All for naught

I had to wake this sweet little boy up at 6:00am this morning so that I could change his diaper, get him dressed, and have him in his carseat by 6:05. I hate waking the kids up. Paul woke Nadia up at 6:00 also. Some mornings Ian still wakes up too early, but his norm lately has been 6:30. We tried to buy darkening shades on Monday at Lowe's, but they didn't have any in stock in the size we needed. I hate waking either child up. I try very hard to never do it, but I woke Nadia up from her nap yesterday (after she had  been asleep for one hour) because it took her 2 hours to fall asleep and we wanted to go to the pool before dinner. Then I had to wake both of them up this morning. Also, Nadia only had a short nap in the car today. I put them to bed a little early tonight to try to compensate.

We left at 6:05 and arrived at Paul's parent's house at 7:06. I let Ian run around and play for 15 minutes and then we left at 7:20. We made one quick stop on the way there (during which Ian threw up all over the floor in the bathroom) and arrived at the medical center at 9:20am (the time of his appointment). Ian was awake during the entire 2 hours and 50 minutes we were in the car. Thank goodness for DVD players although I think I have all the VeggieTale dvds memorized at this point. We sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes and then a nurse called us back to an exam room.

I was then told to call our insurance to see if they approved a procedure they wanted to do on Ian's nose. It took about 15 minutes to find out yes they would cover it. At 10:35 (our appt was for 9:20), the ENT entered the exam room. He was with us less than 5 minutes and told me they don't do nose surgeries on children this young because it's too big of a surgery and the problem might resolve on its own as he grows bigger. I wish they'd tell the anesthesiologist that. She insisted we see an ENT before Ian's next surgery (6/6). So basically I drove for about 6 hours and spent 85 minutes in a doctor's office to have a very short, not in any way helpful appointment. Can you sense that I am frustrated and exhausted? To make matters worse, Nadia woke us up a few times during the night last night. This has added to my exhaustion, plus I got up at 5:15 this morning, and lately I've been getting up at 6:30 most mornings. The good news is that we got home safe and sound and Nadia had fun with her grandparents who took her to Chuck E. Cheese. I also get a 5 day break before I have to spend 6+ hours in the car in one day again. Ian is worth all of this, but this appointment today was totally unnecessary. I'm also frustrated because Ian still screams with every bite and is still throwing up. He is gaining weight though. I called the allergist today, and he wants me to call back on Thursday or Friday with another update. Hopefully this treatment plan he's on will work.

The highlights of the day were #1 having lunch with two friends I hadn't seen in 9 months on my way back to pick Nadia up from Paul's parents and #2 LOTS of my roses bloomed today. Aren't they beautiful? We actually tried to remove these a couple of years ago. I am very glad we were unsuccessful!

Photo Shoot

Since Paul had today off and Ian will have a catheter and be wearing double diapers for most of the month of June, it seemed like the perfect day to have pictures taken at Sears. We hadn't gone to a studio since December (for Ian's 1 year pictures). The last time we'd taken Nadia to a portrait studio was June 2010 for her 2 year pictures, as Wendy took some pics of her in December. Wendy was going to take their 3 year/ 18 month pictures earlier this month in Maryland, but we didn't actually make it down there when she was in town due to our basement flooding problems. I had planned for today's photo shoot to be mostly of Ian, and I wanted a couple of shots of the kids together (one in their dress-up outfits and one in their matching red t-shirts) plus I was hoping to get one of myself with each child and one with me with both kids. Paul wasn't interested in being in any pictures, and since I'm usually the one taking the pictures it's rare that there's one with me in it. I was planning to take Nadia back the last week of June for her 3 year pictures.

Well when we first tried to get some pictures of Ian in his Easter suit, he just cried and ran to me so I would hold him. We couldn't calm him down. I had brought Grover (whom he loves), but that didn't help. I said let's do pictures of Nadia instead. The photographer brought out a rock that both children cut sit on, and actually Ian settled down for that. I guess having his sister beside him made it less scary. The best pose she suggested was to put Ian on Nadia's back while she was lying on the floor. Both kids thought it was hysterical and had great smiles. She got an okay picture of the two of them in that pose but if she had better luck with her timing she could have gotten a much better one. This photo (at right) was actually a close-up of Ian while he was on Nadia's back.

I didn't order any which surprised the photographer.

