Brightwood Lights

Dear faithful blog readers,
We wish you a merry Christmas and hope that this has been a meaningful season for you all. We are celebrating with family here in Georgia, though I use the word “celebrating” loosely. Caleb and I spent all day yesterday sick in bed. By the evening, Caleb was well enough to attend the candle light Christmas Eve service with my parents, while I stayed home and enjoyed an hour of listening to the Messiah by candle light. We are grateful that we had family around to take care of the kids while we were sick. (Thanks, Mom & Dad!) Today has been a quiet day around the house, but we have tried to find time to focus on the “reason for the season” in spite of illnesses.

So wherever this finds you, we wish you and your families a wonderful holiday!
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UPDATE: As you can see, we have updated the “look” of our website. The content has not changed (besides some recently uploaded photos); however, it is much more user-friendly on our end. Which makes updates a bit easier for us.

Credit for the photo at the top of the site goes to our good friend Brett.

Hope you enjoy it!

. . . ONE front tooth.

Yup, our little Simona’s first tooth is out. I wouldn’t quite say it “fell” out, seeing as how there was a nasty pair of plyers involved, but out it is.

Back in September, while we were at a playground in Leipzig, Germany, Simona fell while climbing on a rock at a playground. Her lip bled, but otherwise we couldn’t see much visible damage. She complained of her tooth hurting for several days, but after about a week she seemed fine again. We mentioned it to her pediatrician when we went in for Andreas’s 9-month check up, and he took a look. He also saw no visible damage and told us to contact a dentist if she started complaining again or if we saw any changes.

This past Friday night, while reading her a bedtime story, I noticed that it looked a bit gray. Caleb was at the store, and I forgot to mention it to him when he got home. The next day, he noticed it himself. So, on Monday morning, we left a message at our dentist (who fortunately also does pediatric dentistry and is wonderful with children). When we got in touch, they gave us an appointment for 8 AM this morning. Simona was very brave and did a great job with our dentist, who could see that the root was becoming infected. She wanted it out right away, so she sent us straight to an oral surgeon whom she recommends for pediatrics. (She doesn’t do procedures like that on children under 5 in her office.)

The oral surgeon’s office was very quick. They didn’t want Andreas in the room, so I had to bring the carseat into the office, strap him in, and leave him behind the receptionist’s desk while I went in with Simona. Not much later, we had two crying children and one tiny purple treasure chest containing Simona’s very first tooth.

We weren’t anticipating our first visit from the tooth fairy quite so early, but, like everything else in parenthood, you just can’t predict these things!

We are in the phase of life during which many of our peers are starting their own families.  In the past twelve months, all three of my closest friends in DC, several other long-distance friends, and I myself have had babies.  Needless to say, I have devoted much time and energy to thinking about babies and childbirth.

Between S & A’s childbirths, I read and researched the topic extensively out of a mixture of curiosity and self interest.  Some of what I read included the books Pushed, by Jennifer Block; Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born, by Tina Cassidy; and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin.  I also watched The Business of Being Born, visited a few websites discussing and debating childbirth and maternal medical care, and even researched some public health statistics on childbirth.

My research and personal experiences have lead me to two conclusions.  First, I believe that the process of childbirth matters.  The techniques and procedures used by medical professionals who attend deliveries are of life-and-death consequence for mother and child.  And statistics bear out the fact that, though childbirth in the United States is much safer than in countries without advanced medical technology, it is not nearly as safe as it could or should be.  Better birth matters because those statistics are not just numbers.  They are actual lives of actual mothers and babies who matter and who deserve the best possible chance at health and life.

My second conclusion is that the discourse surrounding childbirth rapidly deteriorates into a pointless debate between the “natural birth” and “medical intervention” camps, to the detriment of women and babies’ health.  In the fight for access to improved health care, women seem to have lost the forest for the trees.  The insistence on a certain “birth experience” for the sake of ensuring the safest, least painful outcome for mother and baby is worthwhile.  The quest to make childbirth a homey, comfortable experience, though, is not only futile but can also be extremely risky.

I would argue that improved maternal/fetal care is not only desirable but also attainable.  Both the “interventionists” and the “naturalists” are doing what they believe is optimal and that both desire the best possible outcome for mother and baby.  I acknowledge that other factors can cloud medical professionals’ judgements: profit, convenience, fear of lawsuits, etc.  But I seriously doubt that any person who works in labor and delivery does not care when a mother or child dies or is seriously injured.  Both “camps” can learn from one another.  This requires humility on both sides, along with an acknowledgement that childbirth is and likely always will remain a dangerous prospect.

Finally, I would urge a healthy dose of perspective.  One of the dear friends mentioned above did not have the happy, healthy outcome we all desperately desire.  Though her loss was not caused by her daughter’s birth experience, it did offer the poignant reminder that anyone whose pregnancy outcome is a heatlhy mother and child have first and foremost an obligation to be grateful and secondmost a reason to do all possible to ensure that other mothers have access to that same outcome.

