Wednesday, October 31, 2007

7 Months Old!

Gosh, where does the time go??? Cory turned 7 months old on Sunday and because I wasn't entirely paying attention I didn't take the bunny pictures until Monday, and I'm not posting them until late today. Bad me.
But they're so darn cute you'll have to forgive me, right? :)
(well, I was going to post them last night, but Blogger wouldn't let me post pictures for some reason...)

So Cory is 7 months old. He still only has his two bottom teeth. I keep expecting to see top ones any day and when he's super fussy I think he's teething... but so far, nothing. We haven't been to the doctor in a month now so I don't know how much he weighs, but I'm guessing about 22 pounds. Which means it's time to pull out the new car seat. Dang. I was hoping to wait a little longer since this one is all one piece so we'll have to move it every time we switch cars. And it's not so convenient to just take him out when he's sleeping in the car seat. My little baby's growing (up!) too fast!

One of these days I'm going to post a picture of him as a newborn with the bunny next to a current one so you can see the comparison! ;) But for now... on with the pictures! And I'll keep trying to post them...

Here's me and my bunny! I like him! Today I was playing with him on the floor and I hugged him and laid my head on his tummy. Mommy thought I was really cute, but the battery was dead on the camera...

I like my thumb! (all the time it seems lately)

I like my toes!

I really like Cheerios! I concentrate really hard and can pick them up mostly successfully.

I even recognize the yellow box! And I'm pretty good at getting most of them in my mouth already!

Look at me, I can sit up all by myself (for short periods of time)

I really like to chew on anything I can get ahold of...

I'm just too cute!

I like my bouncer, too. It buys Mom a few more minutes!

Also, the other night we were at my parents and Cory was slightly overtired. My mom had him in her lap and was petting Mara with his feet. He thought this was the funniest thing EVER and was giggling like I hadn't heard him before. Then she started petting Mara with his hands. He loved it! I think we need a dog!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Of Weddings and Internets

Yesterday we went to a wedding. It was kind of at the last minute since technically we didn't get invited... wedding crashers? But I've known the bride since she was little and Brian went to the bachelor party last weekend... so I guess it was okay! And not like they had a sit-down dinner or anything... still, I feel kinda weird about it!
But it was such a fun wedding! The pastor was quite dramatic and personal - a little too personal if you ask me, but then I didn't know him at all. The bride and groom are young, maybe 19 and 20? And so cute, they didn't know they could hold hands while he was giving his message so they just stood there close, but not touching! Then after he kissed her they started walking and the pastor had to reach out and bring them back so he could actually pronounce them husband and wife!

Celisse and Jacob
(She wore her grandmother's wedding dress!)

Isn't this just the coolest wedding decoration you've ever seen?


Oh yeah, and this is the bride's younger brother crawling in through the back hatch to turn on the (manual) car with his hands...

***

In other news... who knew you could get such cool stuff on the internet! Remember the website I told you about awhile back called Mom's Turn? Well, by telling you about it I entered myself in a drawing and I was one of the winners! I won a set of handmade note cards. They are so cool and she even asked me what kind I would use the most so I got ones that are useful to me! Lots of birthday, wedding, thank yous, and some personalized ones with my initial on them. So fun!

And these are just half of them!

I also entered an Autumn Goody Swap hosted by Christine at Are We There Yet Mom. This is what I received from my partner Karen Beth. It was a candle wrap (candle mine), some bath beads, and some favorite candies in this house, black licorice and taffy!


I'm still waiting (with bated breath) to see what I get from my scrapbooking partner!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Being the Mommy

This is what I aspire to... written by BooMama.
Actually I think one of Cory's first words might be "boo". That's what I say to him all the time and he's started making sounds with his lips closed. That and maybe "mama". It almost sounds like he's saying it already, but it may just be wishful thinking... :)

This is what I have to look forward to when I hear rustling in the little bed behind me when I'm on the computer...
It's so darn hard to ignore him, when he should be sleeping and instead he's looking at me all cute like this!

And now Brian is home from parent/teacher conferences and we're trying to figure out how to take just Cory's face from this picture and make it into a button... :) Any help from those in the know about PhotoShop would be greatly appreciated! I've gotten just his face now, but I can't seem to save it with the background completely transparent, I get a white outline to make a square picture. Bleh!

