New Job

I start a new job on Tuesday. I am now an employee of the state of South Dakota! I was offered a job in the WIC office. I will be working in Canton and Elk Point. It'll be 3 days per week, 8 to 5. Can't get any more normal than that! The state will provide a car for me to drive back and forth, so I won't be wasting my gas.

I'm really excited for the change. Working for WIC will fit better with my NICU background. I did enjoy working with adults at the clinic, however, I was always drawn to the babies and kids. I really started missing the babies! I couldn't go back to working weekends and nights though. This is the perfect compromise and will be right up my alley.

I will stay unscheduled part-time at the clinic and pick up days here and there. I'm going to miss everyone there!

Wish us luck in this new transition. We're still trying to figure out the best way to work-out childcare and driving. The kids will continue to go to daycare in Brandon so it'll be a little bit of driving for me until the kids get out of school. In the summer, Mike should be able to take them, so it won't be as bad for me.

My little brother might watch them again this summer. I think he's still trying to make up his mind. We'll probably bring them to Traci's one day per week so we can save our spot there and Nate can watch them the other two days. We'll see!

I Couldn't Resist

Source: tatertwins.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Forgot To Add

I forgot to add this picture in my post. Aunt Kelly bought Riley that princess crown she is holding along with some new headbands. My parents gave Riley a gift certificate to go to McDonald's and some money. I can't tell you how much Riley loves hamburgers. :)

Thanks again to everyone for coming!

Happy Birthday, Riley!

 Happy Birthday, baby girl! I still can't believe she's 4 and is in preschool. I still remember the day we brought her home from the hospital. She was our little "surprise" baby. I thank God for her because she's just what our family needed. She has such a cute personality. She can be so sweet and gentle but yet give you such attitude. I love watching the three of them interact. They are so close in age and play pretty well together.

I think Riley has a fun birthday. It's always a weekend celebration. It starts with the St. Patty's Day parade and ends with a big birthday party. She wanted to go swimming again. I was very hesitant because of what happened last year (she almost drowned.) I did book a hotel room with a pool but only invited the cousins. I didn't want a lot of little kids running around a pool. It's so risky, even with all of the adults around.

Although it was a little party, Riley still had fun. We ate some pizza and then she opened gifts. Everyone was so generous. She received a lot of nice gifts!

 Shayne and Amber bought her this dress. I knew the second she pulled it out that she was going to love it. She's such a girly girl.

 Steve and Sarah bought her some flip-flops, a poodle purse, and a glass birthday plate.

 Grandpa Tom and Grandma Andrea bought her a wooden highchair. She loves playing with her babies and this will definitely get used!

 Mike and I bought her a princess Play-Doh castle, some coloring books, and markers.

 Uncle Mark bought her a gift card to go to the movies. That's one of her favorite things to do.

 After we opened presents, it was swimming time. All of the men got in the pool with the kids and the women sat on the side. It's funny how that works. Is it the same way in your family? I did get in my swimming suit later, but I waited until everyone left. :)

 The kids had a blast in the pool. They didn't heat the pool, so the water was FREEZING! It didn't seem to phase them one bit.

 Riley wanted a pink birthday cake with pink frosting. I figured since we spent quite a bit on food and the hotel room, I'd make the cake. I probably could have done more to decorate it. She was thrilled with it, so I guess that's all that matters!

 "Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you..."

Mike had to work the next morning, so the kids and I were going to stay in the hotel room by ourselves. At the last minute, Riley decided to go home with Mike. She wanted him to put together her highchair so she could start playing with it! He said she was up until midnight playing with all of her toys.

The twins were so worn out that night. They fell asleep in record time. I had to wake them up the next morning so we could get one last swim in and head home.

It was such a fun weekend! I'd like to thank everyone that drove to come to her party. Amber and Shayne and Kelly and Eric drove 4-5 hours to get here. It means the world to us that they did that! You really realize the importance of family the older you get.

St. Patty's Day Parade

 Our town has a Parade for St. Patty's Day each year. They do a good job putting it on and the kids really enjoy it. My brother-in-law, Steve, works downtown so we were able to hang out at the place he works until the parade came down the street.

 It was really cold this year! Last year, it was in the 70's. We stayed outside for about an hour and then had to go warm back up.

They handed out some candy this year. The kids had fun picking it up. They ate their fair share of tootsie rolls that day!

Patching it Up

 Guess who had to start wearing eye patches? We take Mia to the eye doctor every 6 months because her left eye drifts. We notice it when she's tired or stressed and it seemed to be getting worse. Her vision worsened quite a bit at her eye visit in December. The doctor said that when the eye drifts, the brain shuts off vision to that eye because it can't interpret double vision. This makes the eye even worse and some kids can lose vision to that eye.  

We patch her strong eye so the weak eye has to work. It was pretty funny the first few days we had to do it. She would tilt her head and look sideways so she could see the tv. We do it two hours a day, five days a week. It is amazing how well it works.

We took her back to the eye doctor in January and her vision improved an entire line. We have to patch her eye until her appointment in April and then start weaning her off the patch to see how her eye does.

She does pretty well at wearing the patches. She does cheat though. She'll open the patch up so she can use her strong eye to do stuff. It's quite comical watching her try and pour cereal into a bowl or play a video game. It makes me dizzy using one eye, but she's done so well! She even puts the patches on herself. I had to order some cute ones from amazon. I let her pick them out so she was a little more excited about wearing them.

Funny Drawing

 Ethan told me he wanted to draw a picture of me. When he finally finished, he handed it over. I couldn't help but laugh. He drew a picture of me pregnant. I asked about the baby and he said it was him! I asked where Mia was, and he said he didn't want to draw her.