Our Visit To The Dentist

Saturday the girls and I headed up to the dentist. As many of you probably know, we go to my uncle and cousins. They are all in practice together. We have to drive 45 minutes, but that's all I know. I've never gone to anyone else. Going to the dentist is just another family visit. Sometimes a painful visit, but a visit at that. I enjoy seeing everyone. Usually it's a family reunion in the waiting room, but not this visit.

For some reason I schedule my cleaning at the same time as the girls. I don't know how this happened or why I did that. Usually I stagger them. When the very nice office ladies called to remind me of our appointments I asked them about it. I wasn't worried about CK at all. She has always been great at the dentist and has never shed one tear. O, on the other hand was great her first check up, but cried the second time when the dental hygienist tried to do x-rays. O didn't like that and has been nervous ever since.

Six months ago, at our last appointment, the girls saw my cousin, Dr. N, for the first time. He had just finished school and was now officially a pediatric dentist. His office is beautiful! He is wonderful with kids. CK was fine....O cried. Dr. N was not able to really examine her too much, let alone clean her teeth. He was patient and calm and said we would just try again next time.

Yesterday was next time. I checked the girls and I in, filled out our health update forms and waited. Dr. N came out to talk to me before he saw the girls. Normal questions; any problems, how are they doing, etc. I told him about O sucking her thumb, but she is finally starting to not want anyone else to know she still sucks her thumb. (nice of me to post it on my blog) Dr. N was going to use this information to his advantage to try to get her to stop. (good luck)

I told Dr. N I was nervous about O getting upset and that I was going to be getting my teeth cleaned at the same time. He wasn't worried about it at all. He said they would take it slow, if they need to stop and wait, it's not a problem. He was so calm and matter of fact I wasn't nervous any longer. He took the girls in. They have a big TV in the cleaning room and the girls got to watch Cars while they were getting their teeth cleaned. (Lucky! Heck with the grown-up side....I'm going to Dr. N next time.)

As I waited my turn I thought I would peek in at the girls. O was just starting to get upset and cry. I didn't like that. Poor thing. My heart was telling me to rush in and hold my baby and tell her everything would be okay. My brain was telling me to leave her along. Dr. N was there, CK was there. She would be better if I didn't rush in. I was so strong and listened to my brain.

I had my cleaning and when I was almost finished the girls came in, finished with their cleaning the office ladies helped them find me. Big smiles, prizes, new tooth brushes, travel toothpaste, and brushing timers in hands. They were happy. Good sign.

I checked with Dr. N after I was finished. No cavities! Yeah! O did cry a little, but CK got up to hold her hand and tell her everything was okay. (what a great big sister!) Dr. N took it slow with O, taking breaks and talking with her. He was able to examine her mouth and clean her teeth. No fluoride treatment this time, but that is a huge improvement over the past several appointments. Yeah!

Both girls did great. I think O will be much better next time. BTW, love the brushing timer!

Chores

If you have read my Busy Moms Culinary Club blog (link to the right) you know I've started a new chore planner system. I love that someone else has made my chore list for me. I try to complete all my chores every day. It doesn't always happen, but my house is already cleaner and I feel better, even after just one week on this planner. I just need to take 15 - 20 minutes a day and do my chores. Doesn't seem that hard in theory.

The other day C was working and after dinner I told the girls I would like them to help me with the chores. I showed them my list and I started assigning chores. They were very excited. (go figure-lets roll with this while they're excited!)

Sweep kitchen floor = O

Wipe out bathroom sinks = Mommy, CK and O

Feed cat = O

Vacuum 1st floor = CK

Clean toilets = Mommy and CK

Clean bathroom mirrors = Mommy

Replenish stock of toilet paper in bathrooms = CK and O

Both girls wanted to learn how to clean out the bathroom sinks and CK wanted to clean the toilets. Really? Fine by me! Although, before being married and having kids, I liked to clean too.

I showed both girls the disinfectant wipes and how to clean out the sink and counter. Telling them to wash their hands really good after, of course. I showed CK how to put the toilet bowl cleaner in the toilet and scrub the toilet with the brush. She was excited to learn how to clean the toilet. Great! She can have that job! After cleaning the bathrooms, CK vacuumed the entire 1st floor. 

It wasn't all done perfect, but we had fun doing it all together and it even went pretty fast. We were done in no time and still had time to play before bedtime! Chores and cleaning is so much fun with my daughters!

