Pulling Teeth

At our last dentist appointment in April, our dentist noticed what Ben and I had known for awhile- Chloe had permanent teeth coming in and her baby teeth were not loose. He suggested that we get a few of her bottom teeth pulled so that her permanent teeth would come in straight (well, straighter). The one permanent tooth that had already broken skin and was half way in was beginning to turn itself sideways, so we thought we had better hurry, especially with my terrible history of 5+ long years of orthodontic work. Any help we could give her predestined crooked teeth the better.

Last Tuesday was the day- Chloe was very excited.

Here is her before shot

Here you can see the big tooth growing in right behind her baby teeth, not making them loose at all.

I was a bit nervous for her at the appointment. They numbed her up really well, but I knew that it might be pretty uncomfortable. And just by watching, I now know where they get the phrase, "It's like pulling teeth to do ___ and ___." Oh my! They twisted those teeth like they were made of rubber, which they are not, I found out as I listened to the twisting and cracking noises. My mouth hurt just watching and I flinched and cringed many times. But Chloe laid in the chair like she was on a sunny beach soaking up rays in the hot summer sun. No clenched fists, no twitching in the chair, not even a blink of the eye. I was impressed. It's not brain surgery, that's for sure, but it did not look like a walk in the park, especially since they had to pull on teeth that were not loose yet.

And when they came out, they were there with all the roots. The permanent teeth usually nibble away at the baby teeth's roots, which makes them loose and helps them fall out. This was not the case with Chloe's teeth, so to see the tooth come out with roots twice the length of the tooth itself was quite a sight.

The after shot from a very excited little girl.

Chloe had 2 bloody little holes in her mouth for a day or two, due to the roots being all in tact. But now there is room for that permanent tooth and it's neighboring sister who has broken skin to come right in to place (or that is what we and our wallets are praying for).

The dentist gave her a little tooth box to put the teeth in so she could safely put the teeth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

Here they are! Boy that little girl was proud of these two teeth. You would have thought she was carrying around gold rather than 2 extracted pieces of enamel. Those teeth did not leave her hand all evening. She would frequently take them out of their box to "hold" them. She would even let Mitchell hold them for short periods of time, telling him how to hold out his hand and to "shut your hand really fast, like this, so they don't fall. Okay, now put them back, buddy."

She also got to pick out a prize from the prize basket for being so brave. She picked these sun glasses and did not take those off all evening either. She told me a handful of times that she felt like a movie star in them. If it weren't for the bloody holes in her mouth, she would have looked like a movie star, too. (Just kidding).

Lucky for her, the tooth fairy came that night and left her $2 ($1 for each tooth) and even left a note.

And in just the 10 days since her teeth were pulled, that one permanent tooth has already straightened itself out and has come forward into place perfectly (for now). We still have our money placed on an orthodontist, literally, in a few years. But for now we have 2 baby teeth in a little box and one excited little 5 year old.

The Adventures of Leah and Lexi, 7 month edition

May has been such a fun month with my babies (I love saying babies, plural!) They have some new tricks up their sleeves and a few new activities that they enjoy.

They are in the beginning stages of sitting up. They were just able to balance for a few seconds at the beginning of the month and now can balance for a minute or so before toppling over, but we are making progress. Chloe was sitting up by 4 months and Mitch by about 5 months, so the twins to be just starting at 7 months as been different. But being smaller babies and not early on reaching milestones as made them seem like little babies longer, and I have loved that.

Leah

They have to have toys in front of them to get them to reach out to keep their balance.

Getting ready to topple...

Lexi is better at sitting and balancing than Leah

Babies that sit up look so much more grown up and it makes me sad. I do love this stage of babies (sitting, non mobile, easily entertained), but they will be out of it before I even know it.

The trick of the day is to get them both sitting at the same time. I had to have Chloe's help balancing them so they wouldn't crash into each other.

Hurry- snap the picture before we fall!!

They both love to roll, too. Lexi rolls all over a room. That doesn't count as mobile yet to me. Mobile is crawling and walking and getting into EVERYTHING. She can move around a room, but can't get in to stuff yet. Hooray for just rolling!

Leah, taking her first horsie ride.... the look on her face is pure pleasure!

Leah is funny- she is definitely the more animated of the two babies, and she either loves something and giggles and squeals and is as happy as can be, or hates it and cries and or whines. We are never sure what reaction we will get to new sounds or activities (sounds a LOT like her older sister....)

Lexi is usually game for anything but we don't usually get as animated of a response out of her as Leah.

See? Just mellow. She is enjoying it, but not overly excited like Leah can get.

May has been mostly nice weather (the first half of it anyway) and we have been spending a lot of time outdoors. The big kids could spend all day of a sunny day outside, so the babies and I have to follow them outside to supervise.

There is no place to really set a baby down outside (especially since our front yard is covered in compost right now for fertilizing) so I put the girls in their stroller and they watch the big kids play from the front porch.

