Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Huge Baby

Had another ultrasound appointment today.

And it was that lady doctor I had the first time, so it was  MUCH nicer appointment.  She actually listens and addresses her patients concerns, go figure.  And she was sweet with Tristan when he started tantruming towards the end.

Basically, everything is looking fine still, he's about 5 1/2 lb (WHAT THE HECK?????)  Yeah, I know, how can someone as little as me who drinks all her food have a 5 1/2 baby at 34 weeks?  No idea, but he's going to be beastly I can tell you that.  Tristan was 6 lb 15 oz at 39 weeks so I'm thinking baby A is going to surpass him by a bit.  Ah well, its like everyone keeps empathetically  telling me, is only a few more weeks (not at all comforting  by the way..........probably has something to do with the last few weeks being the worst.........)

And sorry, no pictures, they tried for a 3D one again, but he's just camera shy or something.  Oh well.  Maybe since he is so beastly I won't have to be pregnant for much longer (crosses fingers).

Monday, April 29, 2013

What not to say to a pregnant woman

A little something for men.

At church yesterday, when I was getting Tristan from nursery, some guy in the ward Nick is aquainted with was standing with his wife next to the nursery door.  Apparently, when I walked past him into the room, he whispered to Nick something along the lines of "she eating too much?"  Nick says he was trying to "make a funny", but told him it was probably a very good thing I didn't hear him.

Hmm.  Let's see, maybe if I had known the guy for years, I would have laughed.  But considering I have never even talked to him, I was more than slightly perturbed.  I wish I had heard him.  So I could have said, 'yeah, when your wife looks half as good as I do when she's 8 months pregnant, I hope you will hold your tongue'.  Or, 'no, I don't get enough to eat usually thanks to my swallowing disorder, which has made two pregnancies very difficult for me,  thanks for asking'.  Then maybe he would have felt like a jerk.

I mean seriously people, who says that about a pregnant woman?  Especially one they don't know who has only gained 15 or 20 lbs, which actually took some effort.  Even if a woman is so big you can't even really tell she is pregnant, you should never comment on it!  So next to being insensitive, it was a little rude and out of line.  "Making a funny" should actually be something funny, not offensive and mean.

So to you men out there wanting to be funny, until you have thrown up for 3 months straight, gained a lot of weight all in one spot, gotten stretch marks, not been able to tie your own shoes, ruined your back, feet, belly and boobs, and then either squeezed out a giant baby head a midst pain galore or had to recover from open abdominal surgery while caring for a newborn, maybe keep your snide "fat" jokes to yourself.

Ah, I feel better now.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Rough Weekend

Poor Tristan has had a bit of a rough weekend.  First it started off with him having the insane screamies all Friday.  Then, Saturday morning, while I was getting him dressed, he tried to run away from me and tripped. Of course, he landed head (eye) first into his space heater.  Now he has a nice gash that has scabbed over and a black eye.  Then we went to walmart, and I let him walk to the door with me, and he was mad about me not letting him take a toy in with him, and tried to run away, tripped, and scrapped up his knee.  And today, for the first time, he got really sad in nursery and cried for me "mama! mama!" and then just sat on the teachers lap until we got him.  Then my parents came to have dinner with us, and after being all crazy with them, he hopped up on a chair, and then fell headfirst off onto the kitchen floor.
 ............

Not sure what's going on lately.  People always tell me, it's just a little boy thing to get all scuffed and banged up.  But then when the lady in line next to you at the grocery store makes a comment about your son's black eye......yeah, you feel a little awkward.  Like, why yes, I beat my child, thanks for noticing.  I feel so bad for him!  Poor thing, he's got bruises all over his little head, and a swollen puffy black eye.  Good thing I guess is that he is very resiliant.  He cries for a minute and then is back up running in circles around the coffee table again.  I can't wait till he's older  with more coordination and better balance.  Then maybe he'll be able to enjoy himself without all the head injuries!!

Playing in the yard

Korra's new best friend
(seriously, she gets so excited whenever my
mom comes over she pees......)

Running around

Throwing a baseball ever so daintily

Friday, April 26, 2013

The ROOT of the Problem

When I was 12, I got braces.  Something about my teeth being crooked.  Yeah, they were pretty ugly, and come to find out, it was because one of my bicuspids was embedded in my hard pallet.  Needed to be chained and pulled down.  Oral surgery.  Tons of fun.  Not.

