Dr. Visit

Artem had his first appointment at the doctor today and he charmed the socks off of everyone there. He wore his new shirt today and it made everyone chuckle. We have an appointment with the IA doctor in Houston this coming Wednesday and we needed a referral from Artem's primary doctor. They examined Artem and he did really well with all the poking and prodding and giggled when the resident doctor looked in his ears. In February Artem was 27.5 inches tall and didn't even make it in the normal range for height. Today he was 31.75 inches tall and is now smack dab in the middle of normal for his height. He weighed 22 lbs in February and today weighed 25 lbs. I guess we know why he has been eating us out of house and home lately!

Speaking of eating, he is getting much better about yelling at us when he wants food. When I'm cooking I give him something to munch on while I prepare his meal and instead of standing next to me screaming for food, he's now smacking me in the butt. The first time he did it I about died laughing and I looked at Randy and said, "did you teach him this?" I let him know that technique was not appreciated and it stopped after two days.

So back to the doctor's visit. The doctor had no concerns at all regarding Artem and was very impressed on how healthy he is and how well attached he is to us. Artem had his "Very Hungry Caterpillar" board book with him and he shared it with the resident doctor. He opened each page and pointed to the caterpillar and said, "bug". He built towers with his Lego's that we brought for him and tried to climb the examine bed using the stirrups as leverage. The doctor gave us the referral and I watched the nurse fax it to our insurance company. Later in the afternoon I called to make sure the referral was approved and our insurance company informed me that Artem had been "termed" (removed) from my insurance and they cannot process his referral to the IA clinic in Houston. These are the same people that gave me his membership number on Wednesday of this week and informed me that he had been successfully added. Have I not made it clear throughout the life of this blog how impossible it is for us to get medical treatment in this area??? Reason #7,395 that I HATE our insurance company!! Getting this straightened out will be priority number 1 on Monday so we can make the Wednesday appointment. I've already had to reschedule the appointment with the IA doctor once after our insurance company did not get Artem enrolled on the date promised. I guess that would be reason #7,396 to dislike our insurance agency.

We had a lot of fun with Artem this week. He got a new swing set and Randy got it put together for him and Artem proved to be quite the monkey as he climbed everything he could. We also got out his remote control airplane that Auntie Wanda and Uncle Mike got him. I've got great videos of both events but I can't figure out how to get the video off Nero vision and saved on the computer so I can make a movie. I've done it before so you think I could do it again but then again I've had a major case of "toddler who runs around like his hair is on fire" so my brain may slowly be turning to mush. I will not let it beat me, I promise you video.

Here are a few pictures from this week:

Artem got a hold of my sunglasses after asking him to leave them alone but then acted like he was only giving them to me. Can you say, "manipulate my mama?"

My girlfriend Susan in Phoenix sent us the lamp that matches Artem's bedding. I oohhed and aahhed over the lamp while Artem seemed to enjoy the packing material more.

My mom knitted Artem a sweater, hat, and bag to carry his toys in. He loved the bag and was clapping every time I showed him how to put another item into his bag.

Since Artem wasn't with us since his birth, I missed the opportunity to take the newborn hair swirl picture but I think his 17 month old hair swirl is just as cute!