Priceless

 This little girl just keeps getting cuter everyday. Bigger too. She just had her 2 month check-up and weighed in at 9 lbs 10 oz. We are officially on the growth chart in the 11th percentile.

It is a good thing she is so darn cute, because she is one expensive baby...

(who me?)

I made this post a couple of years ago about all of Aubrey's NICU and hospital bills. Again, I won't share my views on how ridiculous health care in America is, but here is the final tally for little miss Cora:

My Hospital Bills (including epidural): $24,631

High-Risk Ultrasound Appointments: $4,321

Routine OB Care and Delivery: $6,676

Routine Lab Work and Tests: $1,300

P17 Shots & Syringes: $170

Neonatologist visits during NICU Stay: $6,200

Hearing Screening & Routine Newborn care: $800

And drumroll please.....

NICU hospital stay: $185,610!

FINAL AMOUNT: $229,708

Welcome to California....

Cora had a relatively uneventful 19 day NICU stay, and it was a week shorter than Aubrey's was in Utah. California is so expensive!

However... opening all of these hospital bills didn't give me a heart attack because we have awesome insurance through Steven's job. We had to pay a $250 copay for me and a $250 copay for Cora. Everything else was covered 100%. So grateful for insurance.

So, Aubrey was my $100,000 baby and Cora is my $200,000 baby. 

Both my kids are priceless and I am so grateful for modern medicine and hospitals that allow my little girls to get the start in life they need. 

However, the price tag sure is shocking!

Beach

Steven is on paternity leave for the next two weeks. He actually could have gotten six weeks off completely paid, but we chose to just take two. More than that felt a little greedy, but it will be so nice to have him around these next couple of weeks while we move. 

Since we have a lot of work with moving coming up, we decided to take a fun day and go to the beach!   

Here are our Foote family "feet" in the sand. Aubrey of course had a hard time staying still, so hers is all smudged, and Cora's foot is so tiny it is hard to see. 

Me and my girls. I'm a lucky mom.

We brought Subway to eat at the beach, which was a bad move. Within 2 minutes, we were surrounded by Seagulls determined to steal our food. Aubrey was terrified. She kept screaming, "Birds, go away! Go away!" Steven, however, is great at getting Aubrey out of her comfort zone. He convinced her that chasing the birds was hilarious, which was way better than having her scream at them. 

I had to go feed Cora, and while I did, I just watched these two play in the ocean. It was definitely a moment I want to remember. Aubrey is so much fun and has way more energy than I know what to do with. 

Spending a hot sunny day at the beach in February? I'll take it!

Fun Hibernating

 Steven's mom has been here to visit. We have had a great time and will be sad that as of tomorrow all our visitors are officially gone. Just in time to move all by ourselves :)

Grandma has enjoyed lots of fun with Aubrey and lots of snuggles with sweet Cora.

Cora is growing fast and still sleeps a lot! She is pretty strong and also developing very well, so I'm enjoying having such a sleepy baby. Cuddling up to sleep on our chests is probably her favorite place to be.

She actually fits in her carseat now. For the first couple of months, my tiny little girls look pretty funny in their car seats... We don't go to the doctor again for another couple of weeks, but I am guessing she is up to about 8.5 pounds!

We have also been doing what I call "fun hibernating," Aubrey loves to have fun, and she has definitely been missing her friends and going out so much. She called some teenage girls we saw walking around our apartment complex "friends" so we know she is getting desperate.

Preemies have weaker lungs and much weaker immune systems than a full-term baby. A common cold could put Cora back in the hospital so fast. I don't even want to think about RSV or the flu. And, honestly, the greatest risk of Cora getting sick is catching something from Aubrey.

So, we are pretty much hibernating until March/April. I tried to take Aubrey to a couple of places, but every time I do there are sooo many sick people! So... for now.... the poor girl is not able to do much.

We have been thinking of lots of fun things to do that are not around lots of germy people. The weather has been great the past couple of days, so we have gone swimming every day. I love living in California. Aubrey is still such a little dare devil.

We have also been doing lots of packing (will it ever end?), cooking, play dough, coloring, games, etc. If anybody has any other ideas of things we can do out of the house but not around people, I would love more ideas!

And.... we move into our new place next Saturday. I'm counting down the number of times I have to negotiate Aubrey from our apartment into the car.