Somebody is 9 months old today!!

Since my first child started to walk, my fear of damaged teeth set in. I don’t know what it was, but every time he walked (who am I kidding, he ran everywhere) I cringed a little. I knew he was just going to fall flat on his face and knock a tooth out. I knew that nothing would be done because they were baby teeth. I worried that I’d have a 2 or 3 year old walking around, missing a front tooth, until he was 6 or 7. To say that protecting his teeth (and Lucy’s and now Liv’s too) was an obsession, would be a huge understatement.

We were lucky though. Bud has managed to chip both of his bottom front teeth over his 5.5 years, once by falling off of a swing at age 2, and again last summer by banging his chin on the floor at school. This was generally, not a big deal and if noting else, assured me that the kid’s teeth were pretty tough.

I wasn’t really waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it has, in a big way.

I mentioned last week discovering the growth of an extra tooth in Bud’s mouth. It has been coming down right in between his 2 front teeth, pushing them farther and farther apart. Yesterday was the fateful dentist appointment, and he did surprisingly well, chatting with Dr. Mary, sitting well for an x-ray, everything. I was proud of our kid.

The Dr. was too. He has very clean teeth and no cavities, so yay! She reviewed the x-ray to determine if this was, in fact, an extra tooth, or if one of his permanent teeth was coming down early, and in the wrong spot. The x-ray revealed that it was for sure an extra tooth and the dentist let us know that it has done no damage to his permanent teeth. Hub and I were relieved…until…the other shoe dropped.

It is dissolving Bud’s baby teeth. Right now it’s not such a big deal, but if the deteriorate further, it could cause decay and problems for his permanent teeth. So. Not only will he be having the extra tooth removed, he needs to have the 2 front teeth removed as well. It is the best option to protect the big teeth.

And I get it, I do. But I hate the thought of my baby being without his front teeth for a year or more. He’ll go off to kindergarten like this. Who knows when the big teeth will come down.

It’s trivial, I know. And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really mater. It matters to me though. It’s like a nightmare is coming true and I can see it coming a mile away. And I can’t do anything to stop it.

The procedure will occur in late August, giving the extra tooth some more time to descend so that she can just yank it, as opposed to cutting his gums. I guess we’ll just enjoy his (extra) toothy grin until then.

To say that the last couple of weeks have been hellish would be the understatement of the century. It started 2 weeks ago Monday, when I had the day off. The kids went to preschool/daycare and Hub and I spent the day together. I picked the baby up early to take her to get her picture taken, since we have not taken her even once since her birth. (the curse of the 3r chilled, I know) She was amazing at the photo session, and they took a zillion photos because she was just so good. We left, and she slept in the car seat for a good 2 hours. She woke up feverish and miserable, refused to eat and did not sleep a wink. It was more of the same on Tuesday—just one crabby baby. I took her to the doctor the next day to discover a double ear infection and the start of something in her throat. So there were antibiotics and Motrin for days on end.

Just when she started feeling better, the teething began to kick in to high gear. She finally popped the 1st bottom tooth last week, and the second one appeared yesterday. Her moods have been hit and miss and it is either WAY up or WAY down, never in between. And through it all, she’s decided that she no longer likes to sleep. I can usually get her to go down in her bed and she’ll stay for a few hours but then she’s up, and wants to sleep on me, or in the swing, or a combination of the 2. I’m probably fostering this behavior because my main concern is that she doesn’t wake the big kids. I’m at a loss; I’ve never had a baby who doesn’t sleep.

I’m sure though that in time, she will. Maybe she’ll be 16, but eventually, she will sleep….right? At lease she’s cute though:

When talking about the baby constantly running her tongue over her new teeth, Bud pointed out that he also had a new baby tooth. I was all like “you do not…goofball…” but he actually does. His teeth have always been gaped, and I thought the gap in the front seemed larger recently, and was trying to get him in to the dentist for a checkup anyway. I looked in his mouth to see a molar-like tooth coming down from behind and right in between his 2 front teeth. I was moderately horrified, and called the dentist right away the next morning. They seem to think that as long as it is removed before his permanent teeth start coming in, there won’t be any permanent damage, so that’s good. We are going in to have it checked out next Monday.

