Random Tuesday Thoughts

• One week from today is the closing on the house! I can't believe it's really happening :-). We are so excited to move in to our first home together.
• Ryan is excited to finally get to try riding the bus (once we move). He wanted to last year, but I didn't feel comfy with it at all. This year it only makes a little nervous. We'll at least give it a try. I have to admit it will be nice not having to drag one or both of the younger kids with me for drop off and/or pick up, but if the bus doesn't work out then I'll gladly go back to it.
• I love fall! I'm ready for it to not be in the 80's anymore (it was 86* when I went to pick Ryan up today!). Not looking forward to winter, though. Hopefully it will take it's good ol' time getting here.
• Brooke has her 2nd cold in a month. The only one not in school and she's the only one that's been sick recently. Go figure.
• PMS sucks. 'Nuff said.
• Ryan and Cole both have their Halloween costumes (Iron Man and War Machine). Joe is putting together an Incredible Hulk costume. I still have to find a costume for Brooke and Joe is insisting I dress up :-P. Brooke is probably going to end up being Minnie Mouse, a cat, a (cute) witch, or Bat Girl.
• I've been a reading fool lately. I've read so many books since we moved here. The public library is right on the way to take Ryan to school (and walking distance to our new house), so it makes it convenient to stop and get books. The most recent one I finished (just tonight) was Look Again by Lisa Scottoline. It was pretty good and didn't end how I expected it to. Some others I've read are Table For Five and Home Before Dark by Susan Wiggs, The Courage Tree by Diane Chamberlain, and Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. Next up is either In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner or To The Power of Three by Laura Lippman.
• And now I'm going to go finish watching Teen Mom and see how many more times tonight's episode makes me cringe :-/.

Longest Eye Doctor Appointment Ever

This morning Ryan had his first appointment at his new eye doctor. I got a recommendation from his previous eye doctor on who to bring him to out this way after we moved. I have to say that everyone in the office was very nice and really good with Ryan, however his appointment was at 9am (we got there at 8:45am) and we did not walk out of there until 12:09pm!!! Ugh. It sucked so bad.

They didn't even call him back until 9:30 and the nurse didn't get done with him until 9:50. The doctor didn't come in until a few minutes after 10. One HOUR after his appointment time. I was already annoyed. He started his exam and about 20 minutes in, Ryan said he had to go to the bathroom. So the doctor told me to take him. We were gone about 3 minutes. We got back to the room and the doctor was in the next room doing an exam on another patient! He came in almost 10 minutes later. My annoyance level increased.

At this point, the doctor was ready to check the pressures in Ryan's eyes. For the past few years, this has been done under sedation, but the doctor wanted to try doing it with him awake. Ryan was done at this point and did not want to get back in the chair. It took a lot of coaxing and I don't even remember how we ended up doing it. He was not happy about getting the numbing drops in. In order to check the pressure, the doctor has to hold an instrument that sort of looks like a big ballpoint pen on his eye. Ryan did GREAT for it. The pressure in his right (bad) eye was on the high end of normal and the left eye was in the middle range of normal, so that was great :-).

Then of course the doctor wants to dilate his eyes. I know this means at least an additional 15-20 minutes just waiting for the drops to work. At this point it is 11:00. Two hours after his appointment time. I was supposed to be home by now so Joe could leave for a work appointment (he had Cole AND Brooke at the house). Luckily he was able to do the appointment over the phone. I called him to let him know what was up while we waited for the drops to work. The plan was for me to take Cole to preschool and he was going to go to work. I thought for sure we would be back by noon so I could do that. But 20 minutes go by and we are still waiting. Finally at the 30 minute mark, the nurse comes for him so she could have him look in the machine and take measurements of his eyes. Again, Ryan wanted nothing to do with it. I couldn't really blame him! They finally bribed him with a pretzel rod.

Then we go back to the room and the doctor is in another room, examing not one, but two kids. And WE have been there for 3 hours now! My annoyance level is through the roof by now! He FINALLY comes in about 10 minutes later and finishes the exam. I had a voicemail from Joe asking me to meet him at Cole's preschool after the appointment to get Brooke from him so he could go to work, but then he left another one saying he could just drop Brooke off there since it was on the way. They ended up getting there right when we came out from the exam room. Unbelieveable.

