I am considering a new venture... a blog for our area/town set up rather like this one. For those of you not able to click and go right now... it would be a blog about special deals/free events/sales/etc. in the Lafayette area. At present none exists and I think one would do very well... we are the biggest town in an hour radius and our metro service area is 200,00ish.

Yes, I have considered the time aspect, but if I get it launched and going before Summer's arrival, I feel pretty confident I can keep up the maintenance. I have about a dozen post ideas (roughly) sketched out already for free things to do/paid Purdue studies/etc. Posts won't take long to make and I think that utilizing naps will give me the time I need to keep it running. I think I could (potentially) eventually build it up to provide some income.

I intend to buy a domain name and use WordPress. Here are the names I've come up with so far ~ if you're able to, imagine them each as a .com and tell me which you like/don't like ~ and if you've got other ideas!!! I would really appreciate it!

* Tippecanoe Tightwads (Tipp. is our county)
* Lafayette On Less
* Tippecanoe Savings (blog titled Tippecanoe & Savings, Too! ....probably only for history nerds. :P)
* Lafayette Frugal Mom
* ?? Your suggestion here :)

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Keegan did his OT this morning... his controlled release is better, but we still have work to do (The Refrain Of LIfe, I suppose). Therapist is pleased at his new trick of pulling his socks off. So is he, actually.

This from my reading this morning (in God of All Comfort, which continues to be excellent): "...while our safety comes from what things really are, our comfort comes from what we suppose them to be."

The trick is to make sure our vision of what things are like with how they really ARE... and as Christians, we should have a stronger and more comforting view of reality than anyone, so we should be comfortable.

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Keegan has been battling a cold... yesterday I thought he was just about over it, although we still kept him home from church. Last night was long and icky though... lots of coughing and him getting frustrated over coughing. He and I ended up on the recliner for a couple hours; it let him sleep propped up and it gave me a chance to sleep too. Still feeling the effects of two nights of not very much sleep though. :-P I made Good Choices this morning to help battle that ~ said in a very perky and annoying voice ~ I ate a healthy breakfast, have been drinking water, and even remembered my prenatal vitamin. Yay!

Cute thing Keegan does when coughing right and left and being all stuffy: Okay, so the reason is pitiful, but it's adorable and understandable to watch. He will repeatedly try taking his pacifier but either coughing or stuffiness keeps him from actually getting to use it to go back to sleep. After a few failed attempts at taking it, he usually flings it away with some vim and vigor, clearly communicating, "Well, that's a dud!"

Other updates from my fragmented brain:
* have the paperwork to order Keegan's other bloodwork. Now need to call and get it scheduled.
* he has started to wave "bye bye" and point at things a bit more purposefully. loooove the communications increase!
* not necessarily an update, but it is so glorious getting to have an autumn.

This week:
* two therapy sessions (unless I cancel tomorrow's OT one because of the cold)
* 9 month evaluation meeting with the office coordinator for his therapies
* scheduling blood work
* scheduling shot for RSV immunity booster
* one of the last big bartering projects for a midwife
* cleaning the fridge! Must.Happen.

A lady from church e-mailed me recently to offer help with housekeeping and she's coming Tuesday night to help with things for an hour. SO appreciate this.

Thanksgiving is two and a half weeks away! Excited, excited, excited, excited.

Last week a primary goal was to finish the dishes every night. HA. Did not happen. Half of of the time it was because of circumstances outside my control (trust me, when you get back from having your baby go through an hour of blood draws, dishes are the last thing on your mind) and half of the time it was because of my own weak will. Mark and I talked yesterday about our goals for this week and I decided to not let myself get distracted and make it a goal for this week. And guess what?! My kitchen is free of dirty dishes! The counters are wiped. It's beautiful. It's so nice knowing that keeping up with the goal tomorrow will be easier because of the work today, too.

I do have a couple dirty dishes sitting beside me.... the bowl and spoon I used to consume a therapeutic bowl of ice cream. This week is full of paperwork and medical stuff. I hate paperwork. Loathe paperwork. But I've got pages of it that MUST be done and submitted pronto. So I spent a laborious hour tonight working on it. I was hoping to be able to ship it out tomorrow, but discovered that not only do they want our 1040 from last year, they also want Mark's last three pay stubs. Since he is required to be on direct deposit and since we can't access any of his pay information online, he has to go in and pick up the stubs. So I put the paper to rest and ate ice cream. Tomorrow he'll get the stubs and I'll fax in everything. wheeeee!

