It's been a minute. At the same time, we've been busy and lazy. Plus I've had some computer issues. It's been a relatively ok summer thus far.
We're settled into the house. We were 95% unpacked after two weeks, which is amazing. There are areas that I'm just now getting around to finishing up, but it's nearly all cosmetic and functional at this point. Now that we've lived here for two months, we have a better idea of what will work for us in different areas of the house. There's still lots of blank walls in the kids' rooms but I've decided to let that be for the most part so that as they grow up and figure out what they like, we can decorate to their tastes. The way Elijah is going, he'll be Mario for life, so that may not change much. The girls are still deciding who they are so not having much decor in their rooms is ok for now.
I think I've finally figured out a lay out for the sitting room that works for me. I've moved shelves and changed out curtains and rearranged things a few times and now I feel like I've got it. I've taken things out of cardboard boxes and invested in clear plastic tubs to store my craft stuff in and I'm loving that. I want to eventually get a second armchair in there so that if I have company and we want to retreat from the rest of the family to watch a movie or chat, we can both sit comfortably. The library works for that function currently, but the sitting room is much more private.
We got our first electric bill and whoa. We knew coming in we needed to invest about $1000 in some insulation to help the units Mom installed in December function better, but we didn't prioritize it. We may need to. On the upside, our winter heating bills should be much better since it's a gas heater. The gas bill is next to nothing currently.
The Mulberry house is being rented out for the next year, which is a huge relief for us. We're excited to have these renters in place and look forward to the next year with them. I've seen a couple of the things they're doing and it looks great.
Elijah is ready for kindergarten, though he will tell you he's not that excited about it. I suspect he'll get more excited the closer we get and when he really truly realizes his best friend from MDO is there. He and this boy yell across the parking lot "I love you! Bye!" about 57 times every pick up. Hopefully they still feel that way after spending all day every day together next school year.
Asher has spent the summer doing semi-educational stuff. He went to AISD's technology camp that was some kind of Lego animation thing and enjoyed that and then spent two weeks at Threshold where he learned about Ancient Egypt. This camp is so cool, I wish I'd gone when I was a kid. The first week they wrote a presentation about something to do with Ancient Egypt (Asher chose the Sphinx) and the second week they had to create their own ancient civilization. Asher's was vegetarian thespian traders. He doesn't like to admit it, but I think he really enjoys it.
He's been arguing hard to go back to the charter school instead of Moore House, but I can't get a straight answer why out of him. I think he feels like TLCA would be up to the challenge of him since Moore House was. I've tried explaining to him the reasons why we chose Moore House for 2nd grade and I don't think it's computing. For such a smart kid, sometimes he does things that remind us that yes, he definitely IS a child.
Eden is doing really well with her eye patch and her newest venture, potty training. Well, at least with her eye patch. Potty training has its ups and downs. I'm glad we have about 2 dozen pairs of panties because I wash them frequently. Every trip to the bathroom warrants a new pair, even if the old pair is still clean.
We have an appointment with the surgeon in Dallas on September 24, a Monday, in the morning, so she and I will get to take a girls' trip to Dallas on that Sunday. I'm hoping she'll enjoy the hotel and room service. I'll have to double check on their pool situation, but she would probably be super excited to go swimming with just me. Hopefully on that trip, the doctor will be able to give us a time frame for surgery. In the meantime, we continue to patch 14 hours a week, though some weeks we're more on it than others. She'll wear it for 10 hours in a day some days and others she won't wear it for more than 5 minutes. It just depends on her mood.
Rebekah is finally walking! She took her first few steps in late June at MDO and refused to walk for or to me for the next week and a half. Then one day she just stood up and started stomping around and hasn't looked back. She's so proud of herself, too. She can get farther faster and take things with her much more easily. Her siblings aren't as thrilled with that last bit. Neither am I, to be honest. I have to turn my nightstand towards the bed or she'll raid it and carry things around the upstairs.
She still avoids the stairs, but will stand at the top or bottom and yell at whoever is on the other side until they come get her. She doesn't like to be alone (fourth child problem) but tolerates it much better if she's alone upstairs where all the toys are.
We can't really afford a vacation away this year, so we're doing a "staycation" which I've managed to get everyone excited about. We're going to see Abilene and do things around here we haven't in a while or ever. Splash pads and movies and video games are the highlights of the week for just about everyone. I had the boys describe their perfect days and when we relayed them to Austin, he said those were his perfect days, too. They were mostly eating and playing video games, which surprises no one. I've yet to sit down and actually give it a little more detail, but I intend to do that this weekend.
Church has been an interesting change for us. The weekend we moved, the church went to two services instead of one, and it seems to be working fairly well for the church as a whole. For us, it just....wasn't. Before, Austin would be able to help me get the kids dressed and to the church, where he would then go to practice and I would take them to eat at the coffee shop ministry we have called Holy Grounds. I'd have time to feed them, then deliver them to the Children's Building before Sunday school. Now, Austin has to be at the church about 30-45 minutes before we do, so I'm on my own to get them up and dressed and for whatever reason, we just. can't. do it. We tried for a month and I was almost always 15-20 or even 30 minutes late to the service, which is about a 45 minute service. At that point, what the point of trying for service? Then we had the discussion of whether or not it was worth getting everyone up and out for just Sunday school. The kids weren't enjoying Sunday school for whatever reason (I could never get a straight answer out of them) so we just decided not to try for the rest of the summer. Maybe in the fall, once we're back into a routine, we'll try again. It may go better then. Summer heat and laziness have just taken their toll on me for sure. I've missed Sunday school and seeing people for sure, but I've also really enjoyed getting to sleep in on Sundays. Not that I can't other days of the week when the kids let me, but there's something about a Sunday that just makes me want to sleep all day.
