My head hurts

The thing that sent us off on the insurance tizzy was that when I called the family practice doctor that one of my husband's coworkers highly recommended I was told that they were not accepting new patients. My husband had put him down as our PCM with out verifying that he was taking new patients. So, I thought I would find a local pediatrician for the boys so that we could save gas and not have to do the 28 minute drive each way every time the boys needed the care of a doctor.

We have talked to Tricare a number of times and each time we get a very different answer. Yesterday it was a simple form that the doctor's office would have to fill out. The next call there was nothing that they could do. Today it was a form that we could fill out that would exempt the boys from needing a PCM. Then later when my husband called again, he was told that this could not be done. I think the only true piece of information that we have gleaned from this was that the person that told me that the family practice doctor was not accepting new patients was mistaken. I still am unable to wrap my mind around the fact that the local doctors can accept Tricare but not be PCMs. To me that is like saying that we accept a credit card, but you can't actually use it in our store to buy anything.

So now the boys have an appointment to see the family practice doctor next week, it was just not worth the headache to insist on a pediatrician. We had a lot easier time scheduling an appointment to see this doctor which I like, but I am just frustrated with having to do such a long drive when there are plenty of doctors that are closer. I also hope that this doctor can handle Evan and all his needs, after all he is a pretty complicated little guy.

Confusion

The older I get the more things I run into that make me go huh?

I am in the process of getting Evan set up with a pediatrician. I have been a bit lax about it due to the move and settling in and potty training but we really need to get his health care system set up and in place so that he can start physical therapy again among other things.

Where I am running into problems is that there are pediatricians aplenty that take Tricare, however none of them are considered primary care managers by Tricare. There are also loads of family practice doctors that take Tricare. Guess what! None of them are designated PCMs either. In fact there are no PCMs in a 50 mile radius! How insane is that?

We, of course, have been on the phone questioning this apparent oversight but it is hard to get things done when you get a different answer every time you call. What I don't get is why are not family practice doctors and pediatricians not automatically designates as PCMs? When it comes to the doctor food chain they are the lowest on it. It only makes sense.

I guess that is where I go wrong, assuming that an insurance company would do anything that makes sense. Another thing that puzzles me is that my husband's coworkers have doctors. Why is it only now that we are not able to get one? I can feel my head starting to ache.

I know that we will eventually get a doctor set up for the kids and us. We will be very squeaky wheels, I can promise you that much.

Hidden Talents

A few days ago we were hanging out in the living room. The boys were doing their usual peer out the window and exclaim about things going on outside. Suddenly Harry got excited and tried to hand my husband something small and black. Harry has somehow caught a fly. We were quite shocked but thought it was a fluke, after all flies are naturally speedy creatures that always seem to evade the quickest of people.

A few days later I decided to see if it was a fluke. I asked Harry to get a fly. We some how never seem to have a house entirely free of flies thanks to slow children that like to linger in open doors, so I thought maybe a fly hunting Harry could help correct a the problem. I didn't really think he could repeat the performance but much to my surprise he managed to yet again corner one by the window and catch it.

The boys, being the boys that they are love catching bugs. I have to watch them carefully to make sure that they don't pick up anything harmful. I also have to watch them to make sure that harmless beneficial bugs to not end up getting squished. Pill bugs are a particular favorite and are also just as likely to get squished if I am not quick enough to stop it. I am sure that bugs are just the beginning.

Sunday Cuteness

Is there anything cuter than a picture of my kids playing nicely together? I sure can't think of anything.

I thought I would give a potty training update, I know you are waiting at the edge of your seats for an update. There have been a number of accidents, usually when I have forgotten to remind him that he should try sitting on the potty. Today I tried to be very good, but by the end of the day I was tired and forgot to remind him to go before dinner. He ended up peeing on my living room curtains while he was trying to watch the storm that started while we were eating dinner. *sigh*

Evan may not like going potty at home but he loves going to public bathrooms. He has learned that all he has to do is say the magic words and he get to see me run around like a loon trying to get him to the bathroom on time. I am getting very tired of cramming into tiny stalls with him, pulling his shorts all the way off and his undies all the way off only to have him sit there and do nothing. If he ever becomes famous, that alone should earn me a really nice house.

