No Surgery....yet....

Here's our bright-eyed girl all ready for her exam :)
Waiting for dilation to occur....time to play with a good ol' Riley wagon...Brownie the horsie seems to like the ride :)
Who...look at those big dilated eyes! :)
Time for a rest in the wagon....and below is how she felt about the "nice" doc...j/k....he wasn't that bad...this is just Shelby's "normal" picture face :)

Well, you guessed it...we are still in "waiting mode" about good ol' eye surgery....not cool if you ask me! Ugh...I am not a patient waiter!

All right...so the big appt in Indy at Riley Hospital for Children went off yesterday w/o a hitch. Everything was fairly timely and Shelby was in a mostly good mood considering she'd had a fun and busy (aka kinda sleepless) stay at Nina and Poppy Stegs the past couple days. But, she put on happy face for her appt and the 2 hour stint there at the hospital wasn't too shabby. Thank goodness Nina had packed some special frosted cookies and we had a few toys and whatnot to keep the "eye queen" busy. Plus she found one of the famous Riley wagons and had to take a few strolls with that down the halls. Anywho....so here's a quick lowdown on the appt. I probably should have guessed this would happen, but never really thought about having to still "wait and watch" and put off the surgery.

So, first of all I think our poor girl had her eyes checked by more people than I have appendages...ok, just kidding...but since Riley is a teaching hospital Shelby truly was poked and prodded by a few different doctors/fellows/interns...whoever they were. And I must say all the "students" were great...it was the actual "big wig" MD that wasn't so nice and really needed a brush up on his bed side manner. That's not to say he wasn't a knowledgeable man, but he just wasn't personable, which I think is such an important trait in a doc (being as I used to be around them constantly at Riley as one of their wise NICU nurses). Anyway.....soooo....they did many exams on her....some with her eyes at regular size and some after dilation. I really don't know all the fancy smancy words the big wig doc used cuz he didn't really come down to "our level" and tell us...but we've once again been told "we're not sure if she's just having a bad eye day, so we want to wait a few months and reevaluate again"...huh?! Ok, so I really do get that....this doctor has only seen Shelby once and he can't "in sound mind" go in and operate unless he has seen her a couple times and done a few measurements on her eyes so he can be sure surgery is necessary. But, he definitely said she has the outward eye turn in both eyes now....and although I tried to corner him and get him to tell me she'd definitely need surgery if next time we visited and her eyes were the same or worse. He wouldn't commit to anything. But I am fairly certain surgery is inevitable and I think it's just a matter of time now. I'm not thrilled we have to wait, but I guess that's not in our control and I'll trust it is a wise decision. Kev is a little more ok with it all than I am....he kinda wanted to "make sure" surgery was our only option. And really...it is....there is no option for glasses, or patches or even therapy...Shelby's eye issue is past that....she is not compensating well anymore (meaning her brain can't make her muscles in her eyes focus all the time even though she wants them to)....the doc said that. Her vision is perfect (20/30?) but her depth perception is starting to suffer and that could be an issue especially as she starts school soon.

Anyway...so that's the quick lowdown on that. Shelby really did great though...she was very cooperative considering it was a long 2 hours there and she was very tired...she fell asleep both before and after the appt and you know how tired she was cuz after the appt she even refused ice cream...thus Kev and I treated ourselves to her "cold treat"...which I think we deserved :) And I have to comment once again on the "interesting" MD....have you ever seen a doc actually sit and do his dictation in front of you. Well, I was kind of in the middle of asking him some questions about the surgery and he pulls out his little tape recorder and sure enough...presses start and off he goes "into dictation land"...talking all about Shelby and giving her eye measurements...like we weren't even there...even the lady tech person and the intern just stood there looking awkward. At the end of the few minutes of dictation he rattles off our old peds doc's name and some weird address...and I mumbled something to Kev like "should we say that's not our doctor anymore?"...well, he must have heard us cuz he looked at me funny and I said "that's not our doctor anymore"...he looked very baffed...so we had to explain who/where our pediatrician was and that we did not live in Bargersville....it took him awhile to comprehend all that....good thing we did though cuz he would have sent Shelby stuff to the wrong place....way to go "nice doc" :)

All right...so there ya' have it....it was a long day yesterday...we were all tired (and still are)...and that to say "come back on Nov. 14th". So that's the plan. I'm guessing she'll be asked to have surgery around Christmas, but we might opt to do it in January after the holidays and our trip to FL and Disney. We'll see. The doc says the surgery is very simple thanks to laser...and there is no recovery time...just some puffy, red eyes...it should be very easy....maybe just a cut of a muscle or two in one or both eyes. Still....makes me shudder to think about it. So, back to Indy we'll go in 4 mos...until then we await the inevitable. Ho hum...can you tell I'm just ready to get the surgery over with?

