Tooth Update

Nicole went in to the dentist this morning, all drugged up and was given the NOS and it did not stop the wiggles. She wiggled and got very silly and did NOT like the drill or the dentist in her mouth and the dentist was unable to  fix the cavities or the front tooth.

I wasn't actually there, but Matt said that it was ridiculous. So, 100 dollars later, we were told that we would have to go to a REAL pediatric dentist. The dentist we went to said they did pediatric dentistry, but they also do family dentistry, so they are apparently ill equipped to sedate young children. Ugh! Why did they even say they could treat Nicole if they obviously couldn't?

So, I called an ACTUAL pediatric dentist and made sure that they could sedate a two year old in order to fill a cavity and fix a chipped tooth. Nicole goes into tomorrow for a consult and then we will make ANOTHER appointment to actually work on the teeth. This is turning out to be an expensive and time consuming process.

If she still can't sit still with an oral sedation that the pediatric dentist does, then we have to take her to a medical center where they can actually put her under to fix her tooth. We definitely don't want to do that because it is very very expensive. So, here is hoping that the oral sedation works.

Snow Day

Last week we had like one day where it snowed and we took advantage of the snow and went into the backyard to play. Nicole LOVES the snow and everytime it snows she gets really excited and asks to go sledding. We didn't go sledding on this day, but we did venture into the backyard. The snow was kinda frozen on top, but Nicole still enjoyed it.

Dan came out in the snow too, but he mostly sat in the stroller and watched Nicole romp around. But, after a little while he started fussing because he was cold, so I got to snuggle him close to keep him warm. I love baby snuggles.

Nicole thought that a fun snow game would be to put snow in the sled. But, with her mittens on, it was a slow going process.

It was just so fun to watch her play in the snow with her Daddy. Matt thought it would be a good idea to start a snow ball fight with Nicole. But, once Nicole started playing this game, she didn't want to stop throwing snow on Daddy.

Chipped Tooth

Friday, on my way home from work, Matt calls me to tell me that Nicole has chipped her front tooth. Ugh! Apparently, Nicole was chewing on a fork, like she often does, though we are constantly telling her not to, and she tried to shove the fork between her two front teeth and she chipped off a bit of her front tooth.

It bled for a little bit and she wailed, but then the bleeding and the wailing stopped and she was doing okay. I called around to dentists Friday at 4pm, but I guess a lot of dentists get out early on Fridays because... they can. And, a lot of dentists won't even work on a 2 year old, so I was specifically limited to pediatric dentists. In the end, I was unable to get Nicole into a dentist on Friday. She will go into the dentist this morning.

I was able to talk directly with a dentist though (one who would not work on her because of her age) who said that most likely they will either file the tooth to even out the break or fill it, but there is a chance that the filling will fall out if she continues to chew on hard things (which it seems likely she will do).

All weekend long, she kept trying to chew on things. Toys, more forks (we had to switch her back to plastic baby forks), books, just whatever. What is the deal? Why do kids want to put things in their mouth? It is gross! Not to mention painful if you chip a tooth because of it. Also, I fight her to eat the yummy meals that I prepare for her, but she is more than willing to taste a library book.

UPDATE: Went to the dentist and Nicole had a cavity in her front tooth that caused decay and weakened the tooth. So, when she put the pressure of the fork on the tooth, it was very easy for it to break.

While at the dentist, we thought he should probably look at her other teeth and sure enough, Nicole has two cavities in her back bottom molars. Yes, Nicole has her Daddy's teeth. I have had exactly one cavity ever and it was on a baby tooth that fell out. Since then, I have been cavity free. Matt on the other hand... he went to the dentist last week and it was the first time... ever that he didn't have a cavity in one of his teeth. Bad enamel.

So, Nicole needs fillings on her back teeth and they will fill her front tooth. But, we couldn't do it today because Nicole just couldn't sit still in the chair. She was nervous and didn't like sitting in the chair and really didn't want to lay down in the chair, so the dentist prescribed her some Valium and she will go back in tomorrow morning all doped up to get her fillings. It will be a far less traumatic experience if she is calm. But, the dentist said that 20% of kids are still very wiggly even with the medication and the NOS, so we shall see how she does.

Nicole did get her very first cleaning today and though she was very wiggly and very nervous, I thought she did very well. No tears! Which is a win in my book.

