The First Day of School

Tuesday was the first day of school.  It's always a bittersweet day.  I hate to see summer go, but I do appreciate a routine and some socialization for Vera.  This marks year #9 for me, and year #3 for Vera at Patty's house.  Vera was excited to see her friends at Patty's, though she's a little confused about where Karly is at.  Karly's not coming back to Patty's this year; her grandma retired and is watching her now.  Vera's going to be hanging out with lots of boys this school year: Reece, Ryan, Max, Ryan Treon, and Landyn.  The babies Zoe, Cooper, and Sophia will keep Vera's attention too.   When the after school kids arrive at Patty's, Vera gets plenty of attention from everyone, especially Jenna and Breanna.  Vera's going to start preschool activities with Patty after Labor Day.  She's going to love that!!

 

 

 

 

 

A Big Day!

The first day of school was a big day for another reason.  I had a message after school telling me that Vera's glasses were in.  I called them back, and they told me to come on over and get them fitted.  Vera was really excited to finally bring home her pink glasses.  It was a long process to find a pair that fit her little face. 

To back up, at the end of July I took Vera to our family eye doctor for an exam.  At 10 months, Vera had a procedure done to open her tear ducts.  At that time, the ophthalmologist told us that Vera was already near sided.  Talk about heartbreaking to hear that about your baby when she's so small!!  So, I decided to have it checked this summer since she knows colors and shapes and can communicate fairly well.  The eye doctor was excellent and very thorough.  Vera did a super job too!  At the end of the visit, we learned that she has a fairly significant astigmatism and is near sided.  She needs to wear glasses full-time to ensure healthy development and connections between her brain and her eyes. 

I was a little overwhelmed with all of this.  I didn't expect full-time glasses already; it was hard for Adam and I at first.  How do you teach a 2 year-old to take care of glasses?  How do you know if they're helping?  The eye doctor also said it's not likely she'll out-grow this.  Adam and I both got our glasses in elementary school and remember what it was like to grow up with glasses.  I worried about her going to school and making friends wearing glasses, and immediately appearing "different" than the other kids.  I also remember them being hot and awkward. 

But, I've come to realize that glasses are so minor in the grand scheme of life, and there are much worse things.  Adam and I both have accepted this, and we're excited so Vera will be excited. 

Here are some of the pictures I took as we were searching for a pair that'd fit and stay on securely. 

Vera and I really liked these, but they were too big.

 

I thought these were cute, but again too big.  No way she'd be able to keep them up.

I liked these too, but Vera didn't at all.  These had cables that went around the ears, which helped a lot, but unfortunately these were too tight along the temples.

 

To say I was disappointed with our selection was an understatement.  I couldn't believe how few glasses are available for tiny toddler girls.  Vera was set on purple glasses with butterflies on them.  Needless to say, those couldn't be found.  The ones that were available from our family doctor did not fit nicely, and Vera hated them.  She cried when we put them on her.  I started doing some investigating and talking to other moms, and decided that it'd be best to buy our glasses from Dr. Ruhenkamp's office in Versailles.  The woman in there was so nice and patient with us.  She was very knowledgeable on how to fit them properly.  Plus, it's a reality that these glasses are going to get broken, scratched, stepped on, smashed, lost and bent.  It's a whole lot more convenient to get them fixed in Versailles compared to running to our family eye doctor constantly.  Here are a few options we tried out with Dr. Ruhenkamp.  (If you can't tell, we made numerous trips to the eye doctor's office.  It was a challenge each time to keep Vera occupied, interested, and sitting still.)

 

I wanted to see her in a pair of plastic frames that fit correctly.  These had the cables around the ears, and they sat on her nose fairly well.  However, we all agreed that these glasses reminded us of children with a disability or handicap. 

We liked these too.  They had ladybugs on the temples.  The nose piece was really helpful in keeping them on her nose.  But they were too short on the temples and seemed a little tight.

The catalog we were ordering from literally had six frames for girls.  I quickly learned that it was going to be about fit more than fashion.  We ended up with these.  They are pink with ladybugs on the temples, but not the same ones as in the picture above.  They fit perfectly.  Vera loves them.  When they put the glasses on her for the first time, they asked her to look down the hallway.  Her reaction was, "Whoa!  Mom!  It's so pretty!"  The tone in her voice was amazing to hear; it was as if she was in awe at what she was seeing!!  What a cool experience!  When we left and went outside, she reacted the same way, "Wow mom!  I can see the car!!"  She was really tired that evening from a busy day.  She fell asleep as I rocked her, but she refused to take off her glasses.  We had to sneak them off after she fell asleep. 

 

The sticker on her shirt is from the glasses fitting.  She sat really still and was a very big girl.  She told the receptionist "thanks for the glasses."

The first 24 hours with the glasses exceeded everyone's expectations.  Vera only took the glasses off about 3 times; she didn't mess with them or complain about them.  Everyone kept telling me that if the glasses were helping, she would leave them on because she realizes they help her.  I noticed immediately that she didn't stand as close to the TV.  She didn't seem clumsy or disoriented at all when she walked. 

