some pictures

We went ice skating today, it was Saige's first time, and the first for us since we were kids. I didn't last too long, it was fun but my poor ankle is going to make me regret it. Why is it that I am not even 30 yet have aches and pains like an 80 year old? Saige loved it and didn't want to stop. Big change from the kid who all week whined that she didn't want to go in fear of falling. I finally told her she had to fall to see it didn't hurt and to learn. So she fell a few times all proud of here self that it didn't hurt. Then she fell and it did hurt. She wanted to quit but I went and sat with her and pointed out all the little kids her size and smaller that were falling all over the place and getting right back up without any tears and she finally admitted she was more scared than hurt and went back to it. I tried to take pictures but mostly got glares from the glass. I had to include this one. If you look closely that is Robby trying to get back up, his sister and Vin standing in front of him laughing at him, and the boys behind him laughing at him. Saige, I think is underneath him somewhere or maybe trying to climb his right leg.



What a ham. This must be the booger man's I'm too sexy for my pants pose. Seriously his nose has been running nonstop since.... forever. I will clean it and five minutes later it looks like no one has wiped his face in days. I break out the baby wipes before we go in a store and by the time we are checking out he's giving dirty looks ( he does not smile when people talk to him- he shoots death rays with his eyes) with nasty crusty boogers. I swear there is a conspiracy to make me look like a worse mom than I am.
This one is Saige after school Friday. Look closely at her butt. Notice the zipper and snaps, notice the flowers on the back of her left leg, the flowers that should be on the front of her right leg. Now she is four, and she wears these backwards every time she wears them because when they were designed someone, somewhere said "hey, moms everywhere teach their kids that the tag goes in the back, so lets screw with them and put the tag in the front". I remind her when I set them out the night before but she doesn't remember by morning and puts the tag in the back. I don't do mornings, Rob gets her on the bus. I know men (at least my man) can be completely clueless but how can he miss the fact that she has a zipper on her butt EVERY time she wears these which is quite often seeing as she only had a few that fit right. Most of the 4T's fall off of her. The 3Ts are perfect around the waist but look more like capris than pants. No doubt her teacher wonders what the heck is wrong with us.

I am really starting to hate hospitals

Yesterday I got the bill for Rylan's anesthesia. He was out for 5 minutes, maybe 5.5 minutes. The day he had his surgery there were 16 other kids getting the same thing. They did 5-6 an hour, at least while we were there. This guy gets $400 a kid (insurance covered most but still....). I need to go back to school. 2400 an hour???? This sahm stuff has really crappy pay.

Today I got a bill from Rome Memorial Hospital for Saige. The bill has no indication what it is for, just simply says cycle $163.57. Cycle what? The thing is we have never been to Rome Memorial Hospital, we almost went once for a lead test when Saige was 2 but the parking lot was such a freaking joke we drove 35 minutes to a different hospital to have it done. Maybe they caught the license plate and now want to charge us for wasting our time driving through their lot? Do they just randomly send out bills in hopes people will pay them? I swear it's criminal. I called and left a message but the woman only works Mon-Thurs.

So my Monday will yet again get to be spent on the phone with people who have no idea what they are talking about. I need to start drinking or something, I suppose it's good thing it's over the phone because I swear I could kill these people with my bare hands without a second thought. The date of service matches the day she had her chest x-ray in Oct but that was done at her dr.s office, across town and we have already been billed by them for it. In fact it was the one where I had to call because they were yet again charging us a double deductible, we paid the co-insurance and we were done with that. Why would I be getting a bill from Oct now? I am so confused.

OMG I WON SOMETHING

The UPS man dropped a box on the porch, I almost left it there thinking it had to be for RJ because I wasn't expecting anything and I tend to get cranky when I go out in the cold to fetch packages that aren't for me, I LOVE getting packages. So anyway, I went and it was for me, the return address was no help but when I opened it there was a toy and letter saying congratulations you were a winner of our raffle. I'm not sure I am allowed to say who it's from but I participate in weekly discussions for a certain toy company and get occasional Amazon gift cards in return.

