Delinquent blogger

It has been entirely too long since I have updated my blog. Even now as I try to sit and write this, Erik has started fussing! He is the latest addition to the Otto Clan... Erik Vernon. Born May 14, 2009 after a short, SHORT labor and weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. I was induced around 8am and he was born at 12:11pm. Not bad! He is a cheery baby and always happy. Nice.

I am going to attempt to upload the last few YEARS of letters that I have written to Great Grandma in Colorado. We are leaving for the holidays in a few days, so I am not sure when it will get done. But, that is my plan!

I'm back!!!

Pfew! Miss me!? Things have been SO hectic here. Sarah was out of school for the summer and my thyroid plummeted. I had ZERO energy to do anything! It was horrible! It took until December to even start feeling better. At that point, I was already several months pregnant! That's right! Baby #3 is due in May 2009. Now, I am 31 weeks pregnant and knowing it! I am ready to be done already! We do know that it is another boy and no, we don't have a name picked out. That is a discussion for a later time! Anyway, I wanted to check in, let everyone know that I am still alive and hopefully I will be able to resume posting!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

So far it is a really nice weekend! Today, we went to get an ice cream, played at a park and then came home and filled up the kiddie pool in the back yard. It was quite HOT out! Sarah had a good time in the pool but of course wouldn't get her face wet. Joel liked the pool too. He wouldn't sit in it, only stand holding Daddy's fingers. Unfortunately, Joel took a header out of the pool and face first on to the patio! He has a bit of a bruise on his forhead. Poor kid! I tried to put ice on it but that is nearly impossible with Joel!

Tonight we went out to dinner. It was SO nice. Feels like forever since we have gone out! Of course, Joel ate a few bites of food and then turns beet red. He was having a big poop! Grunting and everything! How embarrassing! Actually, it was fine. We ordered him a kid's meal and he ate almost half of it! Man can that kid eat!!! Sarah ate almost all of her kid's meal and some of Daddy's meal too! She ate a lot! I was determined to get dessert and asked Sarah if she wanted dessert too. She was SO excited! She ate almost the entire piece of pie! She was STUFFED! It was nice not to have dishes tonight!

Moose is also pretty tired tonight. He had a big walk this morning followed by bubbles and a lot of outdoor time. He is one pooped pup!

Oops!

Guess I forgot to post! Lets just say that things have been busy! Joel had his eye muscle surgery on April 3rd. WHAT a difference. We didn't realize how bad his eyes were until we saw them lined up right! He came through the surgery with no issues. He was back to his typical self a few hours later but was a bit more irritable. The reddness went away about a week later. His post-op appointment went well and he doesn't go back until June 2nd. I hope everything continues to go well!

This is Joel the night before surgery.

The morning of surgery.

Playing at home about 2 1/2 hrs after surgery.

A few days later. He looks so much better!

Sarah is doing well. She is getting ready for her 4th birthday! Crazy! Where does the time go!? She is really looking forward to a huge party and I don't see that happening! I think something more low key with a few friends is more likely. Kinda hard though as it has been HOT lately so I am not sure if we should plan an outdoor party. Who knows. I think she will have a good time no matter what kind of party we have.

Tracy has been working extended hours again for the last three weeks. Hopefully he will only have a week left of this schedule. It is pretty hard on Sarah. She really misses daddy. Joel just becomes even more of a mama's boy. I know it must be hard on Tracy as Joel has had a bunch of firsts recently. He started crawling 2 weeks ago. He had been able to get around on his belly, but mostly backwards. Well, he got up on all fours and just started crawling away! He is able to pull up and cruises along the walls. It is too cute! Tracy misses a lot when he is gone.

Last week my washing machine died. Ug! NOT GOOD when you cloth diaper! We ended up getting a new one as it would have cost $600 to repair! We bought a new front load HE washer from LG. It is AWESOME! Works great and uses so little water! Very cool. Makes me actually look forward to doing laundry!

A few weeks ago, Sarah, Joel and I went to see the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. Wow those horses are BIG! It was a hot day but we had a good time. Here are some pictures from our visit. Off to bed!

Sarah and Joel

Sarah and King

Wow... time flies!!!

