Sometimes being a Mom is very rewarding!

Yesterday (Tuesday), when I picked the girls up from school, they asked if they could stay for lunch on Wednesday. I have been wanting to go sit with Jack during his computer lab to get a better idea of why he's failing his Accelerated Reading tests so I thought that would work perfect. So, the plans were made! Abby was to be leader on Wednesday. I already had her Chuck E Cheese string cheese snack ready. I would send their lunches, then go eat lunch with Jack, go to his computer lab from 12-12:30 and then back to get the girls before nap. Right before bed, I felt Abby and she was very warm. Her temperature was right around 100. She was complaining about being cold...shivering...so I knew she wasn't feeling well. Jack just went through this over the weekend so I wasn't surprised. I gave her some meds and put the girls to bed knowing that she probably was going to miss her leader day and that all my plans were going to change. At 3:00am, I woke up from a dead sleep to her yelling "Mommy!!!". I went in and got her and she was on fire. She and I came downstairs and she said her throat was really hurting too. I gave her more medicine and told her that she probably wasn't going to be able to go to school and that we'd do her snack and let them stay for lunch another day. She got really upset. I put her in bed with us and even turned off my alarm. She was warm all night and didn't sleep too well. When Jeff was leaving, Abby woke up and said "Mommy, I'm better and can go to school." I felt her and she wasn't too warm. I asked about her throat and she swore it wasn't hurting. I took her temp and it was around 99...not too bad. As I was getting dressed, I kept asking her if she was ok. She kept saying "Yes, I want to go to school." She was bound and determined to feel better! So, everyone got up and going and my plans were back on (except in the back of my mind, I knew I'd get a call from Totten Hall at some point saying she wasn't doing well!). She looked bad but kept reassuring me that she was fine and wanted to go to school. :-) I took them in with their backpacks and lunchboxes and Abby's snack and show and tell. They were very excited about staying! After that, I went to NES to meet Jack for lunch and recess and then to go to the computer lab with him. He's always sooooo excited to see me at lunchtime. He invited a new friend, Nicholas, to sit with us. They were fun to watch. Nicholas was a very sweet little boy. We ate lunch and got popcorn for "popcorn day" and headed out to recess. I sat on the side while the boys ran around like mad men! But, every so often, Jack would come over and hug me and tell me he loves me. I LOVE moments like that! After recess, they went back into the classroom and had 5 min before computer lab. Jack went straight to his desk and put on his glasses and began tearing out his math sheets as instructed. He seemed so big. Mrs. Moore then announced all the kids that got A++ on their spelling tests and Jack was one of them AGAIN!!! He smiled from ear-to-ear. As they lined up for computer lab, Mrs. Moore handed out cards that had their student id's on them which was how they signed into the computer. Jack didn't need his. He knows it by heart and it's not an easy number...343306! We decided to have him take the AR test on his Book Club book just to see how he does. Mostly, I wanted to see the questions, see if he could read the questions and see how they compared to the book itself. Jack got into the computer and entered all his usernames and passwords for the computer and then for the AR quiz. He had to type in the name of the book and author. Once the quiz came up, the questions appeared one at a time with a possible 4 answers. I just sat there quietly and told him to read it to me out loud (all the kids had on headphones except Jack). He read each question and all the answer options and quickly picked the answer and went to the next page. At first, my gut feeling was that he wasn't doing too well because the answers he was picking weren't what I would've picked...but I forgot that he was going off of what was in the book. So, I started flipping through the book (Jeff reads it with him so I didn't know the answers) and he was getting them all right! He got to the end of the 5 questions and up popped the results...5 out of 5 correct! He was very excited. I didn't help him at all and it was probably a good thing I didn't know the book. How in the world can he get 5 out of 5 and have failed every other quiz?!?!?!? I talked to Mrs. Moore and showed her. The only thing we could come up with is that the 2 he's taken before have been done in the mornings when he's ready to get to class and when there's a different teacher in the room. So, I picked out 2 more AR books with a rating of 1.0 and are going to have him take the quizzes on those when he's ready during computer lab. Since Mrs. Moore is in there and he can't be anywhere else during that time, maybe it will work! As I was leaving, he was putting on his headphones and opening up a game. He waved at me, blew me a kiss and told me he loved me. My heart just melted. I wish I could bottle up those times. I knew that being there was EXACTLY where I needed to be. Once I left Jack, I went to pick up the girls. They were outside on the playground. Of course, Ally was mad that I was there! :-) We headed to the van and Abby said "Mommy, I'm all better now!". She still looks bad but she made it through and I was very proud of her. They chit-chatted on the way home about their day, their lunch and playing outside. I truly love my kids so much and love days like this where I'm an important part of their day. It doesn't get ANY better!!!

