October Outings

It's fun to play with the kids and enjoy the things they enjoy.  Recent family outings include a day at Bi-Zi Farms where we picked pumpkins...

 And a Halloween night at Real Life Church.  Desmond was Swampy from the "Where's my Water?" game and Kaylynn was her favorite cartoon character Doc McStuffins.

Health Insurance

We are blessed to have Davin's health insurance covered by work, and we qualify for the kids to be mostly covered by the state.  I, however, am a different story.  We make too much for me to qualify for state assistance. We don't make enough to foot the $500/month bill to add me to Davin's insurance. So I have an individual plan with Kaiser.  Since I first got my plan in 2009 my premiums have increased by about 100%, but coverage has remained the same and is good.  2014 changes all that.  

My plan is being discontinued and I have to pick a new one for January.  The best plan Kaiser can now offer me increases my premiums by a considerable amount and drops coverage by a shocking degree leaving me paying 80% more for the combined premium and out of pocket maximum amounts.  This is a problem with an upcoming hospital stay to deliver my baby.  The amount of extra money we have to come up with for my 2014 health insurance exceeds the amount we've budgeted and diligently started saving up over the course of a year and a half to take a ten year anniversary cruise.  To put it in perspective another way, the extra money we'll pay for Kaiser insurance would feed our family for about 10 months. Wow.

So now I'm in research mode, and I'm fairly certain I'll be switching insurance companies.  Regence seems to have the best coverage for the lowest premium so far.  It will save a couple thousand over Kaiser's plan.

I'm also researching my birthing options.  My last cesarean cost about $14000 before insurance and with worse coverage I have to look at the total cost since we'll be paying a higher percentage of it.  My doctor says I could have a trial of labor.  That is now deemed acceptable for women with no more than two cesareans.  (It used to be only one.)  Vaginal birth costs much less overall, but I'm nervous about trying it.  A home birth could save even more, but I can't see myself going that route.  I've looked into birthing centers, too, but they're typically out-of-network, and one I contacted said it costs about $5000 so it could potentially cost more than a hospital due to no insurance coverage.  Not all birthing centers and midwives accept VBACs either.  All that to say, if I really want a VBAC, I'm going to have to fight for it.  A repeat cesarean is easy and expected.

Once I'm done with babies, I will possibly drop insurance all together and pay the penalty.  That will save us enough to easily cover all my normal medical needs.  I know the new insurance changes help some people, but many of us in the middle class just get painfully squeezed.  I'm not surprised.  Seeing Obamacare coming, I expected to pay more and get less.  Someone has to put up the money to provide the same level of coverage for everyone.  Good for some, but really not good for me.

Desmond Is Riding His Bike!!

So, for the last few days Desmond and I have been working on getting rid of the training wheels. At first he was having trouble pedaling and staying up. He was just too wobbly. So, I decided to take his pedals off and lower his seat all the way and turn his bike into a strider. The result was almost immediate. He was able to stay up for a little while and glide along. We have been doing that for a few days. Tonight after going up and down the driveway a few times and him staying up for ten seconds or so until the bike would come to a stop I asked him if he wanted to put the pedals on and he way super excited.

The very first time after putting on the pedals he did awesome! He started pedaling and just took off. I have a feeling he is going to want to do a lot of biking in the near future. I am super impressed with how quick he picked up biking.

 

See Baby #3

We have the ultrasound pictures of our new baby!  Check it out on my pregnancy blog.

Homeschool

It's weird having total strangers share strong feelings about whether or not homeschooling is a wise choice or whether starting homeschool at five is healthy.  People definitely have opinions, and I'm becoming more aware of the fact that I'm not following mainstream.  

But regardless of how others feel I'll do, we are loving it!  We start each day with a little school after breakfast.  Kaylynn often joins in listening, coloring, or taking apart the ABC puzzle yet again.  Often Desmond will ask me for more when we're done so that's encouraging.  Today I pulled out the LEGOS to incorporate his two passions into one: learning and building.  He actually gave me the idea with this note he created during a quiet time.

I love my creative, smart boy!  I'm noticing improvement in his reading and writing skills.  It's really fun to watch.

This week we're learning about dinosaurs and the letter "D".  I found a dinosaur exhibit at the children's museum so I think we'll be taking a field trip later this week.  How fun to have the flexibility to combine a fun play day and school!

