The Goings On

Illness

Sick again. Both Ava & I have had horrible colds since the weekend. Ava had a fever on Monday & Tuesday. The fever seems to be over, but she's still pretty sick. I should be at work right now, but since I can't take her to daycare, I'm waiting for Edward to get home from work. He's trying to take a half day today so that I can go into the office to at least catch up a bit. I'm still feeling pretty awful myself, so I won't be there for long.

Father In Law

To answer some of Sara's question's from my last post, we're actually not paying the entire thing ourselves. That's only our small portion. His care is $2,100 per month, which is actually on the low end for the Bay Area. Assisted living is pricey. FIL takes in just under $1,000 himself each month in SS & Teacher's Retirement. With the few expenses that he has plus a small amount of spending money, that leaves us to foot the rest of the bill, for now. The only family FIL has besides us is my BIL, and yes, they are splitting the bill with us.

The good news is that we are in the process of applying for a veteran's benefit that he is eligable for that will give us $1,500 a month towards his care, and it will go back & pay us what we've already put in from the day he moved into assisted living. We just need to finalize the paperwork, which is taking longer than we thought since we're having trouble finding information on his first marriage, which he can't remember. The other good news is that we just got word today that he's been approved for MediCal, which will help him out quite a bit.

Baby

This little one is growing well. I feel as if I'm huge, but everyone tells me that I'm carrying differently this time and don't look quite as big. I've definitely gained just as much weight, and I still have well over a month and a half to go. We're not at all prepared around here for her arrival though. I still need to finish clearing out the guest room, then we need to paint & remove the old carpet. Then we can start moving Ava into that room & then I can finally start going through all the old baby stuff to figure out what we need still. I think we have most everything, but it's all put away still. We also need to get a double stroller & I am convinced I want a snap n go that has a seat for Ava but that we can just snap the baby into in her car seat. I hate feeling so completely unprepared for this little one's arrival. We still don't have a name picked out yet either!

Miscellaneous

I'm trying to decide when to stop working. My hubby is freaking out about the economy & my leaving work for awhile, so he wants me to keep working. Days like today where I'm already stressed out about life & I have to worry about going into work late & figure when I'm going to make up the hours so that I still get paid really just make me want to stop at the end of this month. That way I can focus on getting ready for this baby.

My house is a complete disaster. I'm finding housework so difficult these days since I get winded so fast. My bathroom needs a really, really good cleaning but I'm not supposed to be around all those harsh cleansers, so I never end up getting it done. I'm tempted to hire a housecleaner to come in for one day to just help me get those big things done like the bathroom and mopping so that I feel better about everything. One time can't cost us a ton, can it?

My sister is starting to prepare for her wedding in May, which makes me realize just how soon that is! I still have a baby to deliver then I can find a dress to fit me. I'm the matron of honor, but she's having no bridesmaids, so I can pick out what I want in her color, which she thinks is going to be red. Ava is flower girl, so I have to find something for her as well. We have to decide how much time we can both take off from work & then book tickets to NY. There's so much for us to do, I can't imagine what my sister & my mom are feeling right now! Plus, my mom & I are throwing my sister a shower at some point, probably in April. Which means I'm either flying to NY or Florida sometime in April, with the new baby.

I think that about covers everything right now. I'll keep you all posted as we get closer to the due date, which is still February 22nd!