The rest of August 2008

8/23 – Because Lori got married in Florida, we had a reception at Germania Maennechor 3 weeks later. She wore her gown and the guys rented tuxes again. Lori, her friend Brandy, Mom and I set up that morning. We all made the food. There was a nice crowd and good music. Everyone had a great time. On top of all of that, the one thing that no one expected was Dad walking up to Bobby and shaking his hand and saying “welcome to the family”! Mom and Lori both started to cry. We took pictures after that and it’s been such a blessing. He and Dad have so much in common and get along great!

8/25 – Grandma Ashby had been sick for a while and in a nursing home. Mom went there every day and took care of her, made cookies for the entire home and always put Grandma to bed at night. On this night, Grandma asked her to stay just a little bit longer. So, Mom stayed about 30 more minutes and made sure she was asleep. I called Mom about 9pm to check on Grandma and make sure Mom got home ok (as I always did). Just before 10pm, Dad called and said they were on their way to the nursing home. They had called and told Mom to get there asap and that Grandma wasn’t doing good. He called back just about 15 minutes later and he was crying. He said they flew there but by the time they arrived, she had passed away. From the time they noticed she was in trouble to the time she passed away, it was 8 minutes. Needless to say, Mom was devastated. She had just been with her. But, she also was so glad that she was just there and that she had stayed just a little bit longer. Lori and I met up and headed over there about 10:30 or so. We stayed with Mom and everyone else until about midnight just looking over Grandma. It was hard to be there because Mom was so upset yet all her brothers and sisters were there pushing her back so they could be in the front line…even though they NEVER visited her at the nursing home. It’s hard to watch. Mom stayed until everyone was gone and the funeral home came to get Grandma. She wasn’t going to leave her alone…

8/26 – The night Grandma died, I sent Jaci an email telling her. Her response was “once I get this and that done, I can take off the rest of the week”. Well, since I only worked 3 days a week, that really wasn’t very helpful. I wasn’t going to ask Mom to watch the kids so Lori stayed home and watched them so I could go to work. I cried most of the day and this is when I realized that our friendship was truly over and that I couldn’t stay at Escalade much longer. I will never forgive her.

8/29 – A happy day and a sad day. Grandma’s funeral was on Jack’s 6th birthday. I took him to school that morning with snacks and he was excited. Jeff and I then picked him up a little early and brought him here for Jan to watch them during the funeral. Grandma’s funeral was so hard. It was sad because she was my Grandma but it was overwhelming to watch Mom go through everything. Mom stood back always making sure everyone had what they needed. As people were being seated, I noticed Mom, Dad and Rosie were in the 3rd row and I got so upset. Why in the world would all her brothers and their spouses get to sit up front when she took care of her every single day? It was Aunt Sandy’s idea that they sit in birth order…so convenient for them. I walked up there and told Mom to move up but she said it didn’t matter and that Grandma knew who was with her until the end. Uncle Gary preached during the funeral but only 1 other child spoke…Mom. It was the most moving thing I’ve witnessed. Mom was so strong and spoke so well. She had said that she really wanted to do this and make it through. There’s no way I could’ve done it for her. She spoke of things she remembered, spoke of forgiveness of her Mom by her siblings and thanked Rosie for helping, the nurses for being there and finally Dad for sticking through it with her. Lori and I were sobbing by this point. She broke my heart but also made me so proud. My Mom is so special and I love her so much. After the funeral, we went to my Uncle Donnie’s church where the Johnston’s had provided the food. Needless to say, Mom didn’t forget a thing and brought Jack gifts. It was a hard day.

8/30 – We were supposed to go camping over Labor Day weekend but didn’t feel like it with all that was going on. So, Jeff and I took our 3 kids plus Tyler and Kaelyn to Nashville for the night. We went to the Science Museum and the zoo. T&K had a GREAT time and we all enjoyed ourselves!!

Abby and Ally started at Totten Hall

8/18/08 – TH Registration for girls – I had to work at the registration so Jeff stayed home this morning and brought them up to visit with Mrs. Hayes. They were VERY excited. We went over and they made themselves right at home. They’ve been going to TH as siblings for 2 yrs so it was no big deal!!

