Apr
4
I’m off to the dentist today.
I don’t really mind going to the dentist. I used to have a horrible fear of going to the dentist. Now, I just have a horrible fear of dental needles. As long as dental needles are not involved, chances are I will be okay.
It’s my semi-annual (okay, actually every nine months) checkup, which also means a cleaning. I actually don’t mind the cleaning. Usually I can relax and focus on other things, and actually get so relaxed that I almost doze off. I think of it kind of like massage — yeah, it may be uncomfortable sometimes while it’s happening, but afterwards I feel so much better.
Today might not be so good, though. I’ve been pretty lax in my flossing and stuff in the last little while. I’m guessing there’s going to be a fair bit of cleaning to be done. I’m guessing there will be times during the hour when I will regret all the times I did not floss. Which means, more pain, less relaxing. But I hope I’ll have a cavity-free checkup. Fingers crossed, anyway.
Oh well. As long as there are no needles, I’ll be fine.
OOH. And also? None of that “poking the thing under your gums to measure how deep the pockets go”. THAT. SUCKS. HARD. Because I have some deep pockets and let me tell you: PAINFUL.
I used to go to a periodontist to take care of this stuff and it was an exercise in discomfort every time. And also, I was paying 250 bucks every three months for someone to poke under my gums and cause me pain. And the periodontist used to get all snippy when I complained about the pain.
HELLO? You’re in DENTISTRY. People are going to COMPLAIN that it HURTS. I think you need to consider losing the attitude, there, sister. Get over yourself, already.
So I stopped going. I don’t need to spend that much money to be hurt. And also, I was going through fertility treatments at the time, and nobody wants a hormonal woman in the chair when they are poking her and hurting her. It’s not pretty.
And also? Too much talk of GUM SURGERY. That’ll send a person shrieking into the street, I tell you.
But my regular dentist is very cool. Although she is on maternity leave now, so there will be no talk of periodontia today. Oh no. I have a reprieve.
I will introduce myself to the temporary replacement dentist: Hello. Let me just get this out of the way right up front. No needles. And also? Don’t be offended if I drool and bleed on you, and then possibly doze off.
I hope I don’t snore. That’d be a bad first impression to make on a new dentist.
But I am so going to bargain for extra dental floss today. That’ll make me popular. And I promise I will use it.
Apr
3
Adoption Journey – Day 74
Huzzah! Our passports came yesterday!
This is a big deal for us. We had to get passports, obviously, so that we’d be able to travel to Ethiopia when the time comes to go get our Mystery Baby. And with all the new passport thingies from the U.S. government, there was a hullaballoo just getting a passport in a reasonable amount of time. But we got it done, and they came yesterday morning. We went out to the post office to pick them up last night. One big step on our adoption checklist is complete!
Once we got them, the first thing we did was rushed out to the car, ripped the packages open, and checked the date of issue.
March 29, 2007.
So that means, since the Ethiopian government mandates that we have to hold our passports for 6 months prior to travel, the very soonest we can leave to travel to Ethiopia is September 29. September 29! It’s hardly any time at all.
Last night BDH was kind of complaining that we should have gotten our passports sooner, and if we had done, we’d be getting our child sooner. He blamed it on himself, procrastinating. But honestly? I don’t mind. Six months is NOT that long when you are preparing for the arrival of a baby into your life. We are going to need all that time to get things ready, to get the house ready, to get our lives ready. Plus, with the millennium celebrations happening in Ethiopia during September, I don’t want to travel then anyway, since it will be tough to get hotels and flights and so on. So October or November suits me just fine.
We also took another step — or more correctly, a lot of steps — in getting prepared for imminent parenthood. And it was a tough one.
We got up early this morning and went for a walk.
BDH hates exercise, he really does. And honestly? I’m much more comfortable sitting in front of a computer these days than getting out and sweating. But in order to improve BDH’s blood sugar levels and keep his diabetes controlled, he needs to exercise. So we decided to start our morning walks again, weather permitting, and when the weather is bad, he’s going to get on the treadmill in the basement. As for me, I already do yoga, and get on the treadmill, and go for walks, but it’s intermittent, and this will motivate me to do it more faithfully.
There were a lot of reasons that pushed us to start walking again, but it all kind of hit home for BDH at the home study meeting the other night. We talked a bit about health issues and adoption, and BDH really realized there’s a lot riding on this. One, I’d like BDH to live a good long life, so he has to learn to control his diabetes. And I am a candidate for high blood pressure so hey, I can use all the exercise I can get. But even more important, the healthier we are, the better our chances for adoption, and the better equipped we will be to keep up with a youngster. We don’t want our health (or lack of it) to jeopardize our chances.
So yeah, we did it. It was freezing cold this morning, but we bundled up and off we went. 4 km. He complained the whole way, but he did it. And he’s hurting now, but it will get better. The first day’s always the hardest. Me, I quite enjoy the morning walks, once I actually get going — and especially now when it’s cool, as opposed to humid summer mornings. Hopefully I can keep him motivated to keep going.
So there are a few more steps done on this long journey to meet Mystery Baby.
Apr
2
I love Owlhaven’s blog. She is wise, insightful, and funny, and I read her every day. And today, she pointed me and her other readers in the direction of this lovely post on a blog called Our Big Crazy Family that just made my heart hurt.
Go. Read. Cry.
Apr
1
It’s raining, it’s pouring. The old man is not snoring, although I wish I was.
Rainy days make me sleepy. I like rainy days for the excuse to stay indoors and be lazy. I want to sit in the big comfy chair and knit. Or maybe read a book. Or do some baking.
It was hard to get out of bed this morning. The rain started sometime in the early morning, and I could hear it hitting the roof or the siding, making that lovely light drumming sound, and I could hear the water gurgling down the eavestrough outside my window. I remember snuggling into the blankets a little more and feeling contented that it was raining outside. The sound is relaxing. When the sun is bright, you feel the need to get up and start doing things, because you want to take advantage of the nice sunny day. But on a rainy morning, there’s no impetus to get up. It’s dark and overcast and the sound of the rain is calming and you can’t go out in the rain so why not just stay in bed?
In the summer, rainy days are usually warm and so you can do things in the rain. You can go out in the garden. You can run errands. Even going for a walk or a run is not a big deal. Now, in early spring, it’s still cold and damp. You don’t want to go out on cold rainy days. You just get a chill and a runny nose and feel crabby.
So today, what will I do on my rainy day? Well, unfortunately, I can’t be completely lazy, as there’s so much that has to be done before our home study is complete. I have to find things that are productive but still relaxing. Nothing too strenuous. Well, there’s some cleaning to be done, as always — likely filing is a good task for a day like this. And some laundry piling up that needs doing so BDH has pants to wear to work this week. And maybe I’ll get some miscellaneous “stuff” put away in bins and boxes, and start to put some winter clothes into storage. And perhaps I’ll put some music on nice and loud to pass the time.
But then, after supper… maybe a movie and some knitting. I can’t waste a good rainy day ENTIRELY on working, can I?
