THE ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH

Our office had the unveiling of its Guitar last Thursday.  It turned out to be quite the show, even the local news showed up to interview us at its grand premier!  The town of Indianola started the Harmony Project about 2 years ago.  Each business in Indianola was asked to purchase a guitar, design it to reflect their business, and have an unveiling ceremony / open house.  Julia and I decided about a year ago that our office would participate in this project.  We gathered ideas, sketched them out, and hired a design artist to make our ideas come to life.  It really has been a fun project over the past year, and we were very excited to have it completed and on display.  For those of you who don't know the blues, BB King, or Indianola's heritage - Flosscille is a take on Lucille - the name of BB Kings Guitar - and hence, the name of ours!

ROUND ONE

 IT'S ROSE'S BIRTHDAY MONTH !

SHE IS SUCH A DOLL!!!  I COULD JUST EAT HER UP WITH A SPOON!

LOVE THIS BABY GIRL!

 Erin and Daphne brought Ali and Bella to see Bon-Bon this past weekend.  Ali's birthday is only 3 days behind Rose, and she is one year older.  Bon-Bon wanted to have a special birthday party for her Great - Grand Girls! Each one got a Cozy Coupe (which Rose get early)! Such a good Bon-Bon!



Rose met Bella! Rose was extremely excited to meet her new cousin and would NOT keep her little hands off of her. (I think she LOVES babies...) Bella, on the other hand, was not Rose's biggest fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSE AND ALI - HERE'S TO THE FIRST OF MANY BIRTHDAY PARTY CELEBRATIONS THIS MONTH!

MISSION OF MERCY

THE M.O.M. PROJECT

MOM is a dental outreach project hosted once every two years in Jackson.  Most every dentist in the state volunteers their time for either a Friday or Saturday.  We completed dentistry on the poor, needy, and homeless.  Most everyone we treated was unemployed and uninsured.  This year it was hosted at the Clyde Muse Center in Pearl.  There was a host of dentist including Oral Surgeons, Pediadontist, Periodontist, Radiologist, Endodontist, and of course General Dentist.  We reported to "work" at 5a.m., and completed a 12 hour shift of doing dental work - retiring for the day at 5p.m.  I'm not going to lie, it was probably the hardest dentistry I have ever done.  For one, I was asked to "complete as much as possible" per patient.  Which doesn't sound bad until they come to you with all four quadrants of their mouth numbed by the triage team, and 15 cavities, and radiographs that were blurry, mounds of calculus, bleeding because Oral Surgery had already gotten their hands on them, poor lighting, materials I'm not used to working with, volunteer assistants (who were not really assistants, just lay people), and a chair that had 2 positions - 180 degrees, or 90 degrees - prostrate or erect.  I was exhausted.  I was only able to see 5 patients the entire day.  Julia saw 6.  Thank God for the other dentists.  I worked through lunch and finally got a break at 2:30 that afternoon - at which time all the food was gone and I ate a pack of nabs.  So then I was hungry and dehydrated.  By the end of the day I was refusing to do any more fillings and would only extract teeth - begging oral surgery to be nice and share.  Julia and I were both so tired when we left that I'm pretty sure we were in Yazoo City on our way home before we could even talk to each other about the day.  We were both in that Zombie State.  No, we did not stay to help clean up, we did not help in any other way other than 58429356 fillings.  My hand is still sore.  I am not saying I will never do that again, but I will definitely be more prepared next time - bring my own materials, my own assistant, and buy a better light.  Maybe I should go back to school and become and oral surgeon - I swear their job is so much easier.  And for those of you wondering "Isn't it like Honduras?"  um... NO.  In Honduras we are the Oral Surgeons.  We get to do the easy job of extracting all day.  No drilling.  No filling.  No hand-pieces.  Honduras is way better and I will take a month of Honduras Dentistry over that 12 hours, any day.  It was HARD.  Here are a few pics so you can get an idea of the process.  It was neat, well organized, and a fantastic way to give back.  It was just very hard work. 

"Restorative Department" / aka - Drill and Fill

Oral Surgery

Radiology

Radiology

Pediatrics - just getting started for the day - thank the good Lord they had their own room...   I dunno what we would have done had we had screaming kids on top of all the other disarray!

Julia hard at work

Clinic at full capacity - General Dentist lined up Back - to - Back ...

Getting set up to start the day

LIKE MOTHER ... LIKE DAUGHTER

SHE MAY LOOK LIKE A HARDIN,

BUT HER BLOOD RUNS ROSE 

(I KNEW I'D FIND ME IN THERE SOMEWHERE!)

AND IF YOUR WONDERING: DID SHE LIKED IT...?  DID SHE SIT PERFECTLY STILL AND LET THEM RUB HER LITTLE FIT?  DID SHE NOT MOVE A MUSCLE WHEN THEY PAINTED THOSE ADORABLE LITTLE TOES?  DID SHE PUT HER FEET IN THE BUBBLY WATER AND LAUGH HYSTERICALLY?  DID SHE EAT COOKIES AND DRINK JUICE WHILE THEY CLIPPED HER NAILS.... ???

THE ANSWER YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...

YES!  

SHE IS MY CHILD AFTER ALL!!!!

RAISING ROSES

I am going to start having to take my "real" camera everywhere with me... I feel like in every special moment all I have is the ole' IPhone!  I definitely plan to recreate yesterdays event with a Cannon!  But for now, you'll have to settle for these pics!

