Potty Training, Bronchitis, and did I mention insurance SUCKS! :(

So Cara is potty trained (when she's awake). We don't put her in diapers anymore unless she's going down for nap or nighttime. She pooped again on the potty yesterday for Eric while I was at my doctors appointment, more on that later....

She's had a cough for a little while, and then 2 days ago started with a runny nose. She hasn't ran a fever, and acts like she feels fine, just sounds congested. So we took her to the doctor today and they said she has 'slight' bronchitis (meaning she has it, you either do or you don't, right?). So we got her meds and she's ok. They said she's not contagious and we can go to church on Sunday, but oh I hate explaining that. Since we were up early waiting to call the doctor at 8 am to get in right away, we got a lot done today. We came home, Eric mowed the front yard and Cara 'helped' me weed the front flower beds. Then when it got to 10, we went to the Inflatable Zone here in Katy (because we thought it opened at 10, but we were wrong, it opened at 9:30). So she loved it and we played there for an hour until they closed at 11 (for preschools, etc). Then we came home, let her get down to her undies and she played in the sprinkler in the front yard. By this time she was still muggy and sweaty, so we put her in a quick bath (after lunch) and now she's sound asleep. It's amazing what we can get done before 12 when we get up (and get dressed) at a decent hour!! :)

So, onto insurance. Eric called earlier this week and verified that his last paycheck is tomorrow (which we were expecting--did I mention his first paycheck with Katy ISD is 9/1 :( ). But, what we didn't realize was that his insurance ends TODAY!! And Katy's doesn't kick in until 9/1. So, I called my doctor frantic 2 days ago to move up my glucose test because I didn't want a $600 doctor appointment when we don't have insurance. They worked me in yesterday, and that went ok. Micah's heart rate - 140. I gained no weight since last appointment, so still up 4 pounds total, blood pressure up a little, 130/70, but now she wants to see me every 2 weeks (I'm only 26 weeks and 4 days) which puts me having 2 appointments in August. She said are you really not going to have insurance in August, what if you get in a car wreck, or have some problems and need to be admitted to the hospital. So now I'm all worried and am considering paying the $693 in cobra for 1 months coverage!! This totally sux. Plus, while I was there the insurance lady at the doctors office tells me to let her know if I'm going to do cobra or not, because she needs to close out the doctors bills from the beginning of my pregnancy through either 7/31 or 8/31 depending on if I do it or not. I say what do you mean, I've been getting EOBs for all appointments. She says, oh that's just your copay, and lab work and ultrasounds. We haven't actually billed for the doctors services, we usually do that at delivery, but since your switching mid-pregnancy, we have to close it out. I asked how much that is going to cost me and she said she didn't know, so I'm about to get on the phone with the insurance company. Fun for me. Please pray that God continues to provide for us. We truly need it over the next few months!!

In other more fun news, I've been on a cooking kick again (finally!). I cooked TONS until my first trimester wave of sickness hit, and nothing smelled good to me. Then 2nd trimester hit and I begged Eric to do all the grilling, and we ate out a lot (thanks for gift cards family!) because of birthdays, etc. But now, I'm on a roll. The other day, I made steamed broccoli, egg noodles/butter sauce and chicken. Then Tuesday I put a pork loin (I didn't know was in my freezer) in the crock pot all day. My house smelled wonderful and it was scrumptious! I made fresh green beans that night. Last night we had leftover pork and I made mashed fresh sweet potatoes! Yum-o!! Tonight I've got some chicken in the crock pot (I found my crock pot cookbook, so yep, I'm on a new kick again) :) and I'm going to have salad and corn. Did I mention I made homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies tuesday night, they are gone today.

Ok, enough procrastinating on the insurance call (I came home yesterday totally bummed and ended up taking a 2 hour nap during Cara's nap instead of calling), so I'm off. Love ya!

Sorry if it grosses you out....

But we have been keeping Cara in 'panties' for a couple of weeks now while we're home. We've even ventured out a time or two with no accidents with them on. Anyways, this evening, not only did she pee on the potty, which has become more and more the norm, but she POOPED!! For the first time!! I was home alone, Eric had left shortly before (after witnessing a triumphant peepee) to go to his performance, but Cara just sat and did her business like she always has!! This is more for my recollection than anything (did I mention I'm only up to June 2007 scrapbooking, and I reference my blog all the time to figure out what she did when!), but am also a very proud mommy! A friend of mine told me the other day that she and her hubby think Cara is very smart. Now who doesn't like to hear that? I'm not a bragger, and I'm DEFINITELY not a teacher (that's Eric, totally), so I don't know how she knows what she knows, but we are very happy parents. Just for my future reference she knows:
all her colors (though sometimes mixes up brown and black)
can count 1-11 and recognize all numbers 0-9
knows her ABCs, can sing the song, and can recognize them by sign and by actual letter (we are starting the phonics now)
still knows TONS of signs, and when she really wants to get her point across, uses them
knows a lot of shapes (triangle, rectangle, square, oval, moon, circle, diamond)
can sing the itsy bitsy spider (with signs), Yes Jesus loves me (with some signs), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, her ABCs, the Elmo world song, I think that's it.
She LOVES to dance, will even dance to Eric's bopping metronome!! She is such a sweet heart.