Years later, the tooth next to it starts hurting, randomly, about three weeks ago.  I was sure I had a cavity or something, until I looked in the mirror and saw it was kinda turning pink.  Google told me that meant it was rotting inside.  Well, great!  How the heck did that happen???  I don't even chew things, and it was a front tooth, I mean, come on!

So, I went to the dentist, which I already blogged about, but he told me to come back because that tooth was probably going to need a root canal (along with my broken one in the back, lucky me).

And yesterday morning was the day, I had been dreading it all week.  I have severe anxiety about being numbed, and having other people poking around in my mouth.  The dentist was like, ok, we're going to get started on that back tooth.  And thinking I was sneaky, I was like, well, the front one is the one that's actually bothering me, can we start with that one?  (real reason?  I'm too scared to have him messing around that far back in my mouth.  Stupid I know, because it's going to happen eventually, but start out gentle I guess......)  Which of course he was fine with.

But you know what?  It actually was better that way.  Once he got in there, he stopped and was like, well, I can't see the canal at all, I don't even know if it is there, the nerve is almost entirely calcified, and the root is half eaten away.  That didn't sound good.  "I might need to send you to a specialist.....but let's just see what we can do."  So, an hour, 5 drills, lots of numbing medicine and grinding later, my tooth was sealed up with a substance intended to stop the eating away.  I have to go back in two months to have the root canal finished.

The ROOT of the problem?  I asked if it had to do with poor dental hygene or something.  And the dentist was like no, it's due to trauma.  That tooth got injured and damaged somehow and has been "dying" since.  Ah, lightbulb.  I told him about my oral surgery for my biscuspid and how it had been embedded all funny in my hard pallet. His theory?  The bicuspid was invading the root space of my problem tooth, and then it suffered trauma in the surgery.

Well, that made me feel better.  Basically, the poor tooth was doomed from the start.  Unfortunately, it's almost dead, so hopefully this medicine and root canal works or I'm going to have to shell out a buttload for an implant.  No way in heck I'm going to go all rednecky with a gap in the front of my mouth.  And I have to have the rest of the work done two weeks after a C-section........yeay.


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Unexpected

So, not saying anything is going to come of this, but hey, it was a pretty cool email to get.

Funny how things seem to happen just when you give up.  I had written this agent over two years ago!  That was the perfect email to get just before a horrid root canal!


"Sara,
I realize you sent Disconnected to me quite some time ago. As I stated previously, I am no longer agenting. I simply got tired of great books getting rejected. I decided I wanted to be proactive in my quest to make writers' dreams come true.
With that in mind, I was looking through old files of mine and came across your ms. If you haven't sold Disconnected, I'd be delighted for you to submit it to my new publishing company. Our website will be up soon, but in the meantime, I'm soliciting ms. for consideration. We don't pay an advance right now and we're primarily doing e-pubs with a POD capability.
If you're interested, please let me know. I'll get one of my editors right on this to see if they think it's right for us. We're sooo very leaning toward saying "yes" to authors. We really, really want to make authors' dreams come true.
With kind regards,
(Name Omitted For Privacy)
President and Editorial Director"


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Demon Cricket Meets Its Doom

A few of our critters eat crickets, and normally, when we buy them, they are all eaten in a matter of hours.  None usually survive until the next day.

So I was surprised when I went to take a nap and a cricket started chirping.  And not just that sweet melodious kind you hear in the forest at night.  This cricket was possessed or something, it was insane!  Since I generally only like to admire the creepy crawlies from a distance, I didn't try to get into the cage to demolish the thing.  I just went napless, and for those of you who have been 8 months pregnant, you know how not okay that is.

That night when Nick came home, I told him he needed to smash that thing.  After going in the bedroom and hearing it, he agreed.  It took awhile to get it out of the cage because it kept hiding, but eventually  Nick got it out.  I thought he would squash it right there and then.  But no.....he transferred it to another critter guaranteeing to eat it immediately.

Well, the chirping stopped as soon as he dropped it in.  Either it got caught right away, or it was too scared for its life.  Whatever the reason, we had peace and quiet.....for about an hour.

Then the chirping started again.  Louder and more obnoxious then before.  Again, Nick had to try and catch it, which took forever because it was soo elusive.  And when he did catch it, it escaped the forceps and tried to hide under the dresser.

Once Nick had it again, I was like, "Just flush it!"  Which he did very quickly.

