Teeth teeth and no teeth?

Who actually likes going to the Dentist? Other than the Dentist?
I have pretty good teeth, never had a cavity, haven't needed any work done, other than cosmetic reasons I don't need braces or anything. I don't even have wisdom teeth to bother me. Mister M doesn't have my teeth.

We went in December for a regular cleaning, checkup appointment, I knew he had one cavity because I could see it. They did x-rays and found four... four whole cavities. He was so upset, he brushes his teeth at least twice a day, and I help him at night to make sure he gets it clean. We'll even do the oreo test... eat an oreo and about 5 minutes later brush and if theres any black stuff left in the teeth you're not brusing right. The dentist said that he has unusually deep molars and thats what's causing the issue. So we needed to get fillings.

I live in Ontario Canada, we have OHIP (ontario health insurance program) but it doesn't cover dental work. I don't have coverage through work or school so I need to pay out of pocket for anything. I paid $78.00 for the appointment and x-rays alone, they told me that the four fillings would cost me a grand total of $530.00. I don't have that kind of money just kicking around. I would have had to dip into my get a car fund, and into my household budget for the next couple of months to cover it. I've seen adds on the subway and at the Dr's office for emergency dental care for youths 17 and under so I figured I'd check it out. Went to the health units web-site and found the contact information for the dental assistance and made an appointment. When I got there Ann the wonderful worker was able to advise me on the program, but even better she was able to help me out.

Apparantly in October 2010 the government brought out a new dental benefit program for low income families with children. The income of the family has to be below $20000/year, they can't have benefits through work/school ect. Already Ontario Works (welfare) and ODSP (disability) provide dental benefits so people in those programs are exempt from the new one. What it does is provide dental care, checkups, x-rays, fillings, extractions (anything that isn't considered cosmetic or braces) for all of the children in the family under 18 years of age.
I qualified for the program and was able to get Mister M's teeth fixed at no cost to me!! And I don't have to worry about getting the money together for appointments anymore either, which is nice because $50.00 can buy a lot of groceries (or some new toys!). I'm hoping we don't have to use the program for anything more than check-ups but we'll have to wait and see.

Mister M has also lost his first tooth! It fell out while he was playing on the computer on the 13th. He put it under his pillow that night and the tooth fairy brought him $2.00, he's now working on his second one, which should be out in a week or so. D-man is starting to show signs of teething too, he's drooling a lot, everything is going into his mouth and his sleep patterns have been out of whack. Mister M got his first tooth at 6 months, and D-man will be 6 months on February 19 so I'm thinking we'll be seeing teeth any time now! Until then it's gummy smiles all the way!

Decisions

I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.
It's strange, I'm almost 23 (this March), I've been to college, and I'm a mother of two and I don't know what I want to do.
I know the basics of what I want from my career... money, security, amazing benefits and coverage, and to at least like my job. I've got two kids that I support entirely on my own so I need the first three things for sure. The last is just something I'm hoping for.
So far I've worked in jobs I don't like (call centres... ick) and gone to school for something it turns out I don't enjoy. So now I'm at a cross roads. What to do when D-Man turns 1...
My options are as follows: Go back to school for nursing, go back to school for business, go back to school to be a pharmacy technician, find a job and work for a year to figure out what I want to do, or win the lottery.
I'm leaning towards the pharmacy tech course, because it sounds like it would be something I would enjoy doing. The salary isn't shabby either, and I could possibly work towards becoming a pharmacist in my spare time over the next several years if it's something I enjoy. But still, I'm not totally passionate about it, its just the best out of several unsatisfactory options.
I think what I'm going to do is wait and see the acceptance letters before I worry too much. Whatever will support my boys, and give us a half decent life style will be my first priority.