Another fun outing we're planning is the LEGO Expo.  Happened to see an ad in a magazine, and I know Desmond will love it!  I'm kind of excited to check it out, too.  Davin and I just have to decide who gets to go play with him.  I want to encourage his building skills.  Who knows?  We just might have an engineer on our hands.

Fall Schedule is Picking Up

It's strange to see all the back to school pictures on Facebook and know that I could be in that group, but I'm not.  Sometimes I feel envious of the moms who send their kids off for a few hours.  I could sure use that break!  But we're also loving homeschool and I know when our time with the kids at home is done I won't be wishing I had more time away from them.

Tonight I register for the homeschool co-op.  I had to navigate the online registration, print out necessary documentation, and sign up for when and where I'll be helping out.  This evening it's all final when I go pay and get any other information I need to get started.  Every Friday morning will soon be committed.  

MOMS Group is starting soon and I'm the communications person in charge of sending out the information and collecting registration responses.  I'm using Google drive to create a form and response spreadsheet.  This will make things a lot easier and more accessible, but I've never done that before and need to make sure it's all going to work smoothly for my list of nearly two hundred MOMS contacts.  Whew!  Soon three Thursday mornings a month will also be committed.

I'm used to having a wide open schedule so having two weekly commitments starting at the same time feels like a lot.  I'm also planning a big birthday bash for my mom in one week.  It's out of town so that makes everything harder.  I want it to be the best party ever so I'm having a hard time keeping it in perspective and not going overboard.  

I'm looking forward to settling in to our new routines.  One day at a time!

Green Peter Lake

On August 9th we went camping for the first time in three years!  We returned to my brothers' favorite spot at Green Peter Lake outside of Sweet Home, Oregon where we day-camped last year.  It's accessible only by boat.  In true Studer fashion we brought a little rain with us, but overall the weather was pretty decent.  The kids did fairly well sleeping in a tent and really loved running around the campground, exploring, playing with salamanders, and throwing rocks in the lake.  Desmond got his first inner tube ride pulled behind the boat.  He would have done it for hours if we let him.  Although camping with two little ones isn't exactly relaxing, I enjoyed the quiet nature all around us and a few extra hands to help wrangle the kids.

We also celebrated Davin's 36th birthday.  I got him a sodastream that's been getting daily use and some LuminAIDs which are really cool solar powered lights that we got to use that night.

Camping Preparation

Hard to believe its been three years since we've been camping!  Last time Desmond was two, and after a nearly sleepless night we decided it would be awhile before we did that again.  Well, the memories of no sleep have faded and we're trying not to notice that Kaylynn is only two and much more sensitive to her environment than Desmond is.  Last year we joined my family for a day camping trip, but this year we decided to give staying overnight in a tent a try. 

Our new huge tent arrived today.  It will accommodate our family for years to come with three rooms for privacy when needed and a 10 x 17 footprint.  I have been looking for a tent for weeks searching stores and Craigslist and finally found this one on sale on Amazon.  I like that it's Coleman and was less than $100 brand new. 

Of course we had to set it up in the playroom to check it out, and it barely fit.  It was a nice distraction for the kids today.  Also I think the more Kaylynn can get used to it the better.

 

Now I just need to prep all the food and make goodies that won't disrupt Kaylynn's diet.  Then it's on to the packing list.  I'm looking forward to arriving at Green Peter Lake on Friday!

9th Anniversary

It is so nice to be away from the kids for a couple nights!  Davin and I are at a beach house in Depot Bay, OR.  It's owned by some church friends, and we won it in a missions trip fundraiser bid.  We just bid our whole anniversary budget although this house is worth a lot more, and since we paid it to the church, it's also tax deductible!  

We arrived yesterday afternoon, and it's perfectly lovely.  We have an ocean view and a hot tub.  Our walk on the beach last night was cold, but we're hoping to get more sun this afternoon.  We had a nice evening of relaxing, and I enjoyed working on a puzzle this morning looking out over the ocean while Davin slept in.  It's so nice having no little voices clamoring for me this morning.  Here's to a whole day of doing whatever we want!

An iPad

Davin purchased my anniversary gift early since I was quitting Target and he wanted to use my employee discount.  My iPad mini was a big surprise!  I am loving it and it has been helpful for taking notes at the homeschool conference, tracking my calories and exercise, a camera on the go, and keeping up with friends.  Technology is so fun!  I'm starting to feel like I can't go anywhere without it though so I might be getting a little too attached.  I can blog from it, too, so maybe I'll keep up with that a bit better.