8/19/08 – Today was another big day. We had to take the girls to school and drop them off! We did the normal pictures out on the front porch with their cute little backpacks. They looked so big! I cannot believe they are going to TH. I remember carrying them both around there while in their car seat carriers thinking this would never end! They went right in and started playing. I kind of hung around for a minute and they just said “Bye Mom!”. It was so much easier than Jack’s first day!! I was happy but sad at the same time. I cried a little when I called Mom to tell her how they did. I just can’t keep up with time and feel like it’s slipping away!!!

Kindergarten Orientation

8/11/08 – Another sad day…Kindergarten Orientation! Jeff and I took Jack to Newburgh Elementary School to meet his teacher, Mrs. Faulkenberg and discuss his bus route, etc. He was very excited and did very well. He just played a minute and we asked her a few basic questions. I think he’s ready!!

8/12/08 – 1st Day of Kindergarten – wrote about this already on that actual day…

Lori's Wedding July 31, 2008

7/31 – We woke up early on Thursday, July 31st in the hotel. Lori and I went and got our hair done. It was stressful not know who was doing and just hoping it would all work out! We got back and got the guys going. We were supposed to be on the boat at 10am but the shuttle was running late picking us up. Lori was freaking out! She called and told the wedding planner. We got there about 15 minutes late and they let us go to the front of the line to get on the ship. We had to go through security, etc to get on the boat. Once on there, Lori and I headed to her cabin and the guys headed to Bobby’s Mom’s cabin. While getting ready, I gave Lori all the sentimental items from home…something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Mom had written her a letter and given her an anklet with the charm that Dad gave Mom 35 yrs ago so needless to say, she and I both sat there and cried. It was very emotional. And, I know Mom was a basket case because she couldn’t be there. I know she was jealous of Bobby’s Mom too. Jeff came and took pictures of us and took some of Bobby and Devyn. We then made our way to the chapel. It was very emotional watching Lori walk in. I had to read a poem and couldn’t even make it through. Devyn was crying the whole time because he finally had a father. Bobby started crying. It was a wonderful occasion and something I’ll never forget! After the wedding, we went to one of the restaurants that was closed except for us. We had an awesome meal and some champagne and thoroughly enjoyed just being together. After that, we heard the announcement that we had to get off the boat. Bobby changed and we packed everything up and Jeff, Devyn and I said our goodbyes. We were sad to be leaving…especially Devyn. He wanted to stay with them. We left the boat and caught the shuttle back to the hotel about 3pm or so. After we got back, we changed clothes and headed to the tuxedo shop to return the tuxes. While we were out, we took Devyn to Ron Jon’s. He bought a boogy board so we decided to take him to the ocean to give it a try. I sat on the beach while he and Jeff played in the water for a while. We ate dinner after that.

8/1 – Woke up in a frantic…forgot to set the alarm or set it wrong! Got everything ready to go and headed out. This was Devyn’s first time on a plane so he was pretty nervous. It’s probably a good thing he was with us and not his Mom! I think the 30 minutes drive was the worst part. We were running behind so that was stressful and then he had that time to think about it. We made it in plenty of time and just hung out. He asked lots of questions. He and Jeff sat together and we told the flight attendants that it was his first time. They brought him a barf bag signed by all of them filled with a deck of cards, crayons, etc. It was nice. He and Jeff played “War” with the cards. He had also brought a notepad and periodically wrote down his feelings about flying, etc. It was neat to watch him. We made it home safe and sound and had a great time!

Catching up is hard to do!

These are posts from 2008!!

5/28 – Abby and Ally started Kindermusik at Aldersgate Church. The class went for 5 weeks on Wednesday nights. Jack’s always so busy and the girls seem to get lost in the shuffle so I wanted to sign them up for something fun. They both LOVED it!

5/30 – I finally took the plunge and had Novasure surgery to help with my periods. The procedure itself was fine and recovery was easy. I bled for 3 weeks after that…not so fun…but now everything is MUCH better!!

6/2 – June 2nd was a busy day for Jack! We signed him up for a 4 day basketball camp at EBA. It was for Kindergarten through 6th grade so Tyler signed up too. It was from 8-11am. The first day went fine. Jack was definitely the youngest and smallest kid there. On the second day, I dropped him and Tyler off at EBA and headed to work…Mom was going to pick them up at 11am when it was over. On the second day, the EBA guy called as soon as I got to work. He said Jack was crying and said he wasn’t feeling good. So, I turned around and went back and picked him up. Tyler stayed. On Day 3, Jack wouldn’t even stay (Mom was dropping them off). He said he never got the ball and didn’t like it at all. That was $60 down the drain!!

