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...

One toddler's trash...

... is our families "treasure." This morning we were getting ready to head out to Cincinnati and Dayton when we realized that our GPS was missing. We had used it on Wednesday, and I was almost 100% positive I had put it in the diaper bag. We searched the car, the closet, and the entire house. I called where we had been the last few days. Mike and I were beginning to think that it was gone forever when I remembered something that had happened a few days ago.

I was making dinner when Avery came into the kitchen, went to our recycling can, opened the lid and stuck her hand in. I thought she was trying to get something out of it. I told her no, it was trash and closed the lid. A few minutes later, she was back, doing the same thing. This time however, there was more urgency to her digging. I opened the lid, and pulled out a bracelet of mine that had been in the diaper bag. I told her not to throw things away, and didn't think more of it.

So we decided to do a little digging. Mike pulled out the recycling (which is the bigger trash can in our house) and started digging around. Sure enough, he pulled out the GPS and our camera case. We laughed, but only because we had found it. Now I'm wondering what else Avery has thrown away. I guess it must not be too important if we didn't notice.

I suppose we'll have to do a quick search in the recycling now before we take it out. Avery is officially a toddler.

State of the Waters

I guess it's time for a new post.

I have lots of pictures to post, but that will have to wait. Last night, for the first time in her entire life, Avery slept through the entire night. That's right, from the time she went down at 7:15 until she woke up at 6:45.

However, poor Bailey was up half the night throwing up. She woke up early and threw up again. Yeah. Luckily, Mike is still on vacation, and did clean-up duty. I cannot clean up throw up. I think I have thrown up so many times that my stomach is super super super sensitive and the slightest smell would send me to the toilet.

Maybe someday I'll get an uninterrupted night's sleep...

Crib recalls and tainted milk

Today, two news stories caught my attention. One was the big crib recall, and the other was how China executed two men in connection with the melamine tainted milk. First, I checked and double checked our crib to make sure it had not been recalled. Thankfully, it is supposedly safe. Then, I really started thinking about the endless safety issues that parents face.

I admit, I never really thought about the crib my baby sleeps in as a potentially dangerous place. A classmate of Mike's had a baby suffocate in a crib because of a space between the crib and the railing. (This separation is why many cribs are recalled). How can I feel safe putting my baby to bed? Even though it is deemed "safe" now, in six months someone's precious baby may die and the crib will be recalled.

Along the same lines, I found the story from China interesting. At first, I was really surprised. Execution? For a mistake that might have been out of their control? As I kept reading, I learned that a company put melamine in the milk on purpose to boost it's protein content. Six babies died, and countless others were made ill. I think that if indeed they did that on purpose, their execution is just.

So, what do we do about companies the keep producing fatal baby products like cribs? Is it an innocent accident? Or did they not do enough testing on their cribs to make sure they are safe? How can we know? I'm sure that they didn't purposely make bad cribs, but they might have rushed planning them. Are they accountable?

Needless to say, this makes me an even bigger worrier. I feel like I can't buy cribs, toys, formula, bottles or anything without doing my research. Even then, it's not guaranteed.

I am realizing that there are a million things that are out of my control. I can buy the BPA free bottles and toys, but I can't protect them from some other toxin yet to be discovered in the plastic. I can't worry about the things that are out of my control, even though I'm tempted too. I would go crazy. I can only make the best choice I can with the knowledge that is there. I can make my voice heard that I want safe, non-toxic products for my children and my family. And I can hope that cooperations will make that their top priority.

Happy Birthday to me!

This year, as a birthday present to myself, I ran my first half marathon. I trained for about six weeks with my friends, Fran and Sherrida. I don't think I could have done it by myself- running for 2+ hours gets boring with just music for company. We ran the Monumental Half-Marathon in Indianapolis, meeting up with a friend who moved from our ward last year.

Here we are, getting ready for the race. I had butterflies in my stomach!

And we're off. By that, I mean we walked to the start line. I was amazed at how many people were there- over 6,000. Here are the good little babies, patiently, or not so patiently, waiting.

Our husbands were such troopers. We had to get up at 4:15 am to drive there. Then they had to take care of tired, and maybe bored kids for two and half hours. Luckily, Bailey had a friend, Savannah, to keep her entertained. In this picture they are playing on a monument in the middle of Indianapolis which we ran around.

Here's us, after the race. I almost finished in my goal time, just two minutes over. Mike did get a picture of me as I crossed the finish line on his phone, but I couldn't figure out how to get in on the computer. Oh well.

A few miles before the end, the chip fell off the shoe. I carried it across the finish line, but it didn't read it. So, sadly, I don't have an officially chip time.

It felt good to set a goal, work towards it, and accomplish it. Now I am working to run another half marathon in May, with a much faster finish time.

Here's what everyone else is up to:

• Mike applied to 49 orthopedic surgery programs. So far, he has five interviews scheduled, and has had about 5 rejections. He's starting to get really nervous, since he thought he'd have more interviews by now. We are praying really hard and are hoping the interviews start rolling it. Only half of the people who have had five interviews have matched in the past. Not a good number...
• Avery is finally walking. She definitely is not as daring as her sister. She hates falling, and cries about the tiniest things.
• Bailey is getting so grown up. Her big thing right now is knock-knock jokes. All day long, everywhere we go, all the time. The first knock-knock joke I told was "orange you glad you're not a banana," and now all of her jokes are "something, aren't you glad you're not something else." They are usually somehow related, like the light post outside and the car sitting next to it. Bailey has told so many, and demanded so many, that even Avery knows how to say, "Who's there?"

Halloween 2009

This year we got all halloweened out. We went to a Halloween party, trunk or treat, trick or treating and boo and the zoo. Bailey also got to wear her costume to preschool. I finally put all the candy up (saving it for stockings) after Bailey decided that she didn't like any fruit or vegetable.

Bailey was a "good" witch for Halloween, and Avery was her black cat. She came up with that idea all by herself. They were a cute pair.

Can you guess what Mike and I were??

In case you can't tell, we were Bella and Edward, from "Twilight." I think we went a little overboard with the white make-up on Mike, but he was very glittery. I watched youtube videos on how Bella does her hair and make-up in the movie. I think it's funny that people are that obsessed with her.

Looking at our pictures, I realize that I didn't get any of just Bailey in her costume. We kept thinking we still had so many opportunities to get pictures, and then we never did. I tried to get her to put on her costume now so I could get pictures, but she wasn't interested. Oh well.

Here is a picture of our Halloween family: