Celebrating ALL the animals birthday with our friends Meagan and Natalie. We sang to five animals at a time and they each got to blow out a candle. They loved it. Something fun and a little silly.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Baby B
Olivia Margaret
She looks just like her cousin Abby in this picture!
So many silly faces
2011
Elizabeth and her eyes
So it has been year and half since I have posted and it seems CRAZY that a more than a YEAR has passed. A lot has happened over the last year that has kept us so incredibly busy and I haven't had the time (not to mention the computer issues) to sit down and reflect a little on whats going on.....
Last September when the girls had their four year well check we found out that Elizabeth could not see very well out of one eye. COMPLETE shock. Just a sinking feeling as mom to walk in for a well check and find out she couldn't see. She has what's known as amblyopia of her right eye. Her left eye is perfect and at the time we had her checked she could not clearly see the largest letter on the eye chart with her right eye. She also had a weak reflection in that same eye that scared us because it meant she may have something behind her eye making her vision impaired. We saw a pediatric opthamologist the very next day to rule that out several concerns and thankfully no cataract or issue was found. Her eye itself was anatomically perfect, it was just the concern for vision. The way it was explained to me back then was that when one eye doesn't see as well as they other the brain will start to turn off those visual signals to the "bad" eye so that she doesn't see double. How could I not know?? That was the hardest thing. But the reality was with two eyes she could see just fine (in her mind) because one eye was doing all the work. She was put into full time glasses and we were told to patch her good eye 5 days a week for 3-4 hours a day. She took to it like a trooper with very little complaints. We had been through several different types of patches until we finally found one that was perfect and we get very little complaint with it. We talk about how her eyes and brain need to "exercise" to be healthy and strong and it's a good enough explanation for her. My sweet little Elizabeth!
One year later, we continue to patch 5 days a week for up to 4 hours a day. At our most recent visit her vision has corrected to 20/60 in her right eye (previously 20/>200). yahoo!!! Her right eye may never be perfect and worst case would be that she would be able to wear one contact in that eye. At this point, it's hard to see her without her pretty pink glasses. This past summer we upgraded her glasses to the transition lenses and they have really been fantastic! Of course the older she gets the crazier play time gets with friends and these poor glasses do take a beating. Just hoping that each pair can make it a year. That's always our goal at least.
Last September when the girls had their four year well check we found out that Elizabeth could not see very well out of one eye. COMPLETE shock. Just a sinking feeling as mom to walk in for a well check and find out she couldn't see. She has what's known as amblyopia of her right eye. Her left eye is perfect and at the time we had her checked she could not clearly see the largest letter on the eye chart with her right eye. She also had a weak reflection in that same eye that scared us because it meant she may have something behind her eye making her vision impaired. We saw a pediatric opthamologist the very next day to rule that out several concerns and thankfully no cataract or issue was found. Her eye itself was anatomically perfect, it was just the concern for vision. The way it was explained to me back then was that when one eye doesn't see as well as they other the brain will start to turn off those visual signals to the "bad" eye so that she doesn't see double. How could I not know?? That was the hardest thing. But the reality was with two eyes she could see just fine (in her mind) because one eye was doing all the work. She was put into full time glasses and we were told to patch her good eye 5 days a week for 3-4 hours a day. She took to it like a trooper with very little complaints. We had been through several different types of patches until we finally found one that was perfect and we get very little complaint with it. We talk about how her eyes and brain need to "exercise" to be healthy and strong and it's a good enough explanation for her. My sweet little Elizabeth!
One year later, we continue to patch 5 days a week for up to 4 hours a day. At our most recent visit her vision has corrected to 20/60 in her right eye (previously 20/>200). yahoo!!! Her right eye may never be perfect and worst case would be that she would be able to wear one contact in that eye. At this point, it's hard to see her without her pretty pink glasses. This past summer we upgraded her glasses to the transition lenses and they have really been fantastic! Of course the older she gets the crazier play time gets with friends and these poor glasses do take a beating. Just hoping that each pair can make it a year. That's always our goal at least.
Elizabeth at Disney's Animal Kingdom last year (2012)
(yes it's been ANOTHER year since I originally wrote this post!)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Andrew is finally talking!
I can't believe it but my little man is FINALLY talking!! It was actually right before christmas but I am so far behind in my posts and until we move it will still be awhile before I can get caught up BUT before I forget some of the fun things going on right now thought I would just drop a few notes.
