Ten People That Make Me Happy

In no particular order, here are 10 people that make me happy--this is by no means an exhaustive list so No tomatoes please!


1. Annie--of course I have to list my kids first
2. Betta--yeah, both of them
3. The Husband--he really wouldn't like it if he didn't make the list
4. St. Paul--he's got an exciting life I tell ya
5. The Phelans--there are 5 of them, so they get the 5th spot
6. Joanna H.--I have such a girl crush on her
7. Nicole F.--she laughed at my story about being sick at Niagra Falls
8. Kevin Klien--all his movie roles just make me laugh
9. Dane Cook--have you seen his bit about the Eucharist as breakfast cereal?
10. All four members of Eddie From Ohio, and Julie's Dad.

The Family Bed

I've been getting both of the girls settled to sleep in bed with me while Husband has been away.

Tonight, around 4:30 am Annie was snuggled on one shoulder and Betta was snuggled in on the other. From a sound sleep, Annie giggled. From an equally sound sleep, Betta giggled in reply.

The Toddler Song

Just listen and know my life.

Minus the rocket, we don't roll that way in this house.

XM Satellite Radio

The Husband recently purchased a new car. A Honda Civic SL I think, perhaps it's a different line, but it's definitely a honda civic. While I knew he was going to buy a car, I did not go with him to purchase it because we have two small children and negotiating the purchase of a car with two small children would not have gone well.

Once the husband came home with his new car, he proudly showed it off. A feature included is a GPS tracking system and an offer for free XM Satellite radio for three months. This is a pretty snazzy car for something that just needs to survive the daily commute.

I drove the car yesterday because the Husband took my Honda CRV to go on vacation. The Husband installed the girls' car seats in the back and showed me how the panel worked. The girls and I have been listening to satellite radio stations while we tool around on our various errands.

The satellite radio has a lot of stations that cater to specific audiences--sports channels, music by genre and decade, kids music, talk radio--leaning toward your political philosophy, history etc. It also lists the musician and song playing. I found the display of the musician and song title to be wonderful! I hear so many good songs on the radio, but can never remember who sang what. It has been especially useful listening to the kids stations. There are several kids musicians that I want to learn more about, like Dan Zanes and Laurie Berkner to name a couple.

The Husband has returned home from his trip and is eager to switch the cars back. I'm going to miss that satellite radio.

The Down Comforter

The Husband and I used to sleep under a king-size, 100% cotton, goose down comforter. It needed to be cleaned and I dreaded the process that would entail.

First off, a king size comforter and my puny washing machine aren't a good match. In fact, it says on the comforter's tag, "Do not wash in your puny washing machine." Ok, in all honesty it says "dry clean only." Dry cleaning doesn't really treat the problem about why this comforter needs to be cleaned in the first place. It needs a good, deep cleaning because Annie pooped on it during her bout of roto virus. But still, my washer is small, this comforter is large and even if the washer manages to agitate the tiniest bit amid the giant blanket and not shred it to peices, the blanket is filled with down feathers that take a month to dry. I'm lucky if it drys before mold sets in.

While I don't want to clean it, I don't want it sitting in my laundry area even more. I just stuffed it into the washer. Right now the washer is thudding because it's becoming unbalanced. Dear Lord, let the spin cycle start soon! Then I can drape it across a couple wood chairs from the dining room and seti t up under an air vent. Hopefully the circulation will let it dry quickly. Then I can move on to washing important things, like the Husband's underwear.

Pentecost

is a great and holy day in the liturgical calendar. The Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles and strengthens and binds the church together. We get to take part in Pentecost when we receive the sacrament of Confirmation.

While this is a good and worthy thing, that's not the reason why I'm blogging about Pentecost. It's important because it means no more daily mass readings from the Acts of the Apostles, or as I like to call them, the Adventures of Paul. I am continuing the daily mass readings, but I need to go finish Acts of the Apostles to find out what happens to Paul after he gets shipped off to Rome as a criminal. Television drama can't come up with better plot lines than church history, I tell ya.

Things That Make Me Happy

In no particular order, a list of ten things that make me happy:
1.Dogwood trees
2. American Girl doll hair
3. Tire swings
4. A good cup of coffee
5. A good playground
6. My warm robe
7. Office supply stores
8. Dark chocolate
9. Clothes that fit
10. Lip balm

The Evolution of a Babywearer

So when I was pregnant with Annie, I saw the Snugli's and the Bjorns at Babies R Us. I'd recently gotten a hands-free device for my cell phone and when I saw those carriers, I thought, "A baby hands-free device is brilliant! I will so need one!' And I registered for a Snugli. I got the Snugli at a baby-shower.
The idea of a hands-free device for a baby is brilliant, but a Snugli not-so-much. It wasn't comfortable to wear and the material that was responsible for keeping the baby attached to the straps kept coming undone. It was fundamentally unsafe.

My pediatrician recommended the Dr. Sear's Baby Book as good reading on the care and raising of a newborn. Dr. Sears goes on at length about his NoJo baby sling. The sling seemed to make sense, so I got one of those. It worked so-so for awhile. Here's one of the few pictures of me wearing the NoJo, although there are loads of the Husband using it.

Then a distant relative noticed that I was trying to wear the baby and turned me on to babywearing and all the wonderful options that are available out there. I stumbled across both thebabywearer.com as well as NINO. She helped me find a mei tai of my very own. A mei tai is an Asian-style baby carrier. It has a peice of fabric to support the baby's body, and long straps to comfortably and safely tie the baby to the mama's body. Below is a picture of Annie and I at Merrifield Garden Center.

I got pregnant around the time this picture was taken. I used the mei tai for another six months, until Annie started to walk and my belly popped. Once Annie could walk, she wasn't interested in being carried until she'd perfected her new skill.

With the second baby on the way, I knew I wanted a better ring sling than the NoJo. I picked out an Ellaroo lightly padded ring sling in Lilac passion and my mother in law purchased it as Elizabeth's birth gift. I have lots of pictures of the Husband wearing it, but none of me. It's currently on loan at the moment. When it makes its way back to me, I'll post a picture of me wearing it.

During the same time that I acquired the Ellaroo ring sling, I was looking at a forum called The Baby Wearer. I was learning lots of information about babywearing and parenting in general. There are avid babywearers on this forum, and some people even develop collections of carriers, or at least keep an eye out for beautiful carriers. I think the carriers are nice, but nothing ever made me think, "OOOh I want that" until I saw a Sakura Bloom ring sling.

The Sakura Blooms are double-layer duponi silk. The color combinations are eye-catching and breath-taking. And the silk is so luxurious. I sighed over these for months, thinking I would never have one. My mother-in-law offered to make me a double layer silk ring sling for my birthday (can you tell that I have a great mother-in-law?) and I busied myself looking at fabric samples to choose a great color combination.

The Husband suprised me with my very own Sakura Bloom as a birthday present. I wear it everyday.

You would think getting one of the most lovely things you've ever seen would create contentment, yes?

Weelll, the summer is upon us, and we'll be at the pool and at the beach. Doesn't it make sense to have a carrier that's waterproof? I've ordered a solarveil ring sling and it's on it's way now...I'm sure there will be more to my evolution as a babywearer as I continue having kids.

Maybe one day I'll even wrap my kids up in a long peice of fabric.

New threads

I mentioned in a previous post that I did a little shopping for the summer.

I don't want to illegally import a bunch of images so I'll post links instead.
From LL Bean:
Linen Pullover
Cable Knit sweater
Khakis
Navy Blue pencil skirt

From Eddie Bauer:
2 polo shirts
Navy Blue capris
other capris
and a pair of shorts

From Motherwear
a swimsuit
Edited to Add:
The swimsuit arrived from Motherwear (I ordered it online). The suit was not pieced together properly and I'm sending it back. Since the return is due to a manufacturing error, they will be covering the cost of return shipping. While I'm glad about that, I am disappointed that the suit didn't work out. I'll likely end up getting a regular swim suit for the summer and taking along a giant beach towel to cover up with when Elizabeth and I need to nurse.

