Emma - 9 months

Emma had her 9 month well baby visit today as she was 9 months on the 29th of March.  She was 19.5lbs and 27.5in long.  Her overall health is excellent!  Dr. McCray said her eyes will stay blue as the color blue they are is so vibrant they won't change.  Her daddy was thrilled to hear that as that is just another piece of him in her.

Cash got his first tooth at 9mths and Dr. McCray said Emma doesn't have a tooth in sight.  Its strange how different your children can be but then again....not so different as Cash got teeth sort of late and Emma is just later.

She received no shots at this visit which I was so happy about!  I did notice while we were waiting to see Dr. McCray that Emma is in to EVERYTHING!  I say that about her at home but I think being confined in a smaller space I really got to see just how "in to everything" she truly is.  She was standing up on the bench in the waiting room pulling on the office blinds, pulling stuff out of my purse and throwing a tantrum when I would take something away from her...yikes!

Emma and I will be walking around the house (her on my hip) and we will look at each other and just smile.  She smiles so big as if she knows exactly what I am thinking...and to think I always thought it was the other way around.  The one thing that is always constant about our sweet Emma is that she is always smiling!

LASIK - the day I could see

We decided it was time to move forward, yet again, with me getting LASIK.  Emma was just shy of 9 months old and my hormones were getting themselves somewhat in check.  So I made an appointment with Dr. Edward Rashid, who I had actually seen before when finding out I was pregnant with Cash.  I trust him immensely as he is very conservative and won't do the surgery unless he feels you are truly a candidate with the potential of nothing short that excellent results.

Well....I wasn't such a great candidate this time!  UGH!  I was so upset!!  I felt sort of cheated...by time.  That didn't stop me..or him.  He said I had the vision of a 22 year old vs a 37 year old.  Well why that would be such a compliment in any other circumstances...it really didn't help me get closer to seeing without contacts/glasses.

We needed to do at least one refraction meaning get me to where my true prescription was in order to know what the correction needed to be.  This would take time....about 6 weeks total.  Not very long but when you have been in glasses/contacts since 2nd grade that is a long time to get see without them again.  That said...one could say....I had been in them that long...what's 6 more weeks.  It was the possibility that I wasn't going to end up a candidate after all that made it so long.

The verdict was in...I was a candidate!!!!  I was so excited I could barely contain myself!  Surgery date was set and I was ready to see!

Unfortunately Ben had to be out of town so my mom was going to have to take me to the surgery.
Wouldn't you know it.....that I would get sick and thought for sure if I had strep or something contagious there was no way they would do surgery.  So off I go to the urgent care to find out what I had.  It wasn't strep thank goodness...some virus I guess but not sure what.  1pm rolled around and my mom and I were headed to the surgery center while my dad stayed with the kids.

My appointment was at 2pm and the surgery would only take about 10 min each eye!  YES!  10 MINUTES!  That was just crazy to me.  I think I was there about an hour and half total.  I was given volume beforehand and for good reason...I was SUPER nervous!  The obviously numb your eyes so you feel nothing but just the thought of something coming that close to your eye or anything in your is just unnerving.

The surgery was complete and Dr. Rashid sat me up....I looked over at my mom....AND....I could see her!!!!!!!!  I was just over the moon.  Very emotional!  It seemed like fate that Ben had to be out of town and my mom had to take me.  I could have rescheduled so he could but of course I didn't want to wait as it seemed like I had waited a long time already....but I think it was more than that...more than I realized.  My mom was there the day I got glasses, in 2nd grade, and she was there the day I could see again.  It was perfect!  One of the best days of my life.....and so far there are only a handful of those!:)

Spring Break 2014

We took our first trip in the RV during Spring Break.  Cash was super excited...possibly not more excited than Ben was though.  We decided to go to the Great Wolf Lodge.  That isn't mine and Ben's favorite place in the world obviously but Cash loves it!  That was his 3rd time to go and Emma's 1st. 

We headed out on a Thursday and though it took at least 6 hours to get to Dallas it was pretty fun.  Emma slept for 3 hours....I think from the motion of the RV.  We stayed for two nights and then headed back on Saturday.  We stopped in Temple to stay on Jason Leavelle's parents place.  That was our first night in the RV.  We actually all slept really well!!  Sunday morning I thought we would head out...back to San Antonio...I thought wrong.  There were really strong winds which prevented us from leaving.  To say the least I was not happy!  I don't like feeling stuck anywhere but Ben and Cash were as happy as could be.  Cash was loving it out there..he was fishing and exploring...having a great time!

Emma's first time to eat icecream.

Cash was two years old when he sat on this bear the for the first time.

Each evening at 8pm the Great Wolf Lodge has story time.  He loved it at age 2, age 4 and now age 7.

Putting in hardwood floors

We decided to move forward with putting in hardwood floors in all rooms that had carpet except the stairs and the game room.  I think that could be something we do there later but I could even see myself slipping up those stairs, which confirms my thoughts about the kids, so I decided against.

I got so many different proposals....from vendors that only install and then getting a wood quote to a vendor that does it all to even an interior decorator that would manage the entire project. We ended up going with a vendor that does it all, River City Flooring.  Matt and his entire crew were great!  They started the Monday of spring break and finished by Wednesday.  The floors look beautiful!  River City Flooring only accepts payment after the work is finished so we really liked their confidence as well as the fact they didn't have to use our money to start the job.  It was truly a situation of trust and after reading almost all of their reviews it was a no brainer.

The only complaint I have is how much dirt they show but then I have stop and think how all of that dirt was in the carpet.  Gross!!

The RV

Ben found his happy place.  His new RV!!  Not just an RV...a 43ft RV.  A second home.....or at least it feels that way as you have to outfit it like a second home.  If he has said it once, he has said it a million times...."I love it".

The idea behind the RV vs a true bus is it serves us as a family as well as his need for the band business.  We decided against bunks as we thought it wasn't as practical for us as having double vanities plus we have a queen sleeper and almost a full sleeper (plus our king size bed). So plenty of space for sleeping..unless your a band of 7.  Then you have to sleep sitting up.

I am completely thrilled Ben got his 'bus'.  He deserves it.  I think it will be easier when Emma gets a bit older and the ride will be more enjoyable.

We look forward to making many memories in this RV....even the bad memories are memories...and we can laugh about all the mishaps later.