Eat This, Not That... Yeah, Right!

As I have mentioned before, Kaleb is a picky eater. He hasn't always been that way though. When he was a baby, he ate pretty much any baby food and would try any of our food. I have no idea the exact date the switch happened. I guess it was gradual. First went the macaroni and cheese, then went the hot dogs. Slowly, my son began to eat only a handful of things. As a mother, I worried myself sick if I was doing the right thing. Why could I not get my son to try new foods. I just knew that if he would try it, he would like it. (I have the Yo Gabba Gabba song in my head right now... "Try it, you'll like it. Just try it, you're gonna like it!" I mean, what kind of kid doesn't like mashed potatoes! Well, my son HATES them! If you somehow trick them into his mouth, he cries and holds out his tongue until you wipe it off! When he would eat hot dogs, it wasn't just any hot dog! It HAD to be an Oscar Meyer Weiner. And there was no tricking this kid. He would pick up a bite, look at it, feel it, taste it, and throw it away if it wasn't right! I have no idea how he knew, but he did. But he doesn't even like them anymore! The funniest thing is getting him a happy meal at McDonalds. It is a PLAIN hamburger with a small fry. He will take the meat out, hand it to you, and eat the bun and fries. He forgot to take out the meat one day, took a big bite, and completely freaked out! I guess he just doesn't like the texture of meat... I have no clue! 

Here is a collage of his favorite things... for now:

Breakfast is by far his favorite meal of the day, and mommy's too. It is the only meal I know he will sit down and eat. If he doesn't eat breakfast, I am ready to call the doctor and find out what's wrong! And it is the easiest meal to find him something to eat. We have gone through phases of dry cereal with cup of milk, Cinnamon Toast Eggos, Nurtigrain Bars, mini-pancakes, and now we are on the Eggo Chocolate Chip Waffles (I found the Fiber Plus Antioxidant ones, so that makes me feel better!) We also give him his daily vitamins in the morning which are his 'gummies' and he loves those. Found ones with DHA which is great for brain and eye development! 

After worrying so much about his nutrition (the only meat he eats is chicken fries), I have finally decided to just let him eat what he will and throw in healthy options when I can (Fiber plus waffles, Nature Valley Granola bars with Dark Chocolate instead of cookies, almonds, yogurt instead of ice cream, V8 fusion juice instead of soda, etc). I even made zucchini bread mini-muffins once and he actually liked those. 

I keep telling myself that he will grow out of it, and I know eventually, he is going to be the teenage boy that eats me out of house and home, and I will be dreaming of the days when he wouldn't eat anything. But for now, I am his mother, and I am going to worry! 

Going to the chapel... Well, the metal museum.... and they're gonna get married!

So, Saturday was the big day! The day my sister married the man she loves and became Melodie Cromwell Goodwin! We have been waiting and planning, and planning and waiting for this day since he proposed on our birthday, Dec 7, last year! After deciding to have a traditional wedding, instead of a small destination wedding, Melodie knew she wanted an outdoor location overlooking the Mississippi River. She finally decided on the Memphis Metal Museum for September 17 and it couldn't have been a more perfect location and date! The weather was PERFECT, the sunset was PERFECT, the flowers were PERFECT... are you noticing a theme here?! Everything was PERFECT!! Even Kaleb walked down the aisle without a fuss! Like I said before, just PERFECT!! Don't get me wrong, there were things that I kind of freaked out about (one particular photo before the ceremony that I was not informed was going to take place where Melodie and Chad were on opposite sides of a tree holding hands.... I thought she was coming out and had no idea Chad was there, FREAKED out, and then was explained to what was going on, and it was the cutest picture ever).

I want to say a special thanks to two people: My husband, Paul, and his mom, Judy. They had the extra special responsibility of keeping Kaleb while I did my Matron-of-honor/only bridesmaid duties! I really appreciate both of you stepping up and keeping an out-of-control two year old!

Another thing I love about weddings is that I get to see all my extended family that I love so much but never have the time to visit with during our two-day trips home! It really makes me miss living so close to everyone. I hate that there were some family that couldn't make it, but things happen, and you move on.

