Braces, Grandma & Adelaide Visit, and other Randomness

 

Braces

 

On April Fool's Day, I went into an orthodontist's office for a consultation about what to do about my teeth.  You know how every so often the question is posed about the one physical thing you might change about yourself?  Well, mine would be my teeth.  I had braces for 5 years as a kid and it was brutal.  My orthodontist then was 90 (or so it seemed) and from what I remember he was trying to retire, I was his last patient, and he couldn't figure out how to completely fix my teeth.  So he finally just removed the braces, told me I didn't need a retainer, and sent me on my way. 

 

Well, as it turns out, the real issue is that I have a "severe skeletal Cass II malocclusion with a transverse deficiency problem", which basically means a terrible crossbite and overbite that has been wearing down the joint of my left jawbone and back teeth because of the "open bite trauma" (this is all coming from a letter from my new orthodontist referring me for a surgical procedure).  It is like when you go to a restaurant and get the chair with one wobbly leg that is shorter than all the others - my bite is never stable and it is causing major problems, in addition to the fact that my teeth are just plain old crooked too. 

 

When the first orthodontist explained all this to me in his office and showed me videos of how this will all have to be corrected through a surgical procedure where my jaw is broken in multiple places to then expand my palate, I started bawling.  I mean, I knew my mouth had problems but I was not expecting to be told I was going to need surgery to fix it.  I'm sure this was naïve but I was kind of hoping against hope that Invisalign would be an option for me, but it won't work to correct the probems.  I went to two other orthodontists for opinions and they all said the same thing, so as much as I hate to go through with this, I decided to move forward and get it taken care of before I get any older and this gets any worse. 

 

The upside of it all is that my medical insurance will cover the surgery, which will involve an overnight hospital stay, breaking my jaw in 5 places, plating my lower jaw in place, and possibly a chin implant - Paul said I should ask for the Jay Leno special - and having my jaw wired shut for 10 days all for the cost of my co-pay ($25) which is totally insane.  And apparently the Kaiser surgeons in Oakland who perform this surgery are the best around according to all three orthodontists I talked to.  So, hooray, I guess. 

 

So yeah, I get to be a brace face for the next to years I guess.  Hopefully not any longer, but we will see.  I got the upper bands put on while my mom was in town visiting and could watch the girls for me.  The lower braces will go on later.  My teeth are killing me already (its been 2 days), as are my lips which feel raw in places where they are rubbing too much against the metal brackets, and I feel like I look like a 12 year old again.  When they finished placing the brackets on my teeth they held up 20 different colors of rubber bands to put around each bracket and I had a flashback to when I used to choose red and green or orange and black or whatever color combo best represented the holiday of the month.  I kept it classy and stuck with clear this time though, which is my intention for the entirety of this process.

 

I jokingly posted on Instagram the day I got the braces put on that I had gone to the mall and all the preteen boys were hitting on me and asking if I was babysitting Clara and Rose since we were there with my mom.  When Paul got home that night I mentioned that I had bought a new shirt while we were at the mall and he piped up: "Where? Forever 12?".  I'm glad he's getting such entertainment out of my suffering.  Just kidding, though.  He's actually been super sympathetic and supportive through all of this and the humor helps me cope. 

Grandma Cece & Adelaide come to visit

In other news, my sister, Jennie, had her baby girls two weeks ago.  Everything went well and they are identical (as far as anyone can tell).  Clara is super excited about her new cousins, Kaitlyn and Brigitte and spent a couple of days drawing pictures of the two of them and telling me all about them. 

 

My mom took Jennie's three oldest girls to her house for a few days so Jennie and Ryan could adjust to the twins before having all five girls (with Emma being the oldest at 5) at home.  Then this past week she flew out here to visit us and brought Adelaide, who turns 2 next week, so that Jennie only had the oldest two to take care of along with the twins.  And oh my goodness did we have fun with this girl.  Rose adores Adelaide and they got along great (most of the time).  Sure there were some jealousy issues when I would hold Adelaide or when they both wanted the same toy, but for the most part Rose was in stitches all week while watching Adelaide be her hilarious self.  Rose would crow with delight when we did dance parties and Adelaide would spin around and seat drop right onto her bum.  And when we took the girls to a splash park they were both having fits of glee over the spraying water and played and played until they were shivering like crazy and we made them change out of their wet clothes into the dry ones we had brought.  Adelaide was extremely angry over this and threw a massive tantrum, but aside from a few of those she was just such a sweet girl and gave me so many snuggles this week. 

