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.

He slept!!!!

Joel slept through the night!!! I cannot believe it happened so quick! Saturday we decided that we were not going to feed him at 4 am. He is 7 months old now and quite able to sleep through the night without getting up to eat. So Daddy got up with him several times Saturday night. Last night we figured he would get up a few times... kind of challenge us. Nope! He slept until 6:30!!! Not bad! I don't expect him to sleep through the night tonight, but I can at least hope! He was an amazing sleeper as a newborn. He would sleep most of the night without waking. Of course, I didn't sleep very much! I was worried about him and then I was breastfeeding too so that was a whole other issue! Around 3 months we went to visit Maine and Joel got all mixed up. He didn't sleep well at all from then on. From sleeping through the night to getting up 6-8 times a night. It was crazy! I am so thankful that we seem to have gotten over the sleep hurdle!

Now, he slept through the night and now he is taking a marathon nap! Go figure! He went down for a nap at 9:30 and it is now 11:15 and he is still sleeping! Of course now I have completely jinxed it an he will be up in a few short minutes. Sarah is in heaven because she has had a lot of "momma time" this morning. She loves attention and doesn't really like sharing so much! We had some "momma time" last night when Daddy was getting Joel a bath. Sometimes she just needs a little cuddle time so we sat in the glider chair and read a story. She LOVES books, LOVES them. I would not be surprised if she was an author! Anyway, we were reading a new story from the library. I often stop reading and point to a word for Sarah to read if it is predictible text or we read together if she is very familiar with the story. I have been pointing to words and asking what sound it starts with or to find the word "three" in the title, stuff like that. Well, I pointed to some words in the story that were not predictable and she read them! She stuttered a little, sounding them out, but she read them! I was in complete shock! She is only three and a half years old! For some reason, I found this more memorable/emotional than taking her first steps! Go figure. I definitely wouldn't say she is reading yet, but definitely making progress. She is such a little sponge and so interested in any academic stuff. She is great at writing her name, but doesn't yet truly understand that the letters have to be in a specific order or that they go left to right. I am sure she will figure it out soon.

Well, I am in shock. Joel is STILL sleeping! I think I may have time to post this and go to the bathroom! Wow! I am so sure this is a fluke! :)

Welcome back 80 degrees!

It has been SO warm lately! Sarah wanted to play outside yesterday and I agreed that would be fine. She is a bit over 3.5 years old now and has decided that she doesn't need to take naps anymore. So, the rule is.... no nap, no TV. Now, I don't know why I thought that was a great idea! I get NO break at all AND she is so cranky! So, I was more than happy to hear that she wanted to go outside! I checked the temperature and it was 81 degrees. We stopped right there, turned around and headed out the front door to get the mail! It was way to nice out not to go for a walk! We headed down the road and stopped to visit a friend that lives near our mailbox. We visited for a bit before heading back toward the house and stopping at another friend's house. We had a nice visit with them and Sarah was able to play with their 3 year old daughter. It was so nice to get out! I think it has been about 2 months since we have been able to head down the road to get the mail!

Today Sarah wanted to go ride her bike. Daddy, Joel, Moose and I tagged along. Again we headed down to get the mail. It was HOT out! Joel fell asleep in the carrier and we all had a popsicle when we got home! Moose crashed out on the nice cool linoleum. This evening when Sarah and Joel took a bath I noticed that Tracy had a very red neck! He got a sun burn! Sarah got a little color on her chest. Time to get out the sun screen! I didn't realize it was that hot!

Today we lowered the crib mattress for Joel. He is 7 months old and has shown us that he "could" pull up if he wanted. We figured we would rather be safe than sorry! Now that we lowered the mattress, we of course forgot to move the camera on the video monitor. So here I sit, typing away and when I look at the monitor, it is pointed at the window shade and ceiling! Lot of help that is! Oh well... Something to fix tomorrow. The good news is that as of right now, no one has thrown up for over a week! The only person still sick is me! But, it is because of a cold. Just can't seem to beat this thing. Anyway, off to bed!

Where does the time go?!

I can't believe it has been 3 days since I have had time to write! And of course right now, I am trying to get to bed! Today Joel had a visit with the pediatric ophthalmologist. Rewind a bit... in January Joel was diagnosed with Amblyopia. A term that folks might recognize is "Lazy Eye." I have learned to hate that term! There is nothing LAZY about it! Basically, his left eye has become dominant and his right eye is starting to suffer. His brain is basically ignoring his right eye causing it to drift inward. It is very obvious now. We have been patching for 2 hrs a day for the last month. Our visit to the doctor today was to review that patching and see what is going on. Basically, nothing is going on. There has been NO improvement. I was not surprised because I see Joel every day and have noticed that his eye looks WORSE to me! Anyway, now the doctor wants us to patch for at least 4 hrs a day, if not more. We go back at the end of the month. I REALLY hope there is some improvement. He is so young and it is so frustrating that so far we haven't helped at all! I will end up taking Sarah to the eye doctor soon as well. I am reasonably sure her eyes are ok, but I wouldn't be surprised if she needed glasses soon. She takes after mommy!