We slept in silence that night, and it was wonderful.  Though I'm sure somewhere in the plumbing below our apartment a cricket is chirping........

Monday, April 22, 2013

My famous cat

So I like to upload pictures to the Purina cat facebook page, just to see if they will ever feature one or if it would win a contest or something.  And yesterday as I was scrolling through my newsfeed, I saw a familiar face.  It was Lilly!  Her picture was framed in the Purina logo with my comment right under it.  !6,000+ likes and almost 400 comments.  Yikers!   So that was pretty cool to see, haha, now I have a famous kitty!  Good thing she is microchipped!


Sunday, April 21, 2013

A Day Away

Driving up to Farmington yesterday, Nick said to me, "I think this is what has been missing from our marriage".

See, when you have kids, you kinda forget to have time off.  You know, just you and your spouse.  Well, my wonderful mommy to watch Tristan any Saturday we wanted to give us some time alone before Baby A gets here.  And we took her up on her offer yesterday, and went to the reptile show, something Nick has been wanting to do for several months.

It's amazing how fast an hour and a half drive is when there isn't a screaming toddler in the back seat.  Of course, then I feel like this horrible mommy relishing in the fact that my child is not with me, but!  It's like Nick said, we need this time away.  And we'll probably do it a few more times while we have the chance.

The show was a lot of fun; it was neat to see what all the different breeders had, all the cool and colorful critters.  They had some massive and bright yellow snakes, lots of dart frogs, geckos and tarantulas.  And there was a sheepdog agility show going on right outside the building as well that we got to see part of, so that was kinda cool.  Then we stopped at TGI Friday's for lunch, took our time driving home, stopping at a few places for fun, and just enjoyed a day out together.

Thank you mommy for watching Tristan!  He had a great day as well!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Speech and language

After thinking about it pretty extensively, I decided to go ahead and make Tristan an appointment for speech therapy.  Luckily, there was one at UVRMC, so we didn't have to go to the Orem office again.  Haven't really had very good experiences there.....

Anyhoo, so he had his appointment today.  I had already done some research, so I knew what was going to happen.  The therapist assessed his ability to comprehend as well as speak.

For his age, Tristan should be able to understand about 300 words.  He should be able to understand compound commands (pick up the toy and put it in the box).  He should be able to articulate 50 words.  He should be able to put a noun and a verb together (dog run), or create simple sentences.  He should be able to mimic to some degree.

He can understand very well, he can even communicate what he wants to some extent (pointing ans screaming, he also signs "more").  Nick and I were both surprised when the therapist showed him pictures and asked him to point to things.  He knew milk, balloons, ball, cat, cookie.  But he can only say about 4-6 words, and none of them consistently.   And he didn't really say any of them for the therapist, just "yeah"

So, he's got a ways to go, he's a little behind.  But at least his comprehension and retention are pretty on schedule.  And apparently he knows a lot more than we thought he did, which made us feel tons better.  We're going to go at least once a week to meet with the speech pathologist, and in the meantime work on repetition and just voicing everything we do with him.  Hopefully he will catch on.  And hopefully in the next appointment the therapist will be able to evaluate his tongue movement (he wasn't too cooperative about it this time).

Sunday, April 14, 2013

My greatest dream

My greatest dream since probably the 5th grade when I started reading the Tennis Shoes books was to become a real author.  Of course, since then, I've realized it's a very subjective and highly networked business, and it's pretty much impossible to break into.  You may be the best writer on the planet, but unless you have the right connections, it's never going to happen.

Sad as it is, I've come to accept that.  My next best option is self publishing, which is a very expensive and usually unrewarding road to take.  You'll never have a book in a book store, and the only way it will get marketed is if you stand around at the mall asking if people want to read it.  Otherwise, it will simply become part of amazon.com's inventory.

However, my dad suggested I contact a friend of the family back home.  He owns a self publishing company, and agreed to take a look at one of the books I've written.  And this was super nice, he actually had one of his editors do a rough read through and give me a quick analysis.  I have NEVER had someone do that!  No one has ever been interested in reading what I have written, so to get that review back was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life.  To see what someone's professional opinion was.  One literary agent that turned me down a year ago told me the story had good commercial promise, and this editor also said it was worthy of publishing.  I just needed to have it professionally edited.  They gave me the name of someone they recommended, and said to  get back to them once I had done that.

