My New Smile

Today was the day that Brittany got her braces on her top 4 teeth. A major milestone in most of the lives of children these days. Although she was acting like she didn't like the idea, I'm pretty sure that she was happy to get them. It is one of those love/hate relationships. You really don't like the idea of braces and the pain involved in wearing them but you love that you will have straight teeth after it is all done.

No appointments are ever just easy when you have 5 children. They told me it would last about 45 minutes so I thought I can handle the kids for that long. Brittany then invited a girl down the street to come with us so she could watch. Hey, what's one more, right. So, I walked into the dentist office with 6 children following behind me.

They have a little arc that has stuffed animals in it. The kids were playing in it when the called Brittany's name. I asked Brittany if she wants me to go or stay (secretly hoping she will say stay in the waiting room because there are things for the kids to do). She, of course, wants me to go. I tell all the kids to come and that is when I notice that Garrett had taken his shoes off. They were somewhere in all the stuffed animals. So, I had to search through all of the animals while holding Brandon for Garrett's shoes. After several minutes of searching, we finally found them. Okay, one crisis over with.

Now, I have to admit my kids were pretty well behaved for the most part. I just always wish they would be perfect so the people in the waiting room would think that I am just such a "great mom". There were 4 chairs in the area where they put the braces on and no toys. There was another person there so it was 3 chairs for 6 people. So, there was alittle bickering about chairs. Garrett after about 20 minutes just could not sit still. I am trying to be the "great mom" and explain to him that we cannot throw our shoes at the nice lady sitting next to us. We are supposed to use quiet voices inside. Yes, it is nice to sing "Baa, baa, black sheep" to our baby brother but we don't need to scream it and expect applause from all of the people working. No, it is not okay to pull Caitlyn out of her chair just because you want to sit there. You get the idea, I keep praying that just my nice sweet voice will render him to obeying so I can look good. It worked pretty good for about 30 minutes. Then, really, it is just too much to ask from an almost 3 year old little boy. He started the laying on the ground and being loud. Of course, this is when Brandon decides to start the back arching. I'm thinking - come on, how long can 4 little braces take.

Luckily, by the grace of God, it was over about then. We just needed to learn how to clean our teeth and we are out of here. I guess I kinda noticed that Brandon was making faces during our teeth cleaning demonstration. Of course, it wasn't until I got up to make Brittany's next two appointments that I realized what had happened. I felt something on my leg and thought, man, Brandon spit up again. Unfortunatley, I then realized it was another type of bodily fluid. Brandon had picked this opportunity to poop through his diaper and it was now on my leg. GROSS! I found a kleenex right there and discreetly cleaned my leg while trying to figure out when I wanted these appointments since I don't know anyone's schedule yet for the fall. I managed to keep Brandon up against my shirt and I think no one knew except for my poor leg and shirt that Brandon had a diaper incident.

Anyway, now that that is done. Here is the picture of Brittany with her new smile.