What's been going on?

Well, not much. Our week started out with the lovely suprise that water was coming into our basement again (really wasn't much of a suprise seeing as our house sucks). Figured out the problem and got mom to babysit on Thursday so that we could fix it. It freakin rained again on Thursday, so there went that plan. We were able to fix it along with putting up the lattice on the deck while Kierra napped (process of 2 days). Our neighbor's sold their house so that gives us one month to steal their rocks for our landscaping (they told us to, so it isn't stealing).

Hmmm, what else. Richard is finally on the 7th Harry Potter book. I am so excited for him. I cried at times in that book. I am constantly made fun of for my obsession for Harry Potter, but there is someone who is worse than me. Amber Ford. Yeah, that's right, Cassie can vouch for this. When we went to get our hair done, we had the capes on and were walking by a mirror and she asked me if I felt like we were at Hogwarts wearing our robes. It never crossed my mind. Sure the name of our blog has a reference to the books, but a hair cutting cape as robes, nah. I do want a wand though and I wanted to dress up Kierra as Hermione for halloween.

Anyhoo, there really isn't anything exciting going on in our lives. I have no new pictures to post. I promise the next post will have something eventful.

FOR THOSE WHO LIKE CATS

"Excerpts from a Dog's Diary"

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!

9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!

1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!

7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11:00pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

"Excerpts from a Cat's Diary"

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow--but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

I know they are up to something!

Forget That!

Kierra didn't get her laser treatment today. We got to the hospital nice and early, they called us in and when we got into the O.R., the doctor was on the phone with the billing office. It turns out that our insurance company now requires pre-authorization for her procedures and needs proof that it is medically necessary and not cosmetic. They decided to change their policy without telling us so we got her all ready for nothing. The doctor has sent numerous letters and pictures to prove the need for the treatments. We have never had a problem before and now we are worried that they may not cover the treatments at all. According to the doctor, IHC (which we don't have) will only allow her to treat the birthmark if it is on a certain place on the face. If Altius takes this stance, I think we will be screwed. We now pay close to $200 a treatment every three months. Without insurance it is a little over $1000 a treatment. Looks like I may really have to get another job.

Laser Day

For those who don't know, Kierra was born with a port wine stain birthmark on her left cheek and chin. Every three months we take her up the U to get laser treatments to help minimize the mark and stop further growth. Tomorrow we have to take her in again. There is about 2 hours prep work for a procedure that takes five minutes. I think it is getting easier on me at least where I don't cry while she is screaming. The worst part of it all is the care after. Keeping her out of the sun, having ointment on her face constantly, keeping her from touching her face and scarring it, and of course the weird stares that we get from those who don't know her situation.

Incidentally, there was an article in this months Parenting Magazine about a couple having a child with a birthmark on her scalp. I was really annoyed with how the parents reacted and tried to hide their daughter. They acted like she was cursed and they didn't like people asking questions. That's the part I don't mind. I would rather people ask than just stare and assume that we beat her or something. In this article, the girl had one surgery to remove it from her scalp and now she is done. Kierra is in this for a lifetime possibly. We have never tried to hide her face from anyone or anything because it is something she is going to have to deal with when she is older. Her situation isn't nearly as bad as many others that have this sort of birthmark. We have met some that have the mark all over their body and also those that have it on certain parts of their head that cause seizures and occular nerve damage.

When we found out what it was, I felt horrible. Thinking of a little girl possibly getting teased because of a mark on her face. I questioned why did this happen and then I thought, there is nothing wrong with her. She is alive, healthy and to us is perfect.

Before treatments began

Day of a laser treatment

3 Hours of Pampering

My friends Amber, Kim and I went to a beauty school for mother's day. It was a bit late but oh well. We got facials, scalp treatments and I got a trim too. It was nice to get away for a while with good friends. Afterwards, we went to Paradise Bakery and vegged for a bit. It was a good school because it wasn't crowded. Amber's sister goes to school there so she was able to schedule us with the best students. Warning to all, this picture contains women with no makeup. I was the only one self conscious about it. Oh, I am standing on my tippy toes. Thanks guys for a fun afternoon!

