A little this, a little that...and a BIG BABY!!!

Big baby...well, that would be me.  And let me tell you why...

In my 27 years, I've never had a cavity.  I've been quite proud of my oral hygiene and impeccable track record, I have to admit. 

That was until today.

I've always loved going to the dentist; now I know why so many people hate it. Well let me start by saying that I've gone to TWO dentists in my lifetime - one was my pediatric dentist that I went to until I was much too old to grab a toy out of the treasure chest at the end of my cleaning. :) After that I went to a "grown up" dentist, up until this point, where a good friend of mine's mom, Ms. Susan, was my {very gentle} dental hygienist. Let's just say I took for granted how gentle she was. I finally decided that I couldn't go back to Clemson to get my teeth cleaned every time, and since I was paying for dental insurance, I needed to use it! Thus, here we are in present day.

First of all, the gal cleaning my teeth was really nice - I liked her a lot - but she did a number on my gums! I'm a flosser, but she made my gums bleed between every tooth! She asked me if I usually bled that much ("No, lady, you're freakin' killin' me!!!!). I told her I usually floss gently. She said there was no benefit to your gums in flossing gently. Afterwards she told me my gums were a little inflamed...no shiznit, sherlock. Anywho, that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was when the dentist came in and showed my my x-ray, and I saw that big ole dark spot in one of my teeth...my arch nemesis...the CAVITY!!! He told me that this is COMMON after pregnancy; he sees women quite frequently who had never had a cavity until after being pregnant and having their first child. He said with hormones, who knows, but that it was a definite well known fact among dentists. Hello! Where was that on the list of What to Expect When You're Expecting??? What's worse, it's a really deep sucker - as in really close to my nerve. He said there is an 80% chance he will get in there and it will be just fine...20% chance he gets in there and either hits the nerve, or the decay is deeper and has to go into the nerve, which would require a ROOT CANAL!! Holy crap!!! Mention the words root canal to a girl who has never even had a cavity and she may just almost have a panic attack...especially if she's a big wuss {not that I know anyone like that}. I mean, labor and delivery - piece of cake. But don't expect me to be okay with a root canal. There aren't epidurals for that, mr. dentist man.

Due to the urgency, he recommended I have the cavities (I have to have the tooth next to it done, too) filled ASAP, and tomorrow morning was the soonest available until the end of next week. And tomorrow is my last day off...of this thing called vacation??? So much for that! So tomorrow AM it is! I have to be dropped off and picked up because of the pain medication...and I also have to pump and dump for 24 hours {side note: whoever said "Don't cry over spilled milk" clearly never breastfed...it was probably a man}, good thing I have a good freezer supply saved up.  Hey, at least I can't complain about that dental insurance not being put to good use, right?

On to much more exciting things...

Nicholas and I had our first movie date night post-baby...yes, it took us SIX MONTHS. Unfortunately they don't allow babies at the movie theater we go to or we probably would have brought him along by now! 

We saw Eclipse and it was great! I was much more impressed by this movie than the previous ones!!!

Yep, TOTAL cheeseballs!

Nicholas never opens his eyes for pictures. He said too bad there are no editing tools to pull those bad boys open...we would have much more of a picture selection. :)

Picture going over the bridge on the way home...it was taken going about 65mph, but I thought it was kinda cool.

And today, this sweet little guy had his 6 month checkup!

It's crazy how babies fluctuate in their stats! He weighed 17lbs, 7oz - 48th percentile (last time he was 67th), was 26 inches tall - 33rd percentile (last time he was 75th), and his head circumference was 17.25 - 51st percentile (last time it was 16th).  He's a growing boy!

He was such a big boy during the shots...just cried for a few seconds and then he was fine once I picked him up.  It's still so sad to see him hurt though!

After a fairly unsuccessful try with squash yesterday, our pediatrician (upon finding out that I'm making it myself) recommended adding just a tiny bit of sugar to it. He said the store-bought baby foods do it, and it helps to take away from the strong taste of veggies for a baby's new palate. So when we got home I grabbed a little of the pureed squash, and smushed it through this to make it a little more familiar consistency:

And I added a teensy bit of rice cereal and milk to get the right consistency, then mixed in a tiny bit of sugar.

SUCCESS!!!

Hopefully this doesn't mean he'll have a giant sweet tooth like his momma.

He just has to get his hands involved. And I think chewing on the spoon may be his favorite part. Either way, after the initial gag, he was eating it and did a good job!

oh.those.sweet.feet.

And since he was such a tough little guy at his appointment, I figured we might as well pull out our newest toy for some afternoon fun!

BFFs

REALLY loving this new toy (of course I read all of the reviews first, haha)

I mean you can chew on it...

...or study all of the colors.

Or stack it...

And then chew on it a little more...

 (by the way do you see that BIG BOY SITTING UP ON HIS OWN?!?) :)

You can make it into balls to play with or throw...

...and you can learn to count with the numbers on each piece.

Then you can chase them...

...and then try to eat it again.

Which, of course, is the main objective of everything.

You can even work out those biceps for the ladies...

:)

"Okay, mom...enough pictures for one day...you better go get some sleep to prepare for your big, scary morning."

Smart kid.

See ya'll tomorrow...if I can even see straight! (nope, i'm not dramatic, at all...)  :)