A big day for Ethan

Ethan has worn glasses since he was 6 years old. After a school eye exam it was suggested that we have his eyes further evaluated. When we took him to the eye doctor the doctor was surprised we never noticed Ethan having vision problems. He has always hated wearing his glasses. He really started to dread wearing glasses when the eye doctor informed us that since Ethan plays soccer we should invest in rec specs for him. I can't blame him for not wanting to wear rec specs because they are rather big and bulky but we have always insisted he wear them to avoid injurying his eyes in a sporting accident. For about a year he has been asking us for contacts. We told him that he needed to wait until he was a little older and he had to be getting good grades in school. Since the begining of the school year Dan and I have both noticed how hard Ethan has been trying in school. He is very determined to get straight As. We are able to check his grades online and I know that he is one B+ away from having all As. He also has always been very responsible with his glasses. They have had to be replaced twice and that was because of a defective frame.

Today he had an eye doctor's appointment and I told him we would "talk" to the doctor about getting contacts. Truth be told I had every intention of getting him contacts but didn't want to get his hopes up if they didn't have his prescription on hand. The doctor asked if he was responsible with his glasses and if he worked hard in school. Then they measured his eyes for contacts and fitted him with a pair. Next the doctor had him practice taking the contacts in and out. I must admit I was a little nervous about him being able to get them in and out. He popped them right in and out as if he had done this several times! He is allowed to wear them 4-5 hours today and of course chose to wear them to school. He is THRILLED to not have to wear his rec specs for soccer anymore. I have always loved him in his glasses but think getting contacts was a huge confidence booster for him. I will miss seeing my boy in his glasses all the time but I am so happy that is he so excited about his "new" look!

Tagged

My friend Donna tagged me so now I have to share 7 weird or interesting things about myself. I tend to avoid "being tagged" but this one sounded fun and I am sure I can come up with at least 7 weird or interesting things to share!

1. I hate, depise, and avoid at all costs public speaking! I am not a "center of attention" type of person and would much rather blend in with the crowd rather than stand out. However this past July I had to overcome my public speaking phobia. My sister got married in July and asked me to be her Matron of Honor. As honored as I was for her to ask me I knew I would have to give a toast at the reception. I even tried to pass off my "duties" to another bridesmaid but knew I would forever regret it if I didn't deliver my speech so I did it shaking like a leaf the entire time! I am so glad I took advantage of the opportunity and didn't pass out in the process!

2. I have this OCD habit of checking numerous times to make sure the garage door is down before we go to bed at night. I will also check to make sure all the doors are locked. Dan finds this habit very annoying because I will ask him to check right after I have checked and then I will go down and check again. It is very OCD!

3. I have never had a speeding ticket. Now in all fairness I have been pulled over a couple times for speeding but I have always managed to get myself out of the ticket. I have always said I think it is because the officer checks my license and notices I don't have any offenses and lets me off the hook. I know my time is probably coming but for now I can say "I have never had a speeding ticket."

4. I hate camping. I am not an outdoorsy type of girl at all. When I was younger and in girl scouts I actually quit scouts after our first camping adventure. The sad part is we actually camped in a cabin and I still hated it.

5. I get homesick very easily which will be interesting to be in China for two weeks! As a child I would hate to be away from home. I remember sleeping over at friend's houses and calling my mom in the middle of the night to come and get me. I think I am much better now that I am older but I still love the comforts of home.

6. Purell is one of my best friends! I am constantly sanitizing or disinfecting something. The first words out of my mouth when my kids get home from school is "Wash your hands." I also hate to shake people's hands but how do you politely decline when you are at church? I pay particular attention at church if anyone I am standing by is sneezing, coughing, or blowing their nose and I will turn from them when it is time to shake hands. I will also try to be discreet and get in my purse and purell my hands after shaking hands.

7. I was a band nerd in high school. No I didn't play any instruments I was a flag carrier. I actually enjoyed it in high school but hated our uniforms! They were old and the skirts were so long. We had to wear white boots with pom poms on them. Luckily my junior year we got new uniforms that were much more "stylish."

Now I am suppose to tag 7 people. I am to lazy to link blogs so I will tag any of my ladybug friends who have not participated yet. Leave me a comment when you are finished!

Your time is up!