Perspective

I have been rather quiet the past few days. I was a hormonal mess and all weepy and stressed out, not to mention crampy. Thankfully a little time was all that was needed to put my formerly horrible life back into perspective. After all I have it quite good. I have a husband that tolerates my PMS induced anger. I have two kids who may drive me nuts some times but most of the time they are super cute and loving. I also have a nice spacious house that is still pretty sold despite the idiocy of the former owners.

Another thing that has put my life into perspective is that I spent part of the evening baking cookies for a bake sale to help a family in the ward pay for their son's medical bills. I am not entirely sure all the issues that are going on with the cute little boy, the only obvious defect is his cleft pallet but I have learned that there are sometimes other hidden issues that can go along with that. I can't help but feel so blessed that we have good insurance and that we have not had to do the same kinds of things to pay for Evan's medical bills.

Yet while I feel my blessings, I still can't help but feel sad for all the little children in other countries that are not as blessed as we are here in the US. I can't help but feel for all the mothers who have children like Evan but who are not able to have access to the doctors and end up loosing their children. The only thing that makes this all bearable is my faith in Heavenly Father. I know that this unfairness is not permanent and the separation of the parents and children is not permanent.

Try this Tuesday

Medication is something that will be a constant part of Evan's life. His coumadin does not come in a child friendly liquid form so we have to grind his pills. When he had his tube we could just dissolve it in water and give it to him, but when we switched to giving it to him orally he started refusing his medicine. I could hardly blame him, I am sure it did not taste very good.

After getting approval from his cardiologist we started mixing it into yogurt. Which worked like a charm until we wanted to travel. We would have to get a cooler to keep the yogurt cold or find the kind he liked when we got to where we were going. We recently (in time for the move thank goodness) discovered a new alternative, single serve containers of apple sauce. They were portable and did not require refrigeration. Now applesauce is part of our nightly routine.

Go over to 5 Minutes For Special Needs to check out more tips.

Just a little worn out

My husband is temporarily working later hours at work this week. It is nice having him around a bit more in the morning, but I am not used to having such long hours in the afternoon and it is getting to me (even though this is only the first day of this). I kept trying to hide from the kids this afternoon, but they are very good at finding me and apparently they HAVE to be on the same floor of the house as me. Oh, and Evan pooped his pants this afternoon because he was having too much fun playing to go to the potty (despite me bugging him a million times to go).

So instead of something wise and/or funny here, I will send you here to a great article on marriage by an author that I very much enjoy and admire.

Yet more house pictures

Here is shot of our living room and entry way.

A shot from the other side. The door you see is to one of the bedrooms.

A close up of the fish tank.

Here is our pile of boxed up books. My husband is making a book case and we plan on putting it along that wall. I can't wait for it to be done.

The stair well which will have to be altered if we have more children. The spacing between the up and down parts is super wide and Harry can fit through them.

The view from the kitchen down to the entry way. I like that it is not carpeted but I am finding the tile hard on my feet.

Part of my rather narrow kitchen. You can see the fridge that we fought to get and has turned out to not be all that great of a fridge.

The other half of the kitchen. Harry loves to make use of the step stool.

More counter space. I think it is supposed to be a breakfast bar but we don't use it that way. Instead we put plants on it. This is my collection of Hoyas that was recently expanded thanks to my awesome mother.

Here is the kitchen as viewed from the dining room.

The dining room.

The delightfully annoying fireplace. We have two in the house and the kids love playing in it despite our attempts to keep them out.

Here is a picture of Evan (who has been accident free for the entire week) and our sliding glass door.

In case you were wondering....

Yes, I have been doing a bit of work on my blog template. I found this one at a free site and fell in love with it. I hope you like it, I know I do.

My life: potty training and knitting

If it seems like all I have been blogging about is potty training and knitting, well that is pretty much the two most exciting things in my life right now.

On the potty training front we had a banner day. Evan did not have any accidents and we actually went somewhere. We ventured out to a church play date at a park. I am not sure if I had the right park (there are two with similar names) since no one showed up besides us.

(begin tangent) I am getting fed up with the crappy parks here. I know more people have big yards and stuff than in California, but that is no excuse. The majority of them have super ancient equipment that none of my kids can really play on and often have a high potential for danger. The standard equipment is an super high and steep metal slide, a merry go round and teeter totters. I really miss the updated and clean parks that we had in California. When we went today there was a guy peeing in the brush near the kid's play ground. At the park closest to my house we discovered lots of broken glass bottles. If the city would bother to put better equipment in the parks and clean them now and then I bet more people would use them. (end tangent)

They quickly grew tired of the three lame pieces of equipment and I decided to make an impromptu zoo visit. We have fun and Evan was even persuaded to use the public restrooms. We did not stay too long since it is super hot here and they were getting very red in the faces.