On to funner things, D-Man has learned how to scream, the three of us went out for lunch after Mister M's swimming lessons and art class, and he spent the entire time screaming, squealing, yelling, and eating his toes. It was pretty cute, although he screamed into my ear a few times which wasn't pleasant.
Mister M loves his art class, I'm so glad because I wasn't sure when I signed him up for it if he would be too old for it (preschool doodle at the YMCA), or if he would be the only boy (there's 1 other boy and they're the same age!). I've still got to get him signed up for martial arts, I just have to get around to it, and fit it into D-Man's nap schedule.
I'm thinking of signing up for a class at the Y for myself and D-Man on days Mister M is in school, it's for mom's under 25 on limited income, and it's an hour exercise and than two hours in the pool with the babies. Daycare is provided for the first hour, I'm thinking that it will be good for us. Get me out of the house, meet some other moms close to my age, get back into pre-pregnancy shape (pre first pregnancy if I'm being honest), and get D-man used to being in a daycare setting, because he'll need to start daycare in September when I go back to school.

Schedule? Whats that?

So, I'm terrible at organizing my life. I mean, I make it to appointments on time (or within 10 minutes because of the baby). I get myself and my son to school on the days we need to go, at the time we need to be there (mostly... 8am classes can kiss my behind). But I don't know how to get a better schedule for just every day things.
Mister M is going through a very sensitive phase right now. Part of that is the adjustment to his brother, after being the centre of the universe for almost 5 years a new baby is quite a change, no matter how much you may love him. Part of that is his age, 5 is a big change, a lot of things happen this year. And part of that is he is just a more sensitive person that I am, or will ever be, and that's not a bad thing at all.

He's also got a temper, one of the only things he got from his bio father, the other being blood type lol. And can have quite the attitude. So I figure that getting him on a better schedule at home will help with that. But I don't know where to start.
Bedtime is a major issue, he's just like me and would willingly be up half of the night and sleep until 10am, but with school, swimming, art class and all that it isn't an option. I'm trying to get him to bed earlier than we have been, but it seems like whatever I do he's still not getting to sleep until after 10pm. D-Man isn't getting down until 12am on good days (he will go down at 10, but be back up at 1130 for another feed, and then up again at 3, 5, 7 and than again for the day between 8 and 9).
I want Mister M in bed and asleep by 9, and D-Man by 8. I've been trying different things, so far no success but I've heard of a few books so since I read a new book almost every day anyways I figure I'll grab them and try it out... the worst that can happen is everything stays the same... hopefully.
I need to start now though, because once I'm back in school full time I can't afford to be fighting with M over bed, and trying to break D's bad habits. I'm pretty good at sticking to my budget that I write down for the month so maybe if I write a schedule down I'll be better at sticking with it than just thinking about it.
I don't know... I'll read the books, do a bit more research online and see how it goes... wish me luck!

Back to the grind

So the holidays are officially over, Mister M is back to school and D-Man and I are back to our normal bedtime schedule.
It's nice for the most part, although on days when M has school I have to get up at 730am, and D-Man doesn't go down completly for the night until 12-1am, so I don't get as much sleep as I would like.

Some pretty awful news came our way last week, my sisters friend, who I went to highschool with, suffered the loss of her 6 month old baby boy to SIDS.
It really hits hard when it's someone you know, especially since they were both young parents (she is 21 and he is 23ish), the baby was breastfed, slept on his back in a non cluttered crib and everything.
He was born a bit early which apparantly puts them more at risk but still. It's terrible, I look at D-Man, so chubby and happy, and perfect and Mister M all big and strong and smart and I just want to squeeze them and never let them go.
(visit http://www.sidscanada.org/ for more information)
This whole being a parent thing is hard.
Not just the stresses of finances, housing, schooling, training, teaching, discipline ect, but the stresses that come from love.
Kids break your heart. Even without meaning to, just by growing up and living their own life. Your heart breaks when theirs do, it breaks when they get to big to hold your hand walking to school, it breaks when they're too old to kiss you goodnight, it breaks when they get hurt. Even the happy things can be hard on the poor heart, it swells up so much that it's almost hard to take. But for every stretch mark, crack or break of that poor heart, kids sure know how to fill it back up.

Holidays are Done!!!

Well the holiday season is over, and we survived it!!! Here's a quick re-cap of the festivities...

Christmas- The boys were spoiled rotten, as expected. They are my only kids, my siblings only nephews (no nieces at all), my parents only grandchildren, and my grandparents only great grandchildren. Basically they are the centre of the known universe. About 90% of the presents under the tree were for them, it was crazy.
They got toys, and books and clothes and bedding, you name it they got it.

