February Loving

Did anybody else have awesome weather in  February? We probably only had like 4 chilly days, and the rest were above 50. It was great!

bros

We celebrated Valentine's Day with decorations, and a lunch date for the adults. Dom loves decorating, so I left it up to him. He told me where to put what. I wanted to start this tradition of putting a little candy in 4 little mailboxes that I have- one piece of candy for the first 14 days of February. But Dom eats so horribly, that I couldn't get myself to do it. So, instead I just gave the kids a small gift that fit in the mailboxes (on the 14th) and called it a day. Dom got a minion activity book and Ethan got a mini color wonder pad.  Well, they loved them, and are actually still playing with them. LESSON: keep it simple. Spencer and I were able to sneak a date lunch on the 14th (thanks mom!) downtown and it was delish. Its nice to just go out with the hubs and be goofy. We got to sit at the bar.....I haven't done that since before kids lol. No presents for the adults, just the lunch date. It was sad and rainy, so we kept it small and sort of quick. It's hard for him to get me stuff since I don't really like flowers (because they wilt)....so props to the hubs for the surprise! 

Spencer decided this month to switch out ALL our nasty granny oak doors. So we switched out the rest. Luckily, they were all primed, all we had to do was just paint them white. The bad news? We noticed that NONE of the door frames were 100% straight. So that meant, he had to saw (just a bit) most of them in order to make them fit. I dont' know if custom homes are better, but I have lost faith in builder homes. It seems they will do anything to cut corners. Spencer also had to figure out how to chisel the door to make the hinges fit (make the hole for them). You could do it if you had a router saw...he didn't have that and didn't really care to have one. He actually bought a chisel and did it with a chisel and hammer.....haha.. I love this man! 

The original doors to the house

New doors

So for now, they are all up, and primed, and more than half are painted. We'll get there...it's like 15 doors! We have to paint the panels first...and then the rest of the door. I tried doing it in the dark, but then the next morning, I came to find out that I did a horrible job. So, this is a day project for sure.  But I LOVE looking at white doors, instead of nasty oak apartment doors. I put the old doors for free on craigslist and they literally came for them within 30 minutes! The man was building a cabin in the middle of nowhere....he got super lucky. 

Spencer is  also talking about fixing the grass and landscape, and what we're getting this summer. One of our trees died...didn't survive the winter. He's got a wish list going, and hopes to get them here in the next couple of months. He finds something therapeutic in landscaping. That is his true calling. He loves doing research about plants and what mixes and what not.

Last day of speech therap

Dom graduated from Speech Therapy! It happened so fast. Miss April came up to me and just basically said..."I think we can finish out this week and he can be done. There's really not much else I can teach him and his sounds are excellent." OK I"ll TAKE IT! Spencer is happy to save hundreds of dollars a month and I am happy to have a little boy who is on par with language. I know language doesn't really come naturally to him, so I can imagine how hard it has been these past few years, but I am so happy to know that he tried and excelled. To celebrate, we went to chuck e cheese (he has wanted to go for like a year haha). We made it a HUGE deal. I got him a small gift, and we ate lunch there and played games for like two hours. He was in heaven, he kept asking me when we were coming back haha....we hadn't even left yet! He keeps saying he wants his birthday party there...but Spencer mentioned an idea to me last week, that I like much better....but I don't want to jinx it. We'll see how the year turns out for us first.

Graduation Party for Dom

He did so well in school. For a little while, he had trouble keeping quiet when Ms M was talking, and even got sent to the "red" chair. She told me about it and how guilty she felt, but Dom wouldn't stop talking. That was a bad day for the kiddo. He cried a lot that day for no reason. I think that incident got to him. We've been practicing about raising our hand if we want to talk and to listen when somebody calls our name- it may be important. He's much better now. I figured out that Dom was acting out, because he was not getting attention. I really don't know how I missed it. Maybe  because he doesn't ask for it, like Ethan does. Ethan is a freaking cat! He'll come up to you and just sit on your lap and suck on his blanket lol. Dom doesn't do that...I have to go to him. So, that's what I started doing and you know what happened? The tantrums stopped instantly. I mean....like non existent. Even now, he'll come up to me randomly and say I love you mama. And...I like that. 

