Cade's Baptism

Today at 1 p.m. Cade was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Egypt Mills. As I mentioned before Cade was 6th generation baptized there. 

It was really nice. The paster there was very accommodating and helpful. We were sort of worried as to what we needed to do and what Becky needed to do. But everything turned out great. We had our own private ceremony there. The church is quite small and we filled probably over half of it with family. 

The ceremony only took about 20 minutes. It basically took longer to get there than the ceremony itself. 

Afterwards, everyone came back to my grandma's house and ate and socialized. It was really nice to see some of my family who lives in Cape, as we don't get to see them every often. 

Christmas 2008

Sorry it has taken so long to write and post new things. I have been very sick with morning (all day sickness) and busy with things to do here. 

Christmas was good. We were at John's parents house, where it was more Cade's own personal Christmas instead of everyones. He got so much stuff. We have to mail things back, like 3 boxes full on top of getting a car bubble. 

The next day we went to my dad's house. It was nice. Dad went and picked up Grandma Cec and she was able to enjoy Christmas with us. We have a great time there as well. 

Pretty much things went as normal. It was good to spend it with family. 

Here is also a video of Cade dancing to music

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2830749691902619060&hl=en

Cade's first hair cut

On Thursday we went and had Cade's hair cut for the first time. As John said he had an AL mulet and he also had hair growing over his ears and I had to keep tucking it behind his ears. It was so cute though. He didn't cry at all. He kept scrunching his neck down because she was tickling it with the scissors. He sat in John's lap the entire time.

Cade's first birthday party

Yesterday was Cade's first birthday party. It was so much fun. We had a nice amount of people there. Including:

Aunt Mac

Norma and Babe

Aunt Krista

Grandma Kollbaum

John's parents

John's brothers and Katie

Becky, Dave and Jackson

Dad and Janet

Andrea

David, Marci, Dylan and Madison

And of course John and me. 

Cade got a lot of great gifts. He is playing with the massive tonka dump truck we got him right now. He just pushes it around the house running over everything. Good thing it is metal. But we have no idea how we are going to get it all home! The trunk is full to the top, just from yesterday. I think on top of getting the thing for the top of the jeep we are also going to have to mail things home. I hate to do that because I am afraid of things getting lost, but I think it is our only option. 

I loved that Jackson was there. It was so great to see them all. Jackson and Cade were um, fighting over the tonka truck. It was so cute though. Cade doesn't play with kids in his play group like he did with Jackson. Makes me sad that they aren't closer. 

Cape 2

Our visit in Cape

Sorry it is so late, but understand we are on vacation too. Here are some pictures from our visit in Cape before we drove up to St. Louis. Ill have to post another one to fit more pictures.

These are a few of our favorite things...

So when we told people we were going home to St. Louis for Christmas Exodus they asked us what we would be doing. We were so excited to tell them about all the restaurants we want to go to. They thought we were crazy, but we miss so much here. And we get to go to the mall, like an actual mall with real popular stores. Target is right down the street and we don't have to shop at the commy. So much fun!

We ordered Cade's birthday cake today from McAurther's. The same place we got our wedding cake from. So we will pick that up Saturday before the party. I also have all his party supplies but a few things. So I will still have to go tomorrow and get those. But once again the party supply store is right down the street.

Tonight was a surprise indeed for me. John had planned a night for us, a special night. He planned it a long time ago. He surprised me by taking me to the Melting Pot and re-proposing to me. It was great. I had never been so excited to be there and we have been about 10 times now . At least once a year. He said that it was because on our anniversary next year I will be about 8 months pregnant and the closest Melting Pot is over 1 hour away, so we wouldn't be able to go. It was so sweet of him. It was so good. I ate so much but it was soo good. I just couldn't believe that John had planned ahead like that. It is just not like him.

this day cant get any worse...

but it just did. I swear. When it rains it pours. So this morning we got up to pouring rain. I took the dog to the vet and John took Cade and the Mazda to get an oil change before he left for Birmingham today. So we all get back and then John and I decide to battle the Missouri department of revenue again regarding our car tags. We have now applied for them 4 times and they were due back in October. John called last week and they said to give them more time and if the check did not clear to call them back this week. No cleared check. So I call them this morning to clarify the total cost. She starts to get snippy with me and tells me there is a note from Monday to give them more time. She proceeds to tell me it is only Wednesday and I need to wait longer. I reminder her it was LAST Monday we called. 

