I had a bad day yesterday. A really bad day. Thank goodness for my mom! I called her in hysterics at one point in the day and she was with someone at work. When she finally was able to call me back, I was getting James ready for bed…James, by the way, was an amazing little boy when I was upset. He followed me around the house as I paced and tried with all I had to keep my cool, not cry, not scream and not put my fist through the wall. The entire time, even though for the first 10 minutes or so, I was too upset to even acknowledge him properly. But he never gave up. “Mommy!” he would say, “you don’t have to be upset anymore! Look! I am being soooo funny!” and the he would act like a monkey or make funny faces or babble nonsense…Finally, after about 10 minutes, I calmed down and I felt so so so thankful that my boy was there for me, and that he never stopped trying to make me happy again.
Anyway, as I was saying, when Mom called back, I was busy with James and couldn’t really talk about it in front of him. I texted her and told her a little bit of what happened and then told her I would call when James went to bed. Mom actually called me back about 8pm and said, “are you busy? Can I come by? I have something to show you.” Curious, I told her to come on by and she showed up with a big white trash bag, filled to bursting with something, I couldn’t tell what. Mom came in and held up the bag and said, “could you use some shoe therapy?”
Her friend Susan’s daughter Stacey wears the same size as me! SIZE GIANT! And she’s a single girl who has all the money in the world to spend on shoes, so these weren’t your ordinary worn out hand me down shoes…most of these were barely worn and ALL of them are a lot more high end than I am used to buying! Anyway, Mom and I tried on all the shoes and split them up and I now have about 7 “new” gorgeous pairs of shoes. Yay! I was just shocked, I have never known anyone with feet as big as mine who has such great shoes.
Clara’s finally getting better. She was really starting to freak out about having those braces for the next two years. She was in so much pain, she’d forgotten what it was like to NOT be in pain, and she could just imagine the next 24 months hurting that bad. She finally had some bread, rice and soft tacos yesterday, so I think the worst is over. Yay! She looks sooooooooooo cute. I will have to post a picture SOON!
Listen, I want to clear something up in advance. You might start hearing rumors about my mother around town. And I have a confession – I know who started the rumor. It was James. We saw a Mustang like hers, only it was not a convertible, and James said, really loudly, “MY Mimi has a car like that! But MY Mimi knows how to take her top off.
So, just a warning. In case you hear something.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
25 things you never wanted to know.
Okay, i want to hear from those of you who read this. Comment and let me know if there are 1) any you were really surprised about, 2) which ones you knew and 3) which ones you didnt know.
Just for funsies!
1. I can sing with my mouth closed. It's really, really awesome.
2. I ran into my husband at a church function...a week before I had my daughter and I was married to someone else. He felt bad for me because I was giant.
3. I never, ever, ever thought I would adore my mom and sisters as much as I do now. It gives me hope for my future with Clara!
4. I love to give nicknames and rarely call people by their actual names.
5. My husband calls me Nay, as in short for Shanaynay.
6. I can play the song I played at my 4th grade piano recital (the circus song) and not much else.
7. I didn't like dogs AT ALL until I'd had mine for about 2 years. Now...I am completely in love with her.
8. My last cat's name was Ernie Mess Buppet and my current cat's name is Moe Basghetti. I let my kids go nuts with the pet names.
9. I wore white socks with flying pigs on them to the gym today.
10. Speaking of the gym, if I forget my Ipod or my bandana, I go home. I wont even pretend that I can work out without those two things.
11. I used to dress up in my Little Orphan Annie costume and wig, stand in my front yard, and wave at the passers-by, feeling it in my heart that I was making their days...I imagined them saying, "Look! Did you see?? It was Little Orphan Annie, right there on the driveway! We are so lucky to have caught a glimpse of her!!"
12. In the summers of my childhood, since we didn't have a pool, I would fill up 30-gallon trash bags with water...and then just stand in it. For like half an hour.
13. I love alcohol. I can't help it. I love all wine, all beer, all everything. I know, I know. But I come by it naturally. Have you met my parents? ;)
14. I'm terrified of wrinkles and fine lines.
15. I love makeup. I can't imagine how many hundreds and hundreds of dollars I have worth of makeup in my bathroom cabinet.
16. I love family names. My daughter is named after my grandmother, and my son is named after my brother and my husband.
17. One summer when my cousin stayed with us for a couple weeks, we would wake up at the crack of dawn, get tons of books, crawl down into the water tunnels under the streets, and read for hours. Why??????? I have no idea.
