Bright and early this morning I hear my youngest daughter, DD3, holler “Ahdoo-et! Ahdoo-et! Ahdoo-et.”

Knowing the translation for “Ahdoo-et” is really “I do it” I looked around the sofa and saw DD3 chasing DD2 around. DD2 is holding onto a little plastic babydoll that DD3 has claimed as her own. Apparently frustrated by her older sister having “her” doll, she had decided to chase DD2 down while screaming at her to essentially return the doll.

I corral both girls and ask DD2 if she would please give the baby the dolly. DD2 drops the doll and runs off laughing. So I picked up the doll and handed it to DD3 explainig, “Here you go. Here’s your dolly.”

DD3 smiles, looks at me and says clear as a bell, “Dolly.”

Surprised I reflected back, “Yes, Dolly.”

DD3 mimics, “Yesh, Dolly.”

Then DD3 pokes at the dolly’s blinking eyes and I explain, “eyes, eyes.”

Happily DD3 licks the dolly’s eyelashes and declares over and over, “ah-eees, ah-ees, ah-ees, ah-ees.”

Add her verbal skills to the fact that she took her first steps at 9 months, that she’s a very apt little bubble blower, and that she’s such an independent little thinker. I can tell already that this baby is going to stretch my mothering resources.

There are two really amazing contests going on right now. One is from Nature’s Child. The winner gets a bumGenius 3.0 Starter Kit: 18 diapers, diaper sprayer, a dozen cloth wipes, and a bottle of odor remover.

You just have to answer the question:

1) It’s hot. So hot you force your kids to share the kiddie pool with you, only after adding a couple pounds of ice. What do you do to beat the heat?

If that wasn’t enough, Along for the Ride is also hosting a summer contest. Winner gets:

Winner will receive the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride. The essential babywearing stash includes one Gypsy Mama Wrap, one Hotslings pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Beco Butterfly, and one ZoloWear Ring Sling - in their choice of any in-stock colors or patterns.

Do you have ANY idea how stinking cool it would be to win that stash of babywearing items? I think I would fall over from sheer shock!

Entry is simple. Just share your best babywearing advice. “Share the tidbit with us that has saved you with that babe in a carrier.”

Both entries have a closing date of Midnight on the 31st of July. I suggest entering today. lol.

For the lazy:

How Martha Stewart teaches T-shirt folding, explained by videojug:

Well, I spent the morning on the phone and ended up canceling the root canal scheduled for tomorrow, and instead I got a last minute exam for this afternoon with a second holistic dentist office.

Let me first say, I knew I was out of my league when they offered complimentary drinks in the waiting room. If I had read the website well enough I would have seen the following description of their facilities and services:

From your first call to our concierge to book your visit, you begin to notice the extras we offer our guests such as the First Class leather airline seats in the reception area, your choice of movies during treatment, Bose sound-canceling headphones, hot towels at the end of the visit, and all that insurance red tape handled for you by our insurance specialist.

After arriving, I was given a tour, including a room called the “Oasis” where they sat and chatted with me about my dental health. They had a special room with a view for cleanings, a special room for general work, and then a specific room for removing amalgam fillings. It is a beautiful place to go and feel pampered.

Add to that, everything I saw and heard aligned very closely with my own health philosophy.

By the way, I did ask about pulling all my teeth out and getting dentures. I think I shocked the woman who was helping me. She said the procedure would be horrendous, as would the healing time, and that she would never recommend doing that, nor would their office support that choice.

So whatever that means.

Anyway, they said some things that made sense to me. Including three things I’d never really heard mentioned before with regards to amalgams and mercury.

1) Mercury is toxic. (Okay, I’ve heard this before. lol. Just never heard a dentist admit it.)

2) Mercury expands with age. (Which explains why inevitably my teeth crack around the filling.)

3) Mercury never properly bonds with the tooth, which creates opportunity for bacteria and eventually decay under the filling.