ME 1; DMV 0. 

So she tells me she will have to look into it. So I explain to her that we have submitted our paperwork 4 times. The second time it was their fault they sent it back, and explained it to her. 

ME 2; DMV 0.

She tells me she will have to pass it along to her supervisor because it has passed the minimum amount of declined paperwork. Can I shoot her now? So she tells me she will call me back.

So John leaves for Bham. 

She calls back. Asks me what address we are sending it to because it is her theory that we are sending it to the wrong address. So I tell her and that the line reads ATTN: Ref#. She says why did you do that "because you told us to". We have sent it to the same address the other 3 times it has been declined.

ME 3; DMV 0.

So I get off the phone with her. She calls back and tells us her supervisor found the paper work and it was processed Tuesday. So the plates were mailed then or today. I tell her how we need proof of renew because we have to drive our vehicles. So she lectures me about how we shouldn't be driving around on expired plates. I was like "what the hell." Don't freaking lecture me because you are an idiot and sent back our paperwork, which was correct. We would have had our plates by now, and now you owe US $10 because of your mistake we had to pay for. So she tells me she has to talk to her supervisor to see if they can authorize us something for proof. 

ME 4, DMV 0.

Finally John calls me and informs me of some "great" news. The doctor's don't have an appointment for John. They tell him there was no record of any appointment. They only tell us this after he signed in and waited 30 minutes. So he tells them how he drove 3 hours to get here and that he knows he talked to someone. But since he doesn't have a name, he cant prove it. So they tell him they will try to work him in. He called and I talked to him on the phone until... his phone went dead. 

Then the DMV calls me back and tells us that her supervisor authorized a copy of our registration receipt can be faxed to us. 

ME 5; DMV 0

So they day is almost over. But not quite. I start to get Cade ready for bed when... the day gets worse. The smoke detector and carbon minoxi detector goes off. We changed the battery three weeks ago so I know its not that. So I grab Cade and call mainatance and head over to Stephs. The maintance guy says that he will be there in 45 min. God I hope it is CM because our animals would be dead. So he comes over and meanwhile I call the fire department. Because what is this guy going to do. Hear the noise and call. So I saved him a call. The maintenance guy gets there and tells me the actual smoke detector is expired. You are suppose to replace them every 4 years. Ours was three years past its expiration date.  So we got a new one. I knew what the issue was. I was smelling smoke sometimes when opening the dryer. So when John got home at 9:15 I told him. He pulled out the dryer and low and behold, the hose came off the back of it. 

AHHHH!

Doctors today

Today we went to Cade's 1 year well baby. Which wasn't well. I called yesterday to try to get a different appt. than the one he had Jan. 12 because we have to go back up to Birmingham. So they said the soonest after that they could get him in was March! So I said that wasn't going to work. So while I was on the phone they said someone cancelled for today. So I was like great we will take it. It was at 1030. And we know that they are ALWAYS behind. So we knew we would have to wait for a while. So we get there and I immediately ask how far behind. So they said they would check. After an hour I finally asked again and told them that we have another appt. in Dothan that we have to get to. So they rushed us in. Only to tell us that Cade cant get his one year shots because his birthday isn't until next week! I about blew a gasket. So they said not to worry. They will get his doctor in ASAP and get the check done, then as soon as we get home we can come in in the early AM and just get his shots. GRRR.

So then we rush to Dothan for my first OB appt. We get there and get in in average amount of time. Then while talking to the doctor he gets a page. He has two women in labor. One's baby is having issues. So he says he has to go and another doctor will be in to finish my exam. So we wait an hour (!) in the room. Finally John goes out and asks what the deal is. Finally the new doctor comes in. It took us 3.5 hours there. They kept telling us how sorry there were and that it never happens. Which I believe them because Laura goes there and I know she hasn't had that issue. 

So I go back once a month. And they do an ultrasound EVERY time. So that is exciting. The baby measured 8 weeks, but going my my LMP I am 9 weeks 3 days. So I have two due dates July 20th and July 11th. The doctor said he is going to change it to be July 11th. They change it if it is over 7 days in the first 3 months. After that they only change it if is it over 2 weeks. So right now it is July 11th. John is hoping for a fourth of July baby. Also we are delivering at SouthEast Al. Medical Center. They let you labor, give birth and recover in the same room. Much like at MO Bap, but there they moved me to a different room to recover. 