There are lots of things ahead of us: Eden's eye surgery, Elijah starting kindergarten, helping out a friend, parties, trips, school shopping, and more. We're keeping cool in the heat by staying in and counting down until school starts. 26 days, y'all.
Friday, July 27, 2018
Monday, May 28, 2018
Home Again
I've been meaning to write a blog post for a while now, but things have been busy.
First off, Eden's still waiting for an appointment with an eye surgeon in Dallas. She's doing well with her eye patch wearing, though she still resists it quite a bit. We're bribing her with water color painting and tv shows.
We moved into the Orange street house on May 18, so we've been here for ten days now. We got everything into the house in 2.5 trips and about 6 hours. We got the kids' rooms set up as much as we could that night, though of course a lot more work was done over the next few days. Our bedroom took a while because Austin couldn't find the bolts to put the bed together, resulting in our being up until about 11pm while he searched for, located, and assembled our bed. That doesn't seem TOO late but I'd been awake since 5am and we'd moved so I was exhausted. My body definitely didn't appreciate it and I was sickish for the next several days. I'm still recovering.
In spite of all that, though, I'd say we're about 95% done unpacking. There are filled boxes in the garage, sure, but those are things in long term storage. We're passing along our empty boxes and once we've got those down to a manageable number, we'll (I'll) work on organizing the storage areas a little better. There are still things around that need a permanent home, but we'll figure that out as we go. We've turned the dining room into a temporary gathering place for everything that's left, just to help me keep my sanity. After two months of living surrounded by boxes, I'm really glad to have the majority of the boxes confined to one room, and it's a room I can avoid easily.
The kitchen is unpacked and usable. We've cooked quite a few meals, though we've also ordered in and picked up a few times because hey, we just moved and we're still unpacking and we're tired.
The last room started was the first room finished. The library has books on the shelves or in the cabinets, art on the walls (made by me), comfy chairs for reading, and a desk chair at the desk. Not all the books would fit because of course not, but each kid has shelves in their room with books on them and my Book of the Month books are in my sitting room. Of course those shelves are almost full with the ones I've already got so that's definitely not a long term solution. I'll likely be donating more of the books Mom left behind (there's already about 11 boxes of books she left that we're not keeping) to make space for our books. We'll need to get a library ladder because we can't reach the top two shelves without one, and even then it's tricky. Needless to say, the books we don't use much (or ever) are up there.
I'm absolutely loving how some of the rooms look, namely the girls' rooms and the library. I'm taking pictures as we go and I'll eventually post some before and afters. I'm just waiting until rooms are done before I take pictures of them, and since only a couple of rooms are actually completely done (or as done as they're going to get for now) that's slow going. The family dining room is done but my kids are super messy eaters so I'd have to clean and sweep to get a decent picture. Maybe after the next time the house is cleaned I'll snap a picture before the kids come in. It doesn't look all that different from how Mom had it, it's just got our stuff in it.
Mom and I went on Friday and did the official signing and transfer of Orange street, so the Caldwell House is officially, legally mine. I did have to pay for it, but it was a reasonable amount. I don't even have to sell a kid. The last step to get Mom free of this house is June 1 when the bills go into our name instead of hers.
It's interesting to live in my childhood home as the parent. Walking into the rooms, they're so different because of paint and use, I kind of feel like I'm living in two worlds at once. I can see how the rooms were when I was a kid and how they are now. I can remember the things that happened in those rooms and imagine the things that will happen in the years to come. Eden is in my childhood bedroom and Asher is in Caleb's room. Rebekah is in what was Dad's office and Elijah is in the craft room. Austin's office is the music room where I spent hours practicing the piano as a kid and once in a while when I'm in there, I remember Dad making faces at me through the double glass doors. I'm remembering the quirks of the house and learning new ones.
The kids seem to love being here. The only complaint I've heard is from Elijah who said this house is so big. He still likes being here. He's torn between wanting to still be in the Mulberry house and being here where there's so much more space and he's got his own big room. Asher is enjoying having his own room, his only complaint has been that it's "small" which is silly because it's a large room. Though in his defense, it is the smallest bedroom in the house. That's what he gets for having a bedroom on the first floor away from everyone else.
Rebekah mostly stays away from the stairs, though she likes to pull up at the top of the stairs and give me a big grin as she bounces. She's very cautious, though, carefully sitting down and backing up. I'll eventually get around to bringing a gate upstairs to put at the top when we're all upstairs relaxing and she's roaming free. She's loving having so much space to explore. She was let loose in the downstairs on Thursday while I did some unpacking in the dining room and she managed to find a paperclip, two screws, and two plastic pegs from a game. She was very unhappy when I fished them out of her mouth. If you want to find things that shouldn't be on the floor, get a baby and she'll find them for you.
So things are going well as far as the move goes. There's a few little tweaks that need to be done. Austin's still unpacking because he hasn't been home as much as I have plus he's been doing things for me around the house, like hanging things up and taking empty boxes out to the garage. When he gets done with the things I've asked him to do, he's usually tired and ready to sit and do nothing for a while.
Elijah asked me last week how long we'd have boxes all over our house. I told him to give me two weeks. I feel like I can safely say that after 10 days, we're pretty much out of boxes. This is my superpower.
First off, Eden's still waiting for an appointment with an eye surgeon in Dallas. She's doing well with her eye patch wearing, though she still resists it quite a bit. We're bribing her with water color painting and tv shows.
