First Dentist Appointments!

On Monday Sam and Anna had their first dentist appointments.  Our dentist recommends waiting until age 3 until bringing in kids, so that's what I did.  Although I did not need another thing on my to-do list in the midst of packing our house, solo-parenting two small children 5 days a week and working full time, I wanted to get it taken care of before switching insurance in a few months, since I know that it is fully covered under our current insurance.

 

Sam and Anna did GREAT.   We watched a little app called Ed's Dentist about a bunny that goes to the dentist for the first time (it was free when I found it) to prep for their first visit, along with reading several books and talking about it.  The app also has an interactive section where you can do all the things a dentist does:  move the chair up and down, turn on the light, take an x-ray, polish the teeth, wash the teeth, use the thirsty straw, use the explorer to check the teeth, and even paint on fluoride.  I highly recommend it.  Sam and Anna were very excited to go to the dentist mostly due to the fun things they got to do on the app.

 

While at the dentist, Sam and Anna sat incredibly still, cooperated every step of the way, and patiently waited while it was the other one's turn.  My silly Sam turned down the raspberry flavored polish in favor of mint, and did the same for toothpaste.  Anna chose raspberry polish and cherry fluoride.  Both loved the thirsty straw and giggled that it tickled them.  X-rays were not part of their check up.

 

When the dentist came in he noted that both have a slight overbite.  We had noticed Anna's, but not Sam's.  Nothing to do about it now, just something that will be watched.  Sam also has plenty of space in his mouth for teeth, just like his mama (I get to keep all of my wisdom teeth).  Other than that, he just remarked that both had very healthy teeth!

 

At the end of the visit, Sam and Anna were able to chose a new toothbrush- with dolphins for Sam, butterflies for Anna, and a toy.  They were extremely excited to tote home their bags full of goodies- new toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, and a truck (Sam) and a bouncy ball (Anna)!  Both told Daddy it was the best part of their day!

 

 

(Silly girl kept holding her arms up.  She'd put them down when we told her to, but then they'd just keep popping up like in the picture above.)

 (I tried to keep my picture taking to a minimum to avoid being that crazy mom taking photos left and right, so these are the only ones I took during our visit.)

Easter Rewind

Easter this year was extremely low key for us.  Because we were returning from our trip to Hawaii the day before, Sam and Anna did not do a community egg hunt this year.  I'm not sure how many were held in our area and not cancelled anyway, since we still had significant snow covering the ground.  Trudging through snow in snow pants and boots for Easter eggs really doesn't sound all that fun to me anyway.

We typically stick close to home for Easter instead of traveling to relatives and this year was no different.  Getting everyone out the door for Easter service at our church was challenging enough.  I was significantly jetlagged after traveling for more than 24 hours the day before and adjusting to the 5 hour time change.  (It certainly felt like 5 am to my body when we were trying to get out the door on time!)  Our little ones were adjusting back to being home and under our care again, so their behavior wasn't stellar throughout the entire day.  Anna refused to wear her Easter dress. I did manage to get her into an acceptable replacement and bribe accordingly for a few posed photos!

Our second annual bunny pancakes were one of the few festive attempts we made.

And Sam and Anna thoroughly enjoyed their Easter baskets, of course. (That were put together at midnight the night before.)

Since our fridge was bare from being gone for a week, we had ended up having pasta for dinner.  We DID dye Easter eggs- but that actually happened on Tuesday... two days after Easter.  This is real life, people.  Sam and Anna seemed to have fun regardless and years from now, you'd never tell from the photos that our egg dying was belated anyway.  At least that's what I'm telling myself. Ha!

 

All that minimalistic Easter celebrating doesn't bother me much, because what stuck most with our kids this year wasn't the Easter Bunny, or their baskets, or the colorful eggs- it's the "Christ is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia!" they learned to say and sign during the children's sermon that day.  Days later, I haven't heard a mention of bunnies or baskets.  But my adorable children are still saying and signing that phrase.  File that one under memorable moments.