More cute pictures when I have more time...

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Hockey?

I bet no one can guess where I just came from... no, it wasn't a hockey game, it was hockey practice. As in I was the one on the ice wearing 100 pounds of gear and trying to steer a little round disc around the ice with a stick! While not falling down. Actually I did manage not to fall down the entire time which was quite an accomplishment considering I haven't been on ice skates in at least 4 years and I've never been on hockey skates... without any brakes!

So, my friend Michelle apparently REALLY wants me to play hockey with her. She and Andrew were over last night for dinner and we were talking about it... all the reasons why I probably wouldn't do it. And then this afternoon she shows up at my house with a pair of hockey skates (used) that she bought for me in my size. So I went to practice tonight and wore all her gear and it was interesting... I'm EXTREMELY tired now, but of course I was majorly sweaty (what do you expect wearing 100 pounds of gear!) so I had to take a shower first and now I'm tired, but not sleepy. Ugh!
In case you're wondering what she wore if I was wearing her gear she has two sets since she's the goalie and this is the regular player gear that she doesn't use anymore. Seriously, it takes like 15 minutes to get dressed... and I haven't had to ask directions on how to get dressed in... I don't know, like maybe 25 years?!!!

I haven't entirely decided if I want to do this or not. It would be fun. It's a ladies recreational team - and the coach is named Rocky - and he owns Rocky's House of Guns here... :)
But it costs $200 just for practice time on the ice not to mention all the gear (which I could probably borrow for now), but then you play in tournaments and they are road trips so you have registration, gas, hotel, and food. Hmmm. I guess maybe I'll wait until the soreness wears off this week and see if I want to go back. I'll probably give it one more week at least and then decide. More things to add to my plate... or a fun new hobby...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

For Grandpa

Look at me Grandpa H. I've got my very own Froggy Man diaper!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wordless Wednesday: What happens when you leave boys home alone...

All I have to say is: at least he promised he had just put on clean socks... still, ew!

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

A buggy day and business news

Hey, did anybody notice the new button on the side bar? (I made it myself, I'm so proud!) It's my new business! All set-up and running! I even signed up to be in a holiday craft bazaar in 3 weeks... I think I might be crazy for that one! So, you can click on the button and it will take you to my personal Discovery Toys page where you can find lots of really fun and even educational (at the same time) toys!

End shameless plug here:

Today my best friend called me and we met at the little park by my house for lunch. This park has been in process since we moved here (2 years ago) and just a couple weeks ago they finally got some kids toys in. These are some pretty stylin' kids toys too. I'll try to take a picture next time so you can see what I mean. They almost look like they just landed from outer space they're that modern.
Anyways we were sitting on the bench and this little spider kept invading my space. Or maybe it was multiple spiders. Now this one was kinda cute (unlike the 3 inch one that ran over my sons toes at 1am at my in-laws house this summer and made me scream like a banshee). But it kept coming back! I flicked it away and pretty soon it was crawling on my arm again. So either there were multiples or it was really persistent and eventually I just had to moosh it. Sorry Mr. Spider.
Then later I was sitting in the big chair in the living room nursing and I noticed there's this black thing on one of the back couch cushions. It didn't exactly look like a spider, but that would have been an awfully big piece of lint. Mental note made to check when I'm done... which I promptly forget.
A bit later a friend calls up and while on the phone with her I sit on the edge of the couch and from this angle notice "Oh my gosh, there's a huge spider on my couch" failing to realize that if it really was a spider it probably wouldn't have still been there half an hour later. Finish the phone conversation and get a Kleenex to get it and then I realized that it was a cricket. I have no idea how it got in my house, but I very nicely picked it up and took it back outside. I have no beef with crickets. But Cory might think it was fun to chew on...

Speaking of chewing... I got 2 really cool necklaces in the mail today. Compliments of SmartMom. Come back on the 29th for a giveaway and win one for your punkin' to chew on!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Baby Brigade

Yesterday I finally got pictures of all of us at the park. It was a great day to go, slightly overcast, but not as cold as last week. On the way back from the playground Isaiah and Shoresh decided it would be fun to run off the path and "crash". They were so cute I took some pictures. Then they rode off and got a ways ahead of us. Pretty soon we caught up to them because they had crashed again and were "posing". It was too cute and of course I obliged and took more pictures. Can I say that I LOVE my camera? It's a Nikon D-50 and it's wonderful!





