a fun week

Dan finished his finals a week ago Thursday and planned one week off before he starts his summer internship to relax. So this last week we tried to have as much fun as possible! We did a lot of normal stuff that Sophie enjoys on a regular basis like going to the park and the library; but we also got to do some special stuff like visit the zoo, take Sophie swimming for the first time this year, and visit the Garden of the Gods.

Sophie had a great time at the zoo. She recognized most of the animals this time and thought it was really exciting. I think her favorites were the elephants and the bears. We got to see them feed the African dogs some "blood-cicles" (gross, I know). When the dogs jumped around to get them Sophie was laughing hysterically I think she was as much of an attraction as were the dogs with the way she was cackling. I plan to get a zoo pass for the year so we can go back often.

I was really surprised by our swimming experience. Sophie was not comfortable in the water at all! She has a great time in the bath tub and I thought she'd take to the pool like a fish and have a blast. All she wanted to do is cling to me as close as possible. I did blow in her face and dunk her once and I'm pretty sure once she was done sputtering, there some were baby cuss words directed at me. :) As you can see from the pictures, her favorite part was getting out and eating prunes by the side of the pool. This little girl LOVES her prunes!

Yesterday we went to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs with our friends the Lawrences. It really was a beautiful place but I couldn't help but think that I've seen much better red rock formations in Southern Utah and at Lake Powell. We had a great time and I'm glad we went. I love going places with the Lawrences because they are a lot of fun plus Sophie loves them! On our way home I also got to check out the outlet mall in Castle Rock, it was awesome!! I think I'll enjoy it ever so much more when I can go someday with a little spending money. :)

I'm so glad Dan was able to take a little break from school and spend some time with us. We ALL deserved it! Sophie really enjoyed spending time with her Dad, it was past due.

In other news, I got a call from the doctor's office in Chicago this week and the Children's Hospital there won't accept Sophie's insurance... so the surgeries are off. Funny thing, I thought that if the insurance didn't go through I would be relieved. But I'm not, I am just disappointed. The truth is that it was really hard for us to come the decision to operate and to use this doctor and it's disheartening to know that we have the decision to make all over again. Our options are now that (1)we could go to a different hospital in Chicago (it's not a Children's hospital) and pay part of the cost ourselves (I don't know how much that would be yet). That makes me nervous though, general anesthesia is scary enough with an pediatric anesthesiologist who does babies all the time, I'm very leery of going to a regular hospital. (2)Or we can ask the plastic surgeon at the Children's Hospital here to do the serial excisions (removal in 2-3 stages). Which the doctor in Chicago said would be a good option, it just wouldn't allow for as good of an orientation of the scar as would the tissue expansion, he was going to do for us. (3)Or we can wait 2 or 3 years until we have private insurance and go to Chicago and have Dr. Bauer do the surgery then. What do you guys think? Do you think having it done while she's young enough to forget out weighs doing it the way that yields the best cosmetic results (although the younger she is the better she'll scar)? I like the idea of doing the surgery before we have any more children so I can give Sophie my full attention but I want to do what's best for her... any thoughts or ideas? Here we go again!!