We tried to make her give up her pacifier (she only has it in bed for nap and nighttime) right before July 4th, but it didn't go so hot (some nights ok, some not), so we gave it back to her until after Micah comes. Speaking of, she LOVES Micah. She kisses my belly. Eric finished painting his room, so we've been arranging the furniture in there, and she loves going to 'baby Micah's room' and just sitting. Eric has also cut a whole in our garage and found storage up there (in the attic that we had no access too) and he built a door for it. He's in the process still of building my built ins for our living room, I can't WAIT to have storage!! We went up to his new school/band hall Monday and today. They are going to move the move in date back yet again. It was supposed to be the 14th, then 21st, then 28th and now they're saying end of next week, which gives us VERY little time to get his inventory assigned, office and storage organized, music purchased, still audition 30 more 5th graders for instruments, get t-shirts made, start band boosters, organize fund raisers, and the list goes on. Did I mention the assistant band director is only part time this year? Between his school and another new school that has 230+ in its JH band!! He will be busy that's for sure.

I guess that wasn't such a quick update, but there you go. Keep praying for us, as we try to pray for you each evening!! Love to all!

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Eric, Thank you for 7 wonderful years! I can't believe how much we've changed, yet grown closer together. We've grown through finishing college, moving cross country and back, living with your parents (twice--during my internship and while building our house), building a house, having a baby, and moving to a new house!! All while loving each other and furthering our relationship with Jesus. You are an awesome daddy, husband, and spiritual leader (and hopefully woodworker to finish my built-ins)! I love you!

ilolu

Just a note to remember how cute Cara is at this stage. She used to say I LOVE you, and draw out LOVE, like she did in Amen in that song ;) But now, since she loves so many things, she has shortened it to ilolu. It is very cute. Here is a typical conversation of ours in the car (substitue boat for any object we might pass, such as a cow, car, train, BIG truck, etc):

Cara: "Daddy, Mommy, BOAT"
Us: "Yes baby, we see the boat"
Cara: "Bye bye boat" (as we pass it on the road)
Us: "Bye bye boat"
Cara: "Ilolu boat"

:)

She loves everything. This morning we were heading to church, and she knows our neighbor's daughter, Aynslee is in her class sometimes (currently they're out of town on vacation and we're watching their dog Ranger). So here goes:

Cara: "Aynslee" (pronounced aynsee)
Me: "No baby, Aynslee's on vacation, remember, that's why we have Ranger"
Cara: "Aynsee vacation. Ilolu Aynsee"
Me: "Yes, we love Aynsee"
Cara: "bye bye Ranger" (on our way out the door)
Cara: "Ilolu Ranger"

So cute. Just had to share :)

If you're happy and you know it

If you're happy and you know it
Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome

This is the cutest little girl on this planet (in my humble opinion) :)

Happy Birthday to me :)

Today is my 28th birthday. So far it's been a pretty normal, yet fun day. Cara woke up about 7:30, but I was up at 7 having to pee and sneeze! Eric gave me a card from he and Cara and then left to go to his last day of band camp. She ate a little early and wanted to go outside and play with her bubbles. Since our yard was still shaded, off we went. She played outside for about 45 minutes while I watched and tried to finish my latest book that I've been reading. We came in just in time for me to take off her wet clothes, and set her on the potty to see if she needed to go. About that time my Mary Kay lady rang the doorbell, and even after a confirmation call and a reminder call last night, I had STILL forgot she was coming! I hurried to let her in, put the dogs in my room, get Cara off the potty, and put some more decent clothes on! She helped me pick a better shade (since I'm 'so dark' now from my tan) and gave me a birthday discount! After that, Cara and I hung out the rest of the morning. She watched a little tv while I desperately tried to finish the last 10 pages of my book (did I mention it was really cute and I couldn't wait to see how it ended). So I was a little selfish this morning, but it IS my birthday. However, Cara did sit on the potty TWICE and went this morning, YEA! Eric came home early, around 11;15, and we ate lunch and played some more. She ended up having a little accident on Daddy while they were playing in her room (and I finished my book), but that's ok. She's currently down for her nap. I finished my last and most favorite page in her 1st year scrapbook, and Eric is painting baby Micah's room.

