Nobody Told Me...

You know when people think about having a baby? Babies can be expensive. People think about all the diapers it's going to take and the medical bills just to have the baby, bottles, clothes, formula, that sort of thing. But that all goes away right? Eventually the baby grows up to be a big kid who doesn't need so much. Then all that money can be used for fun vacations and stuff right? Not at my house.

I started out with that dream. The first year I had Landan it was pretty much exactly like that. Then he turned 13 mo. old. That's when asthma kicked in. I spent the next year taking Landan to the doctor at least once a month with asthma problems and spending two stays in the hospital. Got that fixed and I spent the next year (between 2-3 yrs old) in and out of the doctor with ear infections culminating in having surgery to have his adenoids out and ear tubes in.

Then we moved to Austin. Things started out fine. We had Gavin. He was pretty healthy his first year. Nothing too severe, just a little reflux but he grew out of that. We just finished paying off all our medical bills for Landan, (except the ones we pay weekly for occupational therapy). Then Gavin turned 18 mo. Since then he had unexplained diahrrea for a week in Nov., pneumonia in Dec. which needed two doctor visits, Landan had to go to the ER in Jan. for an electrical burn, and so far Gavin has spent most of March seeing a doctor. Once for Bronchiolitis and an ear infection, once in the ER for cutting his finger open, and just this last Wed. for pink eye in both eyes and a double ear infection.

I don' t think I factored in the amount of doctor visits I would have to pay for when I planned on having children. I always wonder where our money goes at the end of the month. Now I know. It's being sucked up in the medical world. I don't ever remember being this sick when I was a kid. Now I know it could be worse; they could have some awful disease that kept them in the hospital a lot, but still, no one told me normal healthy kids could rack up medical bills like my kids seem to be doing. And now I'm having another one. Lets hope she's a lot simpler than my boys.

Updates

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog lately. I've been really busy around the house doing all sorts of new things. Just wanted to update on everyone.



Kevin- still doing the same old thing. Going to work, coming home, taking care of kids and a pregnant wife, etc. etc. In the middle he has found time to finish getting my strawberry bed ready for my new strawberry plants which are now planted. Not like last year, these are real plants. He also worked some more on the playscape.



Me- I have been baking like crazy. I decided to start making my own homemade bread (inspired by my sister who makes it really well) and I've been working on perfecting it. I think I've figured out the secret because it's turned out really well the last two times. I only had one mess up that was inedible. I've also found some recipes in a book that I've been trying out. Most are turning out great. I'm feeling great for those that are wondering. I haven't gained much weight at all (about 8 pounds) and I think that is largly due to the fact that Gavin keeps me so busy that I burn it all off. This baby is measuring right but she's not poking out as much as Gavin so I'm not uncomfortable yet. I forget I'm pregnant half the time.



Landan- Landan's doing pretty well in school. When I went to his parent teacher conference she said he was a lot calmer and was having some really good days where he wasn't getting into trouble at all. He's also a very avid reader. He's in the highest reading group in his class. This makes me very happy because I didnt' think he'd have the patience to learn to read but he loves it. He's really getting good (for a 5 yr old). Since then he's been having some trouble with hitting people again but we're doing what we can to fix that and this last week he did pretty well.



Gavin- He's the same as always: always smiling, always busy. He's always moving and getting into things. He loves Legos and anything his brother is doing. He's just starting to like to color too but he doesn't really do much on the page. He just likes the crayons. He got re-evaluated with ECI to see if he had caught up with his peers with his speech and they said he's still at an 18 mo. level (he's 22 mo. old now). So he's still a litle behind but he's getting there.