Friday, April 19, 2013
March 2013 pictures
Monday, March 4, 2013
Pictures - End of the Year to Kylie's Birthday
Faith's Day and Other Happenings
It's been 2 years since Faith went to Heaven. Feels longer than that. I took the day off of work because I didn't know how I would do with today. I'm doing pretty good. I've kept myself really busy though. I moved 4 totes of clothes out of the basement to put with Chloe's things. I kind of wish I had been more methodological when I packed away Kylie's clothes, but I wasn't so now I'm finding clothes that say 2T in the 3T tub because Kylie was able to wear them longer. That's why I decided just to bring everything out of the basement. I did have some moments when I saw clothes that Kylie wore to the hospital to come visit me. To think of Kylie as being 3 doesn't seem that long ago.
I did do something today that I only thought about doing last night. I got my hair cut, 3 inches off. I didn't voice this to too many people but the last time I really had a haircut was March 7, 2011, the day before Faith's funeral. I had a really hard time after that cutting it, I can't explain why. I was half kidding, half not when I told some people that I wasn't cutting it until our house/kitchen was done. I've had my hair trimmed but never cut. I felt like I could do it today as a sign that I am OK. I am so very thankful to God for what I have and who my family is and so very thankful I believe in Him. This world would be a very dark place for me if I didn't have Him. I'm doing the devotional "Jesus Calling" and every day I read to ask Jesus to be with me. I've heard this a lot in church too, make perfect sense so I try to remember to say it as often as I can.
As for other happenings, Chloe is doing good. So does have a cough but hopefully we can keep it until control. We give her a nebulizer treatment everyday to help keep her airways open. We are debating whether she should have the last RSV shots this month. The doctor said to check who's sick a day care and if the season in Michigan has slowed down and then make a decision. So that's what we will do. It's weird, these bills for the pharmacy don't seem to make it to us in a timely manner. They always call me to say they need a payment before they can ship the shots. Last month someone finally made me aware of a assistance program we would be eligible for if Chloe didn't have secondary insurance, she doesn't right now. If this was last year when she should have had the shots, she would have the medicaid and that's probably why no one mentioned this assistance before. All I had to do was call a different department within this pharmacy (OptumRx) and answer some questions. We qualified for a $2000 debit card to use toward the bills. Well, that got used up in one second as our balance was a little over $4,000. Good thing we have an HSA to pay the rest. That was just the November to January bills. I haven't seen Feb yet and that's why we need to decide about March shots. I believe the price went up a bit because of Chloe's weight, that's what the nurse said, the dosage changed.
Birthdays birthdays birthdays. That's what else has been going on. Chloe turned 2 on January 22 and Kylie turned 5 on February 21. I think I talked about Chloe's party as a "Dress up" theme and food. Kylie, I was thinking mermaid but I wanted substaintal food, not snacks. I ended up with more of a rainbow theme. Rainbow Barbie cake, skittles, M&M's, and Kisses layered like rainbows in different glass vases. As for food, I didn't really have a theme. Maybe "kid food" fish and chicken strips, french fries and carrot fries, and mac and cheese made with squash. I wanted to be healthy as well, since there was candy on the table. I am very fond of the cake I made, it came out great. I took white cake mix, separated into 7 bowls and mixed in 7 different food colors, then dumped them all in the Barbie cake pan. Then I used the mix in frosting and had 4 different flavors, mint chocolate, strawberry shortcake, cotton candy, and white chocolate raspberry. Delicious! Oh - And I had rainbow Jell-O, Chloe loved it! I have to make more. That seems to be the only way I really eat Jell-O anyway. I think it's fun to make.
I'm going to try to post pictures. After I publish this.
I did do something today that I only thought about doing last night. I got my hair cut, 3 inches off. I didn't voice this to too many people but the last time I really had a haircut was March 7, 2011, the day before Faith's funeral. I had a really hard time after that cutting it, I can't explain why. I was half kidding, half not when I told some people that I wasn't cutting it until our house/kitchen was done. I've had my hair trimmed but never cut. I felt like I could do it today as a sign that I am OK. I am so very thankful to God for what I have and who my family is and so very thankful I believe in Him. This world would be a very dark place for me if I didn't have Him. I'm doing the devotional "Jesus Calling" and every day I read to ask Jesus to be with me. I've heard this a lot in church too, make perfect sense so I try to remember to say it as often as I can.