His school did a  V day party- the kids exchange a small little treat baggies, and kids were so hyper with so much candy. He also had a "teddy bear day" where they took their teddy bears to school (feelings day), sang songs with them, and we were in charge of snacks- gummy bears. They came individually packaged, great for kids! Otherwise...I would have gotten teddy grahams...which Dom had told me several times to NOT get...haha. He doesn't like them.

He was in charge of the Good News for the day

Party Time

Ethan is doing well (see last post). He is in a bit of a terrible two phase...but really, only on Sundays. otherwise, he's a doll. Dom loves Sundays now. he loves his new teachers and always talks about them. I"m so glad he finally found some good in going to church on Sunday....he was driving me nuts! haha.....I am so happy for him. He gets mad at me when we're late. But Ethan...is another story.

Ethan loves outside, especially now that there is no bad weather. he does love mud though. There's a couple of areas where our grass didn't quite grow and he loves messing around in that. He loves taking a bath by himself....actually shower. My kids are now shower kids...it's better I guess, especially if we travel. He's my shopping buddy. He loves me way too much and will not leave my side. He likes it when I laugh at his goofiness and is always looking for my approval. He will pick me OVER anyone, any time, any day. And he loves getting dressed- shirt, pants, underwear...whatever.

He's still diaper less during the day. And for a short while, was having accidents constantly...I had considered going back to diapers, but I figured if I did that....maybe he wouldn't pick it up in time for school again. So....we kept at it. We went every hour...and I think now, it's much better. Just yesterday, he went all by himself. So i'm not sure what happened, but I'm glad I didn't give up....because I really wanted to. So far....he's had no accidents. We're so proud of him. Dominic has actually helped him with his potty a lot. They have pee pee races haha. Ethan, right now, is in love with lemons. He figured out (like a true mexican) that a little salt on lemon tastes fantastic...haha. AND he loves bubbles, so i figured we needed to invest in a bubble machine and he loves it! I get to save my breath.

                                           

E doesn't like sharing...go figure

I did a lot of things this month- I painted doors, I bought a hand steamer AND a floor steamer...I finally gave in. I actually bought the hand steamer at ALDI because it was really cheap. That day, I cleaned everything- mattress, sofa, carpets (especially with all those potty accidents) and I am here to tell you, it really works! The odors are gone! I really like it. And it comes with other attachments to clean bath fixtures, or glass or corners and grout. It really works on grout...I already tried it haha. The floor steamer I bought, because it was on clearance at amazon, and for the life of me, I cannot get the kitchen floor clean. I would clean it with a wet swiffer and if I spilled something and cleaned it up with a paper towel....The paper would be black. It was annoying. So, I figured this would do it....and I think it did. It also came with a carpet glider attachments (and a 30 ft cord...the hand steamer is like 6ft at best) so I KNOW I will use it to clean the toy room carpet and living room carpet. that was the highlight of my month.

I am surrounded by Goof balls

Then, we had some pretty low points towards the end. In the middle of February I found out I was pregnant for the third time. It was a surprise for sure, so I wasn't sure what to think. First, I was kinda bummed that I was going to have another baby at home and dedicate an entire year to him- no gym, no classes, no outings...nothing. But then, I was content with the fact that maybe this is what we needed, and if it was a boy, I would have my three musketeers. Either way, it was short lived. I miscarried a week later. It was awful and so sudden.  Right now, I guess I'm understanding- it really wasn't our time and maybe the Lord did it to help me open my mind and really think about things I thought would not happen again. But if you would have asked me last week....I was super sad/mad and felt super guilty for all the bad thoughts I thought. I didn't think it would happen to me. I really thought it had been my fault. Maybe I overdid it at the gym, maybe my one second of wishing I wasn't pregnant was heard....Spencer says it happened because Ethan was not ready to be a middle child and is super clingy....could be true. The doctor says it was probably a chemical pregnancy. We'll never know. I just wanted to document it and how awful it feels and to appreciate all your little ones. Tell them you love them every day.....and I'm thankful for having the husband that I have. He always knows the right words to say.

