Spring Break 2014 Highlights

Watching Frozen.

Celebrating Sydney's 2nd birthday.

Golfing with Chris, Cody, & Price.

Girl time with Krystal & Kandace

Family walks in the park

Scrapbooking

Dinner with family.

New Haircut & Highlights

Celebrating Tyler's 21st birthday

Mid-afternoon naps.  

Quiet afternoons filled with reading

Watching Saving Mr. Banks

Friday night with more family

Cooking lessons from a sweet sister-in-law who never laughs at my ignorance when it comes to the kitchen.

Listening to nieces & nephews run through our home playing and laughing.

More golfing with Chris & girl time with Krystal.

Shopping

Watching March Madness - even if my bracket was horrible this year.

Extra time together all week long.

Bottom Brackets

What a frustrating appointment.

Yesterday morning I went to get my bottom braces.  The first thing he did was smooth out that band that was slicing my tongue to pieces.  A nice gesture, but a week late.

Then we tried yet again to fit a band around my crown. 

No go!

Apparently the dentist that put that crown on did not shape it correctly.  It is not shaped anatomically correct which means a band does not fit around it.  It is very frustrating for everyone.

I left there today without a band.  He put a spacer back in on side of the tooth and a piece of brass wire wrapped around on the other side.  

I'm really not sure how this is going to help because he said that space wasn't the issue.  The issue is the shape of that crown.

At this point I think it might be easier to have my dentist reshape that crown...if that is possible.

Dr. Lay went ahead and wired up what he could on the bottom.

For some reason they used a different color power chain on the bottom.  I didn't realize it until it was too late.

I'm a little frustrated about.  I DID NOT want two different colors.

Not a huge difference.  I'm not sure Andrew would not have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out.  But it still bothers me enough that I requested my next appointment as soon as possible so that I can change the bottom ones to match the top.  

Also it is just uncomfortable and slightly painful to have your mouth stretched open beyond its limit for a solid hour.

I had dinner with my family Monday night and my Mommom asked if I ever got tired of them and took them off for a little bit.

I wish, Mommom, I wish.

Especially now that I have bottom braces.  They are so much worse than the top braces just like I imagined they would be.

But my bottom teeth is where I needed the most work done.  They are the teeth that are crowded which is definitely accentuated by my bottom brackets.  They are right on top of each other.

Not to mention this tooth that is pretty much turned sideways.  That should be fun to rotate.

Sometimes it feels like I've had them forever, yet it hasn't even been a month.

One thing is for sure.  I'm ready for my husband to start this process.  His extraction will take place in less than a month.  A week after that he will get his braces.

I'm glad we are doing this together.  I think it will make it a little more bearable.

Five Facts from a Brace Face

1. Eating with braces is pretty much the most disgusting thing ever.  EVERYTHING seems to get trapped somewhere in the braces.  

2.  It may just be me but I find myself to be more self-conscious about my braces around my family.  I haven't even thought about them when facing my husband, students, or co-workers.  But in the past few days I've been around family for the first time since getting braces.  I found myself wanting to hold back laughs and say very little.  I didn't want them to see my braces or my gaps.

3. I cannot imagine having these things on my bottom teeth - but I guess I'll experience that in a few days.

4. Since starting the conversation about getting braces I find that I notice people's teeth a lot more.  It has become the first thing I notice about people - not just strangers but everyone.

5. Having someone tell you that you can't eat certain food or you will risk breaking a bracket only makes you want to eat those foods - even if you don't normally eat them.

Five on Friday

{one}
 Not only is it Friday, but Spring Break starts today!!!  

{two}

Next weekend we are having a yard sale.  When we moved into our house we acquired A LOT of stuff.  As we were unpacking and organizing I was sorting and pricing items for this yard sale.  Most everything is priced and ready to go.  However, I still need to go through our clothes and a few other things.  My goal is to get rid of A LOT of stuff and maybe even make a little money.

{three}

I have my bracket all filled out and I am enjoying March Madness.  I'm excited about our little family competition especially since there are more family members joining in on the fun this year.  To make it even better I'm not the only girl this year.  I have a feeling the boys, who actually know what they are doing, have a good laugh whenever they look at my bracket and who I have winning it all.  Maybe I'll get lucky.  

