Updates! February 28, 2008

On the baby front:

I went to the midwife today.  Everything looks good.  I have actually lost a pound   Fabulous!  The baby HATES having the monitors on my stomach so we were unable to get a reading for the NST so I had to have an ultrasound.  Baby is totally fine and moving 24/7 — I swear it doesn’t sleep!  Midwife is still very hopeful we can do a VBAC with this one, despite the GD.  I still hate my GD doctor, hopefully I won’t have to see her much.  The weight/size ultrasound is on March 13th, and that will help us determine more.

On the Harrison front:

He is the MOST handsome boy on the face of the planet   But you already knew that   His bronchiolitis is finally gone   I took him to the pediatrician the other day and they prescribed a different drug that seems to have done the trick.  He is learning his numbers and we are very excited about that. 

On the house front:

You don’t even want to get me started.    The bank has approved us.  The condo association has approved us.  We have house insurance in place.  The bank, though, needs proof that the 5% we are putting down is our own money and not borrowed money.  It is coming from a mutual fund in Canada.  Anyway, I can’t even tell you how frustrating this all is.  It seems like I spend my days jumping through hoops for the stupid bank.  I feel like I want to walk away from it because it is getting so frustrating, but I can’t because (a) I need a place to live; (b) I REALLY like the house; (c) We have invested enough money into it that we can’t get back that they have us by the…um…tail? 

It was not NEAR this hard in Canada when we bought our house.  In fact, I think we met with the bank twice and the lawyer once and that was it.  You would think in a declining market, like Florida is, that they would want to encourage not discourage people with excellent credit, a steady job, proof of income and a down payment to invest in the market.  But noooooooooo they are all dumb.  I know that because of all of the foreclosures going on they are skeptical about lending money, but seriously, people, if only millionaires are able to invest in the market you are going to have a hard time getting this market to increase in value considering there are more middle class people than millionaires out there.

Okay, that’s my rant. 

In other exciting news:  I bought a pattern to make a quilt — shocking!  It is too cute and I really want to learn how to make quilts.  My mother is totally rubbing off on me! She is a quilt making machine and does AMAZING work.  I thought I would try my hand at it.  Especially because Jo-Ann’s has a LOT of fabric on sale right now I thought I could get a good deal.

Here is the quilt pattern I bought :  http://web.mac.com/cjroskelley/Thimble_Blossoms/Thimble_Blossoms_Home/Entries/2007/4/28_PRIMARY_QUILT.html

If this one is successful, here is the next one I want to make: http://web.mac.com/cjroskelley/Thimble_Blossoms/Thimble_Blossoms_Home/Entries/2007/6/13_Babydoll.html

I’m sure making a quilt is WAY too ambitious of me, but I really want to try. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Heartbreaker February 26, 2008

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of Harrison in his new shirt.  It is a little big, but WAY too cute.  He is SO adorable in this colour of blue.  And we all know that he is going to be a heartbreaker!

34 week picture February 22, 2008

We were literally running out the door when I had Brian snap this.  Not the best shot, but you get the idea.  I am really starting to get to the I-just-want-to-have-this-baby-and-stop-being-so-huge stage of the pregnancy.  We just need to get into the house and I’ll be a happy camper! 

Three weeks and they will do an ultrasound for weight and size to determine whether or not they want me to do a C-section.  Midwife and I are still pushing for a VBAC.  Enjoy! (Ignore the caption on the first one.  It should read 34 weeks — oops!)

 

Another video February 21, 2008

Harrison LOVES to watch himself on the videos on here, so here is one from this morning.  He is getting too smart!

Enjoy! It is kind of long — but he is SO cute!

