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Some friends of ours are heading home with their new baby this weekend. I was looking at pictures of him on the computer when my children walked in and asked whose baby it was. I began telling them when my daughter interrupted asking whether or not I was going to have another baby. (Let's just say it was a very rough adjustment for her bringing her younger brother home, so I don't think she was asking in hopeful anticipation of another sibling). I responded by asking them if they wanted another brother or sister. Before my daughter could answer my two year old son adamantly said, "No, I'm mama's baby. Bad new baby."

This led to the conversation about how they could help with a new baby. My daughter asked, "Would this baby live here with us?" I said, "Of course he/she would." My son started shaking his head furiously chanting, "No, no, no, no" while my daughter thought for a moment and said, "Can't the baby just go live with grandma instead?"

All I Want For Christmas........Is Teeth

This is the first year that we set aside pre-tax dollars into a flexible spending account for medical expenses. We reviewed our medical expenses for the past couple of years and basically decided to set aside half of what we've preciously needed because a)if we don't use it we lose it and b)Two of the last four years I have had babies, and one of those years one of those babies was hospitalized. So, needless to say our medical expenses have been substantial the past four years.

Thankfully, this year has not been so tough on the pocket book. There will be no new baby, hopefully no hospitalization, and as a whole we have been pretty healthy....or healthy enough to not need extensive medical care. Just a few days ago I mentioned to my husband that come December 31 we may be scrambling to try to find ways to spend the remaining money. We started talking about the designer glasses we'd pick out since we buy our glasses at a shop that doesn't take insurance and every frame is $40. Stylin'.

Well, fret no more. After my trip to the dentist today we will be lucky to have any money left over. Long story short, four fillings that I have had for years need to be pulled out and each of those four teeth need to have a new filling put in. Apparently, there is decay underneath the filling and the fillings are leaking....the dentist used a nifty little gadget to determine that, which was slightly reminiscent of HazMat determining the presence of chemicals. In addition to that piece of handiwork there are also two teeth that will require crowns. One tooth I knew was a possibility for two years. My previous dentist has been trying to baby it along. It can be babied no more.

When all is said and done there is 2,000 dollars worth of work that needs to be done to my mouth. Insurance will cover just under half of it, which means I am looking at 1,200 big ones just so I can have teeth and not be reduced to straw feedings.

Obviously, there are a lot of other things I would like to spend that money on, but on the other hand since it will be coming out of the flexible spending account it is unlikely that we will have to worry come December 31 what to spend any remaining money on....because there won't be any remaining money.

Who Need Sleep

I have a long history of trouble sleeping: restlessness, insomnia, restless leg syndrome, night terrors, sleep walking, talking in my sleep. Yeah, I know. I'm a bit messed up. My freshman year of college, second month at school, my grandfather died and the insomnia was exacerbated. I wouldn't sleep for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. Needless to say this wasn't that conducive to a rigorous class schedule, combined with the demands of being a college athlete. I was a walking zombie and it wasn't until well into my sophomore year that my sleeping became a bit more regular.

Ever since, this insomnia is triggered, every once in a while.....sometimes for no real apparent reason. A few weeks ago I began suffering from this again. I am miserable. I am so unbelievably tired all the time and simply cannot sleep. I am barely making it through the day which isn't ideal with two small children. Everyday around 2 pm I become so tired that I could literally collapse. Unfortunately, I can't just leave my children to run wild, so I fight through it, sometimes miserably and then plan to go to bed at a reasonable time.

That reasonable time comes and I toss and turn, sometimes for hours, until I just give up. My head pounds, my eyes burn, it takes incredible effort at times to even find the energy to speak when that time of day hits where I literally feel like all systems are shutting down.

I can't take anything because I am still breastfeeding and frankly I'm not a fan of taking medication to help me sleep. I did it a few years back and just felt so groggy all the time that it really wasn't worth it to me to get knocked out for a few hours and still not feel refreshed.

There's not a real point to this disclosure of information other than to say that I am tired beyond exhaustion, that is part of the reason some of the writing has been light, and that I am hoping and praying for sleep.

Driving 101

Today certainly could have been better. My daughter has been sick with a pretty bad cold since Friday so we planned to stay close to home today. My son and I seem to be coming down with a cold and so neither of us are feeling our best.

Around noon I decided I would put the kids in the car and run to the bank quickly to deposit a few checks. I was hoping that at least my son would fall asleep on the way or way back. Car doesn't start, doesn't turn over, nothing. Totally dead. The good news is that I realized this today as I have a doctor appointment first thing tomorrow morning for both me and my son, dance class on Wednesday for my daughter, and a dentist appointment Thursday for myself. This is not the week to be without a car.

