Crazy Thursday (a VERY long post)

To preface the events of the day, two items from Wednesday need to be mentioned:
1) Tom's truck was in the shop fixing a loud noise that occurred when driving over 50mph. Came to a lovely total of $921.
2) Got the call that Greta's glasses were ready. The boo-hoo/yahoo feeling swept all over again.

However, Thursday began all cheery with excitement about Greta finally being able to see. "Today is the day your life is going to change forever." I chirped to her almost every other sentence. It wasn't the greatest day to have to go to Salt Lake to get the pollies because Chandler had a birthday party, Caleb and Chandler both had football games and I had a Primary meeting, but we figured a way for it to all work out quite comfortably anyway.

Tom called me on his way to work double checking his part in the whole plan then we had a nice cheery chat that left me smiling since it was an out-of-the-ordinary-time-of-day call for us. About 10 minutes later I heard his ring tone on my phone again. This time the mood was a bit stressed. He was stranded on the freeway--the original problem with the truck still existed and had gotten worse. As he pulled over, the truck coughed, screeched and made other very objectionable noises until he could get off an exit. I offered to go get him, but he decided he better have the truck towed back to the shop and to call a guy from work to come and pick him up. Joy.

Meanwhile I busied myself with throwing something in the crock pot, putting a loaf of bread in the pan for the kids to have after school, finishing up my things for my Primary meeting, emailing Cache revised plans for the day, getting bags packed for the girls and getting us all ready to head out the door.

At the thought of more money out of pocket for repairs, going to lunch with Tom as planned seemed a bit excessive, but he didn't have a vehicle and he hadn't taken a lunch so that plan remained (and of course Tess, Greta & I loved every minute of it!). After lunch we dropped Tom back off to work. His parting words were: "It's going to be okay. And BE HAPPY!" With that, the girls and I headed to Salt Lake to pick up Jerry and Carolyn who so kindly offered to go with me (I always need someone to hold my hand on these kinds of things). Jerry decided to stay at work so we headed up the hill to Moran with just grandma. Things went well. . . the optician thought the glasses fit quite well without having to cut the post (yay!) and she said we would need the headband to keep them on regardless of the option we chose. So while I'm not super happy with the band option, if we have to have it regardless, I'd much rather have the frames all one color. And besides being little eye-sized magnifying glasses like I already knew they'd be, I was happy. Here is a little video taken by Grandma of her first moments in the pollies.

After I had all my questions answered we headed out. Tessa had been wanting to go to the zoo and what better time than a lovely fall weekday. . . .however half way up the hill, I noticed the street was lined with cars and kids were dressed in Halloween costumes. Upon arriving at the zoo I realized that school closures for UEA across the valley and Hogle zoo (I'm assuming) offering trick or treating brought carloads of people! I could NOT find a parking space and with the newly revised day's plans, I only had a little over an hour. I decided that swimming through so many kids was not going to be worth it. So we headed back to Temple Square to the Children's Museum. Fun. Tess loved dressing up and playing with dolls all of the whole 20 minutes we could stay. My time calculations, however, turned out to be not very astute because by the time the girls were buckled up we had 10 minutes to make a 30 minute drive, stop and pick up Tom, in rush hour traffic. So I had to hurry and make up plan C. We made arrangements for Caleb to get to his game, Chandler to get home from the party and hopefully we would make it home in time to get Chan to his game. A few minutes to 6:00, we picked him up curbside and dashed off to his game, then back home again (jiggety jig) to replenished ourselves with the meal that had been simmering all day. And then I was off to my meeting. That ran a little late and I came home to a screaming Greta--just too much of a day for her and she needed mommy to wind down. After that was accomplished, and realizing Tom's truck was still under the weather so I would be vehicle-less the next day, I decided we needed to make a (near-midnight) dash to get Greta a few new toys to help keep her hands off her glasses. And we needed milk. So off we went. We felt a bit like college students again, but as Tom pointed out, it was probably still a bit early for that. It ended up being enjoyable--we both needed it after our day to comfort and cheer each other. So good. (And I think it will have to count as our date for the week because of the football game and conference.)

So after 24 hours with the new pollies here are a few thoughts:
>Nursing a baby with glasses is a bit tricky.
>How is a baby with glasses supposed to rub her eyes?
>Greta has left the pollies on quite well for the most part--she tugs at them the most when she is hungry or tired. The mom-deemed-necessary bow seems a little bit more of a nuisance.
>Baby pollies need to be cleaned 3-4 times a day!
>Taking them off and then putting them back on for a nap is something I'm going to have to get used to.
>Cuddling and kissing a baby with pollies is not quite the same :( :( .
>People who've made comments have all said "How do you know a baby needs glasses?" And then they proceed to tell me of some relative they know that got glasses at a young age--usually ages 5-7. I'm sorry, but, it's not quite the same in my mind. (Cache got them in 1st grade so I think I know.)
>Tessa has been really pretty good about leaving them alone. She said today "The doctor said we have to leave Greta's glasses on?" So thankful she seemed to understand--the adjustment with Greta is big enough.
>I think the pollies make her look a little older--one person yesterday made a comment that indicated she thought Greta was a year old. While I don't think they add that much to her age, they do add a little.
>Headaches with these glasses are very possible. How do I know when she has one and how long are they a possibility? (a few days, a week, two weeks?)
>It was recommended to not let Greta wear them in the car seat yet. I need to be able to trust that she'll leave them on before we do that. Until, it is one more step getting someplace with that girl.
>Eyelashes look much longer behind magnifying glasses!
>Wow those lenses are thick!!
>And she rolled over by herself for the first time today.

Now a few pictures. I am pleased with the frames and I think they look cute on her--but I'm still getting used to the whole thing. I am very thankful to have caught it this young. With as severe as a case as she has, developing correctly would not have happened. She is going to have the best chance with these pollies. And people have been very nice and said she looks cute. Thank you strangers!
One final note about Tom's truck--the fix-it shop fixed the wrong thing on Wednesday but now have it all repaired. They said they'd give us a good deal. We'll see how good it turns out to be. (Tom's truck has seen better years, but we both enjoy having a truck. Trips to the dump, Home Depot, mountain biking etc. would be hard to give up, but a new truck is more than we want to spend atm. so we continue to nurse it along.)