Break time?

It's been a while since I've posted so I figured I'd do a little update. (By the time I got done typing it was long - just a warning!) Things have been pretty crazy around here. I am now watching 8 kids plus Crue (luckily most of them are part time so I don't have 9 kids from 8-5 every day) and it seems like by the end of the day, I'm so worn out. When I was pregnant with Crue I felt great and was never this tired but I also had a desk job - not chasing a bunch of kids around, including one that is almost a year old and another that is a couple of months old. I'm glad I get to stay home though and not have to send Crue to day care.

Our big project going on right now is putting a room in the basement. My sister, Loni, is going to move in with us for a while so we decided to build a room in the basement. We had some supplies from my parents and stuff that was left when we bought the house and figured the rest would be fairly cheap. We were just going to put up framing (only one wall needed to be done) and put drywall on the two sides that weren't cement so it would be closed off. My parents had a door they let us use so it would be an actual room. A friend of ours has been helping us. What was going to be a basic room has turned into a room with a closet, insulation along the ceiling and cement walls (the other two walls have unfinished space/rooms on the other side and we'll finish those walls when we finish the other rooms) and drywall on everything. Then the other night they decided to go ahead and do the tape and texture on the walls and paint so that we don't have to take off all the outlet covers, switches, and light to do them. The only thing the room will need when it's done is flooring. We got some free carpet and pad from someone a long time ago so we're just going to cut that to fit in the room so it won't be cement but it won't be permanent. We'll just lay it out. They are going to be doing the taping tonight so hopefully the room will be done by next week. We started working on it on last Monday (March 9) and she was going to be able to move in this week but now it's looking like next week. It looks like a room now though so that's good! I'm glad we've had supplies donated by my parents and supplies and labor by our friends. It's been a huge help. It'll be nice to have Loni here so she can start doing all the cooking and cleaning and watching Crue. Just kidding Loni! I'll be glad to have the room done because Crue loves to go downstairs and play in there while they're working (he likes to be with daddy too) so I'm spending most of my time down there making sure he stays out of the way and not getting stuff he shouldn't (like the knife for the drywall). I haven't been able to get anything done upstairs so now my messy house is REALLY messy and driving me crazy. We're going to St. George this weekend so I won't be getting anything done until next week. And I feel so worn out all the time that it's hard to get motivated to do anything when I do have a little break. Hopefully I can get things clean, and feel good in my home again! And then the room will be done, the house will be clean, and we can have a break for a little while and get to bed at a decent time every night!

Crue will be 18 months old on the 26th of this month. He'll get to go to Nursery! Of course, I haven't been the one taking him each week since I play the piano in primary and can't really watch him and play at the same time. So it's not as big of a deal for me but I'm still excited for him to be able to go play with the other kids and all the toys. Jared takes him every week and when he has to teach Sunday School (he teaches the 16-17 year olds with another guy in the ward) our good friends, Tyson and Rachael, take him for us. They moved in just around the corner last year so we hang out with them almost every week. And we sit together in church and Rachael and I go to the Enrichment stuff together (it's so nice to have someone to go with!). And they're also willing to watch Crue when we go to my doctor appointments which makes it nice because we pass their house on the way to the doctor's office or the hospital for lab work.

We talked to my doctor about a week ago at my last appointment. We have been worried because we don't know how we're going to pay for the baby. It was already a worry and then Jared ended up having surgery and his deductible is $1500 (luckily the insurance pays 100% after that). A friend had told us about a midwife doing a home birth only costing $2000 (vs. approximately $8000 for my doctor at the hospital). Neither of us really wanted to do that but the cost was a huge factor in considering it. Rachael told me about the financial assistance at the hospital. We can't really do payments, or they can't be very much, but she told me sometimes they'll write some of it off so you don't have to worry about it. She has been VERY helpful in getting me forms, telling me who to talk to, telling me how they do things (she does billing for some physicians and knows some of how the hospital works). When Jared had his surgery she talked to her boss to find out what I needed to do for help even with Jared's deductible. She brought over a form when we were at the hospital and told me what I needed to do and who to talk to. The lady at the hospital said she won't know what they can do until they get the bill from the hospital so as far as delivering there, I could do it and hope that things worked out or I could do the midwife and have a lot less cost. We decided to do it at the hospital (we really like the people there and it's nice to be able to relax and have them watch the baby the first night). Jared and I both really like my doctor so we decided we'd better talk to him as well before we change doctors (and go to the one at the hospital so that he can do the same financial assistance as the hospital) to see if he'd do anything for us. We didn't want to call and talk to the girls and be just another patient. We were both nervous but while we were in there my doctor mentioned that we were waiting on insurance or something. I told him we had been waiting on Medicaid but that I had been denied so we wanted to talk to him to see if there was anything that could be done. He told us not to worry, that we'd figure something out. Since he owns his office, he's in charge of what gets billed, etc. compared to the doctors that work for the hospital who have no control over any of that. He asked Jared about doing some trade work for some of it. My doctor and his sons have some motorcycles so depending on what needs to be done (Jared doesn't know everything about motorcycles since they're different than cars in some areas - he takes his bike to get worked on for certain things that he can't do). I told him we can't do big payments and he was very reassuring and said not to worry about anything. He said we'll get things figured out so that I can still go to him but not have to worry so much about the financial part of it. I was so glad! Jared and I both felt much better after talking to him. He's a great doctor and I plan on staying with him for all my kids so I didn't want to have to go to someone else just this one time.

I think that's about everything for us. Sorry that it's so long. Some of it is for me to have a record of things and other stuff was just an update for everyone. I'll post about Crue's checkup when we go (speaking of which, I'd better call to make an appointment along with other calls I still need to make) and get some pictures up of Loni's room when it's done. Maybe even a few of it in stages, depending on what pictures I have.