Daughter needs braces and i need referrals to a good orthodontis. Missing lateral inscisors and I'd like to know if anyone else could tell me about their case and who they went to.

I had this in an email today and thought I would share. What changes when you have a baby? A better question may be: What doesn't change? Here, writer and mom Rebecca Woolf lists her most notable post-baby observations. Then scroll down to read our favorite comments from readers about how their babies changed their lives.

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. [See a reader's perspective in #22, below.]

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times...

I can't believe it has come this far already, and yet how far I still have to go. I had been feeling fine until recently, now it seems that every part of my body aches, from my back to my feet and back up. My ankles and fingers are swelling, and every time I put my wedding ring on I am afraid it is never gonna come back off! It is getting too tight. The heat has been getting to me too, I can't believe how hot it got all the sudden! We need to get the air conditioner up in our house! I don't have the energy I used to, and I feel tired all the time. I have been feeling queasy in the mornings too, not quite as bad as morning sickness. I hope that is normal. I have a doctor appointment on Monday so I will ask then. A good thing though is that he is more active than ever. He moves all squirms and kicks all the time. My daughter got to feel him moving the other day when she put her hand on my belly. She talks to him too, it is pretty cute. I am anxious, but still happy and hangin' in there. I want him to be healthy...

Aria's first baby tooth fell out on Sunday! We were sitting at home watching a movie, after all it was pouring rain, and she suddenly turned to me and said, "mommy, my tooth fell out!" And sure enough, in her little hand was a tiny little tooth! She had not even really said that it was loose with the exception of one minor mention on Friday night. We have been reading a book called "Moose's loose tooth" so I thought she was just taking a cue from the book. Wrong! So she put it in a little plastic container and put it under her pillow when she went to bed. The Tooth Fairy brought her four shiny quarters and left her a little note thanking her for taking such good care of the tooth. The look on her face was priceless. It did not scare her at all, thank goodness, and we have been telling her that this means she is becoming a big girl more and more everyday. As a mother I can't believe she is already at that stage! It seems like just yesterday when those teeth started to come in! And there are many more milestones...

So sorry I have not been keeping up with this blog, things have been super busy at work the last few weeks! I am now in week 24 (just started the 6th month) and I can't believe how fast this is going by! I am more than half way done now. Ya know, it's funny because for the longest time I could not feel the little guy moving and now it is like he never stops. If he is this full of energy when he is born we are in trouble! He seems to be the most active in the afternoon and at night between 10 and 11. Right when I am watching Jay Leno. Well, now it will be Conan, I guess. Me gives me swift kicks every once in awhile, then sometimes it feels like he is just stretching, and at other times it feels like he is doing full on aerobics in there! I have not felt him have the hiccups yet, and he is not quite big enough to start pushing up into my lungs, which I am grateful for, but I am sure it is coming! I am also grateful for the cooler weather of today . .. the heat of the last few days was starting to get to me....

Smokeless Drinkless Regional Singles Group is our name. Wholesome Family Activities is our game. We are non-denominational welcoming singles of all ages with or without children. All activities are non-smoking and non-drinking. Activities for the week of Aug 23-29, 2009: Tues. Aug 25 Potluck Bicentennial Park in Chubbuck Fri Aug 28 Ice cream Social 6:00 pm Bicentennial Park in Chubbuck Fri Aug 28 dancing 7:30 pm Pocatello Community Center in Pocatello Sat. Aug 29 fishing 9:00 am at American Falls Sat. Aug 29 Blue Grass Festival Bannock County Fairgrounds time to be determined by group For details 208 237-0665

We finally had our ultrasound on Tuesday, and low and behold, it's a little boy! He was not being shy at all, which I suppose is a typical boy thing! Everything is going well, everything is progressing normally and mommy and baby are staying healthy. He is a feisty one though! He has really been kicking me a lot lately! I am almost 21 weeks along, which means I am more than halfway through! Horray! Now that I have seen him I want so much to meet him and hold him. So does my husband. We can't wait! Now we have to start thinking of names! We wanted to wait until we found out what we were having to name the little tyke, that way it would at least be narrowed down. We have gotten some suggestions from friends and family, some good and some wacky! But whatever his name is we are going to love him so much! And my daughter is going to be such an awesome big sister. I think she wanted the baby to be a girl, but she is excited. My due date was moved from Sept. 19 to Sept 21, which, well, does not make that big of a...