Anyway...the girls had a splendid time at N&P Stegs...they went on a fun shopping spree for some awesome shoes...both of them came home with bags of new beautiful footwear...awesome! I love the boots especially...Shelby's even light up...cool! I know the girls had a ball shopping with Nina (as they always do)...Hailey was in her element doing some back-to-school clothes shopping at her fav. store, Limited Too :) Thanks to Nina and Poppy for spoiling them and lightening our "back to school expenditure" :) We sure appreciate it. The girls had a great time with Nina on Sunday while the men were at the race...they had a very fancy tea party I hear...complete with purple tea? Wow! And they practiced lots of manners too, which is always a necessary thing :) Next weekend all the kiddos go back there so Kev and I had have yet another fabulous weekend alone to clean up our home and veg out...whohoo! Let's hope Dylan doesn't get into the Comet again under Nina's sink :) (yes, he came out of the kitchen holding the bottle with a ring of comet powder around his mouth....not cool, boy...you'll eat cleaning solution, but you won't eat real food....what's up with that?!). No worries though...we washed it down with some juice and he's as "normal" as ever :)) Well, that's all I've got for today....just wanted to update ya' on the eye issues. Oh, and Hailey started diving last night....I think she enjoyed it, but she wasn't as overly confident in herself as normal, which is good...it's definitely gonna be a learning experience :)

Another Birthday Weekend Recap...

Here's Kev's "b-day weekend" in picture-form :) I love the pic above taken courtesy of Benihana...I know it's a polaroid, but I completely crack up at Shelby's "cheese" face (her smile when we say "cheese")....scary, but good for a laugh :) And gotta love Kev's hat! :)
Here we are waiting for our food...yumm! Kev showing off his prized hat and Shelby showing off her prized chopsticks! :)
Shelby trying to get daddy to dance for his birthday music at Benihana (or actually it was daddy hoping Shelby would dance so he wouldn't have to :))
All stuffed from steak and chicken on the hibachi...yumm! The girls loved the balloon decorations they got :) And, Kev treasures his too :)
Daddy and his kiddos before dinner posing in the japanese garden...

Kev is in heaven at his fav. restaurant :)
All smiles waiting for his Japanese steak :)
Here is Friday night....Daddy and his girls getting ready for scrumptous Cold Stone cake....and Shelby being her normal cornball self :)
We had to relight candles a few times so daddy could actually blow them out....Shelby kept doing it herself, thus why we had to resort to muzzling her :)
Shelby reads daddy her card :)

Birthday daddy and his kiddos outside Texas Roadhouse on his b-day...in the rain looking oh-so-happy :) And below is the gang at lunch at Moes...

Well, I kinda feel like I just did a birthday recap last week (I guess, cuz I did)...but usually Kev's b-day is so separate from the rest of the family's cuz it's in ther summer that it's weird this year that I'm doing two weekends of birthday stuff...but so be it...that's just how it worked out this year.

Anyway...this is just gonna be a "lil" post with mostly just pics to show off Kev's "b-day weekend"....and in actuality I guess the weekend's not even done and the best part of his weekend is probably starting up about now. He and the rest of the Steg guys are livin' it up at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in Indy right now! Yes, I am yet again speaking of the exciting "sport" of racing...one of Kev's fav pasttimes (as far as sports goes :)). So, that is where he's been all day and will be into the evening I'm sure. The guys in the Steg family (Kev, his dad, his Uncle Randy, and brother Brian) have made this an annual event...and for the past couple years they all go and do a little tailgate lunch and enjoy the day of loud cars and crashes at the good ol' Indy track (I think they even have headsets to track all the racers...oh boy!) I'm sure it's a good time, but I'm quite content that they've made it a "guys event" :) So, I'm sure they'll be having a spectacular day in the city....Kev has been looking forward to this forever. I tried to get him take a camera to capture the excitment for the rest of us who are "missing out"...but he said "ummm, no"....we'll see if he comes home with anything on his camera phone :) So, here's to you guys on the track! Enjoy that nice warm sun beating down on you and all those ear-drum breaking speedsters!

