Look What I Can Do!

Today is Madeline's 5 month birthday! I know. I know. Time is flying by. She has changed so much. In just one short month she has accomplished many things. For example:

She found her feet

and then her feet found her mouth.

She started sitting well (with a little help from her Boppy).

and then she started sitting well without help (still working on this one).
and then of course there is this

She is leaning somewhat on the couch. But uh HELLO! The girl's got some good balance. She thinks she's pretty cool when she does this too. So cute!

There are many other new things that she does as well. Like screaming (wonder where she learned that from...just a hint, her name starts with a D), throwing little fits when something is taken away or even if she sees something that she wants (again...not sure where she got it from...hint, see previous hint), crying more times than not when riding in the car, waking up multiple times at night to nurse (although that is getting better...I think she was teething.

She likes hair...in her mouth, in her hands, even in her face...she doesn't care she just likes hair. In fact right this moment she is chewing on my hair. YUMMY! She loves her big sister. She watches Delia all the time and smiles the instant she sees or hears her. She loves to go outside. She enjoys shopping...but honestly who doesn't? She's ready to start eating "big" girl food. Sometimes when she giggles or talks it sounds like she's yodeling. It sure is funny.

Happy 5 Months Madeline! We love you!!!

A Post Full O' Pictures

So it is way easier for me to just make a slideshow thingy rather than post a few pictures because I usually want to share more pictures than I do/can....but have little time so....I'm going to start doing slideshows and if you object then please leave me a comment so that I know....and maybe I'll change it back to just a few and maybe I won't!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

GiveAways

Fig & Sage is giving away a Earth Mama Angel Baby Breastfeeding Support Kit on their blog. This is something I would and still could use! So all you breastfeeding mamas out there check it out by clicking here.

15% of the population

I woke this morning feeling ready and just okay about the root canal. I knew everything would be fine and that God was in control. No reason to work myself up over something so little...I mean Hello! I've had two children w/out drugs; I think I can handle a measly root canal!

We arrived at the dentist office and I signed myself in. Not even 5 minutes later they called me back. At this point I started getting nervous. I asked the assistant a few questions about the procedure as I initialed and signed my "tooth" away. He said it would take at least an hour and a half once they started. Lovely.

At this point I began scanning the room for any way of escape. Maybe I could tell him I had to use the restroom and then just leave and never look back.

While he was getting the things ready I asked where the bathroom was. Once I knew where to go I quickly exited the room. Phew! I'm free.

Just kidding. I did actually use the bathroom and who should I run into while leaving the restroom; my dear husband and lovely daughters (I believe this was the first of four potty visits for them). Lucky Jake. I told them to come back there with me because honestly their presence makes me calm. I think it has to do with the need to be strong for them in all situations. I can't let them see me scared or they may get scared. And I definitely don't want Delia to associate the dentist as a bad place; so I sucked it up (kinda..I'm sure Jake's story is a little different). I told Jake how long it would probably take and so we decided I should probably feed Madeline again before they start the procedure. To ensure that she stays happy the whole time.

As soon as she was done Jake and the girls left for the waiting room. Then the dentist came in and numbed the area. This is the only time I felt any pain the whole time. And even then it wasn't bad at all. The dentist left the room and the assistant started prepping my mouth for the procedure. He took a mold of my tooth. Then he inserted a clamp on the tooth and placed the rubber dam in my mouth. Boy was that fun. Basically the rubber dam covers your whole mouth and attaches to the clamp on your tooth so that they only thing exposed is the bad tooth. Then he left to go get the dentist.

At this point my right eye started feeling funny. And I quickly realized that my eyelid was numb. My right cheek and the right side of my nose was also numb. Um, not too sure if this is normal but I stayed calm. After what seemed like 20 minutes the assistant came back. And I tried to tell him that my face was numb. Let me tell you it is not very easy to talk with a rubber dam in your mouth. He must be used to it though because he understood what I said. And assured me that it was completely normal. In fact his response was, "Your face is numb?" I nodded yes. And all he said was, "Good."

So then the dentist came in and they started the procedure. I couldn't feel a thing! It was awesome. Yes, I said awesome. I think the Novocaine was getting to my head because at some point during the procedure I remember thinking I love going to the dentist! I guess just knowing that I am going through this to make myself healthier makes all of the "pain" worth it.

So after a little while the dentist shares some interesting news. My tooth has 3 roots and 4 canals. Um, I'm not a mathematician but I can clearly tell that this does not add up. Basically about 15% of the population have this. The dentist explained that he couldn't get down far enough into that canal and that I would have to see a root canal specialist (a.k.a. an endodontist). He proceeded to clean out the rest of the canals and finished up. Then the assistant took an X-ray so that they could see the progress. I only gagged a few times. I hate gagging.

Then the dentist came back in and put in the temporary filling. Then they took the rubber dam off!! I sure was glad to have that thing out.

So now I get to wait for my insurance company to call and then we will figure out where and when I get to go and have another root canal!! At least this time I know what to expect.

My face stayed numb for couple of hours afterwards. And now I am a little sore. I can't bite or clench my teeth without it hurting so I've been avoiding those things. This makes eating and yelling at Jake a little difficult...but I'm sure I'll manage just fine.

And know I'm going to give a little shout out to my lovely sister Rachael who just started a bloggity blog of her own. Welcome sis to the world of blogging. Hey everyone give Rachael some love and check out her blog by clicking here or look for her in the side bar under Blogs We Read.

Root Canal Tomorrow

I'm having the dreaded root canal done tomorrow at 10AM. I've been pretty good so far about not getting anxious about it. So hopefully tomorrow I will be calm and collected. From what I've heard it isn't that bad and doesn't hurt during the procedure. So that is good to hear. So if you think about me tomorrow say a little prayer for me...please and thank you!!

