right lane ends.... as soon as you eat it

Right now, Carl is really into cars. Brand names and even models. He has amazing eyesight because as cars are approaching and passing us, he'll yelling out, "Mommy! That's a Toyota!" or "There's a GMC truck!" or "I see a Volkswagon! V W is for Volkswagon! Wagon starts with W" Yeah, he is good. Saturn still throws him for a loop.

He is also really into street signs. He can tell you based on the shape only (the back of the signs in the opposite lane) what they are even. His favorite is "a black and white sign. That means keep right." Well, that and "wrong way" and "do not enter" and "yield". It helps that he can read all of them as well. He will read a street name sign that ends in Drive and say, "It says Maple Doctor?" because to him DR=doctor.


Anyway, he does this with his pretzels now before eating them. **Note** I added the book. He wasn't copying the photo, he did it all on his own right from the start. But, the book is his favorite library book right now. Signs In Our World.

families on June 8th

If we don't get a chance to get a better one, here's our June family photo already. We've been going for ~2 mile stroller walks on cooler evenings. You know, "cooler"... mid 80s. Ha!

135/88

Honestly, it's amazing I haven't had a stroke in this office yet!

Had a phlebotomy yesterday. It's been 3 months since my last one. I was going monthly, but since my ferritin (iron level) dropped to 6 my doctor said we could back off to every 3 months and see how that is going. My appt to go back to him is in late September. Yesterday's phlebotomy was my last one before I go see him again!

But, running a ferritin test is not necessary at every phlebotomy. It isn't a test that they get immediate results from, so it doesn't do the folks in the oncology dept (where they do phlebotomies) any good. All they need to do is a simple, in office CBC. As a matter of fact, ferritin isn't a cheap test to run. The clueless oncology people were running one at every phlebotomy and finally my insurance said, "unnecessary" and sent me a bill! So, I spoke to my doctor to correct that. I watched him type it in my notes that ferritin was not to be drawn for every appt. Only prior to office visits. That means once every 6 months.

OK, so yesterday... my appt was for 2:00. 2:15 they finally call me back to the lab. This nurse who was all of 12 years old asks me how I am doing and then asks, "Do you just want them to draw your labs off your phlebotomy?" I knew right then and there that this was not going to end well. "Uh, no. You need the results of the CBC to determine if I even need the phlebotomy." Love it when I have to educate the pros. She looks at me confused and says, "That's OK because another doctor wants us to run some tests on you anyway." This is most likely when my BP started rising. "What other doctor?" I ask. "Dr Ooper" is the reply. I told her Dr OPPER is my doctor (This doc is in the same practice. Nice she can't pronounce his name, eh?) and asked her specifically what tests he wanted to run. She says "Ferritin." Then I had to start in with all the crapola about how he does not want that at every phlebotomy, how I get billed from insurance, how I only have that drawn in Opper's office, not in oncology. She leaves to check my chart and returns and says he has ordered it every 3 months and it has been 4 months since my last test. I hold my ground and repeat my argument that I know is correct. She disappears again. Upon return, she says that my record says it can be run in any HMS office. By now I am short with her. But, in the end, she wins. I am still bugged and if I get a bill... I am bringing it to her.

So, then she must draw these labs. She has a tattooed forearm. Nice look for a 12 year old nurse. The stick hurt. I don't enjoy getting stuck with needles, but generally, I am pretty good with it. This hurt. She then says, "Oops. It is falling out. I'll have to do it again." Lovely. "What??!!" and she tap danced quickly saying, "Oh I just have to move it a little in here." If any of you have ever had blood drawn and the nurse told you they have to move the needle in your arm - then you know that is a 100% guarantee it will hurt. Bingo.

I then sat for another hour in the waiting room... fuming over the pain and the test I know for a fact I did not need my insurance to cover for me. No wonder health care is high. Really, how many other times do you think stuff like that happens? Someone doesn't question things and tests get run and billed. (Later on, I got a copy of my blood work. The test results were done in less than 10 minutes. Yet, I sat there for 60)

Thankfully, the phlebotomy was fine. Except the blood pressure check they did on me before starting was 135/88. But, the nurses there are great with needles. I truly felt nothing as that needle went into my arm and that one it as thick as a toothpick! My bag filled really quickly, too. How's this for gross??... the nurse's clip didn't hold when she took the needle out of my arm and she ended up with both hands (gloved, of course) covered in blood as the bag's pressure drove it back out of the line and needle. Luckily, the rest went right into the garbage can, so it was a very easy clean up. But, she said that was the second time the clip failed her that day. Time for a new one.

She and I talked about our kids and believing in Santa Claus and starting kindergarten and even the man they caught driving around her neighborhood who was approaching kids asking them to go with him to help him find his lost puppy. Once the phlebotomy was done, my BP was back to normal. 128/82.

Of course, the scheduler was fighting with a patient who was obviously frazzled (Way to go, Scheduling Lady - upset a cancer patient!) The patient finally said, "Call my doctor and ask him because what you are telling me is incorrect!" And then when I checked out, they had my doctor's name completely wrong (totally different doctor, one I have never seen before. I have been going to this same doctor and oncology dept since 2001. How hard is it to take care of me?) But, I left there around 4:30 and was glad to be done with those fools until at least late September.

I love my doctor. OK, I think he is pretty aggressive with the low ferritin, but you can talk to him and he doesn't treat you like a lowly patient. So, I do not want to have to switch doctors just to help the fools in oncology have an easier time. And in September, I am going to get him to write another note in my file. This time, I am going to ask him to write: Ferritin is never to be tested in the oncology building. Only in my office.

