Was this a sign?

In the neighborhood where I live, the street names are all golf themed. I've always thought that the street "Player Court" was terribly named. I know that they were thinking along the lines of golf player, but the slang meaning is awful. What were they thinking?

Then Tiger Woods fell from grace. And we got this:

Yes, this is a real picture from our complex. Hilarious!

Big days

Mike's rank list is in! Last night, he made his last changes at 8:53 pm. (It was due at 9:00 pm). He didn't make any huge changes, but we were still trying to decide on which of two schools should be ranked number one. We feel good about our first choice. Now we just have to wait until Match Day on March 18th. It still crazy to think that medical school is almost over. Where did the last four years go? I'm starting to feel nervous about moving. I guess it's finally starting to sink in- we only have two more months in Columbus.

I took my sick grouchy girls to the doctor yesterday, and they both have ear infections in their right ears. I am really hoping that Bailey's frequent tantrums are more a reflection of not feeling well than a phase. I admit, it makes me feel a lot better to have a reason for her fits. I guess we'll see in a couple of days. Sadly, Bailey's second set of tubes has fallen out within the last month, and she already has an ear infection. There better be a great ENT in our next city!

Family Dinner

Even with all the tantrums, parenthood is wonderful in a way that nothing else is. There are moments that you wish you could bottle up and keep forever. Family dinner can sometimes be that way. One night last month, the girls were being adorable. They were giggling and smiling, and I was reminded again why we want these little ones around.

Avery is our super tiny girl, and we do everything to get her to eat. Mike told her to put her fork in her mouth, and she did. Not quite what we wanted, but funny any way.

Bailey of course, couldn't be left out, and joined in the non-eating fun.

Today was a better day with Bailey. I tried to turn her tantrums into a "grouchy" face contest. I tried to bring some comedy to her fits, and it seemed to help. At least it distracted her for minute. Let's hope the days just get better from here on out.

Help!

I don't know what to do with my three year old.

I really am at the end of my rope with her. She's miserable, and so am I.

Bailey is going through an extremely negative phase right now. Take this morning for example. We sit down to do crafts, which used to be one of her favorite things. I thought we could practice cutting with scissors. After about one minute she is crying and telling me to do it. I show her how to hold the scissors and tell her to just do her best. She throws another fit, and I put the scissors away.

Next, I pull out stamps. She stamps happily for about a minute, and then gets mad because there is ink on her hands. I tell her to go and wash them, but she wants to use a wipe instead. I tell her no, you can use the water in the bathroom. She throws a huge screaming fit, and I don't give in. (Should I just have let her use a wipe? I don't know...) She eventually washes her hands in the bathroom.

Then, she tells me she wants to color with crayons instead. I tell her to go and get her crayons out of her room, and that I would get her more paper. She demands that I get the box of crayons out of the living room closet. I explain that they are not crayons, but coloring pencils. She angrily demands to color with those. I explain they are not sharpened, and she should go get her crayons. Another screaming fit ensues. (Once again, should I have gotten the coloring pencils out? I hate them. They don't sharpen well, we only have a hand sharpener which breaks the points instead of actually sharpening them. Only a few colors end of sharp, none of which are the ones she wants to color with. It drive me crazy.)

After several minutes of screaming, she returns with a book. At this point, I am too frustrated to look at her, let alone entertain her with a book.

What am I supposed to do? Do whatever she wants me to? All the time??

This lasts all day long. With everything. She tells me she's hungry. I offer her a selection of snacks, none of which is acceptable. I tell her it's time to go, she doesn't want to.

I'm going crazy. Really I am. I feel like I can't continue to be calm when all she does is fight. I try to stay happy and positive, but I feel myself getting angrier and angrier with each passing fit.

Any suggestions? Any at all? I don't like feeling upset with her all the time...

Root Canal

This last week I had what no dental patient wants- a root canal. While I am glad that dentists can do them, instead of pulling the tooth out, I don't recommend this to anyone. It is as bad as it sounds.

I learned a few things about teeth that I didn't know before:

• They don't like to stay numb for very long. Therefore, every time you think you can relax during the long long procedure, you get stung. Then you get another shot.
• Even though the tooth has no nerves left on the inside, the outside nerves can feel the pain of what is going on inside. Then you get another shot.
• At every dentist appointment I have been to, I've been told I have great teeth. I like to think I take good care of them. I've only had a few cavities, and those were from loose sealants, and I couldn't have prevented them. But I still got a root canal. (I cracked the tooth).
• Painkillers don't last as long with tooth pain. Your tooth is killing again, and you realize you still have three hours before you can take the next dose.
• The dentist tells you that you won't feel pain after a few days. Try a week. And then you get the root canal finished, and you're hurting all over again.
• Despite what Bailey (and Mike) say, getting a gold crown does not make you feel like a princess.

I am happy to report that I am feeling much better after the second round, where they finished it off. Finally, finally, my tooth is not hurting. It was a frustrating experience for me. I got a root canal on a tooth that had been filled a few months ago. Before the filling, the tooth did not hurt at all, I was not aware of the cavity. After the filling, the tooth bothered me, and got worse and worse until I went back. Then I got the root canal which was the worst pain of all. All for a tooth that didn't even bother me.

Well, I can say I did the whole root canal thing. I can't imagine why anyone would want to be an endodontist. It has to be for the money. Let's hope this is the last time I have to pay one.

Shrum Mound

During Mike's month off, we were definitely running out of free things to do. We did a little research, and decided to visit this:

This is Shrum Mound, a Native American burial mound right in the middle of Columbus. We had actually tried to visit it before, but the directions we got from Google Maps did not get us there. Mike got better directions this time, and it turns out, it is only five minutes away from our house.

This mound was built by the prehistoric Adena Indians who lived in Ohio from 800 B.C. to about 1 A.D. It is kind of a sad historical sight. It consists of a fence, a sign with little information, and a mound. However, it was still cool to see something so old just around the corner. Bailey was a little scared of it. We told her Indians were buried in it, and I guess that worried her. I don't know if she thought they were going to pop out or what.

We decided to make the day Indian Mound day, knowing that there was at least one more mound in Columbus. We typed "mound" into our recovered GPS, and several entries popped up. "Indian Mound Park" sounded like the place we needed. After thirty minutes of driving, we ended up and "Indian Mound Park" which is actually a rec center. There was no mound in sight. How can they name a place "Indian Mound Park" and not actually have an Indian Mound? Especially when it is right next to "Indian Mound Apartments" and "Indian Mound something else." We even stopped and asked someone if there was an Indian Mound nearby. There wasn't.

The Indian mounds in Columbus are proving to be very elusive...