Christmas pictures

My mother, brother, us and the kids.

Rhys and Zoe playing at my cousin's house on Christmas Eve.

Rhys is sitting in his new Special Tomato chair, and was anxious to get

onto the ground to wreck havoc with the toys.

My mother and Zoe.

Me and my brother.

My silly boy and his Nilla wafers.

visit with Santa

Cody's office had a Christmas party for the kids last week. It was both Rhys's and Zoe's first introduction to Santa. We didn't get Santa pics with Rhys last year because (a) I was pregnant and supposed to take it easy and (b) we were trying to keep Rhys away from crowds and germs.

Rhys did not crack a single smile. He was seriously trying to figure out just who the heck the guy in red was.

Zoe just about had a meltdown. We were able to get a few pics before her bottom lip started to pucker, and someone quickly snatched her from Santa's lap before she could start crying.

They were both very well behaved the entire time. Of course they were held most of the time as they got passed around to all the co-workers, who hadn't seen either of them since Zoe was a couple weeks old.

The best part for the kids was that Santa came armed with a bag full of gifts. It was really cute watching the anticipation of older kids as they unwrapped their presents.

Our kids were more interested in the paper. Especially Zoe, who currently tries to eat everything her fingers touch. And she has to touch everything. See her pointer finger?

Ah, my little man looks so grown up! It is hard for me to see it day to day, but when I see pictures of either of my kids I realize just how quickly they grow.

my little peanut

The nutritionist came today to visit Rhys, and she checked Zoe out too! Rhys's weight is back up, as is his height. He occasionally has periods where we don't get enough calories in him for one reason or another, and therefore he doesn't grow. Most recently Rhys became (very) mobile, was fighting his illness for several weeks, and as he grows his calorie requirements increase but his food intake stays the same. Our cycle is this: we have a visit from the nutritionist, she points out his lack of gain/growth, we put forth another renewed effort to tweak his eating, he starts gaining/growing again and makes up for the previous growth he "missed". Our efforts are constantly evolving based on Rhys's quirks. It only gets better as he gets older, and will continue to do so as we can start reasoning with him, however it is slow going like everything else. Cody and I are both well aware it all happens when Rhys decides that is what he wants. So all this to say Rhys is back to his ~25% percentile for height and weight.

My little peanut, on the other hand, is a plump healthy little cherub. She is still 50th percentile for height, but has moved right on up to 90th percentile for weight. :) It really is nice having a child that enjoys food so much. The nutritionist told us since she is eating so well, is so enthusiastic about it, and is self-feeding snacks, we should start the transition to more table foods. This means things like diced fruit and veggies, Cheerios and Kix cereals, and increasingly more textured baby food. I still don't have this with Rhys so this is actually fun for me! And sort of daunting knowing you are shaping your child's appetite and eating habits, for possibly the rest of their life.

more equipment

In addition to the chair and gait trainer Rhys has on order I was able to find him a stander on eBay for pennies! A stander was on the wish list, but it was more important to get the other equipment first. And since we didn't wish to bombard the insurance company with all requests at once (there is a high probability they would not have approved additional major purchases all in one whack) we put the stander on hold for a bit. I've been scouring eBay for various equipment that may work for Rhys, and recently came across a fantastic deal on a demo stander that is in excellent, like new condition. We paid $375 for something that would cost more than $2600 new. The mark-up on medical equipment is truly obscene. I don't know how these people sleep at night. Anyway, I am super excited to get this in for him! He loves to stand up, but it is difficult to hold him in the proper position for any length of time. This will allow him to work on muscle conditioning, but more importantly it will give him another opportunity for "normal" interaction. I'm still angry we didn't think to get this a year ago, but I guess we were waiting on someone to tell us what we needed. Which isn't like me at all, I am normally three steps ahead of the game, so I don't know where my head was. But, it's on its way now, and I think it will do wonders for Rhys.

ordered!

Rhys's equipment has now officially been ordered! Including a "rush" on the order and overnight delivery to get it here by the end of the year. Whew! Only one more obstacle left... delivery to us! A rush order typically takes approximately two weeks to manufacture instead of the normal three-four, so that puts it somewhere at the middle of the month. The items will be shipped to the med supply company's distribution facility, where it will then be delivered to us. I spoke with the supervisor today and voiced my concerns about the timing being so close to Christmas and he made me a bit more comfortable. He is closely monitoring everything and offered to keep me posted on the status. No worries if he doesn't, I'll just given him (another) call.

approved!

It isn't that I don't trust the medical supply company, but I don't trust them. So, I called the insurance company yesterday to make sure all the necessary paperwork had, in fact, been submitted and that they were in the process of reviewing everything. Our insurance has been great about paying/approving everything to date but I was still a little surprised to find out that they were in the final review process and expecting a final determination yesterday afternoon.

I called back today to get their answer and found out we got a partial approval on Rhys's equipment. Apparently some sort of optional tire variation was requested for Rhys's chair and that did not get approved since the chair obviously comes with wheels/tires. To the best of my understanding they deem it unnecessary since it is a duplicate item and is already included on the "base unit". Whatever. I wasn't aware a different wheel had been ordered and I don't care to have it hold up the process. I should be perfectly happy with the original tires thankyouverymuch! Unless of course there has been a disconnect in communication along the way. Which wouldn't surprise me. According to the insurance rep everything else got approved though.

I then called the med supply company to request that they call the insurance company to gain verbal approval so we can keep everything moving instead of waiting on the formal approval letter from the insurance company. You follow? I think these people are so tired of my daily calls that they are just as anxious to get my order fulfilled as I am.

Why do I always feel like I have to babysit people to make sure they are doing their job properly? Does no one have a good work ethic anymore? It's a shame helpful and willing employees are the exception and not the rule these days. I know this type of behavior wouldn't fly in my previous line of work. I'd have been out of a job!