18. I am super, duper, superduper impatient.
19. I had a pretend friend named Cindy, a pretend brother named Bubba, and a pretend termite named Julana when I was a little girl.
20. I've been out of the country only once, and that was on my honeymoon.
21. I love to read, but not classy, hoity toity stuff. I like murder, mystery, suspense...that kind of thing.
22. I'm extremely proud of my husband and his skillz.
23. I sweat like a pig. At the drop of a hat.
24. I used to run all the time...and I really want to again so bad, I can't take it. I'm getting there.
25. I have a full length hot pink fur coat and I LOVE IT.
Just for funsies!
1. I can sing with my mouth closed. It's really, really awesome.
2. I ran into my husband at a church function...a week before I had my daughter and I was married to someone else. He felt bad for me because I was giant.
3. I never, ever, ever thought I would adore my mom and sisters as much as I do now. It gives me hope for my future with Clara!
4. I love to give nicknames and rarely call people by their actual names.
5. My husband calls me Nay, as in short for Shanaynay.
6. I can play the song I played at my 4th grade piano recital (the circus song) and not much else.
7. I didn't like dogs AT ALL until I'd had mine for about 2 years. Now...I am completely in love with her.
8. My last cat's name was Ernie Mess Buppet and my current cat's name is Moe Basghetti. I let my kids go nuts with the pet names.
9. I wore white socks with flying pigs on them to the gym today.
10. Speaking of the gym, if I forget my Ipod or my bandana, I go home. I wont even pretend that I can work out without those two things.
11. I used to dress up in my Little Orphan Annie costume and wig, stand in my front yard, and wave at the passers-by, feeling it in my heart that I was making their days...I imagined them saying, "Look! Did you see?? It was Little Orphan Annie, right there on the driveway! We are so lucky to have caught a glimpse of her!!"
12. In the summers of my childhood, since we didn't have a pool, I would fill up 30-gallon trash bags with water...and then just stand in it. For like half an hour.
13. I love alcohol. I can't help it. I love all wine, all beer, all everything. I know, I know. But I come by it naturally. Have you met my parents? ;)
14. I'm terrified of wrinkles and fine lines.
15. I love makeup. I can't imagine how many hundreds and hundreds of dollars I have worth of makeup in my bathroom cabinet.
16. I love family names. My daughter is named after my grandmother, and my son is named after my brother and my husband.
17. One summer when my cousin stayed with us for a couple weeks, we would wake up at the crack of dawn, get tons of books, crawl down into the water tunnels under the streets, and read for hours. Why??????? I have no idea.
18. I am super, duper, superduper impatient.
19. I had a pretend friend named Cindy, a pretend brother named Bubba, and a pretend termite named Julana when I was a little girl.
20. I've been out of the country only once, and that was on my honeymoon.
21. I love to read, but not classy, hoity toity stuff. I like murder, mystery, suspense...that kind of thing.
22. I'm extremely proud of my husband and his skillz.
23. I sweat like a pig. At the drop of a hat.
24. I used to run all the time...and I really want to again so bad, I can't take it. I'm getting there.
25. I have a full length hot pink fur coat and I LOVE IT.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Every rose has it's thorn.
Welp. Clara's at the orthodontist's office getting braces right now! I will post a picture of her asap. She's so super duper excited. I am excited for her. She hasn't slept the past two nights.
I'd like to note that I have two more confirmed blog readers! Kristen and Grandma D both emailed me about my last post, and if you know Grandma D, you know how hilarious it was to find an email from her with the subject line "dammit" in response to the blog :) I LOL'd.
As Kristen, Grandma, Jennifer and Stacie know, James loves to dress up. He found an old pair of tights that Clara wore when she was his age, and he has taken them as his own tights. But now, they are SUPERMAN tights. Nevermind that they are off white and not blue. He has a set of Superman boxer briefs and undershirt, wife-beater style. He loves to put on the tights and the Superman set, and then any cape that is available. On Sunday alone, he had pillowcase cape, a tiger print silk scarf cape and a pink and purple polka dot silk scarf cape throughout the day.
He did feel troubled, though, when I showed him a picture of Superman on the internet. His costume has briefs instead of boxer briefs over his tights. In James terms though, this is known as "underwear pointing down." So we had to roll up his boxer briefs up inside themselves and the result was some french cut 80's bikini bottom look, but hey, James was happy, so whatevs.