One thing that did happen that was a little nerve racking for us, was we witnessed a wreck the day before the wedding after getting mani/pedi's. I turned out to be Melodie's old neighbor from when she lived in Memphis. Everyone was OK, thank goodness, but we had to stay and give a statement to the police because the guy that caused the wreck was trying to say it wasn't his fault (FYI: you can't turn left in front of a car, just because you have a green light... the oncoming car has a green light too, idiot!). The scary thing was that they were behind us right before the wreck. We were behind a bus that decided to slow down to turn and they went around us before we had the chance to change lanes... It could have been us in the wreck! Like I said, thank goodness everyone was OK.

We had the rehearsal Friday night, with the rehearsal dinner at The Arcade in downtown Memphis. This is pretty cool seeing that The Arcade is just a breakfast/lunch place, but will host parties in the evening! All out-of-town guests as well as immediate family were invited, which ended up being about 100 people! But what a great time it was! Everyone stood up and congratulated the cute couple and also told stories, lots of funny stories! Afterwards, the younger crowd decided to hit up Beale Street, ending up at Silky Sullivans. It was a great time had by all. And to my surprise, the Bride and Groom decided to turn in early (11:00), so they could be fresh and ready to go for the big day!

After a restless night for everyone, we headed over to the museum to help set up and just make sure everything was going smoothly. The flowers were there and looked gorgeous! It was just such a beautiful day, when we headed back to the hotel to start getting ready, we looked up Carrie Underwood's 'How Great Thou Art' on my phone and praised God for the weather. After getting ready, we headed back to the museum to take pictures with the family. I can't wait to see all the pictures! The wedding and reception were wonderful and everyone mentioned how beautiful everything was and how much fun they had! Melodie and Chad decided to make an early exit (about 10:30), so we decided to break down the reception equipment and head over to the hotel for an after party, which was just as fun as the reception!

One memorable and very emotional thing did happen right before the ceremony. Me, my sister, and my dad were waiting in a room for the ceremony to start and my mom comes running into the room. She assured us everything was ok, but my Great-Aunt Patricia had brought something that she thought my sister would want to carry with her down the aisle. It was a handkerchief that my great-aunt Sally had when she was alive. Me, my sister, and my mom all burst into tears, trying not to ruin our makeup. You see, my Aunt Sally was a hoot-and-a-half when she was with us. She was my maternal grandfather's sister. I remember, growing up, she would come over to babysit us, and we would have the best time. Friends would beg to sleep over when we knew she was keeping us. She would dance, play hide and seek (like hide in cabinets, or on top of the fridge, things like that!), etc. I thought she was AWESOME! It wasn't until I was older that I really realized how old she was when she was doing this (in her mid to late 60's), which made her even more awesome! She would always tell us, straight up, if our new hairstyle was good looking or not, if we were dressed cute or not, if our new boyfriends were good looking or not...! She was just the most incredible person I have ever known! Her favorite saying was "If you see a silly card, send it to Silly Sally!" She was there for my brother's wedding in 2004, my wedding in 2005, but got very sick shortly after, and eventually passed away. It was very hard to see her go, and very hard for her not to be there physically with us for Melodie's wedding. We had her listed along with other grandparents that have already passed away at the register's table, but to have something of hers there for Melodie to wrap around her bouquet and carry down the aisle with her meant SO much! We love you Sally and know you were watching from above!

So, in summary, it was a great weekend, spent with great people, celebrating a great love between two people!
Here is the link for Wedding Pics! that I have uploaded to my facebook!

To Dilate or Not To Dilate?

