Back to School

Yesterday was Dylan's first day of school. Man is she growing up! She's going to the same school she went to last year and she was really looking forward to starting again.

She got up early, got dressed early, ate breakfast early and was ready to go early. I, on the other hand, was running late. We got a few "First Day of School" pictures taken and were heading out the door when I remembered I hadn't packed a water bottle for her. I turned around headed for the kitchen mentioning I needed to get Dylan some water, when she informed me (with quite a matter of fact attitude, I might add) that she had already gotten her water bottle, filled it up and put it in her backpack.

As we drove to school she asked me if I was coming in with her, and I told her that yes, in fact, I was. She was not so happy about that. In fact, she asked me specifically not to. I told her I would walk her in, snap a few pictures and leave just as quickly as I came. She finally agreed that it would be okay as long as I left quickly.

We got to school, and instead of holding my hand up the walk to her class, she ran ahead of me, swung open the door, put her backpack and homework where they belonged and sat down at her table and got to work. Obviously she remembered the routine and was ready to get back to it.


As promised, I took a few pictures said goodbye and left. And she didn't even turn around to say goodbye. And truth be told, I'm not even sure she actually said goodbye. I didn't exactly hear it.

Two hours later I picked her up and she was all smiles. It was a great first day and she was thrilled to hear she would be going back again only two days later.

It's going to be a good year.

The End of Summer

I think I still have a few more years before my kids really understand the difference between the school "year" and summer vacation, but today I was compelled to celebrate our last day of summer. I wanted to take the kids to the water park, but I also wanted us to have a nice lunch with grandma and do a little bit of back to school shopping. Unfortunately, because of the hours of the water park, we only got to do lunch and shopping. Dylan may not appreciate it now, but I'm sure that in about 10 years, she'll choose shopping over a water park every day of the week.

We drove over to Kohl's hoping to find that special something for the first day of school. In my mind, we never found the "it" outfit perfect for the first day, but in Dylan's mind, we found plenty of perfectly pink choices. How could I resist when each item was less than $2.50?

After that we headed down the street to Ross and shopped a little more. Again, the pickings were slim, but we found a cute pink and white striped shirt that would be perfect with a pair of shorts she already had at home. We met Grandma at Ross and headed over to lunch.

If anyone asks Dylan where she likes to eat, she gives two answers: Sonic and Paradise Bakery. Lucky for me, we had decided on Paradise Bakery the night before. We had a fun lunch with Grandma and ate cookies too. It was a great way to end our summer.


The rest of the day was spent preparing for the first day of school. Dylan and I decorated her All About Me poster and she went around the house collecting a few items for Show 'n Tell. I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to make them my vision of perfect before I realized that this is all about Dylan. Not all about who I think Dylan is.

If she wanted to use random colors on her poster that didn't coordinate with the paper she had chosen, it's her artistic prerogative. After directing her to choose a few toys that I thought were perfect choices to showcase who she is, she surprised me and found the most perfect choice of all to add to her bag. And more than that, she also decided that she only needed to take these perfect three items, and not the five she was allowed to take. My little girl knows who she is, knows what she likes and isn't afraid of it. I sure hope she stays that way.

Coming up tomorrow: her second "First Day of School."

Quick Wit

Yesterday my mom and I were out and about having lunch, doing some shopping and generally just spending time together. We talk a lot on these outings, about a lot of different things. We started talking about Dylan and about how quick she is.

Now, when I say quick, it has nothing to do with her speed. This is about her intellect, processing and wit. She's a quick one this three year old of mine.

My mom told me about a conversation Dylan had with my sister regarding Isaac, her cousin and playing together. Apparently, the cousin is Dylan's friend, not Isaac's and Isaac was not invited to the next get together, no matter what my sister had to say about it.

As my mom and I talked about Dylan and what a quick little girl she is, we both laughed at just how smart she was and just how fast she catches on to things being said.

Case in point:

Yesterday we dropped her and Isaac off down the street so Todd and I could grab a quick dinner. When we returned an hour or so later this is the story we were told.

