Your Eyes

It's so easy to take them for granted.  So very easy to just expect that they'll always do their job.  That your sight will always be there.  Until one night, when you're on the computer and you see black spots floating across your computer screen.  And, you think to yourself, what the heck was that?  You start to rub the screen thinking that it must have been dirt.  Only to discover a few minutes later that it's not. 

Then, you remember how earlier in the day your eye had felt like there was something in it.  And actually, while you're thinking about it, you realize that it still hurts.  And, you're freaking out a bit because your seeing spots.

This was me on Thursday night.  I tried to put it out of my head but my eye continued to hurt all day Friday.  Friday night I made the mistake that I make far too often.  I googled my symptoms.  I guess it could be viewed as a good thing because it did get my arse to the eye doctor the next day as I had self diagnosed myself with Uveitis.  Which, as I found out yesterday afternoon after a visit to the eye dr., I do have. 

Uveitis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the eye.  It feels as lovely as it sounds.  Uveitis can be caused by a variety of things...  some very benign and some very serious.  It is often a result of an auto immune disease like rheumatoid arthritis or MS.   And while my dr. did mention that those diseases as being a cause, he didn't seem concerned.  He gave me a prescription for eye drops that should, hopefully, take care of the issue.  No follow up.  No additional testing.  He said I should be feeling better in a few days.

If you google Uveitis, however, it paints a different picture.  Cataracts, glaucoma, blindness, MS, other auto immunue diseases.  It's not a pretty picture.  And quite different from the "take these drops for a week and you'll be fine".  I should really learn to stay off of the internet. 

Oh, and the best part?  While I had mentioned in a previous post that I was planning to wean Piper from nursing before my beach trip, I didn't follow through and spent that weekend pumping.   She happily went back to nursing when I returned home and I was planning to let her self wean.  Until I got my Rx for the drops yesterday.  I forgot to ask the dr. at my appointment whether or not they were safe while nursing.  And, by the time I got to the pharmacy, the dr's office had closed for the weekend.  So, while we were down to only nursing two or three times a day, we were all of a sudden forced to abruptly wean.  While she seems ok, weaning is painful.  And, this is now in addition to the pain in my eye.

Lovely.

Wishing Jar

The über talented Liz of paislee press has a new kit being released tomorrow called Wishing Jar and it's brilliant and whimsical and beautiful. I love the sentiment and the color scheme and well, basically, everything.  And while I will admit that she didn't design this beautiful little kit just for me, I will pretend she did.  I mean really, could she have created anything more perfect for my blog header than a jar full of little stars?  My collection of the little things that light up my days now beautifully captured in her little illustration.  *sigh*

For a chance to win this oh-so-lovely kit tomorrow, check out Liz's blog post here.  

R & R

, originally uploaded by Shelba.

16 hours and counting until my weekend of r & r begins. Three days of no schedule and no kids. Four friends. Four friends who have known each other since first grade. The beach. Not sure it gets much better than that.

I'm looking forward to a lot of uninterrupted sleeping in, and coffee drinking, and book reading, and sun, surf and sand'ing, and napping, and wine drinking, and restaurant going, and photo snapping and memory making.

And, a whole lot of pretending, at least for a few days, that I have no responsibility for anyone but me.

Changes

So many changes on the horizon... some very near and some more distant. For one, I can't believe the summer is more than half over. I'm going to be sending two of my three kids off to full day kindergarten. Life is going to change so much at the end of this summer. I'm not sure I'm ready.

Speaking of being ready, we are going to be joining the ranks of the back to school shoppers. EJ and Olivia are already talking about which backpack and lunchbox they would like to purchase for their first year of school. Craziness. I'm not sure how we got here so quickly.

And speaking of quick, Piper will be one in a few short weeks. She's cruising and pulling up and crawling and opening cabinet doors and climbing onto things and up stairs and basically causing me to chase her around all day long. She said her first word this week and, as no surprise, it was the word "no". And, she's gets quite a kick out of saying it. She's basically just mocking us... because we're constantly telling her "no, no, no" to everything and so now she has started saying "no, no, no" when she's doing something she's not supposed to be doing. It's quite cute, for now anyway.

I'm also going through the very sad (for me, at least) process of weaning from nursing. I'm taking a trip next week to the beach with several of my girlfriends (which I'm very much looking forward to, by the way) but I've decided to wean before I go. I just don't want to have a repeat of the trouble that we had when I returned from Disney. I would rather end things on a high note than to have a battle on my hands when I return, which I might not win. Plus, she'll be one in three weeks and I have quite the freezer stash to get her through to her first birthday. Still, it's been very, VERY sad for me. She seems to be totally fine with it all. Which, I guess, is a good thing.

A little doodling.  A little font playing.  A little arranging and rearranging in Photoshop and I've got myself a logo. And, a business! Or, at least the idea and plan for one. 

A new camera. A website. A logo. A domain name. Hosting options. A business plan. And business related forms. Legal stuff. Creative stuff.

My brain is on overdrive right now. And, in total Tracy fashion, I'm researching everything to death.

Something very exciting is in the works.

Scenes from a Fourth of July Weekend

Parading, ice cream'ing, sparsely populated beach spending, sailing, fishing, sparklering, smiling, rock and shell collecting, toe dipping, first time sand feeling, and lots of stair climbing.