Glasses

This last week has been our busy week of taking everyone in to have their yearly eye exam. All the kids (except James because he is too young) had an eye appointment this week. I know I have said this before, but at times like these I feel like Noah when he took the animals 2 by 2. I take my kids 2 at a time for several reasons. The first is that usually the doctor's office will only schedule 2 kids at one time (our pediatrician). Another reason is that I have several that are still too small and waiting is a hard thing to do. So I divide them into pairs and try and have one of my older kids (Wyatt or Amanda) at home to babysit. Then I only have to take the 2 who are currently being seen by the doctor and the rest are at home. It has worked and so I think that I will continue to do so until they are older. Besides I don't know many doctor's offices that have 7 appointments in a row!

So Monday saw me taking Amanda and Bethany. Amanda passed her exams with a caution that if she experienced any problems that she needed to come back in for another evaluation as she is beginning to show signs of needing glasses. Bethany, on the other hand, needed glasses this time. The doctor felt that she would do better if the correction was there for school. I am not sure why, but Bethany was elated that she needed glasses. We proceeded to pick out some frames. I am a firm believer (especially when it comes to glasses) that the child needs to have a major say in picking them. I helped her pick ones that would compliment her face and tried to steer her to ones that wouldn't detract from her beauty. After trying on several pairs, she decided on ones. The lady that was helping us took her over and started measuring her face with their hi-tech device so the focal point of her lenes would be correct. Then she showed us something really cool about her frames. On the temples there was some decorations. At that point they were showing hearts. She gently pulled on it and twisted it and low and behold it changes it to swirls! After that Bethany was definately sold on those glasses. Then she was told that it would be a week to 10 days before they would be done. That was hard for her as she really wanted them now.

Fast forward to Friday (today). The kids didn't have school today which meant that we could take more without having to worry about missing school. Wyatt and Katherine were first up this morning. Wyatt, already having a pair of glasses, just needed his prescription updated which in our household means a new pair of glasses. That way we have the old pair to fall back on for a year if he should break the new ones. Katherine fell within the normal ranges. After picking out a really cool (and sturdy) pair for Wyatt we left for home. Katherine was devasted. I am not sure why, but this little girl WANTS a pair of glasses. So we tried to do the next best thing and got her a pair of sun glasses. She was content and has been wearing those around all day.

This afternoon I took Mariah and Jacob.....and Bethany as the doctor's office called right before their appointments to say that Bethany's glasses were in.Here she is sporting her new glasses:

Jacob passed his test as did Mariah. But the doctor was concerned with Mariah and said that she was really border line. He said that it wouldn't shock him if we returned in the next 6 months to get her glasses. He said that he didn't want to give her any now as it was almost summer and she would most likely break them during that time. So it really sounds like she would need them but just for school purposes. She was a little sad (I think) that she wouldn't be getting them right away, but consuled as she would be getting some soon.

I don't know why I am surprised, actually I am surprised that more of my kids don't have glasses than currently do. I look at my family history and just with my side alone there is only 1 person in my immediate family that doesn't wear glasses. Both my parents have them as well as 5 of my 6 siblings. Gabe has them, as well as several other members of his family. We have doomed our children to have bad eyes through genetics! So the glasses count right now stands at 2 children and 2 adults......but with more to come. I will post pictures of Wyatt in his new glasses when he gets them next week.