The Tooth Drama

So the front view doesn't make it look that bad. I guess that helps the mommy guilt a little. Poor baby, if you even got close to his mouth, he'd flinch like you were gonna hit him.











The side view really shows how wide-spread the infection was. The big purplish bruise looking thing is all the infection build-up in the gums and cheek. He was so miserable. I just wanted to cry.

On Wednesday, Ty took him to the specialist to do the pulpotomy and I stayed home at the kids because I was sure I would ring somebody's neck and then be worried about Zach the whole time. (The office had called earlier in the day to tell me that because they hadn't run our insurance sooner, the office had closed and they couldn't verify whether we had insurance coverage or not, so the would have to re-schedule for the next day or so. Do you SEE my baby's face? That didn't fly with me! Anyway...) After they had been gone a little over an hour, Ty calls to tell me they are on the way home. This isn't good because it takes 45 minutes just to get to the office across town! Well, the specialist took one look at poor Zach's mouth and was instantly angry with the dentist who had attempted to "repair" it the first time. She said, for the first thing, he shouldn't have even tried to numb the area because all that infection in like Pac-Man and just gobbles up the anesthetic before it could do any work. That's why he couldn't get numb. Second, when a tooth is that infected at Zach's age, the best course is to just extract the tooth. It was the one covering his 6 year old molar anyway, so it's not like he'll be toothless long. Then she continued that the other 3 didn't need the pulpotomy and probably not the extraction. Their infection was largely related to the first tooth's infection and will probably go away now that he's had a full run of antibiotics and once the offending tooth was removed. So she rescheduled to Saturday when he was done with the antibiotics. We went in on Saturday and with very little trouble, we had the tooth extracted. Since then, the swelling is completely gone, and he only complains about tenderness when he's really tired! Per the specialist's order, we are waiting till we get to Idaho to get the others taken care of, if there is anything to take care of. She thought several of the "cavities" were actually only "hot spots" that could be potentially healed with brushing and a good fluoride rinse. *Fingers crossed!*

Worst Mommy Ever

Yep, that's me, the Worst Mommy EVER! It all started when we moved here two years ago. Ty's job offered no dental insurance, but since the kids and I had recently been (like 2 weeks before we left) we weren't too worried about it. A year passed and Ty got another job. This one offered dental, but it was pretty crappy coverage. So, being the great mother I am, I just kept putting off appointments for the kids. Then, two weeks ago, I got a clue and made appointments for all the kids for last Saturday. I was terrified of the horrors that awaited in my children's mouths. Tristan was 1st. No cavities, needs a couple sealings. Big whoop. Yeah Tristan, your teeth are great! *high five* Then Samantha went in. No cavities, needs one sealing, doctor recommends 2 extractions so her grown-up teeth can move in. (I am still debating whether I want him to do those, cuz won't they come out on their own?) Yeah Samantha, your teeth are great! *high five* Now, I know Zach was going to be a problem because I can see a hot spot myself, and he began complaining the day before the appointment that his tooth hurt. I was bracing myself for four cavities. Then the dentist comes out and says, "Come here, Mom, I want to talk to you about this. Zach is NOT brushing his teeth well. YOU need to be brushing his teeth every morning and night. He has 9 cavities." My mouth got tingly and my stomach got sick. "Four of these cavities are so bad they need a pulpotomy, which is basically a baby root canal." My angel baby needs four root canals? What kind of a mother allows her baby's teeth to get that bad?
We went in today to have his first one done. Zach was all excited cuz he got to go without his siblings and the dentist has movies you can watch with special glasses when he works! Wooheee! It's gonna be a party. The poor boy can't get numb! They gave him the max dose they can give and Zach was still feeling everything! We spent two hours there, just trying to prep him for the root canal. Finally, the dentist gave up. He said that if he attempted to do this, it was going to hurt and therefore cause problems with future dental visits. So he referred us to a pedodontist (that's the spelling the lady gave me, it doesn't seem right, but...) Zach will go to this other doctor who specializes in this. He will most likely be knocked out so they can just do all four at once. I HATE the idea of my baby being sedated like that. He's just too little. My heart is breaking. His first "real" dental experience (not just the "smile" appointments they give small children) and this is what he gets. You should see his face. We couldn't keep him from chewing on his cheek, so he looks like he has a huge jaw breaker stuffed in there. If it's still like that in the morning, I'll get a picture and post it here.
So there it is. My bid for The Worst Mommy Ever award. I think I have a pretty good shot at it.

My Prayers Are Answered!

