A whole new experience

So I went to the dentist today. Which is never my favorite thing, especially when they are actually doing something to my teeth other than cleaning them, and even then, sheesh. So anyways, I had an appointment to have some work done today after work. This is the 2nd time I have gone to this dentist, the other being a cleaning a while ago. I wasn't super happy with our previous dentist's work, and with Zach's teeth, we really get to know the dentist pretty well.

Anyways, so I get there early for my appointment, they take me right back (ah, prompt service), the dentist comes in, gives me the best shot I have ever had (meaning, I didn't feel it at all), so I am sitting there, thinking that I have a few minutes to wait, when the nurse (dental assistant?) comes in to ask if I would like a magazine or newspaper, which I decline. Then she asks if I would like a heated neck pillow and a paraffin dip.

Uh....what? Am I not in the dentist office? What just happened here?

Apparently the dental office has decided that in order to relax patients, they make it more like a spa day then a dental checkup. I was expecting someone to jump out and give me a pedicure at any time.

So of course I said yes. And did the paraffin dip (SUPER NICE, but really weird looking on your hands), and accepted the neck pillow. And while the dentist was working on my tooth, I thought to myself, this whole neck pillow/paraffin dip thing is nice, but not THAT distracting.

However, though my mouth still feels sore, my hands are so nice and soft, and my neck was pretty warm and relaxed while in the office. My only thought was this-

The paraffin was nice, the neck pillow was super nice and warm, but uh...maybe you could hang a picture to look at while your mouth is super open and head is back. It seems like you are awkwardly staring at the dentist, or averting your eyes to a blank wall.

So my only addition to this spa like atmosphere would be a picture...possibly a TV? Anything to look at so you don't feel like you are looking up the dentists nose, or into those weird glasses/magnifiers that they wear.

Thankful, Day 6

November 6th

I fully intended to be thankful for an extra hour of sleep today. Last night, when I was writing the post for yesterday, I discovered it was the night to set your clocks back (thanks everyone on facebook for posting, otherwise, we would have forgotten :/ ), and I thought to myself, YAY! Tomorrow I can be thankful for extra sleep.

That was the plan until Bishop cheerfully banged on Cadence's crib at 5:20 this morning telling her, "Cadence!! Wake up!! It's time to get up, baby!!" So that thankfulness jumped right out the window with my rest. So.

Today, I am thankful for coffee.

Dear coffee...you are one of my favorite things. I think the best coffee is just a regular brewed kind with the perfect ratio of cream to sugar. There is no measurement, you have to taste test it. AH coffee. I promptly made a pot of coffee this morning. AH. The smell itself makes me happy. When I had my gallbladder taken out, I got choked up when I realized I could still have coffee. Literally, in the Walmart aisle crying tears of joy. That is the depth of my love for coffee. And today was no different.

Thankful, Week 1

WOW! This week just flashed by! I did have every good intention of writing something every day, but, to be honest, between work, kids, home and everything they all require...WHEW! One tired momma by the end of the day. SO! I am going to give my list of things I am thankful for this last week, and HOPEFULLY (no promises) I will try to post once a day this following week.

Ok, so 1st-

I am thankful for my husband. This may seem like a gimme, but this man has been the biggest blessing I have ever been given. He is a fantastic partner in life, he evens out all my craziness, and I can not stay upset with him. I think God knew I could never live with someone like myself, so He gave me Zach, who is my opposite is almost every way. It is actually pretty amazing, as the years go by, I seem to become more and more like him. Which means I am basically a nicer, more graceful person. So my number 1 thing to be thankful for is my wonderful husband of almost 7 years, Zach.

Nov. 2 (Wednesday)

I am thankful for my son, Bishop. Once upon a time, I asked God to give me patience, and I got Bishop, who teaches me everyday to be more patient then I ever thought possible. But past that, Bishop is the sweetest little boy who has learned to charm his way out of trouble, just like his father...And beyond that, he is just so darn cute ALL the time. I love my little boy, who I gave up on ever having, and was blessed to be given.

Nov. 3 (Thursday)

I am thankful for my daughter, Cadence. Ok...yeah, I get that I am just listing off my family here, but I am SO thankful to have them that I feel like they should get their own days. So today I am thankful to have my beautiful, perfect little girl. And yes, she is the easiest, best little baby I have ever had, which is something in itself to be thankful for. She is so happy, and is such a funny little thing. It makes me so sad that she is growing up so fast, and I often feel like this last year has just disappeared with her. I was worried that I could never love another baby as much as I do Bishop, but as a mommy, it's like your heart just gets bigger to hold more. Ah...so sappy.

