Happy 2/3 of a Year (or Happy Eight Months)!
Mommy and Daddy will eat a piece of cake for you, pretty girl.
Frenulectomy…Frenectomy?
Okay, some words you don’t like hearing at the dentist:
“Snip.”
“Solder”
“We have to turn off the Nitrous Oxide now because if we spark there will be an explosion.”
You know that little sliver of flesh that runs from the inside of your lower lip to your gums right below your bottom front two teeth? The one that looks like it’s actually keeping your lower lip from hanging down under your chin?
Well, mine’s gone now. Or at least lowered significantly. Too much strain on my gums was pulling them down, down, down, exposing more and more tooth each year. I’d like to think my teeth are modest little creatures, but let’s just say they were starting to show a bit too much skin.
So I agreed to let them “snip” the frenulum.
Yes, I was really nervous. Something about the word “snip” makes my face contort.
No, it didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel a thing. But I could smell the bbq when they “soldered” whatever it was in my mouth that needed soldering. Gross.
The worst part has actually been the discomfort this afternoon. It feels like my chin/bottom jaw has a headache. Isn’t it nice that we have immediate, easy, and inexpensive access to Ibuprofen?
And contrary to my worst fears, my bottom lip does not dangle forevermore from my jaw. But Paul swears he would still love me if it did. What a good husband.
Swimmers, Take Your Marks.
Our little swimmer turned into a “Baby Duck” as she began her first swimming lesson last evening. Sure, she’s a little young for actual instruction, but we’re happy to have her getting used to bodies of water larger than our bathtub.
We’re taking the class with Molly (Paul’s sister) and her family as well as another friend from our Young Marrieds small group from church. So yesterday it was me, Kyle (Molly’s husband), and Amy Olson bopping and singing and splashing with our Baby Ducks, while Molly, Quin, and Paul cheered from the sidelines.
Grace is a very serious swimming student. At least for her first time, anyways. It was so much fun to watch her kick her feet frog style as we floated around the swim circle. She was a regular motor boat!
Too Much “Church?”
Take a peek at this very short, but thought provoking blog entry about program driven churches and the potential impact on families and our youngest disciples. Here’s a sneak peek:
“We noticed our young families were spending more evenings attending church activities than they spent at home, often dragging young ones through the church door, rushing them into some childcare program, dashing down a hall to slip into an adult Bible study class without even having time to eat an evening meal until possibly 9:00 at night! We started counting up how many hours that our church was dividing up the family in order to have “spiritual activities.” We were alarmed by what we discovered.”
Read the whole entry here.
HT: Tim Challies
Helper.
I think Grace is going to grow up to be a great helper. She doesn’t quite know what she’s doing yet, but she’s got the first step down: grab on to that food shovel!
Ninety Seconds With Great Great Grandma Imo.
When Gracie and I went to Nevada last week, we got to spend a little time each day with her Great Great Grandma Imo. It was precious time for me. I took a little bit of video so that Grace can see one of the great women of our family, who may be gone before she is old enough to understand. Then again, maybe Grandma has another ten years with us…God knows. Grandma experienced a stroke on Monday, only four days after our return home. She is sturdy stock at 94 years old, but we also realize that time spent with her is a gift and privilege not everyone has had with their elder family members. I am grateful.
Movie Review: The Namesake
Alright, this isn’t exactly a new release, but Paul and I watched it for the first and last time yesterday evening. I thought it might be worth it to share my comments, if only to spare some of you the discomfort of sitting through it yourselves.
Here’s the up side:
The film includes a great sub-story about a man and woman who are committed to honoring their families and faithfully loving each other regardless of their emotional responses to their situation/environment. Their story of covenant love is beautiful and far more romantic and moving than anything else in the movie.
Unfortunately, the storyline wasn’t focused on this worthy parable. Instead, the focal point was a young man as common as quarters.
1. If I want to watch a disrespectful, arrogant teen turned ungrateful and selfish post-collegian, I’ll just take a trip to the closest mall on a Saturday.
2. When the main character, Gogul Ganguli (Kal Penn), is confronted with his father’s unexpected death, he experiences an identity crisis of sorts. Unfortunately, it’s an accurate reflection of so many see-the-light experiences we have: accommodation and self-appeasement, not transformation. He puts on some of the external traditions of his family, but his true worldview and the internal condition of his heart remain the same. He has happy, glowy-eyed feelings toward his family now, but he’s still a schmuck.
3. Is this a story about a boy who becomes okay with his name? Is this a story about a boy who stops thinking his dad is a moron? Is this a story about the demoralizing influence of American culture on the children of immigrants? Do I need to read The Overcoat to understand the deeper meanings of this movie? I left the movie not really knowing what the point was.
4. In the end, we got the privilege of watching a stupid boy stay fairly stupid but become more emotionally attached to his family. The very best storyline (the parents) was minimized. Lack of good character development and an ambiguous direction for the plot made this film seem way longer than 1 hour and 54 minutes.
If you’re still just itching to see what this movie is all about, skip Blockbuster (or your Netflix Queue) and head to the mall this Saturday. At least then you can have the benefit of enjoying a delicious warm Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookie while you watch the disaster.
Update: In addition to what I’ve posted above, Paul would like to add:
“Here’s what I found to be problematic about the movie:
1. The director
2. The producer
3. The film editors
4. The cinematographer
5. The script
6. Oh yeah, and the actors, except for the mom and dad…they were great.
Other than that it wasn’t too bad.”
Do Dogs Ever Feel Self-Conscious About Their Appearance?
They should.
Bows aside, the dogs look great after being groomed today thanks to Klips by Kim of Buckley, WA. We’ve been really happy with their services. Chewy and Sadie get consistently good haircuts at very competitive prices for our area ($35 each as of today).
The Comfort Wipe???
Do you need a belly-rolling laugh today? Check out this blog entry from Bryan Allain on The Comfort Wipe. His commentary on the infomercial is hilarious.
Good Morning Diva!
Gracie has been developing a new habit: waking up a little bit earlier every morning until her mother says, “Hey, who sets the alarm clock in this house?” We thought it was the earlier sunrise. But even with a black-out shade in place, she clung to her early-bird wake-ups.
Before I realized it, my little girl who was sleeping through the night until 7:00 in the morning started demanding breakfast at 6:30, then 6…does 5:30 work?…no, let’s make it 5. Well, what’s a half hour? How about we meet at 4:30?
I don’t think so. After realizing that I had become an April Fool in June, Paul and I put our heads together to formulate a plan of attack.
The little girl went cold turkey last night. It’s a hard habit to break, but I’m more than confident that she can do it. I’ve seen her do it!
It’s my own resolve that’s hard to hold on to at 5:45 AM when she’s been crying on and off for almost an hour and I know that I could get her to shush-for-Pete’s-sake in a minute-and-a-half if I just got out of bed and gave her what she wanted and then I could start this re-training program again tomorrow when I’m less tired…..
But I won’t be less tired. And she’ll have learned that if she can hold out a tad longer, Mom will give in…just keep it up a few more minutes. That’s right…I can practically hear Mommy stumbling down the hallway right now…let’s turn it up a notch, shall we???
Paul is a little sleepy today. But in a couple days…maybe a week, we should be seeing those longer and more peaceful nights return to us. We hope.
In the meantime, what’s your advice? Moms: Have any of you encountered the Earlier-Mornings-By-Unnoticeable-Increments routine from your little ones? And how did you get them to get back into their sleep-longer habit?
