The Teeth are Gone!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. As you can see from the photos above-taken just a few minutes ago-I'm not even really swollen. I'm talking about the tooth extraction.

I can't believe I put it off for three years! Honestly, the most difficult part has been not eating anything with any sort of crunch to it. I'm a crunchy kind of girl. The mashed potatoes are good, they just don't crunch. Chicken broth is tasty, it just doesn't have much to it! I can't really complain because at least I have food, but I guess I'm not really a liquid and mushy diet kind of girl!

The entire process was less than 20 minutes. I looked at the clock around 8 a.m., feeling a wee bit groggy, and then woke up about 30 minutes later, with gauze sticking out of my mouth. I went home and followed the instructions to keep an ice pack on my head all day. For 24 hours and then some I sat with the ice packs in the sock tube tied around my head, had a tylenol every 6 hours-not the T3s, luckily regular tylenol did the trick!-and rested. Kevin stayed home to take care of me, and while I sat on the couch drinking smoothies and catching up on all the shows I have DVRed lately he went around the house in a flurry, doing two loads of dishes, washing all of the towels, sweeping the kitchen, and cleaning up the kitchen. What a man! In between this he refilled my smoothie cup, made me chicken broth, and made sure I got rest.

Overall, the experience has not been too bad. I'm feeling pretty good today! I even had time and energy to do some Christmas shopping this morning and I have definitely enjoyed spending time with my little man...it felt like I had barely seen him all week. What a sweethart I have, I'm such a lucky mom!

Thanks to everyone that offered up words of support. I feel like such a chicken that I was so afraid of it, but who knows where these fears come from! I'm just glad it is over, the teeth are gone, and I'm on my way to eating regular food again!

Hockey Night in Canada!

Tonight was a very exciting night in this household. Rusty went to his first hockey game! It wasn't officially his first game, as he went to two of Kevin's games last year, but hey, he was only two months old so he doesn't really remember it. Tonight was a different story!

We talked to him about it all day. We told him he would be going to watch Daddy play hockey, we read him Z is for Zamboni, and we told him Nana and Papa would be coming with us. He smiled a lot, but I'm pretty sure he didn't get it.

Kev left around 7, and Rusty and I left shortly after. We picked up Nana and Papa-at which Rusty was VERY excited, of course! They are two of his absolute favorite people in the whole world! Once we got to the ice rink, he was raring to go and VERY excited.

We watched the Zamboni cleaning the ice, Rusty ran around with Papa following close behind, and finally, Daddy came out of the dressing room. What a great moment! Rusty knew it was his dad, but he was surprised by how different he looked. He kept smiling and staring, and smiling some more. It was great to see my two boys together at this big event!The game was a good one, close, and our boys only lost by one goal. Rusty watched quite a lot of the game, mostly from Papa's arms. He enjoyed running around the rink, and the Zamboni driver even let him sit on the Zamboni, what a lucky boy! The best moment was when Daddy got a goal! Rusty even clapped (Papa said) and he especially loved giving Daddy a high five at the bench when he came off of the ice.
I really look forward to going to more games with him in the future. He did so great, and it was fun to have Nana and Papa there with us. I think he will probably grow to love hockey, just like his dad!

Remembrance Day

Today I am remembering and thinking of all of those amazing men and women that have sacrificed so much for our freedom throughout the years. I know that it's not easy. Mothers lose their sons, daughters and sons watch their parents go off to war, fathers miss the births of their daughters. People can snap and crack under the pressure. They witness terrible things, and have to deal with the death of friends and loved ones. Families lose out on precious and important time together.

I have never taken my freedom for granted. I know many men and women that have served, and I am so thankful for their incredible courage and strength. I know that they work harder and go through so much more than the rest of us so that we can have freedom. Freedom, as a friend recently said, is not free. It comes at a cost for someone, somewhere.

Thank you veterans, thank you to all of those currenting toughing it out and spending time away from families. Thank you to friends that I know that are going through pregnancies on their own, or contemplating that possibility because their husbands are away. Thank you to the veterans of the previous wars. Thank you to all of you, thank you for your sacrifices. I value my freedom, and thank you for it.

