Never posted about Cole’s dentist appt. I don’t think I did. His teeth were fine. They weren’t able to clean them because Cole protested too much and the dentist wants the dental experience to be “fun” for him so we’re going to try again in six months. I get this because I saw a little girl in the dental chair that was just turning three years old and her mom said this was the first time the litttle girl would let them near her teeth. If it takes a year and they are still monitoring his teeth for decay, then I’m totally fine with it.
Okay, now on to eyes. We had another eye appt for Miss Paige yesterday. I love our eye doc. I love him enough to wait 2 hours in his nasty waiting room with a thousand other families where there isn’t enough room to sit down. Well, Paige’s prescription has not changed yet again….good news. The bad news (and maybe this could be super news, hard to tell) is that the doc recommended she have strabismus surgery this next month. This entails cutting and “cleaning” the eye muscles. It should help with her crossing her eyes and the shifting of her eyes. But there is a 20% chance that it could do absolutely nothing. The thing that made me decide to do it, besides the obvious benefit if it works, is that the doc said he would do it if it were his kid. I don’t know why…but hearing doctors say that phrase always makes me feel oodles better. Our NICU doc said that to us quite a bit and I always trusted him completely. But anyways enough of me complementing Dr. L, we’re talking about Dr. C here. So back to the eyes….the doc also is going to do another glaucoma check on Cole this coming month. So I said, “great, let’s knock out both kids on the same day back to back”. Eric wasn’t so keen on this in case something went wrong with either kid. I get that too. But it’s nice to deprive both of them food/drink on the same day, make the drive down to the surgery center in the wee hours of the morning on the same day, keep them both entertained in the pre-op area at the same time and just be done with it all. But I guess we’ll pick two different days to do it.
Something kind of amusing was this lady in the waiting room of the eye doc yesterday. My girl J was with me, thank god, otherwise I would have been dying waiting for so long. This other mom just kept talking to anyone who would listen about random things. Of course my girl J is really nice so she was the target of most of this other mom’s ramblings. I told my girl J that motherhood makes you crazy. I have my girl J to ramble to, but if I didn’t, I would probably be that other mom talking to any other adult available. It is completely isolating being a SAHM and I can’t believe on most days how much my life has changed and how much I crave interaction with others. I went out with my BFF for two hours last weekend without the kids and I was in heaven. And it was only two hours. Eric always tells me to call up other SAHM’s but that is harder than it seems. We have been so sick for so long, we weren’t able to have playdates, and I don’t know a lot of SAHM’s. I think most people prefer to work. Being a SAHM is lonely, there are many days I think about going back to work just to have a normal conversation that doesn’t involve crying or poop. My girl J told us last night that she will come back to us for more hours this summer which is great and hopefully we can get the kids potty-trained to start preschool in fall. It won’t get me more interaction with people, but at least I’ll have a little downtime. Wow! Just re-read those last couple of sentences, it sounds like I’m a whiny ungrateful mom. I really have always wanted to be a SAHM like my own mother and I don’t want to go back to work. I’m really fortunate that we have the opportunity to keep our kids at home with a psychotic mother!!
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Kyra had the strabsimus surgery and it worked, but over the years it’s sort of going back. They did warn us that could happen, but since its been 7 years (about) I guess I can’t complain. Her new eye doc said that she shouldn’t have the surgery re-done because her problems go beyond. Long story.
Does Paige look out of the corner of her eye when asked to (for instance) look at someone taking a picture? Kyra does, and she also looks out of the corner of her eye when talking to you. We have to stop her and say, “Look at ME” and then it works for a few seconds or so.
I am a SAHM and find it isolating sometimes too. And, like you, I don’t know many SAHMs! 3 of my 4 children are in school (9th grade, 7th grade and 4th grade) so it’s just me and my daughter most days. I love being home but miss the daily interaction of other adults. I spend a lot of time on the phone, with my sister (who is a SAHM too….but lives far from me)…at least there are adult conversations sometimes. Over the years we have learned to multitask…I only allow myself to talk on the phone if I am doing something else (mostly housework)…
I too am a SAHM and like you said, it is very isolating etc. I used to babble Chad’s ear off each night (which of course would make him cranky) but he finally realized that I needed conversation other than “stomp stomp stomp… doing the yetti stop”…
Another saving grace for me is my local MOMS Club and Mothers of Multiples group…they are awesome!!!
I had strabismus surgery. It worked very well for me, but be prepared to possibly have to have it redone when she is around 10-12 [ they told my mom it had to do with my muscles maturing.
Being a SAHM does get crazy some days. We found this indoor play ground for kids under 5 y/o near us. It has been my life saver, we even have a few kids we meet there now too. They have so much to do, it is all padded and safe, and there is a pre-walker section as well as a new-walker section. We also find solace in Little Gym.
Hey tobie, Being a SAHM is the hardest job ever, but it is so special to see all those little moments. Keep up the great work. I read a book to Lane today called, “You’re all my favorites” by Sam McBratney. It’s a really cute book and reminds me of your family. Do you have it? If you don’t I’ll send you guys a copy. Good luck with all the doctors appointments. We will have little Paige in our thoughts.
Don’t forget about the Stay at Home Dads out there! Think being a SAHM is tough- where’s a dad to go?
Hey Shal–yeah, Auntie Laura just got us that book for Christmas. It is so fitting for our kids. Thanks for the suggestion though. When are we getting together with Mr. Lane? This post wasn’t supposed to be a woe-is-me post. It was supposed to be about Paige’s eyes. Oh well.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’ve heard of support groups for SAHMs, but I was seriously asking if there are any support groups out there for SAHDs. My husband works weekends so he can stay at home during the week with our son while I work. He gets depressed sometimes.
My husband had strabismus surgery when he was 3. It runs genetically in his family (which it doesn’t normally do- bummer for us!) His father had it at 18 months. His grandfather even earlier. My husband’s was the most successful. It looks like my son will do it too. I have read some really conflicting information about whether it is best to do it early or to wait. Even doctors seem to disagree, you may want to read up on it. And maybe get some other opinions.
I simply can’t imagine not being a SAHM, but I do hang out with other SAHMs every week and I would go crazy without it. I think it is essential for my son, and for me, to spend time with other kids and parents. We go to playgroup once a week, and we have a good friend and her two kids over on another day. That gives me two days a week that I know I will get some chat, about kids and about other things! Reach out to playgroups and you will find some friends I’m sure!
My preemie twin “B” son had his first stabismus surgery at 13 months (on his “bad eye”)- he was also circumcised at that time too since he was overlooked in NICU (glad the two doctors didn’t get their directions swapped that day!LOL!)
It did great things for him. He had his second surgery at almost 5 yrs old (tale end of preschool) and this time she did both eyes. She commented to us that she was amazed at how thick the muscles were in his “bad eye” and suspects that he’ll need another fine tuning about middle school age. We almost didn’t get the opportunity to have the second procedure because the optic nerve appeared to have stopped growing; and without an optic nerve, there’s no sight, so there’s no need to correct the alignment. More patching kept the nerve stimulated enough that he didn’t lose vision. He’s still in glasses; nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other but we consider ourselves very blessed if that’s all we end up with!
Best of luck to you and Cole!! Modern medicine is amazing; and what a blessing to have such a wonderful and competent opthamalogist!