Is spring here to stay?

India's eye appointment-so so news.

Day of eye surgery, just 5 months old.

Since India’s eye surgery back in February 2008 and getting her glasses in February 2009, we have been making a visit to the ophthalmologist’s office every 6 months, and every time we hear the same thing.  Her eyes are doing what they are supposed when she wears her glasses.  I expected to hear the same thing today, but sadly, this was not the case.  Her left eye is starting to get what is called Dissociated Vertical Deviation (DVD).  From http://www.aapos.org/terms/conditions/44  “DVD is a condition in which one eye drifts upward. The eye may drift upward only occasionally or be deviated almost constantly. The amount of drifting may even vary during the course of the day. Often, DVD is only seen in one eye by a parent, while testing by an ophthalmologist may reveal the problem is actually present in both eyes.”  She is making up for this by leaning her head to the right.  Jeff and I never noticed this until they pointed it out to us today.  It is just a slight lean, but enough that it is totally obvious to me now.  


 The good news is that her eyes want to work together, if they were not her left eye would be drifting around all the time not just occasionally.  The bad news is that she will more than likely need another surgery.  I had really hoped that she would never need another, so I am pretty sad to hear that it might still be an option.  We have to go back in and have her looked at again in three months and see if anything has changed, and possibly change her prescription, get a patch or schedule a surgery.


I know that there are so many worse things that could happen to your kid, but hearing your child will probably need surgery is still something, no parent wants to hear.  I will post more after our next appointment.    

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Didn't summer just start?

Even the though the calendar doesn’t say it is fall yet, school started this week and I made a pot of soup, so in my mind summer is officially over.  Or like my friend Chloe said, she had to switch to from white wine to red this week!  It seems like summer went by in the blink of the eye, so sad.  I would probably rank fall as my second favorite season after summer, I love the brisk mornings and warm afternoons, the wearing of boots and apple cider.  I try to forget that fall leads into a rainy and gray winter, which the last couple of years have been incredibly long.  I probably owe a post about the summer, and now that India is back in school, I will try to get to it. 

India did a few months of preschool after we moved to Portland earlier this year, but this week marked her first fall day of preschool.  She had some separation issues last year, but had a blast her first day.  After not wanting Hadley and me to go at first, once some play dough caught her attention, we were like chopped liver to her.  She didn’t want to come home after class and asked that night if she could go back the next day.  This is a far cry from the little girl that was hugging my legs last year begging me not to go. 

What a cutie!

I hope that fall brings lots of beautiful fall leaves and changes to wear my boots without them getting wet.  I tried on a pair of red pumps that I hadn’t worn in months, and my poor feet forgot how to even wear them!  I guess that it what just wearing flip-flops and sneakers will do to a person!

The house of illness

 

I don't know what is going on with our health since moving to Oregon, but I swear one of us is sick with a cold or worse pretty much every week. This week’s hardest hit victim is India who has just a cold, but it is knocking all the life out of her. She pretty much wanted to snuggle all day yesterday, or to nap which is the complete opposite of the kid that just likes to move around all the time. She woke up seeming better today, so she went to preschool and her teacher even came over for an hour after lunch and she played very hard. After the visit, we made cookies and the crankiness returned. After telling her to go take a nap and to stop getting near the hot cookie sheet she went into the living room to snuggle with her blanket. After not hearing her for a few minutes, I found her wrapped up in a blanket sound asleep on the couch. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, I would join her but I need to get ready to go running. I think I know who got the better end of that deal.

Feeling the love

Here is an e-mail I got from Jeff this week.  

Hey Baby.  Happy Monday.

India and I were going around the room at breakfast asking if we liked things.

Do you like oatmeal

Do you like books

Etc.

I asked India if she liked Mommy and Daddy, she said "No, I love Mommy and Daddy!"

That just melts my heart, which is probably hard to do as my own mother said I am cold-hearted the other day!  She said that in the nicest possible fashion though, and it's border line true...

Before I was a mom...

