"The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with." - Marty Feldman

Yesterday I had two root canal restorations done. For those of you that have never had the pleasure, let me give you a brief rundown of what that entails: During a root canal (which I had in November), the endodontist drills down through a tooth and completely removes any root that is left in the tooth. Then the endodontist fills it with a temporary filling. In my case, they did this because I had an infection in the roots of two teeth that were side by side. During a root canal retsoration, the dentist puts a post where the root used to be and fills it up just like a cavity. When I had the root canal I was going to a random dentist I choose because he accepted our insurance. He had BEAUTIFUL office with fountains and imported furniture. Seriously, the waiting room was very nice. However, to be honest, I never felt entirely comfortable with him. So, when my husband's job switched insurance January 1st, I called up my former dentist, who I had been seeing since a kid.

Now, I absolutely hate going to the dentist. Not necessarily through any fault on the part of the dental professionals, just because I cannot stand the thought of the scraping, etc. But the price I was about to pay (as quoted by the dentist with the beautiful office) made me want to put off that root canal restoration as long as possible. He quoted me $800 per tooth, 80% of which would be paid by my insurance. That still left me to pay $320.00 for something I did not want to have done anyway. But I knew it had to be done so I went on Valentine's Day (Happy Valentine's Day to me) to my former dentist. Do you know how much they charged me and my insurance? $144.00 per tooth, meaning my total was only $52.00! What the heck??

So, I have a question for everyone out there. Did you know that you had to shop dentists for a good deal? I knew there would be differences in pricing, but $1300.00? Is that ridiculous, or what?

"Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity." - Sigmund Freud

You have to admit: Even though Freud was some-what nutty, he was still a fascinatingly intelligent man. But, I am not here to bore you with talk of Freud and his weird fixations...

I want to introduce you to (drum roll, please): Toddler Seth!


I know, he is heartbreakingly cute even when he is in the throws of a small temper tantrum. The past few days a new, more confident, Seth as emerged. As a mother, this frightens me a little. I have to ask myself, "How long will this last? It seems too soon!" However, as a psychology student I say to my self, "Yay! Development right on course. Maybe even a little advanced! That is so exciting! He is in the Objective-Self phase."

To give you an idea of what kind of major infraction could cause a face like this, let me tell you how it all started. I asked him for my car keys back, he nicely gave them to me, I put them away. That is when I got this face.

Just a couple hours before this, Seth and I were in the kitchen preparing dinner. Seth walked over to the garbage and grabbed an empty plastic bottle off the top of the garbage (it was kind fo full, waiting for Taylor to get home). I turned to Seth and said, "What do you have?" He took off running. I gave chase and just as I was about to reach him, he threw it to the side and broke down into a mini temper tantrum. It is hard not to laugh in moments like these. He is just so darn cute - I knew that was going to be trouble for me when this phase started!

So far, the temper tantrums have been small and short-lived. And they really are a welcome sign of Seth becoming his own little person. He is learning that he has his own thoughts and feelings about some things, and often they are not the same as mommy's thoughts and feelings. Case and point, he thought it would be great to play with garbage, but mommy thought it would be icky. Go figure :)

On the flip side, his sleeping has done a complete 180 degree turn. It is so awesome! He wears himself out running around all day, leading to 12 hour nights and TWO 1 - 2 hour naps a day. I could not ask for a better sleeping baby if I tried. He really does enjoy going to bed and sleeping. I am sure that this will pass, but I am accepting this very welcome reprieve from sleep deprivation. Truthfully, I am not sleeping more though - just studying more. Which is what I need to get back to doing.

I am working on getting a good video of Seth dancing to post on here. He has some pretty good moves (like his daddy), but every time he spots the camera, he stops dancing. Also like his daddy.

Okay, that is enough procrastinating for one night. Back to the grindstone.

"I have been on a calendar, but never on time." - Marilyn Monroe

I have been getting some flack from my mother for not posting enough, so I thought I would try and squeeze a post in. I have been really busy with, well, life.