The whole crew: 3 moms, 6 kids and one on the way! Mee Sook is due to have her 3rd at the end of January. Woo hoo!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Squash Revisited

I think I've decided that Cory just doesn't like new foods real well. Unless they're store bought... go figure! Tonight I added home made sweet potato to the list and he repeated the faces like when he was eating squash. So I made him some baby cereal, but then I decided to mix it half and half. He ate it without even a second thought. When the mix was gone I went back to straight sweet potato. By bite number 3 his mouth was not accepting food and he was complaining! By that I mean he "talks" quite loudly like he's trying to tell me just how awful this stuff is! It's hilarious!
The following pictures were taken on night number 3 of eating squash and even the camera wasn't distracting him from his displeasure this time!

The un-eaten squash he's complaining about

This is his gagging face - done for all new foods!

Mom, you're so mean!

Just let me get ahold of that spoon!

Why do I have to eat this stuff?


But he still loves us anyways! I think he looks so grown up when he wears pants and shirts (well, onesies so they stay tucked in!) rather than sleeper outfits! Don't you agree?

Kissin' Mama!

Daddy's rough-housing always brings a giggle!

I like flying, Mom!

Too cute baby butt!

I like whatever Daddy does with me!

Case in point, when I started editing the pictures for this post I heard giggling coming from the living room. I went out to find Cory buried under pillows from the couch and Brian covering him up with a light blanket and then going "Where's Cory?" and pulling the blanket off and saying, "There he is!". Cory would start giggling even before the blanket was pulled off, just when he heard Brian start talking. And then he would laugh like crazy when the blanket came off. It was way too cute!
He is definitely on his way to crawling. He pushes himself up on his hands and toes and sometimes knees and is starting to scoot backwards a bit. He gets really frustrated though because he's usually trying to go forwards towards his toys and instead gets farther away!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Me?

What do you think of my new blog? Isn't it nice? I like it a lot! Super special thanks to Goofy Girl for doing all the hard work!

Today... I intended to do lots of things. But got very few of them done thanks to one uber-cranky little person... but you can't guess who?

So I am ignoring the mountain of laundry on my bed yet to be folded (washing it is about the only thing I got done today) and finally getting around to filling out this Meme that my penpal sent me, oh, about 2 months ago! Maybe you'll learn something new about me, than again maybe not! ;) It's called 4.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
Newspaper girl
Hotel front desk person - many different hotels!
Waitress
Teacher

Four movies I would watch over and over:
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc.
Never Been Kissed
Ever After
(can you tell I'm a Pixar and Drew Barrymore fan? :)

Four places I have lived:
Leavenworth - "lovely" tourist town
San Jose, Costa Rica
Yellowstone National Park
Clatskanie, Oregon!

Four TV Shows that I watch:
Sorry, don't have a TV! although I will stop anytime I see Mythbusters, science geek that I am!

Four places I have been:
Mazatlan, Mexico
New Orleans, Louisiana
Banff, Canada
Atlanta, Georgia

Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
My mom!
My college roommate, Wendy
My penpal, Amy
My mother-in-law

Four of my favorite foods:
Fresh fruit - like from a fruit stand - I love where we live!
Italian
Cereal
Chocolate - preferably dark!

Four of my favorite beverages:
Water
White grape juice
Cranberry juice
Ruby Red Squirt (I know, I had to go and throw something un-healthy in there!)

Four places I would rather be right now:
Somewhere that the little man is happy
Living in a Spanish speaking country
At a reunion of all my friends in one place so I don't feel guilty about not seeing them enough!
In a new house with enough closets/storage so I don't feel like I'm living in the middle of clutter!

Four things I am looking forward to this year (as in a year from right now I presume?)
Christmas!
Winter/snow!
Little man learning to walk and say a few (?) words!
Going to visit Yellowstone next summer!!!!!

Now if you are so inclined, post or email me your list!

