Dallas Zoo and Tyler's scratched cornea

We've had a very eventful week around here. Monday Jill and I took the kiddies to the Dallas Zoo. It was my first trip to the zoo with the babies and it was a great day for it. It was a little cool in the morning, but after lunch, it warmed up nicely and it was a beautiful day. I haven't been to the zoo in ages so it was like I had never been before. The babies are still a little young for the zoo but I think they still enjoyed being out of the house and enjoying new surroundings. And WOW! What a workout it was for me pushing 3 babies for 4 hours up and down steep hills and in and out of crowds of people. We enjoyed seeing the animals and had a nice picnic lunch. We got to stay a little longer because 2 of my 3 fell asleep (very rare) in the stroller and Jill's youngest fell asleep too. Whitney stayed awake but wasn't fussy at all. I am really surprised and glad it went so well especially since they didn't nap in the car like I hoped they would on the way there.

We got home and had about a good hour of playtime before Hannah hit Tyler and knocked him to the floor. He cried so hard I knew he must have been hurt in some way, not just mad. He was doing this weird thing with his eyes (rolling them sorta) and he wouldn't hardly open them. I thought she hit him so hard, he hit his head and damaged something internally. I was finally able to get him to calm down and he stopped doing the weird thing with his eyes so he went down to nap. He woke up several times crying as if he was in pain and started up the weird eye thing again. I began inspecting his eye and saw something on his cornea - it looked like a little fuzz at first so I gently rubbed my finger over his eye lid in hopes of moving it off his cornea. It kept bothering him so I kept looking at it and then after looking at it more and more, I was sure it was a scratch. I called Craig and told him to come home so I could take Tyler to the doctor. When I took him in, it was in fact a scratched cornea, so we got some antibiotics to help prevent infection and headed home. The after hours pedi referred me to a pediatric opthamologist. So, Tuesday I took him to see the opthamologist and she said it was just a minor scratch and it was already almost healed. They heal fast!! Now, I just have to take him back in on Thursday to get one last check of his eye and make sure it has healed up properly.

We have officially entered into toddlerhood around here. We have been having some problems with the babies lately - mainly Hannah but they each play a role and I have been trying to get as much reading done as I can to nip this behavior in the bud as quickly as possible. Hannah is just a bully - just plain mean - she bites sometimes, but not as much as she used to, she steals toys, she pushes the other two around and she throws fits most of the time. The fit throwing is the biggest problem. Tyler is a sweet boy but is just that - all boy! He likes to hit everything and everybody. He isn't being mean and doesn't realize he is hurting the others but we are trying to teach him to be gentle. He also likes to tackle the girls. Whitney is so sensitive, anytime somebody steals her toy, she cries; anytime somebody hits her, she cries; anytime somebody so much as touches her, she cries. We've been reading up on ways to handle these behaviors but if anybody has any good books they suggest or methods that apply Christian, Biblical principles, please let me know.

Craig is also getting ready to have his shoulder surgery next week - the 25th. Please pray for him and a smooth and speedy recovery. Also, pray for me that I can take care of the babies, him and keep up with school for several weeks or months without losing my mind.

Stay tuned for a picture post of some of our recent outings.