The X-Rays confirmed their assertion. You can see where my teeth are decaying BELOW the fillings. Almost from the inside out. This office wants to remove all the mercury from my mouth and replace it with hypo-allergenic stuff. The idea is that bacteria begets bacteria, and that the amalgams in my mouth are creating sort of a vicious cycle of bacteria/cavities… So the plan is to remove the amalgams and then target a change in PH in my mouth through cleaning, diet, and hygiene.

It was so interesting talking to a dentist who did not swear by fluoride. In fact, they insisted I avoid it.

The dentist also mentioned that my teeth are softer than most peoples. Which explains why the cavities deteriorate so quickly. It’s just going to be a fact of my life that I’m always going to have to be more vigilant than other people. The good news, though, is that I have really healthy gums and strong bones. For whatever that’s worth.

The point of prayer in all this is the price. Over $13,000.

Eep.

I just have no idea where we’re going to get that cash. We’ve been working so hard on debt snowballing, and now I feel overwhelmed. If there is ANYTHING about Dave Ramsey that I find annoying is the lack of advice on what to do when you are maxed out, and your health care craps out on you.

Bleck.

The dentist office has the whole process broken down into about six visits. The first visit will cost me $1500. They will file it on my insurance and I will get $700 back. The second visit will cost around $700. So there is the remote possibility that I can get MOST (Not the crowns or bridges) done for the top of my mouth with the stimulus check we were going to throw down on the van. (Still haven’t talked to Dh about that…) But after that, I just don’t know what I am going to do.

The biggest expense is going to be the bridges and crowns. If it weren’t for them, I think we could figure out a way to do this.

I tried not to cry. Again. When she showed me the numbers. In fact I held it together until she said that they want to wait to remove the tooth that is bothering me until AFTER all the mercury is out of my mouth. (Something about the possibility of mercury getting into the cavity where the tooth was pulled if it isn’t healed properly and we remove fillings…) I know they felt bad for me. The woman kept saying, “Just do this in small chunks.”

She has no idea how LARGE their “small” chunks are to our household.

Please, be praying with me as I find direction. I can’t do nothing. I need to find a path, a game plan, and forge forward.

Back in December my dentist had noted that the filling on one of my teeth had cracked, and told me to make an appointment for a cleaning and an exam. Well, they didn’t have an exam or cleaning appointment available and put me on a calling list. I contacted them in January about the cleaning appointment and was assured I would be called. Well, as it happens time flew. We either didn’t have the $$ to do the work, or the time… Excuse after another, until I noticed about a week ago that a tooth was bothering me.

I called and made the appointment for today and was told that the decay had progressed to the point that a root canal would be needed. He drilled the tooth, covered it with a temporary filling. Told me not to eat or drink on that side. Not to floss the tooth. And explained the root canal needed to be done ASAP because from now until then I would be in pain. He then handed me a prescription for Vicodin.

I was stunned.

As I sat there, frozen with questions. He proceeded to admonish me for being addicted to sugar and for eating so much sugar. He told me I needed to stop drinking soda, eating candy, and scarfing on ice scream.

It was like I stepped into a warped universe!

WHAT SUGAR!

GAAARRRRRRRRRRR!

I tried to explain that we are HFCS free, that we don’t drink soda, we don’t eat out. The few times we eat “forbidden foods” are few enough between occasions that I would hardly blame it for the state of my teeth! I told him about how often we brush and floss, I told him about using MI paste and doing oral dysinfections. I explained that the gum I eat is Xylitol based… the whole deal.

He shook his head and declared, “Well your mouth says differently. You have more cavities now then you did in December. At the rate your going you are going to have a lot more root canals on the future. This root canal alone is going to cost you -out of pocket- over two-thousand dollars. And that doesn’t even include the crown.”

It was at this point where I just started crying. I couldn’t even stop myself.

I feel so defeated.

I’m angry at my body for having teeth like this. I’m angry at the dentist for accusing me of somehow neglecting or willfully contributing to poor dental health. I’m angry that health insurance doesn’t cover TEETH. Since WHEN is the tooth NOT a part of my body and thereby a part of my overall health. HOW can it be legal to specifically exclude teeth from coverage?

