Another First Today

There aren't too many "firsts" left with Hannah, but today was Hannah's first trip to the dentist! I've been talking up the trip for a few weeks now and she was very excited about going. I was excited too since it's been well over a year since I've been to the dentist. My last appointment was scheduled in January and I had to cancel since that was the week I had jury duty. I've also been meaning to find a new dentist closer to home and I've just not looked all that hard and then the year flew by. So anyway, during my open enrollment for benefits for next year, I was forced to look for a new dentist, which was good since I was so over due and Hannah needed to get there as well.

So I picked her up around noon today and we got to the dentist office and filled out all of our paperwork. They called us back and asked who wanted to go first. I wasn't sure which way would be better, but Hannah wanted me to go first so I did. This dentist office is pretty nice -very up to date. They have computers at all of the stations in which they record all of the stuff about your teeth and the visit and the best part is there is a TV in the station as well that you can watch or that can entertain your child as they wait!!! What a concept! Until now, I've enjoyed staring at a picture on the ceiling the entire time my teeth were being cleaned. So the first impression was really good. I had my cleaning first and it went pretty fast. No X-Ray's of course since I'm pregnant, but the hygenist remarked about how wonderful my teeth were and said the visit was easy due to my teeth and gums being in such great shape. Hannah watched and didn't act afraid at all. The dentist came to check things out after my cleaning and he was pretty cool too. I think I like this new place!

Hannah wanted me to be done so she could have her turn. She really wanted to sit in the cool chair. So I got up and she sat down. She was still excited about it. We took some pictures before getting started and then she did SO GREAT! Like seriously, so great - better than I think I've done at times before! She helped count her teeth (there are 10 on top and 10 on the bottom) and they have great spacing. I asked if she could try to scrape off some of the tarter build up that's been on her bottom teeth forever. I wasn't sure how she'd do, but she totally let her scrape it all off and didn't wince or cry at all. She kept her mouth opened and let the hygentist do her whole cleaning with no problem at all. She wasn't sure she wanted the sucky thing, but when she did try it, Hannah thought it was cool. I was so very proud of her! I was also so glad it went so well because now she isn't afraid of going to the dentist, which sometimes can be half the battle. Oh, crap, as I'm writing this, I just remembered they didn't give us new toothbrushes!!!! DARN! I guess I'll have to pick some up at the store next time - I'll let Hannah pick hers out. I'm surprised she didn't mention it since she was really looking forward to that part. Perhaps getting a balloon (her favorite treat) and some cheap generic prizes from the basket distracted her from remembering to ask.

So anyway, here are some pictures of the brave, pearly-white tooth big girl at her first trip to the dentist!!!

Getting ready to start!

Hearing how the tools work.

After the scraping was over, whew!

And it was all well-worth it - a treasured balloon topped the trip!

In other news, what's worse than having to spend $500 to buy new tires? Well, let me tell you since I got to enjoy this task this weekend. Not only did I get to spend $500 of our hard earned money on rubber for my car (sorta necessary, I know, but it's nothing fun to spend money on), but I got to DOUBLE the expense after being told my rear breaks were completely shot. I had been hearing this awful squealing noise the past few days - and that's what it was. So I also got to put on brand new rotors and brakes as well as get an alignment. Gee, that's a real fun thing to do right before Christmas shopping season starts!!!!!!!! ARGH!

And one other note-worthy item is that I finally caught what I believe is our last mouse! The last time I posted about our mouse situation, we had caught 6 in our "have-a-heart" traps. Tony had every so kindly released all of these critters back out to the yard to hopefully not just come back in. Since then, we've caught nothing. I put out a second trap - still nothing. I knew I still had something because there was one or two poops by the bar of soap every day or two. After several weeks of not catching anything, I bought two De-Con traps....the nice guy game was over and there was no more saving the rodent's life. However, this little mouse was smarter than me because it would just climb over my de-con trap and continue to feast on the soap. I was so annoyed!!!! I let another couple weeks go and then the nice guy game was REALLY over. I brought out my big guns otherwise known as glue traps. I really didn't want to have to resort to these, but enough is enough already! I put them out on Saturday and Sunday morning, I woke up to find that it still managed to have a nice bite of soap AROUND my trap.....OK, Mr(s). Mouse, I will be smarter than you.....I will booby trap your beloved soap in between two glue traps. It worked!!!! Although, it was really not a nice sight at all and I felt really bad. I was glad that I found the aftermath and not Tony, but it was not a nice way to catch it, but I did win this battle which was what I was after. I disposed of my dear little friend and I think I may have ended the battle of the mice. I have my booby trap still set, but so far, no evidence of anything new. I really did think I was down to one mouse, but I guess another few days should tell the truth.

