Update

Well, we did see the ENT for W this week and thankfully it looks like "we can fix it!" I was a little concerned they would tell us we were crazy when we got there because of course three days before our appt. W started getting better. His cough went away, his runny nose stopped but since that's been the pattern this winter (he'll get better for a few days and then get sick again) we decided to keep our appointment.

They said he has "middle ear glue" behind his ear drum and even though it's not infected it just is too thick to drain which is why he keeps getting sick. So they put him on one more round of meds and if this doesn't work we'll try tubes. They were concerned that he's only saying 5-6 words and think that's probably because he's not hearing normally. So hopefully if they can drain his ears he'll hear better which will aid his speech development. W tends to often ignore me when I speak to him so I'm enjoying getting to use the excuse that he's probably just not hearing me. But alas, deep down I know he's just being a typical stubborn little toddler!

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Here I go again...

OK, bear with me. I know you may not be interested in my political rantings but I guess you don't have to continue reading if you're irritated by this kind of stuff. It has come to my attention that the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the Federal Register that would substantially raise adoption/immigration filing fees for most types of cases. If the proposed rule is adopted, filing fees would increase by an average of 66% over current fees. The proposed rule is subject to a 60-day comment period that ends on April 2, 2007. At the end of the comment period, USCIS will review and consider the comments it has received on its proposed rule. USCIS will then send its final proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review. The OMB will make a final decision on the fee increase and issue the final rule.

Adoption is expensive enough already, and it is unconscionable to raise fees by up to 66% for adoption-related petitions. This can be fought, but it needs action by everyone. Fortunately, the "adjusted" fees will not take effect until the public has an opportunity to comment. The comment period is 60 days beginning February 1, 2007, and ending on April 2, 2007. That means we have less than a week to voice our objections.

Comments must be received by April 2, 2007, and must reference the agency name (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), as well as the docket number (USCIS-2006-0044). Comments may be submitted at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main, the Federal Rulemaking Portal, or via mail or courier, in hardcopy, disk, or CD-ROM form to:

Director, Management Division U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Department of Homeland Security

111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor

Washington D.C. 20529

Please consider supporting families and children by objecting to this proposal. If you are wondering why I feel so strongly about this issue please see my previous posts: Angel Baby, Adoption.

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I just had to post this pic of W and his friend. W is about 9 months younger than his friend and I think he's really beginning to look up to the older kids in his life. They stay with my friend on Wednesday evenings while hubby and I lead high school small groups at church. They are starting to become good buddies and I just thought this captured their relationship pretty well!

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Hearts at Home

I went to a conference last Friday called Hearts at Home. It was a really nice day for these reasons:

• the car ride up and back with my friend E
• spending all day with my sis and getting her undivided attention (i'm still the baby, ok?) (by the way, check out her new business venture)
• crying through the first song (they really shouldn't make you cry within the first 15 min. of the day)
• laughing my head off during our first workshop. The speaker was hysterical
• learning that no matter what I deal with as a mom, some other mom has been there, done that and can often provide encouragement for the journey.

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Nebulizer Nuisance

Well, we have finally surrendered to the antiobiotic gods and realized our struggle is futile. At our last trip to the Dr. he looked at W's chart and said, "Ya know, we've been battling this same ear/sinus infection since September. I think it's time to take him to an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist." They were the words I've been expecting to hear for over a month but my stomach still fell when he said them. Seeing the problems my 7 year old niece has had makes me pretty scared of starting this journey. She's had several surgeries related to her sinuses over the years and each one seems to help for a little while but she always ends up with another infection about 6 months later. I fear that our journey will follow hers.
Of course we can't get in to see an ENT until the end of March so that leaves us with a sneezy, coughing, snotty boy until then. They had us buy this nebulizer machine to give him breathing treatments 3 times a day. He's been tolerating them pretty well but seems to be tiring of them the past couple times. It's hard to get a little boy who has lots to do and is very busy to sit still for 10 minutes at a time unless he's occupied by the television. I'm not a fan of letting him watch very much TV but thank goodness for The Wiggles and Bob the Builder. I looked up the bio on our ENT (we didn't get to choose of course thanks to our lovely insurance). He looks nice enough but I'm hoping when I ask him in typical Bob fashion "Can we fix it?" he replies, "YES WE CAN!"

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Embarrassing moment

I've been driving for the past couple weeks with a rather embarrassing exhaust system problem. It wasn't outrageously loud but enough to make me want to sit a little lower in my seat so as not to be seen. We've been so busy lately that it was one of those tasks that just got put on the "we'll get to it soon" priority list.

Well, yesterday it became a "we'll get to it today" problem. I was out of town, of course, because all car problems happen when you're out of town. All of a sudden it sounded like the engine of my car had fallen out and was dragging behind. If you've ever been to a tractor pull competition it sounded akin to that although I think my car might have been even louder than that. Gas fumes began pouring in through the vents and I wisely figured it probably wasn't such a good idea to continue driving.

Luckily, hubby was able to leave work to come rescue me. Fortunately, the engine had not dropped from the car, but the exhaust system had come disconnected where it meets the engine so he was able to wire it up so it wouldn't fall off and drive it home with me following behind in the other car (which by the way also has muffler issues and a host of other issues but maybe I'll save that for my next blog. We refer to that car as our ghetto car.) Hooray for hubbies who are willing to sacrifice their hearing for their wives!

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