The doctor told Ryan that not all appointments will be that long. If the next one is even half as long, I think I'm looking for a new eye doctor. That is way too long to expect a 7 year old to wait and cooperate. He didn't even make it to school today. He missed lunch there and by the time I would have gotten him something to eat and to school it would have been about 1:00 and he was have had less than 2 1/2 hours before I would be back to pick him up. I don't think he was really in the mood to go after all of that, either. He only missed 4 or 5 days of school all year last year, so I'm not really worried about him missing 1 day already.

At least all was well. He is supposed to go back in 4-6 months for his next appointment.

Great Weekend

My parents came to visit over the weekend :-). They were originally going to come Saturday morning and stay over and leave Sunday, but they decided to come Friday night instead. It worked out nicely because Joe's parents were out of town for the weekend, so my parents were able to stay in their room and be more comfortable (vs. sleeping on the pull-out couch).

Saturday morning we hung out outside and the kids played in the yard and my mom somehow became the "swing pusher", lol. Brooke and Cole love the swings and swinging really high. This is the first year Ryan has wanted *anything to do with swings and he won't swing very high, but I'm proud of him for trying (unfortunately no swing pictures of him this time).

Unfortunately this is the best picture I got of Brooke on the swing.

My camera was doing some weird things that day, but this picture turned out neat.



My dad and Ryan playing baseball with a big bouncy ball.

Joe finished painting Cole's "old" car todder bed for Brooke. This car used to be blue! Brooke will start sleeping in here once we move in to our house.


Saturday evening after dinner, we all went to the driving range. It was Ryan and Cole's first time going. We thought they would like it and they really did. Brooke was content mostly to sit in the stroller and watch, although she got her turn at the very end when Joe helped her hit a few balls.

It was so windy!

She still loves buckles!

Sunday morning Joe and the kids and I went to church (my parents declined this time...turds, lol). The pastor just started a new series called "7 Easy Ways to Wreck Your Life" and I think it's going to be interesting. Joe and I signed up for small group discussion, which will be Wednesday nights (starting tomorrow nigh). Joe has done these before, but this is my first time (obviously). I'm a little nervous since I'm not sure exactly what to expect and I can be quite shy around people I don't know at first, but I'm excited about it, too. The kids will be going and doing their own thing at the church while we're in our group.

Cole left with his mom from church (she goes to the same church) to spend the day with her. Joe, my parents, the kids, and I all ended up going to a sports bar to watch the Steelers game at 1:00. I'm not a big football fan, but I love Rick's. My mom is not a football fan AT ALL and didn't really want to go, but she did and I think she ended up having fun. My sister and her hubby came, too. I figured I would be leaving by halftime with the kids because they would be driving me bonkers by then, especially with it being during Brooke's naptime. But they did AWESOME! Brooke loved the complimentary popcorn and that kept her occupied until the food came. Ryan alternated between playing the VSmile pocket and Leapster. They both ate their food great. Then Ryan had to go to the bathroom and my mom took him. He spotted the arcade they have, so then he wanted to go play. But he was patient and waited until I was ready to take him and he did good and didn't throw a fit or get an attitude when he was out of game tokens. The most surprising part was that Brooke wasn't even in a highchair there. We let her sit in the booth...first she was between Joe and me and then between me and my sister once they got there. I'm still amazed at how well she did. It was a really fun time and I'm glad I chanced it and took the kids.

My parents and sister and brother-in-law headed home after the game. I actually had a hard time with it that night and ended up crying thinking about how I missed everyone from "back home" and being able to see them at the drop of a hat. It is true that living an hour away isn't a huge deal, but it's a lot different from being a few minutes away. I don't know if it will ever get easier for me or not. Overall, I am doing well with the move, but I do have my moments. I am definitely the happiest I've ever been....just have those moments of missing everyone sometimes.

P.S. We will definitely be closing on the house *by the 30th (most likely ON the 30th)! Everything is done (or just about done)! When I went by today (I pass the house every day taking Ryan to school), I noticed the "SOLD" sign is up :-). So excited!