More updates tomorrow and pictures with her new fixed teeth.

Letters to Mommy 9 Months

Dear Mommy,

I am 9 months old now! I am a big boy! I'm ready to run and jump and climb all the furniture in the house! Except that my body just doesn't do what I want it to do, so I will have to be content with crawling around and trying to climb on things only to fall down and bonk my head.

I have conquered the stairs! Well, I've conquered going up the stairs, but I can't figure out the going down the stairs part. I keep trying to superman head first down the stairs, but it just isn't working out for me. You and Dad keep catching me before I make it all the way down the stairs. You are totally stunting my fun.

Nicole is my favorite person in the whole world. I love to follow her around and go for whatever toy she is playing with. She tells me "No" a lot, but I don't care because she is just the funnest and coolest sister ever. But, for some reason, she doesn't like it when I follow her around the house. She keeps yelling, "Mommy, Dan is following me!" Of course I'm following her, she knows all the cool places in the house to play.

Mom, why do you keep feeding me those greenbeans and carrots? You know that my favorite foods are bananas and yogurt. Can't I have it for every meal with a lot of bottles in between? Also, I love those snack cups that are full of Kix and Cheerios. The snack cups are a little tricky though. I stuff my chubby hand in there and then I have trouble getting my fist full of snacks out. I would rather that you put my snacks in a bowl so that I can throw them every where at my own whims.

You keep calling me a "Fatty Lumpkins" mom, but when we went to the doctor, the doctor said I was only 20lbs and in the 50%. I'm a normal size, not a fatty fatikins. And, contrary to popular belief, my head is not a big baby block head, it is in the 50% too.

I didn't care for the doctor though. She made me lay on my back and that is my least favorite position. It always makes me cry. That is also why I hate it when you change my diaper, because you make me lay on my back and stay in one place when all I want to do is crawl around and play and attack your face.

I love you Mommy because you are good at snuggling me and rocking me and helping me fall asleep. I love Daddy because he plays with me all the time. He is always making funny faces and tickling me and letting me climb all over him. Daddy is the best play friend.

9 months is an awesome age Mommy! So many new things to learn and do.

1st Tooth... or Teeth

So, while I was gone visiting Sarah, Dan got his first tooth. In fact, he got his first two teeth. His first two teeth are the bottom center teeth, which is a lot more normal than Nicole who got the top right front tooth for her first tooth and it looked super weird.

I couldn't snag a picture of the teeth because he keeps them nice and hidden. I can barely see them myself. Every time I put my finger on his bottom lip to see the tooth, he sticks out his tongue to lick my finger.

I'm sad that I missed his first tooth. I feel like I miss a lot of stuff because I work and then I missed this because I took a trip. That's it, no more trips. I'm staying with my kids to maximum amount of time that I can.

Also, I love Dan in these pajamas because his big belly sticks out and he looks so stinking cute.

Dan is a pretty fussy face because teeth make babies all dramatic. But, he really is handling it a lot better than Nicole ever did. Dan is still a happy boy even though he is teething. He just doesn't want to eat and drools and has a runny nose. I love my baby boy!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm Back

I hope you have all excused my slight absence from my blog. I flew down to Albequerque, New Mexico to see my sister Sarah and her new baby Jack. I wish I had pictures of my stay, but I realized once I got there that I had remembered the camera, but forgot the battery that was charging in the wall at home. So, I am pictureless.

I spent four days cooking for Sarah and Mark and squishing Jack's baby cheeks. He is a cutey and I like to squish his cheeks. He didn't like it so much though, strange. We spent a lot of time (or all of the time) just lazing around their apartment and watching tv and sleeping. Well, Sarah did a lot of sleeping and so did Jack. I spent a lot of my time reading books. I read three books while I was there.

Mark and Sarah also taught me a new game, Bohnanza. It is a card game that involves beans, it was quite fun.

As nice as it was to spend time with my sister and see her be a mommy, I am very happy to be home with my kids and husband again. Nothing beats spending time with my own kids. They actually love it when I pinch their cheeks.

Bones

Last night, Nicole asked me if her teeth were bones. I told her that they were. Then, she asked me if she had other bones.

I don't know many of the names of bones because I never did take anatomy, so I told her some of the bones that I knew (skull, ribs, femur, ect...) Nicole was very interested. She repeated all of the names of the bones, even the ones that are hard to say (metatarsels).

