My updates usually feel like non-updates, and this one is no exception. And I don't even have pictures to send out to make me feel better about sending out nothing important. :) Oh well. This is the update.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving week was crazy and fun! It started with Rob's brother and his fiance (G and M) plus Rob's mom coming down on Monday night. Tuesday was Grandparents Day at Miciah's school. C had a great time with Miciah and it made Miciah feel special. Before school they had a great time making up stories and drawing pictures together. At school the Kindergarteners sang a few songs for the grandparents and then Carolyn got to check out Miciah's classroom and play games with her. Miciah LOVED it.
After school we left and drove up to P to spend the rest of the week with family. We played games, talked together, and had some great food. Yea for Thanksgiving food! Leftover turkey on leftover rolls. What's better than that?
A Wedding
Friday night we went to a wedding. D & N, two grad students in Rob's program. They are both beautiful people and her dress was GORGEOUS. It was a very fancy ordeal and it was fun to attend. We left when the party was really getting started--about 11 pm. Our kids were being watched overnight at a friend's house, and we thought, why would we stay at a public party and watch people become increasingly intoxicated, when we can go home and do whatever we want. So we went home. It was fun to wake up Saturday morning to a quiet house. A little strange, but fun.
Miciah's Tooth
Then Saturday night was fun. Around 6 p.m. Miciah started screaming about her tooth that hurt. We've known she's had a cavity for almost 2 months. We saw a hole in her tooth at the beginning of October. She had a scheduled cleaning for mid-October. At the cleaning, the dentist obviously saw the hole, too, and scheduled a return date of the beginning of November. They had to cancel that one, and the next time we could get in was mid-November. After waiting in the waiting room for 2 hours, the dentist told us that the hole was bigger than she thought and we'd have to come back another time when she had more time. That was scheduled for December 5th. Still a week away.
Anyways. Back to Saturday. Rob started checking out her tooth and noticed a huge bulge in her gum above her tooth. Bummer. So we gave Miciah some Ambesol and some Childrens Motril and started making phone calls. We called our dentist: no emergency line, of course. We called a nurses' hotline for our insurance. They suggested calling our pediatrician. We spoke to a nurse and then a doctor at our pediatrician's office. The doc said it probably was an absess tooth as we thought, but he didn't feel comfortable giving a prescription for an antibiotic until someone looked at it. So to the Emergency Room we went at 8:00 p.m. Fun times! We got in really quick. It was funny to see people's reaction when we told them what we were there for. It was a funny situation. A dental problem that was now a medical problem, too. Anyways, after fearing they would turn us away with some cop out answer like, "We can't do anything for a dental problem," the doctor was really nice and said it was an absess tooth and gave us the antibiotic we needed.
But we still have to take care of the tooth. On Tuesday we called our dentist's office, told them they were fired for not getting this taken care of in a timely manner, and then called Children's Dental Clinic. It's attached to Children's Hospital and they have a really great reputation. They also have a really long waiting list to get in. We weren't hopeful. But they got Miciah in THE NEXT DAY. Wow. So Wednesday morning Miciah went in to see what needed to be done about the tooth. Turns out that without us knowing or being able to see, her tooth had decayed away. Rob said there was a quarter inch gap between the top and bottom of the tooth. Eww. And of the 3 roots the tooth has, there was only 1 left. So they pulled the tooth. But Miciah did really really well and in a near-miraculous feat, she didn't even know they gave her a shot until I told her a few hours later. That's amazing! She stayed home from school Wednesday. Not because she couldn't go, she had just already been through a lot. So we let her chill at home.
But, for amazing feat #2 for Children's, there was a cancellation on Thursday morning, so Miciah was able to get in the next day for a new patient check-up! Wow. She was a little afraid to go back, but I promised they wouldn't pull any more teeth. They found another 3 little bitty cavities that aren't a big deal. Miciah goes back in January to fix those and also to get a spacer put in her mouth so that her teeth will still grow in the right way. The tooth that got pulled was a molar and it was supposed to stick around for another 4 years before she lost it naturally. Bummer. ... They also mentioned that Miciah doesn't have much space for her bottom teeth, so those will probably come in crooked. I told them that sounded familiar. That's my teeth, and that's what braces are for.
So it's nice that even though it wasn't a fun resolution for Miciah, we're at least now in good dental hands. Elijah will go there from now on, too. Who knows what his teeth are like. I hope he gets Rob's teeth, not mine.
So that was one adventure for this week.
