Dental Hell

I try to be really good about getting my teeth cleaned. I don't have dental insurance for the first time since college; but, b/c I'm pregnant, I decided to go anyway at the 6 month mark since you tend to be more susceptible to infections and your gums are more sensitive. BIG MISTAKE! I went yesterday AM and for the rest of the day my gums were sore, but not more than usual for after a cleaning. By night, the whole left side of my face was throbbing and I finally broke down and took a Tylenol. Nothing. By midnight I wasn't sleeping and took another. Nothing. I knew I wouldn't sleep. By 1am I gave up and sat down with a heating pad on my face in front of the TV. I made it to 520am before calling the dentists emergency line, to no avail. Why the hell have an emergency line if no one is going to call you back??? I guess I'm spoiled by my pediatrician who calls back in like 2 minutes. I got through when they opened and ended up with a diagnosis of "infection" (which can't be proven b/c I can't have an X-ray). Antibiotics and Tylenol w/ Codeine. I hate to take them, but I had to today and am trying to muscle through with Oragel until bed when I'll take another. I'm so spent today...dying for a nap.

The Power of the Eldest Sibling

Over the monitor in the kids bedroom this morning I heard:

Shelagh: "Buddy, if you do x, you can't come to my birthday party" (mind you, her birthday is in May)
Rory: "Okay, I won't do it. Can I come to your party now?"

It immediately brought back memories of me saying to my younger sister something along the lines of

Me: "If you do x/If you don't tell mom (interchangeable), I'll be your best friend." "I'll buy you a pack of gum" was also a viable alternative.
Sister: "Okay" (within 5 seconds).

I don't know if this more strongly accentuates both my and Shelaghs role of bully/leader in the sibling circle or if it touches on the pliability/wanting to please/follower nature in the 2nd child. Something to noodle today...

Shelagh also likes to throw out there...

• ...then you can't come to my gingerbread house (it is the biggest privilege to be invited to Shelaghs imaginary gingerbread house and adults are frequently excluded for inforcing rules)
• ...then you can't be my mommy anymore (this is rare, but it has been known to come out in the peaks of frustration)
• ...then I'll break x or y (which she never does...just threatens)

She's very creative. Also, I owe my sister a million packs of gum.

Baby #3: What I've Learned

At this point, I'm 29+ weeks with Baby #3. I've learned a little more with each pregnancy and here's what I'd pinpoint to this one:

1. With each kid you have, that "I'm-wiped-out-and-feel-like-just-eating-and-watching-tv" feeling that kicks in at the end starts a month earlier than the last time. With Shelagh I had a good, strong energy until the last month. With Rory, until the last 2 months, but I was chasing 18-mo old Shelagh around at the time. This time, it's the last 3 months. I still have energy and am mobile, albeit with a waddle. But, it doesn't take very much for me to overdo it these days and then I'm just crippled and can't get up.
2. Those "bruises" on my thighs are NOT from walking into the corner of my bed at night, like I had convinced myself. Yes, people, these are collections of broken blood vessels and varicose veins. Please tell me there is a procedure for this when I'm done having kids. Thank God this baby is due in the winter. I can't imagine getting into a bathing suit ANYTIME SOON. Velour suits, here I come.
3. I love that pregnancy for me comes 2 fabulous side effects: I sleep incredibly heavily (despite waking up every night to pee or calm down a coughing or nightmaring kid) and I only have to shave my legs every week or 2. For some reason, leg hair growth comes to almost a halt. It's a miracle and a good thing b/c I'm lucky enough to be able to tie my shoes these days...who can see down there anyway!

By the way, I passed the 3-hr sugar test I had the pleasure of taking this weekend. I've never been an orange soda kind of girl and I have a hard time consuming a volume of any liquid...just not a drinker. Having to chug the whole bottle of that crappy-sweet orange soda in 5 minutes is like a marathon for me. But, I did it. Then, I proceeded to catch up on my photo albums, continue reading an awesome book I'm completely involved in now, and catch up on the phone with a friend from NJ I haven't talked to in ages. I also found out that I only failed the 1 hour test by 1 point. Nice.