Probably a week or so before Christmas Andrew was starting to repeat more words than usual AND actually USE them correctly. Previous to this point he had a handful of words he could say but would randomly use them. Up to this point he had been doing a lot of pointing and yelling! always fun!! I wasn't overly concerned about his lack of vocabulary because both the girls were late talkers as well (granted they were preemies and he was term. hmmm). Either way I was still going to wait a few months before I actually addressed it. Being a boy and the third child apparently are also factors that can contribute to delayed speech. All that being said our boy is TALKING!!! He repeats literally everything you say and is already starting to put 2-3 word sentences together. really??! this kid wasn't saying anything just less than two months ago. He also knows his entire alphabet, lower and uppercase letters. Although I cant take credit for this. He LOVES the preschool prep series videos and learned his alphabet in about three weeks. Great videos for kiddos, horribly boring for adults (as in might even make you crazy watching it...brutal..lol!). As of his birthday he can sing his entire alphabet. SOOOOO cute!! and he is so proud of himself when he does. As far as numbers, he can recoginze the numbers 1-10 individually but when counting will still skip a few. 1,2,3..7,8,9,10. for some reason those middle numbers haven't quite made it into the sequence. He has made leaps and bounds of progress since Christmas. It absolutely amazes me. The girls went through a similar progression. It was just after there second birthday that they started using words and within a month or so were using sentences. Apparently I have kids that are all or nothing. For all three, the first "real" words came so late but they once they came there was no stopping them.
And speaking of no stopping them. Elizabeth and Olivia are in crazy mode question made! holy cow, I CANNOT keep up with these two. The amount of questions that come my way on a daily basis is utterly exhausting. I am walking a fine line of trying to make sure I don't discourage them asking questions but being able to stay sane too :) I read a post on pinterest the other day that said the average 4 year old asks 400+ questions a day. does that mean I am getting 800+ questions a day.....I THINK I WOULD SAY YES!!!! They get constant reminders that there is only ONE mommy and THREE kids! :)
I will say that beyond the exhaustion that I do feel by the end of each day, I can honestly say that I am loving this age. Two four year olds and a two year old is really a lot of fun. Especially with Andrew now talking and doing a lot less yelling we are just trying to stay busy. With our impending move and trying to "show" our house it is a bit crazy. Three kids and three animals definitely makes it difficult to keep our house "show" ready. Maybe all of this will help me be more organized in our next house. Truth is we outgrew our house the day andrew came home. we have been busting at the seams for awhile. We are looking forward to more space (more details in a future post).
Probably a week or so before Christmas Andrew was starting to repeat more words than usual AND actually USE them correctly. Previous to this point he had a handful of words he could say but would randomly use them. Up to this point he had been doing a lot of pointing and yelling! always fun!! I wasn't overly concerned about his lack of vocabulary because both the girls were late talkers as well (granted they were preemies and he was term. hmmm). Either way I was still going to wait a few months before I actually addressed it. Being a boy and the third child apparently are also factors that can contribute to delayed speech. All that being said our boy is TALKING!!! He repeats literally everything you say and is already starting to put 2-3 word sentences together. really??! this kid wasn't saying anything just less than two months ago. He also knows his entire alphabet, lower and uppercase letters. Although I cant take credit for this. He LOVES the preschool prep series videos and learned his alphabet in about three weeks. Great videos for kiddos, horribly boring for adults (as in might even make you crazy watching it...brutal..lol!). As of his birthday he can sing his entire alphabet. SOOOOO cute!! and he is so proud of himself when he does. As far as numbers, he can recoginze the numbers 1-10 individually but when counting will still skip a few. 1,2,3..7,8,9,10. for some reason those middle numbers haven't quite made it into the sequence. He has made leaps and bounds of progress since Christmas. It absolutely amazes me. The girls went through a similar progression. It was just after there second birthday that they started using words and within a month or so were using sentences. Apparently I have kids that are all or nothing. For all three, the first "real" words came so late but they once they came there was no stopping them.
And speaking of no stopping them. Elizabeth and Olivia are in crazy mode question made! holy cow, I CANNOT keep up with these two. The amount of questions that come my way on a daily basis is utterly exhausting. I am walking a fine line of trying to make sure I don't discourage them asking questions but being able to stay sane too :) I read a post on pinterest the other day that said the average 4 year old asks 400+ questions a day. does that mean I am getting 800+ questions a day.....I THINK I WOULD SAY YES!!!! They get constant reminders that there is only ONE mommy and THREE kids! :)
I will say that beyond the exhaustion that I do feel by the end of each day, I can honestly say that I am loving this age. Two four year olds and a two year old is really a lot of fun. Especially with Andrew now talking and doing a lot less yelling we are just trying to stay busy. With our impending move and trying to "show" our house it is a bit crazy. Three kids and three animals definitely makes it difficult to keep our house "show" ready. Maybe all of this will help me be more organized in our next house. Truth is we outgrew our house the day andrew came home. we have been busting at the seams for awhile. We are looking forward to more space (more details in a future post).
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