Dentist Again!

I have been meaning to finish this blog post for a while...

Two weeks ago we took Ashley to a pediatric dentist and they confirmed that something had to be done to the tooth. The dentist explained it best by comparing what is happening inside her tooth to the blood vessels in a bruise. Apparently it wasn't just one fall/bump that made the issue appear, but a series of falls/bumps. And each time she would hit the tooth the nerve would expand (like blood vessels do) until it had no where else to expand so it burst through the back of the tooth causing the hole. The dentist said that she has to be in a lot of pain with the tooth the way it is but has grown to accept it as "normal."

He then went on to say that the tooth needs a root canal so that it doesn't either become infected or shatter since the tooth is in fact dead. And since she is so young she needs a space maintainer to keep that space open and from shifting so that her adult teeth can grow in properly.

So we have two options:

1. root canal with a tooth extraction followed by a fake tooth that would be connected by a wire to her back teeth.
2. root canal with a cap on the tooth.

With either option Ashley would have to be out under through IV anethesia (which frightens me the most about the procedure and is super expensive) or harnessed to the table with local numbing medicine.

We have decided to put her under with IV anethesia and do the root canal with a cap on the tooth. We go in for surgery on Friday, September 13th, early in the morning. Poor thing won't be able to eat or, worse, have her milk bottle in the morning. Fingers crossed that the surgery goes smoothly and it fixes how she won't bite down with her front teeth, that she won't complain about the tooth anymore and overall be less fussy.

Oh and after her visit she was given a new Aerial toothbrush, blue toothpaste, chapstick, a warm chocolate chip cookie, two bath toys and a bracelet. Needless to say, they spoiled her so that when I asked her if she liked the dentist she replied with, "Yes I like the dentist but I cried a little bit." Let's hope she's still saying this after September 13th!

Oh and it's amazing what an Aerial toothbrush can do to a kid. She LOVES brushing her teeth now and even lets us help!

Wish us well,
Jenny

2 months old

Happy 2 months old Baby Abby!

Here's what she's been up to this month!

*She is sleeping great! Most of her naps are in her pack n play or in the swing. At night she is waking 1-2 times during a 12 hour night, most of the time sleeping for a 6-7 hour stretch before waking to feed. When she gets fed in the middle of the night she is fed and back asleep in 20 minutes (it is a blessing!) She still loves to be swaddled but is super strong and unless she is tightly wrapped in two swaddling blankets she will break free quickly. During the day she seems to be awake for 1 1/2 hours at a time with naps ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Her afternoon nap is the longest (which overlaps nicely with Anna and Ashleys!)
*She is eating great. Eating around every 3 to 3 1/4 hours. She is also taking the bottle great.She is still very hard to burp and if we don't get the burps out sometimes she vomits quite a large amount later.
*She has either developed some baby acne or gets heat rash pretty easily. It's so hard to know since it really comes out on hot days and when we are outside.
*Since I put her down after she falls asleep for naps, it is pretty noticeable with where she has started losing her hair on the back of her head. Not only is she losing a lot of her baby hair but it's coming in lighter.
*This month she had gone 4 days without pooping so I had to stimulate her anus to helped her go. Not a very fun job but it worked. I hope to never have to do that again.
*She is smiling a ton!!!!! She loves to smile at any face, especially after she has eaten or woken up. She smiled at mommy for the first time that we saw.
*She is also cooing a lot. She loves to make the sound "ma"
*She has giggled.
*She is becoming less of a fan of the bumbo and tummy time. She maybe lasts 5 minutes at a time.
*She loves being held up by my shoulder and also on my hip looking out.
*She loves watching the swing mobile go around and loves looking at fans, light fixtures and anything that is in contrast with one another. She is also starting to grab toys on her playyard and kick toys on her bouncer. She also loves to sit/lay under trees and look up at the leaves. She loves being outside.
*She "talks" with her eyebrows. Her whole face lights up when she is active and awake.
*Her tear ducts are both unclogged.
*She holds down her milk pretty well. Except for a couple of throw ups she barely spits up. I think I used 2 or 3 burp cloths this month.
*She likes to stick her tongue back at people when they stick theirs out at her.
*She likes being patted on the back pretty hard. It gets all her gas and burpies out so she it more comfortable :)
*She is such a delightful and happy baby. Not very fussy at all. She is very laid back and a perfect 3rd baby.
*She has the longest most beautiful eye lashes. And VERY long toes!

Much Love,
Jenny

Here's week by week pictures of her second month!

Ashley and her short names

Ashley is really into calling everyone by a nickname or the shortened version of their name right now. And when I say into, I mean INTO them!

Here are her short names for everyone:

Daddy: Dad
Mommy: Mom
Anna: A and Ain
Abby: Abbas, Abs, Poop Machine and her newest....... Buttup. She got the nickname butt up from when we sing the butt up song during Abby's exercises.