Day at Home

With the colds still looming and lots of work I have to do today, we basically just hung around. Rory tried and loved some Red Grapefruit. He barely eats anything and somehow grapefruit is now on his menu. Shelagh had swim class and was thrilled to see some friends in her class. Some pics of Rorys cool Rugby outfit (thank you, Uncle David & West Coast Nancy) and Shelagh wearing her friends headband and displaying her duplicate cheeses before scarfing them down.

Some Good Recipes from Last Week

I did a lot of new recipe cooking last week before my cold set in and was happy with 3 things:

1) White Bean and Halibut Stew - From Bon Appetit last year, I substituted halibut with Orange Roughy as that was all they had and it came out so delicious. Bread for dipping is a must here and it gets thicker on Day 2. Also, as usual, I doubled the bacon and I also skipped the saffron.

2) Pork Chops in Balsamic Cherry Sauce - This was yummy and the cherries made the kids try it more willingly. Shelagh liked and Rory not so much, per usual. Also, I didn't have any bottled vinaigrette so I quickly mixed up a 1 part balsamic vinegar, 3 parts olive oil mixture with some garlic, s & p and used that instead.

3) Emeril's Turkey Roulade with Wild-Mushroom Stuffing - This was from the November Everyday Food, but it doesn't seem to be online at MSFood. The turkey breast was expensive so I wouldn't make this often, but it was good with some homemade Cranberry Sauce (cranberries, water, sugar, lemon zest although it should have been orange zest - wouldn't do lemon again).

No clue what to do for this week, but I have narrowed down my Thanksgiving Menu. Hosting for 22 this year - 10 adults and 12 kids. It's going to be close to what I did last year. I'll post on that this weekend while I organize my thoughts on scheduling everything.

Papazoi (Corn,Barley,Bean Soup)

All of us are sick...just colds, but annoying wake-me-up-all-night coughs and sore throats and LOTS of congestion all around in our house. So, it seemed like a good idea to make soup this week. I decided on this Papazoi Soup recipe I got when taking an Italian Soups class in Cambridge before Joe and I were married...maybe even before we started dating actually. It's an oldie, but goodie.

1 cup Navy Beans (I used canned Pinto, drained)
1 cup Pearl Barley
3/4 cup frozen, defrosted corn
2 Tbl Olive Oil
1/2 cup Bacon, chopped (I usually double bacon in any soup recipe...you can't have enough. I did end up with almost a cup of Bacon)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
9 cups chicken stock (I would use more next time as the beans, barley and potatoes soak up the liquid if you have leftovers...maybe 11 cups?)
1 1/2 cup potatoes, cubed (I used yukon)
1 Tbl parsley, chopped
S & P

1) Heat the oil and then add the bacon. Cook until browned, adding the garlic towards the end.
2) Add the Beans, Barley, Corn, and Potatoes to the pan and sweat them out for 15 minutes or so. Careful not to scorch the bottom of your pan like I did :)
3) Add the stock and boil
4) Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes or longer
5) Stir in parsley and S & P to taste

You definitely need bread for dipping and this makes more of a stew by Day 2 if you have leftovers. Joe and I both loved it and Shelagh liked it for the most part too (dodging the barley and potatoes for some weird reason).

Baby Updates: Sugar Test Failure, Size, Final Stages

It should come to no surprise to anyone that knows me that I failed my sugar test. That's the 1 hour "drink-the-nasty-orange-soda" test that determines if you may or may not have gestational diabetes. Well, not only did I fail, but by 1 point no less. Nice. Now I have to take the 3-hour test. That's something like 3-4 blood draws, more nasty orange soda you have to chug in 5 minutes, and 3 hours in the lab waiting room unable to leave the hospital. Wait a minute...3 hours...quiet...half-way through a new great book that I can't put down. Hmmm...may not be so bad after all.

The good news is it wasn't the 10 lbs of pre-Halloween and post-Halloween chocolate, the Trader Joes peanut butter cups, the pints/quarts of daily ice cream, or the numerous Starbucks specialty drinks I've been consuming after all! The Dr said, while those things could cause me to fail the test if ingested within 12 hours of the blood draw, the history of it isn't what induces the diabetes...you either get it or you don't. Yeah! I proceeded to eat 3 pieces of the hidden Halloween candy to celebrate!

