Sick of Sick

When I was in junior high, I remember my parents saying that they had bought my orthodontist that fancy Corvette he drove. Even at that age, I totally got the joke. My parents paid for braces for all 3 of their daughters, and so every time we saw that shiny car parked in front of his office, my parents were reminded of how much they were shelling out for our pretty teeth.

Fast forward 25 years, and now I feel the same way about my kids' pediatric office! It seems like we're in that office a ridiculous number of times each month. It goes something like this: ear infection for Westin, routine appointment for Camden, then ear infection for Camden, then strep throat for Westin, then routine appointment for Camden, then ear infection for Westin, then routine appointment for Westin, then strep throat for Camden, then ear infections again....... and so on and so on. Sheesh! Certainly between our co-pays and what the insurance company dishes out, we've at least paid for a semester at a ritzy private college that surely one of my pediatrician's kids will go to one day.

And while I'm whining about the time and money spent in a doctor's office, my poor little kiddos are the ones that are suffering. Oops... I forgot this wasn't all about me! I hate seeing my kids sick. It breaks my heart. You should see Westin right now. He looks like he's been hit by a truck. He has strep throat and the nastiest cold and chunky cough. His eyes are so droopy and he looks just pitiful. One of the ONLY good things to come from him being sick is that I get extra snuggles and cuddle time, and that is absolutely priceless. Westin loves to be held when he's sick (heck, so do I!), and if I have to pay someone else's college tuition in order to hold my son for extended periods of time, then so be it. You're welcome, Dr. Rick and Dr. Bray.

A Fresh New Year

It's 2011, and I thought, hey, what the heck...... why not blog again? It has been nearly 5 months since my last post. Crazy.

In that time, LOTS has happened, but the biggest thing is that my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. She had a very large tumor on the lower lobe of her right lung. I learned about it in September, just a few days after returning from a wonderful trip to Oregon to visit Jeremy's family. To be honest, it kind of turned my world a little upside down, and I just didn't feel like blogging much after that. She's now about 3/4 of the way through her treatment, which consists of radiation and chemotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. So far, she's responding well, although she is extremely weak and tired. She has some soreness when she swallows from the radiation being aimed in that area, and her voice is a little hoarse, and her appetite has significantly decreased, but she hasn't lost her hair, and she hasn't any major side effects. The doctors are saying that she is holding up very well, and they are encouraged by what they're seeing so far. I know she is SO ready to feel better and to get some energy back. I absolutely hate seeing my mom not feeling well. Truthfully, she hasn't felt well in years, and I've hated it for her for years. I guess now we know why.

Other than that, our family is doing quite well. Our boys are growing like weeds. Westin is 2, Camden is 10 months, and Jeremy and I are starting to get little glimpses here and there of what normalcy might look like. I feel like I am finally, FINALLY coming out of the fog of having 2 kids just 15 months apart, and I am rediscovering ME again. I didn't even realize that I wasn't "me", until I started feeling like "me" again. Does that make sense?

We'll see what this year holds for blogging. I really do have a desire to document the journeys of The Hansen Family, and I'm constantly writing little blog posts in my head, but they just don't seem to make it to my fingers and onto the computer. But hey, if normalcy really and truly does return, you never know.

Happy New Year!

No tubes!

We took Westin to an ENT yesterday in San Antonio. Fortunately, he did not recommend tubes right now. He said that because he's only had one ear infection this summer that he'd like to just wait and see if he gets more infections this fall and winter. We were very happy with that news!

Lately I've been catching small glimpses of the buddies that Westin and Camden will become. Just this morning the two of them were laughing out loud at each other. I think Westin was amusing Camden, and Camden was amusing Westin! It was a precious moment. And then.... just one minute later I caught a glimpse of the battles that lie ahead as well. Westin had given Camden a little toy to play with, and then decided a moment later that he wanted it back. Camden had a death grip on it and wasn't giving it up, and Westin got quite huffy! It cracked me up that little 5 month old Camden is already giving his big brother a run for his money! Gotta love it.

Tubes?

I had to take Westin to the doctor this morning (both kids went, which is always interesting trying to keep 2 children occupied while we wait for the doc to come in the room... but I digress). We suspected yet another ear infection. Poor guy has been tugging and scratching his ears. He scratched his right ear so much that he drew blood! And... we were right. "Terrible" infections in both ears, said the doc. Again. For the 5th or 6th time since December (I've lost count now....). Apparently the "ear infection season" is from October to May, so the fact that it's August and he is still getting them is indicative that he may need some extra help with those ears. The doc gave us a few recommendations for pediatric ENTs, and we'll be headed to see them very soon. We're fairly certain he'll have to have tubes put in his ears. I know this really isn't a big deal, but still.... it's surgery! And as my RN husband reminds me, any time you're dealing with anesthesia and surgery, there are risks. I'll be glad for our little man to feel better and stop getting these pesky ear infections, but I'm not thrilled that he has to have minor surgery to relieve the infections.

I'm so grateful that he's healthy other than this. It could be so much worse. And if the tubes will help, then I guess bring it on! We'll know more in the next couple of weeks.

Thank You Uncle Sam

There were some very attractive tax credits for home buyers over the past year and a half or so, and The Hansens took full advantage. Late last year, The Homebuyer Tax Credit was extended and expanded to also include "repeat" home buyers who met certain criteria. One of the criteria was that you had to have owned a home for at least 5 consecutive years out of the past 8 years. And fortunately for us, we owned our home in NC for a little over 5 and a half years! The maximum credit for repeat buyers was $6,500, and the law stated that you had to be under contract for a house by April 30th, 2010, and close on the home by June 30th, 2010 (although the June date has since been extended to September 2010 because of the bog-down with loans being underwritten in a timely manner).