My mom came up yesterday and watched Cara while I went to bible study, and later Eric and I went to my 24 week doctors appointment. The heart rate was 150, and my measurement was 'just perfect' per my OB, which I assumed meant I was at 24 cm. I thought I had gained like 15 pounds this month, but was happy to find out it was only 6! So total, I'm up 4 pounds from the weight I was when I got pregnant. Which is a little more than I had gained at this point with Cara, but with Eric and Cara's birthday, and traveling out of town so much the past month, I'm ok with it. We are back in town for good, most likely, for the rest of the summer, so I can regulate my eating habits a little bit more (except today, it's my birthday, and Monday, our anniversary!!). My mom took us out to eat at Carino's last night, and we had a yummy meal! My favorite is their Chicken Gorgonzola and sun dried tomato salad. YUMMY! We also got the apple skilletini AND turtle cheesecake to share for dessert. Cara, after eating so much salad, chicken, eric's pasta and break, was very happy to see CAKE :).

Tonight Eric's family is taking us out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. We have to eat early because Eric has a performance again tonight with the town and country playhouse. We are looking forward to that honey cinnamon butter! :) I can't believe it's already July 18th, where has this summer gone? We've done a lot of cleaning and organizing, but on the other hand, there is so much more to do. I asked Eric to not give me a gift this year, and to focus on building some built-ins for me (next to our fireplace if you've ever seen our house). He has bought the wood and has the plans drawn, so I think he's going to start on those this weekend. On Wednesday of next week, he can FINALLY get into his new band hall! We are planning on spending some good family time up there helping organize all the new instruments, music, office, etc. We had dinner on Tuesday with Dan and Elisabeth Brodt, Dan is going to be the part-time assistant band director with Eric this year. They were wonderful and fun! They have an adopted vietnamese son, Noah, who is 21 months old, and are waiting to hear on getting their 2nd baby, from Korea. Elisabeth was an orchestra director in Katy for awhile, and now is an assistant VP at Cinco Ranch JH. We are so happy we got to meet and finally hang out with them, we think we'll have fun this year!

In other news, our friends, Luis and Alexis had their baby girl twins yesterday. There were some complications, and there is still much prayer needed. So if you think about it, please say a little prayer for them and their 2 baby girls!
Much Love!

Garretsen wedding!

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Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome.

Those Garretsen's do not dissapoint. It was a very fun and eventful night! This is a picture of Amanda and Ronnie (eric's best friend), Eric, and Erik Bechtol, another friend from high school, at the reception. The only downfall was that everything was outside, so it was muy HOT! But the bride and groom were gorgeous and very entertaining on the dance floor. We had a quick trip up to Georgetown, but it was worth it. We are now settled back at home. Eric is teaching all this week from 8-1 at the Katy ISD JH band camp. He's enjoying it. I'm getting used to having Cara all to myself again in the mornings, it's weird, Eric's been home for what seems like forever! I don't know what I'm going to do without him in my 3rd trimester when he's back at work full time. He can get into his school next week, so we're planning a family morning there on Monday to help him sort out all the new stuff being delivered to the band hall. Tonight we are heading to the assistant band director's house for dinner. They invited us over. They have an adopted son around Cara's age, and are in the process of adopting a second child. I can't wait to meet them, they are right around our age I think. That's all for now!

Red, White & Blue family

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Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome.

Here's the only decent shot we got of the 3 of us on fourth of July. Cara's not looking, but oh well. We got her bow at a consignment store in Katy, just for the occassion. I'm so happy she can wear 'big girl' bows now, they are just too cute!!

Wii Bowling

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Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome

Here's a short video of Cara & Eric playing wii bowling, she's such a goofy girl!

23 weeks and counting down...