The PERFECT Chair!!

I think I had shared my dilemma a while back about the chair for Hannah's desk - for her new bedroom furniture, right? Well in case I didn't, I'll briefly give the low-down.

Since one side of her loft bed is a desk, there was a chair that went with the bedroom set. A $140 chair. I opted not to buy the $140 chair thinking I was SO smart and could find a wooden chair anywhere. The problem, I couldn't find a single thing that would work, except to pay $100+. I had pretty much given up hope and was going to go back and buy the actual chair that went with the bedroom furniture figuring if I was going to spend over $100, I might as well make sure it was going to match perfectly.

So anyway, a few weeks ago, I started chair searching again online for some reason. I stumbled on Ikea's website - why, I'm still not sure. There isn't an Ikea around here and I've never been to one, although I hear nothing but good about it. Anyway, I found a chair on their website that seemed to be a good match - for $39!!! One problem solved (found a viable option for a chair), but I created a new problem.....had to purchase in store only and it really wasn't really worth it to drive 2 hours to Pittsburgh which is the nearest store.

However, I had a great plan. There is also a store in West Chester, OH, which is in the Cincinnati area. My Cincinnati District office also happens to be in West Chester, so I sent my counterpart there an email asking her if she wouldn't mind going there for me to get the chair, knowing I was going to see her today for a meeting. She happily agreed to be my personal shopper so I sent her the money and the chair I had picked out. She ran to the store yesterday and then brought it with her to day to Columbus for our meeting.

I put it together tonight when I got home and I can't believe how absolutely perfect it is!!!!! And it was only $39!!!! It matches perfectly, fits the desk perfectly and is really a pretty solid chair that should last the life of the bedroom furniture!!

So I just have to say, I've once again found a perfect deal with some patient waiting and looking around! I'm getting better at this so I'll have to keep it up and not impulse buy stuff anymore! I sort of like the personal shopper thing too, but I won't push my luck!

Want an honest answer?

Ask your child a question!

Saturday afternoon, I got my haircut. I was ready for a change and told my hair guy to go ahead and cut it off. And off it went! I think he got a little crazy with the razor because I just kept watching hair fly to the floor. I was worried about having bangs again because I always hate them, but when I mentioned them being a pain, off went the length and wa-la - bangs again!

So it seemed really short for me, but I was OK with it for the most part. When I walked into the house when I got home, Hannah just looked at me funny. She said, "Mommy, your hair is crazy!" And I asked if she liked it. She said, "no, I think they cut it too short. I liked it better when it was in a pony".

So tonight in the car on the way to gymnastics, she said she liked my hair cut. I said, "oh, so you like it now?" She said, "yeah, but only on Mondays". I said "what about tomorrow?" She said, "no, just today and maybe again next Monday". So silly!

So here's a picture of my new do....It doesn't seem as short in a picture as it feels for real!

So backing up to this past weekend, it was busy! Saturday morning, one of the neighbor girls came over to play for a while while the other one went to a birthday party. Hannah had fun playing since she seldom has friends come over. I cleaned and disinfected our entire house since Tony had a cold and now Hannah has one. Good thing they've just been colds so far, nothing serious, but still yucky to have to deal with. I also started cleaning out the baby's room.