What did Paul do today?

I don't have any kids named Paul, nor a husband named Paul or even any friends named Paul, now that I think about it. The Paul I'm referring to is this guy. This Paul died nearly two thousand years ago, minus sixty years, so why am I asking what he did today?

I started reading the daily mass readings. The first daily reading has been from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts is the first book of the New Testament following the Four Gospels. Basically it recounts how the early church was established.

Paul is struck from a donkey and is blinded; Peter, the first Pope and to whom Jesus entrusted the leadership of his church, stands up to speak to all the Apostles and presbyters gathered together. Once he makes a decision, everyone is silent on the matter and rejoices Peter's decision. Paul is stoned and left for dead. Paul debates the ways of the Lord with the Greeks, the Jews, and a man named Apollos. Paul is imprisoned for his teaching when an earthquake shakes down the walls of the prison and the jailer is converted....I'm getting it all out of order and there's more but it's a thrilling tale told in short paragraphs.

It's like watching Must See Tv--I only read a paragraph or two and I'm left dying to know what happens next. Reading the mass readings is easier for me than watching tv these days because I can find a few quiet moments somewhere in my day to do the reading, but I never have an opportunity to sit down and watch a television program. I never get to watch tv regularly as the girls need to be settled for bed when anything interesting comes on anyway. Yet here is a fascinating, thrilling adventure story. The brief paragraphs are short enough to really focus on and have enough going on in them that I am occcupied thinking about it for the rest of the day, much like a good television episode. Acts of the Apostles rivals Heros!

Anniversary Fun

Today the family went to a softball game and BBQ to celebrate the 5th anniversary of some good friends of ours. The softball game was a rematch of the game the couple played as part of their wedding festivities. The softball series is now tied 1-1. Originally the wife's team had a capable win, this year the husband's team won. While a good time was had by all, I'm not sure that the teams weren't stacked a little. Come on Pat, is it really fair to make sure your one-time-semi-pro-baseball buddy came to play on your team? And to put the always late Schaads -minus Tim who showed up on time- on your wife's team? Really? Although there may have been a decided imbalance to the teams rosters, I have to say everyone played well. The bbq afterward was delicious and a great time was had by all! Congratulations Pat and Kate. I'm glad to know such a happy, loving couple.

ELMO

Annie has an ongoing love affair with Elmo.

Gramma gave Annie an Elmocize DVD, which Annie watches religiously. While Annie asks for the video every day, every day she screams for me to turn off the exercising caterpillar that is in on of the segments. She's watched it so much, that she actually does the "workout in a chair" and gets excited by the dancing at the end. I am finally a little tired of it. I decided to introduce a second Elmo DVD into the mix. Since Annie had expressed an interest in potty training, I got Elmo's Potty Time DVD. We watched it a few times, but Annie was so excited about it, she broke the DVD. It's a shame, because Grover and Elmo sing an excellent song about "Accidents Happen and That's Ok" which Annie was starting to sing in the car prior to her breaking the DVD.

We were back to just Elmocize.

I tried turning Sesame Street on during the day so that she could get her Elmo fix and I could get a little variety. We have to watch Sesame Street when it broadcasts, so if we watch it, we end up watching it early in the morning, when she's too interested in other things, rather than the late afternoon, when she would enjoy the stillness. Annie enjoys Telly and Cookie Monster, but is disappointed that Elmo doesn't have enough exclusive face time in an average episode.

I immed my sister, to see if she would be willing to TIVO some episodes of Sesame Street for me. With a disk of episodes, I could put it on when it was a good time for us to watch a little TV, and I could use the menu options to head straight for the Elmo's World segment if Annie found the rest of the program boring.

My sister did me one better. She got her neice a brand new Elmo DVD. The Best of Elmo.

Shoe Shopping

Annie has been fated with the poor genes of both her mater and pater and is cursed with Big Feet. Since her feet are wide with a narrow heel, I've got to be careful about getting shoes with a good fit. We go to Stride Rite. She's been complaining that her toes hurt and she's been taking her shoes off every chance she gets. These are universal signs that she's outgrowing her shoes. So, we went to get summer sandals. I'm so glad it's sandal time--it keeps me from having to find matching socks. Vive la sandals!

Annie is fortunate that we were able to find two pairs fo sandals for her. A church pair and a play pair. We rarely get to go in and pick just any pair we like. It has to be available in a wide width, and have a heel that can grip her very narrow heel. I'm glad we found two pairs since she'll be playing outside a lot this summer.

Annie decided to wear the pink pair out of the store. Although she did try to run out of the store without paying in the white pair. Annie was initially afraid of the sales lady, but was delighted to try on shoes.
Yes, that is my daughter who enjoys shopping for shoes. Yes that is my daughter who puts on mommy's heels and walks around the house. My girl loves her shoes. Thank you Jesus for daughters who love shoes.

Second born

My sister pointed out that I'm neglecting my second born on this blog.
Here is my second-born in all her cutie-pie-ness. Elizabeth is rolling and drawing her knees up and dragging herself by her arms to reach toys. At five months she's mobile! We were trying to get a shot of her length-wise, but she kept moving to face the camera head-on. She's incredible, I tell ya.

Declutter Challenge

I belong to a parenting forum, and there's a challenge going on to declutter various spaces in the house. It's just getting started, so I voted for the master bedroom. I think it needs the most work in my house because:
--laundry manages to get clean, but never put away. I need a better system
--it's where we relax, and clutter isn't relaxing
--it needs some decoration too, so if anybody has any ideas, I'm more than glad to hear them.
Here's the clutter...
First off, we have the Husband's dresser, with several loads of laundry in front to be put away. All of this sits in front of the one reach-in closet we have. Not a lot of space to put away all the clothes that need to be stored. Husband's dresser also needs to be cleared off and dusted.

Next up is our bed. I actually took this picture after I started some initial cleaning, so there are clothes and shoes piled up on the bed. Usually it's just unmade with the kids in it.


Finally, a picture of my dresser. My dresser is a catch all of trash, things the kids shouldn't have, things we don't want to lose and then last but not least my earrings and other personal stuff. This space either need to not have any personal things on it or not end up being a catch all for everything. It doesn't do double-duty well. In the foreground of this picture, you see a big white thingy, with a dishtowel on top? That's our bassinet, filled with clothes to be put away. Once I sort, purge, and put away the clothes, I think I'll try to Craig's List the bassinet.
I will post decluttered pics soon so you can see how the challenge went!

Date Night Baby

So Husband has been traveling quite a bit. When he's home, we've been super-busy. Not only the usual "Grab that baby and strap a clean diaper on!" but also, birthday parties, first communions, team meetings, volunteering at CLC, Husband's regular Warcraft date with the boys and other general just places we're supposed to be. All of the scheduling and travel has combined into over a month-long period where we haven't just had an opportunity to relax.

Last night was supposed to be Warcraft with the boys. I had Husband nix it in favor of Date Night. He willingly agreed and headed off to work. I had errands and of course, Date Night to plan! Well, errands ran longer than expected, so Husband got home before me, but I did arrive with dinner, so Date Night was started.

We had Indian food for dinner. Husband loves rogan josh and naan so that's what I got for him, and I tried the chicken curry. Husband told me how much he loves Indian food and what a great choice it was. After we ate, then it was time for the entertainment portion of our date. I had stoped by the Game Parlour, a place that sells board games, and picked up Carcassone
for us to play. I had wanted to get a few other games, but didn't want to make purchases without Husband's input. So insteads of settling in to play Carcassone, we headed back to the game store. We picked out a second game to try, then headed home to put the girls to bed.

