This week went by so fast. Emme will be 6 months old (even though she will be 26 weeks old) this weekend. She went for a check up and is now 14.5 lbs and 26 inches long. No shots this time since we were only there 3 weeks ago so we will get the 6 month shots in a couple of weeks.
We also took her to my eye doctor to get her eyes evaluated. We haven't noticed anything wrong but Paul wears glasses and contacts and I have such a severe astigmatism that really made one eye much worse than the other since it wasn't caught until I was 5 when I started school and had trouble seeing. Had my eyes been tested earlier, which wasn't a common practice and also because my parents do not have astigmatism, I may not have ended up needing all the interventions I did including wearing contacts at age 8. I spent a year and a half every Saturday for 4-5 hours at an eye clinic learning and practicing exercises to strengthen my eyes so I could wear the contacts. I also had to so exercises at home every day even on weekends. My parents were amazing and did everything they could to help correct my vision. Basically an astigmatism is weakness of eye muscles. My left eye was stronger so I started to use that one more and more and ended up not even using my right eye so the muscles became extremely weak and it turned out away from my nose. (lazy eye) The contact lenses actually hold the muscles in place so after wearing glasses for the year and a half and strengthening my eyes I was fitted for soft contact lenses. It was so not fun.
So anyway the doctors do see astigmatism in both of Emme's eyes. What is good is that it isn't nearly as bad as mine was originally and glasses will correct it. She was such a perfect little patient letting the doctor look into her eyes for over an hour. We took lots of breaks. He was so surprised that she doesn't pull off her sunglasses so he taped some lenses to the sunglasses to get a more accurate prescription. He said that normally babies won't wear glasses and he doesn't give glasses to them because of this but if we can train Emme to wear her sunglasses for a few hours each day that in November we may be able to get her glasses. I really hate the thought of having her wear glasses but knowing what my vision is like now without glasses or contacts is frightening and my vision was worse as a small child. I want Emme to be able to learn without any vision impairment. The opthamologist I took her to I have seen since I was diagnosed way back when I was 5. He was just out of med school and was an "assistant" to the head eye doctor at the eye clinic I spent many an a Saturday at. I followed him when he opened his practice in Yonkers and have been his patient for 27 years!
In other Emme news! Emme is eating like a champ. She now eats carrots, pears, banana, avocado and yogurt- banana flavored and vanilla flavored. Emme has mastered the intake mechanism petty well and is a very neat eater. She does like to eat though. She makes the mmm sound after taking a bite and if you don't keep those spoons coming fast enough she grunts and complains until another spoon is fed! It is also amazing that she still nurses the same amount of times and eats three big meals. She is so active that she must burn it all off. Paul is so good. He makes all Emme's food homemade except the yogurt. He has already made her next two foods- apples and a cinnamon apple/pear mixture. Our freezer is so stuffed right now. All the fruits and veggies come from our friend's parents farm market in Cortlandt Manor.
Tom the babysitter!
As for Tom and Jerry, they have taken a "custodial"role in
Emme's world. They constantly clean and kiss her, bark at people who come near us unless we
ok it and Tom even sits near her when she plays as if he were babysitting. We always have to be careful though. The other day
Emme was swinging her Bug Loop
teether and Tom thought she wanted to tug with him so he grabbed the end of it and started to tug. I have to say he did it ever so gently and if you know Tom and his toys nothing is ever gentle but he was really good. We had to tell him wrong. He looked so sad but even so Tom still sometimes tries to play anyway. Can you see anything strange in the photo below?
So Silly!