This morning I tried to cut Seth's hair. Really I just wanted to take a little bit off. I was able to take off less than a little bit. I was way to scared of messing up those beautiful curls. This week, I need to get him in for a trim. His hair is so long it has the beginnings of a little mullet :) Don't get me wrong, I love long hair, he just has some frizzies on the ends that need to be cut away so you can see his adorable little curls. To give you an idea of how much I actually cut:

I guess I need to leave it to a professional. I am too much of a wimp.

Last Thursday, Seth and I were standing in the checkout lane at a grocery store, when an elderly woman got in line behind us. Now, if I have learned anything these last 5 months, I have learned that there are two types of people who ask odd questions about the fact that Seth and I do not fit the "standard" mother-son mold: elderly ladies and small children. For the most part, it doesn't bother me. So, when this woman started talking to me, I had a feeling that it was going to take that direction. I will name this lady Madge, for story-telling sake:

Madge: Does you mother work out at (such and such) gym on (such and such) road?
Me: No. My mother and I both live in (our small town).
Madge: Oh (Looooonnnnngggggg pause) Because there was a woman that I did aqua aerobics with whose daughter married a black man.
Me: (internally: oi, I am too tired for this) Hmmm... Well, my husband is white (even longer pause to make her squirm) Actually, my son is from Ethiopia.
Madge: Oh! So he's adopted!

The story went on and on from there. I know that these conversations upset a good number of transculteral families out there, but I think it is important to consider the source. This woman was 73 years old. Of course, my first instinct was to teach her a few things about race and culture and minding-her-own-beeswax, but really she was just a very lonely lady who was trying to start a conversation.

What really bothers me is when people stereotype Seth based on his color, even when the stereotype is positive. "Oh he will be good at this or that." Usually these comments come from people I know and love and they almost always catch me off guard. I am working on developing a set of comebacks that will not cause an argument, but will get my point across. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

With that, I need to get back to Biology (UGH!). I will leave you with a cute baby picture and proof that Seth hates a clean house:

R.I.P Old Friend

It is official: they totaled my Dodge. I am very sad about this because I really liked that vehicle. It was like an old pair of shoes or jeans...Just really comfortable, you know? So, we will be car shopping this weekend. Blah.

Here are some pictures that James took when he went to clean out all our belongings. It looks like they straighted out the wheels, though. Maybe so they could move it around the shop? Either way, it doesn'y look nearly as bad as it did last week, and I don't know if that is hindsight talking or what.




Anyway, I am feeling better. I am also very, very busy with school. Biology online is much tougher than I anticipated. I am sure it would have been easier if I had actually taken the course in-class, but my life just doesn't have that kind of freedom right now.

Did I hear someone requesting baby in the snow pictures? Your wish is my command. By the way April, he does love the snow. God's cruel joke on a mom who hates it. :) Good thing his daddy likes the stuff!

Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking.

So, I should be studying (I am a good three days behind) but instead I feel like blogging. It has been an interesting few days around here, to say the least.

Last Friday I had a doctor's appointment in the AM, then I was going to run home really quick, pick up Seth, and continue on to an adoption get together. Well, I was just about ready to turn into my driveway when a pick-up truck came around the corner too fast (from the opposite direction) and side swiped me. Luckily, I saw him coming and tried to get over or else he would have hit me head on. The pick-up truck continued a little farther down the road and hit a tree. Both of us were okay, but neither of our vehicles were drivable. Actually, it looks like my vehicle might totaled, but we do not know for sure yet. The kid who hit me was from the Flint area, and a new driver who was not used to driving on snow or dirt roads, so I felt kind of bad for him.

Fast forward 24 hours...

I was very sore, but as far as I could tell, I had no real injuries to speak of. Late Saturday morning I started getting terrible squiggly lines in front of my eyes. They got so bad that I had to let my friend April drive. The squiggly lines went away and were replaced by a headache and dizziness. This was by far the worst headache I have ever had. So, about 3pm I decide to let my husband take me to an urgent care facility to be checked out. That way I won't have to go to the ER in the middle of the night. Well, guess where I ended up anyway? The ER getting a CT Scan (which turned out fine). The doctor thinks that maybe I just had a slight concussion from being jostled around and sent me home with some really good, um I mean, potent drugs :) I spent Sunday in a haze and now I am almost back to normal (whatever that is). I still have a slight headache, a few bruises, and a sore back, but otherwise I am just really happy everything turned out how it did. It could have been worse and I could have had the kids with me. Praise the Lord!

