Crazy Family

Thanksgiving morning, some of my crazy family decided it would be fun to participate in the YMCA's Annual Turkey Trot Biathlon. Two of my sisters, and my brother-in-law, decided it would also be fun to drag Martha and I along with them to count laps at 7:30 in the morning.



My sister Genevieve runs marathons, triathlons, climbs really tall mountains, and generally loves this kind of stuff. She is the one to blame for all the excitement. This was April and Jeff's first event and we are so proud of them. Genevieve killed the other 4 participants in the swim portion and then headed out into the freezing cold for the run. Jeff didn't drown and so I was happy not to have to use my CPR skills.

The start

Booking it down the road

After the swim was over, Martha and I jumped into the van and yelled motivational things from our nice warm, cushy ride. I think the other runners thought we were probably crazy. After it was all over, Genevieve was interviewed for a local news program, and we all headed home for FOOD!

Frozen Hair, didn't her mother teach her not to go out with wet hair?

Crossing the finish line

Our Star Participant, trying not to pant

Gross

We just got back from the library and park. As I was unbuckling Target Boy's carseat, I asked what he was eating. His response, "My boogers!"

Think Pink

We had our ultrasound today, and... can you guess? We are having a little girl! There has only been one girl born in Target Man's family since his grandmother's generation. Yep, she had boys, who had boys, who had boys... but now in February a little pink will be added.

We are excited and I really want to go buy something cute and girly, like shoes! It means we might actually have to buy some things for this baby, if we don't want her confused for a boy. When Target Baby was born, I didn't even get anything out until the day after I was supposed to be induced (busy hospital, nasty ICP, long story). Anyway, I might need to be a little more on top of things this time.

In other even more important news, the baby looks healthy. Heart, facial structure, etc. look great. Currently, this baby is right on track and weighs in at 15 oz. She was being very modest for the entire ultrasound and had her legs pressed together and feet crossed at the ankles. She kept that position the entire time, even though she was tumbling and doing cartwheels. She was even holding the umbilical cord in her hand right at her legs. The wonderful tech had me stand up, roll over, all that kind of stuff with no luck. Finally, she sent us over to my Dr and told us to come back after and we'd try again. Thankfully, she had uncrossed her legs and we are pretty definite that this baby is a girl. Anyway, I'm glad we know, and she finally decided to cooperate. Now, I will just have to retrain my brain from calling my kids, "the boys".

Pumpkins

I love Tuesdays. They are our family's little private Saturday during the week. Target Man is off on Tuesdays (Christmas season of course varies a little) and we reserve the entire day for family. Yesterday we headed to a local pumpkin patch.

It wasn't the greatest time to go as this place has all of its big festivities on the weekends, and the pumpkin patch was really picked over. But we got to explore without anyone else there, and the boys had a great time. Target Boy came home with 4 little white pumpkins that he wouldn't let anyone else carry. He kept dropping them every couple of steps, so it took awhile to actually get out of the patch.

After we left the pumpkin patch, we headed over to our local farmer's market to check out their selection. Because Target Man and I always seek out the perfect pumpkins for carving, we figured the farmer's market, which boasts having over 60 different kinds of pumpkins all of which are locally grown, would be a good alternative to the patch. It was great. We found our perfect pumpkins, watched Target Boy continuously load pie pumpkins into the wagon, and kept Target Baby from throwing to many of the little ones. We had Target Boy narrow his selection to two little pumpkins and then we headed home.

It was a perfect pumpkin Tuesday.

Healthcare Customer Service

I just had the most incredible customer service phone experience in my lifetime. And get this, it was with a health insurance company! Target Man destroyed his ankle in July and we had to take him to the ER. Well, in the past months I have been getting denied claim statements, due to the insurance company not having the medical records to show it was an emergency. I have been putting off calling for awhile, but decided today, mostly cause I actually got a bill yesterday, that I would devote all of naptime tracking down what I needed and resubmitting the claims.
My first call was to United Healthcare's Optimum Choice costumer service line. In under 15 minutes everything was completed. That included hold time. They took my info, resubmitted all claims, have already paid the hospital, and called the two offices that have sent me bills. I am completely impressed and ready to tell everyone that if you have this insurance as a choice, go for it! We owe what we should for the ER visit, $150 as a copay! I think I may actually write the company and tell them they did an awesome job, that's how impressive it was.

Now, I have the rest of naptime to do whatever I want (or at least get the floor mopped!)

$2.54

I just spent $2.54 at Target and got:

4 - 8 oz Horizon Organic Milk single serve cartons

2 - Instant Carnation Breakfast, 10 packets in each (to fatten up Target Baby)

1 - Big/Normal (its upstairs, I'm not checking the size) Crest Toothpaste

1- Fun Size Snickers bag

The only thing I paid for was the Snickers. It was Target Boy's special treat he got to pick out for being amazing (meaning he actually told me he needed to go "brown poopy" and then went all by himself) this morning.

I LOVE COUPONS!

Answer to a Question

So to those of you who don't know, yes I am pregnant. We are having baby number three sometime during February. I am due Feb 22 and am 19 weeks this week. Our ultrasound is scheduled for Oct 16 (two weeks from tomorrow) and hopefully this baby will be more cooperative than Target Boy and we will know what we are having!