Needless to say. Today I’m grumpy, and angry, and I just want to crawl into bed with my painful tooth and just ignore the world. I find myself wishing all my teeth would just fall out. They say that a third of the population will end up with false teeth. We all know it’s an inevitability for me. Especially at the rate I’m going. Why wait? Surely it would be cheaper in the long run?

In my rush to clean the bathroom, I knocked my house phone into the toilet. Don’t ask me why it was in the bathroom to begin with. I just know that the silly thing is now broken. Sometimes it lets me answer calls, and sometimes it just does a strange “connecting…” thing and never ever lets me talk. I’m so frustrated with myself. This is like the bajillionth phone we have managed to kill. It’s to the point that I’m tempted to buy stock in house phones.

In other news. My BumGenius 3.0 diapers arrived today! *rubs hands together with glee.* They are sitting next to me on my computer desk. A dozen one size pocket diapers. Neatly packaged and in a row. The instructions say to wash them prior to use, but I can’t bear to do anything to wash out their “newness.” When DFS1 wakes from his nap I’m going to try one on him. I know already that he’s going to look so stinking adorable.

I have enough paypal saved up to buy another dozen, but am holding off until this next week. (I have someone buying my swaddlebees and that paypal should hit my account soon.) The plan is to have exactly thirty one size diapers. Enough to diaper a newborn and a 9 month old full time.

Changing the subject, again. Did I mention my zucchini and Squash are coming in nicely? The Zuc’s grow to enormous porportions if I’m not careful to pick them in time. My tomatoes continue to sort of languish and my bell peppers refuse to grow. Seemingly perpetually stunted.

My sage, on the other hand, doing nicely (albiet buried in Zucchini bush.)

My plan next year is to plant watermelons, beans, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, hot peppers, and I’m going to try my hand at peanuts. The squash, watermelon, and zucchini will have to have their own “square foot” garden, because they have consumed the one I currently have.

I’ve also thought about making single sq foot containers for parsnips and carrots, but don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.

I’ll post pictures of what I currently have. So check back soon.

One of my big projects for this summer is to organize our financial house. Both Dh and I have drawn up our wills and only need to have them notarized. They will be filed in a folder along with important documents and a directive that can be used in the case of anything happening to us. The directive is a million pages long, and includes everything from financial information to what to do in the case of burials.

I purchased a folder specifically to organize all this information, and am slowly gathering it together. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I am fairly disorganized in this aspect of home-making. I just don’t have a proper “system.” As a result, if something were to happen to both Dh and I before I get organized, our successors would be up to their eyeballs in a mess!

I will say that working on everything has led me to making some choices that I really hadn’t put a whole lot of time into. I’ve always nebulously wanted an ecological burial. If you asked me about it I would have replied, “Stick me in a pine box, and bury me.” Hardly helpful. Especially when you start reading TX law and you realize that it’s a whole lot more complicated.

Texas law requires that an un-embalmed body must be buried within 24 hours of death. The only way around it is to properly refrigerate the body. Which means a person needs to A) move fairly quickly and B) know WHAT to do. From what I’ve read, keeping a body in a cool place (refrigerator or cooler with dry ice) is all that is needed to delay burial for three or four days.

In the case of an unexpected death, the executor would need to contact a medical examiner through local law enforcement. In the case of an autopsy, the coroner needs to be advised that the executor will be acting as the funeral director. The executor will then be notified to pick up the body after the autopsy is performed.

Note:

The Bureau of Vital Statistics in the county of death will issue a death certificate and a burial-transit permit. You’ll need to know the following for the bureau’s registrar, who will help you fill out the death certificate. (The record must be typewritten in black ink. Instructions on how to complete the forms are included on the form itself.)

