So it's come to this...

Ever since Libby was born she had clogged tear ducts - aka goopy stuff in her eyes. She would often wake up with her eyes sealed shut due to this stuff. (It really was funny sometimes because the rest of her was awake and smiling, but these eyes were shut like she was fast asleep! Poor thing!) Anyway, the pediatrician told us that sometimes babies are born with clogged tear ducts and most of the time they just open up on their own. If she still has them at 1 year then they'll send her to a pediatric ophthamologist to check on them. Well, as you can tell by the little ticker on the side of the blog, she is over 1 year old now.

So, the other day we went to the pediatric ophthamologist to have her eyes checked out. Everything looked fine, except for her gunky-looking eyes. The plan: to do surgery and open up the ducts that should be draining all of that fluid so it doesn't build up in her eyes anymore. It's a very simple procedure - they pretty much just put a metal wire through the duct to open it - but she has to be under general anesthesia for it which is always scary for a little baby! She's scheduled to go October 13th in the morning. Hopefully everything will go well and long gone will be the days of me prying her eyes open every time she wakes up.

We Exist

Ever since we moved into our new house, I could not for the life of me find some very important documents. They were Dane's, Ty's and my birth certificates as well as our marriage certificate. I looked EVERYWHERE! I thought of all the "safe" places that I may have packed them away to and looked but to no avail. (Sometimes my "safe" places are so safe that even I can't find them.) Every now and then I would think of another place that they may be, look there, and then be disappointed. We even got stuck at the Canadian border on our way to my grandma's funeral last year because the Canadians thought that we might be smuggling babies! As cranky as Ty was at the time, we wished that we could've joked around and said "Yeah, you caught us. Go ahead, keep them!"

Well, today I found them all thanks to Dane! Dane's been meaning to send out this little water bill for a few weeks now and it just seemed like it was an impossible feat. So this morning he finally wrote the check but had to run off to school and asked me to address the envelope and send it out. So when I went to get an envelope from the same place that we've kept the envelopes since we've moved here, I reached into the box and found the envelope full of all our very important documents!! I was so excited. Now we can get our passports, I can apply for my Canadian citizenship and get a Canadian passport (always nice to have when you're in foreign countries) and we can rest assured that we really do exist.

Holidays and Tim Horton's (not related)

I went to Sam's club yesterday to do some shopping. I saw the typical Halloween items in one aisle, then went to the next and saw Christmas items!! I can't believe it's only September (not even half-way through the month!) and they have Christmas stuff out!! I say we take back the holidays and ban all the related items until, at the very least, only a month before. I find no reason to start stocking my house with Christmas tree ornaments until, say, I have a Christmas tree or shortly before. Plus, it's not like all the stuff is on a great sale and it would be worth it to buy early. I, for one, refuse to buy Christmas stuff until Thanksgiving weekend at the earliest. Also, there's some fun in leaving some shopping until Christmas Eve...it adds excitement to the holiday (or fear that you won't have everything done in time!).

Now to stop ranting and announce the coming of Tim Hortons to Syracuse!! For those of you who don't know what Tim Hortons is, it's a doughnut shop from Canada. Even though I'm not big on doughnuts (in both meanings), I love Tim Hortons. Whenever we used to visit Toronto growing up, we'd always count and see how many doughnut places we could find and then when we got to a certain number, my dad would buy us some doughnut holes. (Sounds kind of pathetic now, but we were fat kids who got excited about the prospects of sugar so we pretty much lived for this! In fact we were so enthused that we often fudged the numbers and got to the appointed number a lot sooner just for that box of Timbits. I mean, come on, it's not like my parents were really keeping track!) Now, if you've ever been to Toronto you know that they have TONS of doughnut shops. At least one on every corner, if not more. And a staple doughnut shop there is Tim Hortons. (I remember one time when our cousins came to visit us and Chad was so upset that they didn't have Tim Hortons!) Well, feel free to visit now, Chad. Because in only a short while, we, too, will join the Canadians in our love of doughnuts by welcoming with open arms the beloved Tim Hortons.

A Jar of Pickles

After church today, I was upstairs getting ready for work. Dane was also upstairs, as well as the two kids. Or so we thought. Ty had snuck downstairs and we didn't realize it until we heard him walking upstairs. We heard him almost get all the way upstairs, and then we heard a bang, bang, crash! What on Earth could that be?! We quickly rushed to look down the stairs and saw that Ty had been carrying up a jar of pickles for us to open and somehow lost his grip. He was, needless to say, distraught. This boy loves pickles, as does Libby. He promptly ran to his bed and cried. Dane and I cleaned up the mess of pickles, pickle juice and glass from off of the stairs, and then we all got out the door to take me to work. It's just too funny that of all the things that he wanted to sneak upstairs...pickles was his choice!

Married and Dating

Okay, so lately I've been a complete slacker when it comes to my blog. For instance, I still have yet to upload pictures of Libby's first birthday! (August 28th for the record and it was a blast.) I'll do that on another post. This post is to just quickly tell you all that it's so much fun to go on dates when you're married.