Now for knitting content.

Tama's Etsy store is one of my favorite places to get yarn. I like her a lot and she has great stuff there, she really know her fiber.

Here is a picture of the completed scarf that I made from some of her hand spun yarn. It has such amazing texture. I think that I made the scarf a tad bit wide so it ended up on the short side, but it is long enough to wear. It kind of reminds me of a waterfall.


Here is some awesome yarn that I got in the mail. She dyed it up just for me! The colors remind me of pink flamingos. I am going to make some awesome socks out of it.



I have not forgotten about house pictures. I plan on taking some more in the next few days as I clean and tidy up various parts of the house.

Sunday Cuteness

Sorry there are no pictures this week. Evan is generally half n*ked all the time, so any pictures I would have taken would have not been fit for public viewing where there are creepy people with creepy thoughts about cute and innocent little boys.

Harry is such a cute and helpful little guy. He lives to help me and gets so excited when I let him do things like help unload the laundry and do the dishes. When he helps with the dishes I will put the silver ware basket (minus the small knives) up on the counter and he will stand on the step stool and put them all in the proper place. I have been doing a lot less bending down lately since Harry is more than happy to pick up stuff off the floor and put it where I ask him to. I want to bottle him up and have him be this helpful forever.

Another cute thing about Harry is his love of broccoli, or "trees". We have stir fry now and then for dinner. I think that my boys are Asian kids in American kid's bodies because they gobble it up with none of the reluctance that is normally seen when new and different things are served. Harry especially loves to have me pile the "trees" on to his plate. Evan has caught on to his excitement and we let him have a few small trees (he can't have too many since the vitamin K in the broccoli will counteract his blood thinning medication). I am thinking about seeing if they like "trees" raw too. If I make it a regular part of Evan;s diet then his medication dose can be adjusted accordingly. I just never thought he would be consistent with it, so it was easier to just avoid them all together.

Evan did awesome in church today. He stayed dry and went potty in the Ultra Scary Public Bathroom With a Big Potty for the very first time. I bought some waterproof trainers for him awhile back when I started flirting with the idea of thinking about potty training so we did not have to worry about him making a big mess if he did have an accident. I learned my lesson about that long before I had kids. When I was living in San Diego I taught the Sunbeams for awhile and one of the kids had a big accident (he must have been saving it for a long time) and I felt for the parents when they had to clean it up. I did not want to have to go through anything like that.

Don't eat these spiders!

Even though this spider is brown, I recommend that you avoid eating it. I caught this guy after Evan and Harry discovered it while playing down stairs. It is huge! I had a hard time not freaking out as I was catching it but I was also too freaked out to kill it (Yeah I know I am a weirdo). I was obviously not too freaked out to take a picture of it for blogging purposes, I have my priorities.

Any way, we have had a bunch of these guys getting into our basement and I am really wanting to do something about it. Spiders really creep me out unless they are in a container and not running loose in my home waiting to eat my children. Any suggestions?

We had good news on the potty training front. Evan had only one accident all day and I let him go on his own with no reminders. He showed great initiative and even went downstairs to go potty in his favorite of the three potties that we bought (I used the cat box rule: one for every cat plus one and applied it to our family). The lone accident happened while he was napping and he wet the bed. I may put some training undies on him for nap time. Now I just have to get him to use the big potty and use underwear properly and we will be half way there. He still is using diapers at night and needs them.

Poor Thomas

I think that Evan has caught on to the idea that when his bladder feels a certain way it is time to go to the potty. He went pee all on his own today with out any promptings from me. He would get very frustrated when I would strongly encourage him to sit on the potty. I even got brave enough to put him in undies so that he could enjoy some outside time. He has not realized that underwear is not a diaper and Thomas the Train got pooped on. The only good part about the whole incident was that I did not have to clean it up. My husband came home early from work and ended up with poop duty. We may be able to leave the house with him in underwear before too long.

Added in: I am not so glad any more that my husband cleaned up the poopy underwear. I found the underwear sitting in the boy's bathroom and crusty streaks on the toilet. I ended up doing some cleaning myself.

