And Now You're 21 Months

Yes, you are as of yesterday (Nov. 5th).


You are learning so much, so fast and are too smart for your own good sometimes.  You and Penny may just be the smartest ones in the house☺

And just what have you been up to lately?

• Q-tips - you love Q-tips.  Mommy has to keep a close eye on you in the bathroom because you will open the drawer, pull out a Q-tip and head towards your ears.  You have recently started liking to have your ears cleaned so mommy does it for you often.
• You've figured out how to open the shower and step in.  You went missing one morning, mommy went searching and found you just standing in the shower looking around.  
• You like to take mommy's pointer finger and point to things in books and ask "what's that?"
• You have started enjoying books finally.  Some nights before bed, you will bring a book for me to read, hop down, get another, read it, hop down to get another and we do this until we've been through 7-8 books.  Mommy loves holding you close while she reads too.
• You are so busy running around that you no longer like your booster seat.  The high chair is long gone but now you want to sit in the adult chairs because you aren't belted in.  Only thing is that you don't want to sit still so sometimes mommy has to force you into the booster seat just so you will eat.
• When mommy and daddy allows, you feed yourself.  You do such a good job and now that the rug is up from under the table, you'll get more practice.
• You still do not like meat!
• Instead of throwing your cup when you are done, you sit it on the table or counter.  You come back for it when you are ready for more.
• You have figured out that you can move the kitchen chairs all over the kitchen, climb up in them to get to things on the counters or to stand up there to see what mommy is doing.
• You like to hold hands with mommy while da-da says the blessing.  When he's done, you smile and laugh.
• You are very interested in computers and technology.  Pushing buttons on the computer keyboards, tv remotes, baby gates, and cable/DVD boxes is almost a hobby for you.
• When we ask "how old are you," you hold up two fingers.  You aren't there quite yet but will be soon so you are practicing in advance.
• You also know your body parts.  When asked, you will point to your hair, ears, eyes, nose, teeth, bellybutton and toes and will stretch on command too.
• You are still very ticklish and now like to tickle us.
• For a short bit, mommy had you saying "Go Tar" and then you suddenly stopped.  Your vocabulary has grown so much that I don't have any idea about how many words you are saying.  John Deere is still your favorite word.
• "Da-da" is his name exclusively while you call me "mom,"  "ma-ma" and "mom-mee."
• You are back to enjoying rocking with mommy and sometimes it takes place in the wee hours of the morning.
• You are also a tv watcher and can sit still for 30 minutes at a time.  Unfortunately for mommy, your favorite shows are Yo Gabba Gabba and Lazytown.  Those are mommy's least favorites but she lets you watch them anyway.
• You are trying to take your diaper off and maybe you are headed towards being ready for potty training.  You pee-peed in the potty just a little bit for the first time yesterday (your 21st month birthday)!  You still prefer peeing in the bathtub though.  You definitely understand "potty" and will run to the bathroom to check it out when mommy mentions it.
• You love to brush your teeth but really you are only sucking the toothpaste.  Sometimes mommy will sneak in a brush here and there.
• Speaking of teeth, you got your first tooth on Nov. 5, 2008 (the day you turned 9 months) and one year later, you have at least 12 teeth.  It gets harder to count with each tooth.
• You spend a lot of time imitating us.  You love imitating mommy by "cleaning" with the vacuum.  Such a smart boy!  You also like using hand sanitizer (shhh!) and rubbing your hands together like us, too!
• You are learning to help put your toys in the toybox.  Who cares that you think it's a game and throw every item in there.
• You are a tactile child.  You learn by doing and you show your emotions through actions.  Always exploring!
• You have already figured out how to open the baby gates on the stairs.  See, too smart for your own good!  Three times you have opened the bottom gate and made it completely up the stairs before mommy could even get to you.  Smart and quick as lightning. 
• Between Q-tips, the shower, and imitating mommy's cleaning, I think you may have inherited her "clean" gene.

Andrew, you are loved so very much.  We are thankful for every day we have with you.  You bring so much joy (& chaos) to this house.  Our lives will never be the same! 

Happy Birthday, My Love!!

Today is Dwight's birthday.  Because he didn't want me to cook for his birthday (it was his excuse to go out to eat☺), I decided to cook two new recipes for dinner last night.  I made baked macaroni and cheese, which is Dwight's favorite food ever, and a peanut butter cup cake.  I  also fixed spicy pork chops and black-eyed peas.  We celebrated early and he opened his cards too.  Today for lunch, we are meeting his mom and cousin for lunch at Cracker Barrel.  This weekend I hope we can have a short date night to Outback.