1. Decedent’s name (First, Middle, Last)
2. Sex of decedent
3. Date of birth (Month, Day, Year)
4. Age
5. Date of Death (Month, Day, Year)
6. Social security number
7. Birthplace (City and State, or Foreign Country)
8. County of death
9. Place of death
10.City, town, or location of death
11. Marital Status
12. Surviving spouse (If wife, given maiden name)
13. Residence of decedent
14. Residence–state, county, city, town, or location; street address
15. Occupation and industry of decedent
16. Decedent’s race (Specify the race/races to indicate what the decedent considered himself/herself to be. More than one race can be specified)
17. Decedent’s education
18. Was decedent ever in the U. S. Armed Forces?
19. Father’s and mother’s names (First, Middle, Last)
20. Informant’s name, address, and relationship to the decedent
21. Place of disposition (name of cemetery, or other place) and location of place of final disposition

The standards for an ecological burial include:
1 - No embalming
2 - Biodegradable casket or wrapping
3 - No vaults

Here in Texas there is only one eco-cemetery that I am aware of. Located north of Houston on Lake Livingston, The Russell family has established the Ethician Family Cemetery. The land is a protected conservation. Plots are sold individually for $500 or a family plot for 12 can be purchased for $5,000. All sites have to be hand dug. Family can choose to do the digging themselves, or can hire an outside source. The stipulation being that machinery cannot be used to dig the grave.

A family History Marker can be made, as long as it does not exceed 1% of the plot. So a nice bench with the family name could be left for those visiting. The Texas Historical Commission makes neat plaques that can also be erected. The Ethician Family Cemetery also encourages family to mark the head and foot of the grave with enscripted stone. A good idea, in my opinion. A nice way to mark the site for visitors.

More details on some of the reasons I’m drawn to eco-burials over the conventional choices, can be found here.

I knew better. I really did. Nothing good can ever come of buying haircolor in a box. At least not for me. And yet, I did it anyway. Driven by a strong desire for change, and a wild idea that I’d love to be blonde again, I ran out to Walmart, and grabbed a box of Feria 110 Starlet. After all, what could be more “summer” than Gwyneth Paltrow locks?

Except, it turns out that Feria 110 Starlet actually only makes my hair orange. A shimmering orange. But orange, none the less.

THIS is the point where I should have stopped, coughed up the cold hard cash, and paid someone to restore my hair. But, oh no, not me. I am forever determined to “get it right” and decided to “up the anti.” After all, a little bleaching can fix orange hair.

Right?

So I ran back to Walmart (Orange hair and all) and grabbed L’Oreal’s Super Bleach Blonde. (You know they mean business when they drop the fancy descriptors and just call it what it is.) My mom and I diligently covered my hair in blue foaming goo and waited the hour-ish for the process to take. Then, as hopeful as a person can be who’s desperately trying to repair orange hair with an $8.00 box of bleach… we washed out the goop and blew dry the results…

First impression?

Milla Jovovich in the Fifth Element.

Remember her? Neon yellow-ish hair? (Hers may have been a tad more orange, but you get the picture.)

My eldest daughter approached me to touch my new creation and asked, “Why didn’t you do purple? How come you want yellow hair?”

Who knows. At least with purple hair, people might assume I did this on purpose…

Yesterday two of my kiddos woke up with a hacking cough. It appeared overnight and sounds horrid. Tonight, my other two kiddos have developed the same onset of cough. Not sure what’s going on. I just know it’s doing a fine job of interupting sleep.

It’s 4:06 a.m. and here is what my night has looked like:

9:30 p.m. The babies are asleep.
10:00 p.m. The two eldest girls finally fell asleep. (Don’t ask.)
10:15 p.m. I went to bed.
10:38 p.m. DFS1 woke up, having pooped.
11:00 p.m. I was able to go back to bed.
12:15 a.m. DFS1 woke up again with gas. He eats 2 ounces.

-It was at this point that I figured out that DD1 had snuck into my room, I moved her back to her room, only to find DD2 awake and crying because she was having a hard time breathing. I bring her to bed with me.)

12:40 a.m. I go back to bed.
1:30 a.m. DFS1 is awake AGAIN. He’s poopy. Again.
1:40 a.m. I crawl back in bed after having fed DFS1 two ounces.
2:30 a.m. A big burp wakes up DFS1. As I climb out of bed to comfort him. DD3 wakes up.