Annie settled with little fuss, and Elizabeth needed to nurse. Elizabeth took long enough to settle down that Mommy (me) fell asleep with her. Husband came to check on me and ask if I wanted to get up and play a game. I don't think I had a coherent response and fell back to sleep. Date night was officially over at 9pm. Husband, without a date, wandered down to the computer and met up with the boys to play Warcraft.

The next morning, as Husband was getting the leftover Indian food to take to lunch he commented, "That was the best night ever. Good food, we got to hang out, and I still got in a game of Warcraft! We should do this more often."

I suggested that next time he plan the Date Night to suit my interests. He countered, "I should also build in a 9 o'clock bed time for anything I plan, shouldn't I?"

That would be best, yes.

Riches and Poverty

Here's what I had for breakfast the other morning.


A cup of coffee and a biscotti. A rich and savory breakfast indeed.

Here's what Annie wanted for breakfast:

A sweiback (dry teething cookie) and a cup of water. Oh, the povery of her life!

New 'Do

Debuting the new haircut:


Tada!

Edit to Add:
I like the cut, but I'm not going to keep the style. I'll be growing it back out after this.

It's summer and I'm NOT pregnant?!

Two Monday's ago, I was running around trying to get ready to go to CLC. I was telling Husband over the baby monitor that I didn't know what to wear. He yelled back, "Shorts! The weather is great."

My response was, "I don't have shorts. I have been pregnant the last two summers. Nothing fits from pre-pregnancy. I don't have anything to wear."

I've done a little shopping to take care of this problem. Let's see if I can find some images of what I've picked up...
Oops, bedtime. Will update later.

Mary Washington University's President Fired

Yeah, I graduated from there.

I speaka da English

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Makes sense living near an urban area, growing up in VA, with parents from the Northeast. How 'bout you?

Elizabeth's Baptism

Betta was baptized awhile ago...March 3. We asked good friends of ours, John and Nicole Freeman, to be godparents to Elizabeth Claire. I don't have too many photos, but here is one that shows off the gorgeous baptism gown.
My mother in law made the gown from my wedding dress. There is also a matching bonnet to go with the coat and gown.

The baptism was lovely. Many good friends and family came. We enjoyed having everyone. I really love baptisms. I love welcoming a new member into the Body of Christ; I love that the little one is now free from the stain of original sin; I love having a living saint in my house.

Root Canal Woes 2

Have the temporary crowns in and must go back in for the permanent crowns...

I show up for the appointment and the dentist appears rubbing his hands together gleefully. He says, "Good, now that I've got you here, I'm taking a full x-ray of your teeth."

My initial thought is, we've hit our cap, I'm out of pocket, what's the going rate for x-rays?

He continues, " You've been pregnant for the last two years, you know. Everytime you've been in, it's been for an emergency, so we've taken precautions and only taken a limited x-ray just to get a picture of the bad tooth. You've got a lot of old fillings and dental work. Some of it will need to be replaced, I'm sure. I want to see what I'm dealing with and devise a plan for treatment."

We get the full set of x-rays, and the visit progresses. They pop out the temporary crowns and put in the new ones. They also do a quick cleaning. No fuss, no muss.

Then we're almost done. The dentist shows me my x-rays.

"You see in these pictures you have a lot of old fillings. They look good, they'll hold up. We don't need to worry about them cracking or breaking until next year when your insurance will cover the work again. But look here..."

He points to the tooth that is sitting directly underneath the tooth that started this whole mess.

"You see this filling right? Underneath it is all cloudy. That's a cavity. I'm surpised you're not in pain right now. That will need a root canal, but because it is so deep and close to the jaw bone, the gum will need minor surgery to push it away so that the crown will cover the whole area and keep your tooth intact and your jaw safe from infection. You're young, so I would have to leave it untreated and have to pull the tooth. Then we're talking bridge-work."

He tells me a few more things about how long we could hold off on treating it and why that might not be a good idea; a good person to do the work. I'm sure I asked a few other questions but that's lost in thinking about what an out-of-pocket root canal and crown would cost.

The epic of the styrofoam teeth isn't over yet. We'll need to figure out the best way and time to treat this last tooth. After this, I think I'm going wood. All hardwood teeth throughout a la George Washington.

Root Canal Woes

Oh yeah, the continuing saga of my styrofoam teeth!

Had to retreat the tooth, wait 2 weeks and go to the dentist.

Went to the dentist. He did an Xray to make sure the treated tooth looked fine and could be crowned. The teeth right next to it also needed work. One needed a filling, the other also needed a crown. If this was a retail store, I'd be thrilled, go in for one crown, come out with two!

He took several molds of my teeth to make sure the temporary crowns (we're talking in plurals now) would fit. He applied the temporary crowns. He took several more molds of my teeth to make sure the permanent crowns would fit. None of this hurt, it just took time.

Then he puts in the new filling. The drill is the worst. The absolute worst. My root canal didn't bother me but the quick little filling did. I cannot abide the drill.

I must stay, my dentist is very good about being as gentle and as thorough as possible. He spent a lot of time to make sure the bite was good for the temp. crowns and filling.

The two crowns and fillings hit the cap on my dental insurance for the year. Everything else is out of pocket.


Stay tuned, there is more to tell...

I feel loved

Always one thing coming right on the heels of another around here these days. I have several things to post about, both big and small, but never feel like I have the time to devote to it. So I'll do a quick small thing.

Annie likes me. She likes being in my lap. She let's me know by pulling on my pj bottoms and yelling, "Mama, sit down! Sit down! Sit down NOW!"

Tech Shootings

I live in Virginia, so it means I have family and friends that have or do attend Virginia Tech.

Everybody I know is OK, but I know someone will end up being involved some way, if only mourning and grieving for the death of a friend.

The latest from the Washington Post is here.

Little BLog

Little Blog oh how I neglect you. I must go on retreat this weekend and there are so many things to do to get ready. When I come back feeling restored I promise to sit down with you and tell you about so many of the interesting things happening here. I promise I haven't forgotten you little blog.

Oh, Happy Birthday to Me!

and my nephew Joey who turns one year old today!


I turn 26, but that isn't nearly as interesting as number one!
Party this weekend (for the one year old)!!

Blog Neglect

I have been neglecting this poor little blog lately.
Some places my time has gone
1. In the hospital with Annie due to a bad bout of rotavirus
2. Sick in bed with a milder case of the same thing
3. My first ever NINO meeting
4. At Dawn's
5. Outside while the nice weather lasted
6. Worrying about my mom--health is a little topsy-turvy right now. Doctors are dealing with it, but we don't know the final outcome yet.

Some things I should post
1. Pics of Elizabeth's baptism
2. Websites were I waste too much of my time--so you can waste your time too!
3. ...

Further Accountability

Ok, so the root canal is looking good. Just need to do the temporary and permanent crown with the dentist and this whole debacle is filed under Lesson Learned." Ask me next week if I've made the dental appointments so I don't drop the ball again.
Update:
Barring any Act of God, illness, death or destruction, I have dental appointments scheduled to take care of my styrofoam teeth

Lent

Ash Wednesday was this week. The family went to mass. Husband and I got the ashes on our forehead. Annie was fascinated and kept pointing to Husband's head and telling him, 'yucky' over and over again. She thought it was great fun.