Nothing is really going on with Lucy; she did have a throat type infection and was also on antibiotics, but she seems to thrive on the drama of such situations. She is on an “I want to cut my hair” kick, which makes me nervous. On one hand, how great would it be to have her hair short and low maintenance? On the other hand, she is my girl, and I love her long dark hair. The question is also raised as to should a 3-year-old be allowed to control the length of her hair? I don’t know.

And it is completely unfair that babies die. I am completely overwhelmed with grief for the families of Maddie and Thalon today that I can’t even describe it. I didn’t know either of these families and to be honest, I never even read their blogs. Word travels on the internet though, and I gradually became aware of these two babies whose lives ended much too soon.

My heart goes out to each of the families.

Thinking about something happening to any of my children, whether they are 4 months, 17 months, 7 years or 25 years old kills me. I don’t know how I would go on.

I also feel selfish complaining about ear infections and sleepless nights and the rigmarole of parenting. I mean, jeeze. At least my kids are here.

The bottom line—babies shouldn’t die. Ever. At least not while their parents are around to watch.

My heart is heavy today.

Edmund, Caitlyn, Hannah—I love you.

Oh, hi there. There is so much to write about and so little time. I hate being busy! I need to get things off of my chest and feel like I have very little avenue to do so. LeSigh I know. Anyhoo, here are at least a few of the things that are on my mind:

Can you even believe it is Easter already? I have not one thing for my baskets. Nor do I have any sort of plan to color eggs and do Easter stuff. Why?
I have been working Saturdays, and all day during the week facilitating training classes and all kinds of crap. It is fine and I don’t mind, but I am tired. Really tired. And my voice is tired from all of the talking.
On top of it, the baby has a double ear infection and has been one big ball of miserable. Until yesterday, she had not slept a full night for 4 nights in a row. Couple that all with my busy work schedule and boy have I not been happy. At all.
I happen to send all of my work emails in Comic Sans, so STFU, Tess.
We went to the water park and had an amazing time. Especially the baby who jumped in a jolly jumper in the baby pool for hours on end.

She also turned 8 months old, my funny little ham. (also note the clearance bedding Hub got her last year. I love love love it.)

Happy Easter to you all!!

We are back from 2 days at the water park. Great fun! I can't
believe how great all 3 children behaved. Now, Hannah is scooting
backwards on the floor while I take a rest. Happy Weekend!

Hub’s not working much. And on the money side, it sucks—a lot. But in the sense of housework, and dinner, and shopping and other miscellany—it’s great. As we speak, he is at Chez Target, picking up Goodnights for Bud and a new bathing suit for Lucy to take on our trip this weekend. Am I concerned about what the bathing suit will look like? Yes. Will it be better than going out on my lunch break, losing my (already pretty crappy) parking spot and walking 2 miles in the bitter cold? Hell yes.

And when I get home tonight, he’ll have got the kids from school, and dinner will be started, if not already ready. If there was any laundry, it will be folded and ready for me to put away. Dishes will be done. It’s grand.

Having him home during the week makes me feel less guilty about not getting things done over the weekend too. Which isn’t to say that I’m taking advantage of him and being lazy, but I am enjoying more time with the kids without worrying that if I don’t clean, we’ll have a total shit storm on our hands.

We have had 2 really nice weekends in a row. Last Sunday, we took a family trip to Target, had lunch there, and went on a long walk on the trails at our favorite park. It was muddy, and the creek had washed away a large portion of the trail we were on. Bud may have come home sans pants and none of us had shoes. We had a really good time though; especially the baby who I’m sure felt like she was chasing the big kids down the paths as she rode in her buggy.

This past Saturday, Hub’s mom came over for dinner, and we cooked on the grill for the first time this year—even though it was colder than it has been recently. Hub and Bud got a lot of work done outside, including pulling out our ugly ugly bushes and framing in our walkway so it can be cemented. After dinner we started watching home movies which, aside from a minor breakdown on Lucy’s part—because, where was she?????, was a really good time. I forgot how little the kids were. And I mean, God, they are still so little, but it seems so long ago. Bud on Christmas morning at age 2 saying “Mommy, open! Mommy open!” Lucy and blankie when she was 16-months old. Even Christmas of 2007, before I grew her bangs out, Lucy seemed so small. And Hub and I were so young……these are the days of our lives, or something, I suppose.

