Sweet Strawberries

Last summer, we started a new tradition that has become one of my favorite activities...strawberry picking. There is nothing like the taste of fresh strawberries!

The weather wasn't ideal for the day, {nor is it ever anymore it seems} but Stef, Tracy, Amber and I decided we were going anyway! So, a drizzly day with lots of mud, and off we headed to the strawberry field at a local orchard.  Soergel's is a place we've all been for a variety of different activities and events, but not for strawberry picking until this year.  I know I talk about this often, but we are blessed with a wonderful group of friends and so fortunate that our children all get along and are friends, as well.

Andrew was in Tennessee, Violet and Liam were in carriers, Dylan and Audrey were doing other things that day, and Amy and her girls were out of town on vacation, so 7 more kids are missing from this group!

We rode out to the field in a little trailer, stepped off into the mud and the kids were ready to go!

The Lilys found their perfect place to get started and stayed together almost the entire time.

Violet didn't want to be set down, so there were a lot of tears from her when I did put her down to try to take some pictures. 

Lily came over to sing "You are my sunshine" to make Violet feel better.

This was another first for Violet and Liam that they got to share together!

The babies were pretty interested in the straw. :)

You never know what you're going to get with these two girls.  I think they ate their weight in strawberries while we were picking them and then found themselves underneath an apple tree to take care of their business.

After we were done at the farm, we all headed to eat lunch together.  Strawberry picking is hard work. 

What a bunch of lucky kids to grow up creating incredible memories! 

Can't wait until next year! 

Tiny Dancer

The preschool Lily attended this year was a performing arts preschool where dance, music, gymnastics and theater are built into the curriculum in addition to academics.  The 3 year olds all have turned 4 except for Lily. She's still about 6 weeks away from 4.

The school year culminated with a variety of activities. One of them, a dance recital.

The girls practiced before the school year ended on their designated dance day, Lily practiced some moves at home, and last week, they had an evening rehearsal since school has ended.

I had no idea what the music was or what the dances would look like. Her teacher kept it all top secret for the moms to get the reveal on recital day.

We bought our tickets and in excitedly awaited the day!

I gave Lily a soft makeup brush and a little sparkly face powder to put on after I finished fixing her hair. She was thrilled to put on her own "makeup."  I loved watching her and relished in the moment that this was my little girl.

After she was ready, we went outside for a few pictures before heading to the venue. 

When the girls came out, they all looked so adorable and so big!  I sobbed through the entire number! I laughed at some moments too, just knowing their personalities.   It was simply the sweetest thing.   
And. Totally. Worth. The. Wait.

My tiny dancer.

{Lily is 2nd from the left}

I love this picture! She cracks me up! So serious and still looking for us. :)

The final bow!

Andrew missed it because he was already off to visit his dad in Tennessee, but we lucked out that Reagan was with us this day ~ even though she closed her eyes in every picture. ;)  Violet was so good throughout the entire recital and only started to get restless near the end.  Lucky!

Lily we are so, so proud of you!

The Eyes Have It

 *Part one of what led us to glasses.

We had Lily's follow up eye appointment this week.  The glasses have been great and she has no issue wearing them at all! Patching is still a struggle some days and realistically we haven't patched every single day.  I'd say we average 4 days a week for 2 hours those days. I'm currently working on an incentive chart for her that will hopefully help her not struggle with it and for me to be more consistent.  We were originally to go back for a check up 6 months from her initial visit, which should have been March, but when I had finally called June 3, was the first we could get in.

George and I were again nervous because we had noticed some additional things happening with her eyes recently.  Her left eye was still crossing when she'd have her glasses off, more significantly still when she was tired.  We had both separately noticed that her right eye started doing the same.  My heart sank.

Yesterday morning when Lily was getting dressed and she didn't have her glasses on, I was walking toward her and she said laughing, "There's two of you!" Her eyes were crossed.  Again, heart sinking.

All this time, my suspicion growing that she'll need surgery.

We met up with Stef and her little ones for lunch and to play beforehand which turned out to be the best distraction for both of us, as her 14 year old cat died that morning and I was pretty anxious about this eye follow up. Yay for the best of friends!

