News bits of all sorts...
First off, everything's going really smoothly with the lot so far. I
think the only outstanding things are for the county to approve the
subdivision (although I can't imagine why they wouldn't, I think it's
what's considered "by right") and for the well to be drilled
and to come in OK, and we'll be good to go. I went out with the builder
last Sunday to talk about where the house is going - I'll post some
pictures at the end.
Laurel news...I don't know whether to call this bad news or not, because
it's what we've been suspecting for quite a while, so in a way it's good
to not have it be a mystery anymore, but of course the treatment part is
going to stink. On Laurel's fourth blood test, she finally showed
elevated estrogen levels, so we are going to have to treat her for early
puberty. This means a shot once a month. 
The doctor said that it may actually seem like things are speeding up
for a while, but then they should slow down. There is something that can
be subcutaneously implanted and changed once a year, which may be a
better long-term option, but I think the doc wants to do the shots first
and see how it goes.
In better news, we got her second-quarter reports from school. Here are
a couple of the things they said: From her special ed teacher - "We
are so pleased wit Laurel's progress. She is continuing to become an
integral part of her class, of our school, and of our program. All of us
are amazed by her flexibility and endurance." From her school
speech therapist (who mostly works on communication) "I continue to
be so proud of Laurel and how hard she works every day. I just love
getting to know her thoughts and ideas and sharing those with her, she's
inspiring to all of those around her." All of the reports were
great! She is doing so much better in school this year. We all think we
had no idea how much pain she was in from her hip and how badly it was
affecting her.
In crummy personal news, I have to get a root canal. At my last
check-up, the dentist said that I had a bit of decay next to a large
existing filling, and it would be best to have that tooth crowned. When
he drilled the old filling out, it exposed the nerve, and it's been
hurting ever since (about 2 1/2 weeks now). Naturally when I went to see
the endodontist, I was having a pretty good day with it, so he decided
to put off doing the root canal for a couple more weeks, but it's been
worse again so I think I'm in for it.
A co-worker who got one said that the root canal itself wasn't bad, but
having them refill the tooth was awful. Spiffy.
Otherwise, I'm still really stressed about work and the amount of stuff
we have to do to get ready to sell the house (an imminent reality
again!). So of course, I haven't done a dang useful thing so far today.
Well, not quite true, I talked to Laurel about some things for a Brownie
badge and printed out some information on manatees for her to pick from,
because since we read the book "A Safe Place for Manatees"
she's been wanting to adopt one. But I really should clean or type up
some minutes or something.
Meanwhile, though, here are some pictures of the lot:
This is the view looking out from where we think the front of the house
will be. The shed's kind of unfortunate, but there are some mountains
peeking out on the left. This is more or less facing south:
This is looking to the left. There are a couple of other houses in this
direction, but not terribly close:
This is looking at what would be the back yard. The builder thinks he
will clear to at least the downed tree in the back. He wants to clear
trees far enough from the house that we won't be likely to have one fall
on us, since there is clearly something of a history of that sort of
thing here. He thinks it'll be something between 1/2 - 1 acre cleared
all together. It's really quite flat on the top of this little ridge,
which will make it a lot easier for us to get Laurel out and about the
yard:
This view to the right shows the cleared hill on the other side where we
think the sellers are ultimately planning to put their house. The barn
will be in the valley between the two hills:
Here's a better view of the mountains, from right at the property's
edge:
And here's a shot up from where the driveway will start. The driveway is
on an easement - the property itself doesn't start till pretty far up
the hill:
Not much new on the adoption front...
We went and renewed our fingerprints on Thursday. The last monthly
referral batch included eight days, which is actually a step up from
what it has been (4-5 days). Bob calculated recently that if it stayed
at 4-5 days per month, we'd be looking at 2012, but if it got up to 7
days per month, we'd get a referral next year. So here's to speeding up!
