There's Treasure Everywhere
And so do they.
We had two Sheriff's deputies come and visit our Mom's Group. They talked with the kids a little about safety and then let the kids get in their car, play with their handcuffs and try on their protective vests. The kids loved it!
As much as I love a frugal find, I've never been much of a garage sailer. I don't have the patience to look through a ton of junk in order to find an awesome deal. I have a friend, however, who loves going to garage sales and even scouts them out on Craig's List. She goes to really nice areas and has found some awesome deals.
I finally decided to try one this past weekend in an upscale neighborhood about ten minutes away from our house. It was a community garage sale and there were about sixty houses participating.
I had a blast! It was so nice having a high concentration of houses to hit. I got some great, cheap clothes, books, puzzles, a set of Scooby Doo twin sheets, and a Spiderman mask. My best find was a $5 bike seat for Hannah that looks brand new. I couple of houses later I even found a Dora helmet for $1 to go with it.
I'm not sure who's happier about the new bike seat, me or Hannah.
I finally decided to try one this past weekend in an upscale neighborhood about ten minutes away from our house. It was a community garage sale and there were about sixty houses participating.
I had a blast! It was so nice having a high concentration of houses to hit. I got some great, cheap clothes, books, puzzles, a set of Scooby Doo twin sheets, and a Spiderman mask. My best find was a $5 bike seat for Hannah that looks brand new. I couple of houses later I even found a Dora helmet for $1 to go with it.
I'm not sure who's happier about the new bike seat, me or Hannah.
After Hannah took her first few steps...
Joey: Hannah, you're AMAZING. Now that you can walk, you can play with ALL of my toys.
While listening to Dr. Laura in the car...
Joey: What is Dr. Laura's number?
Me: 1-800-DRLAURA.
Joey: Let's call her sometime.
Me: What do you want to ask her?
Joey: How does she glorify God?
Joey, in a bad mood rant: When I grow up I won't live here and I won't be a good daddy and I'll give out lots of timeouts and I don't want to be an uncle. I am NEVER going to be an uncle!
Joey: I LOVE snails! They are my favorite animal.
And HANNAH finally gets her own!
In our family, we sing Hakuna Matata a lot. Lately when we get to the part that goes "Hakuna Matata, Hakuna Matata, Hakuna Matata..." Hannah starts rhythmically saying, "Ta, ta, ta, ta." It's the only time she ever makes that sound. It cracks me up every time.
Joey: Hannah, you're AMAZING. Now that you can walk, you can play with ALL of my toys.
While listening to Dr. Laura in the car...
Joey: What is Dr. Laura's number?
Me: 1-800-DRLAURA.
Joey: Let's call her sometime.
Me: What do you want to ask her?
Joey: How does she glorify God?
Joey, in a bad mood rant: When I grow up I won't live here and I won't be a good daddy and I'll give out lots of timeouts and I don't want to be an uncle. I am NEVER going to be an uncle!
Joey: I LOVE snails! They are my favorite animal.
And HANNAH finally gets her own!
In our family, we sing Hakuna Matata a lot. Lately when we get to the part that goes "Hakuna Matata, Hakuna Matata, Hakuna Matata..." Hannah starts rhythmically saying, "Ta, ta, ta, ta." It's the only time she ever makes that sound. It cracks me up every time.
I left for the doctor's office at 8:10 Friday morning to get Hannah's stitches out. It was 10:35 am and I finally arrived at the correct doctor's office.
As we were waiting in the waiting room, I got the sense that--despite the fact there were a few children's books laying around--this really wasn't the place for kids. My suspicions were confirmed when we got called back and the medical assistant wanted to weigh Hannah. They only had an adult scale. Hmm. The lady asked me if Hannah could stand. Nope. Maybe she'd sit on it. Nope. The medical assistant ended up weighing me while I was holding Hannah, then weighing only me while she held Hannah, and then subtracting the two numbers to get Hannah's weight. It was like an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Fortunately, after we got to the room, we didn't have to wait long before the doctor came. He was very nice, but Hannah started screaming as soon as she saw him.
I told the doctor about Hannah's stitches, and he got out the suture removal scissors. These are little scissors that are dull on one side so you can slip them through the stitches and then snip the stitches with the sharp side.
I thought the doctor was going to call in his medical assistant to help me hold Hannah down, especially since she was already screaming, but he just kind of looked at me. I asked him how he wanted me to hold her. We decided to go with what Hannah was already doing: sitting on my lap facing me, holding on for dear life. I held her head against my chest with one hand, and with my other hand I tried the best I could to restrain the rest of her body.