We moved into the Orange street house on May 18, so we've been here for ten days now. We got everything into the house in 2.5 trips and about 6 hours. We got the kids' rooms set up as much as we could that night, though of course a lot more work was done over the next few days. Our bedroom took a while because Austin couldn't find the bolts to put the bed together, resulting in our being up until about 11pm while he searched for, located, and assembled our bed. That doesn't seem TOO late but I'd been awake since 5am and we'd moved so I was exhausted. My body definitely didn't appreciate it and I was sickish for the next several days. I'm still recovering.
In spite of all that, though, I'd say we're about 95% done unpacking. There are filled boxes in the garage, sure, but those are things in long term storage. We're passing along our empty boxes and once we've got those down to a manageable number, we'll (I'll) work on organizing the storage areas a little better. There are still things around that need a permanent home, but we'll figure that out as we go. We've turned the dining room into a temporary gathering place for everything that's left, just to help me keep my sanity. After two months of living surrounded by boxes, I'm really glad to have the majority of the boxes confined to one room, and it's a room I can avoid easily.
The kitchen is unpacked and usable. We've cooked quite a few meals, though we've also ordered in and picked up a few times because hey, we just moved and we're still unpacking and we're tired.
The last room started was the first room finished. The library has books on the shelves or in the cabinets, art on the walls (made by me), comfy chairs for reading, and a desk chair at the desk. Not all the books would fit because of course not, but each kid has shelves in their room with books on them and my Book of the Month books are in my sitting room. Of course those shelves are almost full with the ones I've already got so that's definitely not a long term solution. I'll likely be donating more of the books Mom left behind (there's already about 11 boxes of books she left that we're not keeping) to make space for our books. We'll need to get a library ladder because we can't reach the top two shelves without one, and even then it's tricky. Needless to say, the books we don't use much (or ever) are up there.
I'm absolutely loving how some of the rooms look, namely the girls' rooms and the library. I'm taking pictures as we go and I'll eventually post some before and afters. I'm just waiting until rooms are done before I take pictures of them, and since only a couple of rooms are actually completely done (or as done as they're going to get for now) that's slow going. The family dining room is done but my kids are super messy eaters so I'd have to clean and sweep to get a decent picture. Maybe after the next time the house is cleaned I'll snap a picture before the kids come in. It doesn't look all that different from how Mom had it, it's just got our stuff in it.
Mom and I went on Friday and did the official signing and transfer of Orange street, so the Caldwell House is officially, legally mine. I did have to pay for it, but it was a reasonable amount. I don't even have to sell a kid. The last step to get Mom free of this house is June 1 when the bills go into our name instead of hers.
It's interesting to live in my childhood home as the parent. Walking into the rooms, they're so different because of paint and use, I kind of feel like I'm living in two worlds at once. I can see how the rooms were when I was a kid and how they are now. I can remember the things that happened in those rooms and imagine the things that will happen in the years to come. Eden is in my childhood bedroom and Asher is in Caleb's room. Rebekah is in what was Dad's office and Elijah is in the craft room. Austin's office is the music room where I spent hours practicing the piano as a kid and once in a while when I'm in there, I remember Dad making faces at me through the double glass doors. I'm remembering the quirks of the house and learning new ones.
The kids seem to love being here. The only complaint I've heard is from Elijah who said this house is so big. He still likes being here. He's torn between wanting to still be in the Mulberry house and being here where there's so much more space and he's got his own big room. Asher is enjoying having his own room, his only complaint has been that it's "small" which is silly because it's a large room. Though in his defense, it is the smallest bedroom in the house. That's what he gets for having a bedroom on the first floor away from everyone else.
Rebekah mostly stays away from the stairs, though she likes to pull up at the top of the stairs and give me a big grin as she bounces. She's very cautious, though, carefully sitting down and backing up. I'll eventually get around to bringing a gate upstairs to put at the top when we're all upstairs relaxing and she's roaming free. She's loving having so much space to explore. She was let loose in the downstairs on Thursday while I did some unpacking in the dining room and she managed to find a paperclip, two screws, and two plastic pegs from a game. She was very unhappy when I fished them out of her mouth. If you want to find things that shouldn't be on the floor, get a baby and she'll find them for you.
So things are going well as far as the move goes. There's a few little tweaks that need to be done. Austin's still unpacking because he hasn't been home as much as I have plus he's been doing things for me around the house, like hanging things up and taking empty boxes out to the garage. When he gets done with the things I've asked him to do, he's usually tired and ready to sit and do nothing for a while.
Elijah asked me last week how long we'd have boxes all over our house. I told him to give me two weeks. I feel like I can safely say that after 10 days, we're pretty much out of boxes. This is my superpower.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Things are Looking Up
It's been a rough couple of weeks, y'all. Moving is at a weird point where we're moving boxes over but we weren't unpacking anything or even putting them where they would go because the rooms had Mom's furniture in them or were being painted or something. Keeping an eye patch on an opinionated 3 yo who doesn't want to wear it was also super fun. We went through about 70 eye patches in three weeks. That's a lot of eye patches.
BUT! Things are getting better. Mom has been going to Orange to get the last of her things as she's been able, adding the the monstrous pile in the dining room of things she's donating. She hired some people to come move furniture downstairs last Thursday and the same day, a woman came and took all the antiques to sell, even a couple things I thought were being left for us, lol. We'll have way more space than we thought. It'll be great.
So Saturday, a friend and I spent a couple hours at the house moving boxes around the house and unpacking a bit in the kitchen. My housekeeper went over and cleaned the kitchen for me on Wednesday and I'm hoping that tomorrow, they can get a couple more rooms cleaned for unpacking.
It's so weird. The house has an echo that I don't remember it ever having before. There were a couple hours on Saturday I was alone in the house and I'm going to have to reacquaint myself with it's creaks and moans and sounds, because it did feel a little creepy on a sunny Saturday morning...lol
The painting is trucking along and looks so good. Austin and I are really pleased with how it's looking and it's making the house feel like it's actually going to be ours, instead of my mom's. Our stuff is not going to fill it up by any means, but it'll help with the echo. I hope.