When we walked into the new office --they were in a temporary office during our first visit-- Lily was thrilled to see Cars 2 playing on the tv!  She immediately made her way over to the toys and played with her familiar trucks and blocks.  The kid has an incredible memory and before we'd even gotten there she asked me about those toys!  Hanging on the wall was a Little Mermaid print which she immediately spotted and exclaimed joyfully about.  She was in heaven! One of her fave movies playing and Ariel on the wall.

We made our way to the exam room where she had her eyes checked again telling what pictures were on the cards shown to her.

After she did the initial exam, she had her eyes dilated and we had to wait 20 minutes for that to do its job, so we headed back out to the waiting area aka the trucks, blocks and movie.  Well, Cars 2 had ended, so a new movie was put on. Again, a dream come true for Lily...Frozen!  We moved back into an exam room after the dilation period was up and she was still able to watch her movie.

Nursing cover turned Elsa cape...

 Frozen was a great way for Dr. Cheng to have her focus on something far away.

Checking out her eyes when she's looking and focusing closer.

Because her eyes were dilated, she was having difficulty seeing and kept trying to adjust her eyes and saying, "Mommy, my eyes can't see right." 

I love this picture!

I expressed our observations about her other eye turning and Lily saying just that morning she could see two of me and Dr. Cheng was wonderfully reassuring that all of that were actually good things!  The other eye turning shows that her brain is still using both eyes to see and not just one. And the blurriness she experienced without her glasses on is the same thing--both of her eyes are working. I asked about swimming and how to handle that and he said she was perfectly fine to swim without glasses and just wear them if she were out of the pool playing, but in the water, she's fine to go without.

He said she's still far sighted and her eyes are perfectly straight wearing her glasses when she's looking far away, but wants to bump up her prescription a little because she's still turning on that original eye when she's focusing closer.  He also said this is all very normal and she's doing exactly as he'd hoped.

So we'll continue patching just 5 days a week 1 to 2 hours a day, get her some new glasses and see him again in about 4 months!

Lily was so good through this whole appointment! Polite, moved from waiting room to exam room to waiting room to exam room without issue, answered questions directly. I could not have been prouder of her!

I Can See Clearly Now

Last summer, shortly after Lily's 3 year old well visit to the pediatrician, we started noticing Lily's left eye turning in a  bit when she was tired, so we headed back to the doctor where I mentioned what we had seen. { love her!}  She checked her eyes and saw what we were talking about and recommended we see a pediatric opthalmologist reassuring us that it doesn't have to mean worst case scenario.  We immediately called to make the appointment, but still were unable to get in for a few weeks.  Of course between the pediatrician visit and the opthalmologist visit, I broke my ankle, Andrew broke his wrist, and of course I was still in my 31+ weeks of pregnancy.

Lily's eye actually began turning more frequently and more significantly, but again, mostly when she was tired. The thing is, it's tricky to tell really because kids do weird things with their eyes and when it's slight, you're not entirely sure you actually see it or if it's just a quick focusing thing. 

This picture (2 days before her appointment), she had just woken up. Her left, your right.

The day of her appointment, George and I were both pretty nervous. The possibility of having something wrong with our baby's vision was pretty scary.   There were a lot of trucks and blocks to play with in the waiting area and when it came time to go back to an examination room, Lily didn't want to give up the truck, so the truck came too.   In the first part of the exam, Lily had to cover each eye and name the black and white object on a card as they moved further and further away.

This was reviewing the cards to see if she knew what the pictures were to start with.

I loved this! She was examining her baby doll's eyes the same way, but using a block to cover one eye.

Dr. Cheng is so good with kids!! We are thrilled to have found him!

The determination of the exam is that she is farsighted.  When she's focusing on something close, her left eye turns in/crosses because it is unable to focus clearly. The concern with that is without correction, eventually the brain stops using the eye and vision is lost in that eye.  So, we left with a prescription for glasses and instructions to patch her "good eye"  1-2 hours a day to strengthen the weaker one.  Dr. Cheng did say it's possible for her to outgrow her glasses as she grows.  Considering everyone in her family wears glasses, we were hopeful it would be an easy transition for her.  Luckily it was!

We picked up a temporary patch on the way home until we could find some more information about patching.  Patching has been the most difficult part of the whole thing. Some days she doesn't complain, some days it's like torture.  We also went that same afternoon to order glasses for her.  She picked them herself because we wanted her to be comfortable in them so she'd wear them!  I think she did perfectly!

Follow-up appointment coming up...