Jonathan's Job

I don't think I've done any updates on Jonathan's job since we've been out here, so I should probably write about that. Before we moved out here, Jonathan had contact with a company in South Carolina about 30 minutes away from where we'd be moving to. He had a phone interview with them when we were in Utah and they said to contact them when he got to NC and they would do a formal interview then. We knew that if that didn't work out, my Dad was willing to hire Jonathan out for odd jobs until he found something. So, even though we moved here without a job, we knew we would be okay. 

We were here for a week or two before Jonathan contacted the company. We were trying to get the house in order before he started (hopefully) working full time. He met with them and they told him there were two different positions, one as a factory floor manager and the other as the purchasing agent. So, he had to decide which one he wanted to go for- he wasn't offered either job, just told about both of them and asked which one he wanted to be considered for. We discussed it for a night, then he called them the next day to say he was interested in being the purchasing agent. The guy he talked to said he had to talk to the boss and he'd call back. By the end of the day, Jonathan had a job. He is a lucky charm that boy.

I asked Jonathan a bunch of questions about his job, because he doesn't like to write, but I thought some people might want to know what he does...and for posterity. So, without further ado, Interview with Jonathan.

Q: Where do you work? 

A: Keer America- a cotton mill in SC.

Q: What do they do?

A: We make cotton yarn.

Q: What is your job title?

A: Purchasing Agent

Q: What do you do?

A: Buy everything the company needs

Q: What do you enjoy about your job?

A: I get to speak Chinese a lot. It's hands on and real. I get to work with parts and fix things...make things better. I like that it's pretty flexible.

Robin: What does that mean?

Jonathan: I can do whatever I think is best. I pretty much have no direction, which is good and bad. I also had no training...get used to that. I also like that they trusted me with lots of things really fast. 

Q: How much Chinese do you use? 

A: A lot. 

Robin: Expound on that.

Jonathan: Everyday I use a lot.

Q: What do you dislike about your job?

A: I do a lot of paperwork sometimes.

To fill in on Jonathan's lack of words, He's working for a Chinese company based here in the US that makes yarn. The majority of workers at the factory are Chinese nationals who are here on work visas, so Jonathan reads, writes and speaks Chinese every day. The factory workers will tell him (in Chinese) what piece of their giant machinery they need fixed or a replacement. Jonathan then has to figure out what the piece is called in English and then buy it. He has expanded his vocabulary in both languages and gets to go to Home Depot all the time. He seems to really like this job. He comes home happier than his last job. He didn't ever come home sad or angry with the last job, more just bored. I think he also really likes that he is not stuck behind a desk all day long. He goes between the office and the factory and also gets to drive around getting things. Jonathan deals with stuff like this: 

Numbers, heaps of them.

Giant Wheels- I think from their venting system.

Machinery pieces

Chinese and numbers!

Diagrams

Jonathan likes his work, which means he comes home happy, sometimes with good stories and sometimes, when we are really lucky, donuts. Also, sometimes he comes home with zong zi (meat wrapped in rice, shaped in a triangle, wrapped in a leaf...of bamboo...maybe, they are delicious). I'm glad he is using his Chinese again. His boss, Mr Ma, seems to like Jonathan, which is always a good thing. So, now you know a little more on what Jonathan does every day. Thanks for reading!

Peter's Crazy Eye

We finally went to see the eye doctor this week for Peter's eye. We got everything in order with insurance, and we had to get a doctor's recommendation before we could go to the specialist (even though he already had glasses and we've seen a specialist before and we knew his eye was turning in). So, we saw the pediatrician and they said, "Yep he needs to see an eye doctor." They said would send the recommendation in to the eye doctor and we would get a call about appointments. Two weeks went by without hearing back from anyone. I called the pediatrician and they said they sent the request in and that the eye doctor should have called me. So, I called the eye doctor and they said they didn't have a request for Peter! But, they set up an appointment and said they would clear everything up before we came, which I will assume they did because it all went fine once we got to the eye doctor.  

