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.

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.

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.  

Five on Friday 01/10/14

First things first.  I have wronged my husband and I owe him a public apology.

I left something very important off my Year in Review post.

In 2013 we saw Fleetwood Mac in concert.

Whew!  Glad that's off my chest. 

Now we can move on to a little Five on Friday fun.

Andrew & I had a consultation with an orthodontist Wednesday morning.  It was the same guy I mentioned before.  The first visit was just having molds made and the initial prognosis.  Wednesday we sat down and talked about exactly what needed to be done and how much it would cost.  For me that means braces on top & bottom but only after I have four teeth pulled.  For Andrew that means braces on top after he has one tooth pulled.   Something about that doesn't seem fair to me.

I had a consultation with another orthodontist last week.  He didn't want to pull teeth right away but felt like it would probably have to be done before we were all finished with the process.  

It has taken me time to get to this point, but right now I'm leaning toward the first orthodontist - the one who wants to pull teeth.  I just feel like he has actually studied my mouth and cares about me individually.  The second guy feels like cookie cutter orthodontics.  I feel like he gives everyone the same treatment regardless.  

I have another consultation with a third orthodontist next week.  I'm thinking after that appointment I will make a decision.

As I was getting ready to go back to school after our orthodontist appointment Wednesday afternoon I got the phone call that they were dismissing school at 12:30 due to incoming inclement weather.  I had just backed out of my driveway when the call came so I went around the block and right back home.  Around 8:30 Wednesday  night I got the call that we would be enjoying yet another snow day Thursday.  I enjoyed getting to sleep in, but I'm going to be in school all summer.

My blog is in the process of a makeover thanks to my sweet friend Miranda.  She has been designing my blogs for quite awhile now and always does a fabulous job.  I was heart broken when she got out of the business.  Good news!  She is back!  She has just opened a new shop call Lil Birdie Design Shop.  If you are interested in starting the new year with a new look, please go check out her shop.  She does amazing work and is so easy to work with.

I think I have finally made a decision about my first decorating project for the house.  There are a lot of blank walls in our house, but there is one that drives me crazy.  Our little breakfast nook.  I snapped a picture of it a couple of weeks ago and asked friends for ideas.

The table doesn't sit centered on the wall which throws me off a little with decorating.  I received several ideas.  Most people suggested that I paint a quote on that wall or do a quote with vinyl.  Andrew isn't a fan of that idea.  Besides it would take me a sweet forever to decide what quote I would want to use.

I found a picture on Pinterest that I liked.  It is actually very similar to my original idea for this space.

I grabbed some scrapbook paper and taped it on the wall.  I need to live with it awhile before making my final decision.  Pretty sure this is what I want to do.  Now I just need to find the perfect fabric and decide what color I want to paint the canvases with words.

I went to Zumba tonight for the first time in over a year.  I've been wanting to go for a couple of weeks but haven't been able to find the motivation.  I finally just went tonight even with Andrew tempting me to skip and go eat at Brother's BBQ (where we had our anniversary date).

I am so glad I went.  It was so much fun!  I've missed it.  I had a big goofy grin on my face pretty much the entire time.  But man am I going to be sore in the morning.  I can already feel it!

Five on Friday

Not only is it Friday, but Christmas break has officially begun!  Yay!!

I'm linking up today for some Five on Friday fun.

Here we go.

ONE.

Andrew and I both went to the orthodontist earlier this week.  It was Andrew's 2nd visit and my 1st.  I have an appointment to get a second opinion at the beginning of the year.  We've both wanted to do this for awhile and we decided to just do it.  We are going to do it together and suffer together.  The orthodontist we saw this week wants to pull four of my teeth to make some room.  This doesn't surprise me.  My mouth is small and overcrowded.  However, I'm really hoping the 2nd opinion doesn't involve pulling teeth.  Just the thought causes me to have a near panic attack.

TWO.

Have you been watching The Sing Off?  I am so excited that this show is back.  I LOVE it.  I think this show has my favorite judges.  Ben Folds and Shawn from Boyz II Men crack me up!!  I like Jewel too.  I wasn't sure about her at first.  I hope she sticks around.

My favorite part of the show is texting with my little brother.  We watch together through text messaging.  It is fun!  We hardly ever agree on the same groups, but I think this year we have pretty much agreed.  We are both hoping Home Free wins.  We will get to watch the finale together Monday night. 

THREE.

I have recently decided that it was time for the ol' blog to get a new look.  I guess I've been spoiled because I had no idea blog designs had gotten so expensive.  I found a few that I liked on etsy, but then my sweet friend Miranda announced that she was going back into the business starting in January.  I could not be more excited about this.  I'm trying hard to wait patiently for her return.  In the mean time I'm planning it all out so that when the time does come I will know exactly what I want.

FOUR.

We had our class Christmas parties Wednesday.  I was absolutely blown away by the gifts I received my students.  They were so sweet.  We had this thing at school called Reindeer Lane where students could go and buy gifts for their family and friends.  One sweet boy in my homeroom bought me a gift from there.  He brought wrapping paper from home to wrap it for me.  

Boy: I bought you a present at Reindeer Lane Mrs. Weaver?

Me: Oh yeah?  That was really sweet of you.

Boy: It is one of the expensive items.  It cost $3.

Two days later I open it.  It's a photo item.  He tells me he figured I liked pictures and photo albums because I teach scrapbooking after school.

BREAK MY HEART.  $3 is a lot of money to this kid.  

I received 4 owl warmers - all different and I love every one of them. 

I definitely went home Wednesday feeling incredibly blessed and loved by my precious students.

FIVE.

Early last month I ordered a pair of leggings online.  Ever since I've been looking for a shirt to go with them.  I bought two that were complete failures.  I finally found one that works perfectly.  Thank you OLD NAVY!  I'll share a pic of this outfit soon.