Life is Crazy!

It's been too long since I've blogged!! Life is Crazy right now!

Here is a taste of what we've been up to and blogs to come...

• Bennett's Eye Surgery
• Conrad's 3rd Birthday/Party
• Rhythm Church's first month
• Kick Off of Rhythm Community Groups
• Conrad's first day of Preschool/3yr checkup/the potty training continues!
• Bennett is 17 months old!
• The leaves are falling and I have 3 eager helpers!
• We are going to a Pumpkin Patch!
• Our car troubles continue!
• God's blessing on us overflows!

So there is the list... lots going on and so much to be thankful for!!

Bennett Eye Update

Yesterday Bennett had her pre-op appointment in Iowa City. Her doctor was concerned that her vision is not quite where it needs to be in order for him to preform the surgery. Basically, when her vision is not the same in both eyes, it means she is preferring one eye to the other... in other words her brain is not using both eyes all the time.

So, we still have the surgery scheduled (2 weeks from today) but we now have to go back next Monday for another check on her vision. Her doctor has asked that I patch full time/anytime she is awake. He also gave me a prescription for eye drops that blur the vision in her good eye, leaving her vision impaired so she has to use the bad eye to see. I asked for the drops because she has a tendency to take her patch off (that's why we are in this situation)... so whenever she does pull it off at least her bad eye is still having to work. We've been through 8 patches today already, but I am committed to doing all that I can in order to make this surgery happen in 2 weeks.

I am totally to blame for the situation we are in... I hate fighting with Bennett to keep the patch on and over the last 4 weeks I probably was patching 2 hrs a day (i was supposed to patch 2-4hrs) I have restraints, but I hate seeing her cry and fuss because she can't do anything.

Please pray for me, that I would have perseverance to see this through and that I would have though love for Bennett and not give up with the patch. And pray for Bennett that progress would occur in her bad eye and that the eye drops would not bother her mood too much.

Thank you all for your support!

Birthday Cake Help!!

I'm in need of some input, so all you followers out there leave a comment and give me some ideas!!

Conrad's 3rd birthday is in 2 weeks and I am having a hard time deciding what kind of birthday cake to make for him. He loves just about any character, we have cable so we watch a large variety of cartoons... he also likes animals, mainly ones that roar! I want to make a cake using fondant, so I think that's why I'm having such a hard time deciding... it's much more complicated using fondant, but I love how they turn out!

So, I'm going to leave it up to my commentors... you decide for me! Throw out your ideas and I'll pick the easiest/one that fits Conrad best!!

Here are the cakes I have already made for previous birthdays, so these are off limits!

My Favorite Primetime

In honor of premiere week I thought I would share some of my favorite shows that I tune into on a somewhat regular basis.

My all time favorite reality show is Big Brother... it's on once a year during the summer, so the latest season just ended and I am a little sad :(

The Colony started this summer and it's finale is next week... but it is basically a government test to see how a group of people could survive/thrive after some kind of pandemic takes out a large # of the population. Good stuff.

Rookie Blue is also a show from this summer that we follow on Hulu... pretty entertaining, good story line

We have followed Survivor for quite a few seasons... it's always entertaining and every season is very different from the ones before...

I watch The Mentalist if I'm home when it's on... Simon Baker makes me laugh and the show has that mystery/humor side of things.

Criminal Minds is one of my most favorite shows. It's total drama... Thaddeus and I joke that if we see the first 5 minutes we're sucked in! It has a different take on criminals/FBI compared to CSI and Law and Order.

And our favorite by far right now would be Glee! If you haven't checked it out, you should... and you don't have to like musicals to enjoy Glee!!

The Things that Entertain

We spent Labor day weekend at Thaddeus' parents house and Grandma Lori found lots of fun stuff for the kids to play with!

Like this big box, which Gunnar pulled and pushed everywhere!

And this box that Conrad pretended was his airplane!

Bennett loved riding on the car creeper!

And she especially enjoyed her ride with Conrad!

We spent some time hanging out on Tank's dog house... Gunnar wanted to do a pull up on the metal pole, but he was just a little too short!

With the help of Daddy, Bennett was able to reach the pole!

We never know what fun we'll get into at Grandpa Teddy and Grandma Lori's house!

We had a great weekend!!

Weekend with Conrad!

This last weekend Lori, Thaddeus' mom, let Gunnar and Bennett stay with her and Ted, while Thaddeus and I had some time alone with Conrad!!

We started out our weekend by having a lunch date at Taco John's (Con's choice!) just mommy and Conrad! He loves their potato ole's!!

Then, with a full belly, he took a great nap while I vegged on the sofa!

The majority of our weekend was spent at Rhythm Church finishing the bathroom remodel project for service sunday night. Conrad helped take all of the cardboard to our van... and then later he helped put it on the burn pile!

Saturday morning was spent in our pajamas playing with Geo Trax. We have a huge set, but Bennett tears everything apart and the boys usually end up fighting so we don't play with them often... Conrad loved having all the Geo Trax to himself!

Saturday night we went to Kohl's (I had some Kohl's cash I needed to spend!) and got Conrad a new toy!

I had a great weekend with Conrad all to myself! (Thaddeus was at the church most of the weekend) It was nice to only have 1 kid for a couple days and be able to give him all my attention!! Thanks Ted & Lori!!

Bennett is 15 months old!!

Bennett turned 15 months old ten days ago, on friday the 13th!! So I'm a little behind, but I wanted to update everyone on her stats and how things with her eyes are going!

Stat wise, she weighs 20lbs (20th%) and is 30inches tall (45th%). Everyday she learns something new... she is the silliest little girl I know!

A few words she can now say:

Bennett

mommy

daddy

hi... bye

hi dad

cake

juice

night night

i did it

banana

eye

head

Bennett loves her blankies and bear... so much so, that nobody can hold them but her! She also loves her Mommy a bit aggressively at times... she screams if the boys sit on my lap and if I give Thaddeus a hug she tries to pull his arms off of me! Like most little girls she has a bit of an attitude and has already figured out that if she screams/yells when the boys take toys from her they'll get in trouble! But, mostly Bennett is just so silly... she likes to blow bubble with her mouth or make all kinds of silly sounds. In the last week she has really found her nose, actually her nostrils, and she enjoys walking around the house with her finger up her nose! (It's pretty darn cute, but something we are working on stopping!)

Last week Bennett had another eye appointment in Iowa City. This time my mother-in-law came with me, and I was so glad to have a little extra help!! We were able to schedule Bennett's surgery for October 12th!! Her eye is so close to be the same vision as the other, that they let us schedule!! I am so excited to have a date and be able to plan a bit! We still need to patch until the surgery date, but only 2-4hrs a day. She has a pre-op appointment 2 weeks before the surgery where they make sure her vision is still were they want it, so please be praying that the patching continues to work and we can go ahead with the surgery!

It was great to talk with her doctor and ask questions about the surgery and things we should expect afterwards. There is a 30-40% chance she will need further surgery to fully correct (or at least mostly correct) her eyes.

Bennett is growing up so quickly!! We love life with our cute pigtailed girl!!