This is when Hannah realized she was not safe and sound in Mommy's lap and really started freaking out. I wrestled with her while the doctor tried to get the suture removal scissors close enough to cut the stitches. He honestly tried for about five minutes but he wasn't even getting close. It didn't help that in addition to Hannah trying to make a break for it, her chin was moving up and down as she screamed.
That's when the doctor told me that Hannah was moving too much so he was going to get the scalpel (that's doctor-speak for a super sharp, pointy knife). This poor man didn't seem used to taking stitches out of a screaming baby, and I think he was getting a little desperate. I failed to see the logic in "this kid is moving a lot so let's get a super sharp, pointy knife within a millimeter of her chin," but I was getting desperate too so I just said, "Okay."
At this point, I was sure that he was going to call in his medical assistant so that we could really stabilize Hannah before he attempted to get the scalpel that close to her moving chin. Nope. Still just me.
After another eternity of him trying to get the stitches cut (and don't forget all of Hannah's screaming), he said, "I got one!" All three of us seemed to be feeling slightly traumatized at this point, so I joked, "Oh good, it will only take two more hours."
Somehow, praise the Lord, the other four stitches took less than two hours. But at the end of it, Hannah and I were all sweaty and the doctor looked pretty shaken. I'm pretty sure we had just ruined his day.
After it was over I was sure the doctor was going to make a quick exit like all doctors seem to do. To my surprise he just kind of stood there looking a little shell-shocked. I honestly think he was still recovering from the whole incident. I said, "I guess you're pretty glad you're not a pediatrician."
He didn't really laugh.
I still expected him to leave at any moment, but he ended up going on about how Hannah might have a scar under her chin. I told him that Joey had stitches under his chin and his cut healed really nicely so that you can hardly even see anything. He again said, "Well, it really might leave a scar." At this point I kind of felt like I was the doctor consoling the parent and said, "Well it's not that big of a deal since it's under her chin." I also joked about just needing to come up with a better story about how she got the scar like getting attacked by alligators. He didn't seem to think that was too funny either--another sign this man was obviously in shock from the whole incident. Because I am hilarious.
Since this doctor didn't seem like he was ever going to leave, I finally thanked him and left him standing there by himself in his own little room. I was so glad the whole ordeal was over. It was such a wacky morning.
Oh yeah, and the night-light we bought at Target? We got home and found out that it was broken.
The end.
As we were waiting in the waiting room, I got the sense that--despite the fact there were a few children's books laying around--this really wasn't the place for kids. My suspicions were confirmed when we got called back and the medical assistant wanted to weigh Hannah. They only had an adult scale. Hmm. The lady asked me if Hannah could stand. Nope. Maybe she'd sit on it. Nope. The medical assistant ended up weighing me while I was holding Hannah, then weighing only me while she held Hannah, and then subtracting the two numbers to get Hannah's weight. It was like an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Fortunately, after we got to the room, we didn't have to wait long before the doctor came. He was very nice, but Hannah started screaming as soon as she saw him.
I told the doctor about Hannah's stitches, and he got out the suture removal scissors. These are little scissors that are dull on one side so you can slip them through the stitches and then snip the stitches with the sharp side.
I thought the doctor was going to call in his medical assistant to help me hold Hannah down, especially since she was already screaming, but he just kind of looked at me. I asked him how he wanted me to hold her. We decided to go with what Hannah was already doing: sitting on my lap facing me, holding on for dear life. I held her head against my chest with one hand, and with my other hand I tried the best I could to restrain the rest of her body.
This is when Hannah realized she was not safe and sound in Mommy's lap and really started freaking out. I wrestled with her while the doctor tried to get the suture removal scissors close enough to cut the stitches. He honestly tried for about five minutes but he wasn't even getting close. It didn't help that in addition to Hannah trying to make a break for it, her chin was moving up and down as she screamed.
That's when the doctor told me that Hannah was moving too much so he was going to get the scalpel (that's doctor-speak for a super sharp, pointy knife). This poor man didn't seem used to taking stitches out of a screaming baby, and I think he was getting a little desperate. I failed to see the logic in "this kid is moving a lot so let's get a super sharp, pointy knife within a millimeter of her chin," but I was getting desperate too so I just said, "Okay."
At this point, I was sure that he was going to call in his medical assistant so that we could really stabilize Hannah before he attempted to get the scalpel that close to her moving chin. Nope. Still just me.