Since Lent is a time of penance in the liturgical calendar, it's common practice to sacrifice, pray, and do charity in preparation for Easter. This year for Lent I will
-give up soda
-pray a divine chaplet each day
-make a meal or baked good to give to one family each week

So far I've flubbed on the soda and I haven't prayed yet. I have baked some bread, I just need to deliver it soon. The flub on the soda was actually pretty funny. Went to the mom's group and picked up McDonald's afterward. Ordered a soda without even thinking about it. After lunch, I went to Giant to pick up a few things. I bought soda for Husband, thinking "It's not really Lent and I'm not really giving anything up if it isn't in the house and isn't a temptation" all the while completely forgetting that I'd been sipping on a coke the whole way to the store. It was only when I was unloading the groceries and the McDonald's wrappers that it occurred to me that I messed it up. I gave up computer use for that day to make up for it though. Feel free to ask me how I'm doing throughout Lent, keep me accountable to my Lenten promises people!

The Little Artiste

Annie really like to draw with markers, pencils, pens, crayons, and even my lipliner. She usually draws on paper, sometimes in her books, and as often as not, on herself. Today she took a pen and drew on the side of the trash can. I figure it's a short leap to coloring on the walls. I got the crayola tub crayons (basically soap and dye) but she doesn't seem to understand that these are just for the tub. She wants to carry them all over the house and let the soap drip on things, like the bedsheets.

Went out today and got her some Colorwonder markers and paper by Crayola. We'll see how it goes.

Don't Be Me

Remember this? So I had a root canal. There is the actual appointment for the root canal, with a couple more appointments to get the temporary crown and later the permanent crown. The temporary filling really shouldn't stick around for more than two months before the temporary and permanent crowns go on. I had appointments to take care of the crown, really I did. But for one reason or another (a good reason at the time, but since I can't remember why, it must not have been so good a reason) I cancelled the appointment. Then I had a baby and was really distracted for several weeks.

Finally got around to going to the dentist two weeks ago. Only I was way, way too late and the tooth had an infection in it. Treated the infection with an antibiotic but had to go back and have the tooth retreated. I'm not messing around this time and the appointemtns to finish the work are already scheduled. Don't be me and neglect your own medical care--even if you get busy by having a baby!

A Round of Doctor's Visits

I've noticed before that doctor's visits seem to happen all at once. We're in the middle of a marathon of doctor's visits now.

Last Thursday --We had the ER visit
Last Friday --We had to follow up the next day with Annie's pediatrician
Monday --Elizabeth's well baby visit and immunizations
Tuesday --Retreat my tooth
Next Monday --Annie's well baby visit and immunizations
Next Wednesday --Follow-up on the tooth
Next Thursday --Get a temporary crown put on
With other dental appointments for the permanent crown, then the cleaning, then any subsequent dental work.

I wish I got stickers like Annie does when I have to schlep to the doctors.

Emergency Room Visit

Had to rush to the ER Thursday afternoon. I woke up that morning with a sinus-headache that was painful to the point of distraction. Since I had to look after the girls, I took some Tylenol. Left the bottle on the bathroom counter & didn't think anymore about it.

That afternoon, I was settling both Elizabeth and Annie down for a nap in my bed. After both the girls went down, I also dozed off. Woke up a few minutes later to the phone ringing. I got up to answer the phone and was met by Annie coming out of our master bathroom, holding the bottle of adult tylenol with red dye all over her hands. The pills weren't spilled on the floor, no pills were half eaten. A single pill lay on the floor of the bathroom. She must have climbed up on the toilet, to the sink-top, across the sink, and grabbed the bottle. Also safely and noiselessly climbed back down.

I asked her if she'd eaten any, and she said, "Yucky Bottle." Not a direct answer to my question, but through deductive reasoning, how would she know the bottle was full of something yucky tasting if she hadn't at least tasted it?

Put a call into Poison Control. They said based on her age and weight, if she had consumed 4 tablets, she would be facing a serious overdose. Since there was no way to be certain that she hadn't eaten any pills, we had to treat it as a worst case scenario. I needed to take her immediately to the emergency room.

Called Husband, quickly gathered up the girls and went to the hospital. Husband was hot on my heels through the ER door. Annie was sent to triage very quickly.

The steps to treat a potential overdose of tylenol:
1. Drink activated charcoal to absorb the stomach contents & pass through the digestive system with nothing being absorbed into the body.
2. Take a blood draw to test Tylenol levels in the blood
3. Pump in IV fluids to make sure the body is well hydrated
4. Take an EKG of the heart to check for normal function
5. Take an x-ray of the esophogeal area to make sure no pills or tablets are still waiting to drop into the stomach
6. Take a second blood draw 4 hours after the Tylenol was first consumed to make sure there are still no traces of Tylenol present in the body.

Annie had to drink 60 ccs of activated charcoal, a black, sticky, chalky, sweet mixture. She cried and Husband and I coaxed her to swallow all but a few drops. The technicians then wrapped her in a sheet & held her arm to insert the IV and do the first blood draw. She cried and they put in the IV. She cried as they splinted her arm so that she could not bend it and pull out the IV. After this the technicians left the room. Annie put her head on my shoulder and dozed off. She wasn't deeply asleep before the technicians came back to do the EKG. She cried while they did the EKG. Again the technicians left for awhile. Annie perked up then and we were able to feed her a little food. The technicians came back & took her for an X-ray. She cried. They returned her to the room & the last technician came in to do the final blood draw. She cried while they did a second needle stick to draw the second blood test.

The ER doctor came, said neither blood draws indicated that any Tylenol what-so-ever was present in her system. The EKG was normal, and the X-ray was clear. We were free to go.

Annie DID NOT EAT Tylenol, but gave us a good scare. Fortunately things are now back to normal.








I'm so mad at myself for not being more careful.

Sidebar Restored

I updated the format of the blog, using one of the templates provided by Blogger. I really like the design and color scheme of this template, but I was disappointed that this template did not include in it the sidebar headings with "Fun Links" or the like. Thanks to my brother-in-law Justin, he whipped out the HTML code so that I once again have more fun items in my sidebar than just the archive of previous posts. I still need to add a few links and headers, but the necessary code is there. Thanks!

Update:
I've added a few new headers with a few more links for you to clicky-click. Enjoy.

New Living Room

Remember this?

I wanted to do a before and after shot, but didn't have any decent before shots that really showed the damage well. Instead, I'll share with you that the repair guys came. Fixed the hole in our ceiling, repainted, and cleaned the carpet. Since our old couch was soaked from the pipe leak, we also picked out a new couch. We went to Mastercraft Interior, which was liquidating all it's assests since it was going out of business Here's what our living room looks like now...



We went with color recommendations from my sister-in-law, Jen. Before anything was done in this room, we had the cranberry colored window treatments. She suggested that good colors to set the cranberry curtains off would be a warm-toned green or yellow/gold color. We ended up choosing a green for the living room, a yellow/gold for the hallway, and a trim that complemented both colors. She also suggested bringing the gold color from the hallway into the living room by selecting a couch in the same color. We followed her suggestions and are very happy with the end result. She's in business as an interior designer. Leave a comment if you'd like to get in touch with her.

Pants with a button only, please.

Now that Lizzie is born, I'm excited about ditching the pants with elastic in the waist for pants real people wear. Zipper, stretch, and even a button. Bring on pants with a button! For Christmas, I went shopping for real, genuine pants with a button. Here's what I found:



I'm just like real people.

Hugh Hefner Christmas

Annie got several great gifts for Christmas. You can read about the one of her gifts here. We didn't get a lot of great pictures over the last few days, but here she is modeling the robe she got, Hugh Hefner style.

Diaper Business

My family sees fit to keep Pampers in business. Not only are both girls still in diapers, Elizabeth has seen fit start the monster baby poos. In the course of one changing, she had
1. the original dirty diaper
2. the clean diaper that I meant to put on her that was also pooed on
3. the second clean diaper that caught still more poo and
4. the clean diaper I finally got on her.

By the time she was done it took a total of four diapers! I didn't even keep count of how many baby wipes we went through.

