Finally

After an anxiety-filled couple of days, Scott's second tooth has finally fallen out. I admit I helped it along. He hadn't eaten all day and then took a bit of a nap this evening. (This is highly unusual for him and confirms what I suspected--that he got almost no sleep last night because he was so worried.) He woke up during dinner and after some convincing, he took a bite of actual food and the chewing loosened up the tooth a bit more. He was upset and as I was trying to calm him down, I pulled it out. Now, I do not really advocate doing something like this. But He was soooo stressed out about this loose tooth, and I knew it would be upsetting to him when it came out anyway. He didn't even realize it, until he went off to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Hopefully, he can get back to his normal self tomorrow.

Anna will be very glad to have her big brother back to normal, as well. She was pretty miffed all day because he would not play with her at all. And he didn't want to spend more than 10 minutes outside with us this afternoon.

Other than dental troubles, the last couple days have been really great. Yesterday was the big birthday party for my nephew. The cupcakes turned out really cute (and yummy) and he had a fun day with lots of cool presents.

This afternoon we played outside for a bit. Scott tried to play catch with Daddy, Lizzie tried to steal her big sister's tricycle, and Anna pouted about losing her trike. It was a nice day.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. On a side note, I had to drive us home from the birthday party last night up in Waynetown (around an hour from home). It was very late (we left for home just before 1 am) and we drive the last stretch home down a county road since the highway is closed for bridge repairs. Well, anyway, I got pulled over. :( Not cool, because I've never been pulled over before. Ever. I was sure it was for speeding, although I was only going maybe 5 over. But I was being tailed closely (it never occurred to either of us that it was a cop; we just figured someone was being a jerk and wouldn't pass), and I was nervous about that and checking my mirrors a lot. My speed had just crept up and then his lights came on. Big bummer. We waited and waited and he finally came to the window. By this time, it was about a quarter-til-two. (I promise that we don't ordinarily keep our kids out this late, and anytime we do, it is truly just with family.)

The officer first asked how I was. I said I was fine, but apparently did not sound convincing. To be honest, I wasn't really fine; I was soooo nervous. And a little tired. So he asked if I was sure if I was fine. I answered more reassuringly so he moved on. He told me that I had crossed the center line. I honestly never realized I had actually crossed the line (Chris didn't either). I guess maybe I wasn't driving perfectly straight, with all that mirror checking of the person riding my bumper. And I don't care for the non-existent shoulders on the county road. And (not to sound like I'm just making excuses, but I am) to add to that, the yellow center lines on this road are relatively new.

I was actually relieved when he said that was why he pulled me over because I was fairly certain that I would not be getting my first ticket. He then asked me if I had anything to drink and I could honestly answer that I had not. So he left and ran my info and came back and told us to be careful. He promptly got in his car and turned around and drove off. He must've been hiding somewhere because we never saw another car driving at all until he was behind us. And he was really mostly just doing a routine traffic stop since it was the middle of the night.

He was quite pleasant about everything. And I'm very glad I wasn't alone. Not that I would have been driving around in the middle of the night alone. So, what was initially so alarming turned out to be nothing at all. Not even a warning.

Tooth troubles

Scott has only lost one tooth. And he really does not want to lose any more. He so strongly disliked losing the first one that he has been in denial that another was loose (apparently)--until a little wrestling session with Daddy at lunch time loosened it enough to bleed. Scott was immediately in tears. No amount of explaining that it has to come out will soothe him. No amount of money offered as payment for a lost tooth sounds exciting.

When asked, he responded, "No, it doesn't hurt." But we have heard him wandering around moaning "oooowwww." He wants it out now, but I don't want to pull it. Chris offered to go grab the the pliers, but this terrified Scott (naturally). So for the next day or two we will be waiting anxiously for it to finally fall out on its own. Hopefully it's that soon. He refuses to wiggle it or help it along. How long can a tooth hang in there??

Rough start

This morning got off to a rough start for little Elizabeth. Anna left her breakfast poptarts out (mostly uneaten by the way) and Lizzie must have had her eyes on them. I picked up the plate and threw them away after no one had touched them for at least a half an hour. This crushed Lizzie. She went from playing happily to chasing me in the kitchen, hysterical. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of her. I'm glad I did because seeing the camera calmed her down a little.

 

The big alligator tears are so sweet and pathetic aren't they?

In case you had any worries about it, the rest of Elizabeth's day went on with little to no trouble. :)

A Better Day

Thanks for all the encouragement! Today was a better day!

We got four subjects of school done before lunch, which is quite unusual for us. I'm am a real slacker in the morning!

I felt really good about myself for accomplishing that much in the morning, so in the afternoon I got to work on the fondant decorations for my nephew's birthday on Friday. (I can't believe he's going to be 6!) I am making Mario-themed cupcakes, and I think they will be pretty cute! Thanks to my friend, Erica, for the idea. I will definitely post pics once they are done, no matter how far from perfect they turn out!

All of that occupied most of my time today. I aimed to get the laundry started, but I really got caught up in the cupcake work, so the laundry is still piling up. I will be tackling that tomorrow.

