Summer crazy

We have had quite a busy summer here- we packed a LOT in!  (I'm going to use that as my excuse for limited posts!)

May:  Eye appointment- no major news, no contact change, no glasses (Still!) and we spent as much time as we could outside (including a backyard campout!!)

I love it outside!

June:  School is out!  We had a dance recital (ok, Tommy's sisters did, but it affected him!), and the wedding of a family/friend

I rock a tux!

July:  Fourth of July, first haircut, vacation, and Cedar Point trip!

My first haircut!

I'm famous in Portland, Maine!

Northern Atlantic Ocean is COLD!

Ben and Jerry sure know how to make ice cream!

We ONLY use REAL maple syrup

August:  Real camp-out (a little nerve wracking with open fire and open water with a curious toddler!), more time outside, and trip to the Zoo (which was really in September, but I'm counting as end of summer)

I have to protect myself from the paparazzi (AKA mom)

Landscape project brings cool trucks!!

September:  Zoo trip and first day of school for sisters- and just another day for me.  Tommy was late to walk, but is apparently over-eager to hit the "terrible-twos" stage.  This is compounded by another round of 'Tommy vs Patch'.  He is also learning to take his contact out himself- a skill I wouldn't care if he never learned.

ROAR!

My sisters started new schools and mommy made signs, (note patch on backwards as he ripped it off 3 times by 7am)

As you can see- "The eye" hasn't taken over our lives.  (it takes over my thoughts a lot of the time still!)  Tommy is like any other typical 4th kid- dragged here, there, and everywhere!  He wears a contact, he wears a patch, but he's just another 18 month old who is spoiled rotten, naughty, sweet as sugar, and more fun than I every could have expected!

It's tough to get mad...

Remember how I said patching was going well? That was short-lived. Tommy regularly rips it off and we are back to spending a fortune in patches!
What is funny is... The older he gets, the more he understands. He KNOWS it is wrong, but does it anyway. He has started to pull it off, bring me the patch and say "HIiiiii!!!!" and give me the sweetest little smile, as if to say "I'm so cute, you aren't mad, right?". And it's true, this always makes me laugh. I still get a new patch, but I do it with a smile!

No news is good news

I've been very lax at keeping this blog up.  There are many reasons why:  I have 4 kids, I work full time, I like to sleep, just to name a few.  However, the main reason I haven't posted.... is that I have nothing to say!  Life has been pretty calm in the eye world for us:
We did have a recent ahh appointment 2 months ago.   No news (which is GOOD news!).  They checked pressures for the first time, they are fine (YAY!) and Tommy didn't mind the test (yay again- no EUA!).  No new vision tests (no cards or anything, I'm jealous!  See Eye Charts from "See the Distance").  No glasses (and I've been waiting and waiting for those!)  This appointment was just after our long series of contact losses where I nearly lost my mind... and perhaps shared that politely ummm, dramatically, with the optical technicians on the phone.  I guess they make note of such outbursts in medical charts.  Our PO asked how it was going and said oh-so-nonchalantly that if he kept losing them, we could consider surgery.  YIKES.  Hello wake-up call.  We really hadn't thought it was THAT extreme.  I guess inability to tolerate a lens is grounds for surgery.  Luckily, that has settled out a bit.

Knock on wood, cross my heart, pray for me, or whatever else will work... but we are in a relatively good place.  Patching isn't going horribly and we haven't lost a contact in over a month.  I'm trying not to expect badness... and am trying to enjoy this moment of peace.  I know it won't last forever, so I'm enjoying while I can!


Eye-wise, life is pretty boring!
 In other news:
     We attended the wedding of a really good friend:

Tommy wearing the tux in action.
GQ has already called.

And little man got a haircut!  (It was time- Tommy spent some time in the ER for trouble breathing... and the nurse thought he was a GIRL!)

The Before

The AFTER

Now THAT is customer service!

Ok, so I am blatantly going to rave about Bausch and Lomb right now.  As you may have read in previous posts, Tommy just went through a period of losing contacts at an amazingly fast pace.  He lost 4 within the span of 3.5 weeks.  What didn't ever settle with me is that his old contact (different prescription) stayed in... and it got plenty of use during the time we lost so many!  Also, we got another contact that has lasted quite a long time. 
I save all the contact bottles (who knows why... maybe it's an iMom thing).  I looked at the bottles of the contacts we lost... and the all had similar lot numbers.  In all, there were 2 lot numbers (4 contacts) and it was only the last 4 digits that differed between those lots.  I was convinced that something was wrong with them.  (My husband, for the record, thought I was CRAZY! And, I do admit, that losing that many did nearly put me over the edge...) 
Anyway.  I finally was home during business hours last week, so I decided to call the company.  My true plan was just to let them know.  Heck, we lost them, I really didn't figure they could to anything for me.

BUT GUESS WHAT?  They were thrilled to get feedback... ok, so maybe not THRILLED thrilled, but they were so nice and really listened to me.  But better than that?  They sent me 3 replacement contacts!  It is like I won the lottery!  (And truly, since I'm happy to win a dollar with a scratch-off lottery ticket, imagine my delight at this $750 package in the mail!)

I've got to hide from the paparazzi.

"Babies wearing contact lenses"

I found this on a random search... and it made me smile.  It is a good public service announcement... but still funny!  It makes me want to show this to every medical student and medical resident I work with.  Anytime they talk about "delaying the eye exam" I tell them my story and how early detection of cataracts... blah blah blah, you all know the rest.  I'm like a broken record, but it is my little way of trying to prevent someone from going through ANY time of horrible uncertainty.  (See  And so it begins...and Red eye reflex).  Next time I'll just send them to this!

Babies Wearing Contact Lenses

Hope makes someone else out there smile!