Yesterday Dane and I dropped the kids off at the Krantz's house and had some time alone without children! We went to Wegman's and picked up some yummy food for a picnic dinner (eggplant roll-ups, rosemary rolls, pulled pork - Dane had to have it -, soda, and a chocolate peanut butter pie dessert). It was great. We took it, along with our picnic basket, to Green Lakes. It was really fun to do a nice picnic...we even used the nice dishes that go with our picnic basket instead of paper products that we need to use when the kids are around. We were stuffed by the end. After dinner, we put all our stuff back into the car and then took a very nice walk around the lake. It was near sunset and the leaves are turning, so needless to say it was beautiful. The lake is so pretty with its aqua hue. Too bad we forgot the camera because it would've been nice to take some pictures to share.

Anyway, it was a really fun time just to ourselves to be able to talk and walk. Thanks to the Krantz's for watching our kids - they didn't want to leave when we got back. I highly suggest that everyone tries dating their spouse some more, too!

First Steps

In all the commotion of getting home and unpacking, I've failed to mention that Libby has now taken her first steps. It happened on Thursday (August 14) while we were at Dane's mom's house celebrating her 50th birthday. I happened to have the camera there and got it on video. Here it is! We're so proud of her!

Also, Ty has taken to get really jealous of all the attention that we give Libby sometimes, so now that we're practicing walking with her, after she takes a couple steps, Ty goes "Ty's turn." Then he'll take a couple steps from one of us to the other and expect all sorts of praise. Tough luck kid!

Pictures of Alaska

WARNING: Many pictures of Alaska ahead. Proceed with caution.

Syracuse airport. Ty playing in the cockpit in the play area. (Side note: Syracuse had the best play area of ANY other airports. Atlanta didn't even have one, and it's the busiest airport in the USA.)

Granddad and Libby at Syracuse.

Daddy and Libby on our first plane to Cincinnati.

Play area at Cincinnati. The astute eye will note that both of my children have airport tags on them (Ty's belt strap and Libby's right shoe). Why not?

She loved climbing this slide. It was the perfect size for her.

Ty in the play house.

Yay! Alaska mountains!

More mountains!

Ty and Mommy happy to soon be off the plane!

"Sleeping Lady" mountain that you can see from Anchorage.

Libby and Mommy.

Ty loved playing on this old train in downtown Anchorage. It used to be used on the railroads, but was taken off around 1950 and was placed here for kids to explore. Dane's dad even remembers playing on this when he was a kid!

Ty the conductor.

Ty upset that we have to leave the train.

Ty on a tire swing at Grandpa's house.

Now playing tee-ball.

Of course Dane had to show Ty how it's really done.

Libby and Uncle Bubby (Dustin).

This is on the way to Portage Glacier. It's an old train car that would go in front and plow the snow ahead of the main train.

It's really big!

"Cheese!"

Libby and Daddy at Portage Glacier.

An iceberg that broke off from the glacier.

Ilene, Alison, Jack, and Ty at the visitor's center at Portage Glacier. (They're Dane's cousins, so Ty's second cousins I think.)

Ty giving Smokey the Bear a hug.

Jack and Ty running around after eating lunch in Girdwood at Chair 5.

Ty looking very concentrated, a.k.a. the Joe Downing look.

Dane and his Aunt Donna.

Ty jumping off a rock into Grandpa's arms.

Great-Grandpa, Libby, and me.

Four generations.

Ty, Libby, Alison, Jack, and Ilene.

A little blurry, but this is a cool see-saw at Nana's house (Dane's Grandma's house).

Ty showing off his pajamas outside Grandpa's house.

Libby in her pajamas, too.

Dane pummelling me as a sumo wrestler.

We gained a little bit of weight in Alaska. Hope you can't really tell!

Ty trying to win a prize throwing rings on the bottles. (The rings he threw went way off, it was cute.)

Now right after he caught a duck with a net, going to get a prize.

The ice skating rink in the middle of the mall.

Grandpa and Ty at Saturday market.

Ty trying on hats.

Riding Clifford at Chuck E Cheese.

Libby and her slide obsession!

"Cheese!"

Apparently Bob the Builder offended Libby during her ride. She looks like she's scolding him.

But Ty had fun in the ride!

Then they were spent after Chuck E Cheese!

A house near Dane's dad. Very nice. Notice the garage on the left...

This is a better shot of the garages. Note that the car garages are on the right. The huge one on the left is their own personal airplane hangar. Crazy!

A moose on the side of a road.

Dane at dusk (11pm) overlooking Anchorage.

Dane, excited to climb Flattop Mountain.

On our way up Flattop.

Me, half-way up. We ended up enveloped in that cloud behind me.

Yay! We reached the peak!

On the side of the mountain.

Our way down was just as hard.

We were proud of our accomplishment!