Also: scheduled an appointment for next week, paid a bill that needed paying, cleared my dining room table (w00t!), helped Keegan pull himself up to a sitting position a bajillion times (I think the major block to him figuring out how to do this is a cognitive one, not a physical strength one... and I think he'll get it soonish... it just takes SO.MUCH.WORK on both of our parts right now), sent out a couple necessary e-mails, called the insurance company to wrangle some more about stuff....uhm... and ate ice cream.

I am freezing. It's a weird sensation for a third trimester pregnant woman. I should put on socks and a sweater, but the novelty of being so cold hasn't worn off yet.

Having a poke battle with Summer right now. It's fun. :)

(from an e-mail sent to our congregation's e-mail list)

A couple weeks ago I talked to genetics at Riley and they said the
preliminary report from the International Skeletal Dysplasia Center
in California also said Jeune Syndrome. We got to our appointment
today and found out that once they finished their close analysis of
ALL his x-rays, they'd changed their diagnosis. They no longer think
it is Jeune Syndrome, but they're not sure of another diagnosis yet
either. They suggested we look into a metabolic bone disease or
hyperparathyroidism first and then go from there. Metabolic bone
disease, as far as we understand it at present, is a vague term that
can encompass many, many different things... some of them genetic and
some not. Actually, the same goes for hyperparathyroidism too. :)
Basically (I *think* - and I admit to being a bit shell shocked, lol)
that each of those diagnoses is like the trunk of a tree...once we get
the trunk figured out, then there are all sorts of branches it could
go off to for specific conditions.

We should be able to get some clearer information from blood tests,
but these are not easy with Keegan. Three people at Riley spent an
hour trying to draw blood from him tonight (including someone who has
done this job for 40+ years) and they were only able to get enough
blood for one of the six vials that we needed for the tests they
wanted. We decided to call it quits after the end of that hour and
will be getting the blood drawn locally. Please pray that goes
smoothly and well!

Both the genetic counselor and the geneticist we met with agreed that
Keegan seems to be doing beautifully right now.... physically
experiencing developmental delays, but still making great progress and
totally alert and engaged in the world around him. It's "just" a
matter of trying to figure out what we need to look out for long term.

If the blood tests show extra concerns, we'll be meeting with genetics
again before the endof the year, I think. If no red flags show up,
we'll meet with them again in six months where they'll do another full
round of skeletal x-rays to send on to Cedars-Sinai for further
opinions.

Goals for today: Call insurance co. with big question*, clean fridge, clear dining room table, wash dishes from fridge, end day with no dishes left in the kitchen (that is my Goal For The Week and then hopefully the Month: end every night without dirty dishes), and get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Accomplished: Called insurance co and started the ball rolling on the question, the interior of the fridge looks amazing, some dishes done, there are still dishes and leftover icky food spread all over my counter, and the dining room table is a mess. It's 10:30 and I'm trying to decide which goal wins out.

Why: Keegan did his all too frequent routine of taking a very exhausting and demanding hour plus to go to bed. His nap times are so, so ridiculously easy. Twice a day, I scoop him up when he looks sleepy (at two rather predictable times), snuggle up with him, and he's out in less than five minutes. Bedtime. Ugh. Beditme is a squirming ordeal... rambunctious cheerfulness alternating with irritable crankiness. Sleep takes forever to happen.
He also has a thing for wanting some partof me to be touching him while he falls asleep. I generally do not mind; I know it's good for him and he'll grow out of it in time. Last night, though, he got upset when I had to move my hand away to take care of something. I responded in the Not So Brilliant Way Mothers Sometimes Do: I overreacted and launched into a mini lecture that really, really exceeded the situation.
"Look," I said, "JUST BECAUSE I am not touching you does not mean I am not here."
I was planning on more (or perhaps, not planning on stopping would be a better phrase), but Mark chimedin... "That actually depends entirely on your definition of the word here."

Oooh. That got me distracted and thinking about how often my definition of God being "here" is different than the reality. Him being here does not change based on where I happen to be looking at the time; He's here nomatter what, even if I refuse to see it.
(also, for you mommies: I put my hand back on Keegan)

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* Insurance Co. Question: Requires an appeal and some paperwork over some maternity coverage, but if they agree with me, we will have saved ourselves over $700, I think. It's all a little bit time consuming, but I'm optimistic and thinking that all that time will be more than worth it if they agree with our appeal. :)

Okay. I am going to set a timer for twenty minutes and work away in the kitchen until that point and then go to bed so I can start tomorrow on the right foot at least.

Edits:* it is amazing what can be done in 20 minutes. still much more to do, but what's left is manageable
* No, I was not expecting K. to really take in what I was saying. I was venting, something I am not proud of... but please don't revoke my crunchy momma credentials because of it!