Category Archives: daily

The Case of The Missing Earrings

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You may have seen my Tweet a few weeks ago about some jewellery that I found on the floor in front of my bureau. There is a bit more to the story than I could share in 140 characters.

Before Christmas I was getting ready to go out with some friends for some dinner and drinks. I was looking through my jewellery box for my emerald cut diamond earrings that my mom gave me years ago. They were made out of a ring she had (the one my dad gave her, maybe? I know that diamond is coming to me some day, can’t remember if these diamonds came out of the same ring.) and are not the same size but looked very cool next to each other in one ear.

In any case, I could not find them. I looked. Simon looked. I looked again. Not there. I swore I’d go through my entire jewellery box as soon as and find them.

As is the way of the world, I never got a chance to do that. I have a small son and a company to run and looking for the earrings fell through the cracks. I remember about them just before my mom came to visit and hoped she wouldn’t ask after them!

So then one day, a month or so ago, I was sitting on the side of my bed putting my trainers on. There was a t-shirt lying on the floor in front of the bureau and as I leaned over to pick it up, it sparkled.

Lying in the t-shirt were the emerald cut diamond earrings, my gold and sapphire earrings and another pair I can’t recall at the moment.

I have no idea how any of them got there. The box is kept latched and there is no way Adam could haven’t gotten into it, even if he could reach it.

One of lives great mysteries. But at least I found my diamonds!!

I Have The Most Amazing Friends

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One couple I have known for years are currently in China meeting their daughter for the first time.  She’s just over 12 months is a real cutie and we are all waiting for the ‘We’re Home!’ announcement.

A person I know who is currently going through Male to Female gender transition is coming out to her parents today.  Very brave.  Very scary.

My friend who is a single mum of 4, 2 of whom are still at home, is reading Law at a local university.

Another family I know, although not all that well, just signed the adoption papers for their baby girl, who they have had since she was a fairly small baby.  She was born with a myriad of health problems thanks to her bio mom’s addictions and now has her forever home.

I met all of these people on the internet.  Some I have met in person.  Some I have not.

I keep all of them close to my heart and in my prayers.

I know I am very late with Adam’s 19 month newsletter.  I promise to try to get it done this week.  What’s that? Did you say something? Dublin trip post? Oh…yeah.

There is No Word For How Tired I am

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My Mom is in town and we’re having a lot of fun but it’s exhausting.

Also, Adam had a record setting 45 minute screaming tantrum today because I told him ‘NO!’ when he opened the freezer door.

And he hasn’t been sleeping well because he has yet another infection in his ears and lungs.

And…I think that’s it.

I think that’s enough.

Happy Christmas Everyone!

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This is it, the home stretch to our first Christmas in our own home.

Simon’s parents arrive, snow and ice willing, on Friday evening to spend the holiday weekend.  There are mucho presents piled under the tree, mostly for Adam.  Good thing he’s so young as several say they are from Santa Clause.  I just don’t have anywhere to hide them!

Plan for food:

Christmas Eve: Broccoli and Stilton Tart, salad, bread, trifle for pudding

Christmas Day: Turkey and *all* the trimmings! Christmas Pudding for, well, pudding.

Boxing Day: Not sure yet.  But probably leftovers!

All served with wine and brandy and champagne and who knows what all!

So I hope everyone has a safe, happy and wonderful Christmas.

And/or had a safe, happy and wonderful Chanukah.

Or Kwanza.

Or Yule.

Or what have you!

Today Is My Daddy’s Birthday…

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and it marks, along with the day of his birth, the first anniversary of me creating personalized cards for my immediate family.

Each person, on their birthday, gets a card with a picture of Adam that no one else has or will have or will even go on the internet.

So I can’t show them to you!

But Adam and I have a good time doing them, now that he’s older.

But the very first one was for his Pops.  My dad.  Last September 17th.

That one wasn’t exactly fun to shoot.  Adam was 3 months and 6 days old.  I sat him up in our big chair and put a sign in his lap that said ‘Happy Birthday Pops!’  And then shot quick before he fell over!

This year, I let him play and just kept shooting until a perfect shoot landed in the camera.

So Happy Birthday, Daddy.

And happy one year of photoshoots, Adam.

Maybe some day I’ll print all of them in a book for you.

Note: the following is not the one from Pops’ birthday this year!  I just think its cute!

Wow, Amazon sells *everything*

Letter To My Son – Adam – 14 Months Old

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Dear Adam

14 months and lots has been happening!

Right now you have an ear and chest infection and are on antibiotics.  Luckily you take medicine very well.

You are getting into things more and more, keeping Mama and Dada hopping: –

My first attempt at dress up was less than successful

You’ve got a new pushchair, to save Mama some energy as we go up the hill to daycare.  You seem to like it very much, as you sort of lounge in it.

But mostly you’re becoming a toddler.  Insisting on doing things yourself.  Not wanting to waste time with nappy changes.  Hating to sit on some one’s lap for long periods (unless you’re very sleepy).  You want to be out and about and doing doing doing.  You want to be walking, but aren’t quite sure how that works yet beyond a step or two (unless holding on!).  Mama can just tell that as soon as you figure it out? You’ll go straight to running.

Although you’ve never crawled on hands and knees, you have no problem getting around:

You’ve also started to eat exactly what Mama and Dada eat, or you won’t eat at all.  The other night we had a curry and started to give you something out of a jar.  You refused to eat it, peering interestingly at Mama’s plate.  So she gave you a small piece of Chicken Tikka.  And some Na’an.  Chapati?  Pilau Rice?  Ate.It.All.