And if I forgot to mention before, we have had a streak of really good luck selling our stuff on Craigslist. I've posted several things and we've been able to sell most of it, espeically the bigger item stuff. We've been able to get asking price for almost everything too, which is good. We've pretty much priced to sell, but it's been nice to make some extra money and get rid of our good "junk". Well, one of the items was our old big screen TV. We bought this projection screen TV in 2003 and Tony has complained about it since, oh, about 2004! Of course we bought it just before the new plasma TV's started coming out and now the LCD's. Everytime we go somewhere that has a flat screen he tries to make me see how much better it is than our TV. (Men really are from Mars because I thought it was fine - good enough to watch TV on anyway!) So anyway, the deal was, we aren't getting a new TV until we sell the old one. I had posted it on Craigslist a few times, each time we had callers, but no one actually came over to look at it. Then this last time I posted it and had a really serious college kid who ended up buying it for $300. So last week, we went shopping for a new one. I had made Tony do some major research to ensure he was going to buy a TV he would be happy with for a LONG time!!!! I have to say, we got a really great deal on a really big TV (sort of ridiculous too big TV if you ask me!!!). We got a 60" DLP for $899. Plus I used the $300 from the old TV to buy Best Buy gift cards from Giant Eagle, which got me $30 in free groceries. I also got a $50 Best Buy gift card for a purchase over $250 and we got 36 months free financing, so after adding the 4-year geek squad coverage, we pay like $26/month for this monsterous new TV. The picture is nice and I admit, much better than our old TV, but really, it's just a TV. Lucky for Tony, it JUST fits into our entertainment center, with like a half inch to spare on top...I'd have killed him if it didn't fit!!!!

Saturday night, we went out to dinner with our neighbors. We shared a sitter and went to the Japanese restaurant in town that is SO good!!! We had a really good time and they all enjoyed the fact the pregnant lady could drive them around!!!

Sunday, I finished the baby's room. I washed down all the walls and woodwork and furniture. I washed and ironed all the baby bedding and decor and put the crib back together. It is so weird to have a crib again in that room!!! I've got the basic stuff all prepared. I still have to get all the stuff down out of the attic and go through it to see what I have and decide what I need again. I'll probably do that this weekend. Hannah loves having the crib up and listening to the mobile. She's so excited for her baby and so am I!!! I want to get a new blind for the window since I hate the shade we bought before she was born. I'll have to measure that and get one ordered. Anyway, here's the corner of the room with the crib and decor all ready!!!!

Tony got the leaves raked up and out to the curb. He also took Hannah to a birthday party yesterday afternoon. I finished cleaning and went grocery shopping.

We had gymnastics tonight. I go to Columbus for the day for work tomorrow. Wednesday should be a low-key day and Thursday, I have book club dinner. I didn't get the book again this month, so therefore didn't read!!!! OOPS....I am reading my new book for Bible Study though, and I really can't read more than one book at a time espeically with my busy schedule lately. So I'll just be going for the dinner again!!!!

We have names!!!!

But I'm not telling!!!!!

I know, that's really mean - not only did we not find out if we're having a boy or a girl, now that we are pretty sure we've picked names, I'm not telling that either (yet!). I'm sure I'll give into that some day before February 19th! But you never know............

Also, I met a milestone that I didn't even realize I had met.......two blog posts ago was my 100th post! Wow, who knew I had that much to say! It has been about a year and a half since I started blogging and it's nice to be able to capture some thoughts and memories this way as well as to tell anyone that knows and cares about me without picking up a phone - since I totally suck at that!!!

And the last thought for tonight is I can't believe how crazy busy my schedule is for the next 2 months. Seriously, I have something going on like 4-5 days of every week until Christmas. On one hand, it's really nice to have some sort of social calendar, however, where in the world am I going to find the energy? Also, it's going to help make the next several weeks go by faster to get closer to meeting the baby! We're getting oh, so anxious for that!

This week, we had gymnastics Monday night, I had my new Bible Study last night, I'm getting a haircut and we're going to dinner with our neighbor's Saturday night and Hannah has a birthday party Sunday.

You're Fired!

I had to say it again today! Not at work this time, thank goodness. But instead, to my new OB. When I first found out I was pregnant, I called my OB to make an appointment. Much to my disappointment, she had stopped taking OB patients because of her schedule since she just had her third kid and her husband is an OB also. They offered me the new doctor to the practice and I went ahead and signed up for that. Well, it was bad from the first look at her - literally. I sort of prejudged her a little and our first appointment didn't start off well. I thought maybe I had been a little harsh and didn't want to make too much of it and kept going. And yes, Tony did tell me after that first appointment that I should switch doctors since I didn't seem to click with her. So he was right, I should have listened (see honey, I managed to say it again!!!)

