OBX Fall 2008 Part Deux...

Here are some more pictures from our week at the beach...

Katie and Billy looking for sand fleas and clams for Marianne...

OBX Fall 2008

Marianne was lucky enough to get THREE beach trips in this year! We spent five days in Avon, North Carolina in the Outer Banks the last week in September. Not only did we have beautiful warm weather, but there were absolutely no crowds. We rented a house with Bill and Katie Van O'Linda, and they did an awesome job picking out the house...it was oceanfront, so we had great views, an easy walk over the dunes to the beach several times each day, a (heated!) pool, and the sound of the ocean waves to fall asleep to at night.

As you can see, we had the beach to ourselves!

You'll find some big seashells in the Outer Banks!

My little sea turtle...

More pictures to come!

Marianne's got...

GLASSES!

We've been busy the last few weeks. Most of our time was spent trying to get Marianne to wear her glasses!

At the beginning of September, Marianne started crossing her eye inwards. It started to occur more frequently, so we quickly made an appointment with an eye doctor who specializes in children. Marianne was diagnosed with strabismus, in the form of accomodative esotropia...basically, she is farsighted and began to "cross" her eyes in order to focus and see clearly. Left untreated, strabismus can cause loss of vision in the affected eye! Luckily, if you catch it and treat it, there's a good chance Marianne will grow out of her glass and no longer need them when she's about ten years old. Isn't that amazing??

Scenario: Mommy puts glasses on Marianne, she throws them off. Mommy cleans off the now smudgy glasses, and tries again, but Marianne throws them off. Etc.

In the meantime I was desperately scouring the Internet for tips, books, and information to help Marianne learn to love her glasses (unfortunately, there's not much out there). Time stood still for those 10 days as we sturggled with the glasses...I thought we'd never be able to get her to wear them! But with some help from Aunt Kerry, Smarties candies, Mickey Mouse, and finally having Daddy hug Marianne tightly, preventing Marianne from chucking her glasses, we had some success. After that, things started improving everyday, and now she is wearing her glasses all the time. Whew!


Finally, a word to all mothers out there (and dads too): Marianne was most likely farsighted from birth, but we never knew it -- even with all the visits to the pediatrician for wellness check-ups -- until she started crossing her eyes. There's a program called Infantsee, which allows you to take your child to an optometrist for a FREE comprehensive eye exam during his/her first year of life. Go to www.infantsee.org for more information -- I wish I had taken advantage of this, and we would have caught Marianne's farsightedness much sooner.

Disney Part III - Blizzard Beach Edition

One of our favorite things to do at Disney World is to hit the water parks, and Marianne took her first trip to Blizzard Beach! She absolutely adores the beach, so it was no surprise that she loved Blizzard Beach. Blizzard Beach is one of Disney's two water parks, and has a ski-resort motif -- lots of "ice" and snow everywhere. We spent most of our time at Tike's Peak, an area just for little kids. She loved the fountains, sprinklers, and kid-sized water slides. She even got her firs reprimand from a lifeguard for trying to run down the water slide!

Disney Part II

We spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom on this Disney Trip, especially Fantasyland and Toontown. Marianne loved visiting Mickey and Minnie's houses (they live next door to each other). Minnie's kitchen is really cute -- you can watch a birthday cake baking in the oven, pop some popcorn in the microwave, make the tea kettle whistle, and when you open Minnie's fridge you get a nice blast of cold air! One of Marianne's current favorites is cake, so she was especially interested in the oven! Check out all the cheese in Minnie's fridge! Are you surprised?
Cinderella's Castle...

Marianne loves to get mail, so she noticed Minnie's mailbox right away.