What smells provoke your memory?

Have you ever been somewhere or done something where it immediately reminded you of a place in time you have been before. This happened to me this morning and it brought back a rush of memories from eleven months and four days ago.

Over the weekend, I received a bill in the mail from North Austin Medical Center asking me to pay $19,212. Upon inquiry, if I were to pay this amount in the next ten days I would only have to give them a check for $3587. I would have to say that the medical industry has pretty good margins on their services. After six more phone calls and people in four states later, I determined that the claim for Reece being in NICU was denied due to not having the proper medical records sent to the insurance company. Now............in order to have medical records released, you must request "in person" the release at the hospital providing the service............meaining I have to drive at lunch today across austin to show that I am a real person.

I told all of that to say this.................

Upon stepping ten feet inside the doors of the hospital, it was like the eleven months since I had been there last were erased. The smell of that place.........good or bad........reminded me of the ten days I spent there in May of last year. I think most of all it is the smell of surgical scrub. In order to see and hold Reece, we had to scrub our hands and elbows for six minutes with a special soap and sponge, only after we went thru security to get into the NICU. That place was like fort knox. The entire event came back to me as if it were yesterday.

Getting the call from Jaime six weeks early and not being able to get a flight home from Madison WI. Finally getting home to be with Jaime and having to sleep on a couch in the hospital that my feet stuck past almost to the knee. Finally going home for some sleep only to have Jaime call two hours later to say it was time. Thinking I was Jeff Gordon on the way to the hospital. Reece coming via emergency C-section. Jaime and I in recovery trying to figure out what we were going to name him. Luckily.... moments before she went in for surgery, Jaime saw his name on the credits of a movie she was watching. Getting to see Reece for the first time and thinking how lucky we were. Not being able to take him home immediately because he was so small. Thinking how lucky were were that he was the most developed baby in the NICU. Getting Jaime home after a few days recovery. Having to drive the long way to the hospital to see Reece three times a day due to limited visitation times at fort knox. The heartache we felt for Reece when his circ bled for 8 hours. The tests..............all of the tests. Laying at home in bed at 3 am when we got the call from the doctor that he had Hemophilia. Thinking how scared we were. Getting to bring him home and not knowing what to expect. There was a whole lot going on in between these things, these were just the immediate thoughts that came with walking in to the hospital today.

If we only knew then what we know now, I am sure this would have been a little easier. Education over the last eleven months was the key. At the end of writing this, all I can think is.....................How Lucky We Are.

Good News!!

We SOLD the house!! Well, we signed a contract over the weekend set to close on May 12th. We were pleased with the offer. Of course, it's not a done deal yet, but we feel confident about it. Now we have to figure our where we are going to live for the next 4-5 months while they build our house...YIKES! Will keep you posted on that one. Here are some new pics of our new lot and of the neighborhood. I can't wait to see how different it all looks in about 5 months.
Front View of Lot

View from Back of Lot

View From Front of House

On Saturday Olivia had the neatest birthday party. One of her friends from school had a party at the Young Chefs Academy here in Round Rock. They made their own pizza (hers was heart shaped) from scratch and learn some basic cooking lessons. It was really neat! They even got their own chef's hat when they left...ours didn't even make it home in one piece though. Here are some pictures.






My friend Alicia also came into town on Saturday for a riding clinic in Georgetown. It brought back so many memories of when she and I use to go up there to ride when we were in 4-H. Olivia rode her horse with her like a big girl. It was so cute. Reece, just like his sister, is SO into animals. He was all about petting her horse, BJ.

M.I.A.

Okay, so it's been a long time since I last posted. I have lots of really good excuses but honestly, what little free time I have lately, I just want to sit and do nothing. Here is a quick summary of what's been going on lately.

New House

When we had the meeting with the builder a couple of weeks ago, we ended up having to change lots. We moved over one spot because when we saw the lot fit, the house was going to have 10ft from the back porch to the fence and all those trees were going to have to come out. NO! So, we moved over to one of the biggest lots now, however, the spec house they were building right beside us has the same brick and rock combination as ours which is not allowed. I've now gone and picked new brick so hopefully they will be starting on ours in the next couple of weeks. We have had lots of showings on our house but no offers just yet. Might I also add here, that keeping a house this clean is almost impossible with kids! I am cleaning every spare moment of the day. As good as it feels to have a spotless house all the time, it is SUCH a pain!

Olivia

She is still doing really well in school. She actually had a presentation at school this week. They had to prepare an "All About Me" poster and present it to the class. I was SO proud of her. The teacher said she did great! What a big step for my little shy girl! Here is a picture of her with the poster. She is so proud.

Reece

He is doing well....into EVERYTHING though! He went from barely crawling to speed crawling to standing and cruising all in a matter of a two weeks. I bought him some knee pads "wee knees" they are called, but I noticed they were causing worse bruises behind his knees than the ones he was getting in the front without them. YIKES! We have also ordered him a helmet. It should be here any day. He is making me SO nervous with pulling up on everything and really wanting to walk. That helmet can't get here soon enough. I'll post some pics with it when he gets it. His only major problem right now is his wheat allergy. It seems that EVERYTHING has either wheat flour or wheat starch in it. And, every time he gets a taste of it, his face and neck break out in this horrible rash. You can see in the pics below how red it is. Poor guy! On top of that, he is drooling SO much. Still no teeth, but I'm thinking any day now.

We are all doing really well, just a little crazy right now. We miss you all very much and will try to keep the blog updated more often.