As for other happenings, Chloe is doing good. So does have a cough but hopefully we can keep it until control. We give her a nebulizer treatment everyday to help keep her airways open. We are debating whether she should have the last RSV shots this month. The doctor said to check who's sick a day care and if the season in Michigan has slowed down and then make a decision. So that's what we will do. It's weird, these bills for the pharmacy don't seem to make it to us in a timely manner. They always call me to say they need a payment before they can ship the shots. Last month someone finally made me aware of a assistance program we would be eligible for if Chloe didn't have secondary insurance, she doesn't right now. If this was last year when she should have had the shots, she would have the medicaid and that's probably why no one mentioned this assistance before. All I had to do was call a different department within this pharmacy (OptumRx) and answer some questions. We qualified for a $2000 debit card to use toward the bills. Well, that got used up in one second as our balance was a little over $4,000. Good thing we have an HSA to pay the rest. That was just the November to January bills. I haven't seen Feb yet and that's why we need to decide about March shots. I believe the price went up a bit because of Chloe's weight, that's what the nurse said, the dosage changed.
Birthdays birthdays birthdays. That's what else has been going on. Chloe turned 2 on January 22 and Kylie turned 5 on February 21. I think I talked about Chloe's party as a "Dress up" theme and food. Kylie, I was thinking mermaid but I wanted substaintal food, not snacks. I ended up with more of a rainbow theme. Rainbow Barbie cake, skittles, M&M's, and Kisses layered like rainbows in different glass vases. As for food, I didn't really have a theme. Maybe "kid food" fish and chicken strips, french fries and carrot fries, and mac and cheese made with squash. I wanted to be healthy as well, since there was candy on the table. I am very fond of the cake I made, it came out great. I took white cake mix, separated into 7 bowls and mixed in 7 different food colors, then dumped them all in the Barbie cake pan. Then I used the mix in frosting and had 4 different flavors, mint chocolate, strawberry shortcake, cotton candy, and white chocolate raspberry. Delicious! Oh - And I had rainbow Jell-O, Chloe loved it! I have to make more. That seems to be the only way I really eat Jell-O anyway. I think it's fun to make.
I'm going to try to post pictures. After I publish this.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Prayers Needed
I wish I was just writing about the birthday celebration we had for Chloe, but I'm not. What's on the forefront of my mind is Chloe being sick. She's had a fever last week and on Saturday and then she has a cough, but now it seems she barely has a voice. Poor girl, we're afraid this is turning into RSV - which just means a cold that she can't handle well by herself. Luckily we have some arbuterol from last year (I thought we didn't but we did). It helps open the airways so we started giving that to her. I'm calling the doctor in the morning. Chloe just had her 2 year appointment on Friday and the doctor mentioned not liking the sound of her lungs, but Chloe wasn't cooperating well as she knows that room is the "bad" room where she gets her shots. She just had the last sets of RSV shots on the 18th. These don't prevent RSV, it's suppose to help fight it so she doesn't end up in the hospital. Grrr, sometimes I feel like a hamster on a wheel. Round and round, same thing as before. I trust God and his plan, but I hope we are not being negligent somehow - not taking her to the ER or something along those lines. At least, Joel pointed out, she is still acting like herself, wanting to play. We are watching what she eats because it does seem her appetite has decreased. We are pumping her full of fluids, though. I even got some Pedialyte. She missed her party on Saturday. She was so cranky at the start of it that we put her to bed and she didn't wake up at all (except when I woke her to change her diaper and put her into pj's).
I wanted to talk to about how she is almost 30 pounds and is 33.5 inches long. That her party was a "Dress Up" party. I got the idea Thursday night. She likes dressing up, so that was the focus. We put out the dress up stuff and Kylie and her (they were the only kids except a 6 month old) dressed up. Then we had "dress you salad" and "dress your dog" with some other food as well. It went really well, except Chloe wasn't there. She opened her gifts today. Kylie wants the Dora costume and swim doll that Chloe got. Oh boy. Great time to learn lessons in sharing and you can't always have what others have.
I also wanted to post pictures. Someday.
The main focus is just making sure we are attentive to Chloe.
I wanted to talk to about how she is almost 30 pounds and is 33.5 inches long. That her party was a "Dress Up" party. I got the idea Thursday night. She likes dressing up, so that was the focus. We put out the dress up stuff and Kylie and her (they were the only kids except a 6 month old) dressed up. Then we had "dress you salad" and "dress your dog" with some other food as well. It went really well, except Chloe wasn't there. She opened her gifts today. Kylie wants the Dora costume and swim doll that Chloe got. Oh boy. Great time to learn lessons in sharing and you can't always have what others have.
I also wanted to post pictures. Someday.