I'll post soon about how it goes.

Camping or should I say Cabining?

Slowly but surely I will catch up on all the things I've been wanting to share.

The first will be about our "camping trip" with Jake's parents (Lee & Sheryl), his brothers (Jon & Chris) and Chris' wife Trisha and their son Seth. I use the term camping loosely because we actually stayed at Jake's parents cabin near Lake Almanor. You see this wasn't just a simple little cabin in the middle of a forest...it was actually a simple little cabin (where my Uncle-in-law Don lives off and on through out the year) in town with cable TV and Internet! It was fun to see everyone and "get away" from our busy lives at home.

We started our journey Thursday after Jake got off of work. Our plan was to head up to our hometown and stay the night and then make the rest of the journey the next morning. This plan worked well. We were able to get to the cabin by lunch time. Jake's parents had been there all week. And the others were to arrive that afternoon.

A short walk from the cabin is a river with an abundance of fish. One of the first things we did was take that short walk and when we first got to the water, Delia was so excited she yelled, "Oh, I didn't remember I was gonna see the lake!!" It was pretty cute. She had a blast and even got her feet wet. There was a large school of fish swimming near a rock which excited the men folk and all they could think or talk about was fishing.

That night I started getting a headache. The really painful kind that usually go away after I've slept for a good amount of time....like I would have before Madeline or in my own bed in my own house. I quickly figured out why I had a headache. I was getting Mastitis...again. Thankfully my sister had reminded me to bring the Mastitix "medicine". This is why I had the headache. As you may have guessed I slept horribly that night, woke with a pounding headache, aches and chills.

After wrestling back and forth with myself I finally caved and took some ibuprofen. It helped for a few hours and then my head started to pound again and my body started to ache. Then I got a fever. Madeline and I took a nap which helped a little but by that evening I was feeling pretty yucky. My fever kept spiking and then going down and then spiking again. It was the worst feeling. All of the sudden my face would feel super hot and my eyes felt like they were burning. I still managed to whoop everyone in a friendly game of MAD GAB though.

That night my fever continued to spike and then go down and then spike again. It was horrible. When I awoke that morning my fever was gone. I took it easy after that. We ate breakfast and then left pretty quickly after that since I wanted to get home....as well as see my new little niece that was born the day before (she's super cute by the way!) .

So that was how my "camping" trip went. If you asked anyone else there you'd probably hear stories about fishing, smores, the river, etc. I did have fun and felt pretty good about 25% of the time.

I did get some pictures the day we got there. I had plans to go exploring and take many more...I suppose that will have to wait until next year. Rather than bombarding the post with pictures, here is a little slide show to bombard you with.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cavities and Fillings and Root Canals...oh my!

So we had our lovely dentist appointments last week. Delia did really well. She let them clean her teeth and even use that scary sucker thingy!! At her age I would have been terrified...I mean I only now as an adult am okay with it. Go figure! When the dentist was looking at Delia's teeth he said, "Oh, she's a heavy thumb sucker, huh?" Uh Oh!!! So now we have to figure out how to break this little habit, any ideas? She mostly sucks it at night time and occasionally during the day if she is sick, tired or hurt. We've told her not to, but it is a hard "rule" to inforce when it is a natural thing for her....you know?

I did super, too! I didn't even gag once nor did I get even the teensiest bit nervous! That is until the doc mentioned the root canal I'd have to get. Which reminds me...about 4 months ago I broke a molar eating a sandwich of all things. I didn't go to the dentist then because:

a. I don't like going and

b. It didn't/doesn't hurt

YIKES! I also have a few cavities that will need to be filled. I am NOT a happy camper. Tomorrow Jake and I have another appointment to get the other half of our mouth cleaned. Not exactly sure why they split them up but they do. And apparently I could get the root canal and fillings done tomorrow.....I'm not sure if I'm ready though.

I'll let you know how it goes...until then here is a recent picture of Jake and his girls....aren't they cute!

Weighing In

Madeline turned 4 months old yesterday and she had her well-care check up today. Her stats at 2 months were:
13lbs, 7oz (95%) for weight,
24in (97%) for height, and
15.24in (41%) for head circumference....

her stats now are:
15lbs, 11oz, which puts her at 89% for her age,
26 inches, which shoots her off the charts for her age,
and 16.26in, which puts her at 60% for her age...

Shes BIG!!!!

Delia's stats at 4 months are very similar. She weighed 15lbs, 7oz and measured 26 1/4 inches.
Everything went well. She's a healthy little (big) girl. They asked about vaccines and I let her know that we were still researching, which is true.....we just aren't too worried and it is low on our priority list right now. One thing I've noticed about these doctors is that they are great about letting the patient decide things and I've never once felt like they were pushing me to do anything I didn't want to do. It's nice to have a doctor like that because I'm just trying to figure out what's best for my girls and it can be scary sometimes and it definitely doesn't help when feeling pressured by a doctor who has their own idea of what's best.

So anyways.........In other GREAT AND TERRIFIC news!!!!

I am an auntie again!! My brother Josh and his beautiful wife Sarah had their first child...a little girl on Saturday morning (Sept. 27). Her name is Jana and she is adorable. She is my 3rd niece. I have 6 nephews....so the girls are slowly catching up! She weighed 6lbs, 11oz (teeny tiny compared to my little bruiser) and measured 20in. Madeline and Jana are only 4 months apart and I can't wait until they can play together.........too cute.

No time to post pictures now...........we have dentist appointments in half an hour!! I DO NOT LIKE going to the dentist....never have and probably never will! At least I don't throw up all over the dentist chair anymore, right? I'll let you all know how it goes. It will be Delia's first visit and so far she's excited. It's a good thing I have to be strong for her otherwise I'd be crying like a baby right now...... ;)

Until next time.....