The verdict is in...

*drum rolls*....

So here's the scoop. After some research the doctor found that treating children with Amblyopia for -1.5 nearsightness can often correct it. I hope that makes sense. What it basically does is causes his brain to make his eye focus on things faraway instead of shutting it down. Remember, Weston has very good vision, he just doesn't use his lazy eye as much as we use both of ours because its easier to just use one. The object is to get his brain to use BOTH of his eyes. Apparently when you go to the eye doctor and they put the black thing in front of you eyes and move it back and forth your eyes are NOT supposed to move, Westons move A LOT! So when he put the lens up to his eyes and did that again they moved very little...I didn't even notice that they moved at all, that how small it was. We are going to try this on a trial basis for 3 months. He wants him to wear them as much as possible so that we can see if its going to work.

Oh, and for all of you who can't tell them apart, they are wearing the same glasses but....Weston will be sporting the BLUE glasses and Isaac will be sporting the GREEN ones! Hope that helps you all out! LOL :-)

***Oh, and I can't wait for their hair to grow back out!! It's a little too short and I'm not fond of it. Its really hard to keep it trimmed and make it look the same. I'm so glad their hair grows fast! :-)

Lab rat...

So today Mason and I made yet another trip to the eye doctor. Just for those of you keeping records, including picking up glasses that makes 4 trips in 1 week and on our way to making it 5 in a week and a half! Did I ever mention how much I love our eye doctor? Well, I do!! Weston's vision is fairly good, not bad enough for glasses, even with his Amblyopia. But the chance of his vision going bad are fairly good. His brain could eventually get tired of making his eye work so much and eventually quit. So he, the doctor, is taking the time to research the best way to treat this and make/keep his eye strong. We have to make another trip in on Friday so he can test some theories and therapies on him to see what could work. I am so appreciative of this. We made a trip to Riley a while back and I was not happy with the outcome. I am so happy with this doctor!!

We have been there so much that when we walked in today we didnt even have to check in and they joked about just setting us aside a permanent room. LOL Mason checked out great! He said that he was a little worried that his perscription would have changed, apparently as kids go through growth sprurts it often does that, but his didn't which is great. Then it was my turn and I became the lab rat. lol I have whats called Dwaynes Syndrome. Its where when I look right my right eye doesn't go that way, but when I look left my right eye squints to see in that direction. I often get doubled vision when I look over my right shoulder. Anyway, the girls in the office had never seen it which caused the lady to put a bunch of question marks on my chart because she didn't know what it was. So he asked me if he could bring them in and show them and explain what it was and how it caused. I was more than happy to let him do that because then I got to learn more about it too. Friday, its Westons turn to be the lab rat...LOL!

So we have one boy thats nearsighted, one with Amblyopia, one with astigmatism and me with a slight astigmatism, slight farsightness and Dwaynes Syndrome. Whew!! The Tweddell family with all our eye problems. :-) And William hasn't even been checked out yet. LOL

Back to normal.

I made it back home safe and sound. I had so much fun and none of it would have been possible if it weren't for the generousity of Ann and Amy letting me crash at their place. Thank you guys so much! I appreciate everything you guys did for me.

While I had the time of my life and it was so nice to get away for a while, it is now time to get back to normal. And I missed the boys like crazy! So we started off the day picking up Isaacs glasses. That was the first thing he asked me when I walked in. It wasn't hi mom or I missed you or hugs and kisses, it was "can we go get my glasses now?" So that was the first thing on the list today.

And here he is....We need to have his hair trimmed so its off his eyes. He has expressed that he doesn't want it cut because he loves it long, so I have promised him that we will only have it trimmed very little. Weston is a little upset that he does not have glasses to match his brother. I am trying to explain to him that its a great thing that he doesn't need glasses, but he just doesn't see it.

Well, I'm completely exhausted, but I have some more errands to run. So I'm off! :-)

Anxiety...

So I'll start with the good stuff. First of all 2 posts in 2 days, whats up with that. :-) Westons eye check-up with very well. Happy to report, well he doesn't think so, he does not need glasses. So Lindsay, you'll at least be able to tell them apart when Isaac is wearing his glasses. LOL His vision is excellent, even with his lazy eye. The doctor is working on researching whether we should do surgery to fix it or do some t.v. therapy. Basically he can't see well REALLY far away, but he's great otherwise. His vision, even with his lazy eye is extremely good. We had three dentist appointments today and they all went very well. Mason has 2 small cavities, very catastrophic for him, I think I have developed at complex for him because I'm a little anal with their teeth, okay alot anal. He will eventually have to get braces because the spaces that we thought we great are too big, but other than that he's great. LOL The twins are fantastic and no cavities and got their first cleaning and all that jazz today.