Friday morning I got a wonderful phone call from Ty. His first words to me were, "Are you ready to move to Idaho?" I said, "Serious?" and started cheering like a little girl. "When?" Then things got a little nerve wracking. He has to report to his new job on the 23rd of June. That's THREE WEEKS AWAY!!!
So, I am alternating between moments of pure joy and moments of sheer terror. We have wanted to go home since Ty got out of the Air Force, but the jobs just weren't there. Once we'd been here in Vegas for about 2 months, we knew we wouldn't be staying here. It's just not for us. I know that thousands of families raise perfectly sane, well-rounded children in Sin City, but I would really rather not risk it. Just too much "sin" for my delicate sensibilities. (Sorry, I slipped into Austen mode there for a second.) That and the school system sucks. So now, I have to get my entire house packed, prepare to have our stuff moved, deep clean this house all in less than 25 days. Oh! Then there's the matter of going from a year-round school to a traditional 9 month one. Samantha will be missing an entire month of 3rd grade, so I am stressing whether the school will "graduate" her to fourth. The housing market sucks and we are upside down on our mortgage, so selling is not an option. We have to find a renter and hope that they are clean, considerate tenants who won't destroy our house while we're 700 miles and 3 states away. Plus, if the house is vacant for any time between us moving out and the tenants move in, we have to worry about someone breaking in and stealing the appliances. Tristan is throwing a completely shocking fit because he won't be in middle school in Idaho, he will still be in grade school. (Shocking because he has been whining about moving to Idaho for the past 4 years!) We are staying with my parents for an indeterminate period of time, and I have a new puppy. One who is having a heck of a time with house breaking. Ohh the humanity! I am sure everything will turn out okay, but until this is over, I will be going out of my mind!
Thankfully, there is a member of our ward who is a Realtor. He really likes Ty and is offering to help us find tenants for little to no cost. That will really help out.
Okay, I am done venting for the moment. Truth is, I am willing to bear all the stress if it means we will be closer to our parents. The kids deserve to be close to their grandparents
and the grandparents deserve to be close to their grandchildren. We deserve to live in an environment that is healthy for young children. And we deserve to live in a place where the color green is abundant and there are four seasons. It's nice to have prayers answered.

My Wednesday Surprise

Picture it! Wednesday afternoon. A cute little house in North Las Vegas. I was sitting on the couch, attempting to watch Dr. Phil while the kids run in and out of the room. I hear the garage door open, and call, "Hi Honey!" Ty grunts his normal response and I hear shuffling in the little alcove. All of a sudden, Samantha starts screaming and freaking out. She keeps darting glances as me and borderline starts to cry. It's been a long day, so my patience is non-existent. I half yell, "Knock it off!" while getting up to see what the commotion is. Exasperated, Ty says, "You were supposed to let her walk into the room and surprise her!" That's when I see her.

The cutest ball of fur I have ever seen! "Oh my gosh!!!" I virtually scream while I rush to relieve her from my husband's arms. Ty was grinning like a goofball, quite pleased with himself.

So, may I introduce you to the newest member of our family? We've named her Maizee (though I am not set on the spelling yet.) She's a silky terrier and she's 9 weeks old. She is 2.1 pounds and won't get much bigger than 5-6 pounds. She is very shy, but she's starting to warm up. Poor thing had a rough day: Flew in from Missouri, watched her sister get adopted out, drove all the way across Las Vegas with my husband - in rush hour, no less - and was introduced to an hysterical family. Poor baby. As I type this, she is curled up in a ball in that little hole that gets made when you sit cross-legged with her head on my thigh, just sleepin' away. She is just the sweetest thing ever. She has grown quite attached to me and our brown couch. Go figure. She follows me around like... well, like a little puppy. If I am in the kitchen doing dishes or whatever, (she hates to walk on linoleum) she will whimper and howl at the brown couch, begging to get up. We laugh at her a lot.

So, Ty is getting lots of extra-special attention and is on my REALLY good list. At least until he ticks me off. *Tee hee*

Viva Las Vegas (or Get Me Out of this God-Forsaken Town)