Rose and I took a leisurely stroll yesterday afternoon around the neighborhood.  Darly also accompanied us, and as always, she immediately ran to my grandparents back yard and jumped in the pool.  I think she has E.S.P. or something - If its hot outside, its like she knows the pool has re-opened for summer.  An afternoon stroll turned into a few hours of teaching Rose all there is to know about gardening.  My granddad would explain each little plant to her (I think he was trying to teach me indirectly?) and where it goes.  He would plant it, then give her a plant to try.  Her main goal of the afternoon was to dig up every single plant that he put in the ground, and to eat all the ones he gave her.  My grandmother could not understand why Rose didn't understand NO meant "don't dig up the flower."  Meanwhile, my grandfather, with the patience of Job, spent over an hour - mearly re-planting the flowers Rose picked - always smiling.  Darly, with her wild self, spent the entire afternoon in the pool.  It was a fun day, and Rose was worn out.  I promise to take a photo-shoot soon in their backyard.  Every flower is in full bloom.  The palms and sun plants have been brought out of the green house.  The pool has been drained, scrubbed, and refreshed.  It truly is the most gorgeous backyard you will ever see. 

ONE TRACK MIND

THANKS TO BON-BON

Rose was given an "early birthday present" by her Bon Bon!  Her very first COZY COUPE!  The weather has been so nice the last few weeks, and great-grandmother thought the best way to kick off spring was with a new ride!  At first I thought Rose may be a little young to understand how to drive it, but I have to say, I was completely wrong.  She loves it.  Every morning instead of watching Mickey, for what used to be a guaranteed 30 minutes of quiet time, she is up on her feet driving the coupe through the house.  Thanks to her new set of wheels, my little roo bug has a one track mind !

11 MONTHS

AND A MOMMA WHOSE TOTALLY IN SHOCK

I really dont even know where to start with this post...  Im a little frazzled by the whole "ELEVEN MONTHS"  title.  I remember thinking "I cant believe she is 8 weeks old today," and then "Oh My Word, my baby girl is 6 months old."  The list of phrases flood my mind.  What a joy she has been to get to know this past year.  11 months seem like such a long time, yet, it has more than flown by.  She has a one-of-a-kind personality, that we cant seem to get enough of.  I'll save the sentimental post for her big 1 year! As I know, that before I can blink my eyes, I will be writing her 1 year stats down for record! For these next few weeks are sure to pass as quickly as the last 11 months!

I swear she is a happy baby -- always smiling, always laughing, always doing this squealing sound with her voice.  That is, until I break out the camera, and this is the overall look I get! I promise - we will have photo shoots every night until I get a good one year picture!  Even Darly was tired of these pictures... Hence, the yawn....  

11 MONTH NEWS:

Weight:  20.4 lbs (per her weight watchers weekly weigh in)
Shoe Size:  2
Clothes Size:  12 months (a few 9 months still fit)
Diaper Size:  3
Teeth:  1/2 of a lower incisor.  We are patiently waiting for the other 19 1/2
Milk:  Organic Whole Milk with DHA (just switched you this weekend - no more formula) and you LOVE it..  You will drink 8 oz in one sitting, and you have never consumed that much milk before! I contribute your .2oz weight gain in a week to this new fettish of milk!
Bottle:  No longer exists ....  I have forced the sippie cup on you and bagged up all the bottles....
Passy:  Still going strong... with no will to give that habit up anytime soon
Sleep:  Usually go down about 8:30pm and will sleep until your woken (anywhere from 7am to 9am) - You are a very light sleeper and any noise will wake you up!

Food:  You eat pretty much anything.  You like to feed yourself, and you think you dont need any help in doing so.  You go through spells of eating a lot, then you go weeks where we have to work extra hard just to get a few bites down you.  You only eat when your hungry - you get this from your daddy....

Favorites:  Bathtime, Strolling, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, your Activity Block, Church Nursery - or any activity involving lots of kids, Being Outside
Things you LOVE:  The Yellow Duck Binky, Passy, V8 Fruit Splash, Bows in your hair, Bananas, Drinking out of our glasses, Picking flowers

Things you HATE:  Sippie Cup, Hats, Wiping your Nose, Dresses (you cant crawl in them - your knees get hung up), Lound Noises (i.e. the vacuum cleaner, thunder)

Things you can Do:  Pull up, crawl as fast as I can walk, walk around the table, wave bye-bye, put the phone to your ear and say "aye"

Things you can Say:  Ma Ma, Da Da, DarDarDar (Darly.. we think?), Bye Bye, Aye (Hey?), Ka Ka (Khaki???), and the famous NO (more like 'O')

If I had a dollar for every time I wiped the drool from her chin I would be a Rich Rich Woman - Retiring, with a house on the beach, and a personal chef.  Where are her teeth??????

 



Rose loves her dog Grandma Phyl and Papa Hardin gave her for Christmas.  She pushes and plays with it daily.  It is her daily goal to get both legs inside and sit, and THEN turn around (without falling out)...  and the bigger she gets - the more she is determined to fit.  Not a big fan of actually pushing the dog - for pushing she prefers her baby stroller, compliments of Aunt Ramey and Uncle Brent :)

how BIG has this munchkin gotten....????  yep.. 11 months....