So anyhow, I went for my second month and third month visit still not really liking her. One of those visits, she made Tony and I feel like real idiots about the whole seasonal flu shot discussion. Then I had the bleeding episode and she was real helpful that day. I got right in to see her a few days after that and I sort of thought she redeemed herself a little. Then I had my 4th and 5th month visit, which were like in and out with very little activity. I remember on my 5th month visit, she didn't even say hello to me as she walked in the room, but went right to the counter to read through my chart. It was very odd. Then I had asked her about my ultrasound results and she told me she hadn't read them yet (a week and a half later). I had another bad taste in my mouth after that one.

So then for the grand finale last Thursday! They were over 45 minutes late calling me in, so that ticked me off. Then when she came in the room and went right to reading my chart (she did say hello this time), she asked if I was going to be doing my glucose testing. I said, "I don't know, you haven't mentioned that before". She said, "oh, we'll schedule that for next time". Then she said, "you need a rhogam shot too". I said, "I had one when I had the bleeding at the hospital at 13 weeks, do I need to do it again?" And she said, "oh, no, then you're fine'......[thanks for knowing my chart that you put your nose right into every time!!!!!!!!!!!!]

So then since she didn't ask how I was feeling, I decided to tell her that I've had what I think is nerve pain in my leg and asked if it was from the way the baby was positioned. She said that's what it sounded like and told me that the only way to help it is to get the baby to move, which isn't easy because often times, it'll go right back to the same position. As she was telling me this, she listened to heartbeat and measured me so there was no discussing the results of that stuff.

Then the question came up that I had hoped to avoid.....H1N1 vaccine. See, I've been debating about what to do about getting the shot or not getting it. Everyone had suggested to me to talk to my doctor about it, but since I don't like her and don't feel comfortable talking to her, I knew I couldn't do that. Well, that should have been my telltale sign I have a problem, but stupid me kept going back thinking I would just muster through these next few months until it was over and then go back to my old doctor.

Well, when she asked me if I had gotten it, I said, "well, no, and I'm not sure what to do". Her response: "what do you mean you don't know what to do? Do you want to die?"

Um, no, not particularly!!!! So then she made me mad and as I was trying to explain my struggle with the decision, I started to cry. I told her I was mostly concerned that there haven't been any pregnant moms who got the vaccine and then had a healthy baby one or two years later. She then said, "so what do you think, your baby will sprout two heads in 20 years?" I said, "well, no, I certainly don't think it could be something so extreme". We went on to discuss the whole issue even though I wanted to rip her face off.

The appointment ended after she told me to go to get the free vaccine from the board of health that day since they were giving it at a local fairgrounds. I had to go straight there since it was only going until noon and by then, it was already 11:00. She told me that when the board of health gives the shots, you need to pre-resister online first. I asked, "how do you do that?" She replied, "With a computer".

Are you serious? With a computer???? OK, then that pissed me off so bad I thought I'd fly off the table and do major bodily harm. Was I some kind of complete idiot??? Or did she just feel compelled to make me feel like I wasn't a college-educated professional woman?

So long story, after getting the shot and then having this whole episode ruin my day and then waking up at 5:30 the next morning stressing over it, I decided to call my old doctor and see what my options were to switch to another provider. She was off unitl today, but called me this morning. She was so nice and took like 15 minutes on the phone with me to explain everything and tell me that it was important to match up well and be comfortable with the doctor so it was no problem at all to switch. I had a few choices and ended up choosing to try one of the two midwives that the practice has. She also switched my appointments to a Tuesday since that's the day the old doctor isn't there and also said if for any reason I don't click with this midwife, I can still try the other one or their other MD. I felt so much better after that call and am actually excited to go back for my next appointment instead of dreading it!!

So even though I didn't really say it, Dr. S, YOU'RE FIRED!!!!!