A week or so ago, my daughter woke up in the middle of the night crying and saying that her ear hurt really bad. My first thought was "uh-oh, she has an ear infection." So the first thing I did was take her temperature, and to my surprise she was not running a fever. She has had several ear infections in the past, but they have all been accompanied by a fever. So I gave her some Tylenol to ease the pain so she could at least sleep through the night, and then we could better deal with it in the morning. So then morning comes around and she says her ear does not hurt anymore, it is all better! So a week or so goes by, and then last night the same thing happened . . . except with the other ear. She woke up crying that her ear hurt, but was not running a fever. I comforted her the best I could, but since it was in the middle of the night there was not a lot I could do other than give her some over the counter pain medicine and tell her that everything would be OK. She ended up sleeping in our bed last night, and...

I am almost halfway done, horray! I have finally stopped throwing up everyday and have been feeling fantastic! I have so much energy and ambition, and the warm weather has been great too. I got married last week to the love of my life and things have never been better. Yesterday my doctor said that everything is progressing normally and well. My ultrasound is set for May 5th, and I cannot wait to find out what the baby is! I want to know if my instinct is correct (I think it is a boy). I have been feeling it move over the last few weeks, little flutters here and there. I want so much for my hubby to feel it, and every time it moves I put his hand on my tummy and of course it stops. Shy little thing! The other notable thing to mention is how much bigger I have gotten just in a week. Last week I hardly looked pregnant and this week I am huge! I cannot fit into my jeans anymore and I had to buy some new shirts because they were starting to ride kind of high! Good thing I had a week off work to do some shopping!...

Ok, so I have been slacking on this whole blog thing, I know!I have just been so busy with planning my wedding, being sick, more planning. . . . plus my daughter spent a few days in the hospital with pneumonia, so needless to say blogging has been low on my to do list!

But, I am happy to say that I am now at 14 weeks, which means I am into the second trimester and past any serious danger of miscarriage, which is a huge relief. The morning sickness had gotten better and better, although I did have a small puking spell on Friday night. Saturday I felt better than I have in months . . . I felt almost normal! My husband to be was on a weekend trip with his friends having his bachelor party, and since it was such a nice day I decided to go out and do some yard work. We have this old pine tree in our front yard that sheds worse than a long haired cat . . . I swear I could rake around that thing everyday and still have bags of needles.

Anyway, I worked in the yard for awhile . .. but I think I over did it, because I...

It's March 3, 2009. That means it's one of the nine Square Root Days that will happen this century! You can find out more about Square Root Day at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_root_day

Suggested ways to celebrate this silly holiday are to have a meal featuring root vegetables (cut into squares, of course,) enjoy a root beer float, and playing tic-tac-toe.

We went with a simple option, and made Rice Crispy Squares, and then decorated them with the Square Root Symbol!

I have sooo much to write about! First of all, on Sunday, my sister-in-law, Megan, and my brother called me to tell me that Megan was having contractions and I should get up to the hospital right away! Ya see, my brother works out of town so I had been designated to be her birthing coach just in case he could not be there in time.
What a trooper! She went through many hours of labor with no pain medication whatsoever . . . then at about 4:30 she announced that it was time! And she was not kidding . .. 5 of 6 pushes and the little guy was here. And he has red hair, I am so happy, another little red head running around.

It was so cool watching the birth . . . I have a five year old, but I had never watched a birth first hand like that. What an amazing experience. The pictures are posted under the announcements!

The next day my fiancé and I had our first doctor appointment to see how our little one is progressing. Of course since it was the first appointment I had to answer what seemed like a million questions, get...

Jane is my hero, she has breast cancer and has seven children she is raising alone. Two of her children go to school with my son. Jane is a wonderful, strong woman who is dealing with this in the most amazing way.

In late November, I noticed a small spot in one breast, and I spent a few minutes worrying about it, then shoved it in the back of my head and shut the door. Once in a while I would let the tiniest worry come through, and I watched the spot. Was it getting bigger… I thought so, but I wasn’t sure. What does breast cancer feel like? I didn’t know that either. How would my family survive if I wasn’t there for them, or I had to tell my three young children goodbye? SLAM! I shut that door tight and locked it.

Then in January I found out about Jane. I cried for days, I couldn’t talk about it, or think about it without tearing up. I still can’t. I knew I needed to see my Doctor, but I was scared and couldn’t make myself pick up the phone. Finally, in February I was visiting a co-worker in the...

