The replacements.

So "ashully" has been replaced by "I never seed _____ bufowe". Every thing we talk about (Zella is in a-million-questions-a-day mode) is "what's dis?". I answer. She says "OH! I never seed _____ bufowe". I say oooo-kaaayyy. She moves on to the next half a million questions. I'm exhausted by 10 am. That's if she sleeps in. If she gets up at normal time I'm exhausted by 8. Haha. She still uses ashully, just not as often as she was.

And strep throat has been replaced by, dun-du-du-DUN, PINK EYE! Oh how lovely. That's another trip to Urgi Care, another prescription, another battle over how un-scary this medicine is. I just want to scream "GET OVER IT" each and every time I need to administer medicine. Winnie is such the dramatist. Taking medicine is not fun. I get it. It doesn't taste all that good. I get it. TAKE IT ANYWAY AND SHUT UP ABOUT IT. I get so snippy after coaxing and arguing and begging. I'm over it. She gets one chance. I say "time for medicine". She whines. I pin her down and do it. I AM OVER IT. Today it's in both eyes, as expected. Tomorrow I will likely be dealing with all of the children and pink eye. I'm not looking forward to this. Dh and I are both so exhausted.

Speaking of dh, he's admitted to the possibility of being depressed. As in, when he's got insurance cards he's getting snipped and then going to a doc for depression meds, in that order. For anyone who knows my dh, you're having the same reaction right now that I did. Your eyes have just gotten larger, and your mouth said "whoa". You're staring blankly at the screen for a few seconds in shock. That's what I did too. I'm worried about him. I wish things would just settle down financially so he could relax a bit.

On the financial front, we've got a decision to make. Currently the kids are covered by medicaid. (that reminds me, need to call them today for clarification on something). Neall's benefits kicked in technically on October 1st. We're waiting on insurance cards now. We can opt to keep medicaid but pay a premium each month for it. Medicaid would cover any out of pocket that our insurance doesn't cover. For example, the trip to urgent care, under our insurance, would have cost $50 for the copay, and like $10 for the script, depending on where we go for it. If I sucked it up and went to WalMart it would be $4, but that's not gonna happen. Anyway, if we pay the $28/month premium for the children to be covered under medicaid then Medicaid would pay the $50 copay at urgi care and the whatever cost for the prescription as well as any deductible we'd be paying. Now, this month this would be a deal, lol, since we've been to urgent care 2 times in one week and gotten 2 prescriptions. However, this month was rare. We've never had pink eye, strep throat or an ear infection in this house. That they all happened within 2 weeks was freaky. I hope we never do this again, lol. But, $28/month for a whole year is: $336. Over the course of a year, do we spend that much in doctor visits and such? It's probably close. However, this occurred to me last night, so hear me out and kick it back to me if you see a flaw in my thinking or agree with me. The nice thing about paying the medicaid premium is peace of mind. Yesterday I took Winnie to the doctor without so much as a thought about how to pay for it. And there was no stress about how to pay for a script and how much it would be and is there something cheaper and maybe she doesn't need it at all. There's something to be said for having those unexpected expenses covered by a planned expense each month, rather than happening at the WORST time (which unexpected expenses often do, yk?).

And finally, I have GOT to go get this paperwork notarized and get Oak's ss# and such. I need it for Medicaid, for one thing, and the other insurance for another, and goodness knows what else will come up. I also need to get the kids registered for gymnastics. Don't know how I'll do that. Pah, so much to do, so little opportunity to do it.

On the plus side, fall has arrived, looks like for good this time. Cross your fingers.