 

Around the 25th or 26th hour of having the glasses, however; they broke.  Vera said her ears were hurting, which was quite possible, so I helped her take the glasses off to check it out.  Her ears weren't red or irritated at all.  The cables around the ear are awesome!!  But, as I was putting the glasses back on her, the screw popped out of the temple.  Adam has a repair kit for his glasses, and we tried to fix them.  He and I both worked on them, and were not successful in fixing them.  (It was actually quite frustrating to work on them.  They're so tiny!)  So after one day, the glasses went back to be repaired.  At least it was an easy fix, and it wasn't due to Vera mishandling the glasses. 

 

 

Since Tuesday, Vera has done so well.  Patty says she leaves them on all day.  Adam, Patty and I are all shocked at how well this has gone so far.  The only time I really catch her taking them off is when we're in the car, probably because she knows we can't get to her to make her put them back on.  She can't really put them on by herself because of the cables around the ears. 

 

 

Adam took this picture on Vera's first day at Patty's with glasses.

 

On the other hand, we clean the glasses about 3-4 times per day.  Vera's still learning how to rub her eyes and wipe her tears with glasses on.  We've heard lots of comments when we're out in public about how adorable she looks.  We think so too!

 

 

Cheap Fun!

It's been too chilly to go to the pool or play in the water at home, which has been disappointing.  But, we did find a way for Vera to play in the water without getting in the water.  She loves helping me water flowers, so tonight I filled up the watering can, brought out some cups and bowls and let her play.  She spent a solid 30 minutes pouring water into the bowls, pouring it into other bowls, dumping it out, stomping in the puddles, and asking for more water.  She got a little frustrated when the watering can was too heavy for her to pour.  It was also tricky for her to pour water into the yellow cup without it spilling.  I guess this is good motor skills for her.  Surprisingly, she wasn't soaked at the end, and she had fun.

 

Cruisin' 2013

Adam and I will be married five years next month.  As an excuse for a Caribbean beach vacation,  we took a long weekend and went on a cruise last weekend with Dave and Kara Berger.  We left on Wednesday evening, spent the night in Orlando, and then were cruising from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning.  Our ship made stops in Nassau, Bahamas and Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. 

Our ship, the Carnival Ecstasy

This is a view from our ship before it left Port Canaveral.  These two ships set sail right behind us.  One is a Disney cruise ship and the other is another Carnival ship.

Sailing away from land.  You can see the two ships behind us.

Picturesque views.

Adam and Dave watching as we sail away.

My first drink on the ship.  I don't even remember what it was.  All of the frozen fruity drinks looked like this on the ship.  They were pricey, but tasty too!

On Friday morning, we arrived at Nassau.  We all agreed that Nassau wasn't nearly as picturesque as we'd hoped.  The beach was just ok.  But it was perfect for shopping, as there were plenty of street venders to barter with.  Unfortunately, it was fairly overcast and it rained for an hour or so.  We made the most of lousy weather by parking ourselves at Señor Frogs, a high energy bar on the island.  We stayed there longer than we probably should've, but we had a good time. 

At the beach in Nassau.  In the distance you can see several of the ships at the pier.

 

Friday evening we set sail for Half Moon Cay, and we arrived early on Saturday morning.  This made up for Friday.  It was gorgeous.  The beach was perfect as was the weather.  The sand was so powdery and white.  We spent most of our day relaxing on the beach and enjoying the crystal clear ocean.  We all earned a nice tan.

The ship is not photo shopped.  That is our ship.  The island does not have a dock large enough to accommodate the ship.  So the ship dropped anchor and then we took smaller boats to shore.  Isn't the beach so pretty?

You can see the smaller boat used to transport us to shore. 

The beach was busy, but very nice.

There was a bar inside the pirate ship.  It was also playing music.

We missed Vera a little on the trip.

Adam and Dave enjoying the water.

Adam and I went up to the top of the Pirate Ship and took some pictures.

 

When we got back from the beach, we hung out on the Serenity deck and watched the sunset.  It was really pretty, although the clouds were in the way for the perfect sunset.

 

It was really windy on the deck at this point in the day.

 

On Saturday afternoon we set sail again for a "fun day at sea" on Sunday.  We spent Sunday sleeping, soaking up the sun, and enjoying drinks.  The ship had a 21 and over "Serenity" deck, which is where we spent most of our time while on the ship.  We found some deck chairs, snatched an umbrella and enjoyed lots of relaxing.  There were no kids, no obnoxious music, and terrific staff to bring everything we needed.  It was so nice.

Our room steward checked our room twice per day.  Each evening we had a towel creation on our bed, along with chocolates.  Here are the creations from each night.

It was a great vacation.  We had smooth travels, no one got sick, the ship didn't start on fire, we didn't miss the boat, and we came back with  just the right amount of sun.  Adam and I both have "sea legs."  We still feel like we're on a boat, but it is getting better.  Vera spent her "vacation" with Grandma and Aunt Mandy.  She seemed to have a good time, and earned a good report from both of them.  Now it's back to reality, catching up, and getting ready for school to start.  Boo!