When the expanded tax credit was announced late last fall, Jeremy and I had just signed a 9 month lease on a rental house. Our lease was set to expire July 31st, 2010. The lease expiration put us beyond the expiration for the tax credit, so this put us in a bit of a pickle: Do we go ahead and buy a home and just know that we'd have to pay a month or two in rent for a home we were no longer living in (at $1375 a month, that would be giving up a good chunk of cash!)? Or do we wait until our lease expired and then buy a home at that point, and forego the tax credit of $6,500?

Fortunately there was a happy ending for all. We talked to the property management company that handled our lease, and they were able to negotiate with our landlord to amend our rental contract to get out of it by the end of April and pay no penalties! (It didn't hurt that the property management company was also the realtor we used for the purchase of our house, so they certainly had a financial interest in helping us get out of the lease.)

I had already filed our 2009 tax returns long before we closed on the house in April, so my options were to wait and claim the credit on my 2010 returns, or to amend my 2009 tax returns. I chose the latter... I'm all about instant gratification when it comes to money owed to me! You cannot file an amended return electronically, so I mailed it in at the beginning of June, and we got a nice fat check in the mail a couple of weeks ago!

The money is already earmarked for several things. A portion of it will go towards installing granite counter tops in our kitchen (I'm in the process of researching what company we want to use for the installation). YAY! Another portion will go towards paying our $2,000 deductible for our homeowner's insurance claim from the hail storm back in May that damaged our roof. BOO. And the rest will go in savings. YAY!

So the question that many economists and pundits are asking is.... did the tax credit get us off the fence and into a home? My answer is - we still would have purchased a home, but it might not have been so soon. So, simply put: the tax credit got us into a house sooner, but didn't otherwise influence us. Is that considered a success by the economists' and pundits' standards? Who knows. In the end, we have 6500 smackers and we're in a home we love. Thank you Uncle Sam.

Boys

Camden just had his 4 month "well check" appointment, and he's a healthy boy.

He's still a good bit smaller than Westin was at the same age. Here are there stats:

4 months old:

Westin

18 lbs 2 oz (96th percentile)

26 inches long (85th percentile)

Camden

16 lbs 3 oz (67th percentile)

24 and 3/4 inches long (32nd percentile)

I'm so glad I've got two happy, healthy, growing boys.

Spotlight on Westin

Westin is 19 months old. It's pretty amazing that he's already on his way to being 2. Where does the time go?

I really feel like he's on the cusp of exploding verbally, and it produces a very weird reaction in me. He is SO funny with the way he jibber-jabbers in his own little Westin language. He is an extremely verbal little boy and so social. I wish I could capture on video how funny he is when he walks around the house having a conversation with himself and with us. Unfortunately, every time I break out the video camera, he becomes fascinated with the camera and shuts down the talking. Just in the past two weeks, he has started saying more words and phrases that are true English. And this is where the weird reaction from me comes in: part of me is so excited for him to talk so that we can all understand each other (and to know that he is developing normally), but another part of me doesn't want that to happen because we will NEVER get back the precious jibberish that he currently speaks. It's like the end of an era, and it makes me both happy and sad. Odd, isn't it? It's like I'm already grieving the loss of my little toddler that is turning into a little boy before my very eyes. I'm such a sap!

Westin is both a bull and a teddy bear - and sometimes both in the same minute! He has been nicknamed "Bruiser" by some friends here, because he's such a stocky boy that plows his way through a playground. And yet, he can be sweeter than sugar too. He is so precious with Camden. For the most part, he really gets that Camden is to be treated gently, and he loves to hug and kiss him. There is an indescribable joy that Jeremy and I experience when the 4 of us are playing together and Westin loves on Camden. Again, I wish I could capture this on video, but it never seems to work out (for the aforementioned fascination with the camera).

He is very much into mimicking these days. For example, he'll occasionally shake his finger and say "no no" to various things, and we have wondered where in the world he learned to shake his finger like that! Well, come to find out... I caught myself doing it recently! Case solved. We must be very careful what we do around him!

Westin LOVES music. If some kind of song comes on the tv, he drops whatever he is doing and stands in front of the tv and shakes his booty. Literally. It's awesome. Or - he'll just stand there, mesmerized. I can't wait to see how that develops as he grows.

My little man also has a crazy strong throwing arm! Seriously, I'm not trying to toot my own son's horn, but toot toot! The boy can throw. We are often shocked at the accuracy and distance when he throws a ball (or a toy, or a stuffed animal, or a sippy cup.... but mostly balls!). Now, put a golf club in his hand (which we have done... we have a little plastic toddler set) and, well, he's not so gifted. :-) The club ends up getting banged on anything and everything that he comes in contact with. But let's get back to the throwing: he's a natural!

Westin is a great sleeper, and he has begun to get in his crib, look at me, wave and say "night night mama", and them promptly go to sleep. We feel very blessed in this way! He sleeps for 11 or 12 hours at night and then takes about 3 hours worth of naps during the day. You can DEFINITELY tell when he has not gotten enough sleep (cranky, crying, irritable, etc.).

He's a social boy, like his mama, and as my father has said, "a stranger is simply a friend I haven't met yet". In general, he loves people and doesn't like being alone. It's a wonderful quality, but makes for some very long days when all he wants to do is to play with me! I look forward to Camden getting older so the two of them can entertain each other.

I'm sure my husband would add a lot to this post regarding Westin's personality, but unfortunately he's not around right now. We love our little boy so much, and he makes us laugh so much (and also frustrates the snot out of us too!).

What a journey this parenting thing is!