It was inevitable...

that sooner or later we would start buying glasses for our kids. I got glasses in kindergarten for the first time just to help with distance. By about fourth grade I had to wear them all the time to function. I have had contacts since I was 12. Dave got glasses in high school. He wears contacts most of the time too.

Effective for the kindergarten students of this school year, a comprehensive eye exam with an optomotrist is required for admission to school. Number Two cried at the end of her appointment...she didn't need glasses and so badly wanted them!

About a month ago I noticed that Number One seemed to be having vision issues. I made her an appointment and voila...

I think she looks pretty darn cute with them on.

At least she was nice enough to let her sad sister try them on (notice the sad envy look behind her eyes)...

It has been two weeks now and Number One thanks me often for getting her glasses because she can see so much better now. She doesn't need them all the time, but they sure help the poor girl see the board at school!

And I have a hunch that sooner or later, Number Two will get her wish for the "four-eyed" look. In the meantime, she is trying my patience with her determination to ruin her eyes on purpose...watching TV from 6 inches away and looking at books in the dark whenever I am not right there to intervene. Grass is always greener!

More Growing Up...

My little Number Three started preschool this week. After having been diagnosed with "profound phonological disorder," she was admitted to a special phono preschool program through the school district.

I love how we have to have a label to get help with anything! Kind of cracks me up. Bottom line, Number Three is above average in her vocabulary and sentence structure (scoring 91st and 98th percentile, respectively), and she is all around a very bright girl. However, she makes so many pronunciation errors that most people can't understand much of what she says. Thus, the disorder label and the need for the special preschool.

She has been so excited to go! It was all a whirlwind this week, as we met with the district speech pathologist to go over the results of her evaluation on Monday, and she started the program Tuesday at 8:15 AM. Fortuneately with my sister here, I was able to do all her school supply shopping on Monday and get everything ready.


[Look at the size of that backpack!]

She had a great first day. As soon as the aide helped us unload the contents of her backpack into their proper places on Tuesday (snack, drink, folder, notebook, etc), Number Three looked at me, said, "Goodbye Mommy," (as in, "this is your cue to go now") and found her spot on the carpet.

When I picked her up after school, her teacher (the speech pathologist) told me it was like Number Three had been to preschool her whole life. She just fit right in perfectly, and even knew how to use scissors properly, which most of their incoming preschool kids don't. (Thanks to Number One and Number Two for helping her with that skill.)

Today she wouldn't hold my hand as we walked up the ramp to her classroom. She just didn't want to. She wasn't rude about it...she just didn't need me.

I am thrilled that she is getting the help she needs, and thrilled that she is so capable and competent. But I am a little sad. I hadn't planned to send her to preschool until next year, which would have given her two full preschool years before kindergarten. But now this milestone has come and gone so quickly, and I feel a little sense of loss as she is one step closer to really growing up.

Now if she could actually give up her diapers, she would REALLY seem more grown up, but somehow I don't think I will feel any sadness when that finally happens.

Sisters...

Last Wednesday night my sister called and said she was thinking about coming Friday...would that work for me?


My sister doesn't come often. She lives far away and has a family of her own to care for. She is that member of the family who was always kind to everyone growing up and we all really appreciate her. My sister and I are sixteen years apart, and in many ways she has been like a second mother to me, though now I've finally grown up enough that we can be more of friends rather than more like parent-child in our relationship.

I adore her, and of course told her to go ahead and come, even though I felt overwhelmed by the busyness of what we had scheduled for the weekend.

The last five days have just flown by. My sister has served my family. She has fed my kids, and done my dishes, and done a lot of baby-sitting while I ran around getting things done. At night we got to just visit uninterrupted (mostly) and though I am very tired, I so enjoyed having her here. She brought her youngest daughter, and my girls really enjoyed having their cousin here. I enjoyed the fact that they fought over sitting by her rather than by me for once!

When we got to the airport and faced the realization that she was leaving us, both Number Two and I couldn't really hold back the tears. In that moment I understood just how much I had needed someone to come and help me for a few days. There are very few people who could have done what she did...who could understand how to help someone like me whose love language is service, but who is SO hard to serve because of my fierce independence.