Cader Bee Vs. Bubble Wrap

Not much going on today. But we took this funny video tonight of Cade and his reaction to bubble wrap. We are thinking about bringing this instead of the gate to contain him. 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1468463256145080660&hl=en

la te da

Not much else going on. We went to Dothan today and right now John is giving Cade a bath. I am still suffering from the wonderful effects of pregnancy. Poor John. I have been really crabby the past few days, but at least he knew what was coming. 

I guess the only "exciting" thing that happened today was that John and I were talking when Cade decided to walk off with my cell phone. Next thing I heard was a small tink. And I knew... He put my cell phone in the dogs water bowl. Luckily it dried out and is working, although it is a bit slow to react.

Guess what?

So if the cat isn't out of the bag already, we are pregnant again! I know, that means two kids under two. Yes, we have a death sentence. But it is something we decided before we even got married. We wanted them to be close in age, there are other reasons as well. I haven't gone to the ob yet. They will not see me until I am around 10 weeks. I go in Dec. 9th (I should be about 9.5ish weeks) so we will see. We decided to pick an ob in Dothan. They way it works here is if you pick a ob in Enterprise, you deliver at Enterprise hospital. I already have been there a few times and less than impressed. So we are choosing to have it at Southeast Medical Center(http://www.samc.org/). We are even thinking about sending me home to St. Louis to have the baby. The medical treatment down here is just horrible. But we will decided that when the time gets closer. The way the timing seems, John should be a week or two from graduation from primary or done with primary and waiting on his fixed wing school when the baby is born. Right now my EDD is July 11th. But Cade was about two weeks early and the second one seemingly arrives earlier so the doctors at Lyster were teasing me it was going to be a July 4th baby. How ironic. 

Thanksgiving 2008

Well yes, I am a day late, but yesterday was a long day as I am sure it was for a lot of people. We went over to a friends house (blind Kelli) and had dinner over there. As you can see from the photos Cade wasn't too keen on things. He liked the cranberry sauce until John feed him just a cranberry that hadn't popped and was tart. Then he cried when John gave him a bite. The rest of the stuff he just made faces at, although he did like the sweet pickles. 

After we cleaned up dinner we played a few games on the Wii. Cade was so tired. He just layed down on John. It was so cute. 

Not much else going on. Getting ready to go to St. Louis soon. YEA! So I am always cleaning something around the house and making sure the laundry is done. John goes back to work next week. Fun times!

Kissy Kissy

We are doing ok. I think something is up with Cade but I don't know what. He has been very crabby all day since about last Wed. I don't know what it is. He is so tired in the morning he wont take his morning naps anymore and just whines. So I put him down for a nap right after lunch and he will only sleep an hour or so, but is so tired, he will pass out on the living room floor later on. We looked to see if he is teething and see nothing new. I have tried giving him a snack or thickened juice and nothing works. I am going to try Tylenol tomorrow if nothing else works. Maybe he is teething. So John and I did our best today to try and sooth him. 

John is doing better. He is still taking pain medications for his ear. And I guess they are effecting him because he actually choose to watch The Notebook tonight! I couldn't believe it. I did very well though. I only cried for the last 20 minutes solid. John was being all cuddly with me up until the point Cade decided to bite my toe. Then he completely lost it and started laughing. 

John then gave me a kiss and Cade started laughing. So he gave me another kiss and Cade started laughing again. So now every time Cade sees us kiss he laughs at us. It is really funny to watch. 

Day after surgery

Yesterday was worse than giving birth. i was a horrible day. John is ok, to start with. 

We got told Wed. to be there at 5AM. We thought that his surgery had been moved from noon to 7AM because we know we are suppose to be there 2 hours before hand. So we get up at 4 AM, check out of the hotel and go to the hospital. We get there, and wait and wait. Ok normal. Then I hear this women complaining about how her surgery is at 8 and she hasnt been registered yet. I remember reading on the window that patients are seen in order of surgery time. So I tell Dh to go ask. He goes up there, come back grabs Cade and walks to the car. He precedes to tell me his surgery was still at noon. So we got up 6 hours early. Cade was screaming and Dh was livid and we have no where to go. So we sit in the car. Cade goes back to sleep and Dh reads a book. So we sit and wait. We go back in a few hours later to change Cade and feed him breakfast. They told us they called his name, so he gets registered. And then waits. All a sudden a nurse comes out and tells us what happened and we weren't the only ones. 

