The Adventures of Damith and the Girls: December 2012

We started off 2012 with earnest (16 posts for January alone!), but once again we just enjoyed our daily lives without documenting the fun times!

Thus, here are the highlights for 2012...

Shiny new kitchen appliances

We actually posted about this in January! :)

The fridge that started it all...

New range & matching microwave

Siobhan's First (Official) Haircut

Once again, we posted about this...go look!

Visiting Beantown
When my cousin Erik called earlier this year asking for wedding advise, I was surprised and honored he was coming to me. But as he asked if Siobhan could be their flower girl, I was excited this was the only 'advise' he was seeking!

Siobhan with Erik

Erik, LB, Siobhan and Kathleen

Having fun with the pedals

Erik and Kathleen's wedding was also a family reunion with a few members of my mother's side of the family.

Fun times @ Rehearsal Dinner

Welcome to the family Kathleen

As my nephew LB was also the ring bearer, we turned our trip to Boston into a mini family vacation. After the wedding reception, we decided to take a drive in search of local lighthouses. We decided to stop in a small seaside town to enjoy some local seafood and enjoy the scenery.

Who wears shoes to the beach?!

While planning our trip, we were happy to see that the Red Sox were playing at Fenway while we were in town. We were impressed with the Boston fans; even when the Sox weren't leading, they were proudly (and politely) cheering on their team. However, I am wondering if we are somehow bad luck as this is the third Red Sox game Damith and I have attended in which they have lost!

Siobhan's favorite place to visit was the New England Aquarium and even now asks if we can go back to Boston just to visit the Aquarium!

Denver Comic Con

When Damith heard that there was a Comic Con in Denver, it was a given that we would be attending. It was an added bonus that it was held during Father's Day weekend!

It wasn't until we were walking through venue did we realize that some of the costumes may actually scare Siobhan.

But thankfully she wasn't phased by them and actually found some of them quite funny. We were happy to be part of the Inaugural Denver Comic Con and will be back next year!

Crazy About George

Picnic with her two favorite Georges

Perhaps it was my love of monkeys as a kid that prompted us to create a jungle theme in Siobhan's room, with of course an emphasis on monkeys. For her first Christmas, she received a Curious George book set with soft plush George. This soon became her favorite companion and has accompanied her almost everywhere. Seeing how much she liked him, we decided to increase her George collection with a few 'backups'; but even half asleep during the night, she knows which is her true George!

Thus, for her second birthday party, it was easy to pick a theme. Thanks to auntie Siew Gin for such a beautiful and yummy cake (and another George)!

Visiting Sri Lanka
We had originally planned to travel to Sri Lanka in early summer (May/June) prior to Siobhan's second birthday. But due to our trip to Boston, our Sri Lanka trip was moved to mid-August. We are happy we waited because it was so much easier flying with a toddler when she had her own seat! She liked the attention she received from the flight crew and having her own TV to watch.

As we had a long (13 hour) lay over in Singapore, the airline was kind enough to put us up in a hotel for the night. I think because of this, we didn't have too much difficulty with jet lag. It also gave us some time to tour Singapore a bit during the day. A few days after arriving in Sri Lanka, Ammi and Thaththi hosted a lunch party for the extended family to meet Siobhan. She of course was a bit hesitant around so many new people so she stuck close to us and Akki (Nandi).

We had exposed Siobhan to a pool a few times prior to this trip. But with the warm weather and having a pool on site, she was in the pool almost daily and was quickly feeling more comfortable 'swimming' on her own with her floaties.

Pool time with Dadda

With each trip to Sri Lanka, we try to fit in some quality beach time. Many thanks to Akki for finding a quiet beach front hotel with clean sandy beaches in Hikkaduwa. Siobhan didn't care too much for the waves or playing in the surf, but loved digging in the sand. During one of our days there, we enjoyed a glass bottom boat ride to see coral reef and the turtles. Siobhan also liked solo swimming in the kiddie pool and thanks to her mixed complexion with no sunburn! Unfortunately, our camera was dropped during this mini trip and thus we have minimal pictures of the remaining two weeks.

As Siobhan loves going to the zoo in the US, Thaththi wanted to share the Sri Lankan zoo with Siobhan. Although many of the animals are the same in both zoos, she got an up front view of the elephants as they were escorted from their pens to the river for bath time.

During the second week, we were off on a family trip around Sri Lanka...
Our trip started on Tuesday and the first stop was Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage (one of my favorite stops in Sri Lanka) to watch the elephants bath in the river. Maybe because she was exposed to the elephants at the zoo, Siobhan wasn't scared of 40+ elephants walking through the streets down to the river. While there, we also enjoyed lunch riverside and some shopping. Afterwards we were off to Hunas Falls in Kandy for the evening. The following morning, while walking the beautiful hotel grounds, Akki suggested a boat ride in the resort's lake, which Siobhan enjoyed. Then the long car ride to Anuradhapura where we spent the night and on Thursday morning we had a quick visit the peacock farm. Unfortunately, we only saw two! But we did get to see a herd of very young calves so it was still a successful visit for Siobhan. After picking up Damith, we went to see Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (a sacred fig tree grown from the sapling of the original Bodhi tree under which Lord Buddha attained Enlightenment) and Ruwanweli Maha Saya (one of the largest Stupas in the world). While there, Siobhan watched us worshipping (praying) and on her own imitated us. She also enjoyed watching all the monkeys that were on the premise. After visiting with family along the way, we arrived home for a few days rest before continuing our trip.