I don't think she may ever realize the depth of gratitude I feel for this unplanned visit. Thanks Anne, for always being there when I have needed you the most. You mean the world to me.

She's Growing Up Already!

On Sunday I saw a two week old baby at church...it made me sad to think that my baby isn't a newborn anymore. She is just changing too quickly.


Of course it is fun to see her look like a little grown-up baby. I LOVE these jeans with the sweater.


And I do love that she smiles at me so often now, and even laughs a little sometimes.


But couldn't she just stay little forever?!? sniff sniff

Tender Mercies

This past week has been very full, and I have experience emotions at all ends of the spectrum. Fortuneately, the most trying things are now far more hopeful than before.

Sunday ended on a very positive note. I felt happier than I have in some time, and so grateful.

Yesterday...not so much. It was a rough day.

But today, things are better again, and I am recognizing the importance of noticing the small tender mercies of the Lord--the little things that fall into place that I believe have divine intervention so that we can feel the love of the Lord.

It is not even noon, and I have three happy reports:

1. This morning when I drove Dave to the bus stop, I felt prompted to go a different way than usual. I did, and he made the bus. Had I gone the other way, we would have missed it.

2. I have been looking for Number Three's birth certificate, which wasn't where it should have been. I was on the verge of having to pay almost $50 to order a new one, expedited, so she could have it for our meeting Monday with the speech pathologist for the school district where we will put together her IEP because she has "phonological disorder" (basically, she can't pronounce words so that most people can understand her). I felt prompted about another place to look this morning, and I found it.

3. I feel like a runner! I walked for five minutes at 3 mph (1/4 mile). Then I ran for thirty-six minutes at 5 mph without stopping (3 miles). Then I walked for five minutes at 3 mph (1/4 mile). That is 3.5 miles in 46 minutes, with running (well, maybe jogging for some, but running for me) for most of it. And my face is PURPLE!!!

And lucky me, I get to take Number Two to school with a purple face, as it is time to go!

Hope you all are recognizing the tender mercies in your lives. It makes all the difference.

Soooo 80's...

Number One decided upon blue wristbands (think sweatbands) from the prize counter at Chuck E Cheese last time we were there. She laid them out with her clothes last night, and I commented to her that they were totally 80's.

Tonight we had Eggo waffles, fancy scrambled eggs, fruit, and hot chocolate for dinner, but to change it up, we ate by candlelight in the dining room. While at the table we were discussing something about our dinner, I can't remember what, and Number One remarked that whatever it was "was so totally 80's."

I grinned at her inappropriate use of the term, and said that it wasn't really so 80's. She said, "But you said that my wristbands were so 80's." I confirmed that they were.

Suddenly Number Two piped up to tell us this dinner was totally 80's because we were eating by candlelight, and they always had dinner by candlelight in the 80's because that is all they had.

Out of the mouth of babes...history is retold.

The Blessing of Number Five

These pictures are LOOOONG overdue. Eventually, I will go back and post the many events I have neglected...like finishing our trip this summer. Someday I plan to pay to have my blog made into a scrapbook, so I need to make sure I get all of these important happenings recorded.

Anyway, back to the blessing....


These are the men who took part in Number Five's blessing.


And a picture of our family together.


And here with both sets of grandparents.


Our darling looked beautiful.


I think she looks like an angel.


Sometimes Number Four just can't get enough of his sister. He adores her.


All of my girls have had beautiful blessing dresses all their own. When I was making preparations for Number One's blessing, my mom asked if I wanted to use the dress I was blessed in. Sure, I thought that would be great. Then she told me when I was done I could give it back to my sister L, as she was the oldest and got to keep it. Suddenly, I was no longer interested in that dress. I felt like it was a rip-off that I was in the wrong birth position to have the dress, and I vowed to buy a new dress for each of my daughters, that they could keep.


Someone at church asked if I had made her dress...I cracked up. Um, no. I ordered it from One Small Child...same place I got Number Three's dress. Actually, the woman who asked me is an amazing seamstress...she could have made the dress.


The dress I liked the most wasn't carried in the newborn size at the time, so this was the next best choice. And honestly, she would have looked beautiful in any dress she wore. I would know. I'm her mother. :)