Youth Fireside
Sunday was a second adventure. Sunday was the youth fireside where they basically have a Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, all that stuff, plus pies. Me and Rob and the kids all ate, then I went home with the kids and Rob finished the fireside. Not so much an adventure, really, until that night. Rob's stomach started bothering him right before we went to bed. And then from 1 in the morning until 6 in the morning Rob was up on the toilet cleaning out his system. He woke up at 9 or so the next morning feeling awful, not only because of the awful experience, but also because he hadn't slept all night. He stayed home and slept until almost 1 p.m. Wow. My system wasn't happy with me, either, but I didn't get sick like that.
The next day I asked a friend who was also at the dinner, "You guys weren't by chance sick yesterday, were you?" Yep, they were, too. None of the kids were (though Teancom did have a gross diaper on Wednesday--but that was 2 days after everyone else got sick), thankfully. Rob went to Young Mens Tuesday night and started asking around. All but 4 or 5 people got sick, most of them up through the night like Rob had been. :) They never did pinpoint what it was that got everyone sick (though the stuffing was a likely culprit, all information gathered), but it was a fun sharing experience anyway.
Pink Eye
And for our last adventure of the week, Elijah has pink eye. Not much else to say about that. I was hoping he'd get what I call his vampire eyes, just like last time. But they're just pleasantly pink instead of blood red like they were when he got them last. We called the doctor's office and they called in a prescription for us without making us come in. Yea! Her instructions were, "Try to keep him from rubbing his eyes." I laughed over the phone. Right. He's 3. She said, "It is highly contagious." Yes. Yes, I know. So we might be in for a longer adventure. Who knows? Cute little pink eyes.
Miciah is doing well. She watched the newest Barbie movie (we borrowed it from a friend) about 10 times in the week we had it. I now have most of the songs memorized. Elijah is still obsessed with Spider-Man. Miciah was watching the movie, and there's a lullabye in it. It talks about night time coming by saying, "Stars begin to climb." Elijah looks at me and says, "Mom, Spider-Man cwimb?" Yes, Spider-Man climbs. "Stars don't cwimb." No. Stars don't really climb. Cute.
Elijah also still likes playing pretend. Miciah still likes this, too, but Elijah is getting more and more into it. The other day we were in the car and Elijah said, "I play pretend. I be Spider-Man. And you, Ciah. You be Ciah." I thought that was awesome.
Teancom
Teancom is doing good. He's still not walking, but every now and then he thinks about it. The day before Thanksgiving he surprised us by walking about 10 steps. But he can't do it consistently and he refuses to try most of the time. I still swear that his left leg doesn't move straight. I call it his peg leg. :) He'll walk eventually. He is getting much more curious and that's fun. It's weird to me to think that he's almost a year and a half old. Because he's still very much a baby, not a toddler. He doesn't walk, he's still not really talking, and he's still very cuddly. Rob always says that he'll come home, and every time, within seconds, Teancom will crawl over to him and want to be held. It's cute. But it's weird to see other babies that are much further along and that are also younger than him. :) Teancom will get there. And I've no complaints.
Rob's Paper is Submitted!
OH!! There is one exciting update! Rob submitted his first paper for publication!!! That's AWESOME. I'm going to have Rob send out an e-mail explaining what it's all about. So be looking for that. We're celebrating tonight with a bottle of sparkling cider. Thought about a last-minute date, but with pink eye in the house, uhh, right. But, congrats to Rob!
Post-Doc Search
We also are getting a little further in figuring out where we'll go for his post-doc. It's been an interesting process. We will probably stay in Cincinnati (if it works out with the person he's negotiating with right now. They meet next week and so hopefully we'll know better by then), which is what we originally thought, but I'm glad the process has gone how it has. At first it was about staying here because we're comfortable here. Then we wanted to leave because it was Rob's career dream to go to the NIH. And then things started coming into focus. This is the first decision of this nature where we've had to worry about balancing work AND family. And it just gets harder, I think, to make these sorts of decisions from here on out. Because more and more factors will be added. Anyways, it's been a learning process. Particularly a lesson in patience, for me. I'm not a patient person when it comes to stuff like this. :)
Christmas
And Christmas rules! Our tree is up. The stockings are on the wall. We have 2 nativities out. One is ceramic, beautiful, and up where the kids can't touch it. The other is a Fontanini one that the kids can play with. Which is awesome--it's my favorite Christmas memory growing up: playing with the nativity set. Cute little baby Jesus. This year we added wise men and a cow (the pieces are expensive), so it feels much more complete this year. We have the holy family, a shephard, a traveller, and the 3 wise men. Plus sheep and a cow. I love playing with the set about as much as the kids do. It's awesome.
Hope you're all well. Sorry this is a boring update with no pictures. We love you anyway!
Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, and Teancom