On Saturday morning we set off early to Hambantota where Thaththi is expanding the new house on Erandathie Gardens. After a quick nap, we were off to tour the harbor! It was amazing to see the development progress in the area and we also got an escorted tour of the new harbor authority administration building that MAGA is building. As wild elephants roam the lands surrounding the Erandathie Gardens, we were a bit worried as we were heading back to the house after dark. Thankfully we arrived home without an elephant sighting. During the drive, Siobhan didn't really have much of an appetite and woke us during the night with a fever. As she was feeling a bit better the next morning, we went to the beach to play in the surf while Thaththi and Damith surveyed the property. Akki and I had fun splashing around, but Siobhan wanted nothing to do with the waves. Her being out and about didn't help with her fever and nonexistent appetite (lesson learned). Thankfully this was the end of our traveling and we headed home to the Kotte house! By Tuesday evening, she was back to herself.

Relaxing with her Georges

As we were entering our final week, I was starting to get stressed that we had barely made a dent in our 'shopping list'. Wednesday was a tiring day as we spent the entire day shopping with Siobhan.

We even took a tuk tuk!

She was a trooper, with minimal fuss! She fell asleep in my arms at the last store and stayed asleep through the night! The next two days were packing days and preparing for our long flight home on Friday evening.

Tooth Fairy...
The week after returning from Sri Lanka, Sabrina was having terrible tooth/sinus pain that was initially thought to be caused by the change in climate, but as the pain progressively got worse with each passing day, she finally contacted her dentist. I opted for calling the dentist as the pain was centrally located near the area of my root canal. It was a severe sinus infection that had spread to my jaw bone, causing the bone surrounding my molar with the root canal to dissolve and an abscess formed! Of course, we started an antibiotic course immediately. Not that this was bad enough, but in reviewing my x-rays the dentist noticed that my molar had a tiny hairline fracture.

During my follow up appointment the following week, additional x-rays were taken to provide an update on my infection. After reviewing the films, my dentist showed me that the roots of this molar were quite long, so much so that they were up into my sinus cavity! He also showed me better images of the hairline fracture in my molar.

Good news was that the infection was decreasing. Bad news was that my tooth had cracked right above the pulp cavity and thus very near my root canal!

One of the reasons I like our dentist (aside from him being a Longhorn) is the level of communication he and his staff have with the patient. He explained the options available, answered our 'what if' questions, and showed us how the various procedures would be performed. Thus, because of everything happening to this one tooth (abscess formed, long roots, and hairline fracture), we decided to extract the molar as soon as possible. Thankfully, I was the last patient of the day and my dentist could extract my tooth right away. Normally, the procedure takes an hour with local anesthesia; I was in the chair for three hours! Those very long roots added to the difficulty. Because of this, my recovery was a bit more painful and we had to miss the Train concert at Red Rocks the following day!!

With my tooth being extracted, I would need to have a tooth implant. Unfortunately, I did not have enough healthy natural bone to support the implant and thus the dentist would need to 'build up' the bone to my jaw by adding donor and synthetic bone materials. This also meant he would need to lift my sinuses so that there would be enough room for the new bone.

So, two weeks later, a day before my 35th birthday, I was back at the dentist office, but this time under general anesthesia for the sinus lift, bone grafting and placing of the implant and abutment. Surprisingly, these procedures were the least painful! Now we just need to wait four to six months for the new bone to strengthen before completing the implant procedure.

Sabrina's Sexy Lips
My sister Brandie came to visit the first weekend of October and soon after picking her up from the airport, my upper lip started tingling. Initially I thought she had changed her make up and I was having a slight reaction to it. But as the day went on, the tingling began to spread to my lower lip and I began to worry. After my sister told me she hadn't changed her makeup, I decided to call the dentist; another reasons I like our dentist is that he is on-call! We met him at his office early that evening and he was initially worried I was having a reaction to the implant, but thankfully there were no signs of infection in my mouth. He agreed it was an allergic reaction to something and asked us to keep him updated if it worsened.

By two am, I felt like a sausage as the swelling had spread to my entire face, my hands and feet! I was so thankful that my sister was staying with us, so we didn't have to disturb Akki to come watch Siobhan while Damith and I drove to the emergency room. After being on the same antibiotic for almost four weeks, my immune system had become sensitive to it and now saw it as a threat! I immediately stopped taking the antibiotics, and as I was only a few doses shy of completing the antibiotic course, I didn't have to switch to a new one.

Aside from the delivery of Siobhan, this has been the most costly medical procedure for me. But now I can say that for one day I had plump and pouty lips like Angelina Jolie!

Good-bye CUF
After working with the Foundation for close to six years, it was time to say good-bye. Over the past few years, there were some departmental changes that directly affected my position. These, along with other matters, came to light during my 'dental month' and in talking it over with Damith, I decided to resign in mid-October.

These first few month being home have been a wonderful mini-vacation!

Austin F1 Grand Prix
For a number of years, it had been rumored that F1 would return to the US. When it was confirmed that the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in 2012 would take place in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas, there was no doubt we would be in attendance.

With Siobhan being so young, we split our race weekend with baby duty. I got to enjoy Friday practice times, while Damith enjoyed Saturday qualifying. Thankfully, Tony and Ann Marie offered to watch Siobhan on Sunday so we could both attend the race.