Too Busy?

Phew! I am exhausted! We are really back into the swing of things, now that all our commitments have resumed after the holiday break. You should see what my calendar looks like! It's a little bit crazy. Here's our weekly schedule:

Monday: preschool for Drew, gravity class at the gym for me and Ava. I usually make a second trip to the gym during Ava's nap and bring Drew so I can run.
Tuesday: Mom Connection, grocery day
Wednesday: preschool for Drew, Community Bible Study for me and Ava. Gym in the afternoon.
Thursday: Gravity class then running at the gym, with both kids. Prepare for life group at our house in the evening
Friday: preschool for both kids, alone time for me and Dan

And that's just the basics. Throw in there a couple of meetings for various groups, or snack day for Drew's school, or hanging out with friends and it's a good thing I have my calendar to keep track of everything. This particular weekend I am busy from 10 am today until 8 pm tomorrow night. But, before you tell me I'm crazy and I need to cut back, I enjoy everything that we do. Well, except maybe all that gym time, but that's for training purposes and I do want to be able to run in the Shamrock & Roll Half Marathon. So I wouldn't even know what could be cut out.

I recently became a co-leader of our weekly life group and I am excited about the opportunity. I know it sounds like I'm adding to my list of commitments, but we already hosted it and attended it, and I really don't think it will be a whole lot of additional preparation outside of group. I am also co-chair of Hearts of Hope and we are trying to put together a planning meeting for the new year. In addition to that I just joined the women's ministry at church and am planning an event for Valentine's Day, basically expanding on our yearly tradition. I think after February things will be a little less crazy.

But enough about that. The kids have been hilarious lately! Drew is growing up to be such a little person. I guess it makes sense, since he will be 5 next month. He says things that sound so much like an adult, it surprises us. He just understands more about the world around him. He can play more real games now (Go Fish is a favorite) and he's just more fun to be with. He is excited for kindergarten and always asks where his big school is when we're driving around the neighborhood. He is also a jokester, making all of us laugh at dinner time! I was having lunch with a friend the other day and she said she couldn't remember what medications Drew was on. I was happy to tell her none! But it was a good reminder of how different things are now. When Drew came home from the hospital at ten weeks old, he was on 9 medications and fed through a tube. At one point he had four weekly therapies (OT, PT, speech, infant development). And look at him now, five years later! No medications, no therapies, no IEP! I wish I could have known how things would turn out when I was so consumed with worry and fear when he was first diagnosed with DiGeorge syndrome. He is a little miracle man. Who wants to play t-ball.

Ava has also been pretty funny lately. She just has something to say all the time! I love hearing her little voice (unless she is shrieking). She is really into babies right now and has started carrying hers tucked inside her shirt, telling me she has a baby in her tummy. The other day she even ate lunch that way! She has learned how to do the splits and is always asking about ballet, so we are going to try to find a class for her.

Ava eating lunch with her baby, complete with cheesy smile

My last tidbit of news is that I am still continuing the fight with the insurance company to pay the hospital. Yesterday I called Health Net for the fifth time since surgery. I was all ready to let the guy have it, but I am just too nice. I started off strong though. :) Anyway, we went line by line over the items which have now been sent to collections even though I have been diligent in trying to get everything paid. There were still five claims that were incorrectly billed to us that should have been paid by insurance. Those will have to be reprocessed, something that normally takes 30-45 business days. Isn't that appalling? That is nine weeks I am supposed to wait? Since this is my FIFTH time calling about the same issue he will mark it as "accelerated" and it should only take 5-10 business days. Don't you think they could have marked it accelerated on the third or fourth time? Anyway, after we did all that he told me how much was considered "member responsibility." I asked him if it looked to him like we met our out of pocket maximum. He said yes, we had already met it. So I asked if we have met our maximum, why would I have anymore member responsibility? He was silent for a long time and then said that Health Net should pay 100% on those claims. But they will have to investigate and guess what, it takes 5-10 business days.

Taking their bedtime ride on Daddy