{four}

I feel like I'm the only person who hasn't watched this movie.

I'm watching it over Spring Break.  I'm thinking it a must on my to do list.  

{five}

And just because I haven't shared any pictures of my sweet furbabies in entirely too long...

Power Chain, Wire, and Bands Oh My!

I had my second orthodontist appointment this morning where I received three out of my four bands, my top wire, and top power chain.  Sadly, I didn't have my trusty photographer with me today to take pictures of the whole process.  Thankfully Dr. Lay gave me a mirror so I could watch what was happening.  But since I don't have pictures, I thought I'd share my video of how the appointment went.

Sunday Randomness

{one}

Today is my last day with my spacers and I could not be more excited.  They are designed to create space between my teeth so that Dr. Lay can put a band around my teeth.

And though I'm pretty sure I haven't had the pain that most people have thanks to my extractions and the fact that those teeth have space to move into, they haven't exactly been enjoyable.  It has been excruciatingly painful to chew on those back teeth the past couple of days.  I assume that is because the spacers are doing their job.  I'm ready to have them removed tomorrow morning even though it means a new kind of pain with the bands and wires that I will receive.


{two}

On a more fun note my sweet concert-loving husband bought us tickets to see James Taylor this summer.  I can't wait.  We saw him a few years ago and it was an amazing show.

The concert is the night before we leave for vacation so it will be a great way to kick off a week of relaxation and fun in the sun.

{three}

Today is Selection Sunday.  I have filled out my bracket and am now waiting not so patiently for other family members to complete theirs and for games to begin.  I feel like my bracket is ridiculous which is ridiculous because I have no idea what I'm doing.  It's fun though.  My goal is always to not come in last place and to beat Andrew.

{four}

We are trying to be better about eating at home and eating healthier, but yesterday we tried a new Mexican restaurant in town.

They make homemade cheese dip and guacamole.  Andrew declared their guacamole the best in town.  The food was delicious and the service was incredibly friendly.  We will definitely be eating there again and probably in the near future.

{five}

Friday morning I drug out some of my spring clothes in search of my Pi Day shirt.  It made me ready for skirts and flowery prints.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my boots and my scarves, but I'm over them.  I'm ready for beautiful spring weather that last longer than a day or two.  

Spacers and Top Brackets

Today was the first of what will be many orthodontist appointments.  

I was actually looking forward to this appointment. 

See. No shirt clenching.  Nice and relaxed.

 The extractions are over.  I'm thinking that was hard part.  Now that it is over I'm ready to get the braces on and start closing these gaps.  Unfortunately Dr. Lay said that closing those gaps was one of the last steps of this long journey.  

The first step today was learning about all the things I can't eat.  Being a picky eater has never come so in handy before.  There wasn't anything on the list today that I'm sad about not eating.  

Then the assistant cleaned my teeth and they pried my mouth open with this crazy blue contraption.

Beautiful huh?

You see a few of my brackets in this picture.  Dr. Lay glued all the top ones on today.  They use this blue light to seal them in place.

It wasn't long and all my top brackets were glued on.

As if I didn't look young enough as it was.  Now there is no way people are going to believe I'm thirty!

The last part of the appointment was a tiny bit painful.  The assistant put four spacers in on bottom and four on top.  They really weren't too bad except one of the top ones hurt when she put it in.  It is basically like a rubber band that goes between my teeth. 

It was a quick and easy appointment. 

I will go back on Monday to get my wire and bands on the top brackets.  My students are  most excited about this.  This is the part where I get to pick a color.  They all have opinion on what color I should get.  I'm torn between something less obvious like silver or a fun color.  

I will also have my spacers removed at this appointment.

Then I will have my third appointment the last Friday of this month.  That is when they will put my bottom brackets and wires on.  Then I will be set for awhile.  

Accentuate the Postive

A few happy notes on this Monday.

1. I was finally able to go back to work.  Between field trips, snow weeks, and pain meds making me sick it has been TEN days since I've been in my classroom.  I have definitely missed those sweet kiddos.

2. My 6th graders began studying integers and coordinate planes today.  NO MORE FRACTIONS!!  We may have stopped to do a happy dance today.  

