Bring it on, yo

12/4/09

I stole this picture from Maria's blog. Cute little muffin! (well, Maria's cute, too.) Luke had his official two month checkup yesterday. He weighed 12 lbs. 7 oz (that's almost double his birthweight, people), putting him in the 50th percentile, and he was 22 inches long (15th percentile). Uhh, when I measured him a week ago, I thought he was 24 inches, so my technique must have been way off. Oh, well. he's still chubby and adorable in those size 2(!) diapers. He also had to get four vaccinations (one oral and three shots) and it was so sad. I hate having to hold my babies while they get poked. :(

We got the house decorated for Christmas this week. We decided to go for a kid-friendly tree since this is the first year Madelyn's been super excited about the holidays. She has already spent hours rearranging all the ornaments till they're "perfect."

Here she is playing an alien mod on Call of Duty 4. And do you know what Mark's concern is?? Not that she'll be harmed in any way from the violence or gore of playing such games, but that she will hog the computer and he won't be able to play as much!!!!!!! MEN!
(By the way, all she can really do is walk around and randomly fire her gun--she never really shoots anyone. But I'm sure one of these days it will come to that. Sigh...can't we get her hooked on a Barbie game or something??)

She still is our little princess, though. Lately she's taken to referring to us as "Queen," "King," (or "Father") and "Prince." She'll say, "Mom, I mean, Queen..." I have to admit I like the title.

I took her and I to the optometrist a couple days ago. I had been concerned about her going cross-eyed a lot this year and although Mark thought it was harmless, Luke's pediatrician said kids shouldn't regularly go cross-eyed past six months of age. So then I made the appointment, and I'm sure glad I did!

It turns out Madelyn is farsighted and her left eye has only 20/40 vision (explanation here). Her right eye sees 20/25, and since it's so much better than the left, her brain has simply switched off even using her left eye most of the time. So the reason you see her left eye drifting towards the center in a lot of pictures is because she's not using it to see. My poor girl!! I am amazed that she's been able to do so well with everything despite only really being able to see out of one eye. Mark said, "No wonder she can't catch anything!" Her glasses are arriving next week and the doctor said her brain should start utilizing her left eye once she starts wearing them full time. It might be an adjustment for her, but once she doesn't have to work so hard to see, I think she'll get used to it.

I also ended up getting glasses...I have never had problems before, but since I've had the baby, my eyes have changed a little. It's mostly just hard to focus clearly when I'm at the computer and stuff. Apparently, the giant hormonal changes that come with pregnancy and childbirth are to blame. Since I'm still on Medicaid, the doctor said I might as well get a pair of glasses since I wouldn't have to pay for them.

And speaking of being poor and on government assistance (WIC and Medicaid), this has been the worst financial year EVER for us. We've moved twice, had to travel for school, pay for tests and licensing fees, bought a new house, had a new baby, and had car troubles coming out our ears. On top of that, we quit using all our credit cards cold turkey (but still have to pay them off, ugh.). It's a struggle to get by. Needless to say, it's going to be rather bleak at Christmastime. Madelyn's birthday is on the 21st, too...and then it's our anniversary on the 28th. Luckily for Madelyn, I had already been buying her presents here and there throughout the year, so she won't go empty handed (although she might not get that kitchen set she wanted).

Anyway, in spite all this, it makes me more determined to make it through the year on top of things. We have a warm home, two healthy beautiful children, the gospel, and each other. Once we file for taxes. we'll be able to pay off some debt with the tax return and we'll be in better shape (until student loans come due, that is...) So bring on the holidays and the scary bills!! Oh, and if you bought some of my jewelry, that would help, too. Just sayin'.