"My daughter the BF militant"

Went to Abigail's school Christmas concert (no "proper" Nativity this year Sad ). Each class did a little something followed by a song or 2. Anyway, Ab's class did a Nativity scene, with Ab as Mary ( Grin How proud was I?). A few mins into their bit Ab promptly lifted her dress & shoved baby Jesus up it. The script then wandered away from what they'd learnt & goes as follows....

Joseph: "What are you doing?"
Mary: "I'm feeding our baby"
Shepherd: "Have you got a bottle up there then?"
Mary: "Don't be silly he's having milk from my booby"
Joseph: "That's disgusting"
Mary: "No, that baby milk they have in Tescos is disgusting. My baby's having proper milk"
Shepherd: "What's a booby?"
Mary: "Those sticky out bits ladies have"
Shepherd: "They're not boobies, they're nipples"
Mary: "No they're not, they're boobies"
Joseph: "So why can't Jesus have milk from a bottle then?"
Mary: "Because I haven't got a breast pump with me - you forgot to put it on the donkey"
Shepherd: "Can't you ask the teacher for a bottle to feed Jesus with?"
Mary: "No because this is the best way to feed Jesus. Anyway bottles haven't been invented yet & even if they were I've just had a baby so if you think I'm faffing about round Tescos to buy baby milk when I make proper milk in my boobies you can think again"

I felt a teeny bit sorry for their class teacher - she did try her best to steer them back towards their proper lines but she was laughing so much she didn't really stand a chance. The line about Joseph forgetting the breast pump finished her off - she slid to the floor & couldn't get up for laughing....



This was posted by sejjie70 on the British message board Hunybeez. The original post is found here.

As a breastfeeding mom, I thought it was very funny.

Baby Elizabeth Claire is Here!

Elizabeth Claire Schaad was born Friday, December 8 at 12:12pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz and is 20 inches long. Labor only lasted for a total of 4 hours, with only 15 minutes of pushing. Everything went smoothly with no problems. After a short hospital visit we are all now home and settling in, just in time for Christmas!

Sprung a leak...

In a pipe underneath our master bathroom. It dripped through the ceiling, into the center of the couch, through the floor, and made a puddle on our dryer in the basement.

The pipe that sprung was a clean water pipe that brings water into the bathroom--so sanitary conditions aren't a concern, but getting everything dry is. When I called Tim to ask him how to turn the water off in the house, he immediately came home. We then called a plumber and filed a claim with our home owners insurance. This all happened around 3-4 pm in the afternoon. By the end of the night the plumber had come and gone, and while the water mitigation people were willing to come out at 10pm, we scheduled them to come first thing in the morning. They have already come and gone--we just need to keep the fans and dehumidifiers running through the weekend. So, apart from a hole in our ceiling, things don't look to bad. The good thing is that hour home owner's insurance is GREAT and everything will be back to normal soon.

In less than 24 hours we've already made so much progress toward repair, the only thing I have to worry about is that I really really love that couch and it might not get salvaged. I love that couch, not because it's pretty or new, but because it was the only comfortable place to sleep while pregnant. It also didn't hurt that it was 10+ years old and apart from Annie setting fire to it, she couldn't do anything to it to mess it up. I guess we'll wait and see if it dries out.

Tortoise and the Hare

The baby is due to arrive next week. I'm excited, I'm already in love but I've also been pretty tired. Resting a lot--but when I rest, I also think. Combine that with the pregnancy hormones and I'm gushy and thinking in lots of different directions and having lots of Pooh Bear's "Deep Thinks." A good friend described me a 'crazy pregified' to refer to how far along I am and how close the delivery is. I think it describes the mental state pretty well too.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a recent thought. Nothing earth-shattering by far, but I guess it is feeling timely and relevant to me. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? The moral of the story was, slow and steady win the race. Does that mean a steady dedication to a task will yield better results or that a slow and steady course through life yields the best results? Can you move so quickly through life that it exhausts you and you miss the best parts?



I've been ruminating about how much a person's life can change in just a short while. I'm also thinking about how big and sudden some life changes can seem when you haven't been in touch with a person for awhile. Maybe that's the missing out part, when you are so busy you don't stay in touch with people and everything seems to have passed you by?

Many friends and family and loved ones are going through lots of changes right now. A dear college friend of mine just got engaged; one of my sister's friends is about to be engaged. One of Tim's friends just got married. A friend of mine is trying to launch her own business. The company my SIL worked for just closed so she's making plans to go into business for herself and tackle a few other jobs on the side. Husband and I are expecting our second baby any day now, and good friends are expecting their third. The list goes on and on.

All of these changes are so life-altering that they can loom big and scary while on the horizon, but all of these life-changes are good too. They represent a maturing of each of the individuals involved, they herald the next stage of our lives and they are the natural consequence of being out there and living life. Some of it seems so sudden, as though we're the hare in the race rather than the slow, steady plodding tortoise. Right now I wish things could slow down and we could all be the tortoise and just savor the moments before everything changes again. Being the Hare just seems like a blur.

Catepillars are Ew

Bugs don't bother me,
Bugs don't bother me,
They might bug,
Some of you mugs,
Bugs don't bother me.



I was able to handle the GIANT COCKROACH living in my suitemate's dorm room the freshman year of college. I caught it in a cup and threw it out the window. Very dignified, with a limited amount of screaming, and all that. I'm able to smile indulgently at the weird spider crickets that make first made their way into my basement apartment and now, my basement. I never saw them until I moved north 30 miles. I've even calmly smashed to a mushy pulp dangerous and posionous spiders.

I do not deal well with caterpillars. They used to be pretty cool to play with when I was a kid, but they are tricksy and mistrustful. When I was all of five, I was playing outside and braced my hand on a nearby tree. On the tree was some sort of caterpillar with stingers. Red needlepoint-marks crossed my entire palm and it took months for it to heal completely. I've never seen the same sort of caterpillar since then, but then again, I don't care to look.

Fast forward to present day. I have the bed linens heaped up in a pile on the floor, in front of the washer. The other day, I washed two white mattress pads. When they came out of the dryer, I noticed one had a weird black stain on it. Not knowing where the stain came from, I decided to rewash the mattress pad, and continued running laundry. As I took the bedsheets out of the washer, I noticed something that looked like a big black piece of lint in the bottom of the washer barrel. I fished out--what I thought was lint--and threw it on top of the dryer. When it landed, it landed belly up. It was no giant piece of lint, but a long, black, fuzzy CATERPILLAR!

I allowed myself a mini-freak out. Sent an IM to The Husband, expressing that I could not write 'ew' enough to express both my displeasure at having run wash with a giant caterpillar and my disgust at having touched a CATERPILLAR. The Husband had to dispose of the caterpillar from the top of the dryer when he got home. Only then did more laundry get run.

I'm a little surprised that I found a caterpillar at the beginning of winter though, I thought they were a spring bug. So far, I've only seen one, so I believe this incident is over. The Husband said if I find two, I can assume there are more. If I find a second one, Orkin better come out the same day.

Stay Tuned

I posted earlier about what to wear to a wedding. The wedding is this weekend, and I did find the accessories and put an outfit together. Stay tuned, I'll post some pictures in the next two days so you can see what I wore.

Edited to Add: I forgot to bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. Lots of pictures were taken though, so I'll see if I can't get a hold of something to post.

The Countdown is on

I haven't posted in awhile, for a simple and unglamorous reason. I'm tired. The baby is due in four more weeks--December 8! A coworker of Tim's said the last month of pregnancy is designed to make labor and delivery look good. Aint it the truth. I've been neglecting the opportunity to blog so that I can rest or nest.

Cow the Horse

A friend of mine from college bought her very own horse. She recently emailed with news about the horse, how she was thrown, and how she got right back in the saddle. Owning a horse is pretty cool. Horse-ownership is almost every little girl's dream---but not my dream. I never wanted a horse, and here's why...

