Wow! Today has been unreal! My allergies have been acting up ever since we moved here. I think it is mainly this old house but the added “blessing” of pollen is probably not helping too much either. Anyway, yesterday they started getting really bad and I felt horrible. I was constantly sniffing/sneezing throughout the day. Awful! Today was supposed to be my gym day but since I woke up and could hardly breathe due to my allergies flaring up my asthma I decided to play it safe and say NO to the treadmill today. Thankfully, Travis was able to get me an appointment at the Loving Care Nurse Led Clinic on LC’s campus. I love the name of that place and those nurses definitely live up to it! They were great! I am even more thankful that Trey is still here so he could keep Sam and Travis didn’t have to cancel meetings to come home or I take Sam with me.

The nurse talked to me about my celiac, allergies, and asthma for awhile before examining my sinuses. She started with my ears and said “yup- no infection but they are dull and not reflecting any light… sure sign of fluid build-up and lots of congestions.” Then she checked my throat and saw that I had post-nasal drip (misery) and then she felt my lymph nodes even after commenting that she could actually see one of them it was so swollen. She concluded, with a laugh, that I have a sinus infection. I had already told her that but, of course, she has to verify it. She listened to my lungs and asked me to take deep breaths. Right now, I am breathing shallow because deep breaths make me cough. So I kept coughing the dry, hacky asthmatic cough. She said she was glad that I did that because my lungs sound fine until I cough and then she could hear the wheeze. Therefore, I don’t have fluid/congestion in my lungs but I am having an asthmatic response. She asked if I was willing to treat this aggressively so as to get rid of it quickly and get my lungs working again and I agreed. This led to a subsequent cortisone shot (joy joy joy) and 4 prescriptions! Technically, one was for an inhaler because I am about out of “juice” in my current one. One was for Singulair, an asthma/allergy med I used to take but stopped when I got pregnant and then never needed while we lived in NC. I also got an antibiotic (z pack) and a nasal decongestant spray (Nasonex.) I have taken all of these before and so I am expecting to clear up soon. What I wasn’t expecting was the cost of filling these prescriptions. WOW!

From March 2012


LC has one of those high deductible insurance policies and so we now have an HSA account. Our prescriptions count towards our deductible but we don’t have co-pays for them. Instead of paying $15, $25, $45 (what we would’ve paid in NC) we pay an agreed upon reduced “rate”- I can’t even begin to imagine how much this would’ve cost if we didn’t have insurance. I am very thankful that I didn’t get really sick (I’ve been doing almost every home remedy I could think of to keep this at bay) until our HSA had built up enough money to cover it all. Whew! Super BIG blessing! Three of those (nasonex, inhaler, antibiotic) are going to be one time prescriptions (although she did give me refills for the inhaler and spray) but the Singulair needs to be monthly. Living basically a block from the creosote plant is not nice for my lungs. Once things settle down though, I should be able to drop my Zyrtec and just take Singulair for my asthma and my allergies. That will be nice. Here is the down-side the price of the Singulair is the last price listed on the receipt… Yeah, NOT cheap! I commented to Travis that I was expecting it to be expensive since it was always a $45 prescription but I wasn’t expecting $160! WOW!!

Ok, enough about me and my ailments… on to somse nap time disobedience…

Sam KNOWS KNOWS KNOWS not to get out of the bed during nap time (it is apparently turning more into rest time since he hasn’t napped in 3 days) but he has been doing it a lot lately. Yesterday, he discovered an old box of bandaids in the dresser in his room and stuck a couple of Big Kitty. I fussed at him and told him that the stuff in the drawers is not ours and we needed to leave it alone. Today, after hearing him through the monitor, I go in his room to find this…

From March 2012


I was not happy at all with Sam. However, I kept my cool and took a picture because, I have to admit, it is a pretty funny sight. He had thrown band-aids all over his bed, unwrapped an entire roll of first aid tape, put band-aids on Big Kitty’s boo-boos, put bandaids on his own booboos (he doesn’t have any real ones), and put bandaids on the headboard! WOW! It was crazy. I spanked and told me not to get out of bed again until I came in to get him. I got a “Yes Mommy OK.” Well, it was obvious he didn’t mean it. About 30 minutes later, I was lying in the bed attempting to take a nap and let my medicines kick in when I hear someone go in our bathroom. I think nothing of it at first because Trey had been doing his laundry and the dryer had stopped. Then I hear the toilet flush, then I hear the sink running, then I hear the sink STILL running. I go to our bathroom and stand there for the longest time before Sam even noticed I was there. He was brushing his teeth (and had put a bit of soap on his toothbrush- apparently it didn’t bother him so I guess the threat to wash his mouth out with soap when he is older will be futile.)

From March 2012


Ugh! He got another fussing and a spanking. I feel like that is all I’ve done today. Grr… then he comes into the back den (we call it the computer room) and continues to disobey so he gets put in time out. Finally, it was time for me to start supper. I was secretly excited about supper tonight and felt very justified in my “trick” that I was planning since Sam had been disobedient all day.

Sam does NOT like quinoa. If you ask him about it he says “me no like Keen-ah” and he is adamant about this and will not try it. Well, tonight we called it “baby macaroni” and I used it in place of macaroni in a macaroni and cheese bake.

From March 2012


It was a success! He ate all of what we put on his plate and seconds, maybe thirds, over our steamed veggies. WOO HOO!!! He said it was yummy and I was SOOOO glad to get quinoa in him because I know how good of a food it is for him. Whew! I will definitely make it again.

I finally went through the mail we received a couple of days ago and discovered this book…

From March 2012


It was addressed to Sam and is from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. I learned of this program while we lived in TN. At the time, it was only available to kids born in TN but it has apparently grown and is now available outside of TN as well. Kids get one developmentally appropriate book every month until their 5th birthday. I signed Sam up before we moved and apparently his subscription transferred with us!! I am SOOOO excited! I just read the book and it is CUTE. “Bumble Bee Boy” (the boy on the cover in the black and yellow shirt- duh) is actually named SAM! It is pure coincidence but I love that Sam now has a book with his name in it. 🙂 I can’t wait to read it with him tomorrow. Thanks, Dolly!

🙂
Steph