Peter dressed himself this day- three shirts.
You can see his eye turning in.

Peter got glasses a year ago to help correct his left eye which was turning in towards his nose. We noticed his eye turning in, March 2015, and he got glasses in July of that year. The glasses did wonders for his eye for the first while, but then slowly they started helping less because his eye got stronger to match the prescription but they needed a stronger prescription now. We should have gotten him in to the eye doctor sooner, but last year kept throwing things at us and I kept putting off setting up an appointment. But, we finally made it a priority and got in. 

My brother, William, came to help with Ezra during the appointment so I could better pay attention to the doctor and help Peter do what they needed. I am so grateful he came. Ezra did really good, but he got tired and a little cranky at the end, and it would have been really hard to juggle him and get Peter to listen to the doctor. We waited about 15 minutes after we got there and then we saw the doctor. Dr Haney is a pediatric ophthalmologist and she did great with Peter. She was quick in her work and playful with him. They had Peter look at some letters and say what they were as the letters decreased in size. They looked at his eyes for a minute with different lenses. Then they dilated his eyes- not fun, but he only cried for a minute. Then we got to go back to the waiting area to play while his eyes dilated all the way. We watched Kung Fu Panda and Peter played with some other kids. I talked with another mom about kids' eyes. Her daughter has a similar eye problem as Peter's and they have been going to see the same doctor Peter was seeing for the past 6 or 7 years. 

We went back in to see the doctor after about 45 minutes. They looked at Peter's eyes to get his prescription- which has changed since his last appointment. We were also given eye patches for Peter. He gets to wear one every day for two hours. So far, he does awesome with them. We have learned not to call him a pirate unless he is wearing the one with pirate ships on it. If you call him a pirate while he is wearing the other ones he says, "I not a pirate, I just have the green (bike/monster/etc) one on." He doesn't complain too much and he likes to choose which one he wears. He has 5 different prints. The patch goes on his right eye to help strengthen the left eye. Hopefully this and the new prescription of glasses will be enough to get his eye back on track. 

Eye patch Peter

 We did learn one really interesting thing during the eye exam. Dr Haney was trying to get a good look at Peter's optic nerve. They want to check the optic nerve because if it's swollen then it could be a brain problem causing the eye to cross in. Peter was keeping his body really still, but he kept moving his eyes around, making it hard for Dr Haney. At one point she got a good, brief, look then Peter put his hand up to block the light- tricky kid. So, she got a quick look, but not as good as she wanted. She said it looked a little swollen, but since he hasn't had any other signs of brain problems- lots of throwing up, headaches, falling over, etc she isn't worried. She will check it again next time we go in, and we'll talk with Peter at home to try to prep him better for that so he can sit really still.

But, from that look that she did get of the optic nerve, she said that there is a really good chance that Peter has albinism. As in, albino. So, naturally, I've read up on it and I talked with her about it a bit. When we think of albinism, we think of people with no pigmentation, light skin, white hair, blue eyes...wait, that's Peter. Turns out, albinism can show itself in that manner, but it can also just be in the eyes. Dr Haney said normally the optic nerve is reddish or pink colored and very crisp looking. She said Peter's was grey. So, that alone tells her that he most likely has albinism. She said that it can just present itself in the eyes only (ocular albinism) or in the entire body. So, it is very possible that he is light haired and skinned because his parents also were as kids, but it's also possible that albinism plays a role in his lightness. Also while reading, I learned that albinism may cause eye conditions including what Peter has with his eye crossing. Dr Haney said she could refer us to a geneticist to get blood work done and genes charted. I think that would be super cool to do, but it is very unlikely that insurance will cover that and it costs a couple thousand dollars, so it probably won't happen. Dr Haney checked my eyes and William's to see if we had any signs of albinism in our eyes. We both had 'normal' optic nerves. But, the doctor said that I could still be a carrier (as could Jonathan) without anything presenting. So, there is your fun fact about Peter. He also has astigmatism in both eyes.