My son is SUCH a momma's boy. If he needs anything, and I mean anything at all, from needing his bottom wiped to a cup of juice, if daddy offers to assist him, he lets him know, "I want Mommy to do it. I love her more." Haaaaaaaaaa! Also, don't you talk bad about his momma. He WILL come after you. Steph and I were sitting on the back porch with him yesterday and he started to go inside. He almost had the door closed behind him and Steph said something about me being mean. He whirled around, whipped that door back open and stormed over to her and LET. HER. HAVE. IT! Thanks Jamesy!
When I left for work late last week, as I was pulling out of the driveway, my cell phone rang. It was Scott. James was really upset because he had wanted to tell me something before I left, so I pulled back in the drive and waited for him to come out. "Mom," he began, "I just wanted to tell you that you need to CALL ME if you get into any danger." To the rescue!!!
So, every single time I go to the gym I wear a bandana around my forehead to keep out the sweat. And I almost always go with my makeup on and end up washing my face before I get in the sauna. Why don't I just wash my face before I go? I honestly don't know. It's like, I am in a hurry to get to the gym and I don't want to mess with it, but I appreciate the break between my workout and the sauna to wash my face. Whatever. Anyway. As I left the house wearing all black workout gear, a bandana and heavy black eyeliner, I stopped in my tracks, backed up, went inside the front door and saw Scott standing in the dining room. "Oh my gosh, I look just like Brett Michaels, don't I?" Scott peered at me and said, "well, actually, you kinda do."
LOL! See?
I'd like to note that I have two more confirmed blog readers! Kristen and Grandma D both emailed me about my last post, and if you know Grandma D, you know how hilarious it was to find an email from her with the subject line "dammit" in response to the blog :) I LOL'd.
As Kristen, Grandma, Jennifer and Stacie know, James loves to dress up. He found an old pair of tights that Clara wore when she was his age, and he has taken them as his own tights. But now, they are SUPERMAN tights. Nevermind that they are off white and not blue. He has a set of Superman boxer briefs and undershirt, wife-beater style. He loves to put on the tights and the Superman set, and then any cape that is available. On Sunday alone, he had pillowcase cape, a tiger print silk scarf cape and a pink and purple polka dot silk scarf cape throughout the day.
He did feel troubled, though, when I showed him a picture of Superman on the internet. His costume has briefs instead of boxer briefs over his tights. In James terms though, this is known as "underwear pointing down." So we had to roll up his boxer briefs up inside themselves and the result was some french cut 80's bikini bottom look, but hey, James was happy, so whatevs.
My son is SUCH a momma's boy. If he needs anything, and I mean anything at all, from needing his bottom wiped to a cup of juice, if daddy offers to assist him, he lets him know, "I want Mommy to do it. I love her more." Haaaaaaaaaa! Also, don't you talk bad about his momma. He WILL come after you. Steph and I were sitting on the back porch with him yesterday and he started to go inside. He almost had the door closed behind him and Steph said something about me being mean. He whirled around, whipped that door back open and stormed over to her and LET. HER. HAVE. IT! Thanks Jamesy!
When I left for work late last week, as I was pulling out of the driveway, my cell phone rang. It was Scott. James was really upset because he had wanted to tell me something before I left, so I pulled back in the drive and waited for him to come out. "Mom," he began, "I just wanted to tell you that you need to CALL ME if you get into any danger." To the rescue!!!
So, every single time I go to the gym I wear a bandana around my forehead to keep out the sweat. And I almost always go with my makeup on and end up washing my face before I get in the sauna. Why don't I just wash my face before I go? I honestly don't know. It's like, I am in a hurry to get to the gym and I don't want to mess with it, but I appreciate the break between my workout and the sauna to wash my face. Whatever. Anyway. As I left the house wearing all black workout gear, a bandana and heavy black eyeliner, I stopped in my tracks, backed up, went inside the front door and saw Scott standing in the dining room. "Oh my gosh, I look just like Brett Michaels, don't I?" Scott peered at me and said, "well, actually, you kinda do."
LOL! See?
Friday, February 13, 2009
One of THOSE women.
Man, I hate when I do this. I hate when I wait so long between posts that I don't know where to start. I guess I'll just start blabbing about the notes I've taken and see where that leads me!
