Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Summer is busy...and almost over

Another month gone and I haven't blogged. My apologies to my loyal readers, lol. I'll try to catch you up in the order things happened.

I turned 28! And I also reached my goal weight that day, thanks to a bout of the stomach flu the night before...that hit during my Turbo Kick class. We made it through the kicks first, so we still had a decent, albeit short, workout. Mom came down the next day, which the girls LOVED, and we went out to dinner. Then I went back to Mom and Dad's overnight. I missed Steve and the girls but a night without kids in a quiet house? Heavenly. I got plenty of sleep and then ran on the treadmill before Mom and I went to a family reunion. I came home that night.

The next weekend we went to Tracy and Donovan's house. We had fun but it was definitely an eventful trip. We spent the afternoon at Lake Huron and Steve I remembered to sunscreen the girls but not ourselves. Ouch. Steve and Ella also flipped the jetski and Lake Huron stole Steve's glasses. Not good, since his eyesight is bad without glasses. Luckily he was able to get new ones the next day, but it required a hours-long trip to Saginaw. Other than Ella telling off the neighbor boy, the rest of the weekend went better. On the way home we picked out new furniture too. Our old white sectional had seen better days and needed to be replaced.

That night, Steve was itchy. It was so bad and he was so agitated, he was pacing the house. Benadryl, a cold bath with vinegar, aloe, Dermoplast, etc barely touched it. He ended up going to the ER, where they told him to take ibuprofen (which is apparently one of the best things you can take for a severe sunburn) and prescribed burn cream and vicodin so he could sleep. Thankfully, he had the next day off. He never blistered though.

Later that same week, Nora had her 15 month well-child check. I couldn't find a sitter so I took all three girls. It went pretty well. Ella and Mia did NOT like seeing Nora get shots though. Since we were already out and it needed to be done, we went to have Ella's vision screening. Bad news. If we covered up her left eye, she said she couldn't see. So we were referred to an eye doctor.

Later that week (busy week), the new couch was delivered. Yay! We also have a new TV. Here's a picture of the furniture.


The blue recliner didn't stay there, but our old couch was stacked in pieces in the den. It was claimed by a friend whose puppy chewed through their couch. Glad someone else could use it! And the recliner is over there now.

The next week we had visitors for Turbo, which meant the biggest class ever! SEVEN of us! It was awesome. Last week was back down to two and then last night was just me, but I have faith that it will grow. I'll keep spreading the word and networking and it will grow.

Nora started saying "I love you" back to me. Consistently. It's great. :) She also comes into the kitchen when I have Turbo music on and I'm marking a routine and she'll dance.

We had the big Scott reunion. It wasn't as big this year but it was great to see the people who were able to make it.

Sunday, the hot water heater went out. Steve was pretty sure it was the thermal couple but couldn't change it himself. I always thought it was bad when we ran out of hot water. But the pilot light being out is way worse. Not even a hint of warm water. Eek. Luckily a repairman came and fixed it Thursday.

While we were without hot water, Ella had her eye appointment. Perfect vision in her left eye. Horrendous vision in her right eye. She had to get glasses. The doctor even talked about patching her left eye to force her to use her right eye. We're hoping the glasses help and she has a follow up appointment in three months. Her glasses came in on Friday. She looks adorable in them, but they also make her look older.


I've also been trying to make sure everything is in place for Ella to start school. Unfortunately most of the communication with the school has been single-sided. If I have to call the school to find out everything, the poor secretary will know me by name. I got the school supplies list and found out who her teacher is, but only because I've called repeatedly. Hopefully it's just that they're getting back into the swing of things and this isn't normal. Tomorrow I'm taking Ella to get her hearing checked too, because I just today found out (when someone finally answered at the school) that they may start requiring that too. May as well be prepared if they do. Had I known that, I would have done it when we got her vision screened almost a month ago. I'm a bit frustrated and feeling a bit apprehensive about Ella starting school now. I think she'll do fine but I like to be prepared and right now I feel completely out of the loop. I've heard good things about her teacher so I'm hoping things improve drastically.

We've been working with Mia on potty training too. She's making good progress. She's still in pull-ups because I am much more likely to remain patient if she has an accident in those rather than underwear. But once, she even went on her own without being told - and she peed in the potty! I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel of two in diapers. :) I'm okay with PTing a bit "late" if it means it's a quicker, less painful process for all of us.

Steve has been working a LOT of overtime. It'll be nice when he gets his next check, since we had the unexpected expense of a water heater repair and two pairs of glasses in the same month we decided to buy new furniture. We're fortunate that he gets paid OT since he is salaried and that most of the extra work could be done from home. But after working 18 days in a row, we're all ready for the 6 day weekend ahead. We planned this back in May. Labor Day is always when we celebrate all the September birthdays on Mom's side of the family. And there are a lot. There were five. Grandma would have been 92 next Tuesday. Since it's the first birthday for Mom and Marie without her, we're still all going out as a family. Leslie is visiting from California (we miss you, Paul!), Tracy and her girls have been there a few days and Donovan is going tomorrow, we're going tomorrow night, and Reid is going Friday. We have big plans, including a trip to the zoo, berry picking and jam making (using Grandma's recipe), a trip to the park with a run for me and Leslie, a big family dinner, and a few other things. Happy Labor Day everyone. :)