I like it though, because it means that I don't have to be the one to buy those things. And as a single parent on a non-existent budget, any help is awesome. Sure they got a few things I would never have gotten them (that I know will never be used, or break super fast) but thats okay.

I even got some awesome things too, a new notebook for instance, which I'm writing this post on today... it's awesome. I need it for school and I was going to get myself this exact one in the fall.
We had a wonderful Christmas dinner on boxing day with my parents, brother and sisters. And a Christmas lunch with my Nanny on the 30th. The boys had a lot of fun, and Mister M said that this was the "best christmas ever".

Just today he came out of the living room, where he was playing on the computer, and said something that I thought was wonderful. He said how he noticed how everyone this year had the true christmas spirit, like Santa Claus. Everyone was in a good mood, nice to others, sharing, caring and took turns with things. Helped out as a family and were even nice to strangers. He said that we should do that all the time to make sure that everyone everywhere knows what it's like to have the Christmas spirit even if they don't open any presents.

New Years Eve was pretty uneventful, we made snacks, watched Firefly, and then watched the Toronto countdown and went to bed. Both boys just made it to midnight, and then crashed. It was nice to just relax as a family though.

Time of year

I'm of two minds when it comes to this time of year.
I love it! I love getting the presents, picking out things that I know people want and will love. I love seeing my sons face when he opens his gifts and gets exactly what he wants (and that took me hours of shopping to find). I love watching the baby stare at the lights on the tree and the presents, knowing that next year he'll be old enough to get excited for it all. I love the anticipation, up until Christmas morning, for everything to happen. I like the huge Christmas dinner that everyone is there for (never done on Christmas day though, usually boxing day). I like going out shopping on boxing day, since I've never been to the States for black friday, this is as close as I'll get lol. All that fun stuff.

I don't like the greed though. The stupid ignorant old people who get right in the middle of the asile at the store and stop because they think they own the world. (Anyone who says the younger generation have no manners needs to live in a town where the majority is over 65 and they'll quickly see who's worse). I don't like fact that theres always something the wrecks Christmas morning, someone is sick, or someone is out of it, or someone is cranky... suck it up people (I know being sick can't be helped but still). I really don't like the fact that once 11am rolls around, we're done everything and there's nothing to do. My family goes to a movie christmas day, but I'll be at home with D-man because at 4 months he's much too little to see Tron lol.

Another thing I don't like, and this is just for this year, is how freaking hard it is to find a big stuffed elephant. You would think, since you can find Tigers, Bears, Dogs, Cows, Pigs ect in big stuffed form that an elephant would be easy.
Mister M wanted an elephant like he got last year and lost. I looked in tons and tons of stores, both where I live and in Toronto, and I couldn't find anything. Finally I found one online, for a reasonable price and it's pretty awesome looking. But even that took 3 solid hours of searching. Three hours sitting on the computer trying to find an elephant (I did end up ordering a couple other neat things online though, but thats not the point). I didn't think it would get here in time though, I ordered it on Dec 2, the place took the money from my credit card on Dec 3, and then didn't ship it out until the 17th. It was coming from the states, and got held up at customs, so I had to call the company, call UPS and call customs to finally track it down. It got delivered yesterday, I'm just so happy it got here.

Clean house? Yeah right...

I need a maid... it's crazy how I can spend hours cleaning, and the second my back is turned it's a mess again.
Take today for example, toys all over the living room, Christmas decoration boxes scattered, and for some reason 7 of Mister M's socks. Pick it all up, vaccum, tidy the things that are supposed to be in the living room, finished.
Go to buy stuff for dinner and meet up with a friend for lunch and by the time I come back, the cat has puked right in the middle of the room, there are toys on the floor again, and another 2 socks.
I just want a clean living room so I can look at my tree and enjoy Christmas morning without a mess (and to look good in pictures). Well for now, at least, its nice.

Onto more exciting news... D-man has found his toes! He's thrilled, and likes to grab them during every diaper change, it is so cute. He talks to them too.

Mister M has passed his second level of swimming lessons, and will be starting the third level and an art class in the new year. Hopefully he'll love it as much as I think he will. I think I'm going to sign him up for some form of martial arts too, he loves to try out new moves and that on his own, I think a class will be exciting for him.