Happy 35th Birthday, my love!!!

We Love You!  Tara, Andrew and Penny

A Pumpkin Here, A Pumpkin There

Seeing the pumpkin's insides for the first time!

Our first pumpkin done freehand...not bad.

Penny likes it!

My little pumpkin

Trick or treating in style

All boy - trying to kick over the neighbor's sidewalk lights.

Visiting another house - this time with Mommy

You can't see them but here are our two pumpkins (one with a face and the other a cross)

Pawpaw and Sharon came to go trick or treating with us.

True Story Tuesday

The tone of my blog over the past week has turned kinda blah so I wanted to participate in True Story Tuesday again today to brighten things up a bit.  TST always seems to do that and hopefully, this will get me back on track.

Do you remember learning to ride a bicycle?  Oh man, I do.  I never used training wheels.  I went straight from a tricycle to a bicycle.  I had a hand-me-down bicycle from my sister that I learned on because she had graduated to a bigger one.  It was cobalt blue, had a black seat and looked very similar to this one.  I'm pretty sure I was in kindergarten and in the evenings while my mom was cooking dinner, my dad and/or my sister would help me learn in the front yard.  My mom put in her fair share of hours too.  I don't know how you learned or if there is a right way to learn but they taught me by barely holding on to the back of the seat, fast walking while I tried to keep my balance while learning to drive and peddle at the same time.  Most of the time, they would let me go and I would fall over.  I must have fallen over 1,000 times but I'd get up and go again but not before making them promise to not let go again.  Sometimes they wouldn't let go but most of the time, they would.  Afterall, how else was I supposed to learn? 

We used to live beside my Grandpa Troy and his house was probably 30 yards or less from our house.  On this particular evening, my mom and sister were out in the front yard helping me learn.  I got on the bicycle and was able to keep my balance for a short bit before falling.  I did the same routine of getting up and making them promise to not let me go.  My mom said she wouldn't but she did!  Only thing different about this time was that I kept my balance!  I was riding a bicycle by myself!  I kept riding and realized it wasn't so hard.  Out towards my Grandpa's house I went to ride around his yard.  As I went through his yard, I headed towards a big tree.  Ok, it wasn't big...it was huge and I didn't know how to use the brakes yet or not well enough to stop myself.  I didn't want to fall off the bicycle but for some reason I didn't even turn the steering wheel.  I drove the bicycle right up the side of that tree, rode back down and landed on the ground.  My mom and sister were just dying laughing at me.  I got up and they sent me on my way again.  (BTW, I never got completely parallel with the tree as in this picture and I wasn't wearing a helmet but you get the idea)  This time I must have been thinking too much because as soon as I got going, I was heading for the back of my mom's car.  Again, I wasn't a good braker and I drove right into the back of my mom's car and by the time the dust settled, I was lying up under her car.  That was scarier than the tree but they still laughed just as hard.  Camcorders hadn't been invented that I know of back then (or at least we didn't have one) so there is no video except the one in my head.  I sure wish I had it to share!

Eventually, I got very good at it.  Riding bicycles was one of my favorite pasttimes as a child.  Do you know that after not riding a bicycle for probably 12 years, I can still do it.  In the summer, we went to my sister's house and the whole family went walking through her neighborhood.  My nephews were on their bikes and I wanted to try it.  I was a bit shaky but then again, I was on a boy's bike that is used to do all those tricks.  Definitely not what I was accustomed to but once you learn, you never forget it.

Do you have any funny stories about learning to ride a bicycle?  

Music Monday

Lately, I've been thinking about life.  What's my next step?  Should I, shouldn't I?  Will we, won't we?  Here or there?  Now or later?  Yes or no?  Enough or more?  There are a lot of questions in my head these days.  The picture is no more clear than it was a month or even 6 months ago so I'm just waiting.
 One thing I would like to do at some point is move closer to my family.  I love the area we live now - we are very close to the "big city" that has the huge malls, tons of restaurants, fantastic hospitals, lots of family activities, universities, great parks, etc and we're also very close to the actual town that we claim as our address.  It isn't the big city but it has a lot of things we enjoy especially our church and very good schools.  The only things missing are my family and friends.  I feel alone here.  I have made friends but there's just something about being near what makes me comfortable.  We moved here when I was pregnant with Andrew and I didn't realize at the time how much I needed people around.  You see, I'm in most cases a very untrusting person.  I know - that is coming from a person who puts her whole life on the internet.  Maybe I'm just a very overprotective mother.  We have NEVER even once left Andrew with a babysitter.  It took me almost 9 months before I even left him in the nursery at church.  Not having someone you can trust is tiring.  Dwight and I haven't had a date night but once this entire year and that was in February.  Andrew stayed with my mom that weekend and I think we need that ever now and then.