Friday, October 05, 2007

Technology - the Love/Hate Relationship

Since it seems to me I'm kind of in a complaining mood this week I was all set to write about some fun things that Cory is doing and post some pictures that we got of the 2nd time he ate squash... and let's just say he makes the same funny faces for every new food he tries!
But then I discovered this morning that my eBay account had been hacked - the email and name was changed - and they bought 17 items of computer and video game equipment running up into the thousands of dollars. Ugh. So after multiple hours online and 2 different sessions with eBay live help I *think* I finally have it all straightened out.
Which also means that I didn't get to run my errands while Cory was up between naps, but then Brian came home early so I went after school. (They were things that had to be done before tomorrow or I wouldn't have even bothered)
Then I also discovered that gmail doesn't work very well in Firefox, which is my preferred browser. So let's just say I'm ready to throw my computer out the window at the moment!
Not to mention that I'm all freaked out about people using my pictures to make some pervy profiles on orkut - which is some new social networking site run by google. I'm trying to figure out how to watermark my pictures in a very visible way without ruining the picture entirely... wish me luck!

The one (or two!) good things that happened today... I got my Discovery Toys start-up package in the mail!!!!! The toys are so cool and I can't wait to get started! My mom came down and was looking through the catalog and said she actually has some old versions of quite a few of the toys! I only remember the MarbleWorks and this shape matching little kids toy, but this has got to be a good selling point!
So I'm off to read up on how to be a good consultant - and tomorrow I'm taking the day off from technology. I'm going to a baby shower (yay!) and then going to paint Cory's new/hand-me-down crib!

Happy weekend all!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Living with state assistance

Twas Brillig and Butrfly are hosting a “Behind the Stirrups” post day where you can share your lovely OB/GYN stories. I don’t really have a horrid story, but it got me thinking, especially after my experience this morning, about how I was/am treated being a mom at various clinics. See we were both subbing and it was summer when I got pregnant with Cory. So we qualified for the state health insurance for me which was quite literally a God-send because they paid for everything. I think the only thing we had to pay for was a couple of prescriptions because they were for topical pain medicines/creams that apparently the insurance wouldn’t cover. But hey, after they also covered my gallbladder surgery I am NOT complaining!

However, I will complain about the way I was made to feel simply because I had a little coupon that said the state was covering all my medical bills. The first appointment I had was the preliminary get all my history and give me 10 million pounds of literature to read type. But I don’t know why they even bothered to give me all the pamphlets since by the way they treated me they obviously thought I couldn’t even read let alone have 2 college degrees! Seriously they acted like I knew nothing. The nurse was EXTREMELY pushy when I said I wanted certain things and didn’t want certain other things. I had my own ideas thank you very much and I didn’t want her telling me how it was going to be. This was my body and my child not hers!

Thankfully I opted not to have her come visit me when Cory was 3 days old. I would come to her well baby check (which wasn’t quite so bad because by then I think she had figured out that I wasn’t a complete moron when it came to babies) but I did not want her coming to my house just so she could look around and try to find all the bad things.

Then there were the other general nurses and receptionists. It just seemed like every time I turned around they were looking down their noses at me. Yes, this is a low income clinic, but if you’re going to work there that doesn’t give you the right to treat every patient like the scum of the earth. You don’t know what circumstances might have brought them there.

Which actually brings me to the second reason that happened today. I went to my WIC appointment to get my monthly checks for milk/cheese/juice etc since I’m still nursing Cory. This time I actually managed to make it on time. But the receptionist looked at me and said, “well, I’ll have to see if they can still take you since you were supposed to be here 5 – 10 minutes early to get recertified.” I said “what? No one told me that when I made the appointment?” and she was just totally rude and huffy like I should have known and it was a major inconvenience. Well, excuse me! They weren’t busy at all and in the time it took her to walk down the hall and find out if they would still see me she could have already had me sign the one paper and put in my new coupon number and just told them I was ready! It took less than a minute. Did she not see that I had a 6 month old baby on my hip? Did she think that I might have had to stop and feed him? It’s not like they don’t actually push breastfeeding all the time! And that requires not driving, or getting ready, or anything. Sometimes it makes you late for things! Have a little common sense please lady!

