Eyes and Peanuts

Noelle had both Eye Doctor and Allergist appointments Friday morning. She always does so well for Dr. King, her eye doctor and who performed her surgery. The last few eye appointments she has sat all by herself and done everything they ask her to. We no longer notice any laziness to the left eye, but she does favor the right one. She is 20/20 in each eye which is great!! Her one eye is still crossing though. I went ahead and ordered new frames and lenses this time. She was at a +2 for about 18 months and has been at +2.75 the last 2 appointments (she goes every 4 months). Since she got her glasses at 9 months she was starting to outgrow them anyway. I got a pair with clip on sunglasses like J and I use, so we will see how that goes!


We had great news from the Allergist, Dr. Nan, she is not seriously allergic to peanuts, just sensitive!! She tested negative on the skin prick that was peanut liquid, but had a small reaction to the prick of actual peanut butter. Because the IGH(?) did not react we do not have to worry about her ever developing the more dangerous reaction that causes anaphylaxis. She can safely eat foods that are "manufactured in a facility as". I plan to keep her off straight peanuts whenever possible, but I am so excited that she will not have to sit at the "peanut free" table when she starts school!!

In The Dust

I've been playing with my camera to learn how to use it better and to get better pics. Some of these were taken with the digital macro, one with color swap, and the others the normal kids & pets setting. I normally take all my pics on auto flash and the kids & pets setting. My favorite pic on Wednesday was Noelle's hand making the chalk line above. The only thing lacking is a clever quip for a title. Any suggestions??

My kids don't just make pictures on the driveway with their chalk, oh no, they make chalk paint AND THEN make hand prints and pictures on the driveway. I had this huge bucket of chalk one day, then they figured out how fun it was to make the paint (I admit they had some help from the rest of the kids on the block). Now I would be surprised if you can even find a small chunk out there. LOL They sure have fun though!

I LOVE seeing these little hand prints all over the driveway, it makes me smile and smirk every time. The bigger the mess on my driveway the more I know the kids are having fun and not inside watching TV or video games all the time. (I'm sure there will be plenty of time for that this winter.)

I don't know what it is about red dye, but it always stains.

Sleep Tight Sweet Girl

I am fully aware of how much I complain about Noelle, she is my very first strong willed child. I am still learning the best ways to interact with her and how NOT to. I am starting to understand when to push and when it's best to just walk away. An incredible amount of thought and energy goes into every interaction with her, no matter how simple or straightforward it would seem for another child. She loves tea parties, singing, and dancing. But most of all she likes taking care of her babies. She is such a sweet little girl and I love her SOOO much!

Not sure she's ready for this quite yet

Well, at least she knows how to entertain herself so I can get something done. LOL

Great Giveaway!

"Frugal-Freebies.com is having a great toy giveaway sponsored by All Children’s Furniture who carries everything from kid's furniture to toys. Stop by before midnight Aug 21st EST to enter to win! "

I have always wanted a wagon and never had one. This particular wagon looks really neat because it says it has storage space under the seats and has a door so you don't have to lift the kiddos in and out! I would love to win this so wish me luck!!

So much yet so litte

I can't even recall what I last posted about. This last week has kinda been a whirlwind. Adam started Kindergarten last Thursday.He really likes school and was probably happy to get back into the routine of it. So far he has been going to Before and After School Explorers, Kindi Enrichment, and them Kindergarten in the afternoon. Kindi only lasts 2 hours and 40 mins, pretty much the same as preschool did. We went to the open house tonight, which was interesting. She was telling us what the children should know by the end of this school year, well Adam already knows at least 90% of it. So he pretty much needs to get from the Level 1/2 books he is currently reading to a level 3-4 book and he is supposed to learn to count by 2's, 3's, and 5's up to a specific number. Should be pretty simple!!

On the Adam note - He and I are doing SOOO much better already. I have come to the conclusion that we just can't spend 24/7 with each other and still get along. And I am okay with that. I mean, come on, are there very many people that can spend that amount of time with someone and NOT go nuts?

Our evenings are pretty busy now that school has started. The kids usually play outside with the other neighbor kids while I am cooking dinner. With J working so far away and not getting home till 6 or later I usually try to get dinner on the table about 6pm. When Adam is done eating we have him show and tell us about any papers that came home with him and also ask him about his day. (Ideally we will also ask him what he wants for lunch the next day during this time. LOL We are still getting there though!) By the time we are done at the table there is little to no time left for anything but getting ready for bed, which starts at 7:00pm. Bedtime for both kids is now 7:30 since we were all having to leave at 6:30 in the morning. It takes the full half hour (sometimes more) for them to change clothes, go potty, brush and floss teeth, take any night medicine, and read books with us. We still read to the kids every night, Noelle gets 3 books, plus 2 songs after lights out, and Adam usually gets 1 story (He likes treasury books of Scooby Doo and Disney so they take longer) plus he reads 1 book to us.

For the next 3 months our evenings may be able to be a little calmer since I will not be working during the week. My boss had her baby girl Monday morning, I will call her L. She is so tiny and cute! Even though I wont be working with her for a few months I am very excited, I just love babies! My hope is to pick up A every couple weeks and take her on an outing with Noelle and I. I want her to know we are still here and have not fully abandoned her, and I AM going to miss her during this time. Since I will be home Adam will not need to go to Explorers unless Noelle or I has an appointment in the afternoon or I am working a temp. So that too should make things easier, although we still have to leave about 7:30 to take him to school. I am anxious for him to learn where his morning classroom is so I don't have to park and walk him around. It just takes forever since his classroom is in the last mobile behind the school. And Noelle is a very slow walker sometimes and is too heavy to carry for long. :)

I have some Noelle news I REALLY want to share...but I am going to wait since the last thing I want to do is jinx it. Maybe in another week or so!