As a mom without a TV in the house, I don’t get to see too many movies these days.  But today’s episode at the grocery store really was like being IN a movie.I try to minimize the number of mornings dedicated solely to running errands, so I often find myself heading to the grocery store late at night or swinging by the dry cleaners and post office with the stroller en route to the playground.  But about once or twice a month, we have to forgo fun morning activity (usually the playground) in favor of tedious tasks.

Today was one of those days.  After a rough night (continued teething woes for Andreas), we got a late start getting everyone dressed, fed, and ready for the day.  Because of the specific items I needed for a few recipes I’m making this week, I knew we’d need to head to two grocery stores to complete our list.  We headed out for the dreaded errand run and made good time getting through both stores.  Even better, we had successfully avoided meltdowns. . . but I could tell we were on the brink.  Andreas was NOT happy about the extended search for chicken bullion cubes (Aisle 4 at the New Hampshire Avenue Shoppers, for future reference).
So as I’m pushing to finish up and get home for lunch and naps, admittedly buying peace from Andreas with a graham cracker, the check out woman gets chatty with Simona.  Bad move.  I guarantee you that a 3-year-old can out-chat anyone.  Even the chattiest of grocery clerks.

Then, as is liable to happen around here, a random acquaintance of the clerk walks up and joins the conversation.  Pretty soon, Simona is pulling up a pant leg to show off her “owie” from tripping on the sidewalk on Sunday.  Now, mind you, this minor scrape had already spent two days covered by a Curious George band aid (which in turn meant not bathing for two days).  Suffice it to say that the wound was well on its way to being healed.  But, the clerk and her friend decide that a band aid is necessary, and preferably a Barney band aid.  They begin discussing looking for the first aid kit, which, I’m sure, would contain no Barney band aid.  I’m already envisioning such a prolonged search for Barney that nap time will have come and gone before we finish paying, so I, smilingly but firmly, convince them that Simona really is OK and that we can skip the first aid kit.
Finally convinced, the cashier resumes checking groceries but now is singing the famous “I love you” Barney song.  Simona hears it, jumps in, and before you know it, we have a grocery store sing along happening.   I am not lying.  Two cashiers, Simona, and customers in each of the two check line are singing.  Andreas is amused and entertained; I am able to quickly finish my transaction; and we manage to leave the store as the MOST (instead of the usual LEAST) popular customers.

Crisis averted, and another successful morning as a mom is in the history books.

A brief summary of our trip to Germany:
The only part of the trip that I anticipated with stress rather than with excitement was the travel.  Getting myself and the kiddos to and from Germany was a daunting task, despite knowing that many people have endured much, much more.  Thankfully, all worry was for naught.  The kids were superb through the 20+ hours of flying and the additional hours in the airport.  I even had Johnny Isakson, one of Georgia’s two senators (and one of the few US Senators I would even recognize!) compliment me on their behavior at the airport in DC.  (I thought it was Senator Isakson, but I wasn’t sure until I saw his name on his luggage as he walked away.)

We did have a few small “incidences” along the way.  Our flight from DC to Newark was delayed, and we were in danger of missing our connection to Hamburg.  So I was rebooked on a “just in case” itinerary that would have taken us from DC to Newark, Newark to MADRID, and Madrid to Hamburg.  Not only is Madrid NOT AT ALL on the way to Hamburg, but such a route also would have taken an extra 12 hours.  Now, I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, but definitely NOT by myself with two children and with a limited supply of diapers / food / Euros!  Thankfully, all went well and we caught our connection in Newark.  Still haven’t made it to Spain, but someday. . .

And on the way home, we missed our Newark-DC connection but were easily rebooked on the next flight out and made it home without further problems.  Again, the kids were amazing.

Our time in Deutschland was great.  We ate LOTS, trying to (literally) cram in all of our favorites in a limited amount of time.  We spent a few days traveling to Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin, which were great.  Being there almost exactly 20 years after the fall of wall was great timing; unfortunately, two little kids are not all that interested in exploring the historical significance of these cities.  So, we took in what we could and focused on enjoying time together as a family.  We’d definitely take the chance to return to these cities to see some more, but we also think our next few years of family vacations will emphasize kid-friendly activities over touristy sight-seeing.

The time in Glueckstadt was fun but too short, as always.  It’s been amazing to see our children get to interact with their great grandparents, and we are trying hard to take advantage of that for as long as possible.  Simona got to attend a German preschool for a morning, which she loved.  Andreas sampled his first ice cream, and both of them got spoiled by family.  Caleb and I particularly enjoyed sitting with Nancy’s Dad and Oma in the evenings, telling stories, drinking beer (or water!), and eating Schwarzbrot.

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Other updates:  As mentioned we lost our camera in Germany.  We do have pictures to upload and hope to do that soon.  (These are from my dad’s camera and from our video camera.)  My parents generously gave us their old digital camera, but we need to figure out how to get pics off the camera and onto our computer, so post-Germany pictures may be a while in coming.  We’ll try to stay on top of it!