We still have a lot of packing to do, but now that there are empty rooms, we can actually move stuff over and not be surrounded by boxes. It was getting claustrophobic over here.
In other news, Eden had her follow up appointment to her first follow up appointment three weeks ago. She's been wearing an eye patch for the past three weeks and everyone has beenn so supportive with helping us keep it on her. It's been rough, because she hates it, but it's all worth it because we were successful! Her vision three weeks ago was measured at 20/80 and today he measured it at 20/30, a huge improvement. She still needs to be patched part time, but we're looking at 14 hours a week, which I think will be much more doable. She still needs to have surgery, but hopefully after she won't need any additional patching.
We were supposed to go see a doctor in Dallas tomorrow, but it turned out he didn't actually have operating privileges at Children's, so that appointment has been cancelled and they're looking for a doctor who can. Hopefully we'll get that appointment soon and we can get this done quickly. In the meantime, we'll be back to see our local doctor in 4 months.
So, things are turning around for us from our brief down turn for the year. We're looking forward to all the good stuff coming soon.
BUT! Things are getting better. Mom has been going to Orange to get the last of her things as she's been able, adding the the monstrous pile in the dining room of things she's donating. She hired some people to come move furniture downstairs last Thursday and the same day, a woman came and took all the antiques to sell, even a couple things I thought were being left for us, lol. We'll have way more space than we thought. It'll be great.
So Saturday, a friend and I spent a couple hours at the house moving boxes around the house and unpacking a bit in the kitchen. My housekeeper went over and cleaned the kitchen for me on Wednesday and I'm hoping that tomorrow, they can get a couple more rooms cleaned for unpacking.
It's so weird. The house has an echo that I don't remember it ever having before. There were a couple hours on Saturday I was alone in the house and I'm going to have to reacquaint myself with it's creaks and moans and sounds, because it did feel a little creepy on a sunny Saturday morning...lol
The painting is trucking along and looks so good. Austin and I are really pleased with how it's looking and it's making the house feel like it's actually going to be ours, instead of my mom's. Our stuff is not going to fill it up by any means, but it'll help with the echo. I hope.
We still have a lot of packing to do, but now that there are empty rooms, we can actually move stuff over and not be surrounded by boxes. It was getting claustrophobic over here.
In other news, Eden had her follow up appointment to her first follow up appointment three weeks ago. She's been wearing an eye patch for the past three weeks and everyone has beenn so supportive with helping us keep it on her. It's been rough, because she hates it, but it's all worth it because we were successful! Her vision three weeks ago was measured at 20/80 and today he measured it at 20/30, a huge improvement. She still needs to be patched part time, but we're looking at 14 hours a week, which I think will be much more doable. She still needs to have surgery, but hopefully after she won't need any additional patching.
We were supposed to go see a doctor in Dallas tomorrow, but it turned out he didn't actually have operating privileges at Children's, so that appointment has been cancelled and they're looking for a doctor who can. Hopefully we'll get that appointment soon and we can get this done quickly. In the meantime, we'll be back to see our local doctor in 4 months.
So, things are turning around for us from our brief down turn for the year. We're looking forward to all the good stuff coming soon.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Then I got pelted with shoes.
Mom moved on Saturday. Five burly bikers and two young men and me all showed up early to help Mom and Bob with the big moving of furniture and remaining boxes. We worked for 12 hours (I left after 11) and the end result is that Mom and Bob have a house full of furniture and boxes...and there's still some that got left behind because we ran out of time.
I think the job was bigger than anticipated. Certain things weren't as well communicated as they could have been, so there's still quite a bit to move and do, which makes everything interesting. Since Mom's not fully out, and won't be for a while, our move has been postponed to a date to be determined. First, Mom needs to make arrangements for what's left, and she's pretty busy most of the week so that'll take a little time to do. After that, we can proceed.
The hope was for our family to be in before the end of the school year so I'd have a few days with no kids underfoot to work on unpacking and settling in and decorating. I'm thinking it'll be sometime in the summer before we're actually moved, so I'll have to get creative with child distractions. Hopefully we can have a safe room with a tv and toys for them.
Then, yesterday, Caleb had to have surgery to remove a ruptured appendix. He was in pain starting early in the afternoon on Sunday and it just lingered until he ended up in the ER (for the second time in two days) yesterday morning and in surgery last night at 7. He's doing better and will be there for a couple of days recuperating.
Then today, I called the doctor in Dallas to confirm a couple of things before the appointment in a week and they told me that he does NOT have privileges at Children's. So now I'm trying to work that out and figure out what happened.
I'm tired.
I think the job was bigger than anticipated. Certain things weren't as well communicated as they could have been, so there's still quite a bit to move and do, which makes everything interesting. Since Mom's not fully out, and won't be for a while, our move has been postponed to a date to be determined. First, Mom needs to make arrangements for what's left, and she's pretty busy most of the week so that'll take a little time to do. After that, we can proceed.
The hope was for our family to be in before the end of the school year so I'd have a few days with no kids underfoot to work on unpacking and settling in and decorating. I'm thinking it'll be sometime in the summer before we're actually moved, so I'll have to get creative with child distractions. Hopefully we can have a safe room with a tv and toys for them.
Then, yesterday, Caleb had to have surgery to remove a ruptured appendix. He was in pain starting early in the afternoon on Sunday and it just lingered until he ended up in the ER (for the second time in two days) yesterday morning and in surgery last night at 7. He's doing better and will be there for a couple of days recuperating.
