ARG!!!!

So, early early on Monday morning, Matt took Nicole to the dentist to get her tooth fixed. Matt said the hardest part of the whole thing was getting her to drink the oral anesthetic. She took one taste and did not want to drink that bitter drink. So, they put it in a syringe and squirted it in her mouth. Then, once the medicine kicked in, it only took like 20 minutes to fix up that front tooth. The dentist also did the cavity in the back of her mouth too. They had to numb her for that.

Nicole came home all loopy and unable to stand, but the tooth was fixed! Huzzah!

Nicole was super loopy on Monday. I took the day off of work to stay home with Dan while she got the procedure and then to stay home with the kids while Matt went to school. Nicole kept trying to get up and walk places, but she was not in control of her body quite yet, so she kept falling down. It was a little funny to see. Also, she was super thirsty, which also meant she had to pee like 15 times that day and I had to carry her to the bathroom because she wasn't walking so well. It took hours for this stuff to wear off.

Also, half of her face was numb, so every expression she made looked really funny. This picture doesn't do it justice, but she was trying to smile in this pic.

I was very pleased with the service of the dental office and how well they handled our Nicole. Nicole did not remember anything about the procedure. I asked her what she did at the dentist and she said she drank medicine. That was all she remembered.

And then, two days after the procedure... the stupid filling fell right off! We have been so careful not to let Nicole chew on metal or hard things because front tooth fillings tend not to stay and it just fell off. We don't know when it happened, Matt just noticed it on Wednesday. I'm so mad! We payed a LOT of money to get the tooth fixed, I took a whole day off of work to stay with Nicole and now, just two days later, the stupid filling on the tooth fell off. It looks even worse than before. The chip is much bigger. I didn't snap a pic of it, but once I do, I'll post it up.

I called the dentist and asked "What the heck?" and they said I needed to come back in for another consult. But, these pediatric dentists are booked out every week, so we aren't going in until next week and then it will probably be another week after that until they are actually able to fix the tooth again and so help me if I have to pay my money all over again to get this tooth fixed!

ARG!!! It is frustrating.

Stupid Silver Dollar

Many times I am sitting at work, minding my own business, writing intensely and working hard, when suddenly my sweet tooth starts to talk to me.

"Becky, hey! You know what sounds good? One of those delicious pink cookies out of the vending machine. Or, maybe one of those pack of donuts? Come on, I want something!"

I try to ignore this voice and continue my work until it annoys me so much that I rip open my desk drawer and start looking through my change. I find a quarter, rush over to the vending machine, contemplate and make my selection, put my quarter in the slot and stop. My quarter doesn't fit. I shove and twist and push and inspect the coin slot and the coin still doesn't fit.

I finally look at my coin and it is a stupid Susan B Anthony silver dollar! Frustrated and craving sweet even more, I go back to my desk, check my coin purse and there are no other quarters. I am left frustrated with my sweet tooth yelling at me, so I put my dollar back in my wallet and go back to work, craving!

A few days go by and I once again feel the craving hit. I have forgotten all about my last debacle and I go to my wallet, pull out a quarter only to discover, once again that it is that stupid silver dollar! I just keep pulling it out of my wallet thinking it is a quarter and it isn't. I have got to get rid of this thing! But, the change machine doesn't take it and I just don't know how to get rid of this thing. Throwing it away seems like a waste, but all I want is four quarters in exchange for this useless coin.

Right now it is sitting on my desk as a reminder that it isn't a quarter and will not fulfill my cookie cravings. Curse you silver dollar who is not a quarter!

Busy Busy Busy

This weekend was a busy one. Busy because I am cleaning and prepping and shopping and cooking and testing for a certain awesome party that is to happen next weekend. I must be prepared!

We went shopping Friday night for a bunch of Walmart stuff that we needed and spent way more at Walmart than we usually do. But, that is what we get for putting off a Walmart trip for a month. We drove all the way out to the Lindon Walmart, even though the Orem Walmart is just 7 minutes from our house because the Orem Walmart is kinda lame. It has a weird smell, it is always dirty, it is always crowded and it seems to never have the items stocked that we are shopping for. Whoever is in charge of inventory and stocking should be fired because they suck at it. So, whenever we have the time, we go the 15 minutes out to Lindon to shop at their superior Walmart. They had Gaterade blue in the powder and I was so excited that we bought two. I love that stuff.