The person at the doc. office that makes the appointments was out the day the calls where made. Her replacement made the mistake and called people. Told us to be there at 5AM, the other at 7AM and the last at 9AM. Come to find out none of us lived here. We drove 3 hours, the second drove 5 (from MISS.) and the last 2.5 (From Troy). So we wait again. 

Finally at 11, they call him back and get him in a gown and IV's started and all. So I get brought back to be with him before he goes to surgery at noon. So we wait. I thought about going to the cafeteria to get food, but dh was hungry too and I didnt want to eat in front of him. Luckily I had some spare baby food with me for Cade. 

So 1230 comes around and we know that surgery run late. But then I hear this lady go to the nurses station outside of dh's room and start yelling at the nurses at how her husband was suppose to have surgery and they had been waiting since 7 and drove 2.5 hours and wanted his surgery done now. 

So I go out to see what it was about because I realize she has the same doc. as Dh. They tell her that he is delayed. So I ask how long because his was suppose to be at noon. She says they are starting at 1 now and the lady goes crazy again saying how Dh should give up his time for her husband because he is a professor at Troy Uni. I was like we are a result of a malpractice case. This can ruin my husbands hearing and career. So don't even think you are pushing us out. I was so mad. I just walked back in his room and closed the door. 

Finally at 230! The doctor arrives. He was late and it caused everyones surgery to be prolonged. I felt so bad for the rest of the other two patients because the last patient wasnt going to get in until 730 PM now. 

He went in at 3, I realized the cafeteria was now closed and had no food until dinner at 8 last night. Dh got out of surgery at 5 last night and recovery at 715. We finally found another hotel room after most of them were booked for business meetings and such. And we just got home about 30 min ago. 

He is doing great. Has a big boob on his ear. So I call him boob man now. The pain killers are nice, he keeps telling me how much he loves me. so nice!

1 Day before John's surgery

We left around 1030 and didn't go sight seeing. There isn't anything to see here! We were going to stay at our usual hotel, but they were booked. So we are staying down the street at the Comfort Inn, never again! They are remodeling and didn't tell us! Half the rooms on our floor (there are only two floors) are open, like no doors on them and they are ripped apart. Ours is nasty, not horrible, no cockroaches on the floor. But wont be staying here again. I asked for a crib, but they tried to give us a playpen. Like the ones John and I had when we were young. It was half as talk as Cade so he would have fallen out, it was the square kind with vinyl trim that was ripped and missing. So disgusting.

So we get here a hour early or so and hang out. Hope Cade will lay down and take a nap and of course he doesn't. So we go and it goes so fast! It was great. So fast we didn't have to pay for parking!

So we decide to go to The Summit and have Panrea Bread for dinner. But it was just a comedy of errors to get there. To many to explain and go through.

John now has to be at the hospital at 5 AM, still don't know what time his surgery is. Of course we will call when I hear something. 

Baby Bean

Tonight we went out for dinner to Rodeo. We are trying to wean Cade from baby food before we go home. He does great a breakfast as there is a good variety of food he will eat. but lunch and dinner are a different story. But when we eat Mexican we know we are safe because he loves refried beans and mexican rice. I have no idea why, but he does. So now he gets his own order of it at dinner. 

Here are foods that he will eat:

Cheese

cheese quesadilla

chips

cherries

puffs

refried beans

rice

waffles with butter and cinnamon

eggs

fruit loops

jelly sandwich

lagsana

apples

grapes

Those are the only ones I can think off of the top of my head right now. 

Tomorrow we head up to Birmingham. We decided to leave a few hours early so we can sight see. Although I looked it up and there isn't much to see there. So don't really now what we are going to do since John's CAT scan isn't until 4:20. We normally go to a few shopping areas, but we are so tired of it. We talked about going to a book store to just sit and Cade can at least walk around there. I wanted to go to a park, but it is normally about 10 degrees colder there than here. And tonight it is a low of 20! 

HMM...

I swear I wrote some blogs after Tuesday, but John's mom informed me that I hadn't! I have no idea where the others went! So I will try to fill everyone in with what has been going on. Which is not much. 

Today we went for a walk this afternoon. We made homemade pizza for dinner and it was soo good! We went to the commy this morning to get things for the next few weeks. I hope to not have to go back until we get home from vacation. Might have to go for a few things here and there. 