A craptastic day

There is mixed news on the potty training front. Harry was a wash and did not hit get anything in the potty at all today. He also apparently is full of crap and decided to show me that every time I turned my back to do a quick chore. Luckily I had the foresight to cut back on the normally high amount of fiber in their diets so the result was not too horribly awful. Harry actually enjoyed cleaning up his accidents and that is when I decided to throw in the towel. I am going to let him decide if he wants a diaper or not but the first accident will see his bum covered right quick.

Evan was great today and only had one accident. I try and get the boys to sit on the potty every so often and that is when Evan would do his thing. Harry has the bladder capacity of a gnat, so I would have had to keep him constantly on the potty. I was loosing hope that Evan would show any initiative to sit on the potty on his own when right before dinner he went with out prompting from me. Awesome! I hope this trend keeps up. He still asks if he can have a diaper, but he also asked if he could put on underwear and play outside. I am hoping that the coolness of Thomas and Lightening McQueen undies wins out. He sure does like the jelly beans he gets.

S.O.S

I am in potty training hell.

Earlier this spring I decided that it was time for Evan to be out of diapers. He is a bit of a lazy kid and was quite content to have me wipe his bum so long as I did it the second that he wanted me to. I figured that Harry was starting to get old enough to potty train too. A plan was hatched in my mind that after the move I would have a go at it.

Today was the first day and I am not sure that the carpet will be the same. Harry only managed to hit the pot twice and that was because I insisted that he sit on the potty for awhile, not due to any decision on his part. Evan had a much better average but again because I had him sit for a good long while on the potty. One of the times was more of a miss than a hit thanks to his inability to keep his hands of his new favorite toy. Evan also decided to leave a dump right by the potty while he was supposed to be napping. All in all it was a super thrilling day. I am starting wonder if there is a person that I could hire to do this dirty work for me. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Sunday Cuteness- 4th of July edition

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe holiday. I have been mum lately, we had my husband's cousin and her family over for a visit during the long weekend. She is the the closest family to us so I think that we are going to get to know each other a whole lot better than we did before.

Here are some shots of the boys at the zoo. I am excited that we are close enough to a zoo that a membership is worth the money. The zoo is small when compared to some that I have been to, but it is nice and well landscaped. We had perfect timing, as we finished seeing all the animals it started sprinkling.

This is the rain forest exhibit. They had a lot of birds and a small deer like animal running loose. They had a healthy fear of the boys.

The drain! This is what fascinated Evan the most about the zoo (I know this is Harry looking at the drain, but Evan kept going back to it and all the sundry drains that were around the entire zoo. Harry was satisfied with this one look) . He was not as excited about the animals as Harry was. He did enjoy being pushed around in the stroller which is something that we hardly bring out any more.

Harry was tickled that he got to see the orangutan so closely.

The family room

Come on down and check out our roomy family room.

Here is what you see coming down the stairs. Not in the shot is the door to the unfinished part of the basement.

Here is the train table. Note the roominess and the space surrounding it. We are thinking of (for now) keeping it as just a play table. The boys seem to enjoy having their toys on elevated surfaces.

That white cabinet in the back was put in by the former owners. It shows their bad planning and poor attention to detail. I would take pictures of the inside, but I don't want to gross you out. The spiders seem to really like it. As you can see we have tons of toy storage. I think that the toys were breeding while they were packed up, I don't remember having this many toys when we were living in California.

More storage for books and toys.

Remember how I said that I would not get a house with these awful stairs? Well I did. We are not going to make the under stairs area a storage space like it was in our previous house which is the only way I talked myself into not hating these stairs.

This is the adult section of the room. The entertainment system is just past the computer desk in the corner. My tech savvy husband hooked the computer to the TV so that we can watch movies from the computer on our TV. The kids love watching my husband play computer games on the big TV.

Look we have couches! They are real leather and they are not super overstuffed either.

Handy dandy

Having a child that is obsessed with cars and trucks comes in handy now and then. Monday is our garbage day. We are still used to having dumpsters and not having to put out the garbage can when it is garbage day. Monday morning Evan was doing his usual peer out the window and look for cars routine. My husband heard him yell "Garbage truck!" That reminded my husband that he had forgotten to put out the garbage can. Luckily Evan's yell was early enough that my husband was able to rush the can out to the curbside. Crisis averted!