Just a quick post to list some of the cute things Cara has been doing lately :). She's very good with her words, we were at the doctor today and she found some small diapers and said "baby diapers" and then there was a strawberry on a bag and she told the dr. what it was, and the dr. was very impressed. Her best friend is our neighbor Aynslee. Anytime we get home from going somewhere and she sees Stephanie's car out front, she starts "Aynsee aynsee." Or when she wakes up from a nap. We have to tell her that Aynslee's "night night" most of the time. They do however see each other most days. When we went over yesterday to say hi (for the first time since like last Wednesday), they both just danced and giggled for like 5 minutes! They are too cute together. She has lots of other friends, but because she knows 2 Hailee's and a Bailey, she thinks all little girls are named Hailee. She has been running a slight fever for a couple days, and we think she's starting to get her 2 year molars. Although, normally, she starts to get them like 4-5 months before they actually break through!! She had a HORRIBLE night's sleep last night. She went to bed fine at 7:30, but from about 1:15 - 7, she woke up every hour or so crying. Everyone who knows her knows she loves to sleep, even when she's sick. So we were very worried. She told Eric once last night that "it hurts" and tried to scratch her bum. Then this morning after breakfast she kept saying it hurts and started crying. So we took her in, and she has pinworms. I had heard about them before on Dr. Oz, but I'm utterly mortified. Although, it does say "Pinworm infections can happen to anyone. They are not related to being unclean." Makes me feel a little better, but still, sorry she has to go through it. It's very easy to treat, one chewable pill today (she took it like a champ, her first one) and one in 2 weeks to kill anything that's hatched since then. She just seemed out of it today, partially from the lack of sleep, and from her backside hurting. She went to sleep fine, so we'll pray she stays like that.

In other news, Eric started rehearsals tonight for Oklahoma. He plays each summer at the Town & Country Playhouse. So he'll be gone each night this week, and the next 3 weekends. I think he enjoys getting to play, and for money!! :) This Saturday we are traveling to Georgetown to attend Eric's best friend, Ronnie's little brothers wedding. It just happens to be 6 miles from my grandparents house, so get free room and board :). Next week Eric is working at the Katy ISD junior high band camp from 8-1 all week. I had to reschedule my 24 week appointment in the afternoon, so that Eric can come. It'll be on the 17th at 2:15. Just a normal quick checkup before the big 28 week diabetes check.

We had a great time in Corpus, visiting Eric's grandma (MeeMee), aunt, uncles, and cousins. One of his cousins had a little boy back in December, so it was fun to see Cara interact with little Matthew. Although, she called him Mack a few times (which is what she calls Bailey's husband now for some reason). It was the first time since switching to her big girl bed that we went out of town. She slept in the hotel bed great. We had the gate on one side and set up chairs on the other. She woke up a couple times not knowing where she was, but we just said go back to sleep and she did. We got to have Krispy Kreme for breakfast on Saturday, they were SO GOOD. I'm gald they aren't here in Katy! I'll post pictures as soon as I get them off my computer.

Yesterday Bailey came up and Eric watched Cara all day so we could go scrapbook. We went to Archivers and used their die cuts and everything for free. It was awesome. I finished Cara's first year album. I have our normal family albums that are ongoing, I usually sort them by years, but I decided I'd do a 1 year album for all the babies! I'm so happy it's finished, and it looks really cute!!

In other news, my bible study is still going strong. I'm REALLY enjoying learning my Psalms of Ascent! I feel closer to God, and I feel more at peace in general. I finished the book I was reading, and have started Dare to Discipline by James Dobson. I'm in a reading fit, can't stop! Eric went and bought the wood today to build me my built ins that's he's been promising me for my birthday. And he got the paint for baby Micah's room, so we'll be painting soon. There's lots more to write, but I'm tired and have to get some sleep.

2 year stats

Before I forget, I want to post Cara's 2 year stats. We went to the doctor last Friday, 6/27 and she was 33.5 pounds and 36.75 inches tall. I asked the doctor if she was 100%, 100% and 25% (head measurement) and she said, just about! She's off the charts for weight and height for her age, and her head was in the 50%! She's a great eater, and drinker. We've switched her to organic skim milk, and she took the change like a champ. She got her 1 shot at her 2 year, and cried for about 1 minute. She is such a big girl! We took her pacifier away last Wednesday, 6/25 (she only has it for bed and nap anyways), and we dealt with it for a week, but tonight we caved and gave it back to her. Some days would be fine, and she'd only fuss for a few minutes, then go to sleep, but sometimes, it'd be 30 minutes!! She doesn't need it to sleep (it falls out half the time), it's just getting to sleep. And, she sleeps longer with it (read: later in the mornings), so, I made Eric cave and we gave it back to her for another 6 months or so. Especially since we're going out of town Friday, and I like to have it in the car just in case she wants to nap :). Hopefully, we'll get through potty training and then see if she wants to give it up. She was just too pitiful when at bedtime she'd ask for her baby and paci like she always did, and would only get the baby. She has the biggest bottom lip! :) Anyways, there are tons of pictures on flickr. Oh, I got my hair cut today, FINALLY, the 1st time in 3 months. My bible study is still going great, what an inspiration. I'm in the process of reading about 3 books, but they've all been great. Anyways, will update after our Corpus trip.