Then today, I called the doctor in Dallas to confirm a couple of things before the appointment in a week and they told me that he does NOT have privileges at Children's. So now I'm trying to work that out and figure out what happened.
I'm tired.
Friday, April 20, 2018
Then the other shoe drops
The last few weeks/months have been pretty good around here. We've had some illness, but a house full of young children goes through that periodically. We've had more ups than downs lately.
Then Monday happened.
For those who forgot, or maybe didn't know, on top of Eden's heart issues, she's also got ptosis, a droopy eyelid, on her left eye. She's been seeing a pediatric ophthalmologist since she was 6 months old since it's so low it obstructs the top of her pupil. Put your hand over the top of your eye and look around....that's her whole life. Back in December, her doctor went out of network so we had to find a new one. We saw him in February for a vision check, more than the eye exams we'd been having. Three is about as young as you can check vision.
She did great with her right eye, but was very uncooperative with her left. He managed to get enough of a check done that he estimated her vision at about 20/60. He sent us home with instructions to play "pirate" to get her used to covering her dominant eye for another exam in April. She got pretty good at it and had fun teasing us with how long she could do it.
Monday was that follow up exam. She, again, did great on the right eye but when it came time to check the left, she wasn't really working with us. When the doctor finally came in to do his part, he tested her using a card and said she's not being uncooperative, because she answered just fine when it was her right eye, she just couldn't see. He estimates her current vision in her left eye to be about 20/80. That much deterioration in two months leads him to believe that her brain has started to ignore her left eye.
People with ptosis usually adapt. Think about Forrest Whitaker. He's got it pretty severely and he does fine. I'm not sure if his vision is affected, but it's pretty likely. Eden should have begun to tilt her head back to see better under the eyelid. Her eye seems to be perfectly fine, it's just not being utilized.
So her doctor wants to move her ptosis surgery from summer of 2020 to .... now, essentially.
Not tomorrow, or even next week (thank god for small favors), but sooner rather than later. He sent us home with instructions to patch her for three weeks. We have a follow up appointment with him on May 7.
Because of her heart, this surgery has risks and can't be done in Abilene. She has to go to Dallas to have it done at Children's. So when I got home Monday afternoon, I emailed her cardiologist to fill her in and ask about next steps. She doesn't have an eye surgeon in mind, so our doctor here agreed (and even offered at the appointment) to find one for us. Wednesday we got a call that we have an appointment in Dallas with a pediatric eye plastic surgeon on May 8.
Because I want to do ALL THE THINGS the week after we move. Sounds fantastic.
That's why, if you've seen Eden this week, she's wearing an eye patch. She hates them, but at least she's quit pulling them off. It's a struggle to get them on, but once it's on she generally leaves it alone. Monday was rough, she kept pulling them off, but if we can get her distracted with tv or her tablet, she forgets she's wearing it. I got some pretty ones on Amazon with ladybugs, mermaids, stars, teddy bears, and mouse princesses on them. Amazon seriously has everything, you guys.
I did a little googling of what her surgery will probably be and it looks like it's a 45 minute to 2 hour procedure and we likely won't have to have a stay in the hospital. I'd love if we didn't have to stay overnight at all, but if we do, I'd rather stay in a hotel. Granted, what I read was about a normal pediatric ptosis surgery, not a cardiac patient.
I have every confidence this will go well and she'll regain her vision. We've caught it as early as we could and we're doing what we can. She's my and Austin's child, and no one in our families has good eyes, so it's a given our kids will need glasses at some point. 20/80 isn't terrible (I'm sure mine is worse since I can't even tell if there's a chart on the wall, let alone read any letters) so if it even stalls there, that would be ok with me. That's correctable. We just have to get her brain to use that eye.
And I think it is. She's been watching tv one eyed all week and she's tilting her head back and correctly answering questions the Bubble Guppies and UmiZoomi ask. She gets pretty close to things, but she IS seeing. So that's a relief.
No one likes hearing their child needs surgery, or for that surgery to be complicated. I did cry on Monday, even as I was telling myself it would be fine, that this was nothing, a routine, simple thing for these doctors. The tricky part is the anesthesia, and that's why she's going to Children's. And if anything were to go sideways, she's there at a fantastic hospital that is fully equipped to handle her special case.
But she's still my baby and she's having surgery. Possibly in as little as a month or so.
So, prayers, healing thoughts, etc, all are welcome. She's a fighter and she's strong and willful. She won't let this keep her down.
Then Monday happened.
For those who forgot, or maybe didn't know, on top of Eden's heart issues, she's also got ptosis, a droopy eyelid, on her left eye. She's been seeing a pediatric ophthalmologist since she was 6 months old since it's so low it obstructs the top of her pupil. Put your hand over the top of your eye and look around....that's her whole life. Back in December, her doctor went out of network so we had to find a new one. We saw him in February for a vision check, more than the eye exams we'd been having. Three is about as young as you can check vision.
She did great with her right eye, but was very uncooperative with her left. He managed to get enough of a check done that he estimated her vision at about 20/60. He sent us home with instructions to play "pirate" to get her used to covering her dominant eye for another exam in April. She got pretty good at it and had fun teasing us with how long she could do it.
Monday was that follow up exam. She, again, did great on the right eye but when it came time to check the left, she wasn't really working with us. When the doctor finally came in to do his part, he tested her using a card and said she's not being uncooperative, because she answered just fine when it was her right eye, she just couldn't see. He estimates her current vision in her left eye to be about 20/80. That much deterioration in two months leads him to believe that her brain has started to ignore her left eye.
People with ptosis usually adapt. Think about Forrest Whitaker. He's got it pretty severely and he does fine. I'm not sure if his vision is affected, but it's pretty likely. Eden should have begun to tilt her head back to see better under the eyelid. Her eye seems to be perfectly fine, it's just not being utilized.
