Visit 1

W is such a champ. I was so proud of how he handled his first Dentist appointment yesterday. If you are visiting my blog for the first time in a while read this post below to catch up on what's been new in our lives.

Everything went REALLY well yesterday and we were amazed at how quick the appointment was. When we pulled into the dentist parking lot, W excitedly said, "We get to go to this dentist AGAIN?!" We've been to three dentists in the past two months and never the same one twice until now so I think he was surprised to be back at the same one we saw Wednesday!

We arrived 10 minutes early and they were waiting for us so W got to go right back all by himself. This office doesn't allow parents back in the exam room. At first this bothered me but I've come to realize just how smart they are in not allowing mama bear back there.

Less than 30 minutes later he walked out into the waiting room with a smile on his face and they said he was all done! They worked on the lower left quadrant this time, filling cavities on the two back molars. They said he did great, that one of the cavities was pretty deep so they'll need to keep an eye on it. They may eventually need to extract the tooth or put a crown on it but for now we're just going to try the filling and hope it holds.

He was pretty quiet for a while afterwards but never once complained of pain the rest of the day. I even got a personal phone call later that day from the Dentist himself who just wanted to check in on him and make sure he did ok after his first time having dental work done. It's such a relief to know we found such a great place for all this!

I asked W if he wants to come back in a few weeks (our next appointment will be Oct. 19) and he enthusiastically said, "YEAH!"

Read more...

Dentist

I have procrastinated in making this public but now that we have a plan in place I feel a little more comfortable talking about it. The past few months have been a bit of a nightmare for us and as much as I hoped I'd wake up someday and realize it was all just a bad dream, I've finally accepted reality that this is not going away.

Two months ago I took W to the Dentist for the first time. They found several cavities, referred us to a pediatric dentist who wanted to do all the dental work necessary while he was under general anesthesia in the hospital. Because of how many cavities he had, he would probably need fillings or crowns on 7 of his 8 back molars.

We were shocked and disappointed, especially when we found out that because we do not have dental insurance and we have a high medical deductible the cost would be at least $7000 out of pocket.

We decided we needed to explore other options and chose to get a second opinion from a pediatric dentist in Decatur who does most of his work in office using nitrous oxide. We had our first appointment with him yesterday and received good news and bad news.

The good news:
He will not need any crowns on his back molars after all. After doing xrays the decay on his molars was not as bad as we initially were told and Dr. says he should only need fillings and sealants on them. The only cavities were on the top surface so crowns would be unnecessary. We'll be taking care of that in office over 4 separate visits using nitrous oxide.

The bad news:
Due to a combination of 3 factors, his front two teeth will need to be extracted.
1st factor-Genetically, he inherited my overbite
2nd factor-thumb-sucking habit (even though he doesn't anymore, the damage has been done)
3rd factor-He has bumped his front teeth in various falls (they stick out more than average because of factor 1 and 2)

All those things combined has damaged the root of those two teeth so badly that the root is dead, infection has set in and they need to be removed before the infection reaches the permanent teeth. After those teeth are removed he will insert a tongue crib across the roof of his mouth for 6 months that will help to naturally push his top teeth back somewhat and at least partially correct the damage that has been done by the thumb-sucking.

Dr. has him on an antibiotic now for the infection and we'll have our first appointment tomorrow to begin with the lower left quadrant work. The front two teeth will come out at visit three in November.

There are several parts of this that have been hard: worry about finances, worry about how W will handle it and if he will cooperate, experience pain, etc. Of course I don't want my baby to have to go through all this.

But, perhaps the hardest part for me has been the self-doubt and shame I have felt about all of this. As a friend of mine said, "It's not like you let him suck on sugar-pops all day." But I instinctively accept full responsibility for allowing his teeth to get to this point and all too quickly allow myself to believe that I'm a bad mom because of it.

Thank goodness my God reminds me how untrue that is. He reminds me that W is his child too. That we aren't in this alone. That really in the great scheme of life this is going to be a small distant blip on a glorious eternal line. Thank goodness He reminds me of his Grace.

So, we ask for your prayers, your support and your encouragement. We've agonized over these decisions and feel good about the direction we are going. I'll try to update this blog after each visit.

I can already hear W singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." Lucky him, he'll get to sing it for two years or more!

Read more...

Don't Buy Stuff

Hubby is team teaching a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class this semester at our church. We've become pretty hard core Dave fans the past year or two and think he would probably LOVE this video.

Read more...

Like Father, Like Son

We've been doing a lot of what hubby would call "cushy camping" lately. Camping in a pop-up camper, staying in a lodge at Discovery Ministries, visiting his parent's camper where they camp on the weekends. I think he was starting to get worried that W would grow up thinking that's what camping is.

He wants him to experience the wild, get dirty, sleep in a tent or better yet, under the stars. The last time we took W camping he was only about a year and a half old and it was not an enjoyable experience. I swore after that sleepless, cold, night that I would not sleep in a tent with him again until he was old enough to go alone with Daddy and have a good experience so I would know it could in fact be done.

Well, last night was the big test. Hubby took him to Weldon Springs for the night and they did have a great bonding time together.

Here's the pup tent big enough for just the two of them:


Developing a fascination for campfires:


Making friends with some beavers:


And of course, pretending they are biting his finger:

Read more...

Spontaneous

I am not a spontaneous person. I like to plan, organize, and calculate. The thought of spontaneity makes me break out in hives. Well, maybe it's not that bad but I really do like a plan.

So you can imagine my distress when a friend of mine from college called me at 3:30 pm yesterday and said, "Hey, wanna come to a Point of Grace/Mark Schultz concert tonight in Decatur at 6:15?" She had won 6 tickets just that day.

Ordinarily I would have said no, thank you. In fact I almost did tell her no right away. But I told her I would call her back in ten minutes, thinking to myself, "I'll be calling you back in ten minutes after I think of some good reason not to come."

The strangest thing happened though. I couldn't think of a good reason. The best I could come up with is, "My husband needs to mow the yard." Wow. That would be a really lame reason to miss a concert.

Now, if it was just any old concert, I probably would have used that excuse. (Yikes, that's pretty sad, huh?) But this was not just a concert. She not only had to tickets to the concert, she had V.I.P. passes to MEET the artists backstage before the concert.

I do love Mark Schultz but the big draw for me was Point of Grace. I have this nostalgic link to them because they were so big during my college years. I'm embarrassed to share this story but my first memory of Point of Grace is riding in my now husband's '72 chevelle on the way to the Christian Campus House Barn Dance somewhere out in the country. We were really just friends then so I was in the back seat with another girl-friend of mine and his buddy was in the front seat.

We had the Point of Grace tape in (yes, TAPE, that's how long ago this was) and had "Keep the Candle Burning" cranked up. I remember seeing my hubby and his buddy rockin' out to the music, thinking, "Wow, I'm so impressed that they are secure enough in their masculinity to do a little head bobbin' to Point of Grace!" So impressed in fact that I married him!

Anyway, the concert was awesome and I felt totally cool (and yet totally immature that I felt totally cool) wearing my V.I.P pass. We got to meet them and they signed our passes and got our pictures taken with them. They seemed like they felt just about as awkward as we did about the whole thing.

But it was a great night of entertainment and just goes to show you that sometimes, just maybe, there are legitimate reasons for being spontaneous.

Read more...