First Dental Appointment

O had her first dental appointment today.  I'm shocked at how well she did and kicking myself for not getting any pictures.  I scheduled an appointment for myself first and O second.  Apparently, there was a mix up and I didn't need to be there because insurance won't cover a cleaning for me just yet.  That's a different story.  We brought Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to read in the waiting room as it is her favorite book.  I think this is the first time she's ever not been entirely interested. 

Anyway, they called me in, sat me in the chair, found out I couldn't get  my cleaning and so they called O in.  I loved that she was able to sit on my lap and I think that made her feel more comfortable too.  The dentist came in first which is unusual and said that she just wanted to see how pretty O's teeth were and to count them.  She let O touch all of the instruments including the mirror and the pointy stick thing (I have no idea what the technical name is).  O did not like the light at all but the dentist called it Mr. Sunshine and she warmed up to it a little.  She said her teeth look great!  The dentist has a bit of trouble checking the bottoms because O loves to stick her tongue out when you tell her to say "ahhh".  She's such a cutie but had to say "cheese" so they could be counted.  Next was the part I was unsure she'd like, cleaning.  She let them use the electric cleaner and didn't start to cry.  I think it was because she already had her brand new dinosaur cup, brush and timer.

We ended our morning out to breakfast where we enjoyed french toast and strawberries.  I had the most massive latte ever complete with whipped cream.  What a pleasant first experience!

Welcome to June

June is a busy month for our family.  We have two birthdays (my 25th and O's 2nd), Father's Day, numerous friends' birthdays and a multitude of other weekend summer events. 

We have been fumbling around with Tot school for a few months now but starting Monday (I know not June but close enough) we have a plan and are actually doing schoolish activities.  This week we are working on upper case A.  In all honesty, she can identify most of her upper case letters.  I feel it will be a good review for her to work through them one at a time before moving on to more challenging subjects as she's still very young.  We are throwing in some color and shape work as well but not primarily working on those.  A lot of the activities are based on improving her fine motor skills.  Updates will be coming soon!

June also signifies the growing season here in New York.  We planted two tomato plants and two pepper plants in containers and  we have one strawberry plant over at S's parents' house.  So far, our harvest is one strawberry.  Our biggest tomato plant has at least seven flowers and the smaller one has about five.  Our peppers look like they are about to flower.  My parents have a large garden with many different types of veggies.  We are looking forward to jarring some of them.  Also, we are hoping to repeat our apple and raspberry picking experience last year and make jams with those too  Yummy!  We are going to try to look for other farms to pick from too so we can get more variety.  This may turn out to be a very productive summer.

-M

Turning 25

I'm closing in on the big 25 very quickly now. I'm not really sure how I'm handling it. Some days it doesn't seem to matter and it is just an age but then other days it feels more like a rite of passage. I'm married, I have a child, I have a career and we have an apartment. What more should I want from 25?

Turning 25 to me means that you can no longer act childish or like a young adult.  Then again, I never really did.  I didn't party too much in high school or college.  I never dressed provocatively or tried drugs.  I'm not really sure what behaviors I have that are childish and I need to stop.  My appearance does have a bit of a childish way about it.  I usually dress like a little kid in t's and jeans all the time with some worn sneakers.  Perhaps, I could add some more blouses.  It means I need to be come a healthier mommy so my daughter has a good role model. While those two things should not happen because I'm turning 25 but to me 25 can be a beginning of a whole new chapter.  A new stage in the journey of life.

When I was younger, I had this time line planned out for my life.  I'm coming to realize in the past year that things do not always turn out as planned and although my life is not what I had wished for when I was younger, it's a damn good life.  With the exception of home ownership and becoming a doctor, I have accomplished most everything on the time line just not in the order it was planned.

Here's to 25 and all the possibilities it will bring!

And, we're back...

First, I'd like to point out that GERMANY was my 100th post!  Everyone reaches this milestone at their own pace but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that it took me so long to reach.  I'm unsure of the direction this blog is taking at the moment but I do know that I want it to be more family oriented as the title is focused directly on my relationship with my husband.

