Edwin looked pretty cute as he was playing with a dump truck this afternoon so I thought I'd try a snap a few pictures. You can see for yourself how successful I was.

All he really wanted was the camera. So we settled for a picture together.

But what's really been on my mind today is my frustration with my lack of control when it comes to feeling nervous whenever my blood pressure is taken. Remember when I posted about having "white coat syndrome" while pregnant? Well, it's basically hung around. Now I find myself getting nervous just thinking about having my blood pressure taken. Two doctor visits post-delivery included nervousness and high readings. And I even had Dan take it last night because I wanted to see how it would be, and I found myself getting nervous, and it was a bit high.

I'd hoped it would all disappear after Edwin's birth. Well, it hasn't. It seems like it's here to stay, and it makes me feel ridiculous and as though I'm "failing" in some way. (I try to be perfect, you know. Or at least appear perfect.) Blood pressure is one of those things they worry about when you're pregnant so I feel I'm "doomed" as far as future pregnancies go.

I'm trying to let it go. I'm trying to not worry about controlling it. I'm trying to remember how Jesus calmed the wind and the waves, and how even before he calmed them, he was with the disciples and therefore, they had no reason to worry.

Tooth Tales

I've been neglecting this blog for a while but for very good reason. It's hard for me to do anything that requires much thought when a tooth is causing waves of intense pain on one side of my face. That was my experience this week.

It began last week with some sudden aches in my jaw. They didn't last long, so I didn't worry too much. By Monday, I had decided it was getting worse, more frequent and that I should probably go see the dentist. I knew for sure one tooth that was contributing to the pain, but I began to worry that there were other teeth that also had some problems (I don't have the greatest dental health history, you see).

I got into the dentist early Tuesday morning (with Edwin in tow). They weren't exactly sure what the cause was, so they referred me to the endodontist (who I was going to go to months ago because of one specific tooth that I should've had a root canal on almost two years ago - but a move and pregnancy got in the way of that). I called for an appointment and was told the earliest was a week later.

When the pain increased soon after that, I called back asking if they had any emergency openings. I was prepared to be assertive. Otherwise, I would have fed Edwin nothing but dry cereal for a week, and Dan would've had to get take-out for supper. I endured natural childbirth, and this pain was much worse. Mostly because I knew I wasn't getting a sweet cuddly baby out of it. And I think I'm a wimp when it comes to mouth pain.

Anyway, long story short, I went in (again with Edwin in tow), they did an x-ray, saw some inflammation, and suggested I come in the next day. Sounded good to me.

A friend watched Edwin while I went in for what is normally a procedure a little over an hour. It wasn't too bad. The worst part is the sound of the drills. I kept trying to watch what they were doing in the reflection of the microscope (except when they had the drills going), but I couldn't quite see it. Oh, well.

Unfortunately, my tooth wouldn't get totally numb because of the inflammation, so they took care of the main and I have to go back in about a week to get the procedure finished. Thankfully the aching pain is gone and I can function again.

The tale almost ends there. This troublesome tooth has a crown on it. They had removed the crown, drilled and dug around, and then replaced it using some weak cement so it would pop off easily next time. Well it popped off while eating dinner. So I had to go back in yesterday (again with Edwin) so they could cement it back on.

Hopefully all will be calm from here on out. And one good thing is that the searing pain and multiple trips to the dentist and endodontist all happened after Dan's and my Valetine's dinner date.

Probably more than you cared to read, but this is what's been filling my days lately.

Take care of those teeth!

You know the old poem that goes like this?

"Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday"

I've been thinking about it lately, because I've decided to try designating certain large chores for certain days of the week. When I worked full-time, cleaning and laundry was all done on Saturday, but that was back before Edwin, and I haven't cleaned the whole house and done all the laundry in one day for a long time.

I've been doing laundry on Mondays for months now. I still sometimes have to do a mid-week load or two (diapers are in a league of their own - they get done every-other-day so I'm not referring to them), but for the most part, I save laundry for Monday. And really, we have enough clothing that we don't need to wash more often than once a week.

So each week, our laundry was getting done, but I began to notice that a lot of time would pass between cleanings, and I kept thinking I want to get back to baking bread, and I wanted to be more organized in my grocery shopping (and now that we have a 2nd car, I don't have to work that around Dan's schedule) and so on.

Here's what I've come up with:

Wash on Monday (and water plants)
Bake on Tuesday (and fold/put away all that wash from Monday)
Clean on Wednesday
Socializing & Menu Planning on Thursday (mom's group that day 1x a month, story time @ the library, etc)
Groceries on Friday
Anything Else on Saturday
Rest on Sunday

These aren't hard and fast. For example, if a friend and I decide to get together on Wednesday, then I might still do some cleaning that needs to be done (like the bathroom) and then just do the rest on Thursday. Basically, these can all be swapped and changed as needed. Edwin and I went and hung out at a friend's house yesterday morning and I just did laundry before and after. I won't totally limit myself to this schedule, but maybe now I'll just remember that if I don't do something that one day, I need to fit it in somewhere.

This is only week #2 of all of this, so it might fly out the window pretty quickly, but I like having some sort of general framework. It's the teacher in me.

Here's a little video of Edwin, in honor of him now being 10 months old.