It Happened!

Lydia and Braden just came running downstairs with Lydia's tooth in tow. She has had a loose bottom tooth for a couple of weeks now, and it has been causing her some pain. Admitedly, I haven't been too keen on checking it, as it has made me feel pretty queasy every time she shows it to me, but tonight I wiggled it, and it was hanging on by a thread. So I told her to try twisting it. She must have taken my advice while Braden was reading her a bedtime story, and it worked!

She is so excited. It is funny how important teeth are in our children's development. I couldn't help getting a little misty-eyed as I saw the tooth laying in her hand -- the same tooth we waited for when she was a baby. The same tooth that caused her so much pain as it was coming in. The same tooth that showed up, translucent against her little naked gums when she was my little baby. Now it is gone, leaving a hole, and a huge smile on the face of my growing daughter who is so excited to grow up.

She was much braver than I was at her age. I remember, vividly, being taken to the dentist by a doting grandfather because I was too scared to pull my own tooth. When the next tooth was ready to come out, my grandmother decided to perform the extraction. My Mom put me in Grandma's lap, and she attempted to get her fingers in my mouth while I writhed and screamed like a mad woman. Moments later, I noticed that my Grandma wasn't trying to get her fingers in my mouth anymore, and she was laughing. So I stopped screaming only to discover that the tooth was in her hand! What a wuss I was!

So you can see why I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of having to pull Lydia's tooth. Braden pulled every one of his eight missing teeth all on his own, so I never had to deal with this. Thank goodness Lydia figured it out on her own!

Well, I have some fairy business to attend to tonight. I can't stay up too late, or she won't come! Thank goodness she got a gold dollar in change at the BX recently!

Pregnant Mel

I have some family and close friends who have never seen me pregnant. Every time they see me, though, we have a new little Hanners. One friend (you know who you are :) has been asking to see a picture of me pregnant because she can't imagine it. So this is for you, and anyone else who is curious.

I love being pregnant, and feeling a new life growing inside of me. Sometimes I worry that I might not want to stop having babies, and end up with several dozen children! But although I am not ashamed of my pregnant body, I am still slightly sensitive about remarks such as "Are you sure you're not having twins?" or "Whoa! You look like you're about to pop!" Trust me, during the course of four pregnancies I have heard them all! So tread carefully in the comments section. After all, I may not be "thin skinned" but I am really, really sensitive!

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures of the kids discovering their Easter baskets this morning. They were thrilled.

Ironically, after a winter of mild weather, with only a couple of snows that didn't even stick for longer than a couple of hours, this morning we were greeted by this:Now that it's spring, we get the snow! Quite a difference from last Easter!

Great Idea

My new friend Anna told me about a really great website that will pull all of your posts from your blog and turn them into a book. I am so excited, because I have been blogging for quite a while, and the thought of copying and pasting my whole blog was quite daunting. Maybe I will give up scrapbooking and put all of my time into blogging now (okay, take a deep breath, I was just kidding). The link to this website is: http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook?tag=3_sf. She also posted a link on her blog to a website that has free blog backgrounds. I have been wondering about how to do that! Here it is: http://www.cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/
I just had to pass on the newfound knowledge! Thanks Anna!

Real Life

Looking back on previous posts, it's easy to see why people think my children are always angels, I am always happy, and life is always great. I guess I am recording only the highlights, and because I don't post every day, you never get a glimpse of real life. In fact, it is usually during those days (or weeks) when you haven't heard from me that I am experiencing "real life" and don't necessarily want to immortalize it on my blog.

Today was one of those days that I normally wouldn't blog, but for some reason feel like it is a good example of what life can really be like. It wasn't a horrible day, just a day. Nothing incredible or inspiring happened.

I was woken up probably about 15 times during the night -- only once by my sweet baby wanting a drink and cuddle. The rest of the times were by Lydia, telling me that her throat hurt when she swallowed. She had crawled into bed with us, and Morgan let her stay. He is much kinder than I am that way. When I am pregnant, and already sharing my body, I don't usually want to share my bed with more than one person.

Lydia wasn't kidding about the sore throat, and had a low grade fever to go along with it. So I kept her home. We are very prone to strep, so I had a feeling that was what it was. Sure enough, after a trip to the doctor, that assumption was confirmed. Having a sick child at home is hard on so many levels. You hate to see them suffering or uncomfotable. But it is also hard on mom, who is not able to leave the house for several days. Life kind of comes to a stop when one of them is sick. I cancelled plans with a friend for tonight, and our Daisy meeting for tomorrow night. But she is on the mend, and was just upstairs giggling and playing with Braden.

Morgan left for a trip again this morning, so we will be on our own again for a while. We miss him so much when he is gone, and I am so lonely for him. I am lonely in general.

So you see, life isn't all birthday parties, warm fuzzies, family trips, and angelic children. Life can be messy, mundane, lonely, painful. But if you love the people you are going through this journey with, you can always make it through the trials.

Now just please keep your fingers crossed that nothing will come of the head lice notice Braden got from school today . . .