18 Month Appt.

Today I took Brianna to her 18 month check-up and we were lucky enough to have Nana join us since she is still off work. The result was that she is perfectly healthy! She weighs 23 lbs 2 oz (29th percentile) and is 31 inches long(26th percentile)! He also said that she is verbally advanced although she didn't say anything while he was in the room...he just took my word for it. She has been asking questions lately like "Where Mommy/Daddy/shoe/etc go?" She points to toilet paper and says "nose" then says "please" when I try to get her to say tissue. The doctor said that her ears are clear so I guess her grumpiness is due to teeth (she has been gnawing on her hands lately). After lunch, we went shopping and then to lunch with Brie's aunts & cousins on the Howard side. Now she is taking a much deserved nap. We had a really good day.

Lazy Mornings

On the weekends when we don't have anything to do bright and early we will bring Brianna into bed with us when she wakes up. I love being able to cuddle with her in the morning instead of being up and rushing around trying to get ready for the day. It just makes for a more relaxed day. Anyway, on Saturday after I brought her into our room went she was crawling around and found my belly. She then proceeded to blow several raspberries on my it...loud wet ones that caused all of us to laugh! By the time I got her distracted enough to be able to pull down my shirt my stomach was wet with baby drool! And then so was my shirt! This morning, I went and got her, brought her into bed with us and began the wonderful cuddling! After a few minutes, she crawled over to Bobby and put her hand out to him and said "Hot!" then blew on him. She did it again. She thought Bobby's chest was hot. It was so cute! Then it was back to the raspberries. I love lazy mornings!

18 months

Oh my goodness! How the past year and a half has flown by! I can't believe she is already 18 months old. It just seems like yesterday that we brought her home, sat the baby carrier with a sleeping baby on the coffee table and just stared at her thinking, "What do we do now?" She is so much fun and very trying and I love her dearly. Her 18 month check up is on Friday so I will let everyone know how that goes.
Please enjoy her 18 portraits. I think they are some of the best yet. She was very cooperative and smiley!

The Cost of a Spill

Well, after a week of allergy treatments Brianna still had a yucky runny nose and a crackly cough so I had to take her back to the doctor. He said she had a sinus infection and fluid behind her ears although they were not actually infected yet. So we went to the pharmacy to get her some Augmentin. This morning while mixing up the medicine to administer her second dose I proceeded to spill HALF of it! Ughh!!!! So I called the pharmacy who directed me to call the pediatrician's office and told me that the insurance would most likely not pay for another prescription of Augmentin. I called the doctor's and told them what the pharmacy said and the nurse said they would call something in. I told her that cost did not matter to me, I just wanted Brianna to be healthy. So Bobby went to pick up the prescription and text me the cost: $73.59!!! Oh my goodness! I was shocked because the receipt on yesterday's prescription said the insurance paid $25 and we paid $10. The pharmacy said that our insurance office was closed and that we should call them tomorrow so they could try to get an over-ride. A very expensive lesson learned!
Edited to add: The pharmacy got a hold of our insurance and we were able to get an over-ride for the prescription so we only ended up paying $13.00! Yeah!!

Cafeteria Christian?

This term was used to indirectly describe me and probably most of you yesterday on Facebook. Before I give you the description of what a "cafeteria christian" is, let me tell you what was going on. A girl who I went to high school with (who is Jewish by the way) made a comment regarding Miss California's statement regarding marriage. I felt the need to say something so I decided to pull the scripture from Leviticus regarding homosexuality. I then went on to say that I was proud of her for standing up for her beliefs and that more Christians should. Here is the comment that followed from one of her friends:

"I get a laugh out of cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Old Testament restrictions they choose to follow. The same book mandates not wearing cloth of mixed origin. Oh, and what about the dietary restrictions? I'm sure all these folks keep kosher."

I had planned on keeping my mouth shut, but after the original person responded with a "Well said" I decided that I needed to make one more comment. I went on to say that I believe that Jesus gave us a new covenant, one by which I try to live and stated that even in the New Testament marriage is defined by being between a man and a woman. I then apologized in case I offended anyone, then said that I was simply stating my personal and biblical beliefs and not trying to persecute anyone for theirs. The "cafeteria" lady then went on to say that maybe Christians should work on making divorce more difficult instead of attacking same-sex marriage.

Am I a "cafeteria Christian"? I don't think so. If I am then I should be really skinny because there are a lot of things I pass over because I know they are not good for me spiritually. I have been convicted about certain TV shows and I sure do miss them sometimes! Especially when someone I know is talking about what just happened on this or that episode.

I have not decided if I am going to respond to the latest comment or not...Bobby said he might. I just don't like to debate, although I should have known that would happen. I do agree with her in that divorce should be more difficult but like Bobby pointed out as long as God is not part of the marriage covenant, it will not be sacred.

What really makes this funny, is that while picking up on our devotional yesterday it was about sanctity of marriage. I know that there are no such things as a coincidences so I guess God wanted us to take a week plus break from our devotional that we had just started so that on the day I was being persecuted for my beliefs I would also be reaffirmed. I will sign this off with my status for today on Facebook:

"Penny Woodburn Howard thinks that if you feel the need to persecute me because of my Christian beliefs...BRING IT ON!!! You are only exercising and strengthening my faith...so thank you!"