To add insult to injury, the day I had to go to the OBGYN to make sure I was okay (4 days later), I had to get 7 vials of blood sampled....why so many?!? I have no idea. As if I hadn't lost enough blood already. AND THEN....that same day (like two hours later), I had to get a dental procedure done- a gum graft. Ever heard of it? sounds painful? because it is. Basically, my bottom front tooth has been hanging on for dear life for like 6 months. I'm not sure why, but the gum on that tooth practically vanished...you could see the entire root. I'm amazed that it didn't fall off. Since the tooth was willing to live, I decided to help it. So, about 5 weeks ago, I went to a consult to a periodontal center and the only option was to graft- basically they take skin from the roof of your mouth and "graft " it onto the missing gum line. Sounds simple and easy enough. Theoretically, and 90% of the time it works, the new skin will find its way around the tooth and will protect the root just like the gum would have. It sounds "Frankenstein-ish" right? Yeah, I thought so too, but I had no other options- the gum was completely gone.

You see the big chunk of meat missing (with the black dot?)....
Yeah...that's 5 days in, the day after the band aid came off
it was bloody and black and just white and nasty. It
actually looks like the same color now....it's still a big hole though. 

By the time, it was time to go in and get it done, all this other stuff had happened and didn't want to reschedule so I went ahead with it. Talk about bad timing right? The girls congratulated me on the baby ( I had called to make sure the anesthesia wasn't going to harm the baby....and I guess somebody put in a note on the computer....GREAT). Once I was in, they numb me locally, and on they went. I couldn't feel ANYTHING...but I could see EVERYTHING. It was so eerie. It literally only took like 25 minutes. They put some "silly putty" at the roof of my mouth so my tongue wouldn't keep touching the hole up there. They also had to sew (4 stitches!) the graft in, which means I gotta go back in two weeks and get them removed...YIKES. The dentist said that since my gum was pretty much gone, she may have to pull the graft a bit since it didn't cover all of the root, but will not take more skin from my mouth. That's probably the only good news I heard these past couple of weeks. The next 48 hrs were BAD- I felt like someone had punched me in the mouth. The putty lasted a good 24 hrs and once it fell off, I couldn't help myself and looked. It looked horrible!...and yet so fascinating.  I could tell a HUGE chunk (two molars worth!) was missing (it was so bloody and black and gross)...it wasn't deep at all, but hurt so much none the less. Have u ever tried to talk without your tongue touching the roof of your mouth? or eating without having food graze your palate?
 I honestly only ate one can of soup for an entire day, and then I ate two scrambled eggs and milk the next...it was awful. They said to put cold stuff on it...holy crap, that hurt more- the nerves were just so intense. I was only taking advil, but I did get a prescription for something stronger....I saved those for night time. I honestly think, this was WAY more painful that the two C sections I've had. I mean, we're 6 days out and I STILL can't eat properly. Anything that grazes the roof of my  mouth hurts so bad...I have lost like 5 lbs in the last week! Brushing my teeth is a nightmare, and then the special rinse they gave me has a weird after taste.  I tasted blood constantly for the first two days!!! I felt like a freaking vampire! I'm pretty much just eating protein and shakes at this point since I can't really bite with my front teeth for two weeks. I have been taking pics of my hole for the past two weeks, and seeing tremendous healing. The graft itself is now the same color (it was white and ugly with blue thread) as the gum....no one is going to be the wiser...unless you are cleaning my teeth. Then you'll notice, there's a piece of meat glued to my gums haha. I like documenting stuff. I'm pretty sure I'm NOT going thru this again....I actually think getting a fake tooth would have been WAY simpler and less painful. 

When I was in the dentist chair getting the procedure done, the dentists said..."huh...you're not much of a bleeder". I really don't know what to make of it....is that a good thing? 

Well, we can only go up from here right? Here's to a much better month in March.