Then, Nicole asked me, "Mommy, does sheep have bones?" Referring to her stuffed sheep who we usually call Lambikins. I told her that if Lambikins was real, she would have bones too. Then she asked with sadness in her voice, "Lambikins isn't real?" Which I had to back pedal quickly and respond, "Lambikins is real, she is just is stuffed and doesn't have bones."

I put Nicole to bed and a little while later, Nicole came out with her Minnie Mouse and asked, "Does Minnie have bones too?" This smart girl just kept thinking about our bone conversation and had to know which of her toys had bones and which didn't. So stinkin smart!

Wordless Wednesday

Crawling Crawler

Over the weekend, Dan started doing this...

And I knew that this was a precursor to crawling. Sure enough, the next day, he was doing this...

And he has also been pulling himself up on EVERYTHING. Which is driving me crazy because he keeps falling off of everything and bonking his head. He is fearless and just sees all objects as a challenge to conquer by climbing.

Dan loves to pull himself up on the piano so that he can press the keys.

So, I have to start baby proofing again. He is getting into everything and trying to lick the sockets and it is exhausting. I was kinda hoping that it would take him longer to learn to crawl, but he is determined to adventure. And, to keep up with his sister.

Nicole is not exactly excited about Dan crawling. Dan chases her and she hates it. "Dan is getting me Mama!" Is what she tells me all the time.

And now, some pictures of Dan chasing me and the camera.

"Sledding"

Nicole was so excited when we woke up on Saturday morning and she realized that there was snow on the ground. The first thing she asked me was, "Can I go sledding now?" I told her that we could go sledding later in the day.

Unfortunately, the snow melted as the day progressed and by noon, almost all of it was melted. But, not to be deterred, Matt wanted to pull her around in the backyard so that she could have a little sledding and not be disappointed.

I couldn't find her gloves and it was windy and cold, so she didn't much like it. So, it was a little bit of a bummer, but at least we tried to give her a little fun. Matt and I have been sick for days, so it has been a lot of staying home and watching tv. Kids need a little fun that doesn't involve tv sometimes.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Being sick with a cold for a week is awful. But, having a sick husband and a sick baby on top of that is the worst. Matt and I were both feeling sick yesterday, but the kids were kind enough to fall asleep in their room together before 10pm! It was very much a success. Usually, we put Nicole to bed in her room and we put Dan in the playpen in our room and when they are both asleep, we transfer Dan over to his crib in their room.

Alas that both Matt and I were feeling all sick, so it was difficult to fall asleep last night. Then, at 3am, Dan woke up because he is all stuffy and having trouble breathing. It breaks my heart when my kids are sick and there just isn't much that I can do for them. So, we let Dan roll around on our bed making growly sounds while we watched tv. Dan knows how to make me laugh even when I'm sick and I'm tired. We were all up together until about 4:30am when Matt was the wonderful husband and took Dan downstairs so that I could go back to sleep. When Matt does things like that it makes me want to marry him all over again.

I'm pretty sure that Dan was up until 5am and Matt was up even later than that because it is just hard to sleep when you can't breathe. My alarm went off at 6:45am this morning and I immediately disabled it because I was not feeling inclined to drag myself out of bed just yet. I was very tired and stuffy and grumpy.

But, fifteen minutes later I heard Nicole shouting about something in her room and I knew that if I wanted to shower, I ought to get up out of my bed and quit being so lazy. I begrudgingly got out of bed and got in the shower and before I was finished showering, I heard Nicole opening the door and asking me, "What are you doing?" Which is one of her favorite questions.

Once I was all out of the shower and clean, I found that Dan was awake too. To which I thought, "Figures" because Nicole always wakes Dan up in the morning.

Matt never did come back to bed, so I knew he must have passed out on the couch downstairs, so I did the morning routine with the kids: diaper change, toilet visit, breakfast, and cartoons. Matt slept through all of this even though we were in the dining room eating breakfast and Dan kept shouting at me for more yogurt. I wish I could sleep like that! But, even when I'm all drugged up on cold medicine, I wake up whenever I hear one of the kids make a sound. Dumb mommy instincts that keep me up at night.

So, I was a little late to work this morning because I was caring for the kids while Matt got 30 more minutes of sleep. Which is nothing compared to how much Matt lets me sleep when he gets up with the kids at night. He is obviously winning the best spouse competition. I will just have to work extra hard this weekend to try and catch up.