Nov. 4 (Friday)

Today, I am thankful for heat. Yes, that's right, heat. It is DARN cold outside, AND windy, and it sure makes me glad that we have a furnace that keeps our house nice and warm. So nice, in fact, that Bishop loves to sit in front of one of the places the air blows out of by the dining room table. He thinks the air coming out is just so cool. Ahem. So warm.

Nov. 5 (TODAY!)

I am thankful for days off with family. Today we just hung out, got some housework and laundry done. Bishop and I took a nap together (LOVE), Bishop and Zach hung out together outside, doing that mysterious thing that boys do together. Cadence chased a balloon around the living. I read. I think you get the wonder of the day. We went to Home Depot, and the kids got to ride in the 'car' cart together, which is just hilarious, especially when Bishop get's upset if Cadence isn't steering right. Love my little family. We had a lady in the parking lot, as we were going out to the car, say, "Oh, a boy and a girl...how perfect!" And I thought...well...it just happened that way. I think 2 boys would be just as perfect. Or 2 girls...I am just really happy that Bishop loves his little sister so much. And she thinks he's the greatest ever. And days like today make most everything we do worth it.

A long time gone...

Wow, I haven't actually written anything here or anywhere in a LONG time! There is far too much to really catch up, so let's just say life has been crazy, and leave it at that. So, hm where to start...where to start....

I think Cadence is going to be a pretty easy kiddo. Ok, she has always been the easy one. Bishop didn't sleep though the night until....well, actually, he still wakes up occasionally, so that would be never. Cadence, she is out for the night as I type this. Bishop is strong willed just for the fun of it, and often is contrary just to be contrary. Does he want a cookie? NO!!!! Then he cries and whines when he doesn't get a cookie...But if you offer a cookie, he will still say he doesn't want one. You get the point.

Tonight, Cadence went to grab something she wasn't supposed to, I told her very calmly "No, no sweetie" and she pulled her hand back, dropped her head down, and started crying with the saddest little face I have ever seen. She was so upset that she cried for a few minutes. So she is either very savvy to the ways of parents (mom's specifically) or she is just a sweet tempered little baby. Which...she is.

And thus, the easiest kiddo.

I have decided that in the spirit of Thanksgiving, and because it is closing in on the holidays, and actually, because it is just a good exercise, I am going to write a post a day starting in November about what I am thankful for. If you post or journal, I would encourage you to do something similar.

Also...I am just really excited for the holiday season. I LOVE this time of year, it's the best part of the year for sure. I wandered the toy aisles today to start getting Christmas ideas :D

Love it. Are you working on your Christmas list already? Close to being done? Haven't started yet (*cough*cough*)?

Regardless, we are days away from Halloween (which,I am also excited for, as the kids are both going to be cows, which is honestly adorable), and right around the corner from Thanksgiving.

Holidays!!!

I am off to go to bed early, possibly do a little reading. Sounds amazing to me.

The Dog's Strike Again

With the crazy amount of money that we have put into fortifying our fences with concrete and boards, you would think that there would be no way that our dogs could break out. But just to laugh in the face of our investments (and just our faces), they found a way. Again.

Thus started the dog drama of 08.29.2011. We found out this evening that they got out around 3am...apparently our neighbor girl was sleeping on her trampoline, and they broke out through her yard. She didn't think she should come tell us, since it was 3am. The hours between 3am and 7am are still unaccounted for, so we can only guess what kind of shenanigans they got into. And yes, that word applies perfectly here.

I got a call from Zach at just before 7am (I was already at work) letting me know they were gone. Great. I missed a call from an unknown number at about 8:15am. The dogs were loitering in a parking lot about a mile from our house. I happen to work across town, and thus do not have the freedom to just come and go whenever I want to. So I called Zach, who was going to call them back and see if one of his buddies could pick up the dogs for us. When I called him back (I missed yet another call), he told me the dogs had been returned by someone from the business they were soliciting..er...loitering at. He asked if I could drive home on my lunch to check on them. Which I did, even though I only have a 30 minute lunch. The dogs were very guiltily hanging out in the backyard, refusing to make eye contact. I covered the hole they had made in such a way so that they could no get out- a la putting something large in front of it.

