is down to a +5.75 in the left (that eye has been stable for a year) and +6 with a +3 bifocal in the right.  I never would have imagined that her prescription would ever be that low without an implant.  But here we are.  Doc says she really doesn't use her right eye much unless she is patched.  Not sure how to fix that.  We see the head doc at Children's Eye Clinic in December for her next visit.  I'm interested in what his opinion is.  In the meantime, we wait for the new glasses to come in and keep trying to patch.  She still rips off her patch often, but we have had a few days where we only used one or two patches for the whole time. Of course I probably just jinxed myself by putting that in writing. 

First Steps is paying for new glasses and sunglasses, so that is good.  I don't know how we could have afforded new glasses (or lenses) every 8 weeks.  This is her 5th prescription change in less than a year! 

Trying on Jed's helmet.

Enjoying the last few days before it cools off.

 

We attending the East High homecoming parade (the school where I teach).  Both Jed and Julia had a lot of school spirit (which resulted in a lot of candy).  I loved seeing my students in the parade, and Jed and Julia enjoyed the fire trucks and candy.

My little "Lions."

So for now we are just plugging forward.  Trying to keep the pace and enjoy life!