Overall I'd say that we did "okay" today. It wasn't a total bust like some have attempts have been, but it wasn't one where I was just absolutely in love with one or more of the poses (like I did from our shoot at Walmart last June). I would have trimmed Nadia's bangs had I known we'd be taking several pictures of her today. Wendy is planning to take our next family shoot in October in Maryland. I think December will be the next time we'll head back to a photo studio. I'm thinking this might become our new "norm" - to get the kids photos taken professionally in June and December each year. Although I'd get more "freebies" if I took them separately every June (because you can only use one coupon per session), I think until they get to the age when it's really easy to get them to smile, I'll plan on just one session in June and one in December (unless one turns out to be a "bust). Today was the first time I ordered individual prints of both of them during the same session, and I think in the end I probably spent less money than I would have if I had followed through with my plan to have two appointments in June.

On an unrelated note, my sister (Yvonne) gave birth to her fifth child (4th son) today - Joel Anthony! We look forward to meeting him in 2013!

This is one of three pictures in an 8x10 collage I got for free.

I didn't order any of this pose.

This was also included in the free collage.



I got some 5x7's of this one. This pose was a great idea. The timing of the photo wasn't perfect.



Fun at the pool today!



She actually thought I might buy this one????? LOL!

Magic Bullet

A few days ago I decided to use the Magic Bullet for the first time. The first thing I tried it on was Froot Loops plus water. For the previous week almost all of his meals had been green veggies mixed with fruit (baby food). The irony is that the Froot Loops turned green and looked like all his previous meals. He did not like it. Since then I've also tried a banana, Wheat Thins, Bush's baked beans, and creamed corn. He cries with every single bite, but it seemed like the baked beans were the least objectionable of all of those. I didn't need to add water to any of the other foods. The Magic Bullet does puree things very nicely, and it's easy to clean. It's far better than a blender for this purpose. He's not throwing up as much. For a few weeks he hasn't thrown up after laughing. What a joy it is to be able to tickle him and not worry that he'll up-chuck! Crying soon after he's eaten still induces vomiting. He's gone through more than 2 cans of EleCare over the past 6 days. Even with eBay's price (60% less than what a pharmacy charges), if we have to pay for this ourself, the EleCare alone will cost as much per month as what we usually pay each month for groceries, and I include cleaning supplies and personal care products in that budget category! I'm praying our health insurance will pay for this "medical food." From Monday through Saturday he gained 5 ounces. I'm going to weigh him again tomorrow. Jennifer, I'm all ears about how your daughter was diagnosed with the protein allergy at 9 months.

It's hard to remember to give him all his medications. Up until yesterday I had to give him something 6 times a day. Some have to be given 30-60 minutes before he eats, one with his EleCare, and some 30 minutes after he's eaten. He finished the antibiotic yesterday so now I just need to remember to give him medications 5 times a day. Every once in a while he gags on the Prevacid, but usually he does okay with it if I give him a little juice afterward.

Swimming Saturday

A princess joined us for breakfast this morning!

This morning I headed out the door alone (a very rare thing for me to do) to stop at some yard sales (the town where our library is was having a community yard sale today) en route to an Amish breakfast. I bought one hardback book (The Ugly Duckling) at the library (which meant I showed great restraint as they had TONS and TONS of books for sale at extremely low prices) and two coloring books (10 cents each), a booster seat for Ian when he's promoted out of the highchair ($2), a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe car ($5), a pair of cute pink/orange sandals for Nadia for next year ($2), and a dress for Nadia in the future ($3). If I hadn't signed up for the ladies breakfast at church, I would have spent a lot more time at the yard sale. I did underestimate the size of the car in terms of getting it into my trunk. Thankfully someone walking by came to my assistance and helped me remove a carseat and lower the backseat of the car so we could get the coupe in my Prius. Nadia and Ian love it! Ian had a total meltdown when I took him out to give Nadia a turn.

The ladies breakfast was held at an Amish farm - "Two Sisters Meals" who specialize in "old fashioned Amish home cooked meals." I think it was my first time in an Amish home - not one you might tour in Lancaster but as in a home where Amish people are currently living. They first served us our beverages - either water or grape juice made from grapes growing on vines on their farm. Then they served apple muffins and delicious rolls (with butter or apple butter). Ham, hash browns, eggs with cheese, and a vegetable casserole were next. The meal concluded with pineapple pastries, whoopie pies, and cheesecake. I don't think anyone left hungry! At the end of the meal one of the women plus two of her daughters sang us two songs with great gusto (one in English and one in German).

Paul did some yardwork for me today. He removed some ground cover around our lightpost in the front yard and did some more weed whacking of our "swamp." Yesterday I trimmed some shrubs and put down 3 bags of mulch.