In other good news, I met up with Maggie this past Saturday. I haven't seen her in a while and it was great seeing her and knowing that she is a healthy almost 20 weeks pregnant!!!! She feels good, looks great and everything seems to be going just fine for her pregnancy!!! I'm so happy for her. Here's a picture that the guy from the restaurant took. I look like a house in it, but I'll post anyway. Unfortunately, it was sort of dark in there and Maggie was wearing a green sweater so you really can't see her baby bump that well in the pic, but feel free to check out her blog for pics since she's been updating there!!!

Did you Vote Today?

Hopefully, if you live in Ohio, you voted yes on issue 3 today! Once and for all, I sure hope this state wises up and gets these stinkin' casinos here! And no, not so I can try my poker skills closer to home, but we sure could use the economic boost that they would provide!

Ok, that's really about it for my opinioin sharing on a political view - I don't normally do that sort of thing since I don't like when it's pushed on me, but this is MY blog so I have that right!

And now for a little taste of my sweet American (cutie) pie:

October Catch Up

Here goes, probably another long post since I haven't done one in a couple of weeks. We've been pretty busy and I really haven't had much time to get on the computer, especially this last week.

So, here goes:

A couple weekends ago, we went to pick out pumpkins and Hannah's Halloween costume. It was fun. It was a cold, brisk day, but sunny, so just perfect for pumpkin-picking! Hannah got the biggest one of all of us. Tony got the next biggest one and mine was sort of tall and skinny (needed a little skinny since I'm feeling pretty pregnant already!) and we got the baby a small one.

Then we headed to the party store for a costume. There was a whole wall of costumes to choose from and Hannah says, "I want to be a princess". I told her no, she had to pick something different. Number one, we have a trunk full of princess dress-up clothes already so I wasn't into buying yet one more. She then tried all of the Disney princesses - no, try again. I kept trying to persuade her to choose something warm - like the cute kitty or the lady bug, but she wasn't interested in those. She finally chose an angel. We were sold and got away with only spending $13!! That's my girl! It wasn't the greatest costume, but I'm glad she chose that one since it's fairly appropriate for her!!! She loved it - it spins, which is always a plus!!

Two weeks ago, Tony got a stomach flu on Sunday and wasn't feeling back to normal until about Wednesday. I followed behind him with lysol and clorox wipes to keep whatever he had away from the rest of the house. So far, we've all been pretty healthy. I still keep going back and forth on what the heck to do about the H1N1 vaccine....I just don't know if I should believe it's really OK on the baby, but then Tony's not real thrilled with taking the chance of getting the virus and being really sick. All I know is we're washing our hands so much our knuckles are dry and cracking! I've mastered the sneeze into the elbow and I wipe everything at work and home down with clorox wipes.

We had a great spell of warm weather. We took a nice long walk a couple Wednesday's ago after dinner intstead of going to story time. Hannah loved it because she got to walk with a flashlight - she's in awe of them!!!

Last weekend, we went hung around the house most of the day Saturday. I ended up going into my craft/sewing room and was so frustrated with the mess and clutter that I did an entire overhaul! I cleaned and pitched and then found a place for everything and everything in it's place - I love that!!!!! I even hung stuff up on the walls for the first time in 5-1/2 years. It feels so much more like my personal space and I love it! I now have my workspace back without the clutter so now I just need some time and energy to start working on some new projects again. Thee first will be Hannah's curtains for her new room. I have the fabric, I just need to make them. I also bought woodend letters for her name to hang in her room, which I need to paint. Here is my new and improved room!!

Then we went to dinner and after that Tony and Hannah built a fort to watch a movie together and eat popcorn! She thought that was great! I think Tony ended up falling asleep and Hannah stayed up extra late playing in the fort!

Last Sunday, I did some running around to like 12 different stores to get all sorts of stuff. I've started Christmas shopping and then just needed this and that for the house. I have realized that I'm really getting pregnant and running around town shopping for 4 hours is getting difficult. I also realized that I really need to work on completing my Christmas list now so that I'm not stuck trying to do it in November and December being that much more pregnant. After dinner, we carved our pumpkins. Hannah thought it was a great idea and so much fun until we told her to clean out the inside of the pumpkin. Miss Priss didn't want to get dirty or touch the orange stuff!!! She eventually braved up a little and got the job done, but it took a lot of convincing! We all had fun. This was the first year we all got pumpkins and carved them! I sort of wondered if painting them would have been more up her alley? Maybe, but they're sure more fun to look at all lit up on the front porch!

