How To Climb At One

Recently I have been going outside to find Sadie on the trampoline. Each time I have accused Jackson of putting her up there. He adamantly denied it, but I did not believe him, until today. Today Jackson rushed inside to tell me to come and watch. When I got there she was on the very top rung of the ladder. Of course I pulled her down so she would do it again. This time with my camera ready.

Here is the progression:


I, of course, do not want Sadie doing this. Seeing her up on that top rung is scary. It would be a very big fall for a one-year old. When she got to the top, my heart could not take it so I walked over and helped her on. Needless to say the ladder is now laying on its side in the dirt, which caused a colossal fit from Miss Sade.

Unhealthy Rant

As you know, Megan has been sick. With her being sick, a few QuickCare visits followed. So today in the mail I received the statement for her first QuickCare visit. And whenever I receive a statement such as this my blood pressure rises. So in an effort to try and let it go, I will attempt to write it out.
We are self-insured. Which basically means we pay out of pocket for our health insurance. And it is not cheap. AT ALL. And it is not even great insurance. It has large deductibles, large co-pays, and no maternity. When we go to QuickCare we pay $65 (which I am okay with). So today I received my statement and I see they charged my insurance company $225, which of course the insurance company is not going to pay. They end up paying QuickCare their allowed amount of $55, which means that QuickCare actually owes me $10. Whatever. All of this I am okay with. But what I am not okay with is this: If I were uninsured and went to QuickCare I would be responsible for paying the full $225. I am aware of the arguments why this is, I just don't agree with them. If people who did not have health insurance were charged a reasonable amount then maybe they would actually be able to pay their bills instead of filing for bankruptcy.
Case in point: The last time I had surgery my bills totalled about $15,000. After insurance discounts I ended up paying about $1600. That is a huge difference! I can afford $1600, but $15,000 is a whole different story. I have also been without health insurance many times, and have ended up paying huge amounts of money, for minor injuries. During one of these times, Megan fell and cut her lip. I took her to QuickCare, where they determined she was fine, and did not need stitches. We saw the Dr. for less than 10 minutes. My bill was over $800. There just has to be a better way of doing things.

The silver lining: Megan is feeling a lot better, and is at school for the first time in a week. Yeah!!!

Day 6 On The Couch

Megan has not moved from the couch in 6 days. She still has a fever, no energy, no appetite, a sore throat, and a terrible cough. This morning she woke up said she felt better and felt like doing something. I suggested taking a shower, which she did, but it zapped all of her energy. She went back to the couch and eventually fell asleep. A while later I was cleaning the bathtub when I heard something. It was Megan crawling on her hands and knees coughing, wheezing, and trying to tell me she could not breathe. I have been lucky that me kids have been fairly healthy and haven't ever experienced this before. I ran to get the phone and just as I was going to call 911, I could hear her breathing again. So we ran out the door and went to QuickCare (again). It was packed but when I told them she was having breathing issues, they got us right in. They gave her a steroid shot to open up her airway and had a breathing treatment. They also gave me an antibiotic (since the Dr. said that a virus doesn't usually have a fever this long), some cough medicine, and some breathing treatments to do at home. I am so glad she finally has some medicine, but am also so frustrated that it had to take this long. I totally understand not over-prescibing antibiotics, but I really wish she could have had them earlier. I hope she turns the corner soon.

Sadie Smiles

When I ask Sadie to smile for me, this is now what I get. And I have to say I just love it. She is such a smile squinter!


And two more of her just because.

Rock The Vote

I have never voted early, and I don't think I have ever voted in a Primary, but there is a first for everything. They were doing early voting at Jackson's pre-school so it made it super easy. I also really, really love being able to wear my sticker around all day. However, my Sade unfortunately ripped it off my shirt and now it is not wearable. Darn her!

Six On Sunday-Disappointed Edition

#1 I have been in the process of redoing my fireplace for sometime. I purchased the wood, stained it, and was just waiting on Eric to cut the pieces for me. Finally last Saturday I pinned him down and cut them. I was pretty excited because I had a vision in my mind of just how perfect it was going to look. Well, let's just say my disappointment was great. It was truly hideous. Unsalvagably hideous! Too hideous to even take the time out to take a picture. The wood is now banished to the garage. What is even more disappointing is that I spent money on a project that is now defunct.

#2 My house is in near constant flux. Although each room has been completed for some time, there is usually some small part or another that I am thinking of changing (hence the fireplace). Well I have been slightly unhappy with the area just to the side of my fireplace. Mainly I have been wanting to change out a certain hanging picture. I have been trying different ones out, but just could not find the right one. I am including the picture below just so you can see the area I am talking about. If I had Photoshop installed, I would make an arrow pointing to it.

Well I finally found a picture of a cactus that I fell in love with. I brought it home, hung it up, left it there for a few minutes to fully decide if I loved it or not, and then heard it crash down to the floor. Not only was the cactus picture harmed, but my most favorite pitcher (the yellow one above) was shattered. I am still not over this disappointment. All week I have been scouring stores for something to take its place, but I am afraid I may never find it. So right now there is just a big gaping hole next to the fireplace, and also in my heart.

Incidentally the cactus picture found a new home in my hallway. It had been hanging there happily for a few days until last night at 1 am when it crashed to the floor. It nearly scared me to death. Here is the state it is in today. Do you think it is unhappy in my house?

#3 My Miss Sadie has decided to poop everytime I put her in the bath. I do not do well with bodily functions so this is crushingly disappointing to me. I have gagged everytime and once it has caused me to actually throw-up. I am considering making her wear a diaper in the bath or at the very least putting Eric in charge of bathtime.


#4 I am also disappointed by my new Target brand dryer sheets. I have never bought them before and I have to say I never will again. My clothes have not been coming out soft and they have been full of static.

