A request for Californians

Today we were informed of a bill that is trying to be passed in California that affects children born with craniofacial issues.  Please read the following email that was forwarded to us by a good friend.

CSPS has sponsored legislation (SB 1634) this year to require health plans to cover orthodontic care for cleft and craniofacial anomaly children. Many parents are burdened by the expense of the complex orthodontic care that these children require. Some kids never get the care they need as their parents cannot afford it. We are only asking the health plans to step up to the plate and provide what MediCal and CCS already cover. 

As this bill is now enrolled, we encourage you to please take the time use the letter below, print it on your letterhead, and mail it off to the Governor. If you have any patients with clefts, ask them to write a letter as well. The Department of Managed Care has recommended a VETO of this bill, since it is an "insurance mandate". We need all the support we can muster, so I am asking you PLEASE send off this letter TODAY and please email cpahl@earthlink.net or fax (510-243-1663) a copy of your letter to the CSPS Executive office.

Our patients deserve it.

Thanks so much,

Debra Johnson, MD
President, CSPS

I have not found if this same issue is present in Texas, but it doesn't really matter to me.  Knowing that our child is going to need surgeries throughout it's life is enough to make me want to support a bill like this if it will help others in our situation.  If you are willing to send this letter please let me know and I will forward it to you and all you have to do is sign your name.

Baby weight

OK, so I posted a poll so you could guess our baby's weight.  I know it seems a bit early to be guessing, but there are reasons.  For those of you who know my family, we tend to have big babies (I was 9 lbs. 7 oz. and the smallest of my mom's 4 kids!), but the choices are quite small.  Well, at 35 weeks our baby weighed about 5 lbs, which is average, but not big.  And we know this baby will be born a little early, so that is where the small numbers came from.  I will say, more than once the comment has been made that our baby has chubby cheeks, so we'll see.

Oh, and according to the original poll most of you think it is a boy!

Fun weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend.  It was very busy, but both fun and productive.  The Crawfords came up from Bryan on Friday afternoon to stay with us Friday night.  Priscilla was giving me a shower so Kay wanted to be here for that.  

Well, we decided on having the Swansons join us for dinner and we grilled up some yummy tri-tip.  I actually found some at Costco and they weren't too bad.  We seasoned one California style (with Pappy's) and one Texas style (we found one meat market that sells tri-tip and bought some of their seasoning).  Both were very good, Kevin did a great job grilling them.  Our native Texan friends all liked the Texas version better, but we won't hold that against them!

Saturday morning was the baby shower.  Priscilla suggested we have it at a restaurant and it was wonderful.  There were just a few of us so we were able to enjoy talking to each other.  I got some great info regarding my hospital stay, and all sorts of other things.  

From left Jennifer, Debbie (Priscilla's mom), Crystal, me, Priscilla and Kay Ellen (due 11/18)

This was an extra special gift because it was chosen by Crystal's daughter Lauren.  She is a very special little girl to Kevin and I and it was so sweet that she wanted to contribute.  I can't say enough about the friends we have made here in Texas.  The girls at this shower have been the people we have known the longest since moving.  What is so wonderful is that we may not talk to them all the time or spend a ton of time together but they are so supportive and excited for Kevin and I.  We have loved their children from before we set eyes on them and know that the same will be returned for our child.  We are so blessed to have friends that are truly like family!  A special thanks to Priscilla for putting this together and making me feel very loved!

After the baby shower the men went fishing and apparently had a great time.  The weather this weekend was unseasonably cool.  We CHOSE to be outside at 4pm because the weather was so nice.  It was awesome.  It is quite a tease because we know our summer isn't over, but it is really nice to be able to enjoy being outside in the middle of August.

Saturday afternoon the Crawfords headed back home, but we'll see them soon, rather they will be back to see the baby soon! :)  Then some craziness happened

Ok, so Kevin and I own a house in Rockwall that Jason was renting from us for the past 3 years.  Of course, Jason doesn't live there anymore, and neither do his roommates, so it was time to sell.  We spent about two weeks repainting (thanks Jason and Brian for helping), cleaning, scrubbing, doing yard work and making it look real good (if I can brag on our hard work) so it would sell quickly.  Last Monday we met with a realtor and put it on the market. 

Here is the listing, I mean who wouldn't want to buy this house?  (some of you from California are freaking out right now because you can't imagine an averaged sized house for that price, but really it is normal out here!)  Anyway, Thursday we had our first showing, and we still had a few minor repairs so Kevin hustled over there on Thursday night to get it all done.  Friday three more people looked at it.  I was trying not to get excited because I know the housing market is terrible.  It was my hope that we had someone seriously interested in it before the baby got here.  Saturday there were two more showings, but I still wasn't sure if there were first or second showings.  Normally Kevin and I go to church Saturday night, but because the Crawfords we here and left shortly before we decided to stay home and regroup.  Well, we got a call from the realtor and we had an offer!  I was amazed! It was a little shocking to hear the offer, because it was quite low, but it was cash, and our house had only been on the market for 5 days.  They also wanted a closing date of August 29...just two weeks away.  Long story short, we countered, they countered back and we accepted!  SOLD!  UNBELIEVABLE!  So, if everything goes as planned in 11 days the house will belong to someone else, what a relief.  Our prayers had been answered, a quick, reasonable sell.

OK, so then Sunday (after we got the last of the stuff out of the garage in the Rockwall house) the Swansons came over so Aaron and Ethan could help Kevin with this...
the RV refrigerator.  I definitely am not going to go into the details of this, but let me just say that this was the last thing we needed to do before our travel trailer was vacation ready.  Nothing had gone smoothly with the trailer, so we were very apprehensive.  I am proud to say that Aaron, Kevin and Ethan successfully installed the fridge and as far as we can tell (still a little nervous) it works!

So, our weekend consisted of a great tri-tip dinner with friends, a baby shower, some fishing, selling a house and installing a refrigerator.  We feel very accomplished!!!

Charlotte has been here!

Those of you who know my mom know she is so talented when it comes to decorating.  She has a great eye for color and knows just what needs to go where.  She also will not take credit for the things that she does, so I am giving it to her!  She came last Thursday and stayed until Monday and we SHOPPED and decorated!  I mean we went everywhere at least 2 or 3 times until we found exactly what we needed. 

So the room is ready, but that shouldn't be mistaken for us being ready.  I mean, we have heard from so many people that you can't really be ready for a baby, so we're just going to go with that.  We are excited, does that count?

A few weeks ago Ethan and Aaron came over to help Kevin paint the room.  Ethan was a huge help, they couldn't have done it without him! :)

This is a picture looking from the doorway.

Here is the changing table, fully stocked. (Please forgive the missing faceplates on the light switches.  There are a lot of things I can do, but that is not one of them.)

Here is the dresser with a piggy bank given to the baby at one of my showers.  It has a bunch of quarters in it which were given with a piece of advice from our family and friends.

The room is as complete as it will be until the baby gets here.  Our baby's name will be hung on the wall above the crib, which means we will actually have to chose one.  And if it is a girl we will be adding a few more feminine touches, all things for Charlotte to do while I am still in the hospital waiting to bring the baby home.  It's hard to believe that in a short 6 weeks we will be holding our baby, crazy!!!

32 weeks

Ok, so I am reluctantly posting a picture of me, I told myself I wouldn't do it, but I will honor the request of a few folks.  I think that pictures add at least 10 pounds and that is the last thing I want to do right now.  This may be the only "side view" picture that I post, unless I get brave and post the final pregnancy picture, the day I go in for my c-section.  So, here I am last Friday at 32 weeks.

Tomorrow I am going to post pictures of the baby's room!  It is SO cute!