The main focus is just making sure we are attentive to Chloe.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
2013
2013 has arrived. It feels like my accelerator is stuck at 80 mph and I can't slow down. I need to slow down as soon I will crash, but I don't know how. Work is worse than home, I think. Or that's the way it feels because at home I can stay up late to get some things done whereas at work, I have to leave at 5 to get the girls. For some reason I feel like my workload is 5 times that of what it was last month. But it's to be expected now that year end is done and we have goals to meet in 2013. I just have to find a good way of managing it. My cubicle has exploded with paper recently. I don't notice so much because I work on a computer so I don't really notice until I'm leaving for the day or walking into the cube. It's bad because we have a policy at work that we need to lock up confidential information, which is every paper. I'm playing it safe.
As for home, I got down the Christmas decorations last Friday. That's not too bad, but my filing system at home has also exploded for some reason and we have tons of paper and other things that I need to take care of soon. Plus the taxes. Plus filing out school registration for Kylie when that comes in the mail (should be soon). Plus keeping up on bills. Plus Chloe (and Faith's) 2nd birthday on Tuesday (plus getting a birthday card in the mail for my dad as the girls share his birthday, he was born waaaay before them : ) sorry dad, it's true). Plus I'm scrapbooking this weekend - more for a get away and maybe birthday party planning than actually making progress on a scrapbook.
I may have fallen behind at home because I'm trying to do more with the girls as they are only this age once and we should be having fun. The other night I told them to play dress up. Kylie was all over it. Chloe, a little hesitant to put on a princess dress, but she is all about the shoes. I did get a dress on her and she didn't seem to mind once it was on. I see Kylie as the princess and Chloe as the hip mom when it comes to play time. I also found some games in a cupboard that Kylie could play (Scrabble Jr, Nemo, and Boggle Jr) so we play one or two a night after Chloe goes to bed. I love games. We even got Joel to play Nemo with us last night : ) He's not really a board game person.
We finally received a bill from the pharmacy for Chloe's RSV shot. Strange thing is it's for the November shot. Not sure why it took so long. The pharmacy called me today to get consent for the January shot and told me I had two bills outstanding. I told her I only got one, so she is sending the other one for December. What are we paying out of pocket for 2012 you might wonder? Just for these shots: $1,287. Good thing we have an HSA account. Each month total cost is $5,855. Just over $29,000 for 5 months! I have a high deductible of $2500 before insurance starts paying 80%, so I know what January's bill will be. WOW!
I was looking at the 2012 claims and a month of these shots is almost equivalent to a day in the hospital. The dosage is based on her weight and she weighs about 29 pounds so that's why it cost more because it comes in 2 vials. So when we go to the doctor's office, they get 2 nurses to each shoot up a leg. She is going to be so scared of that place in a few months, poor baby. She doesn't cry for long, but still those crocodile tears make me sad. I know it's for her own good with her in daycare, kids are always sick there.
Hopefully I'll post some birthday pictures next week. Stay tuned...
As for home, I got down the Christmas decorations last Friday. That's not too bad, but my filing system at home has also exploded for some reason and we have tons of paper and other things that I need to take care of soon. Plus the taxes. Plus filing out school registration for Kylie when that comes in the mail (should be soon). Plus keeping up on bills. Plus Chloe (and Faith's) 2nd birthday on Tuesday (plus getting a birthday card in the mail for my dad as the girls share his birthday, he was born waaaay before them : ) sorry dad, it's true). Plus I'm scrapbooking this weekend - more for a get away and maybe birthday party planning than actually making progress on a scrapbook.
I may have fallen behind at home because I'm trying to do more with the girls as they are only this age once and we should be having fun. The other night I told them to play dress up. Kylie was all over it. Chloe, a little hesitant to put on a princess dress, but she is all about the shoes. I did get a dress on her and she didn't seem to mind once it was on. I see Kylie as the princess and Chloe as the hip mom when it comes to play time. I also found some games in a cupboard that Kylie could play (Scrabble Jr, Nemo, and Boggle Jr) so we play one or two a night after Chloe goes to bed. I love games. We even got Joel to play Nemo with us last night : ) He's not really a board game person.
We finally received a bill from the pharmacy for Chloe's RSV shot. Strange thing is it's for the November shot. Not sure why it took so long. The pharmacy called me today to get consent for the January shot and told me I had two bills outstanding. I told her I only got one, so she is sending the other one for December. What are we paying out of pocket for 2012 you might wonder? Just for these shots: $1,287. Good thing we have an HSA account. Each month total cost is $5,855. Just over $29,000 for 5 months! I have a high deductible of $2500 before insurance starts paying 80%, so I know what January's bill will be. WOW!
I was looking at the 2012 claims and a month of these shots is almost equivalent to a day in the hospital. The dosage is based on her weight and she weighs about 29 pounds so that's why it cost more because it comes in 2 vials. So when we go to the doctor's office, they get 2 nurses to each shoot up a leg. She is going to be so scared of that place in a few months, poor baby. She doesn't cry for long, but still those crocodile tears make me sad. I know it's for her own good with her in daycare, kids are always sick there.
