I think I can see spring from here...

We had a quiet Fat Tuesday with Pizza and Kings Cake this year. I hid the baby and the kids got to pick their slices. Kiernan was sure he knew where the baby was...he was very close.

Nana found it though.

Nana will therefore be making our next cake.

In my continuing quest for good health, this week I went to the eye doctor.

I actually went to two eye doctors. I found an optometrist that I really like in Mount Airy. The practice was scientific and relaxed and interesting. The staff was friendly and had a great handle on my insurance allowances right off the bat. Plus I got some great pictures of my optic nerves.

Behold my apparently freakishly large optic nerves!

I also had to go to a different optometrist to get some free Rx safety glasses for work. 

I am very happy to get free glasses and have never actually gotten them even though they are always available. I don't need my glasses for much, but last week we had a health and safety training with a reminder about what liquid nitrogen can do to eyeballs. Its pretty horrible. I don't use liquid nitrogen anymore. It has been years since I have had to do anything with liquid nitrogen. I do however use dry ice from time to time and I do a great deal of work with splashy cryo-fluids and I use some shabby scratched ill fitting goggles for that. So I decided to use the free option.

When I went into the work approved optometrist I was met by a very cold, maybe grumpy, woman. I didn't have my current Rx but was told by a co-worker that when he went they just did the exam for him and charged it to his insurance.

She gave me an appointment a week and a half later with a great deal of disapproval or at least what I read as disapproval. 

I was dreading going back there and then on Thursday (the day of my appointment) screwed up my courage and walked through the door to find an entirely different, and not at all grumpy lady at the desk.

Its ridiculous how much stress and real anxiety I had all week for something that turned out to be nothing.

Friday morning Kiernan got a hold of my camera (which is to say my phone). He took a lot of pictures most of them were way to blurry to do anything with. His capture of our day to day morning routine was beautiful. This picture of Megan teasing David in the morning is one of my very favorites.

First of all she looks adorable and 2ndly so much of her smile here reminds me of her Oma.

I am sorry to say that this was the beginning of the end of the smiles for a bit. First Kiernan started to complain about his stomach. Then he started throwing up. Then Megan's diapers started to get pretty bad. Then she started throwing up. By the next morning David was out of commission. It took mom until Saturday afternoon to get slammed.

This weekend I got to be the single mom I never wanted to be.

There was no church because I couldn't be in both classes at once. There weren't any big home cooked meals because I couldn't cook a big meal while watching the kids. There weren't any big adventures out because I knew I couldn't relax for a bit after them. The privilege of a good marriage and a house full of help is not lost on me.

Our morning started off Australian:

I was so lucky to have such generally well behaved kids and so much easy access to prepared food. Kiernan and I had a rough patch after I had to give him a time out. I am glad to not have to do that very often and I think he was more than marginally surprised by having to deal with mommy in a bad mood. He was more wild than he should have been and I was more short tempered than I should have been.

There were tears and fear from him and internalized but huge angst and anxiety from me.

 Our only excursion that day was to the big Urbana playground. Here I saw something wonderful from Kiernan. He joined up with a group of boys after a few fits and starts and he relied on himself without calling for help from me to climb a huge and tricky fake rock. You can sort of see him here standing on it. He was by far the smallest kid up there and a number of fathers looked like they really wanted to help him up but kept glancing at me and not doing anything. He managed it both up and down and was so pleased with himself. I was glowing with pride that he tried hard on his own and succeed on his own.

Megan and I ran around in the swampy grass and played on the swings. 

The kids had such a good time out in the warm that we decided to go to an even bigger park the next day.

Wait! Who is that coming around the corner? It is Aunt Pammy and cousin Kaleb, heading over for our first playdate!

Uncle Chris supervised a much less independent and much more frustrated Kiernan climbing some more and Aunt Pammy got her Megan on. Megan, the little daredevil, tried the highest slide and the fastest spins.

Kaleb slept in his stroller bundled up on the much colder day like a little Scandinavian baby.

 I now present a picture of each of my children with some of their happiest smiles.

Megan is mischievous and proud of herself.

Kiernan is wistful and awed.

We went to Scearce's and played and ate and admired the advent of  spring.

Also we provided Aunt Licia with a little extra work out.