Tomorrow is my birthday!! Happy Birthday to me!!! As my birthday present I am going to visit some friends in Detroit and see my all-time fav show Rent..hopefully from the front row! Here's where the anxiety comes in to play. I will be traveling alone. :-( I have never traveled alone before...I repeat never! So, you can see why I am having a major anxiety attack. All the what-ifs are running through my head. I usually get like this before a trip, but never this bad. I didn't realize I had anxiety so bad. I am very excited for this, but can't help feeling guilty leaving and spending money while we are in this crappy time with no job. I know that once I get there (if I get there is what my head says) I will have a great time. We both agreed and decided that its a good thing for me to go and have some fun (and its a fairly cheap way bc I have friends I'm staying with), so its not even that we disagree or anything, but I just can't stop the anxiety.

So I could use some major prayers...great travel conditions, protection over my car and the cars around me, protection over William and the boys while I'm gone, and that I won't have a major attack as I'm leaving the house and can feel at ease about driving alone. Oh, and I'm worried about getting lost.

Ok, I'm off to go pack and then snuggle in bed with Weston, he wanted to sleep with me tonight. :-) I, feeling guilty, let him. :-)

Thanks for the prayers in advance!

**Isaac asked me today when I was leaving for my trip and said he wanted me to leave soon. How nice huh? The reason...I told him he gets his glasses when I get back, he wants them bad! So I guess its a good thing he just wants me to leave so I can hurry up and come back. :-)

Who knew??

What I did know was that my day was going to be quite busy today, but I didn't realize how busy.



The other day when we made our usual weekly trip to the library Isaac made the comment that the words were blurry and he had to blink to get them to be clear. My thought was your probably just getting tired, suck it up boy...what a nice mom I am. lol When William lost his job and we realized that we would also lose our insurance we figured that we'd better get all the boys in and get them all checked out...teeth, eyes and bodies! :-) I had made appointments for Isaac to get in to the eye doctor before, but really didn't have a concern so when it came time and we were too busy I just canceled them. He wasn't like Mason who already had glasses and can't see more than 3 feet in front of him and Weston who has a lazy eye, so I figured he would be fine.


As we pulled up Isaac asked if this is where they sell glasses. I kindly told him yes, but that he wouldn't need glasses we were just here to get his eyes checked. As I was filling out the form it reminded me of the time he said that the words were blurry so I hestitantly put it down. He was so excited to sit in that chair and behaved extremely well. I am so proud of him!!!! They then began by covering his left eye and she asked him to read the bottom line, which he claimed he couldn't see. So she went to the next one in which he said they were blurry, then the next one up and he only got two right, then on the very top he was finally able to identify them. I was completely shocked!! Blow away as a matter of fact. She said that it was probably just his nerves and afraid to give the wrong answer because of how he answered every one of them right when she covered the right eye. Oh, and by the way, he tried to cheat on the eye exam. I had no clue that was even possible. This is how it went down!
Doctor: Read this line.
Isaac: Bird.
Doctor: Great. Whats next?
Isaac: Airplane.
Doctor: Good. Next?
Isaac: What is that?
Doctor: "Hor"..as she stopped herself. I don't know you tell me.
Isaac: I have no idea!
It was the cutest thing ever. We were all laughing so hard!


When the doctor came in I immediately asked him what he thought. I mean seriously, we were just here for a check-up. I had no concerns at all. He immediately said that he did NOT think it was a fluke and that he thought it was genuine. What?? You've got to be kidding me? Not at all what I expected. So he showed me why he thought that, went through all the tests they do and it made perfect sense. I won't bore you with the rest, but the basic run down, after being at there for 2 hours, is that Isaac has an astigmatism and without correction his vision in 20/60!!! I am so not kidding here. It's worse than Masons! He said that if he was just nearsighted at this age he wouldn't mess with it, but with the history of lazy eye in our family he feels its important to correct it. Basically Isaac can't see close up or far away. Well, I should say he can't see clearly like we can, which I'm starting to wonder if what I see is clear, but thats beside the point. :-)


So here he is...picking out his first pair of glasses! I have to tell you that this took forever becuase I was still in complete shock over the fact that he actually needs them. And they don't make many stylish ones for kids his age. :-)

So this is what we decided on!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Gotcha! I, being so sidetracked with finding the right pair, forgot to take a picture of the ones we decided on. I will tell you that they are green and shaped pretty much like Masons. Not to mention that by the time we found one to fit his face and could be green (the color he wanted, talk about being picky..lol), I was ready to get out of there. :-) I will post pics the minute we get them which will be sometime next week...and is not soon enough for him. He is very, I repeat VERY excited.