I fell off a horse as a kid, and I did NOT want to get back on. And it wasn't even a horse-riding lesson where you're learning how to do something cool, like jumping, itw as just a simple trail ride where a sedate, fat old horse walks along a trail!

I was riding second, behind my brother in the saddle. The horse, named "Cow," was known in the stable for sucking air into her belly when being saddled. If a horse does this, the saddle doesn't fit as tightly and it risks sliding out of place. Whatever stable hand saddled her, didn't wait for her to release the air, so the saddle was mounted loose.

As we were riding the pokey old trail, the saddle started to slide waaaay to the left. I was behind the saddle, so I had nothing to hold on to when it started to fall off. Hit the ground with a hard thud. The entire left side hurt, and I had the wind knocked out of me. Otherwise uninjured though. My siblings (who were along for the grand adventure) thought it was hilarious and wouldn't stop laughing. To add insult to injury, my mom also laughed when we got home and the boys told her about "The Great Fall from Cow."

Euphemism for Vomit

I was mulling over a few topics to post about as I sat down at the computer. Looking over the recent comments, I'm going to expand on what Mark wrote.

In case you didn't see the comment he posted:
This probably isn't for public consumption (pun intended), but as long as I'm filling up your blog,here goes:
What with everybody in the world being sick (read: physically ill), I took it upon myself to compile a short list of euphemisms for it.
My favorite is "street spam".

street spam

1. A term to describe any disgusting looking thing on the ground that has an unknown or vague origin.

2. A euphamism for Vomit.
======================================
1. vomit
upchuck
barf
vomit
hurl
ralph
purge
puke
hork
buick
spew
regurgitate
throw up
toss your cookies
lose your lunch
toss a sidewalk pizza
tango with the toilet
make modern art in the toilet
have a technicolor yawn
expunge the contents of your stomach
bare your guts to the world
become a multicolored organic fountain
revisit your breakfast
vomit your victuals
drive the porcelain bus
perform peristaltic pyrotechnics
paint the town red.. and green and orange and pink
have to say "that tasted better going down than coming up"
burp to the ninth power
make the janitor get out the ol’ sawdust bucket
find out just how acidic your stomach contents are
greet your guts
pray to the porcelain god


First, I invite you to add any of your own euphemisms that he might of missed.

Second, I'll explain all this by saying that Annie, Husband, and I were all held hostage for several days by some serious-unfun-GI-bug. Husband seemed to get the most mild case. Annie's illness lingered. Since I'm 34 weeks along, I got to spend Saturday at the hospital to take precautions against dehydration causing pre-term labor. So I got to the hospital so that I could go to the hospital in another few weeks.

Fortunately, everyone is well again and we have moved past this illness.

Proof of Fall

This photo might not be the best shot, but I took it from my back deck, as proof that it is fall here in NoVa. This is for people in Vermont, where they've already had the thier first snow fall of the season, and for people in Hawaii, where mangoes fall from the sky more often than snow.

What to Wear...Part II

Here is is a photo of the dress I bought for the upcoming wedding:



As you can see, it's a deep purple dress, with some gold embellishment. Here's a close-up of the embellishment:



So that give you, the reader, a little more to go on to get an idea of what I bought to wear to this wedding. I'm liking the photo I posted that was meant to give you an idea of what the dress was supposed to look like. It's listed online as cheaper, and the top provides more coverage. I might order it online and see if I can't return the first dress...hmmm.

What to Wear to a Wedding (Not Mine)

Husband has the honor of being the Best Man in a wedding in November. I'm thrilled for the couple, yadda, yadda, but I'll be 38 weeks along when we attend this wedding. A pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks, and doesn't exceed 42 weeks. By 38 weeks, a woman is considered full term and ready to have the baby at any time. If a woman is not lucky enough to have the baby at 38 weeks, she waddles instead of walks, pees often, and shifts uncomfortably in her seat, and other things my brain has blessedly erased from my memory. Nothing is comfortable, everything is wrong.

With that in mind, if I'm not in the hospital having the baby, I'm there for that wedding. I'd really like to go in pjs, or the closest maternity-version of pjs that are out there, but since this looks like a pretty fancy wedding as weddings go, and my date is the Best Man, I'll have to spiff it up a little.

Annie's Grandma came with us out to the Leesburg Outlets not to long ago. We shopped for a dress.

I tried this dress on in the store. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it's very thin, so the popped belly button showed right through all the pretty red wrapping paper.




I ended up with something similar to this dress. I actually like this dress a little better, because it covers the shoulders (and the bra straps underneath).




My actual dress (I'll try to take the time to take a photo of it and upload it to the post) is a deep purple, not black, with a similar embroidery, embellishment along the top. The actual top of the dress is straps. My guess is that it was a summer, not fall, selection.

So I've got a dress to wear, but I need a cardigan or wrap or something to ward off the November chill and to feel appropriately covered, whilst making the rounds feeling like a beached whale.

My sister sent me the following links for cardigans.

Target 1
Target 2
Old Navy
Motherhood Maternity

What do you think?

More Cleaning

...makes the house look so nice, and makes me so much less stresed out. Tra la la la la.

Yesterday Grandma kindly took Annie so that I had a day in the house to get housework done. Now, this cleaning philosophy might not jiive with the FlyLady (see below for a post on her) but I often waffle back and forth on what should be the first priority in cleaning. Should I maintain or tackle the mess? Should I go into a room that's been recently cleaned and pick up the clutter, do a quick dust, make sure everything looks nice then go tackle a room that's been neglected for awhile OR tackle a room that's been neglected for a while, get it looking nice, and turn around to see the recently cleaned room in shambles again?

The FlyLady would try to tell me that consistent maintenance in each room wins the gold star, but my energy doesn't extend that far. Yesterday I decided to maintain first, then tackle projects second. It took most of the day to run some laundry, tidy up a few bathrooms, get the kitchen back into shape etc--basically to maintain areas that were in good shape just a few short days ago. In the interest of full disclosure, there were also several rest breaks in there as the pregnant lady doesn't seem to work for more than 2 hours at a time without needing a break.

Today, I'd like to try to tackle a few areas that have been neglected for a bit longer, specifically the bedrooms. Clothes are everywhere. Annie's off season clothes and the clothes she's grown out of need to be stored. The drawers also need to be organized so the dresser works for not one, but two babies. I have a lot of stuff I'm growing out of and growing into; plus Husband started a new job so his work wardrobe has shifted some. All of these issues need to be resolved and the clothes need a home. We don't have the most closet space, unfortunately, or I doubt this would be as much of an issue.

So, finding a home for lost clothes is the plan for today, combined with Annie helpfully grabbing at the neatly folded stacks of clothes and whipping them around her head. She does it with such glee though, so it's hard to get upset. Hard to get much done, but also hard to get upset.

The Weekend

This weekend we cleaned house, had the Husband's family over for brunch, and had our final Teams of our Lady piloting session. A fairly busy weekend all in all, but thinkgs worked out pretty well.

The reason I attribute things going so smoothly is that we were actually able to spend the day at home Saturday! I can't remember the last time we had a Saturday where we weren't scheduled to be somewhere or do something that took a significant part of the day. Husband and I were both home, both able to clean and tidy, and both able to look after the baby.

Husband even sorted through all the computer's operating disks, game disks, and miscellaneous computer stuff to get it all organized. Previously everything had been lumped together in one box. The box kinda exploded when the new computer arrived and Husband installed the programs and games he wanted on the new computer hotness. The end result, our basement is looking good!