So, he'll wear the patch and get new lenses and we will go back to the doctor in early September. He is hoping to get new glasses because he wants orange ones. I'm hoping we can just get new lenses...because these glasses aren't cheap. But, I may have found them a little cheaper on amazon...so we'll see if he gets new orange glasses or gets to keep the blue. And, we'll see how effective his new eye patches are. Stay tuned to more eye updates as we go!

Ezra at 6 Months

Ezra James

Ezra is already six months old! Well, six months and a week old. He is growing up fast and learning to do more things. Three weeks ago, Ezra went to the doctor for shots and a check-up. He had to get three shots, and he was a trooper. When they were weighing him, he peed all over the place in what I can only assume was a preemptive strike for the shots he knew were coming. He weighed in at 18 lbs 5 oz (78.8%) and is 27 inches (81.6%) and is in the 96% for head circumference. He is a giant compared to Peter at this age. Ezra wears 12-18 month clothes. Today I weighed him on our bathroom scale and he weighed 19.5 lbs. He has the bluest eyes and blond hair that is really long on the top and short on the sides. 

Look carefully and you can see his teeth!

Developmental

- He is almost crawling. He can get up on hands and knees in crawling position, but hasn't quite figured out how to move all his limbs together to move forward. For a while he would get up on his toes and hands- like a push up position- and just hold it. He still does that, but has figured out how to bring his knees in. Ezra can pivot and go backwards. He can also roll a complete circle and sometimes uses that method to get things.

- Ezra has two teeth, bottom middle. He loves biting everything. 

- He can sit for 5-10 seconds independently before toppling. 

- Personality- He is a happy boy. Peter can easily get him to laugh by yelling, "Ribbit!" and jumping like a frog. Ezra loves it. He lights up when people come over. He will let anyone hold him and is content unless he is hungry or tired. 

- Sleeping: Most nights he goes to sleep by 8pm, sleeps until 11pm- wakes up and nurses, sleeps until 3:30am- nurses, and then sleeps until 7-8 am. He takes 2-3 naps a day. His morning nap is usually 2 hours long, and any others are about an hour. 

Hair blowing in the wind! Happy boy in his swing. 

Blurry, but adorable. 

Likes

- Food- He has started eating food other than milk. So far he's had bread, crackers, egg, rice, broccoli, watermelon, cantaloupe, black beans, carrots, sweet potato, mashed potatoes, banana, apple, cheez-its, pasta, and a couple things of baby food. So far he loves everything and will get vocal if you don't feed him fast enough. He is very aware if you have food and aren't sharing with him. He has fast hands.

- Baths- he loves to kick and splash in the water.

- Peter- Ezra loves when Peter comes and plays with him. Peter makes Ezra laugh easily and loves to hold him. 

- His swing: We bought an outdoor baby swing to put on the play-set we got from the grandparents. Ezra is very content to sit and swing and chew on the straps. 

- Sticking his tongue out- it's almost always sticking out just a bit. I initially thought it was because he got his teeth in and he was feeling them, but now it seems to be the norm. 

Post-bath baby

Working out those muscles. He used to do this all the time.
Now he gets his knees in more.

Dislikes

- If he's on the ground for too long and he's been trying to crawl, or just planking, he gets really mad and gets some tears going. 

- Not being fed when other people are eating.

- Being snuggled- he's not a really cuddly baby. He likes being held so he can look around and will get a little frustrated is you try to hold him in toward you. Even if I'm carrying him in his pack and he's exhausted, he rarely will fall asleep being held. He likes to watch the world. 

- That's about all. He's pretty easy going and happy. 

Brothers- Peter and Ezra

 Ezra fits right in to our family. He is a happy little guy and is loved by all. His little smile warms my heart and makes it easier to make it through the hard days. He makes some of the best faces and makes awesome sounds. I love watching the boys together and watching Peter interact more with Ezra as Ezra gets older. I have a feeling they are going to be little terrors together, but I think they will support each other. It will be interesting to see what Ezra is like as he grows older.