Our one excursion for the day was to Wal-Mart.

It just occurred to me that this daily blogging challenge will probably reveal that I go to Wally-World waaaayyyy more times than a reasonable person ought to!

My trip out this evening was an absolute necessity though; we ran out of cat food last night (for some reason I never could remember to buy that either time I was at Wal-Mart over the weekend). Our three cats were practically in a panic this afternoon when their food bowl was still empty. Poor kitties. They are satisfied now, so hopefully they'll leave us alone while we sleep.

Growing Pains

The last couple of days have been rough Mommy days. I would say that we are definitely feeling some growing pains as a family. The kiddos are getting older and the problems are getting bigger.

My son is half-way between 7 and 8, and all the way into big kid back-talk, ignoring, and arguing. My older daughter is just 3, and let's say, feisty.

From bedtime yesterday through this evening, we've pretty much dealt with it all: disobedience, defiance (with a strong "NO!"), dishonesty, screaming, kicking, and slapping.

I love the children so much and I know they love me (and Daddy and each other), but as they say, "growing up is hard to do."

I'll definitely be praying tonight for more a more patient and loving spirit for each of us!

Crisis Averted

Friday is my nephew's 6th birthday, and I volunteered to make the cupcakes. I saw these that a friend had made, and thought they were so cute I'm going to try my hand at them. I know the kids will pleased if they turn out.

Anyway, after browsing supplies at Wal-Mart, I thought I'd run up to Michael's just to see what else might be available. We were leaving home around 2:30, so traffic was sure to be a pain. Michael's is up in Avon so I made my way up Raceway Road. It is narrow and, at that time of day, the intersections are all bottle-necked.

The straight-only lane was backing up behind the left-turn lane (I needed to turn) so I slowly followed the car ahead of me as we made our way around and past the cars in the middle (straight) lane. I really was not watching my right side very carefully and as I proceeded, my mirror clipped the mirror of another vehicle.

I heard the noise and did not immediately realize what had happened, but then deduced it must have been my mirror. I was already stuck in the turn lane and past the last entrance to the nearby parking lot. The other car, or rather giant SUV, was stuck in the straight lane, so we couldn't even have made it into the same place. I immediately formulated a plan in my mind to go ahead and turn once the light changed and them turn right into the shops across the street, hoping the other driver would see me and turn into it as well after they crossed the intersection.

Well, apparently the other driver was not interested in waiting for the light. He (I soon found out it was a he) started honking repeatedly. As I was not about to get out in the middle of traffic with my three children sitting in the van, I really didn't know what to do. Well, I guess my lack of response was not to his satisfaction. I then heard some guy start yelling, "Hey!". I began trying to see where he was (all this time and the light had still not changed; it's no wonder traffic was all backed up!), and then heard knocking on one of the windows.

So I rolled down the passenger window. I still could not actually see him, so I don't know where he was knocking, or why on earth he would have knocked on one of the back windows. He finally showed up at the passenger window and demanded to know if I was aware that I had hit his mirror. I was aware and quite embarrassed and sorry about it. I apologized to him sincerely and inquired as to whether there was any damage that he could see and whether we needed to exchange any info. Fortunately, my mirror collapsed, so he could see none, he said; he promptly returned to his vehicle.

And that was that. In a couple moments the light turned and I watched as he drove through the intersection, apparently not feeling a need to gather any more information from me. Which I was thankful for. I do not handle those situations very well. I probably would've cried and offered to write him a check on the spot just to get it over with.

The rest of our trip was very uneventful. Which is a relief because I was quite worked up over this little near-incident. I definitely couldn't have taken anything else.

March 1

Today March begins, finally! I was just out to the mailbox and I think you can feel spring coming in the air. It's still chilly. And it would be ever so much nicer if the sun would peek out, but there's definitely something in the air signaling that warmer weather will arrive. Someday.

So lately I've been feeling the need to do....something. Anything really. I've been wishing I had a project or a hobby. One that I could actually do that babies and toddlers wouldn't be able to ruin.

I was inspired a little by all the things my sister has going on, mainly this. And, trust me, even though her gallery may not be up to date, she is on top of things. Now I am not a photographer. Not that I wouldn't like to be, I just haven't really been bitten by that bug and don't really have the equipment to try.

But I've been thinking and I'm going to try my own version of this project. One blog entry per day. You may be laughing, because, well, let's be honest. I'm not the most consistent (or interesting) blogger out there. But that's o.k. I'm doing this mainly for me. I want to challenge myself to do something and see if I'll stick with it.

And I've been feeling kind of bored, and sorry for myself that I don't have anything going on. So I thought, maybe my life isn't as boring and uninteresting as I think it is. Maybe I need to just look at things in a new way. That's what this will be all about. Even if I don't think I have anything to say, or anything worth sharing, I'm going to try anyway. Since it's the first of a new month, one that brings a new season even, I thought it was the perfect time to begin.

I'm not even going to count this post. I will mostly be updating in the evening, so stay tuned for an upcoming post about our super-interesting Monday!!