Saturday, May 17, 2014

Q: What's the Difference Between a Dentist and a Sadist?

A: Newer magazines.

A few weeks ago, I had my first dentist appointment in both Germany and five years. I was not looking forward to it. Basically, this is how I feel about the dentist:


We saw this painting in Dresden and it spoke to my soul.

One of the things I hate most about the dentist is how Judgey McJudgerson they get on you. They are always telling you what you are doing (or not doing) wrong. Add to that the Germans' genetic need to criticize anything that isn't done perfectly and you have a scary situation. My brushing habits are not as good as they should be, and my flossing can best be described as "annual," so I was anticipating a pretty painful visit.

I was pleasantly surprised. I had no cavities, just a bit of gum infection, for which they prescribed some antiseptic mouthwash. The cleaning wasn't *that* bad, either. I'm not like, champing at the bit to go back, but it was really a lot better than an American dentist visit. Plus, it's included in our insurance, so we are definitely coming out ahead on this!


Dentists. Who needs them?

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day

This post has two parts: a part about my mom, and a part about Sadie.



1. My Mom

Obviously, my mom drives me crazy a lot of the time. I mean, she's a mom, it's her job. But there are two things I remember her doing for me very distinctly that really attest to how great she is at being a mom in general, and my mom specifically. Not long ago, I was telling Hunter one of these stories, and he said, "that's like the third time you've told that story, so it must mean a lot to you." And yeah, I guess it does.

Ok, so when I was in elementary school, I think either 5th or 6th grade, there was this pretty popular recording artist you may have heard of, name Alanis Morissette. I owned the album Jagged Little Pill and loved rocking out to that. We had these reward days at school, where in the afternoon we could bring boom boxes and sit out on the grass and chill, and I really wanted to bring my Alanis Morissette CD. Now, if you've heard, or even seen the album, you know that it contains some explicit content. There are some songs on there, the lyrics to which would not be welcome at an elementary school. So what did my mom do? Tell me I couldn't bring the CD? No, because that would have been bush league. She taped an edited version for me. Thinking back on that as an adult, I kind of appreciate the amount of work that would have gone into that. As far as I can tell, what had to happen was this: She played the CD with a tape recording it, and presumable had the lyrics sheet or something with her. Then, anytime there was a cuss, she would just briefly stop it recording so the word wouldn't end up on the tape. I can't really think of any other way she could have done that. Now of course, I think some of the songs might be objectionable regardless of the presence of any four-letter-words, but generally people tend to be more worried about just words than like, actual meanings of songs. So anyway, that is one thing I remember that makes my mom the best.


My other memory is something that could be a bit glossed over by how young I was, but I tend not to think so. You should know that both of my parents are incredibly creative. My dad is a self-taught, very talented musician and woodworker. My mom is who got me into sewing and crafting, and she is also just very artistic in general. When I was young, like... younger than 10 for sure and maybe like 7? I don't fully remember the dates on these things. Anyway, my mom painted this desk for me. It had seven desk drawers--three on each side and one in the middle. And she painted it to be Snow White themed, one drawer for each dwarf, and then a scene from Snow White on the sides of the desk. I remember these pictures looking EXACTLY like they did in the cartoon. A friend came to my house and said that if Disney found our about that desk, then my mom could get in trouble. Sadly, I don't own any pictures of the desk and don't know if any exist, but just trust me, it was awesome!


2. Sadie

When I was pregnant with Sadie, I had two main fears. The first was mainly that she would cramp Hunter's and my style. Obviously, she has somewhat: we can't stay out until all hours of the night anymore, and we have to be adults and think of someone besides ourselves. So yeah, life is different, but having Sadie is awesome. The second fear was just of loving someone so much. I knew that as soon as she was born, I was going to love her more than anything, and I was really afraid. Because I know that she will experience pain in her life, and I'm going to have to watch that, and a lot of the time, there will be nothing I can do about it. I just don't want anything bad to ever happen to her. So basically I was afraid of the pain that this love would bring. And really, I still am. My mom used to tell me not to stay out too late because she couldn't sleep if I wasn't home. And I thought that was silly, I was like, just go to bed. But now I get it. Because I don't think I could sleep if I didn't know exactly where Sadie was, and that she was safe. Sometimes when she's sleeping I look at her and I'm just so thankful for every breath and every heartbeat. She is so precious. Being afraid about not having a social life was silly, but being afraid of how powerful this love is... I knew, intellectually, that she would change everything, I just didn't know HOW. It's crazy how much I care about this tiny person, and then I think about the fact that my parents felt the same way about me, and it's kind of amazing. So yeah, I'm still afraid for the first time Sadie gets her feelings hurt, or gets sick or breaks a bone. But having this beautiful snuggly little girl in my life is so worth it!

And now a few more pictures:


 This is why we can't have nice things

My mom made us these amazing matching dresses--the fabric is owl print!