So I guess there’s a lesson for all of us in this: Don’t judge people by their looks or circumstances. Treat them like you would any other normal human being because guess what? You never know when the roles might be reversed and you might be the one needing help! It can be pretty humbling and it’s not any easier when you’re treated like trash on top of your circumstances!

And since it is also Thursday let me add that I am extremely thankful that there are programs out there to help people with low incomes. I honestly don’t know how we would have paid all our medical bills this past year without the state insurance. For all my complaining about how we’re right on the border so we’re not going to be covered as soon as Cory’s a year old we have already been very blessed. And even though I think we’ll then have to figure something out I know that God will take care of us. He’s probably laughing at my worrying right now going, if only you knew what was coming!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Insurance - the Rant

So I decided that I finally really needed to figure out which insurance we’re going to buy for me. I’ve been uninsured since Cory was 2 months old... and you know we want to have another kid eventually... and just in case the Natural Family Planning doesn’t work so well... again!

I looked awhile back so I knew vaguely which insurance companies cover our area. It was pretty simple to find them online and then go to their respective websites and see the available plans and rates... but then I started to get mad. See I found a decent company and plan that will cost me about $160 a month. We can afford that, especially considering that to have a kid with no insurance would cost about $15,000 – or at least that’s what it would seem from all the bills we got. But of course you know insurance companies always have a set rate so even they don’t pay that much.

Anyways, my doctor is in the preferred network for this company so it would seem that we’re all good. The part that really makes me mad though is Premera. They were one of 4 companies that offer coverage in our county. They are the most expensive by far (like 3 times the one I’m going to get) AND they don’t even cover maternity on any of their plans except the most expensive one. How crazy is that!!! I hate them. Unfortunately it seems that every school district in the state uses them (can we say M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y?) so they can get away with charging whatever they darn well please. Seriously, as an individual consumer I hope NO ONE ever opts for them when there are alternatives. I don’t understand how they can still be in business!!! Oh yeah, that monopoly thing.

Oh, and one of the other companies is called LifeWise. Don’t be fooled, it’s not wise at all. It’s a subsidiary of Premera, and according to some recent news releases on the Office of the Insurance Commisioner’s website they have never (NEVER) turned a profit. They have always operated at a loss and yet Premera wants to move the headquarters to Arizona so that the Washington state authorities don’t have any authority over them anymore. Smells like a rat to me.

The other nasty thing about Premera is that we have to have them because unfortunately Wenatchee School District is a subscriber to their health plan. The district pays X amount every month for health coverage for it’s employees and their dependents. You can choose which plans you want and how many people you want covered, but you have to pay anything over their monthly allotment. Which is like $500 some dollars. We put Brian and Cory on their plan and still have to pay some out of our pocket. To add me would have been another $400. Insanity! Especially when we could have taken that $500 and gotten coverage for all three of us through my new favorite company – Asuris Northwest. Hopefully I won’t be singing another tune in a few months, but from everything on their website there aren’t any hidden fees for some types of service, etc.

Read on for more of the fun stuff below!

6 + 60 = Vacation!

Friday was Cory's 6 month birthday. Following are the requisite bunny pictures...


Hey bunny, what's up?

Come 'ere, I've got a secret to tell you!

Psss, psss, psss.... no, really I just wanted to chew on your ear!


We also left to go to Orcas Island for the weekend to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday! This was the view on the way... yes, that is snow at the top!Are you jealous of where we live yet? :)

This was the view from our room!
My brother's girlfriend, Annika, works at Rosario Resort so she got us a deal for the weekend. Pretty sweet!

This was all of us... and no we can't take one picture where we're all looking at the camera and looking decent!

Birthday boys! Annika's dad came over for the weekend too because it was his birthday on Saturday and Dad's birthday on Sunday! and we thought it would be funny if the coathooks looked like antlers coming out of their heads... not that it worked!

My boys!

The sad part about it was that we went to catch the 2pm ferry on Sunday... and we were in line at 12:30 ish. We were the very last car to get on the ferry... and my dad and Kevin were in the car with boat 3 cars behind us... so they had to wait until 5pm. Why oh why did they have to switch from summer to fall schedule right in the middle of the weekend??? You'd think they could have waited until Monday!