A week for mommy... quiet for baby....

We survived our 1st round of visitors! We had a great time with them, but we were exhausted and needed to clean and tidy before round 2! This week has been pretty benign for Grace- we did a Mic-key button change, which I expected to be far worse for her, but minimal tears and screaming. Since Grace's appointments are slowing down (until the cath, I'm sure) I've decided to focus on mommy and daddy's appointments. I cannot tell you the last time I went to a doctor or a dentist, for that matter! So, this week I visited my primary care doctor and Felix and I both visited the allergist and dermatologist. I also made an appointment to get my carpal tunnel looked at. I visited LensCrafters too! I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit, which is a nice change! :) The primary care doc isn't my favorite person, but since he was on vacation, I saw an even less desirable doctor- yeah for me.... NOT! He seemed to think all was well, but I scheduled a full physical for next month, just to be sure. I'm not too worried about much, as I did the BRCA (Breast Cancer gene test) this past month and it was negative- THANK GOD! Too many women on my father's side of the family have lost their lives, their breasts and their ovaries to this awful cancer! So, I hurry up and wait on that. I scheduled an eye exam too- my new glasses will be here in 10 days! YEAH!! I can see again! Since my dad had/has malignant melanoma, I wig out about the sun, but usually after I've managed to get completely fried or burned. So, to reassure myself, I try to see the dermatologist once a year or so. Felix actually has far more moles than myself, so typically he's the primary patient at these appointments. This time, it was bad news for me. I guess that's what I get for gloating.... I left the appointment with two sets of stiches and a follow-up in 2 weeks to have them removed. Boo! The back mole doesn't hurt, surprisingly. But the one on my upper thigh is still bleeding and hurts like, well, I won't say because it is not "child appropriate". I'm still stuck in insurance appeals hell, but I am expecting it will stay that way for some time, so I'm getting used to the constant phone calls. Basically, Grace was added on to our private health plan at birth, before we knew about her heart condition. Because of the adoption situation, when they learned of the health condition, she became a ward of the state, until we could go through an agency, thus the bills became the state's responsibility. Unfortunately, the state won't pay because she had "personal" insurance, my personal insurance won't pay because they weren't responsbile... it's ugly! But, I'm working on changing her eligibility date, so this should all fade away soon. I hope. It better!

I mentioned that we needed to tidy up for round 2- well, my house is actually worse than it was! Felix decided that he should start a million and one home improvement projects this week (actually last night!!!), so I have new vertical blinds laying on my living room floor, a new garbage disposal installed (a "green" one), a new faucet installed (a pretty rubbed bronze one to match my kitchen), and a casualty of Felix's somewhat shoddy skills- he busted a pipe on our reverse osmosis. So, hopefully that will get fixed this week so that we have clean, fresh drinking water for our family, and us too! While Felix spent time home improving, I spent time baby improving! My mom and I visited Babies R' Us post eye dilation yesterday (that was a challenge, lemme tell you!) and stocked up on baby goodies. I'm not loving her Chicco KeyFit 30 car seat anymore, she looks really cramped. I wonder what it would be like if she wasn't so small- would she even fit @ 9 months? Seems like a wasted purchase, now. I tried a few convertible car seats, but decided I needed to do more research before spending the money. The Alpha Omega Elite was comfy, but didn't have the latch system for rear facing. I'd like Grace to rear face until age 2, if possible, so that's pretty important. The Britax Boulevard consistently gets rave reviews, but it's so expensive! Someone mentioned the Evenflo Triumph Advance too, it's like buying a new car, way too many decisions! Any mommies out there care to reccomend a convertible car seat model? I need it to be roomy, safe, and have the ability to latch for rear facing. While there, we tried the Bumbo alternative, Bebe Pod. Grace STILL isn't sitting up, so we're trying to get her playing in that position as much as possible. The Bumbo always seemed a tad uncomfortable, but the Bebe Pod seems much better. Grace actually picked it out! :) We sat her in it, and a HUGE smile came across her face. She was instantly playing and babbling, and her feet even touched the ground, instead of sticking straight-out caveman style like they did in the Bumbo. Despite Grace not sitting up, she's getting WAY too big for kitchen sink baths, and the shower always makes me nervous- she's so slippery! So, I bought the bath seat. I'm hoping this too will help encourage her to sit more, as she can play in the bath tub. I bought a bunch of other random toys and gadgets too. Now I'm on the lookout for a 65 cm (?) exercise ball for Grace. Our amazing PT @ PCH showed us some cool activities we can do with her using the ball. AJ even got her to stand for a bit! On that note, Andrea reminded me to update you all on her evals with the state. Early Intervention came back out and re-eval'd her. This time, I made it very bleak. If she didn't do it consistently, it was a no. After all was said and done, with my bleakness, her average age developmentally according to them was 2 months. Granted, AJ thinks she is more age appropriate (and she probably knows best) but, at least we qualify for services now! Grace is officially DDD eligible. This means we'll get services at the house- PT, OT, speech and feeding. AND we'll get respite hours! We have like 250 now, but we'll go up to like 800 something. I doubt that I'll use them, as my mom usually watches Grace, and the idea of having someone watch Grace that is a stranger gives me the heebs.... But I've got them, just in case!

My dad and step-mom come into town Saturday morning, while my aunt & cousins come in Friday night. I'm looking forward to seeing them all- my aunt and cousins I haven't seen in years (5 maybe?) and they've obviously never met Grace. My dad and step-mom have never seen Grace outside of the hospital, so I'm excited for them to get some good play time in with her. They're thinking about celebrating a mock 1st birthday for her, since they won't be able to come out for her celebration. Of course, I'll make a cake- my dad is wanting to taste my crazy creations, so I suppose I can manage. I'll post a post of just cakes for you soon- someone asked me to do that. I've officially closed the business at this point, now just making them for friends and family. With Grace's health issues, I am simply not reliable. I have no idea when we'll end up in the hospital, or for how long. Not fair if you're dealing with a bride, or even a special occasion.

Well, I'm off and running again- Grace is ready for a big girl bath (her 1st one!) wish us luck!