Secondly, despite the fact that

• I'm at 28 weeks and I seem to have graduated to the full panel on my pants (that's the hideous panel over the entire belly that rests just shy of ones breasts for those men out there)
• and that I am already waddling
• and that I've officially fully peed my pants on at least 3 occasions
• and that I'm short of breath after about 5 stairs
• and that I'm doing the treadmill at a hefty speed of about 3.2 now

I'm of normal size for 28 weeks. I don't see how that's possible, but I guess it is.

Finally, I've officially graduated to every 2-weeks appointments rather than monthly. And so down the final stretch we go...

Election Day Discussion

We're bringing the kids to vote with us this morning so we've been talking about it for the last few days. If you ask Shelagh who she would like to vote for she replies "Barack Obama"...I think she and Joe have been talking about it and he's been telling her that's who he is voting for. If you ask Rory who he is voting for, he replies "That other guy". If you ask him Barack Obama or John McCain, he yells out "JOHN MCCAIN!". This morning, during breakfast, Shelagh was telling him that George Bush is President now and that he can vote for either Barack Obama or John McCain and that she is choosing Barack Obama. He's flip-flopping now...his sister has serious pull with him. I was kind of hoping for a little Alex P. Keaton...Didn't you love that guy?

Halloween Pics

We had a great day on Friday! I took the kids to Shelaghs school for her class Halloween party in the AM. We had a relaxing middle of the day at home in preparation for the evening activities. At 330, we went to our downtown which they close off for the kids to trick or treat up and down Main Street to all the businesses. Home for a quick dinner and then out in the neighborhood with our neighborhood pals. Home by 8 and candy officially siphoned off by Mom and Dad (okay, just by Mom) and hidden (for me to give away of course, not slowly eat until Xmas).

Shelagh wore her Tinkerbell costume all weekend. Little-Miss-Dressup will get great wear and tear out of this one. Rorys costume came out great! Joe worked hard on it and Rory LOVED it! He told everyone his Dad made him Fabulous Hudson Hornet costume...he was so proud. I was surprised how many people didn't know who FHH was. Doesn't anyone watch Cars Movie 10,000 times with their obsessed little boys?

We finally got it glued well and the straps to what we thought was a comfortable point for him to walk around with. He actually kept the costume on for most of downtown Trick-or-Treating and all of the nighttime. We didn't quite calculate what walking up and down stairs would be like though and poor Joe had to "Zoom" Rory up and down EVERY HOUSE staircase. We live on a hill and every house we went to had stairs. Both Rory and Joe were good sports about it though.


Downtown ToT'ing End of the Evening in our Neighborhood

Daylight Savings Time: A Nightmare for Parents of Young Kids

I was very nervous about DST this year with Rory being newly transitioned into Shelaghs room and into a bed. He's already an early riser, but he's doing great obeying the "New Room Rules". Seriously though, he sometimes wakes up in the 5's and lays there...that would be the 4's now. Luckily, we were at a friends birthday party on Saturday late and he didn't nap on Saturday (this has only happened one other day ever for him! he totally needs his nap). We didn't get home until 4pm, so Joe took him golfing to keep him going until bed time. The poor kid barely got a few bites of dinner in and was begging for bed time. I reset the clocks Sat night so my kids were in bed at 6pm. I just couldn't hold them out any longer between exhaustion from Halloween, the party we had come from, and WAY too many sweets on Friday and Saturday.

I had turned down the monitor accidentally and I slept 8 hours in a row without being interrupted! They didn't wake up Sunday AM until 630am, which was fine with me where neither had woken up the night before and I had actually gone to bed at a decent hour. I couldn't believe it. We went out to the local greasy joint for breakfast and the TV in there was turned to Little Einsteins. I actually got to drink 1+ cups of coffee uninterrupted!! GLORY! Then, because they had collapsed into bed the night before, they were too tired to really eat dinner and both devoured breakfast quietly. I turned to Joe and said "This might be one of the greatest days of my life". See how little it takes?????

They woke up at 530am today though...1-2 weeks, 1-2 weeks (that's me chanting to myself that DST takes 1 to 2 weeks to adjust to for little ones)...