Summer Fun!

Mommy and Savvy, aren't we like twins??

Savannah is now ten months old and she had her well baby check up on Friday.  She was officially declared obese by the pediatrician.  Just kidding.  But she is in the 90% percentile for her age and gender.  Her head is also on the large side.  I asked the doctor if she was tall for her age too.  She smiled and said, "no, actually she hasn't gotten much longer since her last visit.  So I said, "you're telling me my baby is short and fat?!!"  We had a good laugh.  All that matters is that she is healthy and ohhhhh so happy.  She does have a great appetite and it is easy to just continue to give her spoonfuls of fruits, veggies, and Cheerios when she is perfectly content to keep eating happily in her high chair.  We give her healthy food, I think I just let her eat too much of it.  The doctor is not concerned.  She just suggested I try to end the meals a little sooner, and give her toys to play with instead of more food.  When I put the bright colored blocks on her tray last night, she just stared at them for at least five minutes before she touched them.  She cracks me up! 

She has five baby teeth. They are perfect, shiny and bright white.  I love them more than any normal mother should love her baby's teeth.  Maybe it is because, sadly, I have extracted several front teeth on one year olds recently.  More about that later. 

Savannah loves the water!

Pooltime at the Starkes

Savvy charming the boys, Weston and Devon!

Savannah's first ride in Jack's radioflyer wagon

Savannah learning to walk, notice how Chris put the weight in there, for extra calorie burn perhaps?

You may wonder why Savannah has no clothes on.  Well, she resists having her diaper changed so strongly, that once the diaper is finally on, Chris and I are exhausted and sometimes temporarily give up on clothing for her.

We have been going to park each evening after dinner and she is loving the swing.

On the way to the park Jack consistently asks about a thousand times, "Mom, swing?"  I sweetly answer about a thousand times, "yes Jack, we are going to the park to swing." He is at the stage when he has to ask the same question over and over until the event actually occurs.  Later, in ten minutes, or tomorrow, have absolutely no meaning to him.

Jack is going through a little stage right now that has me and Chris near the end of our rope.  Its called Delaying Bedtime at All Costs.  Basically the nighttime routine is extended ("Mom, rock.  Mom, book.  Mom, drink.  Mom, Daddy.  Mom, lay down.") until we finally just shut the door and ignore his little voice and all his requests.  As soon as the door closes, the tears and crying begins.  If we ignore this crying, Savannah is soon awake and crying as well.  So last night Chris and I together made 22 visits to Jack's room over the course of eleven hours.  It was not fun.  Jack was in our bed, I was in his bed, and I don't think anyone slept all night long, except our Savvy girl.

Tonight it began all over again and so far we have logged eight trips since 8:45.  It is 11:04.  God help us.

Okay, so now a story to demonstrate how old I really am.  If you would have told me when I was seventeen that someday when I was twenty eight that I would be taking pictures of birds nests I would have thought you were crazy.  But I am old, and for some reason I think these little birds are cool.

So this is one of my hanging flower baskets on the front porch.  I have three on the porch and I take them down to water them everyday.  When I returned from Omaha after Anne's wedding, this is what I saw in my flower basket!

A perfectly made nest for six eggs!  I couldn't believe it!  I was honored that this little bird chose my thirsty dying flowers as her home for her babies.  Every day I gently took down the basket and carefully watered the flowers without getting the nest wet.  I couldn't wait to see them hatch.

So here are two of the birds after they hatched. 

It was amazing to see how with any noise the little birds would open their mouths so wide I could practically see their stomachs.  I could tell the mom bird did not like when I moved the basket so I tried to only do it when I had to water.  I never touched the nest or the birds but I suppose the mother bird felt threatened because the next time I checked the eggs and baby birds were GONE!  I couldn't believe it.  For a split second I thought maybe an animal got to the eggs and baby birds.  But then I realized there was no way.  And the nest was perfectly sound, not disturbed at all.  I googled it, and sure enough, mother birds can make a new nest if they feel threatened and move their eggs and baby birds.  I was so sad.  Maybe I need a new hobby.  My fault for making the mom mad.  I have looked around our yard and neighborhood as I walked to see if I could see a nest but I haven't found one yet.  I just hope they are safe and sound.

A quick note about Chris.  He has been keeping very busy with home improvement projects.  So far he has hung two new ceiling fans, a new kitchen light fixture, eight new light fixtures throughout the house (bye bye brass!), new art and curtains in our bedroom, and paint in our bedroom and bathroom.  He also put in two new faucets, hardware on the cabinets, and two new light fixtures in the bathroom.  It feels like brand new!  With our new bedding and accessories we feel like we have really make some progress in making our master bedroom feel updated.  Chris also was hard at work putting together his Father's Day present, a new grill we really needed. 

Nick was in town this weekend and helped Chris tear out the garden in the backyard.  It was exhausting....and I only watched.  They had to remove all the surrounding brick, remove a large amount of dirt, rake out the remaining dirt, till the ground, plant the seed, and set up the sprinkler.  I am so glad it is done!!  Thank you Nick and Chris!!  Hopefully by the end of the summer we will be able to get the play set we want for the kids' birthdays. 

Today was a very rough day for me at work.  I love my job and I am happy I am a dentist, but public health dentistry really has its challenges.  It is frustrating when you see the same thing every day.  Rampant dental decay, advanced periodontal disease, meth mouth, and teeth covered in plaque and tartar.  I start to wonder if I should even waste my breath trying to educate these people about their oral health.  Many of my patients have preventable chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and COPD so the last thing they think about is their teeth.  Many of my patients have the mind set that you only go to the dentist if you have pain or if your face is swollen beyond recognition.  So to try to teach prevention is a difficult task.  We are attempting to change a culture.  Some days, like today, I don't feel like we are making any progress.  I saw a one year old who neeed to have his front two teeth extracted because they were decayed to the gumline.  The mom said her son had been in pain for weeks.  She had an appointment with the pediatric dentist in town but missed the appointment.  He has a one strike and you are out policy if you are on Title 19/Medicaid so she couldn't bring her child back there.  The mom had no transportation to go to any other pediatric dentist.  So I did what I had to do, what I have had to do several times in the past year, numb up a screaming child, and pull decayed baby teeth while the mother holds her baby down and the child fights us and screams.  Considering a child screams when they get their teeth examined, I know most of the screams are not from pain, but from fear.  Still, it is horrible and I wonder if I am doing the right thing.  I have asked collegues and they assure me, that yes, the teeth must come out and a pediatric dentist would do the same thing.  Today just was harder because that patient was followed by another emergency patient, a four year old with a mouthful of decay with an abscessed tooth.  He had never been to a dentist, and in my patient population, at the age of four, that is waaaaayyyyyyy too late.  His mom was a real class act if you can sense my sarcasm here, and she was very rude to me.  He also needed his tooth pulled and he was a big strong four year old.  Restraining him was not easy.  After everyone left and I sat at my desk, I noticed my hands were shaking.  I tried not to, but I cried.  It is just horrible to be the one who has to do this those poor innocent kids who didn't ask for parents who negelect their teeth.  I try to tell myself that kids are resillent and they will get over it and I helped prevent them from more pain and infection.  Today it didn't work.  I just felt horrible.  My coworkers are amazing and they help me get through it. It is not fun for them either.

However, tomorrow is a new day.  Another opportunity to help someone out there learn to prevent tooth decay and pain in their children's mouths.  Another opportunity for me to make a difference and make someone feel like someone cares about them.  Another day to admire my babies' perfect white healthy teeth and make them laugh and smile!!