So Saturday we cleaned, and Sunday we welcomed guests. Since we'd been home, we had time to prep some of the food to minimize the kitchen time, we were able to set up the dining room table so everyone would fit, and able to put together a few games and toys for the neices and nephews while they were here. Husband even had time to run outside with the guys to kick the soccer ball around 20 minutes before dinner and getting dinner out went smoothly. Although a lasagna takes more time in the oven than the cooking directions state....otherwise a smooth day. It was so, so nice to have things clean, organized and ready to go in the house.

Did I mention how much I loved being home and using the time to clean Saturday?

Project Runway Finale

I'll admit it, I'm a Project Runway fan. Saw some episodes during the first and second seasons, but with the third season, I made a point of following it all the way through. Last night was the finale to determine which of the four (not three!) designers would be the ultimate winner. Very excited to watch because each designer was likable with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Even Husband watched a few episodes this season, and had his opinions on the designs. He may not out-and-out like the shows I like, but he is very tolerant and will sit and watch with me. He notes that there are two categories of reality shows. The first is the Survivor sort of show, where everyone is back-stabbing and double-crossing. The second are the types where they do a make-over, redesign a room, you win a prize and these shows may have some drama, but they are ultimately designed to help and promote the people that are featured on it. The positive reality shows he doesn't mind watching with me.

Last night Husband was out, and it was Annie and I alone for the night. I thought Annie would settle early and I'd have the evening free to do my thing and watch the finale. Annie had a horrible night. She took forever to settle and I completely missed the finale. I was ok with that, until I went to the bravotv website to pull an interesting pic for the post and found it plastered with congratulations to the winner. Bravo usually replays the same show over and over, so I'll probably catch it within the next day or two. Sigh.

Update: Sure enough, Bravo was running the episodes from season 3 today. Did I get to catch the finale? No. Why? Husband scheduled a raquet ball game this afternoon and neglected to take his equipment with him. When he called to ask me to bring his stuff out to him at work, I don't think it would have gone over well if I told him it didn't jiive with my plan to watch tv today.

Further Update: It was on this evening! I was glued to the tv (and not making dinner) when Husband came home from work and the raquet ball game. He was able to catch the collections come down the Runway, and we watched the end of the finale together. Everyone had a lot of talent, I'm not suprised at the outcome. Laura is a one trick pony, Michael Knight still has skills he can develop (that will take him far in the fashion world) but both Uli and Jeffrey had good looking collections. While I do agree taht Jeffrey had the best collection, in terms of the variety and cohesive look of the collection, I don't think telling Uli that she had a lot of marketability and success in women's design was enough to make up for not winning.

Cleaning the Flylady Way

"The house did not get dirty overnight and it will not get clean overnight" as quoted from Flylady.net. If you're familiar with her cleaning approach, she has a system of housekeeping that relies on routine. She emphasizes making small, consistent changes that will last and enable one to keep a tidier house. She also mentions that it's easiest to start if you work in brief bursts.

The brief bursts work well for a lady who's 8 months pregnant with a messy one year old. I've been working on small patches around the house--my bathroom is looking good except for the tub, the kitchen sink is shined, I'm running laundry--but that I haven't accomplished any real cleaning project, like a single room or floor of the house. With all the small patches I feel like I'm making progress, but I'm also looking for that moment where things really come together and I can look around and say the house is looking pretty good. I guess I need to repeat the mantra until I get to that moment. "Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps."

Endodontic Experience

Us pregnant ladies are supposed to make sure we receive regular dental care. Dr. Spock explains why dental care is so important and why dental problems seem to crop up for pregnant ladies:

Gingivitis (an inflammation of the gums) is a common problem, which may be the result of increased blood flow to the gums caused by pregnancy hormones. It can lead to bleeding gums and has been associated with complications of pregnancy, such as premature birth. It isn't known whether gingivitis directly causes premature labor or whether it's a marker for poor self-care and other health risks that might predispose a woman to pre-term birth. It's always wise to take good care of your teeth; just consider the potential risk of pre-term birth as one more reason to pay attention to this aspect of your health.

I did not worry too much about dental care during the first pregnancy. Well, I worried about it, but I didn't do anything about it during the first pregnancy. I really, really needed to have my teeth x-rayed to check for cavities. Since it's very difficult to get a full set of x-rays during pregnancy, I figured I would wait until until Annie was born, then I'd go to the dentist.

I made appointments for a dental cleaning and exam when Annie was 6 months old, thinking she's old enough for to manage the appointment. Alas, I was already pregnant again. So for this second pregnancy, I was taking good care of my teeth, but more by default rather than actual design.

I had a cleaning, but no x-rays. Not a huge deal, but the dentist told me to come back as soon as the baby was born so we could get a good look at my teeth.

A couple weeks ago, I was up all night with a toothache. Went back to the dentist to check it out. He was glad I came, but wanted to proceed cautiously as I was still pregnant. He draped two lead-aprons over my belly, assured me a quick x-ray was safe, and targeted the tooth that ached. He then referred me to a specialist.

The specialist is an endodontist. To become an endodontist, you must go to school for an extra two years. An endodontist is defined as someone who studies "a branch of dentistry concerned with diseases of the pulp." He recommended a root canal cause that's what he does. So I had a root canal yesterday.

It wasn't as uncomfortable as I expected. When you have a cavity filled, they use the drill. The drill vibrates and is pretty uncomfortable as far as I'm concerned. For a root canal they don't really drill so much as file the tooth. Kinda feels like having your tooth flossed from the inside. Not so bad really. Today my tooth is a little sensitive, where you want to chew your food on the other side of your mouth, not go to the dentist for the toothache kind of thing. Overall an improvement. I still need to return to my regular dentist for a crown though...

What to name the new baby?

Husband and I are trying to come up with a name for the second baby. For our first daughter, "Anne" was the only name I suggested that he didn't hate. Our daughter is named "Anne." It was the only name we had for a girl's name. How are we supposed to come up with a name for another girl (or any other girls we have for that matter)?

We decided to solicit the suggestions of friends and family. One Sunday at brunch, Husband's 7 year old nephew suggested "Pear Blossom." Funnily enough, I have a neice on my side of the family whose name is "Cherry Blossom," whom he has never met.

I then suggested to the 7 year old that we might want a name that reflects a saint's name. He then suggested "Claire Theresa" since "they're both saints!"

In that vein, a priest friend suggested such names as "Scholastica" and "Philomena."


Above is a picture of Saint Philomena. Her biography (as quoted from Catholic.org) states, "
Little is known of her life, and the information was have was received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church. [Eventually her bones were allowed to be transported to a shrine.] Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer, healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom. "

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll keep working on it.

J-E-L-L-O

Just wanted to post a picture of a cutie pie! Now that we have a computer again, I'm finally downloading the pictures from the camera and uploading them online. This photo is nearly a month old, but it doesn't matter. In this photo, she is showing that she loves America's favorite gelatin desert, Jello!

Blog Restored

Well, it's been a month since the computer crumped and we ordered a new one. Now we have the nice, new computer hotness and the blogging is restored! Will update soon...

Annie Turns 1!

Annie turns 1! Her birthday is Monday August 21, and we celebrated her birthday a few days before, on Saturday.

The best images are videos of her playing with her birthday hat & eating her birthday cupcake. As you can probably tell by previous posts, I'm not the most internet & computer savvy, so I'm not sure how to upload the videos.

So, here is a picture of her offering her birthday cupcake to her daddy (who is out of the shot). I think a good time was had by had by all. Even those who were two hours late after getting lost trying to make their way through Northern VA.

Blogging Hiatus

The home computer is busted, so the blog is on hiatus for awhile. I hope I remember I have a blog once we get the box replaced.

Please take a look

I'd like to post a link to a blog of a friend of mine. The entry is "Parting with my Quilts" posted 8/1/06. She writes about the gift she gave to Annie the day she was born. I feel very grateful to Kate for allowing my daugther to have the quilt, as well as the emotions and memories attached to it.