Exciting, right?  But, there always seems to be a catch.  Editing costs a lot of money.  This lady they recommended, while she has a great rate of $60 per hour, it's still too rich for me.  And because it is still a self publishing company, even though they take care of everything from promotion and marketing to cover design, it still would cost me around $5,000 to do.

Well, maybe in a few years I'll have money to do it.  Until then, I can be happy someone actually read it and thought it showed real potential, and that's enough for me.


Excerpt from analysis:


"The plot is adequately developed. The transition of events from the point where Kyler and Garrett learn of the possibility for them to have enhanced abilities, to the discovery of the truth, their allies, and their enemies is smooth and focused.  The story flows in a chronological order with straightforward transitions, which helps the reader keep up with the shifts and twists easily.  The author closes the story with another interesting twist that showcases the change in Kyler’s character. The author is also able to compellingly tie up all the events and minor details to create a sustained tension throughout the story."

Thursday, April 11, 2013

My poor mouth

When I was growing up, my family couldn't afford real milk, we bought that powdered stuff from Costco.  And the only thing that was good for was to dampen cereal.  It wasn't until high school, or late middle school I think, that we were able to start getting real milk.  So that combined with I'm going to assume poor dental hygiene as a kid, landed me with 4 cavities in the 3rd grade.  I don't remember much of getting those fixed, other than my dentist and stake president (who was also a patient), taking me into the back room before a filling, per my mother's request, and giving me a blessing that my teeth wouldn't rot out of my skull.

After that, my teeth were fantabulous.  Until I was 11, I broke one completely in half with a corn nut.  And then braces when I was 12.  And then 18, when I had all four wisdom teeth extracted and looked like a chipmunk for a whole week.  Then, I moved to Utah, married a poor college student, and haven't been to the dentist since.

Well, until yesterday that is.  It was time

See, having babies is such a beautiful and amazing experience (cough cough), you forget all about the delightful things it does to your body.  Namely, your mouth.  Yes yes, I realize it destroys many other parts of your body as well, but it really gets to your teeth.  Thank those pesky hormones and that dear little fetus sucking away all your calcium.  With Tristan, while I had the insurance, I didn't have the time.  I was working.  This time around however, despite all my better efforts, my mouth has become a disaster area.  Not good for someone who had a bad teeth start to begin with..........

Luckily, I found a dentist in town who was both nice and accepted my insurance.  And everyone in the office couldn't believe I am having a baby in less than two months.  That just made my day, nothing a pregnant woman likes more than for people to tell her how tiny she looks.  Anyhoo, that was about the only positive.  That cleaning had to be probably the worst cleaning I have ever experienced.  And it wasn't because the hygienist was bad, she was great.  And the dentist was very good and personable too.  But when I was like, ok, so how many do I have? he didn't sugar coat anything.  Apparently my mouth is the perfect place for cavities to form because of one: weak enamel, two: giant huge gaps between every tooth (thank you braces.......)

What's the best way to drown your anxiety, you sorrows, and celebrate probably needing to have two root canals plus more, all before having another C-section?  That's right, sweet cream Italian gelato.  They're all falling apart anyways, why not pile on the sugar?????

So, yesterday was the worst day ever.  And I can't even get the laughing gas because I'm pregnant, so I just will have to lie there for an hour and a half while he drills away.  And I also can't take ibuprofen, so it's lame wad tylenol for me.  At least they reassured me that after I have this baby, my teeth should firm up again and my gums get better, but for those two poor toofies, their day has come.

Word of the wise, no matter how poor you marry, GO TO THE DENTIST!  It's way better to prevent than to treat.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Tristan Update

Besides having had a stomach bug the last few days, Tristan is doing fabulously.  Growing like a weed.  Still tilting occasionally, but like I said before, we've decided to just let him be.  Poor kid has been tormented enough.  He's fitting his 2T clothes snuggly, which is tragic because that is where we run out of hand-me-downs!  As soon as he outgrows these clothes, we're going to need to buy them for him ourselves, hahaha.  So, thank you to my sisters for giving us all your boys old clothes, they have saved us two years of shopping!

We had been advised to take him to speech therapy because he still isn't talking, but don't think we're going to do that either.  He'll start talking when he's ready I guess.  For now, he's started saying "yeah" "uh-oh" "wow" "buh-bye" "dada" "mama" "caaaa"(cat or car, we aren't sure....) and his favorite "buggie!".  Yeah, we have no idea what that means either.  Otherwise, everything else is a loud grunt or scream.  He also goes "huh??????" like an old senile woman.  Which is funny, especially to strangers.