6/2 – Also on June 2nd, Jack started golf lessons for 3 days with Pro Doc Hammerstein (sp?) at Eagle Valley Golf Course. He was so excited and did a great job. Doc kept asking me if he played a lot or had ever had lessons before. Doc and I were very impressed with him!!

6/6 – We decided to go back to West Boggs in Loogootee with Chris and Amanda. We got up there Friday and set up on the peninsula that Jeff really wanted to stay on. We were just feet from the water. All evening long, the weather wasn’t looking great. As the kids were watching a movie, we could hear thunder in the distance. I checked my Blackberry to see what was coming and it was a band of storms that looked like it was just going to miss us. Mom and Lori both called and said that they said it was going to be bad up by us. We talked about what to do. The wind would pick up and die down and we could see lightening in the distance. We put the kids to bed and ours were asleep. At around 11pm, we could tell it was getting closer and I could just see the camper going into the water. We decided to get the kids up and go sit in the truck up by the bathhouse. So, we loaded up in our truck and the Blakes got in theirs. It was windy and raining and the kids were scared (as was I!). We waited for about 30 minutes or so and the Blakes decided to head back. I (scaredy-cat Mommy) still wasn’t comfortable. Just about as soon as the Blakes got back to their camper, the wind picked up and it started pouring! We stayed where we were at but more people started arriving up there and some were going in the bathhouse. C&A came right back and ran into the bathhouse. We stayed put. We had all the kids in the front seat with us and we were all nervous. Finally about midnight, we headed back to the camper and went to bed. It thundered and rained all night and even into the morning. The storm had done lots of damage in the cities around us and had stayed basically stationary for around 12 hrs. There was flooding just to the Northwest. I’ve never been more scared camping. We’ve been in hard rain before but not like that. The rest of the weekend was good…and HOT!

6/4 – Since Jeff got his wish last fall and had the 13 pine trees pulled up behind the pool, we had to do something to get our privacy back. We recruited several helpers (Bobby, Lori, Chris and Greg P.) to help us clean up the landscaping and dig up those stumps left from the trees. It was A LOT of hard work. Shortly after that, Jeff rented a tiller and finished up back there. Finally, on June 4th, we had Davis Fencing come and put a white vinyl privacy fence where the trees used to be. It looks really nice!

6/9 – Jack had his first golf tournament today at Wesselman’s. I took him not knowing what to expect. They played 3 holes and were in groups of 4. Jack did great but was the only one without a nice set of clubs. I don’t know much about golf so we luckily only had 3 clubs to choose from! His first hit from the tee went right on the green. Everyone was impressed. It only took him like 6 more shots to get it in the hole!! We, the parents, kept score for our own kids. One of the workers said that if they “whiff” the ball that we don’t count it but if they hit it even a couple feet then you do. Once it was over, we went to the clubhouse and noticed some trophies. We waited for the other teams to get in (Ethan Elkins was in a different group). As they started filling out a board with each player and their numbers, it was clear that Jack was right in the middle. They gave out trophies to the top 3. One of the boys that was in Jack’s group got a good score…he definitely do as well as his Mom said so that was frustrating!! Ethan got 3rd place. Jack couldn’t figure out why he didn’t get a trophy. At every other event, everyone gets one. I explained to him that only the top 3 scores get them and he’ll just have to try harder next time. I’m actually glad he didn’t get one because after that moment, he tried very hard and knew that he had to earn it!!

6/21 – San Fran

7/4 – Decided to go to Randy and Tina’s for July 4th weekend since Dee and Stacey were coming up. We had camping plans but felt like we should go visit them. Greg and Billie FINALLY decided to actually go. Mom and Dad weren’t busy so they went with us. We all had a nice time and the kids love it there. I wish we lived closer to them!

7/14 – After San Fran and Fayetteville comes Wabash, IN! I had to go to Wabash to our Martin Yale company for UPK training for a week. What a small town. It wasn’t bad but I was so ready to come home and get away from work people. Seeing them day and night wasn’t so fun!!