#5 Eric was out of town yesterday and I was disappointed that he ended up getting home late, partly due to this accident on the freeway. Can you believe these pictures?


#6 And lastly, I am disappointed and sad that my little Meg is sick once again. This time with a fever. This morning it was 104 degrees and she is just miserable. Doesn't she look like she feels terrible?

UPDATE: Megan's fever ended up being 105 degrees so Eric took her into Urgent Care. Of course they told him it is just a virus and there is nothing we can do. I so enjoy spending hundreds of dollars when it turns out I didn't even have to!

12 X 12 - March

Megan and Jackson work up early, and turned on the cartoons, as per usual. I was still in bed when I heard Sadie wake up. Wonderfully I have a daughter who is 8 that went and picked her up and gave her some milk. After she was finished with her bottle, Sadie wandered into my room, crying. She cried and cried until I finally asked her if her tummy hurt. She says Ah (which means yes) and stopped crying. However, she didn't stop for long and soon she was whimpering and fussing almost continually. Finally she laid on the floor and immediately fell asleep. She has never done that before, so I knew she must have felt terrible.

Here she is on the floor.

She then threw-up (a-lot), fussed a bit more, and then fell asleep again! I had to wake her up to take Megan to school, and ever since then she has been fine. Apparently instead of the 24 hour flu, she had the 1 hour flu. I can't complain.

Before school Megan was getting her water bottle ready, and when I saw her doing this, my heart broke just a little (in the best possible way). For some reason seeing her cleaning up some water she spilled, made me realize what a responsible and great girl she is. I love her to pieces.

As I said, Sadie made a full recovery, so since I was out of Dr. Pepper, Jackson, Sadie, and I went to get a fountain drink.

Sadie now walks from the car to the front door which I adore. However, she is quite and independent thinker, doesn't particularly like to hold someones hand, and is prone to take off for the street, so I do have to keep a close eye on her.

Does anyone else out there hate making themselves lunch? I never know what to have. So today I was super excited that I had leftover chicken salad and croissants from Costco.

After lunch, and after I put Sadie down for her nap, instead of cleaning, I watched T.V.

However, soon I got to thinking that if I didn't start cleaning I would never get everything done before Sadie woke up, so I resumed my usual afternoon cleaning duties.

After school the kids and I headed over to Costco. I had been there the day before and noticed just as I was checking out that Sadie was only wearing one shoe. I searched the store, but to no avail. I went back today to see if anyone turned it in, but unfortunately no one had. This is the kids and I looking sad because we didn't find her shoe. From the picture you can tell that Sadie does not seem that upset about it.

We also went to Target to get some things, and also to let Jackson use some coupons he has been saving for free HotWheels cars. The coupons came on the back of Apple Jacks and Froot Loops boxes, and since those are the 2 cereals of choice at my house, he has been getting quite a few free cars from Target.

Here is another picture of Sadie walking to the car from Target. Look at that stride! She looks like a grown up kid walker in this picture. Not toddling around at all. My heart is breaking once again.

You may be wondering why Eric has yet to make an appearance in this post. Well it is because he has literally been working all night and most of the day trying to complete a project. So the little time he has been home he has been sleeping. Here he is saying goodbye on his way out the door tonight. Here is to all those hard-working husbands out there!

Sadie Said

Sadie Said: "Hot Sauce"

She has been saying hot for some time, but hot sauce is definitely a new one.

Isn't this cartoon picture of Sadie cool?

What A Feeling

Today, I welcomed bedtime.

Six on Sunday-Full Week Edition

I feel like lately all I do are these weekly recap posts. Where does the time go? Anyway, here is another.

1. I have been dealing with sick kids for over a week and a half and it got me thinking what in the world would I do if I worked outside of the home. I would have just missed the last week and a half of work which I am sure my employers would not appreciate. Eric doesn't have a job that he can just take a sick day and we don't have family in town to watch sick kids, so I would be s**t out of luck.

2. This last week was Nevada Reading Week. I love that so many kids participate and so many parents make an effort. It was especially exciting because on most of the days the kids were not required to wear their uniforms. Here are a few pictures:

Pajama Day

Shirt With Words Day

Dress up like your favorite book character. Megan chose Junie B. Jones

3. Jackson's school celebrated silly sock day this week. He was also the spot-light and got to make a poster and fill out a booklet all about himself.

Megan went to the same pre-school when she was 3 and 4. Most of us that year were first time mom's with our first child in pre-school, and we tended to do things a bit over the top. Each time it was a child's turn to do the spotlight they would come in with a huge detailed poster all about them. Well the next year when our kids were 4 they sent us home with an 8 X 11 piece of paper to put the kids pictures on. I guess they decided we were all a little too gung-ho for our own good. Now that I have 3 kids, I am grateful for the small piece of paper.

4. Eric had a friend, Crystal, come into town last week for a conference. They were friends in high-school and hadn't seen each other in 20 years. Here they are at Prom in high school:

And here they are now:

If you enlarge the picture not only will you see one scantily clad woman on a billboard, but you will see two. Life in Vegas!

FYI: We went to the Rio Buffet and they are doing half price this month for locals. So instead of paying $24 a person, you pay $12. It is an amazing deal.

5. I have lightened my hair. Actually Eric lightened my hair and I am very happy with the results. I tend to change my hair color from brown to blond at least once a year, and every time I do it I think, "Oh yeah, this is the hair color I like." I am sure it will change again soon.

6. Today I also say goodbye to Sarah Prine. If you don't know who she is you should immediately read the book These Is My Words and then right after that read the other two books in the series. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a series of books so much, and These Is My Words received 5 stars from me on GoodReads. This is rare, so you know I loved it. You don't just have to take my word for it, everyone I know that has read these books, loved them also.