I'm Neil Patrick Harris
Random Thought: Sometimes I feel like TV's Doogie Howser, MD sitting in front of my online journal. Remember that show?
Yesterday was a decent day. I accomplished some house cleaning in the morning and had the opportunity to talk to Amy on the phone for the first time. Although my friends and family are a critical part of my support group, it is such a luxury to talk to my new friends who understand what we are going through (Thanks, Amy!).
After work, I hung out with Erik at my parents' house for a while and then headed home to heat up some leftover sloppy Joes for the boys. Erik drank from a sippy cup for the very first time. He was eyeing the beverage I was enjoying, so I got him his own cup full of water. I sat him on my lap, and he began to chew on it but successfully drew some water out of it eventually with his lips. I have been trying to teach him how to do that for months. I had to show him how to stop before he drowned! While I am grateful he has been able to drink out of a regular cup for some time now, which is a more useful skill than using a sippy, it will be nice not to have a sloshing cup of milk when I am playing "stewardess" on road trips. What this entails is unbuckling my seatbelt and cramming myself between the two front bucket seats (giving oncoming traffic a most unflattering view of myself) to get to where he is to serve him meals as we drive down the road. The first time I did this was on the way to the hospital in Portland for our appointment with the geneticist, and I was actually surprised we didn't make a gigantic mess. I felt like Lucille Ball trying to make pies while Desi was driving in the movie the Long, Long Trailer. A sippy would make life so much easier. I am also guessing that a sippy is good for toning his facial muscles as well. I am still working on his skills with a straw.
Speaking of hospitals, at dinner Brian and I discussed our concerns about our insurance coverage for Erik. The only pediatric cardiologist in town is at the clinic I used to work for. She is someone I respect and trust with Erik's life. However, according to the local news and the letter we just received, they no longer will take our insurance because of contract problems between the clinic and the insurance company. This means that the insanely expensive echocardiograms we need on a regular basis will no longer be paid for, so we will most likely need to go to the valley to get them done. More road trips for us.
When it was bedtime, we put Erik down and headed out onto the back porch. I put on my fuzzy slippers, sweats, and two blankets to keep warm while we enjoyed hot beverages and watched the lightning storm. A black curtain formed in the south, and we watched it slowly pass by with sheets of electricity illuminating the entire thick cloud layer and sagebrush below and then brilliant, jagged veins of lightning sometimes snaking sideways or violently spiking the ground. At times it was so bright, it looked like daylight. A few of the more violent, nearby strikes made me gasp out loud. The top of the cinder cone in the center of town was cram-packed with cars full of people watching the show as well. It was almost as good as the Fourth of July. When it began to rain sideways and the lightning began to subside, I felt a little like I was on the prow of a fishing boat, and no matter how exhilarating Brian tried to convince me it felt, I decided it was time to crawl into my warm, dry bed.
Yesterday was a decent day. I accomplished some house cleaning in the morning and had the opportunity to talk to Amy on the phone for the first time. Although my friends and family are a critical part of my support group, it is such a luxury to talk to my new friends who understand what we are going through (Thanks, Amy!).
After work, I hung out with Erik at my parents' house for a while and then headed home to heat up some leftover sloppy Joes for the boys. Erik drank from a sippy cup for the very first time. He was eyeing the beverage I was enjoying, so I got him his own cup full of water. I sat him on my lap, and he began to chew on it but successfully drew some water out of it eventually with his lips. I have been trying to teach him how to do that for months. I had to show him how to stop before he drowned! While I am grateful he has been able to drink out of a regular cup for some time now, which is a more useful skill than using a sippy, it will be nice not to have a sloshing cup of milk when I am playing "stewardess" on road trips. What this entails is unbuckling my seatbelt and cramming myself between the two front bucket seats (giving oncoming traffic a most unflattering view of myself) to get to where he is to serve him meals as we drive down the road. The first time I did this was on the way to the hospital in Portland for our appointment with the geneticist, and I was actually surprised we didn't make a gigantic mess. I felt like Lucille Ball trying to make pies while Desi was driving in the movie the Long, Long Trailer. A sippy would make life so much easier. I am also guessing that a sippy is good for toning his facial muscles as well. I am still working on his skills with a straw.
Speaking of hospitals, at dinner Brian and I discussed our concerns about our insurance coverage for Erik. The only pediatric cardiologist in town is at the clinic I used to work for. She is someone I respect and trust with Erik's life. However, according to the local news and the letter we just received, they no longer will take our insurance because of contract problems between the clinic and the insurance company. This means that the insanely expensive echocardiograms we need on a regular basis will no longer be paid for, so we will most likely need to go to the valley to get them done. More road trips for us.
When it was bedtime, we put Erik down and headed out onto the back porch. I put on my fuzzy slippers, sweats, and two blankets to keep warm while we enjoyed hot beverages and watched the lightning storm. A black curtain formed in the south, and we watched it slowly pass by with sheets of electricity illuminating the entire thick cloud layer and sagebrush below and then brilliant, jagged veins of lightning sometimes snaking sideways or violently spiking the ground. At times it was so bright, it looked like daylight. A few of the more violent, nearby strikes made me gasp out loud. The top of the cinder cone in the center of town was cram-packed with cars full of people watching the show as well. It was almost as good as the Fourth of July. When it began to rain sideways and the lightning began to subside, I felt a little like I was on the prow of a fishing boat, and no matter how exhilarating Brian tried to convince me it felt, I decided it was time to crawl into my warm, dry bed.
posted by Nancy at 6:20 AM
2 Comments:
I love storm watching it seems to be very calming...Can you get Medicade or anytning for Erik?
What's the need for insurance companies to mess things up?? What a pain. There's an additional insurance program in Mass. that I am looking into that will supplement our insurance... maybe you have it as well. You might have to do a little digging because they are not very forthcoming about it.
Sippy cups rule... how did our parents do without them???
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