When I'm sick or even when I just need to run a quick errand, I have no one that I can drop him off with for a short time.  I've had neighbors say they would keep him but I just feel like I'm imposing.  So, I miss home.  I don't want to live in the same town/small city as my family but I want to be close.  Close but not too close.  Our dilemma lies within where we would go if we moved.  I want to be near a city but not necessarily in the city - the suburbs is my kind of place.  Dwight feels like he has to be near his mom since his dad passed and she is alone.  Trying to compromise what we want with what we need and based on the locations of two different families is not easy.  I don't know where we'll end up if we ever even move.  Who knows we might be here for a long time but I still miss home.  If my family would move east, I would be happy but I know that isn't going to happen - it is up to me to do the moving.


With all the home talk, guess my song for today.  Home by Michael Bublé.  You might be surprised to know I am a Michael Bublé fan but I am actually a fan of all the crooners (Harry Connick, Jr, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, etc.) minus that American Idol wanna-be crooner a few years ago.  I wasn't a fan of his.  This is probably on my list of Top 10 favorite songs!  Hope you enjoy and have a lovely Monday!

Say It Forward Friday Finale

The day has finally come...that is, the final Friday of Say It Forward here at Keeping Up With The Kellys.  I hope everyone has enjoyed either being featured or "meeting" new blog friends.  I have enjoyed showing my appreciation for those who so loyally visit my blog when I'm on and even when I'm not.  I wasn't able to get to all of you so I will randomly do Say It Forward Fridays starting in 2010.  Before I announce my final commenter, let me say "thank you" for the comments on yesterday's post.  Although it doesn't change the situation, I do take a little comfort in knowing I'm not the only one who has been in this position (not that I would wish bad on anyone) but even more than that, I am thankful for the encouragement.  That encouragement and support is why I enjoy blogging so much - I have met so many great people I wouldn't otherwise have had a chance to meet.  One of the commenters on that post is my featured blogger today.  She also commented last week that she was going to hate seeing SIFF end and I wanted to blurt out that she was the final commenter but I didn't!!  Now that Friday is here, let me announce that my final (for now) loyal commenter is .....

Christy @ The Secret Life of an American Wife and Mom

Christy actually found my blog and though I'm not sure how, I'm very glad she did.  She left a comment and like I normally do, I went over to check out her blog.  What an inspiration her blog was at that moment and has been ever since.  I knew that I was definitely interested in getting to know her more, as well as her beautiful family but I knew I wanted to read more.  I became a follower and have enjoyed every post she has written.

Christy has been married for 18 years and is the mom to five beautiful children ranging in age from 15 to 1 years old.  You can tell just from visiting Christy that God and her family are the most important things in her life.  One post may be full of pictures from an adventure her family went on while another post may be full of analogies explaining biblical teachings or thoughts.  My favorite post of hers was just recently where she talked of how we have to truly experience God's love and goodness before we can know him.  She did such a beautiful job of explaining it in simple language that anyone - Christian or not - could understand.  Go here to read that post.  Every post is uplifting, encouraging, enlightening and I have truly enjoyed getting to know her.  Her family recently went to Disneyworld and took us all right along with them.  Talk about fun....they had fun and I think packed about everything possible into their days.  A lot of you already know Christy and know exactly what I am talking about but if you haven't had the pleasure of "meeting" her, please drop by to say hey!

Christy, thank you so much for being a loyal commenter.  More than just commenting, thank you for your kind words of encouragement and being a bright light for Jesus that is unmistakeable and undeniable.  Here is your loyal commenter award and as I always say, you can use it however you would like or even not at all.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday, as usual, participating in Music Monday.  If you haven't played along before, come join in.  The button is located in my lefthand sidebar and I'll have MckLinky at the bottom so you can link up!

On the Soapbox

Today, you are getting the very real me.  The me who hurts, cries, gets frustrated, scared, mad, who is human, hopes for the best but often expects the worst, doesn't understand a lot of things in life, is confused, an overall good person, is trustworthy, honest and tries to do what is right.