She just cracks me up. If only she wouldn't hit, kick, bite and spit at her sister :)

Much Love,
Jenny

PS We were picking up hamburgers for the girls at McDonald's today and when I asked Ashley if she wanted a cheeseburger, hamburger or chicken nuggets she responds with pizza. That's our Ashley!

Is she awake or asleep?

Yup, Abby likes to sleep with her eyes open sometimes. And this really throws Anna and Ashley for a loop. They argue and argue with me and say she IS awake.... her eyes are open! How do you get little ones to understand that sometimes babies sleep with their eyes cracked? She didn't stay asleep that long since Anna and Ashley were practically yelling her her ears, petting her head and pulling on her toes. Poor baby girl!

Much Love,
Jenny

Sleepy Baby

Today after I swaddled Abby, I had to put her down while she was wide awake to go tend to poop in underwear (yes Ashley is still crapping her pants daily with no attempt to use the toilet!) I was gone maybe 5 minutes and I came back to see this....

She had fallen asleep all by herself on the couch. I couldn't didn't want to bother her and the little girl slept for over an hour! Neither of my other girls ever did this :) And shockingly enough Anna and Ashley didn't even know she was there so they left her alone :)

Much Love,
Jenny

Look what sprung up!

Our sunflowers!!!!

Weekend/Week Craft Project

So this weekend I finally made it out to JoAnn Fabric to buy fabric for my fabric matted picture frames. And here's how they turned out!!!

I am very very happy with them and really liked the print so using the leftover fabric to make another wall hanging using an old framed picture I had in the basement.

Before

After

And here's my finished corner/wall in the living room!

And then I tackled the lamp shades that I have been wanting to replace for a while now.

Before

After

It adds a pop of color to this side of the room and I love them!

Next up... operation kitchen and hearth room walls!

Much Love,

Jenny

Homegrown cucumbers from Grama's garden

Yum Yum! So delish we eat them like pickles!!! One cuke at a time :)

Pluto

Guess who wrote Ashley back?!?!?!

Yup- pluto!!!

Much Love,
Jenny

Dance- Sleeping Beauty

Last week at dance, all the girls got assigned a princess to dance as. Anna was chosen to be sleeping beauty. And it was one of those days that I wish my eyes could tape record. It was awesome. She was awesome!

She walked out on tip toes, starting spinning around and around. Then she went down to sit on the ground and pretended to sleep with her hands under her chin. Then when the spell was broken (that is what she told me), she stood up and did a happy prance twirl. IT. WAS. PRECIOUS.

Much Love,
Jenny

PS Thanks to my friend Maureen for the photo!

More Dance

Today was out second to last dance class of the summer but don't you worry, she is signed up for 4 weeks in the Fall/Winter and is pumped!

Today as I was leaving dance class I over heard some parents asking Ms Marilyn (the teacher) if they had enrolled their daughter in the right class that morning (enrollment was this morning). I over heard some parents say their child has an early fall birthday and were wondering if they should be in the 3 or 4 year old class. Ms. Marilyn then went on to say that the 4 year old class gets pretty challenging and the last thing you want to do is a scare a 3 year old by putting her in too early. Hearing this I was relieved that I had enrolled Anna in another 3 year old class. But, just to be sure that Ms. Marilyn was teaching the class I had enrolled her in, I stuck around to ask.

Well I found out that not only was Anna enrolled under another teacher but Ms. Marilyn said that we needed to get Anna out of the 3 year old class as fast as possible because she sure was ready to dance with the 4 year olds. After hearing what she had said to the other parents beforehand, this shocked me. But at the same time I was super excited for Anna. Not going to lie, I felt a little soccer mommish as I got excited at the fact that Ms. Marilyn thought Anna was ready for the next level but isn't that just a normal proud mama!?!?!?!

So anyways, we are now enrolled in the 4 year old class for the Fall and Anna should be one of, if not the, youngest kids in the class. Can't wait to see how she does!!!

I just can't get enough of these dance pictures! Please check out her tongue sticking out; it sticks out most of class! Enjoy!

Much Love,
Jenny

Sunday's Best

She doesn't get dressed up too often; but when she does she sure is cute :)

And by the look of this picture, I think she likes dressing up!

Much Love,
Jenny

46 months old

Happy 46 months old! 2 more until 4- oh my!

I love you little monkey!

Sidewalk Drawings

Anna's sidewalk chalk drawings

Her sting ray (new favorite animal)... belly button and all!

Her jellyfish

Sidenote- here's the flower she can draw. Sometime apparently cousin Kate taught her to do this! Awesome!

Losing hair

Someone's losing a lot of hair lately and her hairline is starting to look like Daddy's! :) And by the look of this picture I don't think she knows what to think about it!

Still trying to decide if she'll be brown or blonde... I am going with blonde!

Much Love,
Jenny