Ok, so aside from the day at the track today, Kev's b-day weekend went off w/o much of a hitch. No, we didn't do anything spectatular, but had lots of family time, and for me that's always great (but maybe Kev would disagree?? :))...on Friday we did take him out to Moe's for lunch, which was very yummy...the girls actually were very excited about their soft taco (usually it's like pulling teeth to get them to eat anything Mexican-ish)....but they loved it! Hailey even made the lovely comment..."these are much better than the ones we have at home"....ahh, how sweet :) But, later she amended that and said she actually just liked the chicken better than the beef...good to know :) Anyway...from there we literally raced around doing some shopping (in the pouring rain I might add) and then barely made it home to find the upolstery cleaning guy just backing into our driveway :( Phew....that would have been bad if we missed him! Anyway...it only took him life 5 minutes to "clean" up the vomit spots on our couch....and I'm not really convinced it worked...cuz I think basically the orange spray smell just covered up the curdled milk stink...so now it just smells like orange vomit...lovely! :( Later we met Kev at our home-town hangout, Texas Roadhouse for dinner...the place was jamm packed so we actually had to wait for a seat even though it was only like 5pm. We rolled out of there stuffed with peanuts and meat and then back home for our "surprise" cake from Cold Stone...this time we didn't have to resort to the "petite" cake and Kev said somehow it just tasted better knowing he had more to enjoy later! :) It was yummy :) And that was that...his real b-day. The kids made him cards and we didn't even have any real gifts for him...aside from lots of kisses and hugs (which is more than enough :))...but good thing my Aunt Sue had ordered stuff for him cuz he opened all that on his b-day and was very content (at least I hope so)...I felt bad we had nothing to give him, but I just didn't want to piddle money away on little things and everyone else had already gotten him what he needed/wanted. So, that was his "big" day....we ended it with a rented movie that I (not surprisingly) slept through, but he said it was pretty good (The Shooter?).

And yesterday was just a laid back day of sleeping in and doing a whole lot of nothing. It was kinda nice. For dinner we made the long trek to the north side of Indy for Kev's special b-day dinner at Benihana's. For those of you who don't know that is Kev's FAV place to eat! He loves japanese steakhouses....and I agree...they are good...but nothing compared to my FAV fondue spot Melting Pot...yumm (sorry, had to put a plug in there for MP...love it!)! Anyway...so we met his brother and sister-in-law and parents there and it was a great time. I guess I'll have to let the pics do the talking...but they made Kev wear a BIG b-day balloon hat (which Shelby wanted to wear :))...and they came out with drummer and musicians that played music and sang a jig and Kev was supposed to do a birthday dance (he did not cooperate as usual...can we say party pooper? :) j/k...love you, babe!)....the food was great as usual, but we were a little disappointed in the "atmosphere/entertainment"...I think we might have gotten a new "cook" cuz he only did one little volcano steam thing with the onions and he shot the shrimp tails into his pocket...but that was it....no lighting of anything on fire and no dry jokes like they usually make, which make the experience unique. He even gave Kev's "expensive" steak to his brother by mistake (Kev took it well, but I know he was bummed out :)). Anyway....but don't get me wrong...it was a great meal...just not as "exciting" as I remember it being. Thanks to Kev's parents for a special night though...it was definitely a great treat for us all and made Kev's b-day complete (and you would be very proud of miss Shelby...she actually ate with chop sticks the entire time and LOVED it, especially the rice and mushroom soup broth stuff!...it was so darn cute and I was amazed at her patience...even I don't have the patience for chopsticks) And the night was even more complete after dinner when we got dessert at Maggie Moos....yumm! (fyi Kev's fav. ice cream place in the whole wide world!) So, it was a great night (though I will say Dylan was in RARE form...he was hyper active all night long...throwing chopsticks and grabbing tea...not like him at all...it was almost like he and Shelby traded personalities for the night...yippee :))

And now here I sit...just me and my lonely self (and Dylan sleeping in the other room)...Kev's parents took the girls for the weekend...so Nina could have "girl" time with them today while the boys were at the race. We get them all back tomorrow after Shelby's eye appt in Indy.

