Trip to Atlanta

On Friday morning we headed out to spend a long weekend in Atlanta. The weather was terrible and it sleeted / rained / poured virtually the entire ride. Nonetheless, we made it there safely!

We arrived at the house before Grandma Sushi or Opa were home from work, and the kids were greeted with an immediate surprise....their very own table complete with placemats, cups (not pictured), gummy bears and new BIG bunnies!

That night brought about somewhat of a first for Ella and Aidan - they slept in the same room! You see, we separated their rooms when they were 9 months old and they have not slept "together" since. Well, it was one big party for roughly two hours. It was so darn funny to stand outside their room and listen to them singing and talking to one another. Never once did they get out of bed, which was a little surprising!

Saturday we made a visit to the Atlanta Children's Museum. We were all a bit disappointed as it was quite costly for what was actually inside the museum, but overall, the kids had fun "fishing", playing in the magic sand (which was so awesome that Grandma Shushi bought a 10 pound bucket for us to bring home!), and exploring the grocery store and John Deere tractor.

We topped off the morning with lunch at an Atlanta icon - the Varsity! Not only was it the first visit for Ella and Aidan, but also for Mike!

Aunt Kiki and Uncle Gary stopped by after dinner and brought the kiddos some ice cream - great fun was had by all!!

Sunday was kind of a lazy day spent around the house and eventually watching the Super Bowl. Aidan was well prepared and wore his "helmet" (i.e. colander) in preparation for the big game.

Before heading back on Monday morning, Kiki came by for one more visit and we all enjoyed playing outside for a bit of fresh air before the ride home. As it turns out, Aidan is really quite good at soccer - perhaps even a natural...who knows!

It was a wonderful weekend full of lollipops....

....bird watching....

....a little bit of pouting....

....vacuuming....

....and plenty of HUGS!

This One is for the Birds

Yesterday the kids and I headed out to Target for a few items - it was after naps and approaching dinnertime and I did something I have never done before – purchased popcorn for all of us to munch on throughout the store.

The three of us happily munched our way through the store, but when we got back to the car, I somehow managed to dump the rest of the bag on the floor of the car while trying to wrangle the kids back into their seats. So I began to brush the popcorn into the parking lot (and just in case you are wondering, I do not litter. I feed animals).

I was also doing a balancing act with Ella and Aidan as they both love to help clean up messes these days. Trying to convince them that this was a mess that was OK to leave was clearly a bit too much for their little brains to compute. Now that I am thinking back, I can only imagine what people must have thought about this clearly unorganized Mom, doing double duty, who thought it necessary to brush popcorn out into the parking lot of Target.

Anyway, suddenly this little bird darted out from under the car. Have any guesses what he was carrying in his mouth?

POPCORN!

I started thinking that if one bird flew over for a couple pieces of popcorn, how many birds would come over for the whole bag. The answer: a lot.

So in the interest of taking little moments to soak in life with my babies, I took them out of their seats and opened the back of the minivan. There we were, in the Target parking lot, throwing popcorn on the pavement in the empty parking space next to us, giving the evil eye to the few cars that dared to park there and ruin our fun (apparently I have one mean evil eye because no one bothered us!), feeding the birds.

I wanted to share this story because it was a moment in my life as a Mother where I managed to take a deep breath and feel confident in my decisions: my (actually, our!) decision to stay at home with my kids, my decision to do whatever it takes, no matter how hard on me, to give my twins all the experiences that just one baby would get to enjoy, my decision to put my children first: first before the demands of the clock or anyone else.

On the surface, we just fed the birds. But deep down, we fed the birds, saw birds up close for the first time, and learned about feeding animals and flying. Ella and Aidan were given a chance to explore and observe something they'd never experienced. But above everything, we stopped, played, and enjoyed this experience together.

This much I know, babies don't keep and children grow too quickly. These moments, the little moments, that are easily overlooked and taken for granted are what I'm striving to enjoy, remember, and to hold onto like crazy. As they grow older and begin to grow their separate ways, they will no longer spontaneously hold hands and give sweet baby cuddles - they will only be content to “hang out” with their Mommy for so long, so I, for one, am drinking it up and soaking it in for as long as I possibly can.

The Tooth

Over the past week, we noticed that Ella's right front tooth seemed to look a bit gray. Every other tooth looked fine, just one pearly gray.

After calling the dentist, I was quickly told that a gray tooth equals a dead tooth and that I needed to bring her in to have it pulled. No need to X-Ray, but the tooth needs to come out before it can damage the surrounding teeth.

We usually let Ella and Aidan brush their teeth first, and then take over. But, as anyone who has ever tried to stick a toothbrush into a toddler's mouth will tell you, brushing the teeth of a large octopus is easier than trying to clean the mouth of a 2-year-old. Could the gray tooth be all my fault? Will my poor little girl actually lose one of her front teeth? How can they make that decision without even seeing her?

After making a few calls and polling other Moms, I called Laxer, Long & Savage, one of the best and most popular pediatric dentists in Charlotte.

We were given an immediate appointment and told that a gray tooth does NOT necessarily mean a dead tooth and that an X-Ray was imperative - it must be done in order to determine any potential root or nerve damage.

So, as I waited for the appointment, I turned to the internet.

Thank you, Google! I typed in "two year old gray tooth" and got 5 million pages of results. Yikes! I refined my search parameters and began researching the sudden appearance of a gray tooth in a 2-year-old. Here is what I learned:

1. I am not a bad mother. Gray-toothed children are a common sight.

2. I am a bad mother. A gray tooth is always the result of trauma to the tooth.

3. Wait, I am not a bad mother. Kids are kids, and "trauma" can mean a simple bump to the mouth sustained during normal play.

4. I am an ignorant mother. A gray tooth will usually show up a few weeks after the initial injury.

5. I am a preemptively-worrisome mother. We will know after six months whether this gray tooth is here to stay. Sometimes a gray tooth will return to its normal white color.

6. I am an obsessive-compulsive tooth-checking mother. Even if the gray color turns out to be permanent, the tooth itself should be normal in every other way until it loosens and falls out at the proper time. Unless it develops an abscess. I'm to look for a small pimple on the gum—ew, gross—which is a sign of infection. Fortunately, the chance of an abscess developing is rare.

A little bit to digest all of the sudden, don't you think?

So, yesterday I look Ella (and Aidan) to see our new dentist. It was a busy place full of children everywhere, but we were seen almost immediately, much to Aidan's dismay - he barely had enough time to touch one of the trucks in the play area before we were called back!

Ella got an X-Ray taken - well, I should say "we" got an X-Ray. The only way she would sit still was if she was on my lap. So we sat while Aidan stood outside the door screaming for me and yelling "No, I don't want to..I don't want a turn!".

Then it was back to the private exam room where the crying really began. However; the hygenist was wonderful and gave Ella and Aidan each a latex glove to play with (more on the gloves later!) and a few stickers.

Within minutes Dr. Laxer came in and she was so good with Ella. She had Ella spelling her name and singing her ABC's within seconds and Aidan even joined us on the exam chair for a few songs!

As it turns out, the X-Ray showed absolutely no damage to the roots or the nerves and she feels that it is most likely just a bruise. We do need to watch for any signs of infection, so we will just keep our fingers crossed until their next appointment in June.

And so we left - with stickers, balloons and a mouthful of teeth!

Remember the gloves?

After lunch I heard it get really quiet in the playroom. I came out of the laundry room to find this:

How funny! Ella even told Aidan to say "Ahh"!

Wordless Wednesday