It's Been a LONG Time

Woah Nelly- In the 4 years I've been typing out words on this blog, I have never been absent from blogging for that long before.  It was not my intention, and certainly not my plan, nor do I want to intentionally quit blogging.  Life has just been a whirlwind like never before these days.

Around Sam and Anna's 3rd birthday we got an offer on our house.  It had been on the market for just under 3 months and in that time we had over 20 showings.  I guess the 21st time's the charm, in this case.  I now truly get the phrase: cleaning with toddlers (preschoolers) is like brushing your teeth while eating oreos.  Utterly futile, but yet I managed to do it mostly on my own 21 times.  My husband is still working a state away and "living" with my MIL Monday-Friday.  I am on my fourth month of single parenting twin three year olds 5 days a week while full time teaching kindergarten.  But we are no longer trying to sell our house! 

Our closing is near the end of April, so instead of frantically cleaning, I am now trying to frantically pack in every spare moment I have.  Which is none.  So it is more common than not that I force myself to just pack one box before midnight on a work night before I get up at 5 am and start all over again: getting the two three year olds and myself out the door before 7 am, teaching all day, and then coming home to do the typical stuff on my own.

For awhile there, it was kind of up in the air about what I would do and where the little ones and I would live after our house wasn't ours anymore at the end of April.  The decision was made for us to temporarily live with a friend until the end of the school year (for about a month and a half) to finish out the year.  This way, I can keep my paychecks and insurance all the way through the end of August even with only working up until June 6th.  However, it also meant that since we would be staying in a different town, we also needed a short term new daycare for the month and a half.  I think we finally have a solution that will work.  A parent of one of my students (who I trust completely) offered to watch them for me.  I hope it works out well and the transitions to a new place and new sitter go better than I think for Sam and Anna.

On top of getting an accepted offer and closing on our current house in less than a month; packing, still single parenting M-F, and trying to figure out what to do after our house sold, we went on a trip to Kauai, Hawaii for a week.  This trip was planned last fall before the interview and new job offer; before deciding to uproot our family and move out of state.  This trip was our 10th anniversary present to each other, and incredibly needed after the crazy year we've had so far even if the timing was poor.  Before last week, we had only left Sam and Anna for one night at the same time, and I had only been gone for two nights (with Daddy home at the time.)  We were gone thousands of miles away for 6 days.  Although I missed them immensely, I tolerated the distance a lot better than I thought I would.  It was a perfect way to recharge my batteries for the marathon I'll be going through in the weeks ahead.

(In Kaua'i, Hawaii last week)

Just because we felt like there wasn't enough going on, the morning before our flight to Hawaii (a 12 hour trip), we looked at a house that I had been eyeing, in the area we would like to move to since we were both in the state together.  There had been others that I wanted to look at in the past month or so, but got accepted offers before I could road trip all the way over to see them.  We didn't want this one to slip through our fingers too.  We promptly fell in love with it and its potential and made an offer on the spot.  (It has a pond in the backyard with a dock! I drool over the kitchen!) The next day's traveling consisted of calling our Realtor during every layover trying to work out the details so we could have an accepted offer before our week of vacation truly began.  It was a very stressful 24 hours and totally not the way to begin a vacation, but by the time we woke up the morning after we arrived in Hawaii, we had an accepted offer on our new house!  It is a short sale, so it might take longer than a traditional sale to close (the seller's bank needs to approve the sale first) but that's okay for now because the kids and I wouldn't move into it until June 7th at the earliest anyway.  We have some time.

(The house we have an accepted offer on)

So that's the craziness that has prevented me from blogging lately.  In short: we have almost sold our house, we are packing most of our stuff into storage and moving in less than a month (to a temporary location first), we are in the process of buying a new house, we went to Hawaii for a week, and I am still single parenting my twin 3 year olds Monday-Friday while teaching kindergarten.  On top of all that, 2 years old was a breeze compared to this 3 year old stuff.  I am trying to be very understanding; after all they are going through the same chaotic transitions along with us - but at the same time, I wonder where my sweet, helpful, cooperative, good listeners went some days.  Overall, I cannot wait until summer days are here again and we can settle into a predictable, slower routine once more.  I think we are all looking forward to that.