Ironically enough my friend April's vehicle was in a car vs. deer accident just a few days ago. She was thinking clearly enough to get pictures, I was not. Maybe the body shop will email me some so I can post them here. I really like that vehicle (Dodge Durango), so I am hoping she pulls through okay :)

"I like work. It fascinates me. I sit and look at it for hours." - Jerome K. Jerome

First, thank you all for the compliments on my hair. They made me feel really good. I know that some of you stay at home moms can relate to this, but sometimes you just don't feel pretty. I REALLY needed to get out and do something about that :)

We have had nothing but non-stop snow in West Michigan these past few days. I need to give you an idea of just how much snow.


I also had to post that for my blogging buddy over at As for Me and My Haus because she has been posting a lot of pictures of their family at the beach and I am getting extremely jealous. :)

School is going well so far. Tonight is the first class that I actually have to leave the house for, but I am sure it will be fine. In my experience, these 3 hour classes usually tend to run shorter than normal, so hopefully this class holds true to form.

Have I mentioned how much Seth loves his sister? This morning I woke up to, "Tay-Lor! Tay-Lor! Momma!" on the nursery monitor :) And the feeling is definitely mutual! I highly recommend having your kids 15 years apart!


He also loves our dog Wilber (who he attempted to put a diaper on last night).


And of course, he loves his Teletubbies.


Okay, I really just wanted to show of some cute pictures I had in my camera.

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." - Mark Twain

Tada! I give you...bangs. I like them :)

"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils." - Louis Hector Berlioz

Cute Seth stories:

Seth's new favorite thing to do is walk around the house yelling (very loudly), (insert cute baby voice here) "TAYLOR! TAYLOR!" It is adorable. Half the time she is at school when he does it, but when she is at home and out of his site, he immediately goes on the prowl, (insert cute baby voice here) "TAYLOR! TAYLOR!"

For the next story I need to give a little background. Our house has a bathroom on our main floor and the laundry/storage room can only be reached by walking through this bathroom. The dog food and water is in that laundry/storage room. While it is daylight and Seth is awake, we keep that bathroom closed most the time because Seth loves to play in the dog food and water. What kid doesn't? At night, it has never been an issue because he refuses to venture very far into the dark without someone beside him. Now the story:

Last night I was in the kitchen taking care of dinner. Seth had his clean jammies on and had just got out of the bath. Taylor was talking on the phone (not that unusual, surprisingly) suddenly I realize that I had not heard Seth in a while. So I look where I last saw him (quietly playing with toys in the next room) and he is not there. I start looking around and find my way back into the laundry/storage room where it is pitch black. There sat Seth, soaked head to toe, beside an empty dog water dish. Apparently I did not do a good enough job washing him and he thought it deserved a do-over. Also, he is no longer afraid of the dark. I guess his curiosity conquered that fear.

Today I am going to the hair salon for the first time since August. I have decided I need a trim and bangs. Last weekend I went out with my good friends Amy, April, and Deena to celebrate Deena's birthday. Deena had her hair cut earlier that week and got bangs. She looked so YOUNG! Not that she normally looks old, but they really looked great. I had been toying with the idea of bangs for a while (admittedly to cover up forehead wrinkles) and once I saw how great Deena's looked, that sealed it. I am totally copying her :) If it looks good, I will post a picture. If not, I will hide for the next year while they grow out.

Oh yeah, and I am so excited about this (proving I may not be a science nerd, but I am a computer nerd): I just ordered a new laptop from Dell. It won't ship until the 29th, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it!! It is for school and will be really nice to have around the house. Right now our computer is in the kitchen (because we have a teenager in the house) and if I want to do school work while Seth plays, I have to be in another room. This way I can be right in the room with him. My adult side did win out over my computer nerd side on one thing, however. I choose not to pay the extra $25.00 to make it hot pink. Black is cool too, right?