They quite enjoy it. They especially love going on walks and never cry or whine on walks. It is amazing. If I had a way to transport all 4 of my kids in a stroller, we would go on long walks everyday...

Ben and I have decided we dislike cribs! Lexi sleeps in the "real" crib right now and we constantly go in and find her stuck in the bars. We have a bumper, but she pulls it down or just puts her legs and arms on top of it and it pushes it to the bottom and her limbs become trapped.

It usually doesn't bother her too much, but her chubby little thighs are getting big enough now that she gets really stuck and it is cutting off her circulation. Kind of scary. Now we are really in no hurry to buy a second crib and are content to leave Leah in the pack and play until she out grows it or until her legs are too big to get stuck in the bars of a crib! Poor Lexi....

The babies love when Chloe "plays" with them. This day she put both of them on her bed and read them a book.

They were the perfect little students and didn't make a peep throughout story time.

The unpredictable spring weather has left us switching back and forth between sun dresses and warm clothes and winter hats. I took all the kids on a walk one day (work out of my life, I'll tell you what) and had to bundle up the babies like it was December. It sure made for a cute picture though.

They love being read to (Leah is very into focusing intently on the books- she is so observant). And I love reading to them. I hope my lap is always big enough for both of them to cuddle up with me and read books together.

I am still completely smitten with these two little beauties! I cannot get enough of them. I love how they are completely different. What a joy these sweet girls are in my life and the life of everyone in our family. Our days revolve around their every move and every sound. We love keeping up with them and only wish time wouldn't pass quite so quickly.

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

The prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do! We needed some more space to do it this year, so we decided to make room by pulling out some over grown, lifeless bushes in our back yard. Ben was more than happy to pull out some tools and sharp objects to get the job done.

A man and a saw.... feel the power!

Chloe was very excited to help Ben plow the dirt to ready it for planting.

I weeded the rest of the dirt area. It has been needing it for months!

It was such a gorgeous day that we all were outside. Mitch passed the time by practicing his fishing moves. Casting and...

Reeling!

He decided to show the babies how it was done with some up close and personal fishing lessons. I love seeing my older kids interacting with the babies- they are so sweet with them. Chloe is definitely my big helper with them, but Mitchell is so personal with them. He will lay by them and hold their hands (more for his pleasure, really but the babies love it too), talk to them about what he is doing and show them anything and everything around them. Chloe knows they are babies and what they can and can't understand, but Mitchell doesn't know and engages them in all that he does, as if they are all the same age.

This is one of the twins' first exposure to sun. They put on sun hats for the first time and sat in their stroller while we all worked and played.

Leah

Lexi (the sun was bright!)

The kids were so excited to help me plant the green beans. Mitchell was all about the water and would not let go of the hose.

We LOVE green beans and can't wait for them to be ready. When Chloe was 18 months, she would just go outside and eat the green beans right off the vine in our garden.

After a gorgeous day spent in the sun and lots of hard work, we had a garden planted and a much nicer looking back yard. Here is the BEFORE.

And here is the AFTER.

Wow- lawns and gardens are hard work! They are a never ending project and exhausting, but the hard work pays off. If only we could have a beautiful yard without all the work- that would be ideal. I do not enjoy weeding and gardening, unfortunately, so maintaining a garden is much more of a project for us.

Weeds- I'll see you again in a few weeks! And corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers, squash and zucchini- we'll see you in a few months!

Spring Fishing

Every Spring, the fishing pond just a few miles from our house opens up, fully stocked with fish. The first day of May, Ben took the big kids down to the pond for the first fishing of the season.

This was Mitch's first time participating in fishing and boy was he excited. Ben took Mitch shopping to buy him his first fishing pole (go Spiderman!) and a little fishing bag and power bait. Mitch was obsessed with his pole and just wanted to cast and reel, cast and reel.

He couldn't keep his eyes off his pole, even for a picture.

Ben and his fishing buddies! The kids are finally old enough for Ben to make good on his promise of taking the kids fishing with him (and leaving me at home to enjoy peacefulness and quiet with babies only).

Mitch doing what he loves best- casting and reeling!

Chloe, the fishing pro. She has done this for a few years now and loves it.

Both the kids hit their 5 fish per person limit in less than an hour. Good thing Ben guts, cleans, cooks and eats all those fish (with a little help from the kids).... his wife is not a fish person.

One of Chloe's fish

And in Mitchell's words, "The BIG fish!"

He loved his first time fishing! For good or for bad, he thought the dead fish also doubled as some low maintenance pets. Ben put them in the refrigerator for a few days before cooking them for dinner and Mitch would pull the bag of fish out of the fridge multiple times a day to "play" with the fish (no, his mother did not love this or even approve of it). The fish never left the bag, but I would find the bag on the kitchen floor throughout the day. He would even have to say goodnight to the fishies before going to bed, and check on them first thing each morning. I'm am very glad to say that we do not eat any of our other "pets."