And the stink eye.  He glares at everyone!  Probably because I glare at him when he's naughty.  And he rolls his eyes, pretty sure he got that one from Nick.  

He is getting better with Korra and Lilly, not trying to squash them as much.  We bought a little cat wand with feathers and stuff, and he loves to play with that with Lilly.  She will follow him all over the house if he is holding that thing, which of course he gets a kick out of.  She has got to be either the sweetest or stupidest cat ever.  I think the sweetest, because she adores Tristan even when he tries to stomp on her.

And my favorite, Dr. Tristan.  I gave him my first stethoscope to play with as a toy, and he figured out how to put the ear pieces in and listen to everything.  Including us and the cat and all of his toys.  His favorite is me and Nick though, because he can actually hear a heartbeat.  It's super cute, he will wear that stethoscope all day long.  Who knows, maybe he is going to be a doctor one day!  Or a dancer, he's pretty good at that too, haha.  

It's going to be really cool for him, in less than a month he will be 2, and in about two months he'll be a big brother.  Lots of stuff happening in this family lately!









Another baby update

Well, I guess he's got plenty of room to roll around in because he's head down again (YEAY!!!!!!!!!!!)  Not so good for a poor mommy's bladder, but meh, what can ya do?  They tried to do one of those 3D u/s for me, but he had both hands in his face which made it pretty much impossible to do.  Another bit of good news, he's measuring a whole week and a half ahead of schedule (almost 4 lbs too, I'm growing a beast!).  Which stinks because they don't change your due date unless it's two weeks, haha, and stinks again because I'm WAY terrified of going into labor on my own.  I'd much rather schedule it and know what's happening.  Not that going into labor would change much, they'd still do it by C-section.  I'd just rather have an epidural in and working before any pain started.  I know, I know.  I'm a wimp.  Guess I"m just not one of those women meant to bear many children.  Which is okay with me!  Children are fun, the whole baring part?  Not so much.  Besides, loads of people only had a few, like Abraham and Isaac for example.  And their kids turned out just fine!

So, just a few more weeks, a few more pounds, and we'll have another son.  Woohoo!  (secretly hoping he decides to come early *crosses fingers*)

If you can't tell, it's a profile, his hand is in front of his nose

Monday, April 1, 2013

Easter Bunny

We weren't really planning on doing anything for Easter this year, but I decided to play Easter Bunny anyways.   There are few magical holidays for a kid growing up, and there is just something exciting about having the Easter Bunny come and leave you treats.  So I got a basket, filled it with green fake grass, and got Tristan a couple little things.

Easter morning, I told him there was something waiting for him in the living room, so he ran out there and immediately went for the basket.  It was pretty cute, and he's been playing with his new little sparkle wand and Iron Man truck since.  Next year hopefully he'll be a little more aware, and it will be more exciting for him.  I fully plan on being a Leprechaun and Santa Claus as well.

After we got home from church, my parents came by to visit.  And yeay that my mommy is finally down here for good!  Anyhoo, haha, as soon as they walked in the door, Tristan ran to grab his shoes.  Whenever my dad comes to visit, Tristan thinks that means "take me for a walk!", which of course they were more than happy to indulge him with.  We ended up walked to two parks close by, both with playgrounds that he was up and down like a little squirrel.  It's nice that he is more sure footed now and can enjoy things like ladders and slides.  He's still afraid of the swings though, haha.  Oh well, I don't know if he's going to grow out of that one any time soon.  We also ended up bring Korra along, and she had a grand ol time when we let her off her leash to run around the playground as well.  It was a good  thing it was Sunday and there was no one around so we could do that.

My parents weren't able to stay for too much longer after we walked back home because they were having dinner with my brother up north.  But I'm glad they came to visit, Tristan loved walking them around and hurling himself to them down the slides.  Then, we all took a much needed nap!

Easter dinner was a little nontraditional, and that was Nick's idea.  We had spaghetti and meatballs with sweet potatoes.  Haha, I know sounds interesting, but!  I am a pretty darn good cook, so I made some tasty turkey meatballs.  You know it tastes good when Tristan will eat it. And that was our happy Easter!  Hope you all had a fabulous Easter too!