Shopping took up almost all of our Friday night and Matt did homework the rest of the night like the good student that he is. He is so diligent about his homework. I don't remember working as hard as he does when I was in college. This is perhaps because I was single and carefree and thought college was lame but necessary. Except when I went to college in Hawaii. That was a lot less lame.

On Saturday, I did a lot of cleaning and made Matt do chores too. I can't wait for the kids to grow up so that I can make them do chores as well. Then I can be the chores enforcer. Saturday night, we had DJ and his girl over and I tested out my recipe that I am going to use for the Iron Chef party this week. I'm not going to tell what I made, but the test run was a good idea. Now I can tweek and refine and make it even better. I may not win, I never have before, but I love to try and win! Someday I may be an pretend Iron Chef, you don't know!

Sunday was our veg day. I was extremely tired, Matt was extremely tired (from a little boy who woke up crying 5 times in the night because his poor little mouth hurt). So, we went to church and then we were the laziest parents that you ever did saw. We vegged out downstairs, turned on Toy Story 3 and let the kids watch and play and go wild while we attempted to nap. Then, I realized that I had to actually be a parent and cook dinner and I so wished that I didn't have to! It was one of those days where I wish we had dinner plans just so I didn't have to cook. But, I was a good mom and made spaghetti (perhaps the easiest dinner ever) and fed my hungry family.

And that was our busy weekend. Sure it doesn't sound all that busy, but it surely felt busy. I feel exhausted after such a weekend. Definitely not rested like a should be feeling. But that is perhaps because I took the day off of work yesterday to take care of my kids and taking care of kids is exhausting. It is way more work than going to work. But, I will report on yesterdays events tomorrow... hopefully. If I actually upload the pics from my camera, then I will report on Nicole's newest dentist adventure.

Dan Dan He's My Man

Dan has me totally enthralled. I love my Dan so much. When I knew that I was having a boy I worried that I wouldn't bond to him like I did to Nicole because Nicole is my little girl, it was so easy for us to bond. But, a little boy? What do I have in common with a little boy? I don't even like other people's little boys. They are rowdy and loud and messy and like bugs. Yuck!

But, then I had Dan and he was perfect. He looks at me with his amazing blue eyes and smiles at me with those dimples and I melt because he is my little baby boy.

I love his little personality. He will snuggle me one second and the next second be giving me pats. Patting is how Dan shows affection because Matt always pats Dan's back when he holds him. He loves to point out my nose and give big open mouth kisses on my cheek.

Dan is so adventurous, which at times drives me mad because he climbs up on things, falls, and bonks his head. He is fearless and uncoordinated, which results in a lot of bonks. I suppose this is what it is to have a little boy. Nicole was not very adventurous and she didn't get into nearly as many things as Dan does, but Dan is not the little drama queen that Nicole was/is.

They are so very different, but I love them both so much. Two very different personalities, two very different little people, but I love them both for their uniqueness.

Dan has started clapping and saying, "Yay!" And it makes me smile every time. Such a simple thing, clapping hands, but it brings me such joy to see him do it.

Wordless Wednesday

Newer Tooth Update

I took Andrea's advice (thanks Andrea!) and I called Children's Corner. They got us in yesterday afternoon for a consult on Nicole's teeth. Can I just say that I love them already. The staff, the dentists and the atmosphere is totally geared toward kids and Nicole was a lot more comfortable there than she was at the previous place we went.

The dentist looked at her and was able to get xrays of her back teeth (something the other dentist wasn't able to do). We are going to try oral sedation for Nicole and hopefully that works for her. But, if she needs the IV sedation it is about $4700 cheaper to do it at this office than to go somewhere where we have to take her to a surgical center to put her out. But, we are hoping the oral sedation works.

Nicole is scheduled to get her tooth fixed on Monday morning at 7am (wow that is early!). I think that I will stay home with Dan while Matt takes Nicole in to get it done. Matt is really good at keeping a cool head in situations whereas I'm more of a worrier. Plus, Nicole is such a Daddy's girl, she will be calmer with him there.

So, until the tooth is fixed, it is plastic forks and softer food. She won't take bites of things right now because the tooth hurts her, so we just make sure everything is cut up small. I can't wait until this is all over. I hate to see my kid in pain.

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