3. My teeth aren't quite as sore anymore and I was able to eat a donut using my back teeth.  Victory for me!!  

4.  Because of my teeth not being sore anymore I was able to have chicken for dinner!  Enough said!

5. The weather was absolutely beautiful today.  I could have sat outside all day.

6.  The LBs thought so too.  They did not want to come in when I got home today despite the fact that they had been outside all day.  We opened the windows and they watched and waited patiently for Andrew to get home from work. 

Happy Sunday

Extractions: The Day After

I woke up this morning after a good night's sleep.  I was pleasantly surprised at just how well I slept.  I was even able to sleep on my side which helped.

I got out of bed and begin to get ready for the day.  I was able to get jeans out of the closet and walk into the kitchen before I got sick.  I felt very nauseous.  I got back in bed and let the feeling pass.  At that point it was time to take more pain meds so I go back up and went back to the kitchen.  

It was at that point I realized I wasn't going to be able to go to work today.  I was really bummed.  Today was the first day school was in session this week and I couldn't go.  I wasn't in any pain, but the meds were making me sick.

I requested a sub and sent my principal a text letting her know I wasn't coming in and then went back to sleep.

Andrew worked in LR today so I was home alone all day.  He brought me breakfast before he left.  I managed to eat a piece of toast and eat a tiny bit of milkshake from Sonic.  It took me thirty minutes to eat the piece of toast.  I still can't really chew in the back of my mouth so I was tearing it into tiny pieces.  I was having to force myself to eat because I was feeling sick the entire time.

I have pretty much slept all day.  Every time I was awake and tried sitting up I felt sick.  

This girl has been right by my side all day.  She can tell I haven't felt well.

Andrew text me this morning to see how I was feeling.  I told him I was just trying not to throw up.  Even though I felt like I would feel better if I did, I was scared of unlodging a blood clot and getting a dry socket.  We decided I would skip my next round of pain meds and see what happened.  

I woke up around four this afternoon feeling much better.  I still don't feel great, but now it is more of a weak from hunger kind of bad.  Eating is a chore.

I tried to eat more mashed potatoes earlier for lunch but it just wasn't happening.  I thought maybe I could eat some chicken nuggets and french fries tonight.  It just sounded good.

I managed to eat 2 nuggets and 4 or 5 fries.  Eating is a lot of work right now.  More trouble than it is worth it seems. I probably could have eaten more but I kept feeling like food was getting stuck in those holes and it was grossing me out.

Maybe I'll try mashed potatoes again later.

I'm going to get tired of mashed potatoes.  I may have to learn to like applesauce.

Several people sent me text messages today checking on me.   Thank you all for those.  

On a completely different note, today is my sweet niece's second birthday.

Happy Birthday Sydney!  Aunt E loves you bunches!!

Before I end this post I want to ask you to join me in prayer.  This morning one of my school's buses was rear-ended by a van.  Our bus driver and students were not harmed thankfully, but one of the people in the van didn't make it.  I don't really know any more details than that.  You can read the news story here. 

This story breaks my heart.   Please join me in prayer for our students and bus driver, but especially for the family members of the people in the van.  

Four Less Teeth

Notice anything different?

My sweet and amazingly talented friend Miranda gave my blog a makeover.  I absolutely love how it turned out!  She captured my vision perfectly.  Simple and feminine.  I can't say enough good things about her and the work she does.  

It was a great surprise to come home from extractions to discover she had installed everything.

Extractions.  

Glad those are over.  

I slept really well last night which was a complete answer to prayer.  I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about everything.

I went through my normal routine of having toast followed by my quiet time.  My quiet time was an exceptionally sweet time this morning.  God knew I needed to feel his sweet spirit surrounding me this morning.  

I showered and got ready for the day and then sat down to eat again.  I wasn't sure if I would feel like eating at all for the rest of the day so I wanted to eat while I could.  So yes I enjoyed pizza at 10AM. 

The thought of trying to eat later scares me a little.  The thought of removing my gauze later scares me.  Right now I can't tell that there are teeth missing because I have a mouth full of gauze.  

After I ate I took my anxiety pills and tried to read a little bit in my book.  Anything to take my mind off things.  When I couldn't stand it any longer I went into Andrew's office and asked if we could go.  I was ready to get it all over with.

Our dentist is just four blocks down the street so it wasn't a long drive.  

Andrew prayed over me and then it was time to go in.