An interesting tidbit: as I may or may not have mentioned before, Jennifer and Stacie are my only readers, that I know of. They might be my only ones, period! Or...exclamation mark!!! Or...whatever. Anyway, every time I go a few days without blogging, I usually hear from one or both of them to remind me to get on the ball. Well, it's been a few weeks and I hadn't heard from either of them. Then, today - they BOTH emailed me about it. See? It *is* an interesting tidbit.
You may be suprised to learn that I have become one of THOSE women. You know - the kind who doesn't expect her husband to help with 50% of all the housework. I never thought I'd be okay with doing 98% of it. Now, it helps tremendously that Scott has so graciously agreed to pay the housekeeper every two weeks, but even before that, I'd almost completely let him off the hook. He's only expected (okay maybe not "expected"...more like "begged") to keep the dishwasher and trash can in the kitchen emptied. Other than that, I do it. I don't LOVE to do it, but I have learned that if my children and I are going to have clean clothes, then I need to clean them. If I want a path from the living room to the bedroom, I am going to have to clear it. You get the idea. So....imagine my surprise when I came home from work today and Scott had done ALL THE LAUNDRY! And, we're talking, we had four full baskets. I sort my laundry as I go, so I have four baskets in my closet. Makes it easier when it comes time. I can just dump a basket in the washer and not worry about sorting. Anyway, he washed/dried/hung/folded all that laundry! There is a load of towels that I moved from the washer to the dryer, but that's it! Wasn't that terribly sweet of him? That is why I have some time to sit now and write my blog :)
I think now is a good time to play "WHAT DID JAMES SAY THIS TIME??" We have two funnies, an inappropriate, and then one that is a cross of the two.
Funnies: Andrew and Caleb gave away Thomas the Train goody bags at their joint birthday party a couple weekends ago. Inside the goody bag was a maze for each kid to solve. James named his maze Melanie. I am not sure what happened to Melanie. The last time I remember seeing her, we were in the car and she was sitting next to James. I took a sharp turn and Melanie drifted to the floorboard. Next thing I know, James is wailing, "MELLLLLLLLLLLANIE!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" It would have completely broken my heart to hear him so sad that his friend had fallen off the seat, IF I DIDN'T KNOW HIS FRIEND WAS A FREAKIN' MAZE. NAMED MELANIE!
Second funny: one of James's favorite things to do is go look at the toy section in Target. He knows we are not going to buy things (he also knows I nearly always give in and at least get some tiny thing)...but he just loves to look forever! Last time we went, we were there for over an hour. Just up and down the toy aisles. We turned the corner down the Thomas the Train aisle, and James startled a couple of other shoppers and me with his exclamation, "GREAT BALLS OF TRAINS!"
Inappropriate: last night James sat in my lap and rested his head on my...bosom. He then picked his head up, cocked it, pointed at the right side of my....bosom, and said "what is that again? I forgot." I answered matter-of-factly, "it is a breast." He looked at me thought fully and said, "can I see it, on your body?" "No, it's a private part," I told him. He started to whine...and I asked what was wrong. "I don't have any private parts!" LOL. Then we discussed what constitutes a private part. I think he's got it now.
Funny/Inappropriate: Stacie, Andrew and James were playing with Andrew's new go-cart. James explained to Stacie that he would be a Speed Racer, Andrew would be a Speed Racer, and she could be the chick from Speed Racer. Hahaha! That one really gets me.
We have some news in the Clara department! She is getting braces on Tuesday. Yay! We had quite a time finding just the right orthodontist for us, but I think we're going to be really happy with our choice. The first one we went to seemed to be kind of an old-school guy. I actually had a few problems with this one. First of all, we were at his office for TWO HOURS. It being our first appointment, I thought maybe this is just the way it is for consultations. Well, not so, I later learned. Anyway, that was strike one. Strike two was the biggie: while Clara was back having x-rays and whatnot, she was asked if she was ready for braces. When she answered "yes," they went ahead and put spacers between her teeth. Without asking me! When they finally called me back to discuss procedure and cost, THEN I was informed that they had put in the spacers so we could go ahead and get started in two more days. I was thinking, "ummmm. She's 11. She might be ready, but she ain't payin'. And is that even okay to do to someone's kid without asking?" I was pretty put off about it. Strike three was the way the doctor made me feel like...well...this is what he said. "If you're ready, we'll go ahead and set the appointment for Wednesday." I said (which was the honest to God truth), "i need to talk to her dad before I make any decisions." To which he said, "well I'm not trying to push you but I don't want to waste your time either." Which was ironic because he'd just taken two hours of my time, and it was pretty apparent he wasnt REALLY talking about MY time. So...I was not sure how that would compare to the other places we had lined up, but I was pretty sure that was not the place for us. That was confirmed when I realized they were the most expensive and furthest in distance from us.
Place two was AWESOME. They were super-friendly (they were friendly at place one, dont get me wrong) and the office itself was just too cool. It was all decked out in a sports theme (perfect for my daughter!) and they had video games for the kids to play. I have nothing bad to say about this place, and the price for this one was actually the lowest. It was a terribly tough decision to not go with this office, if you want to know the truth. And, we were in and out in 20 minutes (literally!) with as much info as the other place. The only thing we didn't get here that we did at the other place were those damn spacers.
Place three was almost as cool as place two. It was definitely kid-friendly, but it didn't appeal to Clara the way place two did. And it was between place one and place three price-wise. We ended up going with this office because of a system they use that I did a little research on, and if everything I found is true, Clara will be out of her braces a little earlier, she wont have to go in as often, and her appointments will be shorter each time. Like I said, it was tough to choose between the last two offices, and I'm still just crossing my fingers that I've made the right choice!The new orthodontist also had some cool software and equipment that the other places didn't. One thing they did was take 3-D x-rays of her head so they could look at her teeth and the roots from any angle at all. It TOTALLY creeped me out because it was...well, it was her skull! I could see her little eye sockets (shudder). The ortho blacked out the eye sockets after I joked around about it, but I was secretly very relieved! They'd also taken really up-close pictures of her smile so we could put them on the GIANT computer screen and see her teeth. LOL. She had a piece of pepper or something in her front tooth and it was so big on the screen. I told her I wanted a copy so I could frame it and hang it in her room. The doc's assistant told Clara she was so lucky to have such a funny mom and I could hear Clara's eyes rolling - I didn't even have to look.
I can't believe how much Clara is changing. She is thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to being as tall as me. She still has me do her hair in the mornings and my arms get achy from having to reach up to do her ponytails! She is just getting more and more beautiful. She's always been gorge, but as she's maturing, her beauty is just almost too much to take. She's also getting into jogging! How exciting! When I picked her up from school for her ortho appointment, I saw all the P.E. kids running laps around the school. I was pretty sure Clara had P.E. at that hour, but I couldn't see her. I assumed she'd just not participated since she knew I was coming to get her. When she showed up in the office, she was red and sweaty. I asked her why...and do you know what she said? It was because she was SO FAR AHEAD of everyone else that I couldn't see her. She was the first girl to finish and had only been beaten by four boys! You go girl! Then she came home and ran on the treadmill, nearly 2 miles in 15 minutes! Awesome!!! Also, she calls the treadmill the "treadmeal." LOLz.
Uh oh. I thought of (surprise surprise!) another inappropriate Jamesy quote. Lane came over to play last week and he and James both came up to me, each with a colander on his head, and each with a toy containing expired batteries. They looked up at me through the holes in their colanders (they were being aliens) and asked me to help with new batteries. I put fresh ones in the toy James had and it didn't help. "Well," I said, "I guess this toy is just broken. The batteries didn't fix it. Dang." Then James added, "dammit." And Lane chimed in with, "dammit is a bad word." Ay ay ay! I immediately called Lane's mom to warn her that she might hear about this conversation, and to apologize that my son cussed in the presence of hers, and HER sweet son knew it was a bad word. "Oh please!" she said. "How do you think he knew it was a bad word??"
My sweet husband turned 32 yesteray, and I am only 10 days away from my own 32nd birthday. Last year I surprised Scott with a stay at the Gaylord in Grapevine and we adored it, so we're doing it again this year! A couple of differences: first, it's not a surprise, and second, my parents are going to go! I cannot believe I have grown into someone who LIKES her parents. I mean, it's my birthday - and I'm super excited to hang out with my best friend (Scott) and my other besties, my parents! How fun. Stacie's keeping James and Clara will be with her dad. We're going to just hang at the hotel, go to the club on the hotel grounds and watch a band, maybe have a drink or two (but maybe not HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA), and just chill. Yay, I can't wait!
An interesting tidbit: as I may or may not have mentioned before, Jennifer and Stacie are my only readers, that I know of. They might be my only ones, period! Or...exclamation mark!!! Or...whatever. Anyway, every time I go a few days without blogging, I usually hear from one or both of them to remind me to get on the ball. Well, it's been a few weeks and I hadn't heard from either of them. Then, today - they BOTH emailed me about it. See? It *is* an interesting tidbit.
You may be suprised to learn that I have become one of THOSE women. You know - the kind who doesn't expect her husband to help with 50% of all the housework. I never thought I'd be okay with doing 98% of it. Now, it helps tremendously that Scott has so graciously agreed to pay the housekeeper every two weeks, but even before that, I'd almost completely let him off the hook. He's only expected (okay maybe not "expected"...more like "begged") to keep the dishwasher and trash can in the kitchen emptied. Other than that, I do it. I don't LOVE to do it, but I have learned that if my children and I are going to have clean clothes, then I need to clean them. If I want a path from the living room to the bedroom, I am going to have to clear it. You get the idea. So....imagine my surprise when I came home from work today and Scott had done ALL THE LAUNDRY! And, we're talking, we had four full baskets. I sort my laundry as I go, so I have four baskets in my closet. Makes it easier when it comes time. I can just dump a basket in the washer and not worry about sorting. Anyway, he washed/dried/hung/folded all that laundry! There is a load of towels that I moved from the washer to the dryer, but that's it! Wasn't that terribly sweet of him? That is why I have some time to sit now and write my blog :)
I think now is a good time to play "WHAT DID JAMES SAY THIS TIME??" We have two funnies, an inappropriate, and then one that is a cross of the two.
Funnies: Andrew and Caleb gave away Thomas the Train goody bags at their joint birthday party a couple weekends ago. Inside the goody bag was a maze for each kid to solve. James named his maze Melanie. I am not sure what happened to Melanie. The last time I remember seeing her, we were in the car and she was sitting next to James. I took a sharp turn and Melanie drifted to the floorboard. Next thing I know, James is wailing, "MELLLLLLLLLLLANIE!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" It would have completely broken my heart to hear him so sad that his friend had fallen off the seat, IF I DIDN'T KNOW HIS FRIEND WAS A FREAKIN' MAZE. NAMED MELANIE!
Second funny: one of James's favorite things to do is go look at the toy section in Target. He knows we are not going to buy things (he also knows I nearly always give in and at least get some tiny thing)...but he just loves to look forever! Last time we went, we were there for over an hour. Just up and down the toy aisles. We turned the corner down the Thomas the Train aisle, and James startled a couple of other shoppers and me with his exclamation, "GREAT BALLS OF TRAINS!"
Inappropriate: last night James sat in my lap and rested his head on my...bosom. He then picked his head up, cocked it, pointed at the right side of my....bosom, and said "what is that again? I forgot." I answered matter-of-factly, "it is a breast." He looked at me thought fully and said, "can I see it, on your body?" "No, it's a private part," I told him. He started to whine...and I asked what was wrong. "I don't have any private parts!" LOL. Then we discussed what constitutes a private part. I think he's got it now.
Funny/Inappropriate: Stacie, Andrew and James were playing with Andrew's new go-cart. James explained to Stacie that he would be a Speed Racer, Andrew would be a Speed Racer, and she could be the chick from Speed Racer. Hahaha! That one really gets me.
We have some news in the Clara department! She is getting braces on Tuesday. Yay! We had quite a time finding just the right orthodontist for us, but I think we're going to be really happy with our choice. The first one we went to seemed to be kind of an old-school guy. I actually had a few problems with this one. First of all, we were at his office for TWO HOURS. It being our first appointment, I thought maybe this is just the way it is for consultations. Well, not so, I later learned. Anyway, that was strike one. Strike two was the biggie: while Clara was back having x-rays and whatnot, she was asked if she was ready for braces. When she answered "yes," they went ahead and put spacers between her teeth. Without asking me! When they finally called me back to discuss procedure and cost, THEN I was informed that they had put in the spacers so we could go ahead and get started in two more days. I was thinking, "ummmm. She's 11. She might be ready, but she ain't payin'. And is that even okay to do to someone's kid without asking?" I was pretty put off about it. Strike three was the way the doctor made me feel like...well...this is what he said. "If you're ready, we'll go ahead and set the appointment for Wednesday." I said (which was the honest to God truth), "i need to talk to her dad before I make any decisions." To which he said, "well I'm not trying to push you but I don't want to waste your time either." Which was ironic because he'd just taken two hours of my time, and it was pretty apparent he wasnt REALLY talking about MY time. So...I was not sure how that would compare to the other places we had lined up, but I was pretty sure that was not the place for us. That was confirmed when I realized they were the most expensive and furthest in distance from us.
Place two was AWESOME. They were super-friendly (they were friendly at place one, dont get me wrong) and the office itself was just too cool. It was all decked out in a sports theme (perfect for my daughter!) and they had video games for the kids to play. I have nothing bad to say about this place, and the price for this one was actually the lowest. It was a terribly tough decision to not go with this office, if you want to know the truth. And, we were in and out in 20 minutes (literally!) with as much info as the other place. The only thing we didn't get here that we did at the other place were those damn spacers.
Place three was almost as cool as place two. It was definitely kid-friendly, but it didn't appeal to Clara the way place two did. And it was between place one and place three price-wise. We ended up going with this office because of a system they use that I did a little research on, and if everything I found is true, Clara will be out of her braces a little earlier, she wont have to go in as often, and her appointments will be shorter each time. Like I said, it was tough to choose between the last two offices, and I'm still just crossing my fingers that I've made the right choice!The new orthodontist also had some cool software and equipment that the other places didn't. One thing they did was take 3-D x-rays of her head so they could look at her teeth and the roots from any angle at all. It TOTALLY creeped me out because it was...well, it was her skull! I could see her little eye sockets (shudder). The ortho blacked out the eye sockets after I joked around about it, but I was secretly very relieved! They'd also taken really up-close pictures of her smile so we could put them on the GIANT computer screen and see her teeth. LOL. She had a piece of pepper or something in her front tooth and it was so big on the screen. I told her I wanted a copy so I could frame it and hang it in her room. The doc's assistant told Clara she was so lucky to have such a funny mom and I could hear Clara's eyes rolling - I didn't even have to look.
I can't believe how much Clara is changing. She is thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to being as tall as me. She still has me do her hair in the mornings and my arms get achy from having to reach up to do her ponytails! She is just getting more and more beautiful. She's always been gorge, but as she's maturing, her beauty is just almost too much to take. She's also getting into jogging! How exciting! When I picked her up from school for her ortho appointment, I saw all the P.E. kids running laps around the school. I was pretty sure Clara had P.E. at that hour, but I couldn't see her. I assumed she'd just not participated since she knew I was coming to get her. When she showed up in the office, she was red and sweaty. I asked her why...and do you know what she said? It was because she was SO FAR AHEAD of everyone else that I couldn't see her. She was the first girl to finish and had only been beaten by four boys! You go girl! Then she came home and ran on the treadmill, nearly 2 miles in 15 minutes! Awesome!!! Also, she calls the treadmill the "treadmeal." LOLz.
Uh oh. I thought of (surprise surprise!) another inappropriate Jamesy quote. Lane came over to play last week and he and James both came up to me, each with a colander on his head, and each with a toy containing expired batteries. They looked up at me through the holes in their colanders (they were being aliens) and asked me to help with new batteries. I put fresh ones in the toy James had and it didn't help. "Well," I said, "I guess this toy is just broken. The batteries didn't fix it. Dang." Then James added, "dammit." And Lane chimed in with, "dammit is a bad word." Ay ay ay! I immediately called Lane's mom to warn her that she might hear about this conversation, and to apologize that my son cussed in the presence of hers, and HER sweet son knew it was a bad word. "Oh please!" she said. "How do you think he knew it was a bad word??"
My sweet husband turned 32 yesteray, and I am only 10 days away from my own 32nd birthday. Last year I surprised Scott with a stay at the Gaylord in Grapevine and we adored it, so we're doing it again this year! A couple of differences: first, it's not a surprise, and second, my parents are going to go! I cannot believe I have grown into someone who LIKES her parents. I mean, it's my birthday - and I'm super excited to hang out with my best friend (Scott) and my other besties, my parents! How fun. Stacie's keeping James and Clara will be with her dad. We're going to just hang at the hotel, go to the club on the hotel grounds and watch a band, maybe have a drink or two (but maybe not HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA), and just chill. Yay, I can't wait!
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