{And we're off!}

I kept telling myself to go update the blog, and I kept putting it on the back burner... And now, I have a ridiculous amount of stuff to report... so much, that I am pretty sure I will forget a few things.
Fail, Kate.

Ok, well here we go!

♥Caroline♥
*I am in love with this sweet little girl. She makes me smile, and makes me realize that the stuff I used to think was important, really isn't. She will melt your heart in the blink of an eye, or rather, with a flutter of her eyelashes or raising of her little expressive eybrows.

*She is starting to do tricks!! She can dance, give high five, tell what a fish says, respond to us singing "sweet caroline" with "bah! bah! bah!" (I am being serious!), Do pat-a-cake, clap, wave and say buh-bye, rub noggins (touch her forehead to yours), give smooches, and sign "all done"

*She is now crawling! I never thought we'd get there. But, this little girl likes to go big or go home... not only does she want to crawl, but she wants to pull up and cruise on everything, and walk around the house (with help) all at the same time. All you people who say they are exhausting when they become mobile are right. sigh... (I'm tired just thinking about chasing her around)

*She is eating solid foods, but we are having to be careful about the stage 3 food, because a lot of them have ingredients that she is not allowed to have with her food allergies.

*Speaking of milk allergies, at the last GI Specialist appointment, he told me to try weaning her off of the special (pre-digested) formula and going to the next stage down where it is only partially broken down for her. I had tried this at 4 months and it was horrible! So, with fear in my heart, I added a scoop of the new formula to her current formula last Monday, and no reaction! I have slowly been adding more of the partially-hydrolyzed formula and will continue to slowly add it in until a) we are out of special (aka expensive) formula, and b) she can tolerate a whole bottle of it. I am beyond excited-- this is really huge for her! We may be able to get her to regular milk-based formula by her 1st birthday if she continues to do well. Praise God for growing out of the allergy. What a huge blessing!

*Speaking of special formula, did you know that there is a Texas Law requiring all insurance companies to cover Amino-Acid formula (for babies with milk protein allergies and other severe GI problems) as a prescription? Keyword: As. A. Prescription. Insurance companies are trying to unlawfully charge amino-acid formula under a medical supply, placing it under regular medical. I have been fighting this since October, mainly because I am not going to pay $60 per can of formula (4 day supply) when I don't have to. Raise your hand if you want to pay $60 per can for 8 cans of formula in a month's supply... Blue Cross Blue Shield, you pretty much messed with the wrong girl. If you know anyone who has a baby on this formula, please direct them to me if they have any questions about how to get it covered. (Sorry for the soapbox)

If you are still reading, I congratulate you :) No, I kid. I appreciate you. Thank you again for caring enough about us to check in on us from time to time. It really means a whole bunch.

I am going to let that soak in. I will post more later this week. ;)

♥