Rain Rain Go Away!

So it has been raining here for the past 10 days straight. Seriously, no break and no sun. I'm starting to get depressed. However, the forecast shows sun on the horizon- which is a good thing or I might go crazy.

The rain, along with Steven having both an ear infection and pink eye, has made our lives definitely less than exciting lately. No pictures of either of us... BUT, I know that Aubrey is way cuter than both of us and I want to remember some of the fun things she is doing now:

She is now three months old and weighs about 11 pounds. Not sure exactly, but she is growing well and chunking up. She has recently decided that she no longer wants to take a pacifier, but I still bring it along everywhere "just in case."

 She still loves to sleep and has a little bit of a hard time waking up in the morning...

She is "Miss Independent" and her favorite thing in the entire world is to be held up high so that she can look around everywhere. I can't rock or hold her to calm her down, but this works almost 100% of the time.

She has rolled over a few times. Definitely not consistent and most of the time she gets stuck on her side. But, she is getting stronger, and I am happy that she is developing so well. Developmental delays are always a preemie parents' worry, and there might be some thing we have to work on in the future, but for now, she is doing remarkably well. She is seeming to be on track with even her actual age instead of her adjusted age.

But, most of all she is my sweet, happy girl....

 

So, I guess even with the rain, I have somebody pretty awesome to keep me company.

Oh Busy Season....

Dilbert is a definite favorite in our house. Steven and I both cracked up at the following Dilbert comic:



We both know that the long hours of public accounting can quite honestly suck sometimes. But, we also know that you have to "put in your time" if you want to get anywhere in the future. Which, we do.

I think people are crazy if they think that you can have a high-paying, 40-hour-a-week job right out of college. It doesn't work that way.  So, for now, when Aubrey and I don't see Steven that often, we will just laugh at comics like this.

Picture Attempt

After realizing that we had very few, I attempted to take a cute mother-daughter photo this weekend. I'm not sure if I could call it a complete success...

But I do really wonder what she is pointing at. I really love watching her funny personality develop everyday. She is quite comical.

Apartment Life

Since I left home at 18, I have lived in apartments. I counted this morning and I have lived in 8 different apartments. That actually isn't too bad considering the turnover rate of most students.

And, since the Bay Area is super expensive, and Steven and I are not completely sure where we will settle down one day, our apartment life will continue at least into the foreseeable future. I just keep telling myself that I'm not ready for yard work or to be responsible for our own repairs and it makes me feel better about my apartment-dwelling status.

I was thinking today about all the things you learn about your neighbors while living in apartments. Some good, some weird, and some not so good.

For example, I spent a few weeks observing the habits of our downstairs neighbor and this is what I came up with:

• He lives alone
• Every time I am up feeding Aubrey in the middle of the night, I hear him talking loudly on the phone.
• He snores VERY loudly almost all day
• He makes very aromatic food at 6:30 in the morning

From that I have concluded that he works all night, makes his evening meal when all I feel like stomaching is a bowl of cheerios, and probably needs his tonsils out.

I wonder what our neighbors think of us? I'm probably not his friend every morning when I sweat it out to The Biggest Loser workout DVDs while trying to get rid of these last five pregnancy pounds.

Oh the joys of apartment life.... it was our last noisy upstairs neighbors that made me adamant about getting a third-floor apartment. While dragging myself, Aubrey, laundry, and groceries up the stairs can be a pain, I have decided that I prefer the third-floor lifestyle.

And.... on a completely unrelated note because I think that every post needs some pictures.... this tiny, cute little girl...

poops so much. I know that babies poop a lot, but I am not exaggerating when I say that I have NEVER changed a diaper that didn't at least have some poop in it. And, I hate dirty diapers, so she gets changed very frequently. She must have some metabolism.

A couple of nights ago after a particularly bad blow-out, I decided to take a picture of her face:

She was pretty proud of herself.

Sleep

Aubrey definitely loves to sleep. She is also kind of an all or nothing girl. She takes 3 hour naps and then will be awake for 4 to 5 hours at a time. However, sometimes tummy time turns into nap time....

 

Sometimes play time turns into nap time.....

She is funny. And, I am now excited that she has also decided to start sleeping through the night. She has definitely always enjoyed to sleep, but since the doctors were worried about her weight, I wasn't allowed to let her go more than 5 hours between feedings. 

Now that she is gaining weight so well, I got the go ahead to let her go as long as she wants. She started sleeping 5 to 6 hour chunks, and then.....

I bought her this sleep sack and she is now sleeping from 10pm to 6am, eating and then going back to sleep until 8 or 9.

I am loving this whole getting enough sleep business. Now.... if we could only see Steven during some of those rested waking hours, I would be so happy. But, this is the last week of his busy season. What is it like to have a husband that gets home at 5? I can't remember.....

100 Grand?

There is a game often played at baby showers where you have to match words to different candy bars. For example, "epidurals" is linked with "lifesavers." Often, the candy bar "100 grand" is linked to "hospital bills." This is usually done in jest because having a baby is expensive.... but not 100 grand, right? Not unless your baby ends up in the NICU.....

Aubrey is now over 2 months old and I have just finally settled the last hospital bill. Insurance companies are a huge pain. I probably spent over 15 hours on the phone dealing with it all. For my Canadian friends, the cost of everything will be shocking. It definitely was to me when I moved to the USA. I have my opinions on healthcare here.... definitely not favorable... but we will keep those out of it.

As an accountant, I love numbers and so here is the official final tally for all of the baby-related hospital bills:

Ultrasounds and lab work prior to delivery:             $883.96 

Epidural:                                                            $1,008.00

OB charges for the delivery and prenatal appts:      $2,900.00

My 48-hour hospital stay:                                    $6,433.13

Pathology report on my placenta:                             $195.36

Daily NICU doctor visits:                                    $8,265.25

2 failed attempts to insert a PICC line:                  $1,520.76

Insertion of PICC line:                                         $1,500.03

Oxygen Saturation Study:                                        $250.00

And the big one.... 

The hospital charges for Aubrey's NICU stay:        $65,642.52

 Total cost:                                              ** $88,591.01**

Not quite "100 grand" but pretty darn close. And she was only in the NICU for three weeks. Some babies are there so much longer.

Luckily, I had good insurance through my job that had a yearly deductible and then everything was 100% covered.

Not so lucky was the fact that Aubrey was in the NICU over the new year which meant TWO deductibles had to be met. So, out of that $88,591.01, we had to pay $8,000. Still painful, but we are blessed that I had a good job and we had savings.

Even though it was ridiculously expensive, I feel like the cheesy Mastercard commercial when I say having her really is priceless. She was worth every penny.

Her college fund just might be smaller because of it :)