Treats and Bugs

Do you ever have memories from your childhood? Ones that seem like recurring themes, things you did regularly, but when you really think about it, perhaps it didn't happen as often as you thought? But for some reason, it stands out in your mind as something that happened frequently? I have those.

When we were younger, it felt like we spent our entire summer at our grandparent's house. They have a built in pool and so it felt like we were always there swimming. Lazying away the summer days, BBQing dinner and devouring watermelon. But one specific memory I have is of us making a run to Dairy Queen for blizzards in our half-wet bathing suits, seeping through through our shorts (so of course we had to sit on towels in the car). Coming back and sitting in the backyard on the diving board eating our blizzards.

Then at some point my brothers and I decided that the blizzard cup was probably the perfect invention for catching lighting bugs (and my grandfather's backyard was THE place to find them). We ran around catching lightning bugs and then poked holes in the top so they could breath.

It's memories like this that make me look forward to this summer with Jude. As he's getting older, learning to do things and is able to have some minor sense of understanding of the world around him I can't help but imagine how I'll be able to share some of these experiences with him.

I look forward to teaching to to swim in the same pool I learned to swim in... and catching lightning bugs from the same tree that I caught lighting bugs from.

What things are you looking forward to this summer?

For the first time in a long time...

... my gums bled when I was flossing :(

When I was younger, my mom used to take us to the dentist. My brother and I still to this day laugh about how we would have to lie to him and say we were leaving school early to go to lunch. He HATED the dentist. I, on the other hand, never really had a problem with it.

At some point we stopped going with my mom and I think there was an embarrassingly long lag before I took the initiative to make an appointment and go myself. Even with a few years of no professional dental care, on my first self-made visit, I was 100% cavity free! While my teeth are FAR from perfect, I took pride in my lack of cavities.

At some point I was forced to switch dentists. The one I was seeing before was a pediatric dentist and he had to break the news to me when I was about 21, that he wouldn't be able to squeeze me into his brightly colored kids chairs any longer. I was bummed.

When I went to my new dentist, I remember walking in and getting the standard x-rays and cleaning from the hygienist. Then the doctor came in to check things and go over my x-rays with me. I said something a long the lines of "I've never had a cavity before - if I do this time, I'm never coming back to you". He chuckled and turned on that oh-so-terrible light behind the x-ray. What came next? you guessed it... he told me it looked like I would never be coming back. I was soooo crushed! Then he continued and said it was a 'flossing cavity'. I was confused and pressed for more answers - "what's a flossing cavity?" Basically, it's from a lack of flossing and was actually in between two teeth - not your standard molar cavity.

In my head I began a whole line of self defense. How could I have a flossing cavity? Didn't he realize I was one of the ten people in my dorm building that owned their own floss? That I was one of maybe three that actually used it? Isn't there a section on their chart where the hygienist notes "gums didn't bleed during cleaning - she must floss!". Was he aware that I take care of my teeth? That I am one of the seven people in the world who get a little giddy at the thought of a good old-fashioned cleaning?? Surely he was not aware. But there it was - clear as day on an x-ray that I had MY FIRST CAVITY. Of course, I was so certain I'd never get another cavity again that I paid the extra money for a "tooth colored" filling. It would blend right in with the rest of my pearly whites and be forgotten about.

Fast forward to today... while rooting through the medicine cabinet I saw it sitting there. My floss that I'm pretty sure hasn't been moved since the last time Ryan and I made the trek up to the dentist. The floss that I once took so much pride in! The floss, that made me once question "did they switch the x-rays?". Left to gather dust.

It's just another one of those things that often times gets put into the "tomorrow" pile. After brushing with Jude (he brushes too), I'm faced with a decision "put Jude down and floss" or "worry about it tomorrow". As with most questions like this... Jude always wins.

"Do you know how easy that would be to make??"

... oh the ever repeating words of my childhood...

I remember specifically one year finding a black dress with silver sparkles all over that I just HAD to have for homecoming. I can't remember the cost, but it was a little more than what I'm assuming my mom had budgeted for homecoming, so she threw out the classic "do you know how easy that would be to make!" line.

At this moment I had two options. Let her make the dress that I determined was "the" dress or find another dress in my budget off the rack. I went with the first option. Looking back it was a mild disaster. I decided after the project went underway that I wanted a short/knee length version of the dress, instead of the long ankle length version. Sadly we cut the dress too short and so I was left with an uncomfortably short dress for someone who at the time was terribly uncomfortable with herself. Of course I trucked through it and came out unscathed, but when faced with this decision after that, I typically leaned towards purchasing, not making.

Let's fast forward to present day when it's clear that everyone is in a penny pinching state of mind. Especially now that I'll be staying home, cutting back is getting more important. Knowing this, after Barbie invited me to a t-shirt/onesie making party, I was more than thrilled! I had seen a tie dye onesie a few weeks back that I just had to have and saw this get together as the perfect opportunity to make one of my own. In addition we had talked about making our own nursing wraps and cart/highchair covers so I figured I'd bring along the supplies for them as well.

Saturday night (we had our get together this past Sunday) I head into Joann's with three goals in mind. I immediately find a couple of different fabrics that I thought would work for the cart cover and wrap.

I fumbled around with the idea of tie dye and decide that I'll skip the onesie that I know he'll grow out of too quickly. The thought of gathering all the supplies and making a mess for one tiny little onesie just didn't seem practical since I'm sure it wouldn't get much wear.

Sunday I arrive at Barbies prepared to make some stuff! I have my bag of goodies and sewing machine in hand. However, when I first pulled all of the items out of the bag I kind of just sat there staring out into space. I couldn't quite see my plan and didn't want to chop up all my fabric and waste it on something that just wouldn't turn out 100% the way I wanted it.

Instead, I pulled out the onesies I had found in Jude's closet and ironed on some little letters spelling "jude" across the front of one and called it a day.

While the crafty portion of the day turned out to be a flop for me, the getting together and just hanging out with other people who shared my growing love to do super lame things in a "baby play date" environment was pretty fun and enjoyable.

Hopefully in the near future I'll tackle my projects and come out successful!