Hopefully tonight Cloris Leachman's run on "Dancing with the Stars" will come to an end. Carrie Ann said it best last night when she said "we let Toni Braxton go for this?" At first I could find the humor in it all and even admired Cloris for attempting to learn to dance but I am tired of her antics and if someone else who has more talent and potential gets sent home tonight and Cloris stays I might have to boycott the show. Her entertainment value is gone and now I just find her annoying! She can't dance and just tries to "entertain" her way through it. I have never seen the judges score lower than a five but I think last night's performance deserved much lower than a five. I guess they are scoring based on effort. I told Dan last night the only reason I can imagine that she is still there is the same reason the worst singer on American Idol always seems to make it into the top six or so. People are "voting" for the worse and that is why Cloris remains. She certainly is not there based on her dancing skills.

Another contestant that needs to step it up before they are voted off is Susan Lucci. I really do think she has the potential to be a great dancer but something is holding her back. I think it is clear that she is not comfortable with her dancing. She was off several times last night and at this stage of the competition you need to be in sync with your partner. She needs to "let it go" and become more comfortable in her dancing.

Let's hope tonight we are bidding Cloris farewell so the real competition can begin!

Interesting fashion sense

First the backwards shirt (which by the way he did wear it that way to school and then decided to put it on the correct way once his friends started asking him why it was backwards!) and now this. Christian was putting on his shin guards and socks on for soccer practice and decided to make yet another fashion statement~tucking his pants into his socks! He asked if he could go to practice like this and since I am the type of parent to choose my battles (see previous post) I told him to go right ahead so out the door he went.

Since this week we seem to be on the topic of Christian I received an interesting call from his teacher today. The kids are allowed to bring a snack to school since they don't get to eat lunch until 12:30. I personally think this is way too long to go without a meal for a first grader even with a snack! His teacher asked me if I would send in an extra snack for Christian because he was complaining about being hungry. I told her I had no problem sending an extra snack to school but I was under the impression that only one snack was permitted. She told me it would be fine and that she has offered him ritz bits cheese crackers but he tells her he doesn't like the cheese only the cracker. She also said he asks to go to the office all the time to get some pretzels because he is hungry. I told her that if she hasn't noticed yet he is an extremely picky eater and she laughed and said "yes I have certainly noticed!" I could hear Christian in the background and she told him that she would let him talk to me but that he wasn't to ask for me to send candy to school for him. So what does he do? As soon as he hears my voice he says "Mom can you send me some candy?"

A backwards kind of morning

Today was a rough morning in our household! What can I say it is Monday and does anybody really want to get out of bed? Ethan had his last soccer game yesterday and even though they lost he played an awesome game! This morning Christian got up and was seemingly happy until after he ate his breakfast(not sure what caused the sudden change of moods). I started to hear stomping around in his room so I went up to see what was going on. He had "that" face on! You know the face I am talking about the "grumpy don't talk to me kind of face." He proceeded to get dressed and put his shirt on backwards. For some strange reason he always does this when he gets mad. I told him I didn't care how he wore his shirt and that he could go to school with it on that way is that is what he wanted. I am all for choosing your battles and this was a battle I was unwilling to fight! Well he left this morning with the shirt on backwards. I have a feeling he will put it on the correct way once he gets to school but maybe not.

Well it is October 9th and my prediction was correct.....

we have officially hit the 12month mark! We have yet to "surpass" it which I honestly hope we do not! I am so DONE with this wait! I think a more "realistic" timeline is 10-14 months even though our agency still quotes a 10 -12 month wait. I am so ready to be on the "other side" of this wait. I have been told that the "worst wait" is yet to come and that once you see your baby's face the wait becomes much harder as you again "wait" to travel. I understand that but I am still in this long phase of "waiting!" At least once I know "who" she is I will know "who" I am waiting for! Of course I am sure if we are blessed to have her referral by Christmas it will be especially hard to know who Mia is but not have her home in time for Christmas. That will be incredibly hard(not that I want to wait until after Christmas to have a referral!).

I am begining to feel like there is a light at the end of this very long tunnel. After much procrastination, I finally scheduled our travel immunizations today. I know I should have scheduled them a long time ago but I really needed to feel like this(adoption) was going to happen. I talked to the nurse and she said as long as we have our tetanus and the first two rounds of Hepatitis A & B we should be fine to travel to China. She said we can finish the third round when we get home. The first and second Hep A & B shots have to be given 6 weeks apart. She also suggested we take some malaria pills with us. Our first round is scheduled for November 5. Pray that we get a nice nurse because I am scared to death of shots!