Katie's sister (who is an elementary school principal) had come over to pick up her son, and had been introduced to Dylan. She asked Dylan how old she was and Dylan responded, "I'm three." When she was then asked when she turned four, Dylan responded immediately with, "On my next birthday" and turned and left the room to continue playing.

Katie and Wendy told me that they laughed and laughed at her response and that they had never heard a better answer to that question. Wendy then told me that I shouldn't worry about sending Dylan to kindergarten a year early, she'd do just fine.

Apparently the quick wit and sarcasm that Todd and I each possess was passed along to our daughter.

I Know...

It's been a while.

And I still haven't posted about our 4th of July camping trip. Or the fact that Todd and I went and saw Wicked a week and a half ago. But I'm guessing, that for now, these last two sentences will have to do.

The big news is this...I'm writing this blog without the aid of my ever trusty glasses! In fact, I'm doing everything nowadays without those pesky things.

Yup. I finally did it. I got LASIK on Friday and so far, it's everything I imagined it would be...and more!

Last March I went up to Barnet Dulaney Perkins in Phoenix to see if my eyes were candidates for LASIK surgery. There was a time when I knew I wasn't. I have a pretty bad astigmatism and LASIK wasn't even an option for me because of it. I bided my time patiently and talked to my optometrist about a year ago about it. Actually, it was longer than that, because I had considered getting LASIK before our Alaskan Cruise which was in May '08. He gave me a number to call, and also told me that there wasn't enough time to get the surgery and still be ready for the cruise. So, I waited.

In March, I went, took all the tests, read all the letters, followed all the dots and was told I was a perfect candidate. Hooray! I was so excited and was choosing a date for the surgery. Then I talked to Todd, and we realized it was more beneficial for us to wait until July so we could make a couple changes to our insurance plan. Financially, it just made sense.

So, I waited some more.

July rolled around and Todd started to question when I was going to get the surgery done. I knew I needed to retake some tests and get a few more measurements, and I also knew that Todd was going to have to take at least a day off from work. He's been so busy I didn't want to take him away from the office, but I was tired of his pestering.

On Thursday, July 9th I called Barnet, talked to someone who had my file, and made the surgery appointment. It was set for eight days later on Friday the 17th. I was to go in on Tuesday the 14th for my pre-op measurements, have the surgery on Friday, then a post-op appointment on Saturday the 18th.

I called Todd, told him to take Friday off from work, talked to my parents and sister in order to get the kids taken care of, and it was set. I was going to be able to see clearly, WITHOUT glasses, for the first time since I was probably 9 or 10.

Friday morning my appointment was at 9:15am and Todd and I got there early. We met with the doctor who assured me that I would love this surgery...especially with the state of my eyesight. Apparently have an astigmatism wasn't a good enough description. I had a really good astigmatism. He also told me that because of this, it might take a bit longer for my eyes to heal completely and that there was a 25% chance I was going to need an enhancement surgery 3 months down the road. But for the time being, I was going to love it.

I was called back and given a valium to calm me down (I was pretty excited and my blood pressure proved it) and then sat in a recliner to relax and let the valium do it's work. I listened to lasers working in the next room, and listened to patients get their final eye care instructions on their way out, and finally, about 20 minutes later, it was time for me. I walked into the operating room, laid down on a table, and a corneal flap was cut in each of my eyes. The worst was over within about 3 minutes.

I again relaxed in a recliner for another 3 minutes, then got to watch a red and green laser light show as my eyes were cut into and clarified. Again, 3 minutes later, it was over, and I was being moved into the post-op section to receive my final eye care instructions and a quick look to make sure there were no wrinkles in my corneal flaps. I walked out the door and was in the car on my way home by 10:45.

An hour and a half. Are you kidding me??? That was all it took. We stopped once on the drive home to give me some more drops, and again some more once we got home, then I slept, ate, got more eye drops and repeated the rest of the day and into the night. By 5:30 my eyes were feeling pretty good and I could see. Really see.