I snapped this picture right before walking into the office.

I think I'm hiding how terrified I am pretty well in this picture.  You would never know I was just crying.  Plus can I just say good hair day! 

 It's the little things.

Everyone in the office knew how nervous I was about today.  They were so incredibly sweet from the moment I walked in the door.  I could not ask for a better dentist and staff.  

They asked if I thought the anxiety meds were helping and I when I said no I was still incredibly nervous they immediately made the decision to give me the gas as well.  I was so incredibly thankful for that.  It helped put me to ease.

I asked Andrew to come back with me.  He didn't really want to watch the procedure since he is having a tooth pulled next month.  I can't say that I blame him.  I wouldn't want to watch it either.  I asked him to come back long enough to be with me while they numbed me up.  I needed him to document the process.  He ended up staying the entire time.  I can't even tell you how thankful I was to have him there.

He and Dr. Arnett talked about their boats while we waited on me to become completely numb.  It was a nice distraction.  That's actually how we came to choose Dr. Arnett as our new dentist when we moved.  He and his family have a boat just a few slips down from ours.

My brother had a tooth pulled several years ago.  He told me that for him the worst part was the sound.  Because of that I had myself all worked up over the sound.  I was probably more worried about that than anything else.  It didn't help when Dr. Arnett told me I would feel a lot of pressure and hear a lot of noises.  

He started with the top right tooth.  He wasn't joking about that pressure.  It felt like he was trying to relocate my skull.  I may have moaned a little at the pressure.  But Dr Arnett, his assistant, and Andrew kept assuring me that I was doing a good job.

Of course I had my great coping mechanism.

I'm a shirt clincher.  I love that Andrew captured this picture.  I do this even when I'm just having my teeth cleaned.  Andrew said he also noticed that I would draw my feet up and kind of curl my toes when the pressure was the strongest.

The top teeth were the hardest to get out.  Those are the two where I heard a noise.  It sounded like he was cracking my teeth.  The top ones have two roots instead of one like the bottom.  When he pulled the top ones out one of the roots came out with the tooth, but the other broke off and stayed in the bone.  They had to take the drill and drill out the bone to pull out the root.   Apparently the cracking sound was the tooth breaking off the root.

And Andrew watched all of that.  He is an AMAZING husband.  

Hearing Andrew describe it was much worse than actually living through it.

The bottom two came out with no problems and no noise.  They came out much easier and much quicker.

I wish he would have told me when the first tooth was out.  I thought I knew but it was hard to tell.  I had no idea what he was doing with the drill at the time.  I've had so many cavities filled that that part didn't bother me.  

I also kind of wish I could have kept my teeth.  I'm sure they would have let me, but I didn't think about it before and I couldn't really talk afterwards.

Twice during the process his assistant squirted water in my mouth and told me to swish it around.  I have no idea how to do that when your mouth is completely numb.  I've never had work done on both sides of my mouth where everything was numb before.  They would tell me to bite down or open and close my mouth.  I had no idea if I was doing what they asked or not.  At one point I reached up to touch my mouth to see if my lips were closed or open.  I couldn't tell.

I'm going to have to send them a thank you card.  I felt bad at the end because I wanted to smile at them and say thank you, but I couldn't do either. They are such a phenomenal staff. 

Andrew brought me home and helped me into bed before going to pick up my pain meds.

Taking pain meds wasn't easy.  I have to really work to swallow and I have never taken pills very well anyway.  Andrew broke it in half for me and I attempted to take a drink of water.  The second half took some work to get down, but I knew I needed to take them.

Overall it wasn't too bad and I'm certain that is because I was being covered in prayer by family and friends.  Thank you everyone for the prayers and the encouragement.  

I loved receiving this text right before Dr. Arnett started working.

I'm currently laying in bed resting and watching Friends.  The perfect way to heal.  

Ready for healing to take place and braces to go on and start to close up these gaps.

I'm not sure I will feel up to updating via video tonight, but will definitely do it tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow - I think we might actually get to go back to school tomorrow.  A little nervous about that.  I have lesson plans made that won't require much from me so I'm hoping I will make it through the day okay.

Oh one other thing.  I can't use mouth wash for the next two or three days and I'm not supposed to brush anywhere near those gaps.   So if you see me and I have bad breath, I apologize in advance.  I'm going to do the best I can.  