Getting caught with your pants down…literally February 21, 2008

So last night I went to bed at 8:30 with a migraine.  Brian came to bed about 10:30.  I woke up to go to the bathroom.  Now, I’m a girl, I don’t need the light on.  So I didn’t turn on the light and I didn’t have my glasses on (I am blind as a bat without them).  I sat down to do my thing and saw something move behind the door — I jumped up and ran out of the bathroom screaming that there was something behind the door.  I jumped on the bed and then realized how silly I must look with my undies around my ankles screaming.  So Brian, my hero, saved me.  It was the BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen.  Now, coming from Canada I haven’t exactly seen a lot of cockroaches (thankfully).  I have seen a few since we moved here and they have been like 1.5 centimetres, maybe.  This one was about an inch and a half.  It was NASTY!  The kitties were trying to catch it too as well as Brian.  Anyway, that’s my humorous post for a while.

I’m sure you are all wanting a Harrison update.  He is back to his goofy crazy self but still has that nasty cough.  I don’t think the nebulizer machine is working properly.  I followed all of the instructions but the medicine doesn’t seem to evaporate at all.  I can run it for 10 minutes and the same amount of medicine is there.  I’m hoping to figure out this mystery today.  At first Harrison was having NOTHING to do with the nebulizer.  I was holding him down to give it to him (I felt AWFUL!).  Then a couple more times of it and I figured out that if he sits on the ottoman and I give him toys to keep him distracted he will keep it strapped on and play.  He was doing really well, but I REALLY don’t think it is working properly.  And his cough isn’t getting any better.

On the house front, we are 99% sure we won’t be closing tomorrow.  The bank only got the docs yesterday afternoon.  Thanks to our stupid bank who wouldn’t release a cashier’s cheque we had deposited a week ago.  I thought that was the entire point of a cashier’s cheque, was it worked like cash.  The bank said they hold every cashier’s cheque to verify the funds.  They knew we were closing tomorrow.  The hold on the funds went off last night at midnight.  But we had to have a verification of deposit so the bank knows that our closing funds are available.  Anyway, this is stupid.  That’s what I know.

On the diabetes front everything is the same.  I found out that my midwife’s office doesn’t charge for them but my GD’s dr’s office does.  I can’t do all of them at my midwife’s office, I have to do at least 50% at my GD’s dr’s office.  That’s better than all of them.  Today I have an NST at my midwife’s office as well as my weekly visit with her and this afternoon I have a visit with the GD doctor.  Not fun.  With Harrison having bronchiolitis, I can’t leave him with anyone so I have to take him with me.  Oh well.

Oh, and one more thing — I chipped another tooth last night.  I chipped a tooth when my parents were here a couple of weeks ago.  Well, I chipped another one.  Now I’m Mrs. Gaptooth.  I would run out and get them fixed but we don’t have dental insurance because it would be cheaper for me to fly home to Canada and have my brother fix them, BUT I can’t cross the border yet so I have to pay to get it fixed here.  I would do that, but what little money I have saved has to go to fix our van which has about $300 in repairs needed asap.  I was going to do that this week, but just haven’t done it.  The rest of our money and then some has gone to close on the house.

So, I’m Mrs. Gaptooth.  Poop.

There’s the update!  I’ll end with a picture since that was all kind of boring!  The picture is from a few weekends ago when Brian got to go skydiving.  I haven’t gone through the actual skydiving ones, but here is one from later in the day.  They were checking out an alligator in the water behind them and on their way back to the van.

Poor little dude. February 19, 2008

So I took Harrison to the doctor yesterday since his cold has turned into a nasty nasty cough.  Turns out he has bronchiolitis.  Fabulous.  Now we have two different drugs as well as a nebulizer.  Poor guy. 

So my posts will be minimal, if at all existent, for a little while so I can tend more to him and snuggle him.

Possession… February 18, 2008

Well, we take possession of the house on Friday — CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?  I have been whining so much on this blog as of late about not having a house and I will have one on FRIDAY!  I did the inspection today and it went really well.  The guy was thorough but fast.  He said they only go this fast when the property is in great condition. 