Anyway...so I'd better get off my rear and enjoy my day of peace and quiet. I might even (gasp) go shopping (for me) later with my little guy...or maybe I'll just be lazy. Either way it's nice for me to have a day of down time. I need it after the past couple weeks and craziness. Hopefully I'll have time to post tomorrow after Shelby's eye consult. Love ya'll!

Guess Who's 32?!

As most of my posts go...here's lots of pics to show Kev's "b-days of the past"...enjoy the trip down memory lane....ok, so the above pic is not actually of his b-day...it was taken a few weeks ago when our sweet friends, Kathy and Bob were in town at IU and we visited with them...but isn't it a great family pic! I love it!
Ok, and this isn't b-day related either...but it's a self-portrait of the "happy couple"(us :)) lounging outside our cabin in NC on the 4th of July :)
And here's the real b-day pics....this is Kev's b-day last year with his happy brood of kids :) Can I just say how sweet and chubby Dylan looks...oh my! And this pic makes me realize how much we frequent Texas Roadhouse...oh well...we like to find a good place to eat and stick with it...so be it! :)
Here is daddy and Hailey last year with his Race Car cake that we made :) It was pretty cute!
Here's 2005 (30th B-day!)...daddy with his girls....little Dylan was "in utero" at this point :)

Daddy and Hailey (and Shelby too) using their hot air to extinguish the fire :)
Ok, so I know Kev will hate this picture, but oh well! :) This is what dad's of little girls have to endure...the pink princess party hat! What a good sport he is! :) (this was 2005)
And here Daddy and Hailey are (again 2005)....with his special Cookies by Design cookie that Hailey picked out for him! She was so proud of it :)
Daddy on his 29th b-day (2004) with his girls (look at little slumbering baby Shelby :)) And below is the first digital pic I have of Kev on his b-day...him and Hailey after they already ate his cake :) (2003)...my how time flies when you're having fun! :)

Well, if you read my previous posts then I guess you already know the answer! :)

Yep, my dear OLD man of a husband is that ripe ol' age today! Happy Birthday, Babe!

Hmmm...where do I even begin to say how much I love this guy and how thankful I am to have him as my "better/other half". Well, I guess I can't even put it all into words. He truly is a gift...a heaven sent gift that I remember praying for in college...hoping that this perfect guy would come sweep me off my feet and we'd live happily ever after. Turns out I already knew him and he was trying to sweep me off my feet, but I was too distracted by other campus guys that I gave him no attention. Shame on me! Thank goodness he stuck it out and I finally had to chase him down to get him to take notice again (serves me right!)....and now I've be blissfully happy ever since.

So, what else can I say about the best guy I know...he's been the perfect husband for almost 9 years (and I'm sure he'll be for the next 9 years and beyond as well)...the best daddy to our 3 crazy kiddos...a hard worker and an amazing provider, a smart lil' computer nerd who fixes all our technical issues (and by "our" I mean all of our family)...a wonderful cook...a great housekeeper (ok, that's not true...but at least he puts forth an effort when I'm worn out and need help :))...he's as laid back and relaxed about life as they come...he just has a peace about him and a warmth in his smile and embrace that is so refreshing for a high-maintance gal like me (ok, so I'm not really high maintance (usually)...but Kev just has this way about him that exudes tranquility...and who doesn't want peace in their life?!)...he's just this amazing person that was once just a dream/a prayer in my head and heart and now for the last 9 years I've been blessed enough to call him mine. He is my best friend and love him with all my heart.

So, here's to you today, my dear, sweet Kev....a Happy Birthday to you. Thanks for putting up with our household of hormones. I know we girls have put you through the ringer...and now you have your little man that has helped balance things out a bit for you (or maybe made things crazier...I'll let you decide that one :)). We love you more than words can say and we look forward to spending the next 32 years with you as the head of our crazy Steg household.