I am so excited, I was practically jumping up and down. I know, you're probably think big whoop but I never win anything. I have never won anything before, it is a first. Turned out to be a toy we already have, even though they both love it, we really have no need for two. That is okay though it will make a nice gift or donation for toys for tots.

For sale

One whiny destructive boy. Today has been one of those days that I can almost understand why people beat their kids. He was NOT being the delightful little boy that has been showing himself more and more lately. If Robby had not taken the car there is a strong possibility Rylan would be sitting on the steps of CPS or I would have run away. If these teeth do not come soon, I still might run away. I should know better than to say he is getting better in writing and call him delightful. It's almost like he knows and needs to prove me wrong.

Rylan, I think, has been on a mission to giving me breakdown today. He spent most of the day begging for food, pushing his highchair all over the house. Everything I fed him- he immediately threw on the floor to the dogs. Food that I KNOW he likes, food that he eats any other time. I have little, no, I have ZERO tolerance for this. I can not afford to feed the dogs 6 human meals a day. I take him down and dinner time is over when he throws his food. This results in him throwing a world class temper tantrum and pushing his highchair around again until I fees him again and the viscous cycle continues. Now I am not mean, well not too mean. I wont starve him but I make him wait at least an hour before I feed him again because if he really was starving he would not feed his dinner to the dog. This went on ALL day long. I don't think he ate more than a few bites of applesauce and half a sandwich all day. I was NOT playing that game anymore. I finally put the dogs outside and made him a sandwich. He threw it. I picked it up put it in a baggie and got him down, he got the same sandwich 4 times and still has half for tomorrow. We are not poor but not rich enough to be wasting food like that.

He dumped the dog food all over the kitchen (so much for getting rid of the mice- I didn't pull out the stove to get what scattered under there). This wouldn't have been a big deal, pick it up and put it back in the bowl, they are dogs and have no qualms about eating food that has been on the floor. Except he then dumped their full water bowl all over the floor and the food. He managed to throw a couple of his sisters books in the puddle while I was cleaning the mess.

While I was in the bathroom he climbed my chair scattered all the bills and insurance paperwork and ruined a few pages that I needed including 10 dollars worth of register rewards. AND he pryed the R and F keys off my laptop. They are broken. They work but they are crooked and hanging by a thread. I probably had steam coming out of my ears. Before I even figured out what he had done Saige was hysterical screaming at me not to sell her brother, that she loves him sometimes and wants to keep him even if he is a big jerk ( I did not yell at her for calling him a jerk, he WAS being a jerk). I have joked many times that if they mess with my laptop and break it I will be selling them to replace it. He is damn lucky they work or he may very well have been on Craigslist at that point. Being named Tara and having tara as my username for just about everything I need my R key, it is not one I can function without.

I think I said no about 12 trillion times today and he had about 14 million tantrums over the stupidest things. The dog was not interested in taking the book he kept poking her with- tantrum. Meanest mommy in the whole world wouldn't let him play with a steak knife- tantrum. Nor the scissors- tantrum. Wouldn't let him play in the garbage- tantrum. He played with power button on the tv and shut it off- tantrum, he turned it back on- tantrum. Removed him at least 25 times from my computer chair (before and after he broke my computer) that he not only likes to climb but likes to try and balance standing on the arms of- 25 tantrums. Wouldn't let him leave the front door open (in fairness I told him if he got a job and paid for the fuel we could revisit the subject, he was too busy having a fit to care) we are in the midst of a snow storm- tantrum. Him opening the door and letting the snow in results in wet laminate floors which are pretty slippery to start with, he slipped while trying to slap me for shutting the door and I laughed, it WAS funny. He did not think so. He wasn't interested in being comforted so I stepped over him and walked away. That really set him off.

The worst of it came when I let him fall down the stairs. That sounds worse than it is. He has been really good about being cautious but lately he's getting cocky and fooling around. We are always right there with him. He was only on the bottom step and screwing around. He fell, I could have grabbed him but instead I just put my hand under his head so he wouldn't slam it. He wasn't injured in the slightest but it did scare him (which is what I was hoping for). He was much better about not screwing around after that but cried and cried the entire way every time he went up and down afterward, he still wanted to go up and down just seemed to think he needed sound effects to do so. Man was he mad at me. Maybe that was wrong and mean but I guess I figure he wouldn't have learned a thing if I had grabbed him and he would still be screwing around.