Oh, and the good news...I get to do it all over again with Weston tommorrow!! YAY!

Rabbits and Randomness...

*Mason has officially been enrolled in Rabbits and Geology for 4H! When we first got the books and looked through them we were so overwhelmed and wondering what we were getting ourselves into. I am happy to report we are no longer *as* confused. I am still a little confused, but not quite as much. We visited with one of my sister-in-laws friends who has been doing rabbits for 8 years in 4H and she helped us tremendously!! I was so thankful for her! The books make it look much more complicated than it actually is. She has also agreed to help Mason out if need be. So we have looked up all the different rabbit types (over 47) and narrowed it down to 5 or 6 kinds to choose from. We are going to visit a show in March and watch what he would have to do and then, hopefully, purchase our rabbit. Yay!! I will tell you that I used to hate going into the rabbit barn at the fair, I just didn't see the point...I know have a new appreciation for that barn!! There is so much work and guidelines that go into rabbits!

*When signing up for a group I apparently signed up for one that doesn't participate in the tippecanoe county fair so I had to switch to one at random without looking into it first. Here's where I would like some input. He is currently enrolled in the Westside Sunshiners which is made up predominantly of homeschoolers I have heard. We found out that the girl that helped us today participates in the club that is held at Earhart, close to our home, and there are several people who do rabbits in that group. So my delima is...do I switch knowing that he would know someone there and have lots of resources for the rabbit project or do I keep him in the predominantly homeschool group with kids who are experiencing what he does everyday?? What do you guys think?

*I was a little worried at how much we would have to put into buying a rabbit, but have found it is actually really cheap and sometimes free if they know its for 4H!! How cool!! The food is only $7 for a GIANT bag that will last one rabbit a long time. So needless to say I am very excited about the cost aspect of this. Very excited considering our circumstances right now.

*I am a little unsure about posting this next thing, but we could really use prayer on this and so I think I should post it. So on a more heavier note, William has lost his job. :-( We were told that he would be moved to the other plant and then found out on Friday that he would be laid off instead. With this comes many, many, many decisions as you can imagine!! There are so many options and so many people willing to tell you what you *should* do. I want to do the responsible thing and the right thing for *our* family. Knowing what that is is not always easy.

*As of right now, until we know for sure what we're doing, we are gearing up our house to be put on the market. We have not made a final decision, but want to be ready if the time comes and that is the decision to be made. If anyone knows, hears or sees of any houses for rent please keep us in mind. We are even willing to go to a 2 bedroom if we have to to make things work, but we are wanting to stay with a house if possible.

*On a similiar note if anyone knows of anyone hiring please let us know!!! As we all know...jobs are few and far between.

*On the up-side, kinda, I will be taking my last road trip for a while and am looking forward to it! Most of you know that I am a huge Rent fan. I have a really good friend who lives near Detroit where Rent will be making a stop on its final farewell tour. Next Wednesday is my birthday and that good friend of mine that lives there has bought me a ticket for my birthday! :-) I am looking forward to a few days of girls nights, the lotto drawings and line anticipation for front row seats, stagedooring and experiencing Rent once again...for the last time. :-( It will be my first time on a road trip by myself and will definitely not be the same without my friend Becky who has made EVERY Rent road trip with me, heck we invented the Rent Road Trip! LOL You will be missed Becca!

Well, I'm off to put the kids to bed!
Talk soon~

Chew Toy!

So this was the conversation between me and Mason this morning. I came up behind him and gave him a huge hug. Here's how the conversation went...

Mason: What are you doing?
Me: Giving you a huge hug.
Mason: What do I look like? A chew toy.

It was so much funnier in person. :-) So if any of you hear me call him Chew Toy please realize that its an inside joke, but that will definitely be something that sticks with him.

Okay...I'm off to lunch with a friend!