After another eternity of him trying to get the stitches cut (and don't forget all of Hannah's screaming), he said, "I got one!" All three of us seemed to be feeling slightly traumatized at this point, so I joked, "Oh good, it will only take two more hours."
Somehow, praise the Lord, the other four stitches took less than two hours. But at the end of it, Hannah and I were all sweaty and the doctor looked pretty shaken. I'm pretty sure we had just ruined his day.
After it was over I was sure the doctor was going to make a quick exit like all doctors seem to do. To my surprise he just kind of stood there looking a little shell-shocked. I honestly think he was still recovering from the whole incident. I said, "I guess you're pretty glad you're not a pediatrician."
He didn't really laugh.
I still expected him to leave at any moment, but he ended up going on about how Hannah might have a scar under her chin. I told him that Joey had stitches under his chin and his cut healed really nicely so that you can hardly even see anything. He again said, "Well, it really might leave a scar." At this point I kind of felt like I was the doctor consoling the parent and said, "Well it's not that big of a deal since it's under her chin." I also joked about just needing to come up with a better story about how she got the scar like getting attacked by alligators. He didn't seem to think that was too funny either--another sign this man was obviously in shock from the whole incident. Because I am hilarious.
Since this doctor didn't seem like he was ever going to leave, I finally thanked him and left him standing there by himself in his own little room. I was so glad the whole ordeal was over. It was such a wacky morning.
Oh yeah, and the night-light we bought at Target? We got home and found out that it was broken.
The end.
Hannah got her stitches out on Friday. Doesn't that sound simple and straightforward? It wasn't.
Andy's company recently changed insurance plans. Even though we filled out the paperwork to make the kids' pediatrician be their primary care doctor, for some reason the insurance company accidentally assigned us all to some random primary care doctor. Andy called to fix this about a month ago. He didn't have any trouble except for the fact that they told him this change wouldn't go into effect until May 1.
At the time, I naively thought that wouldn't be a problem because Hannah's 15 month appointment isn't until June. Really? Have I not been a parent long enough to realize that this would be the exact time Hannah would need stitches.
Getting the stitches wasn't a problem because we had to go to the ER, but we needed to go to the doctor's office to get the stitches out. Unfortunately I forgot about the whole insurance situation until we were AT THE PEDIATRICIAN'S OFFICE on Friday at 8:30 in the morning. They informed me the insurance wouldn't cover the visit and I would have to pay out of pocket with the visit costing a MINIMUM of $100.
I immediately called the random primary care doctor that was on our insurance card. They were able to get us in at 10:15. To kill time in between the appointments, the kids and I went to Target. We ended up getting a night light that I've been meaning to buy, and I felt like that helped to redeem the morning's mix-up.
We left Target and drove over to where the doctor's appointment was supposed to be. I say, "supposed to be" because when we got there, I couldn't find a doctor's office. I called the office to find out how I was missing their building. Turns out they have two different offices in two neighboring cities. I was at the right address, but in the wrong city. UGH!
I zoomed over to the correct city but still had trouble finding the right building. Joey volunteered to say a quick prayer asking God to help us find it.
We finally found the office, ran in, and filled out a ton of paperwork since it was our first (and last) visit there. I breathed a sigh of relief since we were finally in the right place at close to the right time. I shouldn't have breathed easily quite so soon.
To be continued...
Andy's company recently changed insurance plans. Even though we filled out the paperwork to make the kids' pediatrician be their primary care doctor, for some reason the insurance company accidentally assigned us all to some random primary care doctor. Andy called to fix this about a month ago. He didn't have any trouble except for the fact that they told him this change wouldn't go into effect until May 1.
At the time, I naively thought that wouldn't be a problem because Hannah's 15 month appointment isn't until June. Really? Have I not been a parent long enough to realize that this would be the exact time Hannah would need stitches.
Getting the stitches wasn't a problem because we had to go to the ER, but we needed to go to the doctor's office to get the stitches out. Unfortunately I forgot about the whole insurance situation until we were AT THE PEDIATRICIAN'S OFFICE on Friday at 8:30 in the morning. They informed me the insurance wouldn't cover the visit and I would have to pay out of pocket with the visit costing a MINIMUM of $100.
I immediately called the random primary care doctor that was on our insurance card. They were able to get us in at 10:15. To kill time in between the appointments, the kids and I went to Target. We ended up getting a night light that I've been meaning to buy, and I felt like that helped to redeem the morning's mix-up.