He came HIGHLY recommended.  His termite guy came out and did a termite inspection.  The termite inspection did show some dry-wood termites and some dry rot.  The dry rot is all on the outside of the house as is technincally under the condo association’s watch.  I will be sending them a letter as soon as we move in about getting it fixed.  The termites he didn’t seem worried about.  He just said to get them treated, which we will next week, and he said we will be fine.  He said it is something you can almost expect in Florida.  We are also going to do some pest control through him.  He said there were a couple of spiders and some ants, nothing major, but I don’t want them around my house so I want to get them treated.  He said there was absolutely no sign of roaches — THANK GOODNESS!

The inspector found a few minor things like lights that were burnt out and the washer fills slowly.  Nothing major and nothing we can’t fix. 

Anyway, we are very excited.  That’s it from here!

My other life… February 16, 2008

As most of you know, I am a professional photographer.  I have never claimed to be a fashion photographer, though.  I do mostly weddings and families.  Here is my first attempt at fashion.  This girl, thankfully, has modelled, which always helps   Yes, there are some funky photoshopping to some of them that you might not like, but that is my artistic touch, if you will!  Anyway, it was a long day.  We had six or seven models and we started at around 10:30 and finished around 5.  I am tired to say the least!  Anyway, here they are!  Oh, and this was for a bridal shop in Orlando.

NSTs continued… February 15, 2008

Well, I just got off the phone with my insurance.  They said that because I am seeing a specialist, which I’m seeing two right now, there is a $40 copay every time I see them, diagnostic or drs visit.  I need to talk to my midwife’s office and see if they are actually charging me for them or not.  I really don’t think they are but the GD doctor’s office is.  So no luck there.  But I did find out that we do have pharmaceutical coverage that I didn’t know about and diabetic supplies are covered.  That would have been nice to know.  Anyway, I’ve only paid for one round of supplies and I’m heading out today to get more, so that’s good news there

That’s the update there.

Oh, and I had another NST yesterday and the numbers were a little crazy again so I had to have another ultrasound.  Everything was fine.  I had Harrison’s stroller this time which was MUCH better!  Anyway, I’m only 3 weeks away from the weight ultrasound that will probably determine whether we do a VBAC or another C-section.

I had a great chat yesterday with my midwife and she said her and my other midwife would still really like to see me try a VBAC if I’m comfortable with that.  They said we will just monitor the baby’s weight and she thinks even at 8 pounds I would have better luck than trying to push out baby elephant Harrison at 10, 7.  She said I shouldn’t rule out the VBAC yet, and I was glad to hear that.  Brian and I have been a bit torn on whether we should just schedule the C-section or not.  With the move and family coming it would be easier to just schedule a C-section, but I REALLY want to do a natural birth if I can.  So as it stands I’m still going to try for the VBAC.  The baby is abouyt 5, 7 right now and while the midwife said that is a plenty healthy sign right now she didn’t say she thinks I will have another 10 pounder. 

Anyway, that’s all from here.

Oh, and I’m having a really bad day.  Ever think you should have just stayed in bed?  Good little Harrison has been great to just play by himself for a while while mommy collects herself.  It started with him coming into my room at 6:30.  Too early!  And then I needed to take a bath when I got up, I’m just nauseous today.  I also think my TMJ is back in full force, which wouldn’t surprise me since with a new baby and a new house coming in the next couple of weeks, I’m sure I’m stressed!  Yesterday I picked up a couple of balloons to decorate for Valentine’s Day, well Harrison grabbed them and pulled them right into the fan which was going — that was a mess!  And then he dumped over my water all over me.  I have had better days.

I hope everyone else had a great Valentine’s Day and is having a better day than me!

NSTs February 14, 2008

For all of you that have had to NSTs and haven’t been charged a co-pay, can you tell me what kind of insurance you have?  I’ve been told by lots of people that we have great insurance.  We have BlueCross BlueShield PPO.  I have NO clue about American Insurance, but it just doesn’t make sense that my diagnostic work pre-birth would almost cost as much as my co-pay for the delivery.  This seems out of whack to me.

Thanks