Annika's eye appointment

Our day started out WAY too early... we woke the poor girl up about an hour and a half before her normal wake-up time!

We went to the doctor for Annika's strabismus, got her eyes dilated, and the doctor confirmed it was accommodative esotropia. In case you're interested, here's some info about that type: "common form of esotropia that occurs in children usually 2 years or older. In this type of strabismus, when the child focuses the eyes to see clearly, the eyes turn inward..."

Then we ordered some glasses for her, and should get them within a few weeks. The doctor thinks she will eventually grow out of her need for glasses.

She was quite a delight the whole time we were at the office- I was thanking the Lord almost constantly for her good behavior. (It definitely helped that there were kids movies showing in the waiting room and exam rooms and she had an almost constant supply of snacks!)

My sweet girl wearing "gasses" waiting for her exam:

Oh Annika Joy, you make me smile... I'm so thankful for you!

When it rains, it pours

We got water in our basement. Again. This time, though, we have to get new carpet. So now we have to haul EVERYTHING out of the basement. And we have a LOT of stuff down there. And I'm coming down with some bug, so I'm exhausted. And on, and on...

...but in the midst of my complaints, God reminds me of so many blessings. So I choose thankfulness (most of the time!).

I am thankful...

The girls are blessed with having their grandparents (who love them and like to be with them!) close by...

and some great-grandparents too!

(I love this picture... if you know Grandma Joy, you can just hear her when you look at this!)

We have a very healthy, happy baby... and a silly girl who makes us laugh...
the sisters like to play (sort of!)

but I am so excited that they have each other...

We have really nice neighbors-

Our neighbor girl just turned 8, and instead of donating her dolls and doll stuff to charity, she wanted Annika to have them (they have a cute relationship). Annika has been keeping very busy feeding and caring for her babies.

October so far- Annika

A few things on Annika... she is still loving that sister of hers, giving lots and lots of kisses. It makes me more and more excited for them to have a close relationship.

Right now, I do "peekaboo" a lot with Alexa... and a lot of times just say "boo." Well, Annika does it too, but hers comes out "Booze! Booze!" We did NOT teach her that. :)

Andy took her out on a date for ice cream and to see the fishes (or "shiby," as she calls them... I don't know; it doesn't make sense to me either)

Dressed and ready for her date with Daddy

They ended up at Toys R Us. Andy looked at the princess stuff with her, but then she spotted the footballs. How proud her Daddy was that she wanted a football... and then she slept with it. Seriously.In other news... I thought she was just being silly when she said "cheese" and her eyes crossed.
It went from being very sporadic in the last month to being almost all the time in the last week.

We went to the pediatrician, and he has referred us to a pediatric opthalmologist in Peoria- we go at the end of the month. They will dilate her eyes and figure out what's going on. Our pediatrician believes that it's nothing serious and that it should be easily corrected with glasses (I know- she is going to be super cute with glasses!), but of course wants us to find out for sure.

Sweet girl- it doesn't seem to bother her much most of the time, but I'm anxious to get on the road to (hopefully) correcting it.

October so far- Alexa

You don't understand- her life is very hard.

Oh, she is so yummy.

She is giggling and cooing more and more...

More cheese

Wearing Daddy's hat

Listening to music before church with Daddy

Three Months Old

She's three months already!

From the moment they told me to push (okay, maybe even before that), Alexa's life has felt like "What?! Already?!" to me... and I'm pretty sure it will keep feeling that way.

More sister love

Ready for church

Church was apparently exhausting. :)