The pool we recently joined opened today. The kids and I went there after Nadia woke up from her nap. They LOVED the kiddie pool. What a delight to watch them laughing and splashing and having so much fun. They were not happy when I said it was time to go home. Ian screamed when I tried to put him in the main pool. I think the water was too cold. It will warm up. Paul said he'll join us on Monday. He can stay with Ian in the kiddie pool (as Paul also doesn't like cold water), and Nadia and I can take a dip in the main pool. Nadia will be having her first swimming lessons this summer. I am hoping to buy a new bathing suit on Monday morning because I discovered that mine are just way too big. It's a nice problem to have, but it's rather ironic as I went more than 10 years without buying a new bathing suit, and now I'll be buying new swimsuits two years in a row as I just purchased these last May for our trip to Florida. They were okay for our cruise in January (although a bit too large), but now the waistband doesn't even touch my body. It just droops down. Shopping for a bathing suit is never my favorite thing to do, but it should be less painful this time around. :-)

Foto Friday

Coloring while wearing pjs and a construction hat

We're getting our money's worth (25 cents) out of this hat!

The dandelions are finally gone in our yard (YAY), but there are still a few at the park.

First Dentist Appointment

This morning I planned to stop at Walmart (to fill 2 week's worth of Pulmicort for Ian) and Fashion Bug (to use a $10 off $25 coupon that will be expiring in a few days) en route to gymnastics (to make up for the class we missed last week). Then I planned to go straight from gymnastics to the dentist for Nadia's first appointment. Well things didn't go as smoothly as planned. First we left a few minutes later than I wanted to. Then it took a long time for them to enter Ian's information because we've never had an Rx filled there. She said it would be ready in 15 minutes. We picked up a few items in the store and came back about 20 minutes later. They said they hadn't even started working on it yet because they didn't realize we were waiting for it. What?!? We didn't have 15 more minutes to spare so we left without the Pulmicort and headed to Fashion Bug. I thought I'd dash in and grab something and dash out a few minutes later. I did pick out a few tops really quickly, but although there were 2 employees standing behind the counter, only one was working and she was having a gabfest with the woman in line in front of me. I waited a few minutes and then realized we were going to be late for gymnastics so we left without buying anything. I was 0-2 at that point! We got to gymnastics exactly at 11:15, which is when the class is supposed to start. I was really confused when the substitute ended the class at 11:30. It turns out they started the class 15 minutes early today. We missed half of the class. I was really regretting having spent any time in Fashion Bug at that moment as then we wouldn't have missed as much of the class. The upside of being dismissed from the gym 15 minutes early was this made it possible for me to stop at Walmart to get Ian's prescription and still get to the dentist appointment on time.

Nadia did really, really well. She waltzed right back with the hygienist and was extremely cooperative and shed not one tear. The only thing she said she didn't like was the flossing (which the hygienist said I should start doing with her 2-3 times a week). She was an angel during the xray of the tooth that turned gray, the cleaning and flouride treatment by the hygienist, and the exam by the dentist. I was pleasantly surprised! They gave her a HUGE fish balloon (it actually featured one large fish and three small fish plus some bubbles). As soon as Ian saw it he wanted it. So they went and blew up a Bob the Builder balloon for him which was even bigger than Nadia's balloon (MUCH bigger than Ian). Unfortunately it only lasted for about one minute as while we were en route to our car it collided with a parking sign and popped. I felt horrible, but then I reminded myself that I was carrying Ian, my purse, the diaper bag, two large balloons, and Nadia's hand so that we could cross the street safely. I was just trying to make sure the balloons didn't go up in the sky. It didn't cross my mind to worry about what they might come in contact with. Next time I'll be more careful. The dentist said she has a bit of a cross bite but otherwise everything looks fine (aside from a gray tooth from falling). Nadia gave the hygienist a hug at the end. I was very relieved as I pictured it being a much more difficult experience than it was.

I don't think I ever shared the results of Paul's tongue biopsy. It was negative thankfully. Unfortunately our dental insurance wouldn't pay for any of it. We had to pay $94 for the dentist to use a steel brush on Paul's tongue. I think that's highway robbery. They said our medical insurance will pay for the laboratory part of the biopsy. However since Paul hasn't been to a doctor yet this year, that will mean we'll need to pay his $75 deductible. So we're going to be paying about $170 for a biopsy that my gut tells me wasn't necessary. I could be 100% wrong, but my feeling is that since they never need to do fillings or crowns or anything on Paul, they did a tongue biopsy. I guess I'm just not very trusting of this dentist. Maybe I'm wrong to feel that way. Maybe everything they've done has truly been necessary.