7/19 – I had Lori’s bachelorette party at our house. We had a lingerie party and then went out afterwards. Lori’s friends all came and Lori had A LOT to drink! J We went to Blush downtown by Casino Aztar. It was very ‘high class’ and boring. After 1 expensive drink, we headed to Icon (the old Breakers). It was pretty nice. They played good music that I love but Lori’s group was ready to go to Woody’s (the old Harpoles)! Not me and Amanda…we headed home!!!

7/25 – Boy, I think I’m in over my head! I had my first TH meeting as President at Lauren’s to go over our 2008-2009 budget. It was me, Lauren, Kairon and Brande. We went over every line on the budget and discussed whether to keep it the same, increase it, etc. In the meantime, there were 9 kids running around and Ally peed and pooped in her pants! It lasted 3 hrs…what have I gotten myself into?!?!?!?

A BUSY WEEK!
Greg, Billie, Jeff and I had plans to go to the Jimmy Buffett concert in Indianapolis. When Lori decided to get married in Florida that same week, we just decided to fly from Indy. G&B decided that they didn’t care too much about going to the concert so we put our tickets up for sale. Jeff sold 2 of them for a good price but we still had 2. So, on Tuesday, July 29, he and I left for Indy and went to the concert. We then got up Wednesday morning, hopped on a plane and flew to Orlando to be with Lori, Bobby and Devyn for their wedding!

We got to Orlando on Wednesday about noon. We rented a car and then drove to Cape Canaveral to the hotel to meet up with Lori. She called 10 times during our 30 minutes drive because they were waiting on us to get margaritas!! We got there and immediately changed into our bathing suits (our room wasn’t ready yet) and hung out at the pool for a while. After our room was ready, we got dressed up and went to dinner for their “rehearsal dinner”. We had seafood and everyone had a great time. Devyn loved being the only child (Mom had my 3 and Dylen).

Jamaica blog from last year!!

This is so sad...here's our Jamaica blog Jeff started last year. Can you believe I'm just now posting it!

Written Monday, November 24, 2008 7:33:43 PM:

We’re heading to JAMAICA!!!

Missy and I are sitting on the plane right now on our way to Montego Bay Jamaica for our honeymoon! We never got to take one after we got married, so 12.5 years later, we’re finally getting to take our honeymoon. We’re going to Sandals Whitehouse and we bought the tickets in Jan. so we’ve been waiting a LOOOONG time for this trip and we’re both super-excited that we’re finally on our way. We woke up at 3:00am this morning and left our house at 4:30 because our flight left at 6:00am. It was really hard because all the kids were still asleep. We said “goodbye” last night but I really don’t think the kids understood that mommy and daddy were going to be gone for 4 days! Maybe Jack did. He started to cry a little bit as he was laying in his bed before he fell asleep and I asked him what was wrong, but either he didn’t hear me or didn’t want to say, because he didn’t say anything. We really wanted to call them when we got to Atlanta (before they left for school) but we didn’t because we thought it might make things even harder for them and Marlena.

I’m not sure what we’ll actually end up doing while we’re there, but I have a ton of things I want to do: any and all water sports, sailing, kayaking, jetskiing, skiing, and whatever else they have. I have seen sooo many pictures of the resort and I’m dying to walk around and take a ton of pictures. We want to buy some Blue Mountain coffee and some Jamaican rum. We also just want to sleep in and lounge by the pool, so it’s going to be hard to fit it all in!!! We also plan to catch up on our family blog while we’re here, so hopefully we’ll find time for that too.

Names of some of the people we met!
Lorenzo - Sailing
Delano - Photos
Alee - Waitress
Cheryl and Rob – Louisville
Andre – Entertainment
Crazy Chris – Dance
Julienne - Waitress at Jasmine’s
Bartendars:
Anthony
Avril
Grant?

Gave away gifts to Lorenzo, Delano, Alee and our housekeeper.

#2

Tonight was Jack's very first regular season tournament game. They are seeded #1. Jack had a great game. He had a great scoop up at Short Stop and threw it to First Base. It wasn't the best (most accurate) throw but he got it there and close. But, Brian was VERY happy with him and how fast he got it out of his mitt. He also played First and got a ball, fumbled it, recovered and beat the kid to First. Then, to top off the night, he hit his second over-centerfield home run. It was AWESOME!! He and we were sooooo excited!!

A couple things...

There's so much to write about since I'm so far behind but wanted to note a couple things...

Abby lost her paci at Mom's while we were in Fayetteville for Jeff's Grandma's funeral. She hasn't had one since! 4/7/09

Girls are playing T-ball at Holy Rosary...cute!