Side note: for those of you who often wonder what products I use in Seth's hair, I have recently switched to Shea butter and like it so much better. It is really making his hair much healthier and there is no buildup. Plus it is natural, so I don't feel like I am putting a bunch of product in his hair. Last night I put some in and did finger coils after his bath. We were doing it while watching Teletubbies, so I only had as long as the show, meaning I only did half his head. It is kind of a fun bonding experience though. At least for me it is :) I am not sure how well you can see them, but here is a picture:

He looks like a boy who just had to sit through a half an hour of his mom playing with his hair, doesn't he? :-)

"If it were not for Thomas Edison, we would all be watching television in the dark." - Michael Landon

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am a bad blogger. My number of readers has dropped significantly because I am a bad blogger, a has-been. The other day I was talking to my friend April and she told me that the reason I don't have anything to blog about is because this blog has focused around parenting and I feel compelled to only write about that. Here's the sad part: no I don't. I really just don't have anything else interesting to say. :)

I can tell you countless cute stories about Seth...
I can tell you stories about Taylor (she's 15, and would die of embarrassment)...
I can tell you about how my house is always in disarray...
I can tell you about what I have been doing lately (but if you read the last three lines, that pretty much covers it)...
I could tell you about school. Okay, I will do that.

I started my two online classes this Monday. I am taking Biology 101 and Communication 101. Both are required pre-requisite courses that have nothing to do with my degree. Between you, me, and this computer screen, I think that 8 years in the business world should give me an automatic credit for the Communications class, but my college does not see it that way.

The Biology class will probably be more work, but it will also be a little more interesting for me. The instructor is someone I went to school with (she is actually younger than me, which is kind of strange), but I know that she is highly intelligent and I respect her a great deal. That will make the class worthwhile.

Next Tuesday I start my Developmental Psychology class, and I am a little sad that there will be one night a week that I will not be putting Seth to bed, but I am sure we will all adjust to it in no time. One thing I have noticed is that I have all that new-parent guilt all over again. I thought that only happened with your first child, but apparently it reappears if you wait 15 years between them. Maybe I am just neurotic. Maybe? Who am I fooling?

So, there it is in a nutshell. The only other thing I have been working on is my weightless, which I have started chronicling in another blog (you can find that in my profile if you are interested.)

Maybe next time I post I will be able to tell you something about cells :) Just kidding. You think I want fewer readers?

Examine what is said, not who speaks. - Arabian Proverb

Wow, my updates are getting farther apart, aren't they? I honestly do not have a whole lot of new stuff going on. Seth does all kinds of adorable things, but how can I relay every single on of them here? :)

I start school back up this coming Monday. I am taking three classes this semester, which is really difficult for me. I am still tempted to just register for one more and make it full-time. Two of my classes are online, so they will be a lot more work, but worth the extra effort since I will be able to be home with my family. The third one starts next Thursday. It is an evening class, so I won't be leaving the house until 5:30pm, Taylor will put Seth to bed at 7:30pm and I will be home around 9:30pm. Honestly, I was excited at first, but now I am a little nervous. I am sure it will turn out fine, but last time I did school while raising a baby I was 15 years old. Of course, I also did not have a loving and supportive husband and daughter at that time either.

My evening class is a developmental Psychology course, so fully expect to use Seth as guinea pig :) Just kidding...sort of!

He is such a smart and fun little guy. We are all having a great time with him.

I am not sure if I have mentioned this on here before, but James is in the process of adopting Taylor. All our paperwork has been submitted, etc, but now the court has to come do their own inspection/homestudy. Which kind of stinks because the reason we waited until after Seth's adoption was os we could use that homestudy and save time and/pr money. Either way, we are looking forward to the day (soon, hopefully) that we be able to announce that there has been another adoption in our family.

Here are some of the latest pictures.

Hello. My name is Seth Kidus. Some of my favorite pastimes include:

Cuddling in soft blankies...


Putting things in my mouth (even when my mommy doesn't care for me to do that)...
Screaming when I am happy...
And hangin' with my sister (who seems to sleep a lot!)...


Well, Seth is waking up from his nap, so I gotta go.