By the end of the night I had enough. I grabbed my MP3 player ( I can't believe I waited this long to get one of these) and hit the treadmill. My only regret is it doesn't go loud enough to tune him out. He was still in rare form torturing Saige. She was trying to put a puzzle together and he was stealing her pieces, pulling her hair, throwing things and just being rotten. Saige like her dad has the patience of a saint because I am thinking any other 4 year old would have had enough and hit him back. Finally he realized I wasn't paying him the slightest attention anymore and in a snap he was fine, happy and laughing. He discovered that if he puts his toys on the treadmill they will go flying so he spent an hour doing that. I was afraid to stop walking in fear it would set him off again but nope he was okay. Hopefully what ever has possessed him for the last 36 hours is gone for good. Mommy needs break, or a drink, or a vacation.

to my local visitors...

I have had the site meter on my blog forever, but I have never really paid attention. Yesterday I stole a cool widget from Audrey on recent cities and I see I have local visitors. Woohoo, people do come here, lol. Anyway, I finally got around to that other blog so if you are a Price Chopper shopper, check it out and let me know what you think.

HERE

I did finally go peek around at the site meter, it appears I get a lot of visitors who have googled either dish network or time warner and the words rip off and/or other colorful expletives have ended up here for a few minutes. I do get a little satisfaction knowing I am not the only one who thinks Time Warner is a rip off and can't find good enough words to describe just how bad Dish Network is.

18 months

The little monster is 18months today. We survived, there were certainly more than a few times that I wasn't so sure we would. There were many days I wasn't sure today would ever come. He's changed a lot in the past couple months, he is a delightful little boy for the most part. Except when he is not, then he really isn't, lol. There are still plenty of tantrums but they have lost their ferociousness and he has finally figured out that they really don't work and end up landing him alone in bed so when they do come, it is over with fairly quickly. My biggest complaint at this point is that he still does not sleep through the night with any sort of regularity, I am starting to think he never will and have come to terms with it.

He is 22.8lbs, pretty much normal yet everyone keeps telling me what a HUGE baby he is (umm...ok)

He is up to 10 teeth, with two more molars coming any day now. He has a few words and they improve daily.

He is pure boy, by that I mean messy and destructive like his daddy :)

He doesn't give up. If most kids were to stick their fingers in something that pinched them- they would learn to leave it alone. Not my boy. I regret changing the insurance, I have this feeling we may start needing it very soon.

He is still pretty blond and is just now getting a full head of hair but it isn't there yet.

His eyes are still very, very blue like his daddy.

He loves animals. Loves them. He hugs and kisses the dogs all the time, if you ask him for a hug he will give you one, after running and hugging one of the dogs first. Slobbery seconds are still pretty good.

He also absolutely adores his sister and the feeling is mutual, wonder how much longer that will last? He has a dr appointment in the morning so she is at grammies because we wont be here to put her on the bus. He is currently going between playing IN the dog crate and going to the window to look for the bus ( he was asleep when she got home from school and left) saying hage? hage? and blowing kisses.

His favorite toys are empty soda bottles and anything he is not suppose to have.

He has become a very picky eater, grrrr.

2009 off to a great start- Tara style

Happy New Year!!!!

Back to school today, she has been missing her friends for about a week now. I got up showered dressed, got Rylan dressed and ready for his doctor appointment. I went and grabbed the paper to double check the time. Then I realized it said his appointment was Friday Jan 5th at 11:10. Well it is the 5th but it is not Fri. so I called. Glad I did, saved the hour drive, turns out they wrote down an appointment but never scheduled one! At first the woman was giving me attitude for not calling sooner, she kept saying he was suppose to be seen two weeks after his surgery. I knew that but the paper they gave us for the surgery was a neat little numbered sheet with all instructions. Number 6 said call office and schedule appointment for two week check up. This was crossed out with black ink and written under it it says Friday Jan 5. So I took that to mean (and I assume most people would) that I did not have to call- this was the follow-up. I think she thought I was lying to her- I'll be taking the paper with me on Wed, she assured me we ARE scheduled this time.