-I burp DFS1, feed DD3, put DFS1 back to sleep and then bring a wide awake DD3 downstairs to bounce in the bouncer and hope to put back to sleep. During the next hour and a half DFS1 wakes AGAIN and is again back to sleep. -

4:12 a.m. I’m headed to bed. The two eldest will be up at 6:30 a.m. like clockwork. Wish me luck.

I’ve sat down, on more than one occasion, to update everyone on how things are going on this end. I open up this page to start typing and without fail I am interrupted.

Wish me luck. Because, at this point, it feels like it’s been so long since the last update, I’m not sure where to begin.

So, let me start by saying that DD2’s speech therapy continues to be a success. She is saying spontaneous two word sentences now. A quantum leap from December. There has been some concerns about speech apraxia, but as of yet no official diagnosis. I think that as long as she continues to show marked improvement, we are all reluctant to stick too large of a label on the delay.

DD2 continues to be a very shy and concertedly organized little person. She likes to have things in order and could care less about being in the lime light. Quite the polar opposite of DD1. Whom craves attention like the air she breaths.

DD1 is currently in gymnastics and adores the exercise. She desperately wants to do the flips that the big girls do in “team” gymnastics. I’m all the time catching her in her room trying to do round offs and other such craziness. So, with the help of her coach, we’re working on getting her backbend strengthened and I’m trying to have her do more stretches. Anything to keep her mind off flipping off her bed! (I have pictures to prove the devastation that can occur when a four year old meets the footboard of her bed after attempting a hand spring.)

In addition to her physical aspirations, DD1 has become quite the negotiator. It’s a fantastic trait, that is easily abused by overuse. Still, we’re enjoying the “grown up” conversations. Even if she insists on saying “misappeared” instead of “disappeared” and “skunk screen” instead of “sun screen.”

DD3 is 9 months old now. She is cruising around the house. Using the wall for leverage when she runs out of furniture. She can stand on her own now. Although it scares her when she realizes she’s doing it. DD3 is saying all kinds of words. My favorites include “nonono” complete with head shake. And sometimes she mimics me and hollers “RA-RA” (her attempt at her eldest sister’s name.)

I had to leave DD3 with my mom last Saturday for an all day Behavior Management training. I was reluctant to be separated for such a length of time. But as it turned out we all survived. It’s so bitter sweet to think of my baby girl being so independent. Thankfully, though, it will be a whole year before I have to do that training again. So we won’t (or shouldn’t) have to test the waters of independence too frequently.

Our son is doing well. Because of privacy rights I can’t really update you on how things are for him. But will say that his smiles have become such a highlight of my day. I wish everyone of you could know him. Because he’s pretty amazing. It’s hard to imagine life without him at this point. I’ve really enjoyed being a mother to four. Even if I sometimes wonder at my own sanity.

As far as me…
I’m staying busy. Between FP training, workshops, LLL, playgroups, spinning guild and general parenting, I find that my calendar remains full. I only have one more project that I’m attempting to find a way to fit on my plate. And that is homeschool this fall. I’m joining together with some local friends to start a cooperative. And hope to order Sonlights P4/5 curriculum. I went back and forth on what I really wanted to do this fall, and when it came down to it, what I wanted more than anything was to open up DD1’s world of learning, introduce Handwriting Without Tears, and just take it easy. The Sonlight program is closest to what I want. A literature based curriculum that is not heavy handed with workbooks and seat work.

I’ve heard suggestions for other approaches and have made a pointed effort to just take it easy and not get too hung up on philosophies. DD1 adamantly wants to do “school” this fall. She keeps talking about the yellow bus and her “teachers.” I’m not sure how to explain it to her that she will not ever (if I can help it) ride the yellow bus, and at least for right now she won’t have any teacher except for myself… I’m hoping that between her enjoyment of homeschool and the extracurricular opportunities she will realize she has got a good thing going.