First Day of School

Anxious, a little nervous, joy, excitement, meeting new friends, and catching up with old ones. Our big 2nd Grader and Kindergartner both had great first days.

CK was a little nervous. She didn't know her teacher, but she had a class filled with kids she knew. She has a great teacher. Great class. All very well behaved kids. This is going to be a great year, I can tell.

O was so excited she couldn't wait to get to school. We got there about 25 minutes early. Lots of time for Mommy to take pictures in front of the door, and in front of the school sign.

O went right into her classroom, picked out her name tag and knew to go straight to find her cubby. She was sitting on the rug in 2 minutes flat. Didn't need to be told what to do.

I was so proud of myself, I didn't even have one tear, UNTIL I saw another Kinder mom sobbing. Her husband had his arm around her consoling her. I saw her and lost it! Darn it!

C took me out to breakfast to celebrate. Both children in school. I have five mornings a week with no children. Wow. This will take some adjustment. I need to get into a new routine.

O came running out of her classroom after school with a huge smile on her face. She is so excited to be in Kindergarten AND at the same school as her big sister. 

I stopped to see CK at lunch (right before picking up O). She was eating with her friends and was having a great day. No more nerves. When we picked her up after school I asked how her first day was she said, "Fantastic."

School Starts Tomorrow!

Need I say more?

Inspiration from our Olympic Athletes

We have been watching the Olympics. Gymnastics, swimming, diving, volleyball, basketball, fencing....etc. This week will be equestrian.

Our American athletes are so inspiring. Dara Torres, Michael Phelps, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, Nastia Luikin, and Shawn Johnson are among our favorites.

In an interview Michael Phelps was asked about reaching his goal of 8 Olympic Gold Medals in these games. His response was he worked hard and in his dreams he had done it. Dara Torres will tell her daughter "I guess I'll tell her don't put an age limit on your dreams."

We can learn so much from these athletes.

Michael Phelps: always believe you can reach your goals and dreams. It's a done deal.

Dara Torres: never think you are too old or it's too late to reach your dreams.

I'm so glad we have been watching the Olympics as a family. The girls see how hard these athletes work to reach there goals and because of their hard work have received Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals at the Olympics.

They now, of course, want to swim, dive, do gymnastics and play volleyball. They already want to ride horses. They will for sure after watching equestrian events on Thursday.

Getting Ready for Back to School

Last week my sister-in-law, G, and I went back to school shopping with all our kids (5 all together-WOW). The four girls are typical. CK wanted to match E, then had to match M. O had to match E. No...don't like that....but love this. It took forever.

Baby Blues describes how my nephew did his back to school shopping to a T!

This is how I'm feeling today:

Don't forget you can click on each image to enlarge them. They might be a little hard to read here.

Baby Blues is great. Look for one more on Monday. 

Want to check out some Baby Blues for yourself? Check out the Baby Blues Archives.

Surprise Breakfast

I have so many things I want to post, but I need to post this right now!

O woke up at 6:30am this morning. I'm a bad parent and she sits and watches cartoons in my room. CK is still asleep. At 7am O comes to me and says "We need to make a surprise breakfast for Daddy and Kiki."

WHY? I want to sleep. I put her off and put her off. CK wakes up, I still put her off. I'm tired, I was up late last night paying bills and crocheting (I'll tell you what I'm making in another post).

Finally, I get up and O and I go downstairs to make this surprise breakfast for Daddy and Kiki. O pulls out the box of cereal, "Kiki and me will have this cereal."

"No way," I tell her. "If we're doing this, we're doing it right." I ask her "Do you want pancakes or waffles?" "Pancakes." Great. 

I tell O, you set the table and I'll start breakfast. This is our breakfast; banana pancakes (from scratch-ran out of Bisquick), breakfast sausage, juice, milk, and coffee. O set the table with; yellow, green, & red Provence place mats, orange paper napkins, forks, knives, butter, maple syrup, and flowers. (orange paper napkins? I wasn't going to say anything.)

I keep the pancakes warm in the oven until I'm done making them all. Then O goes and tells Daddy and Kiki breakfast is ready. They loved it.

It was a very good breakfast, I must admit. It's all thanks to little O who wanted to make a surprise breakfast for Daddy and Kiki. How sweet.