As for Ian's medications, I mailed an application to the Allergist so he can sign it and send it to Merck and it seems we qualify to receive Singulair for free. PTL! I am praying the application will be processed and our first shipment will arrive before we run out of the free samples we received on Tuesday. I am also in the lengthier process of applying to AstraZeneca to receive the Pulmicort for free. I believe we also will qualify. I am praying that the first shipment will arrive within 2 weeks as I only filled 2 weeks worth today at Walmart ($174). It's a blessing to know that these companies will give away medication to those without prescription drug coverage who make under a certain amount of $$. Regina, have you looked into this with the medications your children are on? The company which makes Prevacid doesn't have such a program. The Allergist faxed a letter to our health insurance. Hopefully they'll pay for the EleCare because it took less than 3 days for Ian to polish off one can. Yikes.

Serious Muscles

Today was a spectacular day. I can't say it was perfect due to how much Ian upchucked and Nadia being a bit fussy (think prone to tantrums) at certain moments of the day due to the fact that out of the past 4 days she only got to take her nap in her bed one time (Monday). In the car she only naps for 40-50 minutes whereas in her bed she naps for 2-3 hours. Tomorrow I'll make sure she gets a nap in her bed after her dentist appointment. The most amazing part of the day was our time spent at Knoebels. I loved going to amusement parks as a child, but I have to say the joy I feel in going there with my kids is even greater. I can't wait until next year when Ian is able to enjoy more of the rides. It was a bit tricky going by myself with a 1 year old and 2 year old. It meant Nadia had to ride most of the rides by herself, and of course it meant there weren't any pictures of me with the kids since I was the only one taking pics. Here are some of the highlights of our day today:

1. When we arrived at gymanstics this morning, I discovered that the families of their competitive team were having a huge yard sale. I didn't get to shop at it as much as I would have liked to (since I wasn't really supposed to leave Nadia unsupervised in the class as it's a "Mommy and Me" class), but I did get some wonderful bargains. I got Nadia a gorgeous dress plus matching hat for $3, her first leotard for $8, an orangle plastic Tonka construction hat for 25 cents, a book with 365 nature activities to do with kids (some inside and some outside) for $1, and Nadia picked a bag that contained several different sets of flash cards and card games for 10 cents. Next week she'll get to wear her leotard to gymnastics for the first time.

2. Ian slept in my arms during the majority of the class, which was a huge blessing. It's been much harder to hold him now that he loves to run. Nadia will soon be eligible for the preschool class (3-5), and then I'll only be responsible for Ian during her class as moms don't participate in that one. Whew.

3. Nadia cracked me up twice today. First when the substitute coach said "Show me your muscles" she said loudly "I have muscles!" To which John replied, "Where are they?" To which Nadia replied, "They're at home." HA HA HA! The second was when the 3 of us were riding a hot air balloon type ride at Knoebels. Ian was beside me and Nadia was across from me in our "balloon." I guess it was a bit too scary for Nadia (it wasn't a child's ride but was a very tame "adult" ride) as she said "I don't like this ride. It's making me serious." LOL!!!

4. After gymnastics we drove straight to Knoebels and enjoyed a free lunch and free handstamps for Nadia and myself. None of the ride attendants ever asked for any tickets for Ian so the only thing that we did that cost us money was buy one cup of soft serve ice cream that Nadia and I shared. We used to live 10 minutes from Knoebels. Part of me wishes we still did, but I am glad we're still less than an hour away. I'm sure we'll be going back a few more times this summer! The rides we all did together were a train, 2 different carousels, the balloon ride, and the ball pit (well just my feet were in it). A few weeks ago when we went there Ian was scared by the ball pit, but he loved it this time!

5. The ice cream was spectacular as was the large soft chocolate chip cookie included in our lunch bag. I love peanut butter/chocolate twist soft serve and hadn't had that in a very long time. It was so yummy and special to share it with Miss Nadia (I also gave Ian a little taste although in hindsight I shouldn't have due to avoiding milk/peanuts. OOPS).

6. I was very impressed with the quality of pictures with my new camera. I have soooo much to learn in how to best use the camera, but even just on automatic it's a million times better than my old camera. I regret having bought my Lumix. The last time I almost got a DSLR instead. I should have! What was I thinking? The downsides of this camera are that it's of course heavier and bulkier than a point and shoot and of course knowing it cost a lot more is making me very paranoid about it right now. I'm sure I'll get used to it in time. It's just an adjustment. I am very glad I bought it. I've had better timing in the past as far as getting great smiles on the rides, but the quality (only 1-2 shots were blurry compared to usually about half of them were blurry) was soooo much better.

7. I was able to go to choir rehearsal tonight. I missed the last two rehearsals due to #1 not having anyone to watch the kids since Paul was too busy and #2 being in Maryland. We only have one more rehearsal left until we take our summer break. I'll miss it!