January 2014

January has seemed to last forever.  The weather in Indy has been the coldest and snowiest in my lifetime.  All that snow would be fun if the girls were old enough to go sledding or it wasn’t too cold to head outside and build a snowman, but onto the biggest event of the month. 

 

As mentioned in the previous post, Allison was diagnosed with cataracts and had surgery on the right eye on January 7^th.  She was quite the trooper that morning and was social with all of the nurses and doctors in the outpatient area.  The procedure took 2 hours and she was very unhappy after the procedure.  Once we got into the car and got home, she was calmed down and seemed to do back to her normal self by the next morning.  For the first week we had to put drops in her eye every 2 hours.  Then, for 2 additional weeks we did it 4 times a day and then in the 4^th week, it was only 2 drops a day.  On top of having your child have eye surgery, we had record snow here the weekend before which had us concerned that the procedure would be cancelled.  The snow storm caused us to lose power 2 days before the surgery for about 18 hours and we also lost power for about 6 hours the day we got home from the surgery.  We were lucky my mom lives so close and has plenty of room so we could stay with her to stay warm.  After the surgery, Allison had to stay home from daycare for a week, so Deb and I split the time up and Beth helped out 2 mornings.  Allison did pretty well with the drops after getting used to it. 

 

Because Allison’s surgery went so well, we decided to go on a previously planned trip to Jamaica in mid-January.  We went to Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay.  It was really amazing how quickly Deb and I were able to let go of the girls and just have fun.  Don’t get me wrong, we love the girls…but this was a fantastic trip.  Randy and Anna have spent enough time with the girls to know their routines, so we knew they were in good hands.  Once you take away our cell phones and our watches, it was like we were 8 years younger and without a care in the world, other than if the sun was going to stay out or if we needed another drink.  The sun was out most mornings and then it would get cloudy and possibly rain some afternoons.  We didn’t care…we would just sit in the hot tub and talk to whoever was there.  This resort had plenty of couples and small groups, so it wasn’t difficult to find people to hang out with or talk to.  We tried paddle-boarding, played ping pong and 9 ball and ate pizza on the beach for lunch a few days.  We celebrated my birthday while we were in Jamaica.  Definitely nice to celebrate my birthday in warm weather for a change.  The only negative to the trip was that I stepped on some glass near the bar so I had to get that cleaned up and Deb got sick from the food one day.  Other than that, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope to have more weekends/trips together.

 

Allison had her daycare “parent/teacher” conference and she seems to be doing great.  While mostly everything was fantastic and she appears to be doing very well, the only thing she could work on is independent play.  She seems to be a follower and not a leader.  Well, part of that is on us as we usually don’t have her playing by herself since we are usually playing with her.  We have started to ask Allison to play with Sarah independently from us and it is going well.  We have also incorporated an alarm clock that is the picture of a cow.  If the cow is sleeping, you should stay in bed…if the cow is awake, you can get up.  She doesn’t follow the rules of the clock, but it allows for us to say, “the cow isn’t awake so you need to go back to bed.”  This is followed by some whining, but she usually obeys.  She is getting up 1-2 times a night and coming into our room.  This is causing for everyone (especially Deb and Allison) to get a little less sleep.  We hope this phase ends soon. 

 

Sarah had her 9 month appointment and it went very well.  She is within an inch of Allison’s height at 9 months and within a pound of her weight at that time.  The doctor decided that Sarah could use a little physical therapy to help her start moving a little more (she doesn’t roll well and isn’t crawling yet).  She has been to a few sessions and already appears to be more interested in moving, reaching and grabbing.  I know…we have it good right now.  Once she can move, we will be worn out! 

 

Sarah’s Thing of the Month

                She has started to eat cheerios broken up into 3rds and will grasp and eat those while being fed.  I remember this from when Allison was little and it was really fun.  When she is in a good mood, her smile is awesome because it is from cheek to cheek. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

                For Christmas, Santa gave Allison Candyland.  She love it and calls it “Candy Cane.”  She will play and no matter where she is on the board, she will love it if she gets a type of candy on her card.  She does well counting the colors and no matter who wins, the Hot-Dog Dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is the victory for whoever wins…even Deb and I. 

 

A few more items from this month:

• We went to the Watkins house for a Colts playoff game.  It was great to see everyone and Allison did well playing with the other kids, as she usually does.  She seemed to really enjoy playing with Zoey, as they are closest in age. 
• Another January and another winter of playing basketball with my classmates at Chatard.  It is a lot of fun to see these guys each winter as I don’t do the best job keeping in touch throughout the year.  Playing some basketball and then heading to breakfast on a Sunday is a tradition I hope to keep for years to come.