Jack hit his first home run Saturday! We had just gotten back from Cape San Blas, FL and it was his 3 time batting. First pitch and WHAM! It soared over the centerfield fence. There was one other boy on base. He was SOOOOOOO excited...as were we!! 5/30/09

Jack was chosen to play on an All Star team. He had his first 2 hr practice yesterday (5/31/09). Jeff said it was definitely more intense. Hopefully Jack will do ok with the pressure!!

Jack got his glasses today

Well, our son had a major milestone in his life today. He got glasses. I have so many emotions about it and I don't want to write everything down in here, but it was a very emotional day for me (and probably Missy too). It's kind'of a long story, but I'll try to recount it here.

It all started when Jack failed an eye test in kindergarten. He came home with a sheet of paper that said he couldn't see as well in his left eye and that we needed to have it checked out. So we called our eye doctor (Dr. Hayden) and got him an appointment with Dr. Stearns (Dr. Hayden doesn't see kids). Well, Jack was his last patient that day and he seemed like he was in a hurry to go and seemed to rush things. Jack couldn't see the letters very well, but they have small exam rooms and have a mirror on the front wall that you look through to see the letters on the back wall and I think that mirror blurs things a bit and makes it harder to see. The only kind of eye test they had were letters and Jack doesn't know his letter that well, so I wasn't sure if he had trouble seeing them or remembering what they were. He also only dilated his eyes for about 10-15 min (he was in a hurry). He said that Jack has a fair amount of astigmatism and needed to get some glasses right away. I was shocked! I had no idea what astigmatism meant so I asked him about it and asked him why he needed glasses since he had never complained of not being able to see things. He kind'of snapped back and said that Jack could suffer permanent damage to the vision center in his brain because his brain was still developing and cannot see a clear image because of the astigmatism. So needless to say, I was pretty upset and started doing all kids of research on astigmatism.

I found out that Dr. Stearns was right about astigmatism in children. Kids' vision center is still developing until they are about 9 years old and if astigmatism is left untreated, it can result in amblyopia or "lazy eye". But I also did a lot of reading that said myopia has been diagnosed more and more in the past 50 years and there are some doctors that think it is caused by lots of "close work" or focusing the eyes on close objects. Myopia is much more prevalent in Asian cultures and about 80% of children have myopia in Singapore, so there has been some research that has suggested that things like reading, using a computer, watching TV, etc. can cause myopia because the ciliary muscles contract when focusing on close objects which causes the eye to strain and not see distant objects very well. They say that children need to do more things outside, in the sun, which lets the eye relax by focusing on distant objects and forces the pupils to constrict in the bright light. Some doctors say that kids need to use +3 reading glasses when doing close work because it lets the eyes relax. I also read that a Pediatric Ophthalmologist really needs to diagnose astigmatism in children because they are better at testing them, etc. so we made an appointment with Dr. Judith Englert for a second opinion.

Jack's appointment with Dr. Englert was MUCH better. They did not have a mirror. They had pictures of things like a car, a birthday cake, and a crab. The nurse was very patient and made Jack comfortable and encouraged him to do his best on the test. They also let his eyes dilate for about an hour before doing the exam. He clearly had trouble seeing the pictures when they got pretty small. Dr. Englert also diagnosed him with astigmatism, so we were upset and relieved at the same time. I had tons of questions written down that I was going to ask her about myopia and the need for glasses, but I knew as soon as she said he had astigmatism, all my questions were unnecessary.

Well, we got him and started planning on when we were going to take him to get fitted for some glasses, and I happened to compare the prescriptions from Dr. Stearns and Dr. Englert and they were totally different!!! What was going on? They weren't even close. I wondered how this could be and if he needed to see ANOTHER doctor. We were very upset and confused, but we finally decided to send Dr. Hayden an email and ask him what to do, so I took pictures of each prescription and sent them to Dr. Hayden. He wrote back a couple days later and said that the prescriptions were actually very, very close! Dr. Stearns writes his in the "minus" format and Dr. Englert writes hers in the "plus" format. The optometrist translates the "plus" format to the "minus" format to make the glasses, so Dr. Stearns does that translation for them to reduced errors. Man, were we relieved and thankful to learn that!!!