I can't believe it has been SO long! Where does the time go?! Right now, Joel is down for a MUCH needed nap and Sarah is "plugging." She got an Easy Link for Christmas and is on that right now. Last I checked in, I was talking about Joel's "Hyper eye." Well, the next day we had an appointment with the eye doctor and surgery was recommended. Turns out his eyes started to improve, but not much. His eyes seemed to be trying to work together and being "cross eyed" was not helping. So, we scheduled surgery for April 2nd. Ug! I know it is best, but it is HARD! I have done a lot of research on the web and cannot find a "cure" for congenital esotropia without surgery. Anyway, I will be very glad when that is over. Hopefully he won't need any other surgeries!

This week is spring break so Sarah doesn't have school. Tracy is working extended hours at work and now both Sarah and Joel have colds. His cold is probably RSV. I am keeping a close eye on him to make sure things don't get worse, but he is his typical self with a little bit of grouch mixed in! Sarah got up this morning and seemed happy that her voice was a bit scratchy. She told me she had to have medicine and watch TV all day. Hummm... I think she is fine.

Unfortunately, I have found the outlet malls in Round Rock. Oh, how expensive! I find mostly really good deals, but today was not one of those days!!! I spend over $70 on clothes for Sarah and Joel! I will have to return some of it I suppose. I needed pajamas for Joel and ended up getting 2 pajamas, 2 pairs of shorts, and an outfit for Joel and 2 dresses and 1 shirt for Sarah. I did buy some stuff at a grocery store today that I was kinda happy about. The total was $44 but I saved almost $35 so the bill could have been over $70! They had a 2 for 1 on vitamins so I got some for a looonngggg time!

Last week, Sarah, Joel and I went to the Texas Fair and Rodeo. I think we went on the worst day! It was in the 50s and SUPER windy! I dressed Sarah and Joel pretty warm but I am sure they were still a bit cool with that wind! It was a good day for Sarah I think. We met one of my friends as well as her daughter (almost 3 years old) and her son who is about the same age as Joel. Sarah went into the petting zoo with them on two different occasions and seemed to have so much fun. She had ice cream and we were able to see a few different animals. I was a bit, ok VERY disappointed in the "fair" food... I was so looking forward to a nice fried dough or even some French fries and there were NONE! It was all funnel cakes and ribbon fries or even sweet potato fries. Very disappointing. They had pizza on a stick and I thought about getting some of that but it was $8!!! FOR ONE! First time I have ever left a fair hungry! They didn't even have any cotton candy or candied apples! Now, I figure they had those in the carnival area and we didn't go there... but still... I would have though they would have a bit in the food court! I suppose it is good that I DIDN'T see any... It was probably $10!!!

"Lazy" eye. Humpf!!

Joel has amblyopia... or as the public understands, lazy eye. Oh I so hate that term! Doesn't it make it sound like Joel doesn't use his eye because he doesn't feel like it? Nothing could be farther from the truth! Joel has an eye that is HYPER. His LEFT eye is dominant (hyper) and takes over often. Then, his RIGHT eye drifts in. It is NOT his eyes that have the problem though! It is his brain! His brain has mixes signals coming in when he uses both eyes... so his brain figures it may as well go with the eye that gives the best image. Because he is only using his left eye or using that eye for the majority of the time, the vision in his weaker eye has deteriorated. If it goes on long enough without treatment, he can permanently lose vision in that eye! So, it is good to be so proactive about it. But I really wish we could re-name amblyopia HYPER eye or something a little more accurate than LAZY eye. I mean really... it implies that he is lazy and nothing could be further from the truth! Poor kid... you can see when you take the patch off that he is trying to figure out what is going on. We have an appointment tomorrow with the specialist to see if there has been any improvement. I really, REALLY hope so. We have been patching for 2 months and I can see *something.* His eyes, at times, look very crossed... equally. I guess we will see.

Sarah started READING a few weeks ago. READING! She is 3 1/2 years old! I just about cried! I can't believe how smart she is. She can identify all over her capital letters, many lowercase letters, knows many sounds and knows a lot of letters. I have never sat down and quizzed her on it. How did she get so smart!?!? She does attend preschool, but when I talked to the teacher last week, she doesn't do this stuff at school! So, I guess we will keep on providing experiences at home that quench her thirst for knowledge. I am sure by the time I have to update next time, she will be reading chapter books!