So her doctor wants to move her ptosis surgery from summer of 2020 to .... now, essentially.
Not tomorrow, or even next week (thank god for small favors), but sooner rather than later. He sent us home with instructions to patch her for three weeks. We have a follow up appointment with him on May 7.
Because of her heart, this surgery has risks and can't be done in Abilene. She has to go to Dallas to have it done at Children's. So when I got home Monday afternoon, I emailed her cardiologist to fill her in and ask about next steps. She doesn't have an eye surgeon in mind, so our doctor here agreed (and even offered at the appointment) to find one for us. Wednesday we got a call that we have an appointment in Dallas with a pediatric eye plastic surgeon on May 8.
Because I want to do ALL THE THINGS the week after we move. Sounds fantastic.
That's why, if you've seen Eden this week, she's wearing an eye patch. She hates them, but at least she's quit pulling them off. It's a struggle to get them on, but once it's on she generally leaves it alone. Monday was rough, she kept pulling them off, but if we can get her distracted with tv or her tablet, she forgets she's wearing it. I got some pretty ones on Amazon with ladybugs, mermaids, stars, teddy bears, and mouse princesses on them. Amazon seriously has everything, you guys.
I did a little googling of what her surgery will probably be and it looks like it's a 45 minute to 2 hour procedure and we likely won't have to have a stay in the hospital. I'd love if we didn't have to stay overnight at all, but if we do, I'd rather stay in a hotel. Granted, what I read was about a normal pediatric ptosis surgery, not a cardiac patient.
I have every confidence this will go well and she'll regain her vision. We've caught it as early as we could and we're doing what we can. She's my and Austin's child, and no one in our families has good eyes, so it's a given our kids will need glasses at some point. 20/80 isn't terrible (I'm sure mine is worse since I can't even tell if there's a chart on the wall, let alone read any letters) so if it even stalls there, that would be ok with me. That's correctable. We just have to get her brain to use that eye.
And I think it is. She's been watching tv one eyed all week and she's tilting her head back and correctly answering questions the Bubble Guppies and UmiZoomi ask. She gets pretty close to things, but she IS seeing. So that's a relief.
No one likes hearing their child needs surgery, or for that surgery to be complicated. I did cry on Monday, even as I was telling myself it would be fine, that this was nothing, a routine, simple thing for these doctors. The tricky part is the anesthesia, and that's why she's going to Children's. And if anything were to go sideways, she's there at a fantastic hospital that is fully equipped to handle her special case.
But she's still my baby and she's having surgery. Possibly in as little as a month or so.
So, prayers, healing thoughts, etc, all are welcome. She's a fighter and she's strong and willful. She won't let this keep her down.
Her eye is as open as it ever gets. Her first eye patch. She didn't know what was happening so she didn't fight it.
We bought this one but it wouldn't stay in place very well and was constantly slipping over her left eye, so we quit that. It was soft, though, so she prefers it.
Watching tv with a mermaid eye patch. Apparently this is comfortable?
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Busy Busy Busy
We've been blowing and going around here for the past several weeks. packing and moving boxes and stacking boxes and repacking after the kids find the boxes and pull out toys they haven't played with in ages so I thought were safe to pack but OH NO IT'S ACTUALLY THEIR FAVORITE TOYS and.....
I'm a little stressed. And tired. Ok, very tired. I have a standing Monday night "Mom Date" and last week I nearly fell asleep whenever there were those regular comfortable lulls in the conversation. I was asleep within about 15 minutes of walking in the front door.
We have packed up nearly everything we don't use on a daily, or even weekly, basis and there's lots of empty places in our house. They're balanced by the giant pile of packed and labeled boxes by the front door which is balanced by the pile of empty boxes in front of the fireplace.
I didn't used to be claustrophobic or have a huge issue with clutter but this past month I've felt on edge about stuff everywhere. We moved a ton of boxes over to Orange to store in the garage and thank god for that because I have no idea where those boxes would be now if we hadn't had a place to move them to. Maybe we'd have put them in our storage building, but probably we just would have procrastinated packing even more.
Easter came and went with a stomach bug that wiped out half of the family and problems with an oven which resulted in the Walke family Easter being catered by Belle's and eaten in the Perry Center at the church. The kids were adorable, as usual, and enjoyed the egg hunt. I dutifully took the candy tax and they're quickly working their way through the rest, since I've declared whatever isn't eaten is being thrown away when we move.
Everyone is doing great. The kids are getting more and more excited about the move, Austin got a nice raise at work, and I'm feeling pretty happy, in spite of the stress. Having my mom dates really helps with de-stressing, both because I get to get out of the house and have adult conversations, but also because I get away from the clutter.
A couple of people have pointed out that I don't have nearly as much stuff as Mom, so the house will be somewhat empty, or at least emptyish. I reply "I know, it'll be great!" Don't worry, I'm my mother's daughter. I'll fill it up. Hopefully it'll take me 25 years.
The big happy news, though, is Rebekah. She had her cardiology appointment today to check her VSD. For those who forgot, or didn't know, she was diagnosed in the womb with a small intra-muscular ventricular septal defect (hole in the muscle tissue between her ventricles, the bottom chambers of the heart). It was one that is super common and lots of people are born with it and never know, because they close on their own as the child grows, usually by about a year old, if not sooner. It's nothing to Eden's holes, but it was so minor, the doctor wasn't concerned about the home birth and gave us the thumbs up for that (which was good since the diagnosis was at like 28 weeks or so). At her birth, no one cold detect anything. At her doctor appointments, the ped couldn't hear anything. In April of 2017, she had an echocardiogram and it was still there, but it hadn't changed in size. Still no concern, come back in a year.
Cut to today, a year later. Our regular cardiologist wasn't there, because she's changed how she does things, but the other doctor is great, too. He listened carefully to Rebekah's chest, looked at her vital signs (100% pulseox, great bp and EKG, slightly elevated heart rate, but she hated having things stuck to her) and declared that the VSD has closed.
We knew it would happen and we've had no concerns about her health any more than any normal baby, but still. It's such a relief to know that her body did what it was supposed to do and her heart is whole.
Now I just have one kid with a janky heart. But it's janky in the right ways. We don't really want that to mend itself. (It would probably kill her if it did.)
There's so much more going on. Painting the Orange street house and moving Mom and Bob and moving ourselves and finishing school and getting settled into our "new" home (is it a new house if I lived there for 10 years 15 years ago? and is also 100 years old?) and everything else. I'm sure I'm forgetting major stuff. I've got lists everywhere and still managed to forget about today's cardio appointment until yesterday afternoon when Austin asked me about it.
We'll make it. Three weeks to go.
I'm a little stressed. And tired. Ok, very tired. I have a standing Monday night "Mom Date" and last week I nearly fell asleep whenever there were those regular comfortable lulls in the conversation. I was asleep within about 15 minutes of walking in the front door.
We have packed up nearly everything we don't use on a daily, or even weekly, basis and there's lots of empty places in our house. They're balanced by the giant pile of packed and labeled boxes by the front door which is balanced by the pile of empty boxes in front of the fireplace.
I didn't used to be claustrophobic or have a huge issue with clutter but this past month I've felt on edge about stuff everywhere. We moved a ton of boxes over to Orange to store in the garage and thank god for that because I have no idea where those boxes would be now if we hadn't had a place to move them to. Maybe we'd have put them in our storage building, but probably we just would have procrastinated packing even more.
Easter came and went with a stomach bug that wiped out half of the family and problems with an oven which resulted in the Walke family Easter being catered by Belle's and eaten in the Perry Center at the church. The kids were adorable, as usual, and enjoyed the egg hunt. I dutifully took the candy tax and they're quickly working their way through the rest, since I've declared whatever isn't eaten is being thrown away when we move.
Everyone is doing great. The kids are getting more and more excited about the move, Austin got a nice raise at work, and I'm feeling pretty happy, in spite of the stress. Having my mom dates really helps with de-stressing, both because I get to get out of the house and have adult conversations, but also because I get away from the clutter.
A couple of people have pointed out that I don't have nearly as much stuff as Mom, so the house will be somewhat empty, or at least emptyish. I reply "I know, it'll be great!" Don't worry, I'm my mother's daughter. I'll fill it up. Hopefully it'll take me 25 years.
The big happy news, though, is Rebekah. She had her cardiology appointment today to check her VSD. For those who forgot, or didn't know, she was diagnosed in the womb with a small intra-muscular ventricular septal defect (hole in the muscle tissue between her ventricles, the bottom chambers of the heart). It was one that is super common and lots of people are born with it and never know, because they close on their own as the child grows, usually by about a year old, if not sooner. It's nothing to Eden's holes, but it was so minor, the doctor wasn't concerned about the home birth and gave us the thumbs up for that (which was good since the diagnosis was at like 28 weeks or so). At her birth, no one cold detect anything. At her doctor appointments, the ped couldn't hear anything. In April of 2017, she had an echocardiogram and it was still there, but it hadn't changed in size. Still no concern, come back in a year.
Cut to today, a year later. Our regular cardiologist wasn't there, because she's changed how she does things, but the other doctor is great, too. He listened carefully to Rebekah's chest, looked at her vital signs (100% pulseox, great bp and EKG, slightly elevated heart rate, but she hated having things stuck to her) and declared that the VSD has closed.
We knew it would happen and we've had no concerns about her health any more than any normal baby, but still. It's such a relief to know that her body did what it was supposed to do and her heart is whole.
Now I just have one kid with a janky heart. But it's janky in the right ways. We don't really want that to mend itself. (It would probably kill her if it did.)
There's so much more going on. Painting the Orange street house and moving Mom and Bob and moving ourselves and finishing school and getting settled into our "new" home (is it a new house if I lived there for 10 years 15 years ago? and is also 100 years old?) and everything else. I'm sure I'm forgetting major stuff. I've got lists everywhere and still managed to forget about today's cardio appointment until yesterday afternoon when Austin asked me about it.
We'll make it. Three weeks to go.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Home Sweet Home...Again
It finally happened. After three and a half months and I don't know how many houses and 4 offers and three contracts, Mom finally bought a house! She's been packing and moving things in slowly over the past two weeks. I've been over there twice helping unpack and get things set up. My nephews have been helping pack and move the boxes and a couple of pieces of furniture.
It's definitely a downsize for her. She's going from 5400 square feet to about 3000. I have a skewed vision of what a big house is, so I don't think this house is huge, but a lot of my friends do. The main part of the house is three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room, huge dining room, huge kitchen and a small dining area. It's got a huge room with a full bath over the two car garage they'll use as a guest room. The main house is 2500 square feet and trying to figure out where Mom is going to put everything is like a puzzle. We've been measuring and remeasuring and triple measuring furniture and rooms and thinking about configurations for days. I think we might have her office figured out. Mostly.
She started packing back in February, when she had contract #2. I refused to pack anything until she actually had keys to a house because contract #1 fell apart when the seller couldn't sign because of a contention in the estate. Contract #2 was opted out of because of the incredible amount of work needed on the house. Offer #3 was declined. Offer #4 turned into contract #3 and I still waited until contract #3 became house #2.
So I've packed a few boxes. Not many in the grand scheme of things, but about 30 or so of books. And I have one tub of kitchen stuff packed. And Austin packed a few boxes out of the front closet.