Just so I'm clear, I went to three years of undergrad and four years of optometry school so I could be Dr. Melissa Rasmussen. I, as an educated and licensed eye doctor, recommend that everyone have a dilated eye exam every year. BUT, if you do not want to be dilated, for whatever reason your little heart desires, that is your right to refuse it. That DOES NOT give you the right to tell me that I am almost to the point of malpractice by dilating you on the front end of an eye exam (along with complaining about all the forms that need to be filler out, that our sink doesn't have a stopper[???], about how her old doctor just never could get it right!). A: Dilation affects your near vision, not distance. In essence, dilation drops temporarily paralyze the muscles that control the iris, or colored part of the eye. One drop makes the pupil bigger and the other keeps it from getting smaller when the light hits it or when you try to focus, hence the side effects of light sensitivity and near blur. By dilating you, I am able to view more of the retina than I would normally (the bigger the window, the more you can see) helping to detect retinal diseases like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, etc. But it also insures a more accurate prescription, especially in most children. Children have the ability to focus through a tremendous amount of near blur. So, undilated, a child that is very farsighted, can actually read 20/20 at near and will show hardly any prescription. But by taking away their ability to focus, we are able to see their true prescription and prescribe glasses accordingly.

So, please, by all means, refuse to be dilated if you have had a bad experience being dilated, if you don't feel comfortable driving while dilated, even if you feel like it might make your glasses not perfect. But that does not mean I do not have a good reason for doing it on the front end of an exam. Usually, to be honest, most of the time we do it on the front end to save you, the patient, time! If I waited till after the glasses part of the exam, you would be in the office about an additional 20-30 minutes. And I know the LAST thing I want to do is spend more time at any doctors office. But you know, they would probably be the first to complain about how long the exam took! (Funny thing is, this particular patient ended up saying how happy she was that I was her eye doctor! Funny how things work out, huh?!)

Thanks for letting me rant a little! =)

Remembering 9/11

So, as everybody knows, today marks the 10th anniversary of one of the worst days in American history, September 11, 2001. I still remember where I was when I heard the news. A junior in high school, I was in my history class of all places. Little did I know that that very moment would be written in the history books for future generations. We had a daily TV show made by students updating us on the goings-on in the school. But on that day, they interrupted class to inform us that a plane had flown into the first tower. I have to admit, I was a little undereducated on the world trade center, and had no idea what it really meant, or if it was even really happening. Then the news of the second plane came through. We all changed our TV's to the local news and the impact of what was happening sunk in. One of our teachers had a son that was working in NYC at the time, and we were all worried for her and her family. (Luckily, he was not at the WTC that day!) I just remember praying HARD that people would be ok, finally realizing how tragic the situation was.

To this day, I can hardly watch the footage that is aired. I become physically nauseous at the thought of all the people that lost their life that day. To see the footage of people jumping off of balconies over 100 stories up. I can't imagine what it must have been like for them, to know the only way to keep from burning alive was to jump to their deaths. (I am shaking just typing this.) But at the same time, I become overcome with anger at the people that did this in the name of their religion! What kind of religion says that killing innocent men, women and children will be rewarded in the afterlife?!

I pray for the people lost that day, for the families of the lost, and even for the people responsible for it, that they may see the error in their ways and finally stop with the hatred and war. Because if anyone has the power to do it, God does.

God bless all the men and women that are fighting for our freedom. No matter what your opinion of the war, there are men and women out there (fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, neighbors, friends) putting their life on the line everyday to protect us from something like this happening again.

Haircut Horror!!

So, after working out this morning, we decided it would be a good time to get Kaleb a haircut, with Melodie's wedding right around the corner. He has been so good lately, we thought maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't lose his mind. We were SO wrong. I have no idea what is wrong with him, but anytime we go anywhere that they call out his name, he FREAKS OUT. I'm not sure if he thinks he is getting a shot or what, but he screams bloody murder the whole time, and today was no exception. We tried suckers, juice, iPod, anything to make him stop, but nothing worked. We ended up paying for a choppy haircut because we finally just made her stop and left. So, Kaleb is now under house arrest. No outside, no tractor, no pool, nothing.

But just when you are your maddest, we get home and that little turkey climbs up in my lap in the rocker and let's me rock him to sleep! He has been a big daddy's boy lately so I never get any real snuggle time, but I guess today he knew he had a better shot of me forgetting the tantrum from earlier than his daddy. God, I love that kid more than life itself!

Yah for Fall!