My Current Smile's Last Day

Tomorrow is the big day.

I will be having four teeth extracted.  I'm scared.  Yet at the same time I feel like I'm making it a bigger deal than it really is.  I love my dentist and know he will take good care of me.  

I plan to take an anxiety pill before my appointment.  I've never taken anything like that before.  I'm hoping it will help me relax.

Since I have no idea how eating will go with four teeth missing and I'm getting braces as soon as I'm all healed, I decided that today was clearly meant for eating anything I want.  From what I can tell I'm going to be living off of mashed potatoes for the next few months.

My dad and granny surprised me and took me to Las Playitas for lunch today.

It was yummy as always.

It's an extra bonus that I was able to get out of the house.  Today has been our third snow day in this round of icy weather.

I'm documenting this journey through adult braces in every way possible.  I'm posting pictures on Instagram, I'm blogging about it, and I'm even keeping a video diary.  My first video is up on Youtube now.

Somehow documenting everything with the hope that it will help someone else with the decision to get adult braces helps make everything a little easier.

Today is the last day I will have this smile and all of these teeth.

Tomorrow I lose the fourth tooth from the front on both sides top and bottom.

 (Disclaimer: I was wearing a hat.  They made me take it off)

Snow Day #351,975

It's another snow/ice day at the Weaver house.  All four of are still laying in bed at almost 9:30.  I'll have to get up soon and let the LBs out but right now I'm enjoying the warm comfort of my bed.

Andrew has been sick since yesterday.  I'm thankful the weather will keep him at home today so that he can continue to rest and get better.  I'm not nearly as good of a nurse as he is.  Apparently there is a virus going around disguising itself as the flu.  Not fun!

Laundry is piled high and will easily keep me busy for most of the day.  But in between those loads of laundry I hope to get a little crafting in.  I bought stuff to make a spring wreath for our front door Saturday.  I would like to get that made and do a little organizing in my scrapbook room.

Of course there are also lesson plans to be made and papers to be graded.  It's the never ending story of a teacher.  I've also started to think about next school year and how I will decorate my classroom.  I'm saying goodbye to the owls and moving on to something else.  I'm just not sure what yet.  

-------------------Continued at 5:30----------------------

Well I did get all papers graded and a few loads of laundry done today.  I also watched Friends and Boy Meets World and took a nice long nap.

It's been a great snow day.

Andrew is feeling much better.  Whatever this virus is it doesn't seem to last long.  For that we are thankful.

 I just got the call that tomorrow is another snow day.

Life Lately

Tuesday night I went to Zumba for the first time in about a month.  I love it but man is it hard after you've been out for awhile.  We did so many squats I thought I might die.  Thankfully I had a sweet friend there suffering with me.  That always makes it a little easier.

It must have been too much for my body to handle because I ended up sick Wednesday.  I woke up not feeling to great that morning but went to work because I had meetings for half the day  Around 9:30 though things took a turn for the worse.  I had a fever and was feeling dizzy.  I ended up going home at lunch and skipping my meetings.  I had sent Andrew a text telling him I felt horrible and was coming home.  When I got home he had made me some sweet tea and had the bedroom all ready for me to sleep off this sickness.

It was so sweet.  He went and picked up lunch for me and gave me some NyQuil.  Then I was gone.  I slept for most of the night, but I woke up feeling much better.


Thursday night brought talk of a beach vacation with the entire Weaver family.  The timing of the trip isn't exactly the most convenient for us since I'm a teacher, but I was able to get permission from my principal to miss Open House.  I'm going to have to make up some workshops and have my classroom ready a week early but our beach vacation is booked....with the ENTIRE Weaver clan.  We can't wait to spend a week in the sun with family.


I helped take our Elementary Quiz Bowl team to the regional tournament Friday.  They didn't walk away with a trophy, but they played hard and had fun.  We ended the trip with a visit to GiGi's Cupcakes.  A first for me.

And oh my!  So good!!!

Yesterday we bought a new chair for the chimney bedroom upstairs.  I love it!  It makes me want a new bedspread for that room though.

I also got a sneak peak at my new blog design this weekend.  It is almost finished.  I can not wait to share it with you.  I'm loving it!  Miranda is incredibly talented and great to work with.