Combo Gifts

My birthday happens to fall on December 28th. Yes, it's three days after Christmas. I have often had people ask me if this is something that was a bummer growing up. For me??? Not so much. My parents always seemed to go above and beyond to make sure that I knew my birthday was still special, even though it was so close to Christmas. They would get me great gifts-NEVER wrapped in Christmas paper, always wrapped in birthday paper. They left the Christmas decorations up for me-if I wanted them to. They never bought me combo gifts-unless it was something really big and special, like the year that they redecorated my bedroom, including a new bed, new linens, paint, etc. If anything, I'll say that I was maybe extra spoiled. I recall my big sister-you may not remember this Adrienne-one time saying "You're so lucky that your birthday is next to Christmas, you must think you're extra special." The truth is, I kind of did!

Now I realize that I'm not extra special, but it is still nice to have separate gifts. On some occasions though, I don't mind. Take tonight, for instance.

I had just been talking to Kevin about how my perfect birthday would be staying overnight in Seattle, having my little brother and sister in law fly in, going to an NFL game with them, and just enjoying some time with them. They are still young and can travel pretty easily, we get along with them so well, and we just love having them around. I knew it was wishful thinking, but I couldn't help but think it would be so fun. I was chatting with Samantha last night, and happened to mention it...little did I know what the future would bring!

Tonight I had a late night. I was out taking a course on online course development, and when I came home Kevin said, "You need to check your email." in a very down tone. "Why, what's up?" I asked. He just kept the same grim tone, and said, you need to check your email, yet again. I got online and saw a few emails, none of which seemed to disastrous. I was like, what's up? He said, "LOOK! LOOK at your emails that you haven't read! I looked again and saw one waiting from my sister-in-law, Samantha. It said:

So I'm sure it's not much fun to have a combined Christmas/Birthday Present, but we thought just this once it would be okay. Let us know what you think.

Attached to the email was an itinerary. An itinerary to fly here...in January! I couldn't believe it! They are coming up here for my birthday/Christmas! They will be arriving on a Saturday night and flying out on a Wednesday. I get them all to myself, and I'm so excited! We're going to look into things and see if we can do that "perfect birthday" I was dreaming of. This is definitely one case where I LOVE the combined gift! Thanks guys! You are amazing!

Neil, Samantha and I in Vancouver in March 2009

It's time to face the music...

I've been putting it off for three years. In November of 2006, my dentist suggested that I get my wisdom teeth removed, gave me a referral to the oral surgery center, and sent me on my way. I nodded politely, went home and stuffed the referral into a drawer, and didn't look at it again for almost three years.

I am scared. Where did this fear come from? I don't know! I have an intense fear of all things dental. I hate even getting my teeth cleaned. My husband has let my dentist office know this, and they take extreme care with me each time that I am in. I always get the seat with the TV so I can watch TV and take my mind off of what is being done. My dentist-who also happens to be a good friend of ours-constantly checks with me to make sure everything is going all right and even personally cleaned my teeth twice until I found a hygenist that I was comfortable with.

So, as you can imagine the idea of wisdom teeth extraction is SCARY indeed! The last time I went in to see my dentist, though, he said it's time. One of the teeth has broken through and is impacting the tooth beside it, which could cause some major problems, not to mention the fact that I am almost 30-yes, that's right, the big 3-0!-the point at which getting the teeth removed could be problematic due to denser bone and deeper roots. Ugh...

Today I saw the oral surgeon that will be doing the extraction. I was sitting in the waiting room reading through the pamphlet and when they called me in he said, "So, I see you need to get your wisdom teeth removed, how are you feeling about that?"

My reply, "I'm not thrilled..." in a deadpan voice. He laughed and said, "Yeah, I kind of figured that when I saw you looking through the pamphlet with a scared look on your face."

Why is this so scary? How could I endure 30+ hours of labour and having a child and yet be so scared of getting two wisdom teeth removed? These were the questions I asked him and he assured me that those feelings are actually more common than I think!

We discussed the positioning of the teeth and what the surgery would look like. He suggested I be put under lightly, since one of the teeth will require removal of bone and such. He also said it will probably help with my fears. I quickly agreed! I am not a person that has issues with anesthesia, so I'm all for a little snooze while I get the work done. Plus, Kevin will be taking the whole day off to take care of me, and I can go home and sleep the day away. It's an excuse to have the day to just lay in bed and rest...sounds pretty good, right?

Well, here I go. I'm finally going to face the fears of the tooth removal head on. I hope it goes well! I'm praying for no dry socket, infection, or anything else like that. A hint to those of you facing the same procedure...don't look it up on the Internet! It only gives you horror stories!!!

Just Another Day at the Park...

One Simple Year

One simple year, that's all that has passed by, yet look how our boy has grown! He has gone from a sleeping, eating, pooping machine to a giggly little boy with great character and a desire to make people laugh. We love you, little monkey!