You’ve now had stuffed cod, salmon in garlic and soy, lamb stew, beef stew, pickles, chips and one small piece of corn crisp.  You wanted more of the last but Mama had a fear of you choking on it. 🙂

Unfortunately, you are having a tough time settling into daycare.  You cry when Mama or Dada leave you, although they say you do play a bit and seem to be getting better, there is still some crying off and on.  It probably won’t help that you’ve missed a few days due to being ill this month, but we’ll start again next week.

You’ve also got 2 new teeth poking through.  Upper right and left, one over from your incisor.  So you’ll have a gap.  And nothing to chew against, as you still only have the two front on the bottom!

The biggest news of all?  And the reason Mama is actually glad this is a day late?  Because today, this morning, for the first.time.ever?  You looked right at me and said Mama.

I love you

Mama

A Good Dentist Is To Be Prized Beyond Rubies…

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So, if you asked my mom what my number one fear was, she’d say, probably with no hesitation, the dentist.

This fear was started when I was about 3 or 4 and went to what might have been my very first ‘real’ dentist appointment, as in was going to have a cleaning etc.

New things are scary for small children anyway, and this dentist was an idiot.  First of all, my mom wasn’t allowed in with me.  Second of all, as I sat there, screaming and crying with fear, he clamped his hand over my mouth and told me to shut up.  My mom eventually made it past the receptionist and got me out of there.  But the worst part? Was this same receptionist (or whatever she was) leaning over into my still sniffling, crying face and saying ‘You’re going to behave next time, aren’t you Robyn.’  I’m not sure if my mom actual said ‘There won’t be a next time.’  But I know I never saw that dentist again.

This bad beginning was compounded by years of painful dental treatment.  I have a very small mouth (shush you in the back) and a very tight frenulum, which is the small piece of skin that attaches your upper lip to your gums.  If you run your tongue along the front of your top teeth, you’ll feel it there.  So I was given a frenectomy to remove it and loosen my top lip, in preparation for braces.  It didn’t work.  And my frenulum? More or less grew back.

And then my adult teeth began coming in.  And X-Rays showed that both of my eye teeth were coming through the roof of my mouth.  At that point I was already wearing braces (which, now that I think about it, doesn’t make much sense, why did  I have braces before all my adult teeth were in? Mom?) so they cut into the roof of my mouth, brought my eye teeth down and attached them to my braces to bring them forward.  Since they didn’t get a chance to mature all the way, my eye teeth are about 60% bonding, to make them the right size.

Then there was wisdom teeth removal.  And other bad dental experiences.

Where I finally ended up as was a grown up who didn’t go to the dentist.  For years.

Oh I went occasionally.  I had a half way decent dentist on the Embarcadero when I worked in San Francisco.  Then I stopped working in the city and stopped going.

And then I moved to Belfast.  At some point in the last 7 years I did find a dentist who I saw maybe 2 or 3 times before she closed her City Centre office.  Her other office was all the way who the hell knows where and so I stopped going again.

And then I had Adam.

Now Simon is about as good as I am about going to the dentist.  So we made a pact.  I would find us all a NHS dentist and we’d all start going.

And then I rang every dentist on the NHS registry located in Belfast.  And not *one* of them was taking new patients.

And then I rang Loughridge Dental Care. They don’t do NHS dentistry (except children, Adam is on NHS until he’s 4).  And they aren’t cheap.

But they are the most wonderful dental practice I have ever experienced.

From the moment I spoke to their receptionist/dental assistant on the phone, I knew this was the place for me.  She was kind and  understanding.  She let me ask many many questions.

And then I met Chris Loughridge, the dentist.  Who came into the waiting room and said ‘I’m Chris.  I’m the dentist.’  He was so relaxed and so obviously enjoyed what he did.

The next two hours were exhausting and intensive, with XRays and a partial cleaning (my teeth were so bad Rita, the hygienist, could only get the top done in the amount of time she had) and a long talk with Chris as to what I wanted out of my dentistry and my history (including the above story which shocked him) and where should we go from there?

Where we went from there was my second appointment, which was today.  The XRays found 3 cavities, including my cracked tooth that I knew about as I’ve been sticking my tongue into the hole for years!  The dental team also found fairly profound gum disease and the need for major, deep cleaning.

So today we filled the crack in my tooth.  And Chris is the first dentist I have every had who managed to pre-numb my gum enough that I never felt the needle.  Who waited long enough for the Novocaine to actually work.  Who filled my tooth with no pain.  Who got me to breath and relax.  Who cracked jokes as he drilled.

Of course, it helped that Adam was sitting over by a window, in his pram, babbling away and making all of us laugh!

But I laughed at Chris as well, as he asked me if I was sure I didn’t want to have the other two filled today, on the other side of my mouth, so I wouldn’t be able to talk at all? I told him I was sure!!

And so, I have found a dentist.  Hopefully Simon will be seeing him soon as well.  And Adam has had his first check up (in that Chris and I got him to open his mouth and Chris counted his teeth!).

And with a bit of luck, and frequent preventative care, Adam will never hear the words I heard today when Rita said ‘I’ll need you to come back.  I’ll need to numb you to get the bottom teeth clean.’

And hopefully, I’ll never hear it again either.

I Think I Need A Good Cry

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I set into motion today putting Adam into daycare.  Not full time, just two half days a week, but I still feel like its letting my baby go out into the wide world without me.  I am not sure I am ready for that.

I know it will be good for him.  And for me.  But it is still scary.

You hear so many scary stories about bad day care situations, never mind what the Catholic Church is up to.  I am a firm believe that the world isn’t any more dangerous than it was when I was a kid, we just hear about it more.  But its different when its your little baby.

I think I would be less wary of it if he was older.  He can’t communicate yet so leaving him in someone else’s hands is a true test of faith.  If they hurt him he won’t be able to tell me, you know?

But I will thoroughly investigate all options.  Do site visits.  Do surprise visits once we’ve chosen one.

And pray a bit.