By my estimates, I am now about nine weeks along in my little journey. I am happy to announce that my morning sickness (or all day sickness, as I like to refer to it as) has subsided quite a bit. I still have that nagging nauseous feeling throughout the day, but at least I can keep food down now, for the most part. Yogurt and fruit have become my best friends! I think that the hardest things when dealing with the early stages of pregnancy are either smelling food and wanting it soooo badly (it all smells so good!) and knowing you can't eat it, or being inundated with smells (good and bad) from all over the place and having that make you sick. What is up with the sniffer during pregnancy? It seems that I could smell a french fry from five miles away. Is it that my sense of smell is better? Or just that because of the nausea smells bother me more? Who knows I guess.

I have also been more exhausted than I have ever been in my life. . . my about 2 o'clock in the afternoon I run out of steam entirely and have a...

So, about two weeks ago I found out that I am expecting my second child! My fiancé had originally set our wedding date for June, but it has been bumped up to April in light of the new circumstances!
So I have not been in to the doctor yet, my first appointment is set for Feb. 23. I estimate that I am about 7 weeks along.

When I first found out I thought, there is no way, I have not had any morning sickness! Well, I jinxed myself. Starting last Sunday I have been puking non stop. Yesterday the vomiting was so bad I could not make it in to work. I did not move from the couch unless it was to run to the bathroom. I was getting kind of concerned by mid afternoon. Having gone through this once before, I knew that a certain amount of morning sickness is normal, but it was never this bad the first time around. I called my doctor's office, and they gave me some suggestions to ease the morning sickness. But they also said that if nothing worked and I continued to vomit I would have to come in and get an IV. Yikes, that...

I started my journey to a black belt in Tae Kwon Do in a most interesting way. I was 40 years old and pregnant with our third child.

Although this is not a route I would advise for every woman, it was a probably one of the best things I could have done for myself. Tae Kwon Do employs a lot of stretching, and doing low impact hand and feet techniques along with set forms. Because our style is “No Contact” there was very little possibility of being hurt during sparring. There is also the component of aerobic exercise, which is of course good, even during pregnancy.

I must have driven my instructor bananas because he was constantly worried about me overdoing, and I tried not to exhaust myself. As time went on I ran out of steam faster and had to slow down and take breathers more often. I think it’s important to know your limits, and most women know when enough is enough on their pregnant bodies.

I started Tae Kwon Do the first of March and my youngest son was born the middle of September. I attended class...

I am so thankful for our basement family room. It is the only place in the house my three boys are allowed to run wild and scream at the top of their lungs. They regularly have a boy's no-shirt club and solve many of their minor brotherly differences there.

It contains a boy sized pool/air hockey table and a basketball-baseball-football-golf-hockey center. There is a dart board, a board holder for taekwondo kicking boards and lots of books, kid videos, and a computer with children's games. The GIGANTIC bean bag chair also lives down there.

Our family room constantly changes roles and purposes as it doubles for the boy's bowling alley, or the docking station for their extensive railway system, rokenbok, and hot wheel tracks. At times it houses their make-shift "American Gladiator" obstacle courses, and serves as townsite for the cardboard box "city". Often times it transforms into a battle arena and is littered with nerf darts from their nerf gun collection.

The family room has hosted a variety of Power Rangers,...

For Christmas, my mom bought me a desk calendar with a cute parenting tip or quote for everyday of the year! Horray! I try to take time out of my busy schedule to post some here.

"If you wonder where your child left his roller skates, try walking around the house in the dark."
— Leopold Fechtner

To clean things such as plastic toys, books, etc., try running them through the dishwasher! Little baskets,like those for baby bottle parts, work great for small toys.

Pop a big batch of popcorn and set out a mix of seasonings like Parmesean cheese, cinnamon, etc. Let the kids invent new flavors, then place a scoop of each in a plastic bag and let everyone vote on the Best New Flavor.

To clean finger paint: Mix a few drops of dish soap or dab of shaving cream into the paint first to make cleanup easier.

I got an email from Emily today notifying me about the new blog feature. Man, I am excited, and what a great way to start out 2009!

I routinely blog about my strange life on thejhub, but I sometimes wondered if there wasn't a better place for me to "hang my hat"... until now!

I admit I have a skewed way of writing that at first glance one may wonder if I need another round of antidepressants when dealing with my hectic family life. I assure you all is well, and gee wouldn't it be boring if I only wrote about my bright, handsome, angelic children?

I used to think I was the only mother who experienced such a crazy life, but a while back I "peeked" in on another well known parenting site, and realized there were others who also live in Wonderland with me. (Boy was I relieved!)

With all that said, please join me in a blog or two and please don't take me too seriously, I only write for comedic relief, mostly mine, but if I make you smile and nod along in agreement, I don't mind.