Yesterday we went to Dothan and got a few Christmas presents. Had Sonic for lunch and came home. Just been a nice relaxing weekend. 

Oh on our walk today it was eventful. We were about half way done when this puppy black lab ran up to us. It started playing with LAV and then started to follow us. It followed us all the way to the housing office. So we stopped there and called the MP's. While we were waiting the owners came up. Which is good and the MP was nice. If your dog gets lose the MP's will come, write a report and then take it to the stray place on base. When you claim it they sort of give you grief about it. Then the person in the Army has to go and tell their Commander about it. Sometimes they get in more trouble and sometimes not. But the MP was really nice and didn't write a report so the guy wont get in trouble. On top of it all the dogs collar get loose and lost, so he would have been in trouble for that as well.

Back Home

We just got back home a few minutes ago. We already gave Cade his bottle and put him to bed. He did very well this trip. Not much fussing and crying. We stopped in Montgomery and had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. 

Today wasn't that bad. Could have gone a lot worse. We got to the Kirklin Center on time and got in on time. The doctor came in and went over with us what he will be doing. He will cut out the dingle berry and cut a bigger hole around it, a cleaner one, so that the hole can heal and he can put a patch over it. He said some other things, but I don't really know what he was talking about. John does, so I will have to have him write it down so I can explain it better. Then we go to the nurse who makes the appointments and she made the surgery appointment again. Telling us it is November 20th at 1 PM. So as of right now we are driving up on the 19th because John still has to get a CAT scan, although they haven't told us what time. So if it is really early we will have to leave the 18th.

So we are sitting there while she is making the appointment and John asks if he will be pushed from that appointment. She said she cant guarantee that he wont. You should have seen the look on my face. John looked at me and then at her and he was like, no, I can not be kicked out of this spot too. I forgot what else he said but he made it very clear that this was going to happen or there would be repercussions to deal with. So if another skull based tumor comes up, he will get kicked out again! So right now we are pretty irritated. 

So then we had to go to see anistisa, which was at 330! And our last appointment was at 110! So I kindly asked if we could please be seen sooner and explained how we live so far, and poof we were in a out! We were on our way home by 315! So that was great after all the crap we have been though in the past few weeks. 

Until we got home tonight. Then I found a $600 personal property bill in our mail. How nice. We don't freaking even live there anymore! And they wont send us our tags! So I have to call tomorrow on that as well. 

I have so much to do tomorrow. I am going to go nuts. 

Long Day Hard

So today was a long long day for us. We got up and started getting ready. Had to take the dog to the boarders then go back to base to fill up with gas, its $2.05!! Then went out the other side of base and started our trip. I drove up this time. John read one of his space monkey books and Cade basically slept the entire time. 

So we get to Children's South at 1 P.M. (right on time) and when we walked in I noticed that his doctors name wasn't on the board. So I went up to the desk and they go oh she's at the main hospitals on Monday's. I looked at that woman and I think she could see the steam start to rise out of my ears. I said look, I got three phone calls to confirm this appointment. One was automated and said Children's South, the second was a live idiot who said Children's South and the third idiot didn't even say where, just said who was calling. So if you are going to freaking tell me three separate people told me the wrong place and now we can't get in, you better rethink that. I swear I have been dealing with nothing by morons in the past few weeks. Everyday I am stressed.

So she calls the hospital and asks if we can still get in and yes we can, but we need to get over there ASAP. So she told us how to get there. We get there and realize the stupid idiot didn't tell us where her office was in the hospital! We didn't even know his doctor had an office there. So then we end up in a wild goose chase all over the stupid place. Finally getting to where we need to go and running into two "sistas" with attitude. I thought to myself this can be a hill I die on. I was pissed. And then they so kindly asked me to fill out a comment survey. HEHE.

So we finally get back there. Cade is 74.6 cmm tall and weighs 21.7 lbs. WoHoo! That is great. I told her how some days it is just crazy and he pucks like he was never on meds and other days he is great. She says it will take awhile for him to outgrow it. So we just have to work with him. She said to stop feeding him orange/yellow foods altogether. Which I wasn't doing. I was giving him one a week to see if he could tolerate it. She said to stop and try again in a month. So when we get home I am going to have to go to my favorite store to take back a bunch. I asked about milk and she said that she will wait until Jan. Then we are to come up and he will have a milk allergy test to see if he still has an allergy to it. So I guess he is allergic to milk because that is what she is basically saying. I asked about how we are going to thickin it and she said we will still add rice to it. Not much else there though. Cade was really good and she is a really nice doctor. Listens to what we have to say and is really great with him.

