Wednesday, April 29, 2009

In other toothy news.....




Somebody is 9 months old today!!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

..so I can wish you Merry Christmas...

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.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

(insert title here)

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.

Monday, April 13, 2009

It Sucks.

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.

Friday, April 10, 2009

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!!