Well, a couple days later, we went to Eye Mart and picked out some very cute frames for Jack. He was very, very excited. I'm not sure why, but I'm very glad he was. I think maybe it's because I wear my glasses from time-to-time and he thinks it's cool, but I sure hope he stays that way. It literally broke my heart the first time he tried on those frames. They totally changed the way he looks. I remember so clearly all the struggles I went through with glasses and how much I hated them and I don't want Jack to go through those things too. They totally changed my personality. They totally changed the way people interacted with me and how they looked at him. They made me more timid in sports because I was always afraid I was going to break my glasses. I could go on and on because there are so many emotions I have about Jack getting glasses today, but I know he's going to read this someday and I don't want to negatively influence him based of my own experience with glasses. I didn't get mine until I was 9 so my personality was much more developed that his is at 6. I hope with all my heart that his experience is better than mine.

Today was the day we picked them up and he put them on for the first time. I was hoping and praying that he would be able to see everything so much better as soon as he put them on, but even that didn't happen. We tried to test him informally by asking him to read various signs around the office at Eye Mart and it was pretty clear that he couldn't see any better (or worse) with the glasses on. The lady that was helping me even called another lady over to get her opinion. She took them to the lab and tested them to make sure they were the right prescription and she came back and said they were perfect. We tried several more things and he just couldn't see that much better with the glasses on. She told me that the astigmatism adjustment might take some getting used to and to let him wear them for a couple of days and keep testing him to see if he sees better and if not, go back to Dr. Englert. He did really well with them today and I threw him some baseballs and he seemed to not have any problem hitting them. He might have even done a little better with the glasses on (definitely not worse). He also did fine with catching, so I really don't think they are making things worse for him. I guess we'll just have to see how he does in a few more days.

Awesome email from Carolyn Gilliam

Just got this email from Carolyn Gilliam this morning:

I know this may sound very sappy, but these days I am heavily medicated with MS drugs.

You and Missy are doing such a fine job of raising your family. The kids may be very challenging these days, and you may not see results right now, but believe me they will be in your future.

Have a great week,
CG


Needless to say, that is one of the nicest (and most appreciated) things anyone has ever told me. I'm not really sure why she said this but I sure hope she's right. Missy and I try very hard to do things as a family and we work very hard to keep things running smoothly at home because and nothing is more important to us. But as parents, you never know if you're doing the right thing or not. You hear so many conflicting opinions: don't pamper them, don't protect them too much, don't spoil them, quantity vs. quality is more important with time, etc. etc. etc... It's all so confusing and difficult when you want more than anything in the world to raise good, loving, hard working kids. The thing I always seem to fall back on is that children learn what they live and if you give them lots of love and time, they will turn out OK.

Miss Ally and her vocabulary

Mom was supposed to pick up the girls from school today but Dad went instead. He said he was the first person there and went in and the girls got really excited and Ally was saying "That's my Papaw!". Mrs. Hayes said to Ally "were you not expecting your Papaw?" and then Ally said "No I was expecting my Grandma and my Papaw just magically appeared!" Mrs. Hayes said "Magically appeared?" and Ally said "YES, magically appeared!" She cracks me up!!!!!

Jack’s First Ski Trip!