I found a note on the door that read, "I brought back your babies. They were at Labor Ready" with a name and a phone number listed at the bottom. Not sure if I was supposed to pay this person in blood, I mean, coke like last time, I decided to not call them.

The story to my knowledge was over there. At least, until I get home from grocery shopping with the kids. Zach tells me he had just gotten home, and some guy was hanging out by our fence, watching our dogs. Apparently he was the dog-saver. He had just been stopping by to check on the dogs. Again. According to him, he had come by on all of his breaks to make sure they were still ok. Since no one had called him back. *cough*

He made a point of letting us know what nice, sweet dogs they are (yep. we know.) and how glad he is that they are okay. Zach, having been burned before, offered him a Mountain Dew (the closest thing to Coke on hand). The guy accepted it, then said, "Actually, I will get it from you next time."

Which begs the questions....Next Time? We get the feeling that he plans to check up on them daily. Just like our mailman. I was always under the assumption that mailmen and dogs didn't really get along. Apparently, our mailman adores Spartan. He would make a point of knocking on my door when Spartan was missing for a month to check on how the search was going. Daily.

Looks like our dogs have picked up another stalker. Clearly we raised them well.

What has happened to my children?

It has been a long time since I wrote anything here...at least since the tongue clamp incident. Whew. Let me tell ya, some stuff has gone down. Cadence is now an official crawler. Like, officially down the hall, around the corner, and chewing on a shoe before you realize she is gone. Actually, that happened yesterday.

She went from doing the 'rocking' thing, to the 'worm', to the up on her hands and feet...then falling over. And then this weekend she got the whole thing all together. And now she is chasing Bishop around. Which is actually really cute. He was pulling this little dog on wheels around this afternoon as she followed him. They are also amusing each other more. Like yesterday, she followed him into his room, then back into the hall, where he was donkey kicking and she was rolling on the floor laughing at him. I love that they love each other. BUT 2 mobile kids is a whole new ball game. Like having 2 itself wasn't hard enough, but for both of them to disappear while I am doing the dishes? Not a safe feeling.

Which is why I strapped Cadence into her highchair while doing the dishes this afternoon. Purely safety reasons...plus, who doesn't like trying to feed themselves a cut up banana? She happily ate, Bishop played on his own, and the kitchen got cleaned. All is well in the Ivey house. At least until I no longer had a reason to keep her strapped in. Then all bets were off. It was soon after that when Bishop came in the house, with a mouth full. Of dog food. I made him spit it out into my hand (a handful), so, thinking I got it all, I turn and throw it in the trash. Only to turn back to find him chewing what's left in his mouth.

Dog food. Clearly he gets his taste from his father, who happily eats things out of the trash all the time.

No one would ever...

As a logical adult (well, most of the time), I often trip myself up as a parent because it won't occur to me that a kid would do certain things. A perfect example of this happened on my last grocery shopping trip with Bishop and Cadence. The shopping itself was uneventful. We get everything loaded up and head out to the car. Bishop has this thing were I let him 'help' me unload the groceries into the back of my Blazer while he is in there. So I toss him in, put Cadence in her car seat, and then go to transfer groceries from cart to car. I get the first couple of bags in, when I hear a high pitched scream from the back. I turn, and there is Bishop, with a battery cable clamp stuck on his tongue. And honestly, my first response was to laugh. I did jump in to save him (and his tongue) but I was laughing the whole time.

I am sure anyone watching would think I am a terrible mother for not being more concerned. I mean, Bishop just clamped a very large alligator-like clamp on his tongue. And my response is to laugh?

The problem is that I know the child. And he has a propensity to clamp things on his tongue. Which makes absolutely no sense after doing it once. It never ends well, so I am not sure what the motivation here is. I mean, he screams and cries every time, whether its a cloths pin, bobby pin, hair clip, hair claw, and now, a battery cable clamp. What does he expect to happen here?

Clamp + tongue/lips= pain. Every. Single. Time.

Which is where the logic trips me up. I knew the battery cables were in there. We had to jump my car because a certain toddler had turned on my headlights while pretending to drive it earlier that day. I just never imagined he would attempt to clamp his tongue. Clamp on face=bad. But apparently it is all uncharted territory for a 3 year old. There is a disconnect somewhere in his brain. Maybe I need to stop saving him and just let him live with something stuck to his face for a while (a smaller clamp, clearly. The battery cable one could do some real damage, as it is about the size of his face itself).

I will be surprised if he makes it to 10 without a couple broken bones. Or a possible lip/tongue surgery.