Richard was on the news, again!

I looked everywhere to find a link to the story that was on channel 2 news. There was a stabbing in Murray last night. They found the guy but he kept threatening them and going in and out of his house bringing out different lethal weapons. He threatened to shoot them so they ended up shooting him with a huge rubber bullet from a grenade launcher. Richard was shown for like 3 seconds walking around with his new rifle. His good buddy Ben was shown shoving the guy into his car. I am a little upset that there is nothing anywhere on any of the news websites about this especially when they showed the story twice.

Warning: Complaint Below

Since I am really only 30 credit hours away from my bachelors degree, I have been considering going back to school. The problem is, I don't know what to do. I have people telling me to go back into occupational therapy, but I am just affraid of screwing up. There is also the problem that I am not sure who's education is more important right now, mine or Richard's. Even though Richard's would be for free, there is still the time taken away from our family if both of us are going at the same time. Although, he isn't sure what he wants his degree to be in either. It doesn't matter much I guess what you have to get into the FBI. But lets get back to me. I have discovered that I am good at things that are medically related. I actually get that kind of stuff. My problem is my lack of confidence in my ability to apply my knowledge in a practical situation. So now I am just mumbling. I have felt that since I quit my job at Globus, I have been losing my smarts. There is nothing to keep my brains on their toes. Besides that, I am freaking 27 years old with an associates degree. What have I done with my life?

San Diego

So we made it there alive and very tired. The first day we got there we hated it. Our hotel was kind of in the ghetto. The room was ok but I am glad Kierra is walking now so that she didn't have to crawl on the carpet. We walked to get dinner down the street and there was a guy on the sidewalk getting super drunk. We really looked stupid with a stroller thinking it was ok to walk places. Getting Kierra to sleep that first night was kind of hard but she eventually did it.

Unfortunately we arrived without our Air Race tickets. They never arrived in the mail (and still haven't). So instead of going to that, we went to Balboa Park. It was really pretty and a ton of museums. After that we navigated our way to mission beach. Being that it was only 60 degrees, there were quite a few people laying out and swimming in the ocean. I thought it was a bit to cold for that. It was awesome to see the beach. I have never been to a pacific beach like this before. I wish I could have worn the bikini that I bought though. We played in the sand with Kierra. She really liked it. It was fun to see the beach houses and how much people were asking for them.

Monday we went to Sea World. I thought this was the highlight of our trip. It was a nice day for it too. The shows were really fun and it was nice to see that Kierra enjoyed them too. We got to have personal interaction with some of the animals like dolphins and bat rays. The food sucked, but it's a theme park, what are you going to do. We bought Kierra a stuffed shamu. She really likes it. I think her favorite thing there was one particular walrus. He had his mouth up against the glass and he kept spitting out his food and sucking it back in. It was really disgusting.

Tuesday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a really cold day and it sprinkled on and off. I had hurt my foot somehow at Sea World, so I was really hurting at the zoo. Richard and I enjoyed all of the different types of kitties and Kierra liked the elephants. They have a children's zoo there as well where the kids can pet goats and other types of farm animals. It was cute to see Kierra interested in a goat. This zoo was unlike any that I have been to. I couldn't believe how many area's looked like natural habitats. Tons of trees and canyons. It was nice that there were moving walkways up some of the canyons because I was really needing them.

Wednesday we left for the drive home. Kierra probably slept for about a half an hour in the 13 hour drive. We had to keep stopping to change her diaper. By the time we got home, I think that we were all ready to ring each other's necks. No more road trips for me. Hopefully a cruise without a baby is on the horizon for us.

Road Trip

San Diego, here we come! We are making the 740 mile journey beginning at 2:00am on Saturday morning. I hope we survive. This will be the first super long car ride of Kierra's life. We plan to visit the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and the main reason for going is to see the Red Bull Air Races. Richard is a nut for anything that has to do with airplanes. We will be there until Wednesday.