Friday night was an eventful night in the Jones's neighborhood. Ty and I had just finished watching the most depressing movie of all time, and were ready to turn in for the night. We were getting up early to go to Zion and we wanted to get a good night's sleep. Ty was wandering around the house, closing it up for the night and I was ironing a pair of shorts in the bathroom so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning. We had laughed a bit a few minutes before because we had heard something outside that sounded like male Polynesian dancers doing that cool, macho yell thing. All of a sudden, I heard a very loud POP. It made me duck down a bit by instinct. I slammed the ironing board up (it hangs on the back of the bathroom door) and hollered to Ty, "Is that what I think it is?!" Apparently it was, cuz Ty was already calling 911. He had actually heard two shots before that one, but I hadn't cuz I was singing along with a CD. We ran into our son's room to look out in the front of our house. There was anywhere from 20-30 young men stomping around in the street, holding sticks of various sizes and trying to look tough. (Actually, they looked tough enough to me!) They were all yelling and charging at each other and cars parked in the street with their sticks raised all menacing. It was really scary! We were watching this scene in front of our house praying for the police to arrive. There is only one entrance into our neighborhood, so if they could get there before the kids were able to scatter, they would be trapped. So we're watching this, Ty is muttering, "Come on come on come on" like a mantra and kids are scrambling into cars and pealing out on the street, driving WAAAY to fast for our neighborhood. As we watched, a truck pulling into the neighborhood was almost hit by two of the cars! Then, much to my terror, Ty declared that he was "going out there!" Crazy husband says what? "Oh no you're not!" I said. He actually responded with, "But somebody could be hurt." WHO CARES?!?! The police were on their way, they could handle it, and besides, we had no way of knowing who else was out there with a baseball bat or worse! As he's putting on his running pants, I am demanding, begging, pleading, and everything I can think of to get him to change his mind. Hello, he has a family to think about, this is no time to be a "hero!" Of course, he didn't listen to a word I was saying, and while I was sobbing hysterically, he went on out to "check it out." What an @&*! So, then I was scared AND pissed. Luckily, nothing happened and the remaining kids dispersed. The cops showed up, first two cars, then five more (thanks a million, guys) and I went out to join Ty and Karl, a friend from church and down the street. We made our statement to the cops and went to bed. 2 hours later than planned. Needless to say, we were a little late getting going in the morning.
I can't wait to get out of this town!

Zion

Last weekend, we met my MIL and FIL, and BIL and SIL with their family up at Zion National Park. To say it was beautiful would be the understatement of the century. After the dry, brown desert that is Las Vegas, it was so nice to see so many colors and so much life.

We met Pam and Richard, and Patrick and Susan and their kids at about 10am in Springdale, Utah. We got checked into our motel and while Patrick and Susan got set up in their camp site, we went out to lunch with Pam and Richard. Then, we went into the park. Zion has a real cool set up. You just park the car and get on one of the shuttles that run every 6 minutes. The shuttles stop at 7 locations throughout the park. They tell you about the park and all the different sights. And you can get off and on whenever and wherever you want. Zion is AMAZING! There is no way to describe how colorful and vibrant everything is. You cannot look at the wonder and beauty of Zion and not KNOW there is a Divine Creator. No way did all that just... happen. (I will have to come in and post pictures later. My regular camera has decided to make everything grainy and fuzzy, and I am electronically challenged when it comes to the video camera.- I can't figure out how to get the pictures off!

That night, we all gathered at Patrick and Susan's campsite. It was the perfect venue to end the day. We played cards, roasted marshmallows, and told stories on one another. OH! I totally got vindicated during one of these stories! somebody had told a story about one of the kids getting hysterical about some silly thing and Ty decides he can one-up them. He starts to talk about how last night, he wanted to go out and check some things out in front of the house and I started freaking out. I was bawling and begging and my eyes were bulging and it was just so funny. Everybody was getting a good laugh until I butted in and said, "Oh no you don't!" And preceded to tell them about the 3 gunshots, 20-30 kids with big sticks, cars zooming away, and lots of yelling. You should have seen Pam's face! She went as white as a sheet and stared at Ty open-mouthed. Needless to say, Ty was humbled. Score one for me!

How to have fun at Sonic

Anybody looking for a fun way to pass the time? Well I have just the thing. Zachary showed us all a great new game last Friday to play at Sonic Drive-in. Here's how it works: First, Have your husband tease the kids by refusing to let them see the menu sign thingy. Next, convince your kids to get out of the van and look at the menu sign thingy in the next stall over. Let the fun begin! Ty and I were giggling at our creativeness with making the kids go "next door" when we noticed that Zach was leaning up against the sign and talking to himself. "Yes, I want a hot dog and a root beer float, please." "Yep, a root beer float." "Okay, thanks." Oh SNAP!!! Did he actually push the button? "All you kids get back in the car, right now." Ty and I decided that there was no way that they would fill an order given by a 5 year old, especially since the child wasn't there a minute after ordering. I mean, that's what their windows are for, right? Right? Say I'm right! Anyway, we all chuckled and went on to place our "real" order at our sign menu thingy. As we were ordering, we didn't pay any attention to the little sedan that pulled up in the stall next door. The next few minutes were spent trying to keep the kids in their skin while they waited for their root beer floats. While wrestling the kids into submission, I casually looked around the lot just in time to see the car hop trying to give the car next to us their order, a hot dog and a root beer float. The car owners were confused and the car hop looked like she had just been dropped there. She was so perplexed. She tried arguing with the car people, but for some reason, they kept insisting they didn't place that order. I murmured to Ty out the corner of my mouth and under my breath (as if they could hear me through a closed car window), "I think they just brought Zach's order to that car!" We watched with a mixture of mortification and amusement as the scene unfolded before us. When the exasperated car hop finally turned and went back inside with Zachary's order, we burst into laughter. Needless to say, amidst fits of laughter, we explained to Zach that he is NOT to press any buttons like that until he has our permission.