We just got home from probably the best ski trip of my life!!! Jack and I went to Paoli for the day and we both had an absolute blast! It was a perfect day – about 40 degrees and full sun. It was pretty crowded, but not too bad – probably because of the snow and ice storm we had this week. I've been trying to get a group together for a couple of weeks… Greg and Billie wanted to go pretty badly, but her parents were staying at their house, so they really couldn't leave. Blake wanted to go, but he didn't have any money. And Abram wanted to go, but he just got back from Canada yesterday, so he wanted to stay home. But I'm actually very glad it was just Jack and me. It gave us a chance to spend lots of time together and I was able to focus on him and teach him how to do it. It started out pretty rough. They have this new area for kids on the rightmost side of the mountain and it's very flat and surrounded by a hill of snow so there is no way for a kid to accidentally go down a large hill. Jack was pretty uneasy and didn't have much balance at first, but he didn't get frustrated at all and kept trying over and over. I was really proud of him. We stayed there for a while and then he said he was ready to ride a chair lift, so we went all the way over to the leftmost green circle run and rode it all the way down. It was kind'of scary because even that run is pretty steep compared to the bunny slopes and especially to the kid's area! Jack followed behind me and held on to my waist and we went down together. Even with him holding on to me, he lost his balance and fell down a couple of times. At the end of the run there is a very steep part and he started sliding down under me and ended up going between my legs! He slid for about 20 yards on his own and started picking up some serious speed, but he remembered what I told him and he fell over to the side to stop. I think it scared him pretty good (scared me too!) and he didn't want to go on that run any more after that. But we did get to ride the chair lift for the first time and that was pretty cool. I was actually pretty nervous and was holding on to his jacket VERY tightly. I forgot how freekin high those chair lifts go and his little legs weren't long enough for him to sit all the way back in the chair. I think he enjoyed the ride though and he kept talking about how beautiful the snow was and how beautiful the scenery was. It really was a perfect day. We never got cold. The snow was absolutely perfect – like packed powder with no ice at all. After the chair lift ride, he wanted to get some lunch so we headed in and he got a hot dog, orange Powerade, and some Cheetos. I got a delicious chili and a (flat) Diet Pepsi. After lunch, he said that he wanted to try some poles and I kept telling him that they would only make it worse and I kept pointing out that none of the other kids had poles, but he insisted, so I reluctantly got him the smallest poles I could find. Then we went back to the kid's area and skied there for a while, but he quickly got bored and wanted to go back to the bunny slope with the small chair lift (we rode that one after riding the big chair lift to get to the top of the mountain). So we went back over there and I started skiing down in front of him and telling him to ski down to me. He started doing a fantastic job! He got better and better each time he tried it! After about 3 runs on that bunny slope, he was skiing all the way down by himself without falling or needing any help from me! We spent the rest of the afternoon on that bunny slope and were easily there for 3 hours! I have no idea how many runs we took but it had to be at least 40. He was doing so well and kept wanting me to follow him! There was a really, really, nice man working where you get on the chair lift and he kept asking Jack how he was doing and if he was having fun, etc. He looked like he just got out of prison, but he was the nicest, most friendly man I've seen in a long time. He was talking to every single person that rode up the lift and kept saying things like "you have a wonderful smile" and "leave some snow on the hill for the rest of us" (to the people that had obviously fallen down several times!) He made the day even better. Jack originally wanted to go tubing today too and mentioned that a couple of times during the day and I kept dreading it because I knew that would be the end of his skiing for the day and I noticed that you had to drive to it (it wasn't on the main hill) and it costs like $25/person. But I told him we could go after we were done skiing. Well, the sun started to set and I asking him if he was ready to go tubing and he said "no" - he wanted to keep skiing! I was so excited! Eventually I told him we'd have to leave when the sun disappeared from the sky and when it did, he asked me if he could go down 4 more times! Of course I couldn't say no! It was truly a great day with my son and one I'll never forget. He was so excited and did such a great job and never once got frustrated or tired. He never wanted to quit the whole time. That is exactly what I was hoping for today – a good first experience for Jack so he'd love skiing as much as I do.

Winter storm

Wow, what a crazy day today! Missy is out of town for the Woodplay dealers meeting in Raleigh, NC, so I'm home alone with the kids. We got about 2 inches of snow yesterday and I took them to Grandmas and it was a piece of cake. I woke up this morning and we had about 5-6 inches of snow so I decided to try it again... It was probably one of the most stressful mornings of my life. Ally woke up and said she was sick and needed to throw up, so she was crying about that. Jack was crying because he wanted to go outside and play. Abby was crying because she wanted to go to Grandmas. I knew that I wouldn't get any work done here at home, and I didn't want to burn a vacation day, so I decided to go ahead and go to work. Well, I got stuck backing out of the driveway and nothing I did seemed to work. I eventually was able to rock the truck back-and-forth enough to get it going forward. The only place I could get any traction was in the deep ruts in the road, but I made it out of the subdivision OK. Then I got onto Epworth and realized I had made a big mistake. There were absolutely NO other cars on the road and there were so many broken trees and fallen branches, that I literally had to swerve to miss them. One place had trees on both sides of the road and they scraped my truck as I drove past. I decided to turn about and go back home but I got stuck trying to do that so I had to keep going straight on Epworth to Covert. I literally thought I was going to have to leave my truck and carry 3 kids home. And I was dressed for work so I have no hat, gloves, nor boots. Idiot! I had to take 164 to Lloyd Expressway back to Epworth to make it home. It was snowing so hard that my windshield wipers were frozen and not working hardly at all. They were just pushing ice around on my windshield. It was pretty darn scary. At least I knew that I was close enough to home to walk if we needed to. I made it back to Tecumseh and then built up enough speed to make the turn and hill at Tippecanoe and did the same thing getting into out driveway. I was very happy to be home and really thankful I didn't have to walk. This was not a good day for Missy to be gone!