What's up, Doc?

Every once in a while, just for kicks and to torture me, Matt does this thing on Microsoft Money where he makes a chart that shows where and how we spend our money every month. I see the numbers for eating out and going to Wal Mart and try to breathe normally. Then I see the amount of money that we spend on day care, and I realize that had we opted not to have children, we could be spending roughly one week per month in the Cayman Islands with the money we would have saved.

Since Ethan has been born, I've noticed another piece of the pie growing at an alarming rate--the amount of money we spend on doctor's visits and medicine. The first year we were married, I had my tonsils out and my wisdom teeth pulled and Matt had a kidney stone, and we thought we had spent more on medical bills in one year than we would ever have to again. Well.

Every time we take Abby or Ethan to the doctor, we pay a $25 co-pay. Which isn't bad, unless you are at said doctor's office once a week. Then said doctor prescribes whichever child a medication, which will no doubt cost $27 in co-pay. Unless of course, whichever child is prescribed an inhaler to use for his respiratory infection for 5 measly days, and the medicine part costs $27, but the inhaler part is not medication but a medical device and therefore not covered, and therefore costs $46 by itself.

But I digress. The point is, we have never had to budget in medical expenses--it was just something you dealt with when it came up, like needing new toothpaste or paying that poor homeless guy on the corner to clean your garage. (Kidding, honey!) Now, though, medical costs are a force to be reckoned with, and we're doing plenty of reckoning.

Speaking of these expensive kids, Ethan has perfected the "touchdown" motion of throwing his arms up in the air when the word is said. Abby has taken to wearing a pedometer she got in a cereal box, and I'm sure you'll not be surprised to know that she's clocking in at about 75,000 steps per day. Must be the medicine the doctor put her on.