And other thoughts about having this baby...

1. I don't know how to French braid hair. Good thing it's not really instyle anymore.

2. I think it was easier to bring baby Luke home with a 15 month old at home than to bring this baby home home to a 6 and almost 5 year old. With multiple babies or at least preschoolers at home we could set our own schedule, stay in our jammies if we need to etc. No problem to add a newborn. But now, I have 2 in school. That means I have to be dressed and out the door by 7:30AM. I have to make lunches, turn in permission slips, home work, library books, etc. Plus have a newborn.

3. I hope and pray that these boys I have will love this girl as much as they've loved and accepted Ethan.

4. I love this crib set and my awesome mil found these to go with it.  

5. I would love to have another ultrasound just to double check.

6. Yesterday while I was in the salon, a mother dropped off her teenage daughter. Every question the beautician asked the teenager about what she wanted done to her hair, the mother answered. What kind of mother will I be to a daughter? Will I let her speak for herself, or will I answer for her so that I make sure I have the final ok.

7. I don't think I like bikini's on little girls.

8. I hope she is beautiful and brilliant, strong and athletic, feminine and meek, wise and gentle, happy and secure all the days of her life.

9. I hope I am mother enough to know when to listen without inserting my opinion and when to intervene.

10. It would be so cool if her cousin was a girl and they could be dear close friends all of their lives.  

11. I hope I don't mess this up. 

It's been a VERY long four weeks but I am finally all better. It's a good thing too because all of our help is now but a distant memory. Like, "remember last week when your mom was here and she cooked dinner AND did the dishes while I laid on the couch and you gave the kids a bath?" or "Remember the week before when Trisha scrubbed all of our bathrooms while I laid on the couch and napped?" Ahhh memories. The good news is, in 7 weeks I have to give birth again which means the help will come back. But for now, I have to scrub my own dang toilets. Bah Humbug.

Since this is an election year, I've heard many candidates talking about how they want to improve our country's health care. I have to say that I have been more than happy with the health care here in the state of Florida. When we lived in Indiana, we had health insurance through my husband's job. It was good, covered most things.  But we did have co-pays at every Dr.'s visit, prescription fill, hospital stay, etc. as well as a $500 a year deductible that had to be payed before the insurance payed for anything.

In Ohio, we did not have health insurance and payed for everything out-of-pocket. Fortunately, we were never sick enough in that year to have to visit a Dr. and we did a few immunizations through the county where we lived.

Now we are in Florida. We don't have health insurance here either. One of our priorities when we moved here was to get our own health insurance. We looked at many different companies and did not find anything that would cover us for less than $500 a month and even those plans came with a TON of our own out-of-pocket expenses. Then one day Ben came home from school with a flyer in his folder. It said something about help for people who didn't have any health insurance. I called them to find out all the details. Once I talked to the lady, I signed us up immediately.

As it turns out, it IS a government run program with a financial cap on it but you don't have to be food stamps poor to get on it. We just barely made the cut off. It only covers the kids but it's awesome! I pay $20 a month to cover all 4 of my kids- that's right all 4 (even the one still in my belly). This $20 covers EVERYTHING. I have no co-pays, no deductibles. Plus, I get to choose my own providers.  So far, it has served us very well.

I don't think other states have such great programs and maybe that's what all the fuss is about for National Health Care. But I do know that this program in Florida is awesome! 

Ethan had his circumcision revision yesterday and it went very well. The actual surgery took maybe twenty minutes but there were 2 hours of filling out papers and temperature taking and question answering before hand and about 30-45 min of vital monitoring after.

For one little surgery Ethan had to breathe through a mask to put him to sleep. Then the gave him something similar to an epidural to numb him from the waist down. He also had a suppository of Tylenol for afterward. Plus there was an IV, a heart monitor on his toe, some other monitors on his chest. They had a thermometer taped to his forehead and his eyes taped shut. Whew!

When we were called back afterward, he was already awake which wasn't how we were hoping it would go. He was quite upset until he got back in mamma's arms. Then he just collapsed on me. It was very sad and very sweet at the same time.

 It was really sad when he was ready to get up and walk around at home but all of his "stuff" hadn't worn off yet and he fell right to the floor. But within 2 hours he was running around the house, eating pop tarts and enjoying Grandma and Grandad visiting from out of town.

This morning he looks great and is only mildly bothered by each diaper change. Thanks for all of your prayers and love.