We left Target and drove over to where the doctor's appointment was supposed to be. I say, "supposed to be" because when we got there, I couldn't find a doctor's office. I called the office to find out how I was missing their building. Turns out they have two different offices in two neighboring cities. I was at the right address, but in the wrong city. UGH!
I zoomed over to the correct city but still had trouble finding the right building. Joey volunteered to say a quick prayer asking God to help us find it.
We finally found the office, ran in, and filled out a ton of paperwork since it was our first (and last) visit there. I breathed a sigh of relief since we were finally in the right place at close to the right time. I shouldn't have breathed easily quite so soon.
To be continued...
I posted before about Joey learning to ride his bike. Ever since then, even though he's had the ability to ride a bike, he has not been interested in actually doing so, mostly because it was still a little scary. In fact, he has hardly ridden the bike at all since I last posted. Then on Friday a neighborhood friend gave Joey his old Lightening McQueen bike. What a difference a bike makes! Apparently Spiderman is lame and Lightning McQueen is awesome, because all of a sudden Joey wanted to ride it all the time. On Saturday, Andy took Joey all around the neighborhood, and he (Joey, not Andy) finally got the confidence he needed. He was cruising all around and loving it.
Late Saturday afternoon, Andy took Joey and Hannah outside to wait for some dinner guests that were due to come over any minute. Joey was riding his bike around and Hannah was sitting on a lawn chair watching him. Hannah dropped a toy and, as she leaned over to get it, she did a face plant right onto the sidewalk. I heard her cry, so I went out to see her. Andy was holding her, and I thought she was going to be just fine until I saw her chin. It had split right open. I'd seen this injury before, so I knew what it meant: stitches.
Besides feeling badly for Hannah, I was also bummed about having to cancel our dinner plans after spending two days in preparation, including making homemade ciabatta bread, cilantro pesto and chipotle mayonnaise for our sandwiches; homemade dressing for our salad; homemade salsa; assembling a beautiful strawberry shortcake; and cleaning the house. Selfish, but true!
Hannah and I headed to the ER while Andy called our dinner guests to cancel (thankfully, they hadn't left their house yet).
Our trip to the ER took only about 2 1/2 hours. Hannah got five stitches. Other than the traumatic 10 minutes of actually getting the stitches put in, it really wasn't too big of an ordeal. She's okay now and none the wiser.
And, we had our friends over for lunch after church on Sunday instead!
Late Saturday afternoon, Andy took Joey and Hannah outside to wait for some dinner guests that were due to come over any minute. Joey was riding his bike around and Hannah was sitting on a lawn chair watching him. Hannah dropped a toy and, as she leaned over to get it, she did a face plant right onto the sidewalk. I heard her cry, so I went out to see her. Andy was holding her, and I thought she was going to be just fine until I saw her chin. It had split right open. I'd seen this injury before, so I knew what it meant: stitches.
Besides feeling badly for Hannah, I was also bummed about having to cancel our dinner plans after spending two days in preparation, including making homemade ciabatta bread, cilantro pesto and chipotle mayonnaise for our sandwiches; homemade dressing for our salad; homemade salsa; assembling a beautiful strawberry shortcake; and cleaning the house. Selfish, but true!
Hannah and I headed to the ER while Andy called our dinner guests to cancel (thankfully, they hadn't left their house yet).
Our trip to the ER took only about 2 1/2 hours. Hannah got five stitches. Other than the traumatic 10 minutes of actually getting the stitches put in, it really wasn't too big of an ordeal. She's okay now and none the wiser.
And, we had our friends over for lunch after church on Sunday instead!
Remember the days before digital cameras when you were just able to take a picture or two and hoped it turned out? Well, I'm glad those days are behind us, or this might have been our Easter picture for 2010.
Quotes from our church bulletin this morning:
-Woody Allen
This cross saved and converted the world, drove away error, brought back truth, made earth heaven, fashioned men into angels. Because of this cross, the devils are no longer terrible, but contemptible; neither is death, death, but a sleep.
-Chrysostom (c. 347-407)
My question-that which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide-was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man...a question without an answer to which one cannot live. It was: Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?
-Leo Tolstoy
The Easter message tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse and death, are beaten. Ultimately they can no longer start mischief. They still behave as though the game were not decided, the battle not fought; we must still reckon with them, but fundamentally we must cease to fear them any more.
-Karl Barth