I went in for my post-op appointment Saturday morning and my vision was 20/25. Holy cow! And the doctor told me it would only get better as my eyes healed. Todd was jealous because my eyes were already better than his. He didn't like the fact that I could read signs further down the freeway than he could. It was great! I told him that he better start treating me better now that I know what he really looks like. He's not nearly as cute as I thought he was!

I'm totally just teasing about that!

So now, I'm taking all my daily drops, multiple times a day, still trying to adjust my glasses on my face and forgetting that I don't have glasses on my face. It's all so weird, but it's fantastic too.

Whatever was I thinking waiting this long?? I would have posted a picture of all my glasses, but I donated them on Saturday morning so they can be taken to Honduras for those that might have eyes as bad as I did just a few days ago.

Here's to seeing a whole new world, and taking pictures without having to worry about a glare from my glasses!

Facebook Part II

It is nearly official. I believe Facebook has killed my wife's blog. I mean seriously when was the last time she posted something? I remember the days of 30 posts in 30 days. Yes they weren't the most in depth postings but at least one had something to look forward to reading each day.

Sorry readers no more updates. Sorry kids no documentation of you growing up. Sorry Blogger - Facebook wins again. Maybe you need to add some time wasting games like Bejeweled or Farm Town.

Bye blogger. You've been good to us.

Little Brothers

I should have known. Or at least have expected it. Let me tell you a story...

A few months ago Dylan and two of her friends started getting together each week for a play date. We rotate homes, feed the kids lunch and let them play for a few hours. This is so fun for a few reasons. First, the girls learn to play and share and start making lasting friendships. But also, we moms get one precious day a week where we only have our little boys with us. It's perfect mommy-son date time. Ironically, all three girls are the oldest, and all three have those pesky little brothers.

This morning, as we prepared to welcome two more three year old girls into our home, we made a quick dash to Michael's for some crafty inspiration. On our way Dylan started this conversation with me:

Dylan: "Mom, when we get home can you lock Isaac in his room with a package of fruit snacks?"

Me: "Umm, no."

D: "But mom, I don't want Isaac to be out of his room when my friends come over. I don't want him to bug them."

Me: "How do you know Isaac will bug them? He might play really nicely with all of you."

D: "He's my little brother. He always bugs us."

I just shook my head and laughed thinking that Isaac, at two years old, is already bugging his older sister and her friends. Then I chuckled even more thinking of all that Dylan and her friends are in store for when this little brother starts bringing over friends of his own.

As I was laughing, Dylan started up another conversation with Isaac.

D: "Isaac do you promise not to bug my friends?"

I: "Uh huh."

D: "Does uh huh mean yes you will bug us or yes you won't bug us?"

I: "Uh huh."

D: "You won't bug us?"

I: "Yes."

D: "Okay, thanks big boy."

I'm guessing all will be well, until Isaac starts bugging the girls. Then we'll see how quickly they request he be locked in his room with fruit snacks and water.

Facebook is a killer...

This blog is a few weeks behind but better late then never...

I have come to the conclusion that Facebook is a killer. It has taken my wife's every free moment. From Bejeweled, Farmtown and other games, messages from Olympian friends (she has like 3-4 now) and all the stupid little quizzes one can take (I mean who needs to know what kind of Transformer they would be?) all of her free time is now focused on the stinking website.

Yes I am being hypocritical here as I am probably the king of being on the computer but this is getting out of control. For the past 3-4 hours we've sat on the couch watching television and playing on two separate laptops. I had to send her phone a text message to distract her! We went camping over the weekend and she was online within 15 minutes of getting home. Of course deep down inside I love the fact she is interested in the computer and various websites but enough already.

Facebook - I want my wife back.

I guess I should be happy. She accepted my friend's request after making me wonder by delaying her response for 3 days.

(I'm just having a little fun with you honey. I know you are just giving me a taste of what I've been giving you for a very long time. Love you.)