Before I was a mom…my life was a lot simpler. I could leave the house whenever I wanted; I could do happy hour after work without a second thought; I wouldn’t need to worry if I remembered to bring water, snacks and diapers for every little errand. There are still times that I find myself about to say to Jeff that “we should go run some errand after India is asleep”, but then realize that I can’t just up and leave, I need to be there for my child. 

Before I was a mom…I was more patient. Or was it that I never had to ask someone to stop yelling at me that they need milk? If the car in front of me was a little slow making that turn, I didn’t care, but now throw in two crying children into the mix and I am doing everything I can not to start yelling profanity at them.  I keep reminding India that you only need to ask for something once, not 50 times. 

Before I was a mom…I used to sleep. Now it’s more like I take naps since I am lucky to get 5 hours of sleep in a row before someone needs to be feed or needs “night night” socks. For most of my adult life the only reason I would be sleeping on the floor would be due to a night of drinking more then I should have, but now its par for the course with a toddler that loves to hold your hand while she falls asleep. 

Before I was a mom…I never had mom’s night out.  I have met the most wonderful group of mommy friends, and I am so grateful for them.  It’s nice to have people understand the ups and downs of having little ones. 

Before I was a mom…Jeff wasn’t a dad.  Jeff is such a great dad, the girls are so lucky to have him.  He is never to tired to play with India when he walks in the door.  And he spends countless hours bouncing Hadley on a yoga ball.  He might be outnumbered but he loves “his girls” so it all works out. 

Before I was a mom…India was just a country.  Now India means my sweet little toddler who I love to pieces.  I love everything about her, and every day she gets more and more fun to be around.  She says the craziest things, and Jeff and I just look at each other and laugh.  She love to ask me if “we can talk”, which is typically going over every minute of our day. 

Before I was a mom….I had never met anyone named Hadley before.  Now she is the first thing I see when I wake up, and who brightens my day with her big gummy smile.  She is just a good little baby, and I can’t wait to watch her grow.  I am waiting for the day that she says “mama”, I have a while but it will be worth the wait.

 

Before I was a mom I was just me, but now I am mommy.

The haircut

Not liking to rush into anything, India got her first haircut this weekend.  She went into the idea pretty excited, calling the salon “the haircut store” but once she got on the chair her attitude changed.  She was very upset and started crying quite hard.

It took a lollipop and watching the Elmo DVD she had selected to calm her down.  

Once the whole thing was done she was very proud though of her haircut, and we have had to reenact the experience many times for fun.  

My name is India, and I am a ham

In November I entered a contest to win a photo session with La Luz Photography, and I ended up winning.  We did maternity/family photos this weekend.  India normally takes a while to warm up to people she has never met or hasn't seen in a while.  It appears the exception to this is if the person has a camera. We first saw this during our family photo session in November, but it was even worse this time.  She totally poses in front of the camera, grabbing props and looking for different places to have her picture taken.  

Check out the little ham yourself  http://laluzphotography.com/blog/?p=872

I don't know, why?

It started before Christmas, the dreaded “why?” response to everything you say to India. I try to embrace that she is just wants to know more, but it is now out of control.
Conversation from last week at 5:30 a.m.
Me: Mommy needs to sleep now.
India: Why?
Me: Because I am tired.
India: Why?
Me: Because I worked all day yesterday, and you decided to get up an hour early.
India: Why?
Me: I have no idea; you should go back to bed.
India: Why?
And on, and on it goes.

Her other response to most questions is “I don’t know” which is then typically followed by the real answer 5 seconds later.
Me: What did you do today?
India: I don’t know…go to daycare.
Me: Did you play outside?
India: I don’t know…no raining.
Me: Did you have fun?
India: Why?
The cycle starts again.

The best little mommy

India got her first baby for her birthday from our friends Tom, Chloe and baby Parker.  India has taken to being a mommy very quickly.  She walks around and pats her baby's back and lays it down on pillows to rest.  We got her a second baby a couple of weeks ago, and she seems to love it just as much.  It is just so cute to watch her take care of them.  We have made a little bed for them out of a wicker basket, and I put a little blanket over them which India quickly pulls off.  I guess her babies are able to keep warm on their own.  If she is playing with something else and then spots them you will her say "baby" and run off to grab one of them.