So the last couple of nights here in MS have been FABULOUS! After work, the temps have been hovering around 70 degrees! Our neighborhood pays for a mosquito truck to spray every night so you can pretty much enjoy the afternoons mosquito-free. My mom and dad got Kaleb a ride-on John Deere tractor for Christmas last year and he is just now getting the hang of driving it, and boy does he love it! It actually has a first gear, second gear, and reverse. He is second gear all the way! His favorite thing to do is try and run me over, which is fun but exhausting at the same time! I have included a video of him from last night. After this fun, we decided to take a walk around the block, which was surprisingly relaxing. Kaleb rode in the stoller for a while and then decided he was too big to ride and walked along with us. He got distracted by a neighbor's jeep ride-on toy, but other than that, he was great. Even helped put up his tractor when we got back to the house and came inside without a fight (which has only happened like twice in his two years!) Maybe we are getting somewhere, maybe... Oh, and HE SLEPT ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Maybe this walking around the block is going to become a nightly routine!

1200 Characters, Really people?!

So, I am new to this whole Blog thing, which is stunning seeing that almost everyone my age has one. So, apparently that "about me" section only gives you so many characters to tell who you are, which is ridiculous. I had to go back three or four times trying to edit stuff out. But what exactly do you take out about yourself? There are things that I had to leave out that I feel are important to know about me, so that is what my first ever blog post is going to be about. The things that just didn't make it to the "about me" section.

I am from a small town in West Tennessee, just north of Memphis. That is where I was born and raised, along with my extended family (3rd and 4th cousins all live within about 10 miles of each other). I was born to a farming family, so I consider myself a county girl. I have a brother who is older, and a twin sister. My mom and dad raised us right, instilling in us values that are vital to who I am today (If you want something, work your butt off to make it happen.) So, at 26 years old, I am into my second year of practicing optometry, my sister is a pharmacist, and my brother is taking over the family farming business.

I am one of the lucky few who love what they do in life. I get to help people everyday. Believe me, the healthcare system in this country is good and bad on a lot of levels, but I love being in the middle of it.
When I got out of optometry school, there just wasn't any job opportunities in the Memphis area, so me, my husband, and my son made the difficult decision to pack up and move to a small town just north of Jackson, MS. It was a very hard adjustment at first (more so for my mom and dad than myself, but that's another story). I spent my entire life just miles away from everyone I knew. I gave up potential scholarships to colleges across the country and stayed in Memphis for Undergrad and Optometry school! But the more we started to venture out and explore the area and make new friends, the more we have grown to like it. Family is a long/short 4 hours away, so we are able to visit when we need, but its still not the same as living half a mile from your parents house (can you say babysitter?). Then, I recieved some great news right before the new year that my sister and her fiance had taken jobs in the area and would be moving down here with us!!!! That has been such a blessing to have my twin sister just 15 mintues away. Someone I can go to lunch with, go shopping with, can watch my son if anything unexpected pops up. You have no idea how happy that made me!

One big worry for us when moving down here would be my son's ability to adapt to a new environment. Ever since I had Kaleb, my mom has been keeping him, by himself, at her house while I commuted back and forth to school everyday. Luckily, Kaleb has really grown at his daycare, and started making new friends and really becoming the social butterfly that we knew he could be. It has also been good to notice that he has not forgotten the family we left behind though. He still prefers his Nana and Pop, or MawMaw and PawPaw, over Mom and Dad when we go visit.

Another worry was for my husband, Paul, and what he was going to do about his job. He had worked his way up pretty far in the food chain at his old job, and really hated to leave it all behind, but we decided as a family, that this job offer in MS was just too good to turn down. So, he quit and moved down with us, hoping to find something new. In an amazing turn of events, his old company actually had an opening for a work-from-home opportunity, and offered it to him. Of course, we jumped on it and haven't looked back. As great as working from home sounds, turns out it is a lot harder and more demanding than it looks. You have to make yourself stay focused and then they kind of expect you to be available 24-7 since you are "at the office". But the benefits definitely outway the downsides!

So here we are, trying to juggle life, love and a two year old! And please don't ask when we are going to have another one!!!! As for us, an only child doesn't sound like that bad of an idea. Can't we just spoil the heck out of this one?! =)