I'm not really sure how exciting Kev's big day will be as he'll be spending most of it plugging away at his work computer in his second home (his job) :( But, hopefully we'll take him out to lunch (to one of his fav. places, Moes)...and then to dinner to our regular restaurant peanut place hangout, Texas Roadhouse :)...cuz it's always nice to eat your heart out when you have a birthday :) Not sure what else the day will hold for him, but be rest assured it'll be full of thrills and excitment :)

So, here's to my fav. person and the one I love spending my life with. Wishing you the best 32nd b-day ever and many more to come....Love you, Kev!

Oh the Joys of Swim Lessons :)

A little trip down "swim lesson memory lane"...here we are over the course of the last two weeks at the good ol' IU outdoor pool :) Here I am above helping "train" my little man (aka, the little fish in the water :))
And here is "disagreeable Shelby" with her sweet teacher "Miss Ruby"...and actually Shelby looks pleasantly (surprisingly) happy in this picture! I think this was on of her few "good swimming days" :) And I must say....yesterday was an awesome day for her...she did soooo good and was soooo proud of herself! Bravo, Shelby!
Here is little miss Hailey doing her awesome backstroke...you go, girl!
Daddy and Dylan testing out the waters :)
Daddy and Dylan doing a water music game :)

Time for the barbell...Dylan is not a big fan :(
Hmmm...but he looks happier in this picture...
Can we all look any my ecstatic about swim lessons?! Oh my...this has got to be one of the saddest pics of us...ok, so I look happy...but this was Monday when Shelby would NOT get in the water and got all treat priveledges taken away and was probably fighting her virus....and Dylan was also not happy for some unknown/strange reason...and Hailey was happy, but just looks mad :) Go figure...so here's our "happy pool gang" :)

Look at those happy swimmy baby smiles :)
Jump, Dylan, Jump...be a big ol' alligator like this song says...this is his fav. part of swim lessons jumping off the wall...
Can you find our guys in this mass of swimmers?
Here is Hailey's group of fellow Level 4's
And Here is Shelby again looking surprising happy with Ruby :)

Wish us luck today as it's our last "lesson" day!

Belated Double B-day Party Recap....

Well, folks...I've decided to just make my blogs nice and short and sweet for awhile (we'll see if I can stick to that :))....so here is just a picture display of the girl's very belated double (half) b-day celebration this past Sunday afternoon at our house with the extended Steg family...above is Shelby will her lil' purple flip flops cake...it wasn't my best creation and the yogos fruit roll-ups gave me a good fight...but Shelby loved it...
Here is Hailey and her requested "present cake"...a VERY easy cake...thanks to my Family Fun magazine for the idea! :)
The girls using all their hot air to blow out those candles! :)

Dylan getting his treat for the night...some of daddy's homemade vanilla ice cream! Yummy! And to think daddy said "we shouldn't waste that on Dylan"....mean daddy! :) Thank you, Uncle Brian for thinking Dylan was worthy enough of this special treat...he sure LOVED it as is evidenced by his face....
Yummm....thanks, Uncle Brian for feeding me! (well, I guess I'm feeding myself at this point)...but thanks later for cleaning me up since I dumped the leftover ice cream all over! :)
Here is Shelby opening up her new bike!!! She doesn't look excited does she??!! :)
Cousin Averey has to be the first to ride the bike...she was fascinated by it and it was almost her size (she's 2 mos older than Dylan)

Finally Shelby gets her chance to ride the new bike! Whohoo! Now if she could only stop constantly using the breaks we'd get places faster! :)
Hailey and Cousin Harrison having a VERY intellectual conversation about the new Webkinz...apparently Harrison is the expert on them! :)
Here is a pic of the group on our deck...this is after present-opening and right before everyone left....actually I think some people have already left :) It was a great evening though...weather was perfect and we were thankful for our "extra room" (the deck :)) We couldn't have comfortably fit 20+ people w/o it! :)
Here are the girls with their new furry pet Webkinz...I'm sure many of you have never heard of them, but they are these neat beanie baby type animals that have a code you can use online to "take care of them"....apparently they come with money (virtual, of course...bummer!)...so you can buy things too?? We still have yet to register the pets online since Shelby barfed on hers yesterday...but maybe today we'll do that? Shelby's horse is named Brownie and Hailey's pink pony is named BubbleGum and her striped alley cat is named Stripey, I think? They love their animals and sleep with them every night and carry them around all day...Shelby even rides with hers on her new bike :) And below is our family of five outside our house after the shin dig....gotta love that crazy Shelby face! :)