mostly good things

(uncle) cliff & adeline at the zoo on saturday afternoon.

it was freezing! literally frigid. but this time we remembered blankets & a coat for addy, so at least we didn't look like bumbling idiot parents this time (but thankfully judy lent us a blanket last time. it's funny; she's always said i was so prepared with a packed full diaper bag...but she has loaned me blankets & pacifiers several times now).

adeline with some sort of goat? i don't know...by this time amelia had finally woken up screaming her little lungs out, so bri & i went to the gift shop (heat!) to take millie out of the car seat. millie then found a little faux tiger cub (pup?) & proceeded to slobber it to death (before we paid for it, of course).

i'm not sure how we got started on talking about chocolate covered strawberries, but bri & i day dreamed about them for awhile. then i mentioned that we have a godiva store in the mall, which is just a short 5 minute drive away. so after the girls were down, bri & i set off to the godiva shop for some chocolate covered strawberries...& came home with about $30 worth of chocolate from two different stores. what we have above consists of 5 chocolate covered strawberries, 3 berry mixtures in chocolate cups, an ginormous dark chocolate peanut butter cup, a fat piece of chocolate covered toffee, a delicious hunk of chocolate covered caramel, 1 milk chocolate truffle, & a chocolate & caramel covered sour apple. yum yum. cliff had some very tastey beer...it was raspberry beer, actually. very very very good. it was in a wine bottle & i think i could've drank the entire thing. sort of a tasted like a mix between beer & red wine. so we drank beer & ate chocolate covered yumminess. cliff & bri, you can visit us ANYTIME! (yes, even without chocolate & raspberry beer). {wait, is rasberry really spelled raspberry? i never realized that!}

today was my appointment with the optical neurologist. we were about 15 minutes late...oops! but apparently it snowed near the osu campus which made traffic around the medical buildings crawl. anyway, they didn't seem to mind. dr. katz had a very chipper optician who was hilarious & she apparently names the eye machines. i was using 'betty' today for my peripheral vision test...betty & her had a little spat last week & then betty just shut down for hours. so this lady was being very nice to betty today b/c she didn't want her acting up again. (totally not making this up). anyway. dr katz was maybe in his early 40's, slightly balding & wore scrubs & seemed to be very studious, kind, & earnest. he even joked around a bit about different things.

so here's the run down: he ruled out that this inflammation is caused by environmental factors. so now it's either from #1 that's how my eyes normally are or #2 spinal/brain fluid (there is a technical name for it, but i don't remember!) are putting pressure on my eyes due to something going awry in my brain-ish area. what is very interesting is that some people of more direct german ancestry actually have smaller optic nerves, making the nerves appear to look inflammed! so, i have german ancestry on both sides of my family...#1 could just be the culprit! BUT i still have these headaches & dizziness & passing out stuff going on. apparently my headaches aren't headaches, but migraines. so he gave me a migraine medication to take daily, then after 7 weeks, i am going back to osu to get a mri of my brain. i think the theory goes that hopefully the migraine medication will reduce the inflammation in the eyes which will help them find the cause of the migraines & dizziness.

the good part, (silver lining?) is that he didn't' see a reason to get the mri today. which tells me that it may not be as serious as it could be. he did mention the other buzz words (possible diseases) that the eye dr mentioned, but he truly seemed less concerned about my eyes & more concerned about the migraines. i don't know if that's good or bad, but...i'm not letting myself dwell on it. hopefully this medication (topamax) works & i will be migraine free. what a relief that will be!

a side story: so osu is a teaching hospital (obviously) so dr katz had a student (who is a dr as well or at least he had on some dr's coat with a name & title on it). but this other dude was obviously a student...dr katz looked into my eyes with this round magnifying glass thing & had this EXTREMELY bright light right next to my eyeball...ya know, looking at my optic nerve. so then he asks the student if he has seen this type of optic nerve problem before & the student seemed to snap back into reality from his day dream reverie & shook his head 'no' so dr katz replied 'well do you have your *thingy* with you?' [he really didn't say 'thingy' but i don't know what the heck that magnifying thing is called) & this student looked petrified & he felt inside his pockets (there were 5 of them) & looked mortified & shook his head no. so dr katz looks at him with this 'you dumb ass' look & turns back to me & keeps talking. it was hilarious! i felt for the student, of course. but come on! bring your *thingy* to work! you're studying to be an optical neurologist for goodness sake.

wes & i then go out for brunch & then peruse a bedroom furniture store. then we get into a fight (wes takes about a 20 step process to buy anything...i am not that way at all. if i see it & like it & especially if it's on sale, well, just get it! we had planned on getting a bed & dresser already, so... but it is resolved, no worries). then we go home & find that adeline has peed in the potty! wes' mom was able to get a day off of work to stay with the girls...everyone seemed very happy with that arrangement! amelia had about 12 ounces of formula & 2 feedings of solids since she woke up in the morning.

but yes, adeline is actually peeing in the potty fairly regularly now. it is totally driven by her, though. we can suggest to her to sit on the potty, but when she pees is totally her idea. then she takes the little bucket thing out of the small potty & brings it to us...which is very frightening b/c if you know addy, you know she's fairly clumsy. i can just see it now: she trips & sends a bucket with a cup of pee in it flying all over the place, all over herself. it's only a matter of time before it happens, i tell you.

so that's what's going on here. wes just came with dairy queen treats to celebrate this day being over, so...adios (we know dora here).