Anyway, we were up until close to 1am watching them and when I tried to put Liv down, she outright refused. She slept in her swing 4 nights last week because she was so congested, and now, seems to think that she is never sleeping in there again. Um…oh hell no. We finally got her to sleep after 2am sometime and Hub stayed in the living room with her because I had not slept in bed all week. Last night, more of the same, though earlier. Finally, I put her down on her belly, and she stayed down until about 12:30. At least it’s something, right?

The girl is stubborn in every aspect of her life. She wants to stand. Not sit, not lie on the floor (because when she tries to crawl, she just goes backwards), stand. And she stiffens herself and throws herself backwards until she gets her way. She hit her head twice yesterday pulling this crap. My back is sore from holding her little hands while she stood, practically the entire time we were at my uncle’s yesterday.

She’s something else for sure. And someday she’ll be another one of our babies long ago, making eyes at the video camera.

If I were to have written anything over the past week or so, it would have read something to the effect of ‘sick, sick, sick, everyone is sick, nobody is sleeping, we are all sick, I have an effing headache again, sick.’

Oh, and ‘sick’.

I’m not getting a lot of sleep and I have been in a mood. The baby in her stuffy sickness is trying my patience. We have spent the last 2 nights in the swing and on the couch, (I’ll let you decide who slept where) and because I haven’t got decent sleep, I am still feeling the effects of a migraine that started Sunday night. Plus I have my period. And I feel like my tampon is in crooked right now. (TMI? I DON’T CARE!)

Yes, I’m a peach. So lets do some comparison photos, yes? Haven’t done that in a while! Here are all 3 kids, at around 7 months of age. Isn’t it funny how much the same, but also how completely different they all look?

Liv:

Lucy:

Bud

I had a really good weekend. Hub let me sleep in on Saturday—though the baby who loves to scream at the top of her lungs while she plays had different ideas–and I woke up to donuts and coffee around 9am. The coffee was wonderful and I told Hub that he should make it every day if it would turn out that good. I found out later that he purchased the already made coffee from Tim Horton’s while he was out, and just emptied the cups in to our carafe to keep it warm. It was delicious though. We were around and doing work before 11; cleaning out the basement to make room for what is in the attic, so we can tear the attic apart to turn it in to bedrooms.

Anyway, I was in my glory because I just moved around clothes, and sorted them by size in to bins, and got out what I have for the summer since it will be warmer VERY SOON! While I don’t have much for the bigger kids, I have more than enough for the baby. I think she could go the entire summer without wearing the same thing twice. Someone went a little bit crazy in the baby clothes department when her 1st baby girl was born. I’m just sayin’. Anyway, the summer clothes are on deck, and I have 0-3 and 3-6 clothes packed up and a box started to throw the 6-9’s in as she is outgrowing them. Which is happening fast, sad to say. In fact, now that I think about it, all of Lucy’s old clothes are 9-12 and 12-months because she was a teeny tiny peanut. Liv—not so much. Oh well, I suppose we’ll just have to see. It’s a crapload of clothes.

Yesterday, we started hauling stuff down from the attic. We have more movie posters and standees from our years of working at Blockbuster than you could ever imagine. I mean, seriously, well over 200 posters. We used them as wallpaper in our very 1st apartment. Good times. So anyway, we went through a lot of those, and I worked some more in the basement, and I’m sure there was some child-rearing mixed in as well.

I think though, that the highlight of my weekend was an old friend finding me on Facebook. You may have heard me talk about my friend M here before, she who has been my BFF since we were 11. Well before it was Saly and M, it was Saly, M and C. And sadly C moved away when we were Freshmen in high school. This was the time when there was no such thing as the internet (GASP!) (I mean, there was an internet, but nobody had it) and it was hard to keep long distance friends. Anyway, hard as we tried, we just lost touch. Imagine my surprise when she friended me though. It really made my weekend.

And today, I am at work, which I am not really feeling, but at least I can hold on to my 2 days of vacation scheduled for the end of the month. Whatever it takes to get me through, right??

I leave you with Liv’s 1st pancake—about 3 weeks ago: