Where the Buffalo roam

Picture from here

I have very exciting news! We are going to Montana!!! We leave next week! I can’t wait! We are going to Glacier National Park for a few days first and then driving (8 hours, ugh! With two kids, quadruple ugh!) down to Yellowstone. I’ve never been in that region and I am super psyched to go. It’s all been very spontaneous and short notice so now I’m trying to get everything organized (did you know flights to Montana cost as much as flights to Italy? That wasn’t a surprise I wanted).

We are going with my in-laws (back to that whole thing about us being “go-alongers” not planners) and my husband’s 14 year old sister. Thankfully we get along great so I’m hoping it stays that way after the trip too. My in-laws are leaving a few days before us and then we are going on Tuesday and taking his sister (two weeks is much too long for a teenage girl to be away from her friends!).

I’m really looking forward to the trip but I’m NOT looking forward to making the trip. Know what I mean? Long air travel, plus hours and hours in the car, plus two young kids, plus long exhausting days does not equal a peaceful situation. I’m hoping the beautiful landscape makes everyone a little more peaceful than usual. Bud has always traveled well, I’m not entirely worried about him. Babe on the other hand is a hellion while traveling. I may bring ear plugs.

This whole thing might be kind of foolish on our part but we haven’t taken a vacation in years and we just can’t pass up this opportunity (I mean seriously, when will we find more people that are willing to let us tag along on their vacation?)

Now if only I can convince my husband that I need a new fancy camera before we go!

Magic Teeth

I don’t have much time to write today but thought you’d be interested in seeing Bud’s new hardware. He’s not really buying the whole “magic teeth” thing because it means he can’t chew gum or have fruit snacks. To put that in perspective, that cuts his diet down by at least 40%. He’s a bit beside himself with that thought.

Also, to give you an update. My mom's neighbor is a dentist and she happened to have an appointment with him yesterday afternoon. She asked him about it and he said he would have done the same thing. Apparently the white ones cost over $1000 each and the metal ones cost 10 bucks a pop. He said the fact that Bud will lose those teeth eventually don’t make the cost of white one’s practical. His opinion does smooth my ruffled feathers a little. Just a little.

 

Sorry for the bad quality. I was taking this picture just before we had to run out the door. My camera doesn't like close ups so this was the best I could do. (Also try explaining to a distracted 5 year old to get his tongue out the God damn way to get a good picture.) The other side is in the shadows but you can make it out if you squint and turn your head sideways and cough...wait, that might be for something different...never mind)

 You can barely see them when he smiles.

Cavities would not be better. (At least that's what I'm telling myself)

First, thank you everyone for your support through this very difficult time. I'm happy to say I handled it really well. I mean Bud handled it really well. Yeah, Bud, I mean Bud. Ahem.

He handled it like a champ. A champ that slept through the bout but a champ nonetheless! I wasn't allowed in the room while they worked on him (totally ok with me) but they came and gave me updates throughout. According to the dentist he slept through most of it and was very cooperative when he was awake. (Yay Bud!)

That's the good news.

Of course, there has to be some bad news too.

The dentist office was really great and had me complete all the paperwork and stuff before they were done with him so I was able to leave as soon as they brought him out. I carried him to the car and I wanted to see how his mouth looked so I asked him to open up. My reaction (thankfully in my head) was something along the lines of "HOLY HELL!"

He had to get crowns (I knew this going in) but they used SILVER crowns! Silver! My 4 year old has SILVER TEETH! WTH? Why the heck would you use SILVER crowns? I already feel bad enough that his mouth was basically one big cavity, did they really need to add insult to injury?

At one point before they got started the nurse asked me if we wanted silver or white fillings. Of course, I answered white. Who wants any silver in their mouth? This isn't 1960! I didn't even think about the possibility of the crowns being silver!

Sigh.

He's still sleeping off the sedation so I haven't had another chance to really inspect his mouth but I know I have to figure out how to make this positive in his eyes. I know I need to hide my real thoughts about how it looks but it's going to be hard. I'm thinking maybe I'll tell him they are magic crowns. They will magically make his teeth healthy and happy and he's really lucky to have such magic crowns in his mouth! I hope I can sell it! I also hope he stays asleep a while longer so I can practice my brave face!

I'll just keep telling myself that silver teeth are better than cavities.

I don't want my kid to be known as Toothless Joe

Bud has a dentist appointment tomorrow to get cavities filled. (Let’s not dwell on the fact that my son’s mouth is riddled with cavities. I’m not a bad mom, the dentist says he was born with tooth defects…I swear!)

I may have written before about his experience with the “laser” at our regular dentist but I’m too lazy to look it up and link to it if I did. To sum up, our dentist uses a laser to fill cavities and you don’t even need novocain because the process is so painless. That’s what he says. Get a 4 year old in the dentist chair with a machine gun sounding “laser” in his mouth and you probably won’t get great results. As such, we were referred to a pediatric dentist about an hour away. (No surprise there, everything is about an hour away from where we live. Why am I living in Central NY again?) We had our consultation a few weeks ago and tomorrow is the big day. We have to be there at 7:30 (did you guys know I’m not a morning person) so they can give him the sedation medicine and then they will see him at 9:00. So he gets all loopy and then they wrap him in a papoose (not just for Native American children anymore!) so he doesn’t flail about during the procedure.  

I’m thinking that this whole thing will be more traumatic for me than for him but I’m really not looking forward to it. The good thing to come out of it is I have the day off from work to deal with my drunk child. The bad news is I have to deal with a drunk child on my day off. The other good news is I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about after the appointment!

Another list (because I can)

I had so much fun writing my last list that I’m going to force another one on you (don’t worry, it’s not nearly as long). Enjoy!

Things I did this weekend:

1. Drove a total of ten hours in one day (and by “drove” I mean rode shotgun while my husband did almost all of the driving. See # 4)
2. Saw a GIGANTIC skateboard traveling down the Garden State Parkway on the back of a flatbed. (oh if only I had my camera at the ready for that one!)
3. Saw 3 pink cars in a five mile stretch. (Really? You choose the pink one? On purpose?)
4. Drove 30 minutes out of 10 hours in the car before almost throwing up about 12 miles from home.
5. Threw up massively once we got home.
6. Had a 2 year old throw up her lunch of mac and cheese all over me and my bedroom floor.
7. Painted the dining room.
8. Fell off a ladder while painting the dining room.

Overall it was a splendid weekend. Hope yours was just as action packed!