Yet I know that won't work either. I'll bet I'll have another high BP reading next visit.

a trip to the dentist

The kids had dentists appointments this morning. We go to this really cool pediatric dentist. Gee, you probably would never guess that they have an ocean theme throughout the office. Surfboards, not exam chairs. Video game monitors in the ceiling for older kids getting work done. Toys in the waiting room inside a half a wooden boat. (you've heard me rant about how our pediatrician's office doesn't have any toys and how annoying that can be.) Murals, cool signs and artwork everywhere. Even the back of the door to leave has a "hurricane evacuation route" street sign on it!

The kids go back to get their teeth cleaned, fluoridated (fancy word, eh?) and examined. The parents stay out in the waiting room! Now, this is only the second time we have gone, but let me tell you - my children has no issue whatsoever with leaving me in the dust. Lew joined us today because last November, he didn't get to see the office. I knew we weren't going back with the kids, but still he had time in his schedule to come along. Hey, someone had to pay, right? ($2.00 per child! But, I needed to save my four bucks for blueberries! Priorities.)

So, we grabbed coffee and tea and sat to wait while we watched Dora on the TV that is over the cool boat filled with toys. Maybe 15 minutes later, Carl comes bounding out from the hallway all buy himself. He had on a sticker that said "fluoride at work. no food or drink for 30 minutes, please" so we figured he was done. Kind of relaxed that they sent him back to us alone, but he seemed happy and said he was done. (note: We don't always believe what our 4 yr olds tell us. We were not born yesterday.)

About 3 minutes later, the sweet hygienist came out and said Carl just left on his own. She said they had not been able to get to the exam part on him yet because he was too busy. He wouldn't keep his mouth open and wandered off. Sounds like Carl. She even said, "I know he is totally capable to participating with us, he just seems to be too busy". She was pretty relaxed about the whole thing and told us that when the dentist finished with another patient, they would try Carl again. He happily went back down the hallway with her, leaving us out in the waiting room (Spongebob was on by now. I do not allow that at home, but Carl was happy to see it come on. he even said, "We can't watch this at home!" I am a bit amazed he was OK leaving the TV to go back down the hallway.) And that time, success!

So, both kids have awesome teeth. Nice and clean. No cavities and no shadows to even suspect them. they said to try flossing 2x per week. HA! They floss every single night! Actually, Gretchen prefers to floss after every meal. It can get annoying when we are trying to get out the door and she is insisting on flossing her teeth first. We go back in early December. Can you believe that is only 6 months away???? Crazy!!

Look how nice their teeth looked after!!

how 'bout a flashback Wordless Wednesday?

May family photo on Memorial Day

I've been keeping up with the self imposed challenge - even if it seems the final day of each month I am scrambling to get a photo of all four of us.

Happy May! (all wearing flag shirts even if you can't see them. Mine & Lew's both say 2000, Carl & Gretchen's match each other and read 2008. I don't think they will get another year out of theirs.)

I seem to prefer prime lenses. I like the idea that the lens does one thing and does it well. I have heard many people say prime lenses are sharper images than zoom lenses. But, it means I have to do any zooming in or out with my feet. And sometimes, I am too lazy to get out of the lawn chair and back up. So, I missed the chance to get more of their bodies in this shot. I am happy you can see both of their hands hugging each other, but sad I missed the full arms and all of her hair. Any of you who have witnessed photos with Carl & Gretchen in person know, there was no re-staging or second chance for me. As their teacher taught them this past year, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

a 365 photo project

OK, you've most likely heard people talk about doing a 365 project. Pretty self explanatory... take a picture every day for a year. 365 days = 365 photos.

Well, I did this with the twins back before I had ever heard of the technical name. (If you know me, you understand that once I knew it was something "everyone" was doing, I lost some of my interest in it. I really like to be original whenever I can.) I knew before they were born that I wanted a photo of them every day of their first year so I could chart their growth. This did not leak over into my pregnancy. I did not take nearly enough pregnant belly pictures.

So, I did in fact take one shot per day for at least the first two years. I kept a notebook when they were babies of all their feeding and changing times as well as note on milestones and moods and fun things we did. And, every day, I jotted down what they were wearing, in case I couldn't figure out which photos went with which day later on. I still use the notebook now for quotes and milestones, but I stopped keeping the real detailed records when we moved to NC (15 months old).

For the first 2 months, they are on film. I was a hold-out for digital photography. Then, my mom bought us a small point and shoot digital camera and I started to realize I could get decent images without my film. We used that camera until they were 11 months old. About a month earlier, I started to get fed up with the "lag time"... the time that occurs between you pressing the button down and the shutter actually taking the photo. On point and shoot cameras, this time lapse can be insanely frustrating!!! When they got to be 10 months old and crawling, they actually had time to leave the photo before the camera took the picture. That was when I knew I needed to upgrade to a DSLR. October 19th, 2006 is when my Nikon D50 arrived in the mail. 2 hours later (battery charging time) I was in business!

photo taken 9.20.06, 10 months old

So, now I have all these files of photos and no way to organize them. I am not a scrapbooker. I have tons of scrapbooking supplies - I even have a couple scrapbooks that are ready for photos to be added directly into, no work for me other than journaling and those are empty still. But, I have friends who do some digital scrapbooking and that seemed more appealing. I could make a book and print multiple copies without having to use the scissors over and over and have the cats and kids messing up my workspace.

But, I still am not doing it.

Until now. I have a very talented friend who takes beautiful pictures and does beautiful lay-outs digitally who gave me this template. Thanks to Natalie A. for giving me this awesome way to put each month into perspective!

I started with October since that was the month listed on the template when she emailed it to me... (the ? on the 16th is a mistake and I just haven't corrected it yet.)



October 2006. 10 months old. I can see a big difference before the Nikon and after (10/19):

I still have no intention of doing a formal 365, but I have been successful at continuing our Once A Month Family Photo Challenge!