After that we finally go to our hotel. We like to go to Hampton Inn Colonnade. They offer free-wifi in rooms, free breakfast and snacks in the afternoons. No where else does. You have to pay for wifi or no breakfast. The people here are really nice and accommodating and it is pretty central to all the places we like to and have to go. 

After we were back in the room for awhile we went to a new shopping area. Its called the Galleria. It is the biggest indoor shopping center in Birmingham. It was nice. We really were shopping for anything, but they have all the stores we would otherwise go to. So we just walked around for a while, feed Cade and then we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. 

Of course we are back in the hotel now. What makes us mad is that we had to come up today for Cade and John has two appointments tomorrow and Tricare wouldn't cover an overnight stay. We are still working on trying to get reimbursed for the other trips, but aren't holding our breaths. It was a DONSA day for John today (day of no scheduled activity) so he didn't have to take off work and tomorrow is veterans day. So that sort of sucks because people are all getting together. John has two pre-op appointments and the last one is at 330. So we wont get home until 7 or 8. So that totally sucks for us. 

Alright, I am off. I am so tired and I can see that John is too even though he wont admit it. 

Nothing going...

Just as the title says, nothing really going on here. We to our "favorite" store today. We got a small mini fake tree to put up since we are not getting a real one this year. I have a few mini ordiments and it is fiber optic so we don't need lights for it. Can't wait to see what Cade does with it. 

Otherwise we didn't do anything else today and aren't planning on doing anything tomorrow either. Just getting laundry done for Monday so we have clothes to take with us to Birmingham. It is always colder there than it is here. 

"free" military health insurance.

A lot has transpired in the last three days. On Tuesday I went up to Lyster to speak with Managed Care about Cade going up to Birmingham again on Monday to get the travel reimbursement paperwork we need. The paperwork they should have sent us before we go up there to get reimbursed for our travels and out of pocket costs. I also had to talk to them about being on orders for John's surgery. I should have known things were not going to happen like they were suppose to. We are dealing with the military and our "free" healthcare here.

So first Ms. Tusberg tells us that there is nothing in the system saying that Cade has another appointment and because of that Tricare is going to deny us reimbursement again. She tells us that we will need to call Cade's doctor and ask them to fax a appointment slip to her office so she can file it. But it has to be done by Friday, since it is a weekend and we go Monday. So I call and explain to the employee who deals with the insurance companies what we need done and please do it ASAP because it is crucial we get the fax to the insurance company. So says it won't be an issue. I call Wednesday and ask Ms. Tusberg if it has been done and she says she has got nothing. So I call back and leave a voicemail. Then I call again yesterday and they said they have no record of me calling! So I asked them to transfer me to the person who deals with the insurance companies and as soon as that little twit picked up I knew it was here. And I lit a fire under her ass. I told her and said I was waiting on the phone for her to fax it right then and there and if she didn't she better hang up because I would be calling her supervisor next. She did. 

Then yesterday afternoon while helping Steph John gets a call from the nurse up at UAB who is in his ear doctors office. She asks John if he would be willing to give up his appointment for a brain based tumor that came up. She tells John the guy can wait, but it would be nice if they can get the guy in before the holidays. So John politety tells her no. Says that he has waited over three months now to get this done. It wasn't something John did, it was caused by malpractice by his flight surgeron and said no. She said that she would have to talk to the doctor and that the other option is to ask a patient who has surgery on Monday if he was willing to give up his spot to John. She told him she would call back. She does today.

She says that John doesn't have a say anymore in the matter. That they are taking his spot away and that she asked the other patient and he refused. She said that they are trying to get him in on Nov. 20th for surgery, but they are not sure yet because the doctor was going out for vacation the last two weeks in Nov. and doesn't know if they will be able to get him in until after the first of the year.

Thats it. I have played nice, and no more. I just got back from going up the Lyster. I went to the same lady who was helping us at first because neither John nor I knew who else to talk to about this. I told her I didn't know where else to go and told her what was going on. She went to get her supervisor who then said she didn't need to hear it and I need to talk to patient management. So then I get walked down to another office. And I tell Pam the entire story. How John's flight surgon put the hole in his ear drum, caused more than just a hole and how he left John in the office after he did this and went home! Leaving John there for 4 hours waiting. Finally when they were coming around locking up a nurse checking the room found John. 

