So it's been a while....

This is mainly for Kirsten's sake!

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but life gets crazy when you're working full-time plus call and you have a husband in school full-time as well as two little kids running around. However, I always wanted more time to blog, and seeing as right now I'm couped up in the hospital for pancreatitis, what better time than now?

I've decided to write not about my illness, at least not right now. Instead I'd like to talk about school lunches.

Ty started Kindergarten this year and so far there have been many ups and downs. First off, he had separation anxiety and didn't want us to leave for a while. (The first day of school Libby was scolding him, "Ty, you go to school. You be a big boy and not cry and just go to school.) It's gotten better, but he still has his days.

It doesn't help that Ty's one of, if not the, youngest in his class. This is a difficult decision when you have a boy that has an October birthday. He did pre-k last year and did fine and his teachers saw no reason to hold him back, so we forged ahead. However, due to his age, some kids make fun of him for only being 4 and not 5. It seems harmless, but it gets to him, especially since he's one of taller ones in the class.

Secondly, we send him with a healthy lunch every day. By that, I mean he usually has a fresh fruit, fresh vegetable, sometimes some light ranch dip, a sandwich on wheat bread, a juice box, and some crackers. As a treat, we'll put in a fruit snack bag that's made from 100% fruit juice and about 35 calories. Not bad, I think. Ty's a good eater (this kid will eat mostly anything - except peanut butter) so why stifle it?

I think that he's the only one to eat from home. Granted, there are a lot of poor kids in his class and I can understand the free meals program, but the school lunches are FAR from healthy. One day, Dane forgot to pack him a lunch and so Ty ate the school lunch: Sausage sandwich on maple syrup pancakes. WHAT?! How is that healthy. I'm sure that their lunches have at least twice as many calories as I pack for Ty, and pretty much nothing is fresh.

To add insult to injury, one day Dane packed Ty a typical healthy lunch but for a treat put about 10 Sour Patch Kids in. Apparently a lunch lady commented to Ty that he never has anything healthy to eat and he needs to have his parents pack him healthier things. WHAT?!!!! We discussed with Ty the importance of healthy eating mixed with small treats and that if the lunch lady said anything else to him that she could speak to his parents directly (and we could tell her a little bit about healthy eating, too!).

Well, rant is over, please share your thoughts.

Lucky

Turn up the volume on your computer and hear the song with which I am currently obsessed. Now, I rarely get obsessed with songs (mostly because I don't really listen to the radio unless it's NPR). However, this song by Jason Mraz, "Lucky" is so sweet! It really makes me think of Dane and how much I love him. He's a great husband and a wonderful and loving father. Right now he's in Florida and I won't see him until Saturday or Sunday, so instead I'll just listen to this song and patiently await dancing to it with him!

Here's the back story: Dane's stepfather, Wally, had a stroke on New Year's Day in Florida where he and Dane's mom spend their winters in their camper. He passed away on January 9, 2009. Dane's mom drove up with his sisters back to NY in his mom's car, but the truck and the camper were still in Florida. Dane left today with his mom to go bring the truck and the camper back to NY. Meanwhile I can empathize with every single working mother. Hopefully I never have to do this for more than a couple of days. In light of everything, I feel "Lucky to be in love with my best friend..." as the song goes.

Tummy Heart

Ty: Um...my heart is in my tummy.
Me: Your heart is in your tummy?
Ty: Yes, I think it's beating in my foot.

Apparently I have much to teach him about his body and how it works.

Mailman?

Yesterday as we were leaving to run some errands, the mailman was coming around and handed me the mail. I took it and then got into the car. Ty asked, "Mommy, who's that?" I replied, "That was the mailman. He gave me our mail." Then Ty said, "Oh yeah, I know him. He's the email man."

One year older (a little late, though)

Libby's first birthday was August 28, 2008. Now that she's almost 18 months old, I find it fitting to document the event!

Here's pictures of Libby's first birthday:

Of course any one-year-old needs her own chocolate cake!

Delicious!

And Ty turned three on October 27, 2008. Here's some memories from that:

Just excited to be a three-year-old!

Eating crepes with his cousin Madden.

Thank you to Aunt Karlyn for the awesome pumpkin cake!

And the best present...Indiana Jones hat and whip (complete with theme music)!

At Last...

Okay, so I know that you all have been wondering how Libby's eye surgery went. It was fine! We went in early in the morning and Libby was so cute. We got there a little early so we played in the empty parking lot to kill some time (and so she wouldn't remember that she hadn't eaten yet that morning).

It was at an eye surgery center so most of the people there are older (for cataract surgery, etc.) so everyone was happy to see such a cutie like Libby. Here she is waiting for the surgeon in her gown that was WAY too big for her!

Here's the best close-up that we could get. You can kind of see the gunk in the corners of her eyes, plus all her eyelashes are matted together.

She had both eyes "probed and irrigated." It was about 10 minutes total from when they took Libby (who didn't cry!) until when she woke up from the anesthesia. The doctor and the nurses were all pretty impressed that she didn't cry when they took her. However, she had a wild ride waking up from anesthesia. She was flailing her body all over and crying.

We just couldn't calm her down until she got into her carseat. Poor baby.

But ever since the surgery her eyes haven't clogged up at all. Now we can see what beautiful eyes she really has!

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!