Trying to Stifle My Excitement

We are getting closer to closing on the house! It is getting harder and harder not to get excited, but I'm a little nervous about something happening to make this fall through. I really think this is it, though. Closing is set for the 30th of this month and we're hoping to be moved in by the end of the first full week in October. Now we'll see if it actually happens. I've been driving past this house every day taking Ryan to school and picking him up and every time I think I get a little more excited. I really love it. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it is actually a stone house and much cuter in person. It is 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath. It has a kitchen/dining room (one big room), living room, and family room. It has tons of closet space and a nice basement for storage. There's some painting we want to do and eventually the carpet will need to come out of the kitchen (who DOES that?). And the yard needs fenced in. Other than that, there really isn't much else that NEEDS done. The bathrooms are both in great shape (unlike the last house we almost got). Also, in the other house we would have had to pull up all the carpeting in the downstairs because it was nasty (among a lot of other things that needed done). Not so in this one. Even the carpet in the kitchen is in great shape...but I just cannot live with carpet in a kitchen, lol. Well, I will live with it for now, but it is going to go at some point. It would also be nice to put a small island in the kitchen, maybe....when the floor is done. I think that is all of the pictures I will post for now, even though I have more of the inside. I think I will wait until I can share pictures of *our stuff in the house :-). (The current owners are still living there.)

In other news, Ryan started his second week of school today. I am really hoping that his love of school will last a long time. It makes it so much easier to send him. And he is doing great with his school work. They are still working on getting his therapies in place, but his teacher has been pretty on top of things. I spoke to her on the phone after school the first 2 days and I have also talked to the vision support specialist and his OT. Everyone has been so nice and really seems to care about Ryan and making sure he has the best year possible.

It's been a bit of an adjustment for Brooke and Cole with Ryan being back in school. Cole isn't here all the time, but he is here a lot of the time. I know he misses having Ryan around to play with, but I think this will be a good opportunity for him and Brooke to learn to play together better and get along more (hopefully...lol). Usually when it's the 3 of them together, Ryan and Cole play together and Brooke either does her own thing or torments the boys, lol. So that's why I think this will be good for the 2 younger ones. Cole also has a habit of yelling at Brooke a lot (just to yell, lol) and taking things from her, so those are things I think will get better the more they spend time with just each other. Of course, Cole starts preschool on Friday (he has orientation Thursday), so he will be gone 3 afternoons a week, too. Poor Brooke (or maybe lucky Brooke?...to not have to compete for attention). LOL.

A couple weeks ago Ryan had an ENT appointment (bad ear infection that lead to his eardrum perforating/rupturing) and I had to take Brooke and Cole along too because Joe's work schedule changed. I was pretty nervous, lol. But we survived...well, we did more than survive. The kids were really good. We were in and out in about 30 minutes, so that helped. I think it will take some more small excursions like that before I am totally comfortable with all 3 out in public. You just never know what you're going to get and it can be a lot harder to handle meltdowns and tantrums and fighting/bickering in public, depending where you're at and all that fun stuff. But I guess that's what keeps things exciting! Right??

Ryan's Birthday Party

Better late than never, right? We had it on the 13th of August (one week before his birthday) at Chuck E. Cheese. He had a blast! I was a *little worried that he might not like being in the spotlight when Chuck E. Cheese came out, but I worried for nothing. He was so in to it and I loved seeing him have so much fun. I'm sure what you really want is pictures, so here they are :-).

Ready to party!

So cute :-)

Getting his birthday crown.

All 3 kiddos

Checking out his Toy Story cake....

....and his birthday medal.

Dancing with Chuck E. Cheese :-).

Love...lol.

Time for presents! He is in to Iron Man now...thanks to Cole :-).

He loves putting coins in his piggy bank, so my mom and dad have started taping coins in his birthday card. LOL.

Opening Wipeout for the Nintendo DS. He was soo excited. He LOVES that show.

He is loving Toy Story right now, too.

Nerf gun...he got a dartboard to go with it, too :-).

Chuck E. Cheese came out for another party and Brooke was TICKED that she couldn't go see him again...lol.