Pam looked at me like I was crazy. And I told her I was dead serious. I told her the Army screwed my husband up and they need to fix him. Not later, now. We have talked to the nurse in UAB and we are getting no where. Now they need to fix the mistake they did. I said I am two seconds away from walking over to JAG and suing the flight surgeon and the nurse so you might want to do something now and not later. She said she understands where I am coming from and that we definitely have a case. I did tell her I understand it is Friday afternoon, but I do expect a call with a update on Monday. 

So we still have to go to Birmingham on Monday for Cade and stay until Tuesday because they still want John to have pre-op done. 

Thats all for now. I need to stop thinking about this before I go insane.

Don't tell me how easy it is to be a military family

I really hate it when people comment about how lucky we are to be in the military with all our "freebies". Please tell me what freebies there are, because me and a lot of other people are trying to figure this one out. We have to pay rent, we have to pay insurance, we have to pay for food, gas and everything else. Just like regular people. So please tell me where you get the freaking notion that we have it so well off. Do you realize that over half of military families qualify for WIC or food stamps. We do. And we are officers. Do you realize how horrible that is? People are putting their lives on the line for this nation and all the citizens of this nation can do is complain about how easy we have it. How is it easy to explain to your child that mommy/daddy will be gone for over a year, you will not see them, and in the end they may never come home. But I guess since we get "free" things its all ok.

I am beyond pissed AGAIN at tricare. So today I went with a friend to Lyster to get her meds. It didn't cost her anything. So I asked why it costs us $22 for my son's meds. She asked where we went and I said Walgreens. She asked why we didnt bring it on base and I told her because when we first got it we did and they turned us away saying they dont carry it. She asked what it was and I told her. She asked if we were referred by a PCM to a specialist and got it from him and I said yes. She said then we should go to the Tricare office down the hall and get it stamped. Then once it is stamped bring it back to the pharmacy and they will order it for us and then it will be covered 100%! WTF! why the hell dont people tell you this shit. Do you realize how much money Tricare has got out of us in the past six months because of people not informing us. We were civilans healthcare before this we have no clue how this crap works. Now I am wondering if they can reimburse us for it. Another battle to go through. 

so tired

Not much went on today. Went to Lyster (the "health clinic" on base) to deal with them and our trips to Birmingham and for John's surgery next week. Seems his doctor in Birmingham never sent the referral in. It takes on average 2 weeks for a referral to go through. With out his referral and authorization from Tricare/Humana if we go to Birmingham we will have to pay for it out of pocket. John has called three times leaving voice mails to the nurse in Birmingham and of course she hasn't replied to him about it. I went in seeking paperwork authorizing me to be John's responsible party since he has to be put under. They then noticed there was no authorization for the surgery in the first place. I just want to strangle these people!

Busy day

But not good busy. It all started with John waking me up at 5 when he tripped over the toy in the hallway. So I started to fall back asleep around 6 when Cade decided he didn't want to participate in day light savings. So he woke up crying. So I let him stay in there for a while hoping he would go back to sleep. Then all a sudden John walks in our room. He wakes me up and starts telling me about Steph. He said he went for him morning run and saw Steph on the lawn crying. She said that there was a waterfall in her house, so they walked in just in time to see the ceiling in the hallway cave in! The pipes in her ceiling busted flooding her entire house. She called housing and they said they couldn't do anything! So she called them back and told them the least they could do was turn the water off. So 40 minutes later they finally go there! So by 8 Cade and I were up for about an hour and there was a sea of cars on our street. Not to mention I have a cold that I just got Friday. And you know how colds are, they get worse everyday. So today is the worst I have felt. And I am not predicting to feel better until Thursday. 

Tomorrow I am helping Steph move her things. They said it will go faster if someone moves the kitchen. So I guess that is what we are doing. I also have to go to patient management and talk to them about getting the travel forms to go to Birmingham for Cade and about being the responsible party for John and getting the paper work for that for his surgery. Wait, aren't I always the responsible party for John? Hehe.

Day in the Park; Part 2

Day in the Park; Part 1

We went to the park today and had a picnic for lunch! It was so beautiful today. But I have so many pictures that I am going to have to do two posts because I can only upload 5 at a time. 