Second, other than the sights in that post our trip was less than stellar due to uncontrollable circumstances on our part but very controllable on our hosts' part.  We loved the sights, sounds, smells and all the beauty that is Europe but did not enjoy our "friend"'s constant remarks about everything we suggested or said not only to her but to our child and each other as well.  Through this experience I can honestly say that my husband and I have grown closer than we have in months.  Even with the amount of sorrow we experienced from the trip not meeting expectations we realized that we are for each other the person to turn to in a crisis. With that said, we will not be visiting or conversing with her again.  Germany is not the place you intend on losing friends but it can happen anywhere even on a once in a lifetime vacation.

Finally, speaking of lifetime... to be continued

GERMANY

Back but only for a moment

When I last posted back in February things with my marriage were up in the air.  I'm happy to report that with a lot of soul searching, crying, long talks, some screaming, counseling and cold shoulder cool downs we are doing well together.  Every day is not always good but we are having more good days than bad.

At my physical exam,some medical issues came up that I was not expecting.  No one expects a routine physical to end with a massive headache, vomiting bile and news of a miscarriage.  The worst news of all  when the doctor said he found a lump in my breast.  It turned out to be a cyst but it certainly added some prospective to life.  When you believe everything you ever hoped for would end it makes you take less for granted.  This probably also helped me to realize I didn't want my marriage to end and needed to put forth more effort in making it work.

Also because of this health scare I have been contemplating what I really want from life. I am recommitting to my 101 things goals.  I'm going to review them and determine which are able to be accomplished and which I need to realize won't happen by goal date.  This will have to wait until after the 20th, however; because WE'RE GOING TO GERMANY

Rough Month

There are a few different things going on in our house right now. Along with our marital problems which have continued with minimal improvements, we are trying to wean our daughter off of her nippy (boppy, paci, whatever it's supposed to be called). Tonight was the first night and she was up til about 10pm which is very late for her. Luckily, she didn't cry. She sang "Twinkle Twinkle" over and over. She doesn't know all the words so she just sings twinkle about eight times and then says star and repeat. I fear that nap time will be far worse as she won't be as sleepy.

I have a knitting project I want to start but need to admit I'm scared. I've never knitted a sweater before and am so afraid of messing it up that I haven't even cast on yet. In fact, I haven't even swatched for it yet. I also have a damn blanket that I hate so much that is just not wide enough for our liking. I need to add some side panels but I just don't really want to work on those either as they are going to be BORING! They are black garter stitch for about seven feet.

We had our taxes done today and all I can say about that is WOW!

That's all for now.

-M

Progress

I've been making a lot of progress with my knitting projects. I finished up the blanket for a coworker that is currently on maternity leave. I gave it to her last Tuesday along with a few other gifts that we picked out from her registry. At first I loved this project but as I was nearing the end with little time to spare I began to dread it. Overall, it was a quick knit as far as blankets go and I do love the way it turned out.
This weekend I knit up this quick little hat for my younger brother. I LOVED this project. I have to say it is the first hat that I think turned out really well. I've tried it on numerous times and love it more and more each time. I might have to make one for myself.

-M

Some difficulties

S and I are very much novices at this marriage thing seeing how we've only been married about 10 months. We dated for some time before but also threw a child into the mix before getting married as well. Right now, we are experiencing some difficulties. I feel I am mostly to blame for them and have been coming down rather hard on myself about them. I am really bad at telling S my feelings when things bother me and just let them fester to the point I blow up. I also don't let things go as I should. This morning, he asked me to put the dishes away three times before I finally blew up and started yelling about the dishes but also a few other things he had said throughout the week that shouldn't have been festering in my mind for so long. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to change my behaviors and the way I deal with things that bother me or we'll end up divorced? I certainly don't want to end up that way but there is only so much a man can take.

-M

This pantry challenge...

did not work out so well for us. Instead of using up older things that we needed to get rid of we ended up using mostly everything. By this past week we were down to not much of anything. We went shopping on Friday and spent $200. So, we will end up over budget on the month we were determined to not spend more than $100. I'd like to chalk this up to a learning experience rather than an epic fail. Much to our defense our local store was having one heck of a killer meat sale so we did stock up for at least all of February and some of March. With this pantry challenge I did realized maybe it is not me overspending every single week but perhaps we do need to reevaluate our food budget.

-M