The (Ultrasound) Results Are In...

We'll be having another girl!

So I guess that answers the question on weather my husband and I are the sort who want to find out the gender or not. We are the sort who want to find out.

For my own part, I think it's a suprise whenever you find out, so I'd be content to find out at the ultrasound or wait until the baby is delivered. A few things tip the balance in favor of finding out during the ultrasound. Those things were my husband...
and my husband again.

A prospective dad can have a very hard time relating to the prenancy and the baby. I read this insight way before I was even dating the husband, but for some reason, that idea stuck with me. The ultrasound lets dad see the baby, but knowing the gender means they know at least something about the child they are expecting.




My husband definitely needed some positive associations with the first pregancy. I spent the first trimester very sick and tired. My blessed husband was sent down to the kitchen every night for multiple glasses of milk & juice, or for snacks to ward off morning-sickness. He woke up most mornings not to the sound of his alarm clock, but of me stumbling out of bed and into the bathroom. I felt like a person with a chronic illness rather than a person expecting a baby. Husband was basically bolstering me along until I got past the illness.

The ultrasound was a turning point for us. It occured around the time I started feeling better. Finally we had a glimpse of our daughter. Since I hadn't felt her move yet, it was also further proof that a little baby was in there, waiting for us.

The second reason we were in favor of finding out the sex the baby is that we have a very difficult time choosing a name for the baby. We discovered this early on in the first pregnancy. We decided to declare the topic of baby names off limits until we could eliminate a full 50% of the names that existed. For the second baby, we didn't even bring up the topic of baby names--much less any specific names--until today.

So yeah, we're having a second girl!

I will try to figure out a way to scan in the ultrasound picture & upload it, but don't hold your breath.

their, thier, there, or they're?

I know I should just quickly look it up in an online dictionary, but the word that indicates plural possessive is "their" or "thier"? Both look misspelled to me. I blame my pregancy that I even noticed such a small thing and then forgot how to spell such a small thing.

I do know the difference between "there", "their/thier", and "they're" and all the stuff about proper usage. I didn't forget everything about 9th grade English or other things I needed to know to major in the subject. But I did forget the spelling rules for "i" before "e" except after "c". Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Air conditioners redux

We've collected a few quotes on replacing an air conditioning unit. I've learned a lot about air conditioners in the last few days. Did you know:

1. The requirements for the energy efficiency of air conditioners changed this year. Most homes have an 8 or 10 seer rating for their outdoor units. Top of the line stuff when the units originally went in, but now, the minimum rating to install is 13 seer.

2. A 13 seer unit can't be retrofitted to indoor air-handlers that could accomodate 10 seer units.

3. This time of year, the cost to install a new outdoor unit and air-handler is in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 Gs.

4. The companies like to quote a flat rate to cover the parts, labor, and installation--but should be able to give you a more specific cost-breakdown. If a guy can't or won't break it down, it's a sign he is seriously padding the price. I won't say that a specific company (Parrish Services) padded the price of the lowest quality unit on the market above the highest quality units on the market. I won't tell you the low end unit was $400 more than the high end unit.

5. I know a lot more if you want to ask me about it--variable temp air handling, the differences in new and old refrigerant, goodness, I can even recommend some good people to work with.

6. I hate air conditioners.

No beer and no TV make Homer something something

Go crazy?
Dont mind if I do!

Our air conditioning unit has been on the fritz since Memorial Day Weekend--basically the first day we turned on the a/c. While the unit would blow air, it was all hot air.

We got servicemen out to check things out. They noticed a leak, refilled the unit with freon, charged us some money, and went on their way.

Less than a month later, the unit stopped blowing cold air all over again. We called the servicemen again. They came out, said the problem was worse than they thought, and refilled the unit with freon so that we had more cool air while they did some tests on the sytem.

Finally, they came back out, and declared the unit near-dead. They even filled it with more freon so we had cool air while we worked on getting a new unit installed.

They did the last freon refill yesterday. Today, I came home from a long day out to an interior temperature in the 80s. The unit is truly dead. And we're in for a record heat wave this week.

Great.

Oh yeah...

I realize I should provide a couple clarifications from the previous post.

First, I am pregnant with our second baby! The baby is due December 7, otherwise known as Pearl Harbor Day. The very limited readership of this blog should already know the news, but if there are any lurkers I don't know about, now you know too!

The other thing I'd like to add is that I've heard the term "doctor" so much lately, it's become so repetitive, that the word now sounds like nonsense to me. If you don't know what I'm talking about, say "doctor" over and over again until it doesn't make sense. Then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Man, what's it with doctors?

I majored in English in college. This has nothing to do with this post except I've noticed a theme in my life lately, especially when I look at the topic of my blogger posts. By theme I mean "a distinct, recurring, and unifying quality or idea" (definition courtesy of Encarta). Doctors, doctors' offices, doctor's visits and other doctor-related things seem to be recurring over and over in various ways lately.

While I've been kinda vague about the doctor's visits I've mentioned previously (except to note the baby's wonderful behavior) it all started about four months ago when I thought I was pregnant again. First, there was the intial OB visit, with a follow-up ultrasound scheduled for the next week, then there is an appointment with the OB every four weeks or so. Then the dentist for a cleaning and check-up. Then the baby hit the stage where illness is common, and we saw the general practioner for a) the baby's earache b) the baby's cold c) my cold I caught from the baby that turned into a sinus infection d) a girly problem common to pregancy (which the GP didn't catch but the OB did catch a week later). Oh, and we almost went to the doctor when the baby came down with a high fever for roughly 24 hours.

Once everyone in my household finished with the doctor's appointments and courses of antibiotics, I found out my mom's doctor thought surgery was necessary to improve blood flow to her legs to combat her cardio-vascular disease. Instead of a round of doctor's visits, she spent a few days in the hospital to recover from the surgeries and is now home recuperating. Her recovery is going quite well.

While things are slowly returning to normal, I'm left wondering if this theme is going to fade or continue as strong as ever? I guess the baby still has well-baby checkups and I'll still have OB visits...but can we visit with the doctor without somone being sick or undergoing surgery? Can we stop by and just sit and have a nice chat? Would insurance cover a nice chat?

Sister's Wedding

Over the Memorial Day holiday, my sister got married. Here's a photo of the bride, her matron of honor (me), and the baby that's about to eat the bouquet. I loved the flowers.

I wasn't so in love with my dress, or rather, I really liked my dress, I didn't like that the lady who did the alterations did such a poor job that the top of the dress is still gi-normous 'cause she admitted it would take more time to do another nip and tuck to the dress.

Unfortunately, I only picked up the dress a day before the wedding, and did not have an opportunity to stand over her and her sewing machine to make it right. But isn't the green silk gorgeous in the picture? The wrap was a last minute addition to cover the immodest top of the dress and make it wearable for the wedding.

The wedding itself was very nice. Beyond the beautiful people milling around for pictures (see above) and the cake was G-R-E-A-T! A wedding is made when the cake is good. The cake was moist and the icing held in place but wasn't rock hard. Yummy. Even the baby had a piece.

Sick & Better & Rain!

Ok, no posts for a while. First the baby was sick, which is common for 9 month old, then I got what she had, and then she picked up something from a cousin, it spread around, a solid 30 days of someone in the house either not well or on antibiotics.

But now we are much restored, just in time for lots and lots of rain. Seattle-like even.

The rain has caused a lot of flooding, downed trees and general mess in the area. Glad to report that there was no flooding in mi casa, but I did realize our gutter is bent and needs some fixing. It poured a ton of water down the front of our house. I hope the foundation can take it.

Next post will be on something we did during the 30 days of illness--provided I can get the pictures loaded ;)