My plan was to push the car out of the garage so that I could get another car close enough to it to jump it, head to the store and have the battery replaced, assuming that it was the battery. Our driveway is on a downward slope and it's short. There's not a lot of room for error getting it out of the garage and secured before rolling into the street. I try to push from inside of the drivers door but am unable to get it to move. So, I keep the door ajar and head to the front of the car to give it a nudge. I realized I'd have to jump back around quickly and hop in to put on the brake. Well, the door got caught on the side of the wall in the garage, practically ripping the door off. Mercifully, it was the only thing that kept the car from rolling into the street. However, it did some damage to the wall and to the car door. From there it wouldn't budge. Couldn't close the door, couldn't move the car, couldn't close the garage as half the car was in and the other out.

My brother was able to come up and help me get the car back in the garage and get the door out of the wall and also jump me. From there we got the battery replaced (which is a whole other story about car dealerships and their service departments).

As a whole it was an aggravating afternoon. However, in retrospect the whole incident, now that it is over, is a bit funny. I am sure anyone watching this probably found great humor in the situation.

This evening I put the kids back in the car to pick up dinner and my daughter says, "Mommy, I hope the car starts this time." I told her that I hoped that it started too. She then said, "Or else you might crash the car again." Funny kid. Not so funny that I am wholly responsible for the body damage on both cars we own.

The Look of Youth

We were driving in the car today and I was looking in the visor mirror. I scrunched up my face and noticed a few "wrinkles" around my eyes when I did that.

Me: Look at these wrinkles (then I turned to my husband and scrunched up my face).
Hubby: Those aren't wrinkles, but anyone making that face is bound to have some lines.
Me: They are wrinkles.
Hubby: Seriously, when do you ever make that face?
Me: I don't know, but if and when I do people are going to notice that I have wrinkles.
Hubby: Yeah, okay.
Me: It's sad because I am losing my youthful, vibrant, full of life look and it's being slowly replaced by the look of someone old, haggard, and wrinkled.
Hubby: Says the woman who was just carded at the grocery store while buying alcohol.
Me: I'm just sayin'. And, look here at my temple. Is that gray?
Hubby: That is not gray. That's blonde.
Me: Are you sure?
Hubby: You have dirty blonde hair. That's the color of your hair. It's not gray.
Me: If it ever goes gray I am dying my hair.
Hubby: No one is even gray in your family. I don't think you have to worry.
Me: My grandma is.
Hubby: She's 81.
Me: Well, that's not too far away
Hubby: 50 years isn't far away? Okay, I'm not having this conversation anymore. You are not gray, you do not have wrinkles, and you don't look haggard. You look 12.

A Tragic End

I awoke to the news today that my grandfather's sister (my grandfather has been dead since 1996), who is almost 94, and her 66 year old daughter are dead. Apparently, the daughter who for all intents and purposes is an invalid set fire to the trailer, trying to smoke while using medical oxygen, and both she and her mother perished. My grandmother was obviously shaken and while I was not particularly close to either my grandfather's sister or her daughter it is shocking and sad nonetheless.

My grandfather's sister has been taking care of her daughter for years. She has had a host of physical and mental problems that have rendered her helpless. They have hired occasional help but most of the day to day care taking fell in the lap of my grandfather's sister, which has been stressful to say the least. Recently, they had planned to put the 66 year old daughter into a care facility, even though she has been kicked out of every one she has been in for a variety of reasons.

I just think if you live almost 94 years, this is just such a tragic and senseless way to die. Any loss of life, especially through accidental means, is tragic. We were hoping that she had lost consciousness and died of smoke inhalation, but later found out she was the one who had called 911, so she knew she was probably going to die. A very sad and tragic end.

Where I Rethink the Wisdom of Giving a Two Year Old Golf Clubs

I really wanted to get my son golf clubs for Christmas. He'll be 2 1/2 then and I thought it would be cute for him to be able to go to the driving range with my husband. He has a little plastic set that he plays with and is pretty coordinated. So, I've been looking around and pricing clubs, not wanting to spend too much since I am figuring he won't stay his cute 2 1/2 sized self for long.

Then suddenly, as if the gods could sense the disaster I was about to create, he started using everything as a weapon....and I mean everything. His Nerf bat, his utensils, the mop, the broom, his plastic picker upper, his plastic hammer, his rake and shovel. The list really could go on for days. He chases his sister down and hits her with these things...sometimes out of anger, other times just for fun.

All this hitting has made me reconsider the golf club idea. Somehow I just don't see any good coming from his holy hellion self being in possession of something much heavier and more capable of inflicting injury to members of his family. Now I need a new idea for Christmas and a new sport for which to groom him. Any suggestions?