Elmo and mini corn dogs

Friday was a great day! Not only was it FRIDAY, but I got my guts up and went to Sesame Street Live alone with Sarah and Joel. OK, so it really wasn't about getting my guts up... I think when I bought tickets, I lost a bit of my brain as well. What was I THINKING!!!??? The event was in down town Austin on the University of Texas campus. It was at an auditorium that I had never been to. I spent Thursday night on Google Maps trying to figure out how to get there with the least amount of difficulty. Basically, how do I get there without getting lost. I didn't sleep much that night and didn't manage to get out of the house when I wanted. The goal was 8:30 am for a 10 am show... but we left at 8:37... Humm. Before we could leave, I had to get Joel fed, Sarah fed, clothes on, bags packed, etc. Joel is cloth diapered and I was a bit worried about that. I don't know why. Cloth diapers have worked SO much better for us than disposables and are so much more reliable. I had found a few disposable diapers in Joel's size that needed to be used so I decided to put one on Joel and bring the others.

I can't believe it, but we made it without getting lost! Of course, we park in the garage and the first thing Sarah says when I got her out of the car was "mom, are we LOST?!" All the other parents in the garage around us let out a little chuckle. We don't go down town very often! We found a friend we were meeting in the parking garage and headed over to the auditorium. Now the really hard part began. The garage wasn't too far away from the event, but getting there was tough! I couldn't bring a stroller and didn't want to bring my sling because I knew we wouldn't use it when we got in there. I was trying to bring as little as possible. Well, that meant carrying Joel and a back pack while holding Sarah's hand! Quite a task as Joel is 20 lbs if not more and the back pack kept sliding off my shoulder. Ug! Surprisingly, my friend was seated just a few rows from us and we bought tickets at different times. Before the show started we went to see what was for sale from the vendors there. Sarah got some neat binoculars that cost 300 times what they SHOULD have cost. Ug. She was SO well behaved!!! When we returned to our seat, Big Bird came on and said there was only 3 minutes until the show started. 3 MINUTES! For being there so early the time really flew! I was a bit nervous about where we were sitting. We were very close to the stage and on the aisle. I hoped the big characters wouldn't scare Sarah! But, I was worried for nothing. When the show began, she climbed in my lap to watch. So, I had Joel AND Sarah in my lap! I could not believe how good they both were. They sat in my lap, staring at the stage for 35 minutes! At that point, Joel started to get a little fussy. He had a bottle and that didn't really help too much. He was tired and wanted to sleep. I was hoping to AVOID breastfeeding in the auditorium, but no such luck. The show was about 90 minutes long. It was about 10 minutes too long in my opinion. Sarah was getting hungry and Joel was so tired. To make parent's lives miserable for the duration of the show, they walk around with big bouquets of cotton candy and snow cones... During the intermission, they walked out with about 200 Elmo balloons for sale. Ug!!! We didn't buy anything other than the binoculars. We walked out to the parking garage and before we left, I wanted to change Joel's diaper. At that moment, his pants started to get very wet... He peed through the stupid diaper!!! He was wearing that diaper for 3 hrs which is how long he would have been in the cloth one too. Grr!!! Luckily, his onesie was not wet, just his pants so I took them off. Cloth is better!


After the show, we met my friend, her 2 kids, her mother and mother in law for lunch. Sarah was still so good. I don't know how I got so lucky. By the time we got out of the event and out of the parking garage (that was a ZOO!!!), Sarah was REALLY hungry. She ordered mini corn dogs with french fries and milk. Kids meals are always so big and it would probably be cheaper just to share some of my lunch. Well, I knew she would eat the corn dogs... so we ordered some of those. She ate the entire thing! ALL the french fries and ALL the corn dogs!!! She also had 2 helpings of milk and finished it off with a scoop of ice cream. She ate the the whole thing! She must have been hungry! We went to that particular resturant because there was a playscape in the back so the little tykes could burn off some energy. Unfortunately, the playscape was closed! Sarah was ready to go home though so I guess it was OK.

We got back around 3:30 pm. What a GREAT day. I hope Sarah never forgets it. I know I won't! Sarah will probably ask to go next week knowing her. She is such a good kid.