Picture a friend took of Ashlyn.....

$82.57

"That'll be $82.57" is what the lady at the pharmacy told me when I went to pick up Ashlyn's reflux medicine on Wed. "Uhhhhh........whaaaaaaat?" I said back to her. The last time I filled the prescription in April it was $29 for a month's supply. My doctor had given me some extras so I had enough to last till this week. Needless to say I was a bit surprised at the increase in price. I just looked at her with my mouth hanging open I'm sure. "But I have insurance.....", "that is with your insurance. Insurance covers 50%" she tells me. Oh well awesome, I'm thinking, I can totally afford 80 bucks every month. SERIOUSLY! "Do you want to think about it?" "Uh yeah!" By this time though its already after 5pm so the pediatrician office is closed. I have to wait till Thursday to call for an alternative cause we can not afford $80 a month for a prescription, that's just craziness! The nice lady at the pharmacy did tell me that there isn't a generic alternative and its the most prescribed med for babies with reflux. Oh and that the company increased their cost by $150. Nice!

So Thursday I leave a message for the pediatrician telling her everything. Her MA calls me back a couple hours later (one of the reason I love that peds office!) to tell me that Dr Oller will call a different prescription in but that it has to be from a compounding pharmacy. There is one by the Lloyd Center that they usually use. Great! What the heck is a compounding pharmacy?? Thank goodness for Google! What did we do before the internet and Google? Compounding is basically when the pharmacist hand mixes the prescriptions, pretty much like they used to do in the old days. These days we just get all our meds from the pharmaceutical companies. I called the compounding pharmacy yesterday afternoon and she checked my insurance and it was only going to be $37. Well better than $82 that's for sure!

I picked it up today after work and the first thing the pharmacist tells me is that it has to be kept cold. Can't even leave it out on the counter for 5 minutes. It loses its potency if it warms up. He recommends I buy an ice pack for the drive home to keep it cold. They sell them for just $2. Well great, I love being nickel and dimed! Thank you!!

Weddings, friends and new babies!

We had such a great, but short trip to LA for Labor Day. We stayed with our friend's Noelle and Mark. They carted us back and forth to the airport, thank you so much! We ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Versailles, best Cuban food EVER!!!. We went to our other friends wedding, which was absolutely beautiful! In the glass church in Palos Verdes, Wayferers Chapel. I am so happy for my friend Angela. She found and married a great guy and he's totally lucky to have her. We had to come home way too early though. We weren't able to see anyone except those we saw at the wedding but it was great to see them. I hadn't seen my friend Daniele in forever and she's still the same. We were all sitting at the same table and it felt like the old days! Daniele made a comment that we could have been in the cafeteria at Cedars 5 years ago and she was so right. It was like those 5 years just fell away and we were all together again.

I am so happy tomorrow is Friday! I've only had to work 3 days this week and it feels like forever. We're taking Ashlyn to her third swim class Sat morning then heading down to Woodburn to help get the place all spiffy for Kari and John's wedding. Sunday I'm going down to Mom's and Jered will stay and do more spiffy work. It's been too long since my nieces have seen their cousin. Plus my brother has a big day on Monday and I wanted to be there for moral support. My cousin Katie is going to babysit for Ashlyn on Monday so I can be with Keith.

Next week we're taking Ashlyn for a flu shot. Jered is so worried I'm going to bring the home the plague or the swine flu. Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands! #1 way to prevent flu this season is hand washing. I Purell all day at work, I carry it in my purse, I use it at home. I hope I don't get the flu, I don't have any PTO. We were told if we have any flu-like symptoms to assume its the swine flu and stay home until symptom-free for 7 days. Are they crazy??? Yeah I think so. I can't afford that! If you have any flu symptoms, please don't go to the doctor or the ER. Assume its the swine flu and call your doctor instead. Most likely they will tell you to drink lots of fluids and get lots of rest. Also, get your flu shots!!! and when the swine flu vaccine is available, get that one too! The ER is just going to be a breeding ground for all sorts of viruses this winter, avoid it if at all possible.

We seriously saw Santa Claus driving on the 405 freeway in LA on Sunday! It took me three tries to get this good of a picture. I figure you don't go out looking like this if you don't want people like me taking your picture!

This is my BFF Olivia, she was trying to sit on my lap :)

Livi gave me lots of hugs this weekend.

I think this was supposed to be a hug but really she had me in a headlock! I'm a little worried, can ya tell??

This is Mama's friend Angela. Doesn't she look pretty? And me too? I got to wear a really fancy dress.

This is my Bulgarian mother. I call her Mama. She told me I had better hurry up and have another baby because I am old and if I don't get it on my ovaries may dry up. Thanks Mama, I can always count on you for the honest truth! Love, Love her!

These are some of my previous co-workers from my time at Cedars, except the girl in the black dress. She works there now and is funnily enough a cousin of one my co-workers now :) So from L-R is Hailey (I think), Mama Lana, Angela (the beautiful bride), me, Jaime and Daniele.

Our good friends new baby. This is Hailey June, born on 9-8-09. Proud mommy and daddy are Will and Rosie Irwin.

This is Addyson Dawn, born 9-9-09 (pretty cool birthday huh?). This is my co-worker Denise and her fiance Chad's new baby daughter.

New things!

Today was my day off, I love having Wednesdays off. It splits my week and makes it seem like I'm hardly at work. We were up and at 'em this morning. Ashlyn was not about to sleep in. Which was a good thing because about 730am I remembered I was supposed to drop the dogs off at the vets for their shots. Since we were already out and about we headed over to Target after a quick stop at Dutch Bros. Morning coffee is my vice, I need it! I had my cart full at Target before I even headed down the aisle I went there for in the first place. I got Ashlyn a couple of new toys. A drum set that plays music when she bangs on it and a teapot that sings when she pushes the shapes through the hole. There are tons of toys at Wee Care. They rotate them out weekly so the kids don't sick of them. I was afraid Ashlyn might be getting bored with the toys we have so decided an update was in order. I know I posted on Fb about how much I hate shopping, but I love Target. My most favorite store!

Last night we broke out the highchair and she loves it. We probably could have brought it out a month or more ago but we had been using a little positioner chair. I think she likes being higher up in the highchair, she was definently all smiles. I can't give her cheerios like most kids so its been hard finding her things to feed herself with that don't have wheat. I have managed to find a few things but she's not too hip on them quite yet. Hopefully she'll like them more the more she tries them. Anyway a couple of pics from last night and this morning.....

Eating my cheese puffs. They're ok I guess. Mama keeps trying to get me to like yogurt melts too but I think they're kinda gross! I love my highchair though! My Aunt Jenny and Aunt Karen got it for me, isn't it cute??

This drum plays music when I bang on it. Its so cool! I also got some car keys that sing different songs too. My favorite is "Old McDonald"