Slumber Party

Momma Kimball called us last night and told us that sewage was backing up into her laundry room in her house. This is not the first time that this has happened and it is super gross. But, the city and the plumber could not come out to fix it until the morning since it was happening at 6pm in the evening.

So, Matt went and got Mom and brought her (and Sheena) back to our house for the night. No one wants to sleep in a house that smells like sewage. Nicole was very excited that Grandma and Sheena were sleeping over. She went a little maniac and started chasing the dog around the house and squealing with joy. Getting her to calm down enough to go to bed was challenging.

I'm still fighting a cold and so I was a little drugged with cold medicine and just went to bed early. I'm glad that we have a hide-a-bed that guests can stay on when we do have guests. Hopefully, Momma Kimball's house will get cleaned out today so that she doesn't have sewage house.

And, hopefully, they fix whatever plumbing problem is causing sewage to come up through the floor drain.

Wordless Wednesday

2011 Recap

So, I don't really write a Christmas letter every year. It just isn't my thing, but I thought that I might recap the last year for those of you who weren't reading the whole year. (So, for like 6 of my twelve readers.)

The year started out with me 4 months in to returning to work and missing my Coley so much. Matt was starting his second semester back at school. Oh, and I was great with child. Winter semester was really hard. Matt was taking 15 credits and the classes were really tough. I left for work at 6:30am and got home at 4pm just as Matt left for school. I put Nicole to bed at 8pm and Matt would get home at 9pm. It was a really sucky semester.

But, last April, our wonderful baby boy, Daniel Alan Kimball was born after just 8 hours of labor and 30 minutes of pushing and one week later, Matt finished his semester of school. And the hardest part of the year was over.

We got six weeks together as our new little family while I was on maternity leave and Matt was in between semesters. Matt took a couple of math classes on the block over the summer, but it really wasn't that bad. Then, last June, I went back to work and had to leave my baby at home... again.

I went back to work to find that all of the people that I used to work with have transferred or quit, so I had to become adjusted to a whole new team of writers. The summer was slow for work, which only made me antsy to get home to my kids, but at least I had a lot more time with Matt. No vacations for us this summer with Matt in school and me just coming off of 6 weeks of leave.

Fall semester came and Matt had decided to tackle 17 credits for school. Because he is either crazy or... nope, just crazy. It felt like winter semester all over again where we tag teamed back and forth between taking care of the kids. I missed my husband and I missed being together as a family.

But, because Matt is amazing, he finished the semester the second week in December with 4 As and 2 Bs. All the hard work and sacrifice paid off because he was able to fit in a lot of the prerequisites that he needed to take classes in 2012.

Then, we had the last two weeks of December school free! Alas that we spent most of it being sick. I still love my job even though I have been moved from my cushy office to a cubicle. This is actually a vast improvement since my office-mate was a smoker and a smelly cat.

In the last year, Nicole has grown up so much! She completed her first year of nursery, she is now potty trained, she will eat more meals than just macaroni and cheese, and she is really doing well at being a big sister. Her vocabulary is huge! I can't count the number of words that she knows and she is really good at speaking in complete sentences. Nicole can count to 20, can recognize all the letters of the alphabet (lower and upper case) and knows the sounds that they make. She has learned how to use my new tablet (much to our dismay) and can now successfully drink from a cup (she has been on sippys for ever).

In the last year, Dan has gone from being a fetus, to a newborn, to my little baby boy. He can get to sitting position from his belly, he bounces on his knees but is not yet crawling, and he can pull himself up on things. His favorite food is mangos and he loves Pops cereal. He is a lot louder than our Nicole was at his age and he says Mama, Dada, and Baba. He also says, "Bob" a lot, but we aren't sure who this "Bob" is. My little baby has grown so much in a year and I fear that he won't stay a baby forever.

2011 wasn't an easy year, there was a lot of sacrifice by both Matt and I to make our way toward the life that we want for ourselves. 2012 will also include a lot of school for Matt and a lot of work for me. But, in 2013 we hope to have Matt graduated and in a job of his very own. So, one year down and one year left to go. I didn't spend the year doing what I wanted to do, which was stay home with my new baby and my little girl and squish their cheeks nine times a day, but I think what we are working toward right now will allow for greater happiness in the years to come.