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"

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings.

Jered ran in the Hood to Coast relay race this weekend. He is pretty tired today and told me yesterday this will be the last time he does this. This was his third time so we'll see when it comes up again next year.

Since Jered was busy all weekend Ashlyn and I were home alone on Friday night. I hate being at home by myself. I'm a little bit of a scaredy cat. I put a stick in the sliding doors so that no one can open them and I make sure to lock our bedroom door. The smart people we bought the house from put a dead bolt lock on the door (they had kids) and I use it every time Jered's not home. So Ashlyn had to sleep in our room and she didn't sleep too well, but that's ok cause at least the boogey man didn't get us! :)

Yesterday I went to my friend Kelly's wedding. She's a friend from work and there were a bunch of us that went. It was a really good time and a really pretty place for a wedding. It was threatening rain all day but held off for the ceremony and only sprinkled on us a few minutes during the reception. Its always so funny to see everyone in regular clothes, we all look so different. I'm just used to seeing everyone in their scrubs. :) My friend Crystal's daughter Kayla came to the house to watch Ashlyn for me. It was really nice not having to bring her. Since Jered was off running to the coast I would have been all by myself. She's not that difficult, its just all the stuff that you have to bring with ya. Plus I wanted to be able to drink some champagne, which I did and enjoyed immensely!

Next up for us is another wedding! We leave this weekend to go to my very good friend Angela's wedding in LA. She's my friend from Cedars and I love her to death. She was our student at Cedars and we became really great friends. We used to go to a lot of happy hours :) and pretty much hung out every weekend going to the beach or shopping or whatever. She's getting married at the glass church in Palos Verdes. I'm really looking forward to seeing this church. I'd heard about it when I lived down there, but never went. I've heard its pretty amazing. We're staying with my other friend Noelle (we went to her wedding in May in Vegas) in Santa Clarita. I wish we were going for longer than just a few days because we won't have enough time to do much except go to the wedding. My other friend Daniele has offered to take pictures of Ashlyn (she's a photographer) but I don't think we'll have time. Bummer!

Today we are just staying home and going to veg in front of the TV. There are tons of things that we should do, but oh well! I'm sure we'll get it all done someday. :)

All my work peeps.

Yay! Kelly & Zac!

Maile eating her cake with two forks. This is my coordinator's daughter. Isn't she the cutest??

Kyle holding Anehla (Maile's sister). She wasn't too happy about it!

All of my work peeps. from left to right is Ally, Denise, Crystal, Kelly, me, Jenna, Val, Darryn and Tracie

Ashlyn playing this morning. Isn't she a big girl sitting up all by herself???

Picnics and more picnics....

Well we have been busy! We went down to Monroe three weekends in a row. Three weeks ago to pick up our dogs from my dad. Two weekends ago to see my cousin Betsy. She lives in Florida and has for a while. She was visiting and my Aunt Jean had a bbq for her. It was so great to see her. She is still the same Betsy! I wish she would move back here, hopefully someday. She just graduated nursing school and is studying up for her boards so that she can be registered. I know its a difficult test because I have a few friends that have taken it. Good Luck Bets!

Last weekend we went down for another bbq. This time for my cousin Cindy and all her girls. They are here visiting from Wisconsin. We all wish they would move back too, but I know its hard to move and start your life over again. Jered and I did it a few years ago but we didn't kids then. Now that we have Ashlyn and the economy the way it is, I'd hate to have to start over again. Cindy's oldest, my cousin Anderea has a little girl, Arianna. Ari is just about 3 weeks older than Ashlyn and she is so cute!

Jered and I have just been working and working. Such is the life I guess. Ashlyn turned 7 months on Aug 22. She is sitting up now and is getting very bossy. She knows exactly whats she wants. She loves to yell and talk and to listen to her own voice. She's rolling over and will scoot around on her belly if she wants something that is close to her. She gets up on all fours but doesn't quite know what to do with her arms so she just throws them both out in front of her and rocks on her belly. She'll get it one of these days. We had to go in today for another shot. She only cried a little bit but she has been so cranky all afternoon. She finally went down for a nap, so I have a little peace and quite. She'll usually lay on the floor and play and talk to herself for a while so that I can get a few things done around the house. But not today, today she wanted all of my attention all of the time!

I was tired and ready to go home but no one would listen to me. This usually works!

Here I am with my new cousins. Alice, me, Ari, Kiley and Brandon

We went to Applebee's on Mama and Daddy's anniversary. 4 years!

Cousin Staci holding me and cousin Alice

Cousin Morgan ate a lot of chocolate cupcakes this day.

Me and Mama in my first swim class. It was a lot of fun. Next time I'm going to splash around more.

Smiling at Daddy!

Sh** Happens....

This morning started off just like any other morning. We woke up, showered, dressed, packed my lunch. Jered got up to help with Ashlyn after she finished her morning bottle. He changed her diaper and got her dressed for "school". I put her in her carseat and we took off for work. I always park first, get her out of her carseat and we take the elevator down to the daycare. Ashlyn loves riding in the elevator. The beeps and the lights get her all excited. This morning when I took her out of her seat I had a little surprise.....she had SHIT everywhere! Ugh!!! it was coming out of her diaper, dripping down her leg. It was on me before I realized what was going on. Gross! She's teething right now and has had a few mishaps already this week. I've had to wash her carseat liner 4 times now! Its in the washer right now. I had her clutched to my chest with one arm, her legs dangling so that I could carry my purse, lunch bag and the huge pack of diapers that I had to bring in today. I literally threw her at Robyn, her Wee Care teacher, and thank goodness for Robyn because she cleaned her all up for me so that I could run to work. My first stop was the locker room to change my scrub top which had shit all over it. I barely clock in on time, changed my top and ran over to the plaza building in time to check on my student. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, I couldn't have handled much more :)


We took Ashlyn for her first swim class last Sat. She had fun, she loves watching what the other kids are doing. She didn't totally relax, she was too busy watching. She did splash around a little bit and she loved it when I threw her up in the air and let her splash back down into the water. We'll be going again, not this Sat but next for sure. We paid for 8 classes so far. I hope she'll be a little fish before too long.


We had dinner last night with Jered's grandparents. It was great to see them, it had been a while. Jered's sister was also there. She's helping get the property ready for her wedding in Oct. This weekend we are heading to Monroe again for another bbq for another cousin. This time for my cousin Cindy and her girls from Wisconsin. Last weekend it was for my cousin Betsy from Florida. Jered always says I know more of first, second and third cousins than he does his first. :)

I'll have pictures soon, I haven't had a chance to download them from the weekend yet. Till then....