So we went to the park in Enterprise today. We brought homemade salsa, chips, sandwiches and lunch for Cade. It was so much fun. I even brought a sheet we could sit on. It was funny because there were others there too eating lunch. But they brought it from restaurants and only eat at the tables. So like John said we had a true traditional picnic. 

After that we let Cade crawl/walk around. He loved the grass and so did we since there was no fire ants anywhere that we could see! After that we went to the park and let Cade swing. He wasn't too thrilled about that. He kept making noises and grunting, just the same on the slide. I think its all the "negative" G-forces he doesn't like. He got to crawl around and walk again. He loves it there. There wasn't that many people on it today so we were glad for that. The part we go to is only for 2-5 year olds so sometimes it can get a bit crazy.

Otherwise we are ok. We all have colds right now. Funny how we get them the day after we all get the flu shot. So Cade is having a hard time eating right now and throws a fit whenever he does. We are having toasted rav tonight for dinner! And it's ready!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3568588351038276638&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5139574037904602073&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3069973074252499811&hl=en

Here are a few videos that I haven't had time until today to upload. Hope you like them.

Today we braved the commy and went there ON pay day! It wasn't horrible and was ok since John went with us. After that we went to Dothan to look for a heavier coat of Cade. It does get cold here sometimes and he has two lightweight jackets, but then we forget he will need a heavier one for when we go home. We finally find one at Babies R Us. I am not thrilled with it, but it will work for the time we need it. Now I just need to find a hat and gloves. I found the hat I want at Target, but they only had sizes 2t. And they never restock their boy items. So I will either have to order it off line or find something somewhere else. Although I have looked everywhere else already. 

Cade is very tired right now. We decided to give him a bath earlier and John asked if I wanted to sit in on it, and all Cade did was cry! He hated me being in there. It makes me happy that Cade is such a daddy's boy, but sad at the same time. But I know that I get him all day to myself during the week and I love that fact. 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a pretty good night. We went with Steph and Kolydn. We didn't get far until we ran in to a ton of people we knew. It was nice though. I felt sort of like I belong since we stopped and talked to them about normal stuff. Just wish we hung out with them. 

So at first Cade threw a fit when we put his costume on. It was quite funny. Then he didn't care one way or another if he was wearing it. So we started going to houses. He walked to the first few of people we knew. He thought it was fun to walk everywhere. We caught up with some other people with kids and walked with them too. We stayed out until about 730 then came home for bath and bed. We didn't get much candy, as we thought it was sort of mean to get candy that otherwise kids would get. We got a few though. We did buy a bag intending to hand it out when we got home, but didn't. But John was so sweet because he stuck a whole bunch in his pocket and when he saw kids we knew he gave it to them. So we only have about half a bag left. 

Nothing much else going on. It was so cute to see Cade tonight. I wish we could have stopped by everyones house and showed him off so his family could see him.

Oh My Gosh

I think the pictures say it all. We ran to the shoppett tonight for about 10 minuets and didn't bother with putting LAV up. We came home to the last picture, biggest hole. We were like "oh he didn't do anything.....". I just stopped and put my hand over my mouth to try and keep the flies from gathering. So know for sure whenever we leave we will have to gate him in the kitchen. Don't worry John's parents! He only does this because he is upset with us and feel neglected. He will be fine when we come home. 

I immediately called the carpet company housing uses and asked them home much a remnet would be. He was really nice and told me to "stalk" the installers on base tomorrow. He said they are there everyday installing new carpet in the new housing. I just hope it is the same color. I have heard they use a different color in the new houses. They said to ask them for a piece and they wont charge me. I think it will be like $100 for the smallest piece otherwise. But with Christmas coming up and going home, it just upsets me because we at least have to fix this one hole now. It is right there when you walk in.

Otherwise things are ok. John's work is settling down because they are almost finished with moving the safety people. And tomorrow is the big day! Cade's first Halloween. John I think is conflicted. He wants to stay home and hand out candy instead of going with us. We are just going around to the people we know, which is actually a lot because they all requested we stop by. I am sort of upset because I feel John should go with us being Cade's first. There will be so many other times when he wont be there or can stay home while I got with Cade. But I guess we will find out tomorrow what he does. Of course we will post pictures when we upload them. We also wanted to say thank you to every one who sent him a Halloween card. I will save them all for him when he grows up.