The Month of March

March came and went with hopefully what is the last of the cold and flu season - fingers crossed.  Our good news is that we went to Mesa for spring break and Isabelle had a swallow study.  For the first time she didn't aspirate on any of the liquids!  So we are weaning her off of the thickening gel we have to put in everything she drinks and if she doesn't get sick in the next 6 weeks than we can completely take her off!  Woohoo!  One less thing to worry about and Isabelle can stop trying to steal other kids sippie cups because the liquids come out so much easier!  Baby Girl keeps getting stronger and stronger!  And she's climbing now, onto the couch and kitchen table.  This worries me because her muscle tone is so low, if she falls off I'm afraid she will really hurt herself, so I get a little paranoid.  But we're excited to see her doing new things.

Eli had a big month of excitement, mostly going to the dentist to get his cavities filled and ending up with a swollen lip the size of a baseball.  It was really enormous and the poor guy was in a lot of pain.  

Here's some of my favorite pictures of the month:

 Isabelle's new car - she has gotten tired of the stroller and isn't ready for a bike, so this little push car has become her favorite new thing.  

 One of the most exciting parts of the month was when we got snow.  For most of a whole day, on and off, it snowed!  I've lived here 7 years and never had it snow before!  It didn't stick, but it was enough that the kids had lots of fun running around in it.  

Insurance In's and Out's

We got some good news this month - for the last 8 months Isabelle has gone without Speech Therapy.  Since moving here we are learning the in's and out's of insurance and while we are so grateful that last year she got into Arizona's Long Term Health Care Plan, they only offer coverage for places that are contracted with them.  And no one in Sierra Vista is contracted with them, which is why we've been driving to Tucson for therapy.  Once we got on a good private insurance plan in Jan., I was hoping we would be able to move more of Izzy's visits to Sierra Vista.  Foolish, foolish me!  The reality is that our insurance only covers 30 therapy visits a year - which we've used up by the first week of Feb.  So basically any place we go to in Sierra Vista is an out-of-pocket expense.  But we went ahead and had a speech eval at the 1 place in town that has pediatric speech therapy and applied for a program through the hospital that covers out-of-pocket expenses and she got it (ya!  Who can say no to this face?).  It only covers 12 visits, so I'm not sure what will happen after that, but we're grateful for 12 weeks of therapy that she couldn't get otherwise.  

Random side note: last year I was talking to a friend who's daughter has DiGeorge Syndrome and she was saying how in Feb. of that year her daughter had an appointment for some tests and the secretary was telling her how much would be coming out of their deductible.  She just looked at the secretary and said, "We met our deductible the first week of Jan".  Ahh, the wonders of having a child with medical problems!

 This is Izzy dancing (hard to tell in a picture).  Girl's got moves and since she started walking in Dec, she is so excited to show them!  

 And not to exclude Eli, who is all about grumpy faces these days.  He is hopeful that he is showing us just how angry he really is about something - instead we just want to laugh.  When we were in Oregon my mom told him what she used to tell me when I was little and made this exact same face - "a bird is going to fly by and poop on that lip".  But Eli is 4 and doesn't quite get it, so he walks around saying "My nanny told me birds fly by and poop."

 Another thing that I love is the fact that recently Isabelle and Eli have really started playing together.  It usually involves a lot of Eli bossing Isabelle around and Izzy ignoring him and doing her own thing, but it is fun to watch.

 And since it's Feb. we are right in the middle of an Arizona spring and are loving taking the kids to the park.  

A Few More Pics of Oregon

Just a few more pictures from our trip to Oregon

 Bundled up to play outside

 Eli's favorite outdoor toy

 How Pops solved the problem of Isabelle's feet not being able to push and dragging in the way.

 Pops and the Kiddos

Christmas in Mesa

Just wanted to post a few pictures from Christmas in Mesa.  Eli loved getting to see his cousin Hannah.

 Listening to Aunt Susan read

 Wheelbarrow rides

These Days

Here is what is going on these days.  Isabelle is in a phase where she loves dressing herself in certain things.  Right now favorites are: sunglasses, Eli's batman cape

 Hats and backpacks.

 Eli is loving the Wii Fit

 And her hair is the perfect length for pigtails!