Hopefully I'll post some birthday pictures next week. Stay tuned...
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Merry Christmas to All!!
Wow! I thought the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was fairly long, it was an extra week compared to other years, but I can't believe it's come and gone already! I'm glad I was wrapping presents when I did. I thought I was a bit early on the wrapping but it turns out that it was perfect because closer to Christmas I had no time. We got the girls small trees on sale after last Christmas that never did get finished decorating them. Kylie's tree is pink and Chloe's is purple. Of course we let Kylie pick the color first, not sure what will happen next year if Chloe's favorite color is pink. I might have to change the name of this blog to "Sisters Fighting" They do it already, Kylie will get in Chloe's face and smile and be nice, but Chloe likes her personal space and will yell out. Joel penned this move as "pterodactyl." We'll say "Why are you pterodactyl, Chloe? Kylie, she does that because she doesn't want you in her face."
I got our Christmas tree up 2 weeks before Christmas, but I haven't really had time to enjoy it. It's in our downstairs so the mischievous Chloe won't try to take all the ornaments off the bottom. We had it there last year too and I would have time to sit by it and read or just enjoy it. This year it's my own fault for not doing that more. I've had other things on my mind. Plus I was trying to find something for Christmas stockings that I never found. Last year in Target I found Lindt chocolate angels. I put them in the stockings as a gift from Faith. I wanted to do that this year but I couldn't find any. There were plenty of santas and bears, but no angels. Maybe they didn't make them this year.
I'm not really into writing right now. Maybe later I will fill in the presents the girls received. I'll see. My mind is trying to multitask and that doesn't work well when trying to write a blog.
Happy New Year! In case I don't write for awhile.
Oh - Chloe had the second RSV shot on Dec 20. I haven't seen the bill for the first one yet, can't wait. I think I'll only have to pay a little of it and then I reached the $5000 max on my health insurance and they'll pay the rest. Too bad she has to get shots in January, February and March : ( Won't take long to meet that deductible. Actually, I pay the first $2500, then I pay 20% until I reach $5000.) Hopefully after the winter we can all stay healthy and out of the hospital!
I got our Christmas tree up 2 weeks before Christmas, but I haven't really had time to enjoy it. It's in our downstairs so the mischievous Chloe won't try to take all the ornaments off the bottom. We had it there last year too and I would have time to sit by it and read or just enjoy it. This year it's my own fault for not doing that more. I've had other things on my mind. Plus I was trying to find something for Christmas stockings that I never found. Last year in Target I found Lindt chocolate angels. I put them in the stockings as a gift from Faith. I wanted to do that this year but I couldn't find any. There were plenty of santas and bears, but no angels. Maybe they didn't make them this year.
I'm not really into writing right now. Maybe later I will fill in the presents the girls received. I'll see. My mind is trying to multitask and that doesn't work well when trying to write a blog.
Happy New Year! In case I don't write for awhile.
Oh - Chloe had the second RSV shot on Dec 20. I haven't seen the bill for the first one yet, can't wait. I think I'll only have to pay a little of it and then I reached the $5000 max on my health insurance and they'll pay the rest. Too bad she has to get shots in January, February and March : ( Won't take long to meet that deductible. Actually, I pay the first $2500, then I pay 20% until I reach $5000.) Hopefully after the winter we can all stay healthy and out of the hospital!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Just a quick update. Chloe did get the RSV shot, which in reading the paperwork, doesn't prevent her from getting RSV (not a vaccine). It can help lessen it so if she does get it, hopefully she won't be hospitalized.
All else is well. I'll try to post later, right now I just wanted to put this petition up. It's for closer monitoring of twin pregnancies. We were lucky, once we found out that I was monitored closely, other women are not so lucky. I don't dwell on this but what could have helped Chloe and Faith was to be diagnosed earlier than I was. There was a couple opportunities but I don't want to get into that because we can't change the past, only the future.
<a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/identical-twin-safety-initiative.html">Identical Twin Safety Initiative Petition | GoPetition</a>
All else is well. I'll try to post later, right now I just wanted to put this petition up. It's for closer monitoring of twin pregnancies. We were lucky, once we found out that I was monitored closely, other women are not so lucky. I don't dwell on this but what could have helped Chloe and Faith was to be diagnosed earlier than I was. There was a couple opportunities but I don't want to get into that because we can't change the past, only the future.
<a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/identical-twin-safety-initiative.html">Identical Twin Safety Initiative Petition | GoPetition</a>
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