Cakewalk

We babysat for Shawna and Matt on Friday, and proved once again that feeding, bathing, and putting two toddlers and two babies to bed is easy-peasy!

Bloopers

A few vacation outtakes for your viewing pleasure:

No one is really sure what Joey is doing in this picture:



Clara groping her mommy:



After discovering that his T-shirt smelled like pee (Joey was sitting on his shoulders in just a swim diaper), Tim was forced to change into Matt's Periodic Table T:

Summertime, and the Livin's Easy

An eleven-day vacation will make you forget about all sorts of things, including eye surgeries, work, and Sunset fog. We spent a wonderful, relaxed week in Lake Tahoe and 5 days in Twain Harte with Tim's family, visiting the lake in both locales almost every day, and treating our sun-starved babies to lots of water fun. They got to visit and play with cousins on both sides -- Megan and Bridget on Meeks Bay, and 15 month-old Tommy and 6 month-old Marco at Twain Harte. The adults had plenty of fun, too, consuming way too much wine, playing far too many board games, and staying up much too late at night.

I took almost 500 pictures over the course of the vacation, which only nets out to about 50 each day, but adds up to a lot of pictures. Here's the best of the bunch.

Our first night in Tahoe, we hosted Crystal, Chad and Lorelai and Lily, and Shawna and Matt and the girls drove in for the bedlam, too:





We met up with the Stecher clan for the next several days at Meeks Bay, a beautiful sandy beach that's sheltered from wind, and boasts a snack bar and an air pump for all those inflatable toys. Shawna and Matt brought a baby pool and put it right at the water's edge for the smaller babies.

Joey and Bridget had fun digging in the sand together... they're kindred spirits in every way :)

Clara really looks like a strawberry blonde next to Bridget!



Clara happily chowed down on a drumstick at lunch one day:



Megan and Joey had a blast wrestling and chasing "East Coast Jack" Stecher:




Clara showed off her retro, ruffled rear end:








Joey practicing his football form with Daddy and Uncle Matt:





he even perfected his showboating technique:


Back at the Raley homestead, Clara dug into Joey's toolbox, and got spectacularly messy at mealtime, every time:





We had several outings on the South Shore, including miniature golfing at the Heavenly Resort, and ice cream at Camp Richardson:














We headed to Twain Harte on Sunday, and had a blast with all the Cecchin cousins, shown here in their birth order/ batting order shirts from Aunt Meredith -- Joey, Tommy, Clara, and Marco (who needed a little prop to keep him upright).

The whole gang out to dinner on Sunday night, minus the camera woman :)

Marco and Jeff showing off their matching shirts:


Three guys and three strollers, heading to dinner:

Marco shows off his tummy and his smile:

The kids loved the baby pool on the deck, including a very devious Joey:

Joey had a blast building sandcastles with Tommy and a very talented Uncle Tom:

taking a break to douse Grandma:

Thanks to Grandma Cecchin for these last pictures, since I'm usually the one behind the camera!

And finally, two more cute photos of Clara:

I Once Was Blind, But Now Can See

Well, sort of.

And I'm not exactly singing the praises of my laser surgery*, either. I underwent PRK**, a laser eye surgery that's similar to LASIK in some ways, but more similar to childbirth in a lot of essential ways. Perhaps I didn't do enough research beforehand, but I was not at all prepared to be out of commission for 3-4 days after the surgery, unable to leave our darkened bedroom because of blinding pain in my eyes, splitting headaches, and excruciating sensitivity to light of any kind. My doctor didn't fully prepare me for the recovery, aside from giving me two clues:

1) a prescription for Vicodin, which I optimistically didn't fill beforehand. I figured if I didn't use it for two babies, a broken arm, and a knee surgery, I could survive with Ibuprofen.

and

2) the advice that leaving for vacation the day after the surgery, which we initially planned to do, would not be "comfortable."

Let me be clear: nothing was comfortable after surgery, especially taking care of two babies. Thankfully, Tim was on vacation, and assumed full-time daddy duties with additional help from his parents. I didn't leave the house without donning heavy-duty sunglasses and wrapping a towel around my head, and even then, it was only to go to my follow-up appointments. On my last one, I asked the doctor why I had never heard of anyone else being in this much pain after eye surgery. His answer: "People who get PRK don't really talk about it afterwards."

Well, I'm spreading the word! PRK is no joke. I'm looking back fondly on my eyeglasses, contact lenses and saline solution in the medicine cabinet. Sure, glasses were scarring at times, especially in junior high. but at least they didn't inflict actual pain.

Look for more updates (and probably many, many typos) in the coming weeks. My vision is still blurry, but should sharpen to 20/20 within 1 to 2 months. In the meantime, I'm channeling my fourth-grade myopic self, before I got glasses, with my nose practically touching the pages of my book -- and my computer screen.

* Tim initially vigorously disputed that I was having surgery -- instead referring to it as an elective procedure -- and even gleefully quoted Ari on HBO's Entourage for back-up. He changed his tune very quickly.

**I wish I had been able to go the traditional LASIK route, but not only was I legally blind, I apparently have very thin cornea, and overly large pupils (who knew?), all of which disqualified me for LASIK.