I hate packing. Its so tedious. And there's not really space for filled boxes anywhere at the moment. I'm waiting for Bob to move his Corvette to the new house so I can start loading up and dropping boxes in the garage on Orange, but there's not a super rush on that. He's got a lot of other stuff going on with the move so that is not a priority for him.
Elijah has been surprisingly helpful with packing. He's pretty good at packing books into boxes. Granted, he's had some behavioral issues recently so he's lost screen time (the only punishment that really works around here) and packing and being Mommy's "slave boy" is the only way he has of earning it back, but he actually is useful. He can fetch and carry empty boxes, he's figured out how to put books in fairly efficiently, and he can pack one box for every three that I pack, which isn't nothing.
He doesn't want to pack his stuff yet, though. That should wait until we move. So that's going to be fun. 🙄
I asked the boys to pick out the games in the dining room they wanted to keep out so we could pack the others. There's probably about 20 games in there. They were ok packing the games Austin and I play with friends who come over for dinner and Eden's game. Everything else needed to stay out because they MIGHT want to play it in the next two months.
Everything relating to a move is so daunting. Utilities, insurance, packing, unpacking, the move itself; those are just the must happens. The extras, painting, new decor, special purchases...those don't actually make it just tons more fun. I am looking forward to throwing some color on the walls in the Orange street house, and I finally get to decorate bedrooms for the children, but figuring out the logistics is making me want to just crawl into bed and watch mindless tv and sleep for about two months. Wake me up when it's all over.
Maybe I should hire someone to come pack, too. That's not too terrible, right?
The kids are mostly looking forward to it. Asher is excited to have his own room with privacy. Elijah is excited to have a Mario themed room. Eden is excited to have a pink room. Rebekah...she's 1. She's clueless. They like Oma's new house. They're iffy on BB and Papa living in their old house ("I don't want to leave my stuff for them. I don't want BB and Papa to play with my trains." -Elijah).
It'll all work out and in a year's time, everything will be settled for us (I hope). We're hoping to be all moved by mid-May so I can have the last couple of weeks of school to have two days a week of uninterrupted unpacking and settling. CCF is only once a week this summer, and only in June and July. So I'll have maybe 7 days of no kids underfoot. SUPER.
It's happening. And it's going to be exciting and terrifying and exhausting and I'll be so relieved when it's all over.
It's definitely a downsize for her. She's going from 5400 square feet to about 3000. I have a skewed vision of what a big house is, so I don't think this house is huge, but a lot of my friends do. The main part of the house is three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room, huge dining room, huge kitchen and a small dining area. It's got a huge room with a full bath over the two car garage they'll use as a guest room. The main house is 2500 square feet and trying to figure out where Mom is going to put everything is like a puzzle. We've been measuring and remeasuring and triple measuring furniture and rooms and thinking about configurations for days. I think we might have her office figured out. Mostly.
She started packing back in February, when she had contract #2. I refused to pack anything until she actually had keys to a house because contract #1 fell apart when the seller couldn't sign because of a contention in the estate. Contract #2 was opted out of because of the incredible amount of work needed on the house. Offer #3 was declined. Offer #4 turned into contract #3 and I still waited until contract #3 became house #2.
So I've packed a few boxes. Not many in the grand scheme of things, but about 30 or so of books. And I have one tub of kitchen stuff packed. And Austin packed a few boxes out of the front closet.
I hate packing. Its so tedious. And there's not really space for filled boxes anywhere at the moment. I'm waiting for Bob to move his Corvette to the new house so I can start loading up and dropping boxes in the garage on Orange, but there's not a super rush on that. He's got a lot of other stuff going on with the move so that is not a priority for him.
Elijah has been surprisingly helpful with packing. He's pretty good at packing books into boxes. Granted, he's had some behavioral issues recently so he's lost screen time (the only punishment that really works around here) and packing and being Mommy's "slave boy" is the only way he has of earning it back, but he actually is useful. He can fetch and carry empty boxes, he's figured out how to put books in fairly efficiently, and he can pack one box for every three that I pack, which isn't nothing.
He doesn't want to pack his stuff yet, though. That should wait until we move. So that's going to be fun. 🙄
I asked the boys to pick out the games in the dining room they wanted to keep out so we could pack the others. There's probably about 20 games in there. They were ok packing the games Austin and I play with friends who come over for dinner and Eden's game. Everything else needed to stay out because they MIGHT want to play it in the next two months.
Everything relating to a move is so daunting. Utilities, insurance, packing, unpacking, the move itself; those are just the must happens. The extras, painting, new decor, special purchases...those don't actually make it just tons more fun. I am looking forward to throwing some color on the walls in the Orange street house, and I finally get to decorate bedrooms for the children, but figuring out the logistics is making me want to just crawl into bed and watch mindless tv and sleep for about two months. Wake me up when it's all over.
Maybe I should hire someone to come pack, too. That's not too terrible, right?
The kids are mostly looking forward to it. Asher is excited to have his own room with privacy. Elijah is excited to have a Mario themed room. Eden is excited to have a pink room. Rebekah...she's 1. She's clueless. They like Oma's new house. They're iffy on BB and Papa living in their old house ("I don't want to leave my stuff for them. I don't want BB and Papa to play with my trains." -Elijah).
It'll all work out and in a year's time, everything will be settled for us (I hope). We're hoping to be all moved by mid-May so I can have the last couple of weeks of school to have two days a week of uninterrupted unpacking and settling. CCF is only once a week this summer, and only in June and July. So I'll have maybe 7 days of no kids underfoot. SUPER.
It's happening. And it's going to be exciting and terrifying and exhausting and I'll be so relieved when it's all over.
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