As you may recall, several weeks ago I went in for turbinate reduction and septoplasty surgery.  Matter of fact, it was the morning of September 11th.  This was my first ever surgery so naturally I was a little nervous but my doctor said it would help me a lot with opening my nasal airway so I was ready to have it done.  After meeting with my doctor and deciding I was willing to proceed, I was escorted to the office of the surgery scheduler.  After she told me I would be out of commission for a week (meaning no cooking, no lifting, no anything besides sitting around), I told her I would have to arrange some help and call her back with dates.  We briefly discussed insurance but she explained their office would call to check my benefits and call me prior to the surgery.


Sure enough a few days prior to surgery, Dena called me.  Dena had called the insurance company and my estimated cost for just the doctor's services was $200, which was due before surgery.  She also explained that each individual service would be billed separately (i.e. OR services, Anesthesiology, Pathology, etc.) and she had no idea how much all that would total.  I had my pre-op appointment 3 days before surgery and at that appointment, I forked over the $200.  Surgery came and went.


About a month ago, I received my hospital bill and almost fell out of my chair when Dwight read the hospital charges to me - $11,000+.  It made me sick but not nearly as sick as the next bill I received about a week later.  The $11,000 was ONLY the hospital services combined.  The doctor's bill was more than $14,000!!  At the bottom of the doctor's bill was an amount that had me thoroughly confused.  $582.22?  Dwight and I studied the bill over dinner and I concluded they were saying I owed that much more.


The next morning I went downstairs and called the doctor's office with a billing question.  As I spoke with the representative, I explained that I was told my estimated cost would be $200 so I wasn't sure why I received a bill stating I owed $582.22 more.  She kindly explained that the $200 was my estimated costs but my remaining balance for the doctor's services ended up being the $582.22 more that wasn't covered by insurance.  She told me the form I signed stated it was an estimate.  You know, I completely understand the definition of estimate and I don't even need to look it up to know what it means BUT for crying out loud, when I think estimate, I'm assuming you'll at least get close.  That bill nearly knocked the wind out of my lungs.  If I'd had to pay another extra $100, fine.  I asked her why they couldn't get closer on an estimate than nearly $600.  Here is the dumbest response I've ever heard (brace yourself):


"We do the best we can in estimating.  Actually, we try to underestimate instead of overestimating.  Most people get upset if we overestimate."


I'm thinking "what? did you just say such a stupid thing?"  I replied that I would much rather overpay and get a refund than to think I'd already paid my bill only to walk to the mailbox and get knocked over with a nearly $600 bill I hadn't planned for nor could I pay.  I informed her she might as well set me up on a payment plan because I couldn't pay it.  For the next 15 minutes, I just sat at the kitchen table and cried.  Living on a single income is tough and yes, it is our choice.  It is our choice and we have chosen to make sacrifices so I can stay at home.  However, had I EVER known I would have to pay almost $800 just for the doctor, I would NEVER had the surgery.  I honestly feel violated.  So FYI (like you didn't already know): these doctors' offices, insurance companies, etc. do NOT give a doggone about you or me.  They want the money and when you sign a paper saying estimate there is no guarantee that estimate will be even close to what they told you.  (BTW, they also charged over $1,000 for an office visit where they removed the splints in a matter of 10 minutes.  So really the doctor's bill I'm still owing is more like $650, not $582.22).


I'm infuriated and I haven't been back to see the doctor for my second post-op visit.  I haven't decided if I even will because that is even more money leaving my pocket.  No wonder these doctors are pushing this surgery left and right.  $14,000+ just for the doctor's services?!?!


I know right now the whole health care debate is very controversial and I did not write this to start a debate (though if you'd like to, I have a BlogFrog Community just waiting on a new discussion); however, something needs to be done.  I am against Obama's reform but there is NO reason on God's green Earth why a 1-1 1/2 hours OUTPATIENT surgery should cost nearly $26,000.  This surgery cost double what Andrew's delivery and a 2-day hospital stay cost.


I know it won't do any good but I have thought about writing a letter to my doctor just voicing my opinion about the whole situation.  It might make me feel better!


I don't have the answers but what I can say is that I regret ever having the surgery done!  I am still not back to normal and so far, can't see any positive results from it.  Maybe when I get another sinus infection, I'll be able to breathe better but the total amount of money that I am having to pay is severely cutting into the time I will get to remain being a stay-at-home mom and that tears me up!


I am completely blessed though so I keep trying to focus on that and lean on Him!  I will stay home with Andrew as long as it's in His plan!

*steps down from soapbox*