In not-so-good news around our house, we have mice! A few weeks ago, I thought I saw a few droppings in our basement utility sink. Then a couple of days after that, there were a lot of droppings and the critters had participated in a FEAST of our bar of soap on the sink. So off I went to get a trap - the don't kill them kind per Tony's request. We set the trap and after a few days, we got one! It was a really small one, but we got one! Well, one turned into five by mid-week last week. The good news is I've only seen evidence of them in our basement by the utility sink, but I have no clue where they're hanging out or how they got in. So I went to get a second trap this past week and we got one more - in the old, dirty trap on Thursday. Nothing since then, however, I saw one by the soap on the sink late Friday night. I sure hope the not killing them and releasing them back into the front yard isn't just allowing them to come right back in! I figured if we get up to like 10, it's time for the decon - no more Mr. Nice Guy stuff!!! I guess I'm not super freaked since they are seeming to stay in the basement, however, I don't share my dwellings well with anyone other than my family, so I'd really like them to be gone! I also really wish I knew where they were hanging out - darn critters! And who knew they liked dial bar soap so much???

So this past week was super busy! Monday night was gymnastics. Everyone must have been sick because it was just Hannah and one other little kid in her class. Tuesday, I was on some crazy kick at work and cleaned my office up and down - threw stuff away and made it look so much more organized. Everyone thought I must be nesting or something already! I got home that night and made dinner and then Hannah and I made some cookies. I gave her a bath and then we decorated the cookies. I did a little house cleaning too by the time Tony got home from work just after 9, so something goofy had gotten into me!!

I took a few 23-1/2 week pregnant pictures that night. I'm getting so big! Much faster than the first time around. My weight gain is still not as bad, but I feel SO pregnant already. I feel bad complaining, but this time around hasn't been so easy. I had awful side ligament pain this week and now the pressure of this baby sitting on my innards is really uncomfortable! It's getting harder to sleep comfortably and move around. This past weekend, I got this shooting pain down the inside of my leg when I walked, like it was pressing against a nerve or something - not so much fun. I'm walking very, very gently these past couple of days because it hurts to try to do it normally. I sure hope the holidays over these next couple of months help to make this time go fast! Anyway, here are some (crooked) pics of my big ol' belly!

Wednesday, we had story time after dinner. Thursday, I had book club. I didn't even buy the book this month!!! OOPS! I meant to, but about 2 or 3 weeks went by so fast and then I just figured there was no way I'd get it read in time, so I just opted out. But dinner with the girls was good!!!

Yesterday, we went to Jerry & Shelly's for Maci's 5th birthday party! I cannot believe she turned five this week! Wow, it's gone fast! They just had a kid party and it was fun. The kids were dressed up and played a few games and ate and had cake and opened presents.

We got home and took naps and woke up just in time to get ready for trick or treat. We hung out with our neighbors like we do every year. Tony and Aaron took the girls trick or treating and Laura and I passed out candy. It was a good year. I bought just about the right amount of candy and Hannah had a blast going door to door. They went down 3 of the streets in our neighborhood and were gone about an hour and a half. They had so much fun and came home with lots of candy, so it was a good thing I got rid of most of what I bought!

We hung out at Laura & Aaron's all night and finally came home around 1:00 = Hannah was still going strong! Well, with the clocks turning back, it was around midnight, but still, it was really late! Hannah went right to bed! We all got up fairly early with the time change for being up so late, but everyone seemed rested. We went to breakfast and then grocery shopping. Right now, the Browns are losing again - what's wrong with them?!? How pathetic! Hannah's napping and I bet Tony keeps nodding off! I should be napping, but this baby is moving like crazy and I even think I felt my first offical contraction! I remember last time thinking that was just Hannah pushing out on me, but now I know what it really is! I'm getting excited to meet this little person!!!! Nice to know I've got just over one trimester left!!!!