How Big Am I?

I took Sammy and Emma in for their shots today. Emma took it like a champ, and Sammy cried his poor little heart out. Emma turned two this month (we're putting the party on hold for Zen, who is out in the field), and Sam turned two months. Emma weighed 28 pounds, and is 35 inches tall, about 80th percentile. Sammy is 25-1/2" tall, about 95 percentile for his age, and weighs 14 lb. 7 oz. Go Sammy!

Froggy!

I am a little blob of playdough.

But sometimes I smile!

I took Connor and Emma to Arthur Park tonight. Emma, as usual, kept running off to join the circus (because she's a monkey), making me chase her and bring her back to the playground. I got exercise points for that, don't you know.

Smile For Me!

I'm trying to savor every second of Sam's baby stage. After all, he's my last, and there probably won't be a grandbaby for another 8 to 10 years (at least, there better not be!) I love how he smells, such a sweet, baby skin smell. When he gets bigger and runs everywhere and eats real food, he won't smell so nice anymore. So I'm constantly burying my face in his neck and breathing him in.

Sammy smiled in his sleep, almost from the beginning, but that's just kind of a facial twitch when he's really relaxed in his sleep. The real interactive smiling has come more gradually. First it was just opening his mouth, like he was really excited that someone was talking to him:

11 June

And sometimes, he would slip in a half-smile:


But then, last night when I was out shopping, Gil and Dani figured out how to make him smile really big by bouncing him on their knee:



He and I also carry on conversations now. Of course it's just the goofy, silly talk that moms do, and Sammy just coos and gurgles, but it's fun to see him start developing a personality and interact with people. The super-fun stage is just around the corner, when he laughs and giggles. Can't wait!

Orthodontic Woes

Yep, I got my first kid in braces yesterday, and none too soon. He graduates from high school in two years. Yikes! I post-poned it for as long as I could, financially, but now it's time to bite the bullet, because we are running out of time. It will cost us about $200 a month for 18 months, and that's after insurance pitches in. Sigh.

Gil's comment was, "I look like a freak!" and then, "I had no idea what I was getting into!" The price of beauty, sweetheart.

I had Dani evaluated as well, and while I wanted to get her started, we just can't afford it right now. She was massively disappointed. I wish I could do something about it, but it's just not possible. Crud.

I was evaluated, too. Here's the chain of events behind that - I have six baby teeth spots in my mouth, no adult teeth ever grew in. Thank you, bad genetics. Three of them have already been pulled, and there are bridges. Of the three remaining in my mouth, one of them is really disintegrating, and needs to be pulled out. It's kind of stable right now, but that won't be the case forever. That means one of two things - grinding down the surrounding teeth (not the best thing) and putting in a bridge, or getting an implant. Now, an implant is super-permanent. When they put it in, the bone grows around the base of the implant root. But my teeth have drifted since I had braces when I was 12, and they are really out of alignment. Big conclusion - I will have to wear braces to align my teeth ($5500), then get at least four implants (for the decayed one, and for the current bridges which will be removed when they put on the braces), which can be about $2000 a pop. So, I'm looking at anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 of dental work depending on what options I want to take. My current insurance does not cover adult orthodontics, but may cover some of the implants. The whole process could take anywhere from 2 to 3 years. But I can't do any of that until I've got Dani and Gil through braces. Man, I will be in my early 40's wearing braces! And paying out a million dollars, too. Poop.