Sarah has decided NOT to take naps lately. UG!!!! As soon as she emerges from her room, she asks to watch Dora and Diego. So, now there is no TV if she hasn't napped. She is so cranky and just no fun to be around when she doesn't nap!!! So, hopefully this helps! BUT, it has been two days now that she has not napped and thus, no TV and I think she likes it! That was my one hour of free time each day. I could get supper going or just have a bit of time to myself! We will see how tomorrow goes. Oh, what to do... OK, now it is REALLY late and I am seriously off to bed... if I can make it up the stairs!

The trials of having a blog...

Why do I have a blog? I mean, do I have anything important to say? All kinds of people have blogs and how many actually say anything worth reading? Well, I won't lie. I have nothing important to say. Nothing in the least. I figure maybe some one will want to read what my life is like or have a chuckle at how pathetic my life can be. I gotta say, it is a fun life... most of the time. So, what to say today that someone may think is important... Humm... Let me share the last 24 hours. First, a friend and 2 of her kids were suppose to come over yesterday. The house has been a wreck lately and I had a few more things to clean before they came. I got Sarah some breakfast, threw some laundry in, did the dishes and cleaned the stove top while trying to keep Brother (Joel) happy. I ran over to the freezer and got a bit of of frozen peach to put in Brother's teether. He still hasn't quite figured it out... he likes to bang it on the table instead. Anyway, went back to cleaning and racing around. Switched the laundry and then figured it was time to clean the table from the breakfast dishes. Oops! My eyes venture to the extra freezer and I had left the 5 POUND bag of peaches on the freezer! It had been an hour since I had take the peaches out and too late to put them back in the freezer. SO, I got a big pot out and cooked them on the stove. I had planned on making baby food with them anyway, just not at that particular time! Fast forward about 20 minutes and the !#(%*%$ pot boils over on to the newly cleaned stove top. Grrr! By then it is about time for the company to come and now I have a huge pot of peaches cooking and a huge mess on the stove. I tried my best to clean that up and called my friend who was now 20 minutes late only to find that she is sick and had left a message on my cell phone the night before! Oh well... Now I have 5 lbs of cooked peaches in the fridge waiting to be pureed. Ug. Yes, it was a fine day. After my friend was not able to come, Sarah, Joel and I headed to the library. Sarah loves, LOVES books. We try to go to the library on Fridays for story time and to get some new books to bring home. This time we missed story time so I read a few books in the library before picking 4 books to take home. One of the books is called Otto Goes to School. Sarah read the first word and was SO excited. She thinks that book is about her. She promptly took it home and picked the sticker off from the inside. GULP!! It wasn't a "sticker" but the library's coding system. Kind of like a security sticker.... Not a good thing to pick off! Such is the life at the Otto house!

Wind, wind and more wind!!!

It is SUPER windy here. SUPER! Poor Joel... he still has that reflex that makes babies take a deep breath when you blow on their face. Sarah had preschool today and I had to drop her off and pick her up and go to the grocery store. Every time Joel was outside he kept gasping. Nearly hyperventilating! It was cute, funny and sad at the same time. I think it annoyed him. Sarah hates the wind and figures if it is windy it must be freezing too. So, she walks all stiff legged to and from the car, hunkered down with her hood on and her pink fleece jacked pulled tight around her neck. There is no point in primping hair on days like today. Even a baseball cap does not provide adequate hiding when the wind whips it off. The whole state is under a wind advisory. That is a big deal when you live in the big state of Texas!

Fast forward 6 hours... So it is with kids and a family. Doesn't seem like I ever get to finish a thought. Joel and Sarah woke up from their naps at the same time. Oh well. The wind seems to have died down now. Joel will be happy. No more gasping when we go out. He seems to be getting back on track. It has been a long haul for our family since Christmas or so. First, Sarah was sick over Christmas. Poor kid. We had driven to Colorado to see Tracy's family and Sarah got sick. After she started feeling better, I guess I needed some attention and headed to the emergency room with a breast infection. Ug. After we returned to Texas, Tracy was under the weather one day. He didn't actually GET sick, but felt horrible the entire day. A week later, Sarah gets pretty sick. She threw up several times and then had a fever the next day. She was fine for a few days and then got sick again. Yuck!!! Then I got sick. That was HORRID! That night, Joel got sick. We are such a great family to share so well! I thought we were done and Tracy was home from work again yesterday with a bug. I really hope it is gone now. No more sickness here- Please?!?!

Tomorrow we are suppose to have a play date. It will be interesting to see how that goes! Hummm.... will Moose the mutt behave? I guess we will see!

Our first blog!!!

I thought we should give this a try. Why not? I seem to be on the computer every day anyway. Why not do something... "productive?" Today was a long day, and it is only 3 pm. Sarah has decided to regress in every way and refuse to do anything that is asked. Ask her to go potty before bed and she won't. And you KNOW that she REALLY has to go! But, she won't. It is SO frustrating!!!! Tracy is home sick today. This is the sick house this year. We have all had this tummy bug and now he has it again. I hope it stops there and we don't all share it again. Joel got his 3rd tooth today. What a big boy!!! He has 3 other teeth that are trying to come in. I hope they do soon. Poor guy is pretty unhappy! Anyway, I think I should get going. I have a ton to do. Sarah is taking a nap right now and when she gets up, all my times is lost! Is it Friday yet?