So I spent the morning instead on the phone doing the dreaded.... calling the insurance company. When we took Rylan for his hearing test, we were told our insurance payed 100%.... and then I got the bill. I know Rylan hadn't touched his deductible so it's not a huge deal BUT the hospital billing told me it was being billed as co-insurance. For 2008, our co-insurance was 20%, okay, still fair. However the original bill was $160, and after insurance they said I owed $123.80. Now math has never been a strong point but I am pretty sure 123 is NOT 20% of 160.

So I called to double check, and the lady informed me it was part of his $500 deductible. Okay, I was expecting a deductible, if not from that then definitely the surgery BUT our individual deductible was $200/person for in network providers (which the hospital is) not $500. I know it's changed this year ($1500 deductible per person-ouch) but this was in Dec, so it was 2008 coverage. I should have left it alone but I was worried I would be getting another huge bill from the surgery so I pulled my paperwork and brought up the call on dec 8th to them for the same problem. They were charging a 400 deductible on Saige... the guy agreed it was a mistake, it should have been paid at 200 and he fixed it.

I am not sure how they pull these numbers out of their asses but I KNOW what our benefits were and I had the paper in front of me. The lady transfered me to another lady who also said we had a $500/person deductible. At this point I was ready to cry. It took 3 more people and TWO hours and 13 minutes but they finally agreed, I was right and it was $200/person. (BTW I was right and was in for a huge bill for the surgery but in the last five minutes- after I got an actual helpful person it was fixed before the bill even arrived). I know in the end between the hospitals it is the same amount of money (if we didn't get a bill here- the other would be higher) but I was miffed they told us it was 100% covered and then it wasn't. I am still reeling on how they had the deductible wrong, not 1 but 4 separate people. Maybe they were all a bit dyslexic and read the 2 as a 5? I don't know but I had a headache.

I guess I hadn't had enough yet and I took the kids to Toys R Us to spend their gift cards. I know why people shop at Walmart.... they had things marked down 60% that were still priced higher than Walmart everyday prices and I don't think they know what 60% is. Saige wanted this playset that was 54.99 reg price. I was going to get it, the sign said 60% off, but the sticker still said 29.99. Now again, I am not the greatest in math but that is just not right, so I asked an employee and was told that yes that was the 60% off price and an 'I dunno why it says that"

I am not the person to do this kind of shopping- it is her money and she should be able to do as she pleases (within reason of course) but I am a bargain shopper and try as I may I can not stand by and let her pay for something that I KNOW is half that price somewhere else- or toys we already have. I wanted a toy box for Rylan, he really needs one. I do not go to Toys R Us often, in fact never, this was first. I don't know if they were picked over or they just don't carry what I want. They had a small plastic baseball one for 59.99 umm no, and it was on clearance. So They had another for 79.99 that was at BigLots for 25-I wish I had gotten it then. So still no toy box.

After many laps around the store, Saige spend her entire $50 and got a finger paint set, lots of construction paper and another baby alive doll. This one not only pees but it comes with a potty and it poops too. Hiphiphooray- can you feel my enthusiasm? You have to wash the thing every time you use it. Thankfully they had no accessories to go with it and it only came with two food packets. Rylan was interested in two things... a $350 power wheels 4-wheeler and a little shopping cart. I let him push the cart around the store but we already have one at home. He got a bopbag (you punch it and it pops back) and a case of baby wipes, he has money left over, but I will let dad handle the rest. Lucky kid, lol. As I sit here I am thinking I probably should have bought him a potty chair- he's not ready yet but I should have one for when he is. Neither one of them needed anything and turns out all Saige really wanted was the actual physical gift card with princesses on it. I came soooo close to stealing some of Saige's money to get Rylan a new car seat but I didn't, well technically I was going to get her a new seat so he could have hers but with his money. There is nothing wrong with his other than I hate it- I hate the buckle, it's awkward to install and did I mention I hate the buckle?