Mady, Can I Have a Kiss?

Muah!!

Mady's Eyes

The other day Mady found 4 cans of soup. She played more with the soup than I have ever seen her play with an actual toy. She stacked them, unstacked them, put them in a bag, took them out, carried them, pushed them in her stroller...she played for HOURS with the soup!

Then she moved on to bigger things. She got into the cupboard in the kitchen and got out the Cascade rinse agent for the dishwasher. She squirted it all over the floor. We mopped it up and threw her in the bath, then she went off to bed. No big deal.

That was about 8pm. She woke up at 5 am the next morning just screaming. I gave her a sippee and she stopped crying for about 20 min, then it was back to the screaming! We put her in bed with us and she was inconsolable. Screaming, crawling, kicking, arching her back. It was very obvious that she was in a lot of pain. We gave her some ear drops for pain thinking that maybe she had an ear infection. Then we gave her some Tylenol. Nothing soothed her. Then it occurred to me, she hadn't opened her eyes yet. I called poison control to see if maybe she could have gotten some of the Cascade in her eye. They suggested we take her to the ER.

I took her in and the doctor confirmed that she did have an ear infection but wanted to check her eyes just in case. He put numbing drops in them and that was the first time in 3 hrs she opened her eyes. Then he put some other drops in to look at them under a blue light and sure enough, she had chemical burns on her corneas! Oh my goodness!! So sad! I felt like the worst parent ever!! Poor, poor Mady! What I couldn't figure out though, is why it had taken so long for it to hurt her?

He sent us home with an antibiotic for her ear and drops for her eyes. She slept most of day one and woke up crying every 30 min or so. Still never opened her eyes.

Day two she opened her eyes about a quarter of the way and could see enough to walk again. This is pretty much what she looked like all of day 2.

Today is day three and at times her eyes are open all of the way. She is in a good mood and seems almost completely back to normal. The nurse said eye injuries heal quickly so we are banking on that and keeping our fingers crossed for no permanent damage. Poor Mady! It broke our hearts! Bryan stayed home for two days and helped with her because she kept trying to walk with her eyes closed and we didn't need another trip to the ER!! She required a very close eye. He was a huge help with her. Now...off to the store to buy locks for the cabinets! I know, I should have some already but no one had really ever bothered them before. Lesson learned!

Winter....ALREADY?!

This is what we woke up to the morning of October 4th.

I guess I won't be mowing the lawn today!

I thought it was too early for snow last year when it snowed on October 11th! Guess I was wrong. The snowflakes were huge and it snowed almost all day. The power was out for awhile in several areas. The snow was so heavy!! You can see that it bent my hedge almost in half (Which is probably where it should be anyway, it really needs trimmed!) It collapsed the canopy over the deck at my parent's house because it was so heavy. Bent the poles and everything.

The kids had fun with it though. They started to build a snowman...he never quite got finished. They got too cold and wet.

But the best part about snow in October, is that the next day it's almost completely melted. All but the big ball that was to be the bottom of the snowman.

And to Mady and Logan, on day two, this big snowball became a big snow cone!!

Brooklyn Starts Preschool

.....for real this time!

We finally finished jumping through all the hoops to get all the testing and what not done, so Brookie began preschool Monday morning.

She qualified for the preschool program through the school district because of her speech and language. She scored very high in her developmental areas but she not so well in the speech areas.

She was excited to go to school Monday morning. Her daddy packed her a lunch just like he did for everyone else so she didn't feel left out (even tho she doesn't eat lunch at school). She thought it was awesome and she ate it as soon as she got in the car after school.

She went right in and hung her backpack and jacket up and then kissed me and said "Bye bye, mommy."

I'm glad that she likes it. It has made it so much easier. She is really a mommy's girl so I was concerned about how she'd deal with leaving her mommy, but she did great.

Next week she'll start riding the bus like the other kids and I'm sure she's going to love that!!!

Our New Dog

I was over at my aunt Jean's house the other day and I had never seen her dog, Sonny, before. They had him for about a year (yeah, I know, I need to visit more often) and when I saw him I fell in love. I don't know why, but I was instantly in love. Jokingly, I asked her if she wanted to trade Sonny for our dog Jackson. She looked at her husband and said, "Sure."

We worked out all the details and we traded dogs! Kinda funny but it has been a perfect fit for both of us! Sonny has such a great disposition. He is awesome with the kids, doesn't poo in the house, doesn't bark, doesn't run away, can catch a ball and loves to play. Jackson loves his new home and Jean and Rick are training him and say he is already a much better dog.

Labor Day Parade

This year the kids and I made a last minute decision to join my parents and my sister in Sun Valley for Labor Day. Every year they have a Wagon Days celebration with a wagon parade (no motorized vehicles) and a car auction which my dad LOVES. While my dad was drooling over classic cars at the auction, the rest of us went to the parade. My niece Reagan marched in it but I was having some camera issues and so I didn't get a picture of her snapped in time. Sorry, Reagan!

Everyone was just a little goofy, if you couldn't tell!

While all of the "floats" in this parade are pretty cool, nothing tops the finale. This is, I think 6 wagons long, and pulled by 20 mules. It has a difficult time making the turn down the main street every year but they do it somehow. It is very impressive!

After the parade, we went to this little lake and had a picnic with grandma and then did a tiny bit of shopping (Sun Valley has a great second-hand store!) and met up with everyone at the car show. It was a great day. Everyone had a lot of fun. Especially Lisa! She got a new Range Rover at the auction!!

*disclaimer* My lovely 3rd child got ahold of my camera and broke the lens cover. Thus the pretty black smear in all of the pictures. I was so upset! The last 3 cameras we've had have all been put to rest because the lens broke! Bryan came to my rescue and bent this part back enough that it stays out of the picture and I can still use the camera...therefore I don't have to give Brooklyn away like I had initially threatened. Yay for daddy!

Brooklyn's First Day of School?

I took Brooklyn in to do an evaluation with a speech therapist to see if she would qualify for the preschool program through the public school system. The therapist said she would figure it all up and then call me with the results. A few days later the secretary at the preschool called me and set up the bus route and told me school started at 8:45 Tuesday morning.

I was so sad to have my little Brookie leave to go to school!! She is such a mommy's girl I wasn't sure how she would handle it, especially having to get on the bus and leave her mommy behind! The bus never showed so I took her to school. The room was filled with little kids and they were playing with toys. She happily hung her backpack up in her cubby, with her name on it, and began playing. Then the director came in and said "Oh I can't have Brooklyn here yet! I still need to do my assessment and set up an IEP." Ummm....huh? Apparently there was a communication problem within the preschool. I then had to take my daughter, who was now happy to be leaving her mommy, away from all the new toys and kids and go back home. Talk about traumatizing your 3 year old!! She didn't want to go but she reluctantly went along and was easily bribed with a trip to Target to forget about it all.

We have since done the assessment and the IEP will be this week so I am assuming (I probably shouldn't do that!) that she will start school next week. I think I will verify it with the director before we try to go again!! The good news is that she is very happy to be leaving her mommy behind to go to "my school". Poor mommy. :(