So it's been a while....

This is mainly for Kirsten's sake!

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but life gets crazy when you're working full-time plus call and you have a husband in school full-time as well as two little kids running around. However, I always wanted more time to blog, and seeing as right now I'm couped up in the hospital for pancreatitis, what better time than now?

I've decided to write not about my illness, at least not right now. Instead I'd like to talk about school lunches.

Ty started Kindergarten this year and so far there have been many ups and downs. First off, he had separation anxiety and didn't want us to leave for a while. (The first day of school Libby was scolding him, "Ty, you go to school. You be a big boy and not cry and just go to school.) It's gotten better, but he still has his days.

It doesn't help that Ty's one of, if not the, youngest in his class. This is a difficult decision when you have a boy that has an October birthday. He did pre-k last year and did fine and his teachers saw no reason to hold him back, so we forged ahead. However, due to his age, some kids make fun of him for only being 4 and not 5. It seems harmless, but it gets to him, especially since he's one of taller ones in the class.

Secondly, we send him with a healthy lunch every day. By that, I mean he usually has a fresh fruit, fresh vegetable, sometimes some light ranch dip, a sandwich on wheat bread, a juice box, and some crackers. As a treat, we'll put in a fruit snack bag that's made from 100% fruit juice and about 35 calories. Not bad, I think. Ty's a good eater (this kid will eat mostly anything - except peanut butter) so why stifle it?

I think that he's the only one to eat from home. Granted, there are a lot of poor kids in his class and I can understand the free meals program, but the school lunches are FAR from healthy. One day, Dane forgot to pack him a lunch and so Ty ate the school lunch: Sausage sandwich on maple syrup pancakes. WHAT?! How is that healthy. I'm sure that their lunches have at least twice as many calories as I pack for Ty, and pretty much nothing is fresh.

To add insult to injury, one day Dane packed Ty a typical healthy lunch but for a treat put about 10 Sour Patch Kids in. Apparently a lunch lady commented to Ty that he never has anything healthy to eat and he needs to have his parents pack him healthier things. WHAT?!!!! We discussed with Ty the importance of healthy eating mixed with small treats and that if the lunch lady said anything else to him that she could speak to his parents directly (and we could tell her a little bit about healthy eating, too!).

Well, rant is over, please share your thoughts.

Lucky

Turn up the volume on your computer and hear the song with which I am currently obsessed. Now, I rarely get obsessed with songs (mostly because I don't really listen to the radio unless it's NPR). However, this song by Jason Mraz, "Lucky" is so sweet! It really makes me think of Dane and how much I love him. He's a great husband and a wonderful and loving father. Right now he's in Florida and I won't see him until Saturday or Sunday, so instead I'll just listen to this song and patiently await dancing to it with him!

Here's the back story: Dane's stepfather, Wally, had a stroke on New Year's Day in Florida where he and Dane's mom spend their winters in their camper. He passed away on January 9, 2009. Dane's mom drove up with his sisters back to NY in his mom's car, but the truck and the camper were still in Florida. Dane left today with his mom to go bring the truck and the camper back to NY. Meanwhile I can empathize with every single working mother. Hopefully I never have to do this for more than a couple of days. In light of everything, I feel "Lucky to be in love with my best friend..." as the song goes.

Tummy Heart

Ty: Um...my heart is in my tummy.
Me: Your heart is in your tummy?
Ty: Yes, I think it's beating in my foot.

Apparently I have much to teach him about his body and how it works.

Mailman?

Yesterday as we were leaving to run some errands, the mailman was coming around and handed me the mail. I took it and then got into the car. Ty asked, "Mommy, who's that?" I replied, "That was the mailman. He gave me our mail." Then Ty said, "Oh yeah, I know him. He's the email man."

One year older (a little late, though)

Libby's first birthday was August 28, 2008. Now that she's almost 18 months old, I find it fitting to document the event!

Here's pictures of Libby's first birthday:

Of course any one-year-old needs her own chocolate cake!

Delicious!

And Ty turned three on October 27, 2008. Here's some memories from that:

Just excited to be a three-year-old!

Eating crepes with his cousin Madden.

Thank you to Aunt Karlyn for the awesome pumpkin cake!

And the best present...Indiana Jones hat and whip (complete with theme music)!

At Last...

Okay, so I know that you all have been wondering how Libby's eye surgery went. It was fine! We went in early in the morning and Libby was so cute. We got there a little early so we played in the empty parking lot to kill some time (and so she wouldn't remember that she hadn't eaten yet that morning).

It was at an eye surgery center so most of the people there are older (for cataract surgery, etc.) so everyone was happy to see such a cutie like Libby. Here she is waiting for the surgeon in her gown that was WAY too big for her!

Here's the best close-up that we could get. You can kind of see the gunk in the corners of her eyes, plus all her eyelashes are matted together.

She had both eyes "probed and irrigated." It was about 10 minutes total from when they took Libby (who didn't cry!) until when she woke up from the anesthesia. The doctor and the nurses were all pretty impressed that she didn't cry when they took her. However, she had a wild ride waking up from anesthesia. She was flailing her body all over and crying.

We just couldn't calm her down until she got into her carseat. Poor baby.

But ever since the surgery her eyes haven't clogged up at all. Now we can see what beautiful eyes she really has!

So it's come to this...

Ever since Libby was born she had clogged tear ducts - aka goopy stuff in her eyes. She would often wake up with her eyes sealed shut due to this stuff. (It really was funny sometimes because the rest of her was awake and smiling, but these eyes were shut like she was fast asleep! Poor thing!) Anyway, the pediatrician told us that sometimes babies are born with clogged tear ducts and most of the time they just open up on their own. If she still has them at 1 year then they'll send her to a pediatric ophthamologist to check on them. Well, as you can tell by the little ticker on the side of the blog, she is over 1 year old now.

So, the other day we went to the pediatric ophthamologist to have her eyes checked out. Everything looked fine, except for her gunky-looking eyes. The plan: to do surgery and open up the ducts that should be draining all of that fluid so it doesn't build up in her eyes anymore. It's a very simple procedure - they pretty much just put a metal wire through the duct to open it - but she has to be under general anesthesia for it which is always scary for a little baby! She's scheduled to go October 13th in the morning. Hopefully everything will go well and long gone will be the days of me prying her eyes open every time she wakes up.