 

 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) I got sick with some kind of stomach bug the first night my mom was here.  While it really put a wrench in plans to go out and do things, it was nice that my mom could help me with the girls while I tried to recuperate and hold food down.  She also made it so I could go to the orthodontist for two hours and put all three girls to bed on Wednesday night so Paul and I could make it to the temple for a date night. 

 

Go-Karts and Fondue

 

Speaking of date night, we had such a fun one a couple of weeks ago when we went to Boomer's in Livermore and rode go-karts (which I had never done before), played mini golf (we each got a hole-in-one so we are both winners but for the record I won by 2 strokes), and got chocolate fondue for dessert at a place in downtown Livermore.  We want to go back to the fondue place again and try dinner there, not just dessert.  We are so lucky to have a good babysitting-swap system set up with another couple so we can go out every other week.

Pedicures and Braids

Clara just loves having her toenails painted and the other week I actually even let her paint my toenails for me, which she thought was pretty awesome.  She even did an okay job of it and man alive was she focused on getting them just perfect.  I did both of our hair in milkmaid braids that day and she looked so darn cute. 

On most Thursdays I take the girls to Music Makers at the church.  There is usually a really good turn out of moms and toddlers there and Clara and Rose really enjoy the singing, games, storytime, and snacks.  I enjoy the chance to visit with other moms and watch the girls having fun with other kids their age. 

Kitchen Adventures

My friend Amy came over the other week and brought her pasta machine so we could try our hand at making fettucine from scratch.  It was super fun and interesting but probably more work than it was worth and I'm planning to stick to the dried pasta from the store rather than go through all the labor again.  But I sure love trying new things in the kitchen and we made plans to attempt other things that we have never tried making before like potstickers, baklava, and spring rolls.

Rosie-Posie

And last, but most certainly not least, Rose continues to be such a little sweetheart.  She has her hard days or hard times of days when she is a little fusspot and is prone to throwing tantrums when she is already cranky and doesn't get her way, but when she is happy and in a good mood she is the smiliest, sweetest, funniest little thing.  She has the best, most beatific smile and loves to tease and play.  Just this past week she has seemed to make some progress on forming some words.  She said "Adelaide" and "all done" with enough distinction that we knew what she was talking about in context even if it wasn't super clear yet.  Yesterday I'm pretty sure I heard her say "bubble" when getting into the bathtub and she seems to think a cat is called a "meow" because that is the sound she makes when we see one.  It's hard to say if any of these count as her first words because it is still more of just getting the correct number of syllables paired with the proper vowel sounds and maybe a consonant or two along with context but it is exciting to see her speech start progressing.

Rose loves berries, gummy vitamins, milk, all animals (she goes nuts over dogs and cats), her blankie (the purple one that Jennie made for her when she was born), touch-and-feel books, going for walks outside, being chased, Ring-around-the-Rosie, bathtime, and brushing her teeth.  She looks to be teething again given the state of her runny nose and drooling mouth and I am wondering if her canines are coming in next.  Rose is in size 2T and will move up to 3T by the end of the summer in all likelihood given how fast she is growing.  She is a very big girl and is the size of a 2 year old even though she is only 15 months.  She likes to climb on everything and follow her big sister around.  And we just love her to pieces.

 

Thanksgiving in California

This Thanksgiving has to be my favorite on record.  Most of my family came to California to spend the holiday with us and we had such a great time.  My mom, sisters, nieces, and brother-in-law all got here Monday evening and Clara could not have been more excited.  Paul had just finished painting the living, family, dining rooms and hallway the night before and we barely got things put back together before everybody arrived.  My dad flew in Thursday morning because he is serving at the bishop's storehouse in Utah and the lead-up to Thanksgiving is a big one for them and they needed his help. 

 

We have been feeling so grateful for our new house and the extra space that made this type of holiday possible for us to host because there is no way we could have fit so many people in our old place.  As it was, we put Emma, Lily, Clara and Jessica in Clara's bedroom with the three little girls on an air mattress and Jessica in Clara's bed (which only sort of worked - apparently every night Jessica awoke to Clara climbing into bed with her).  My parents were in the guest bedroom and Jennie & Ryan took Rose's room so that Adelaide could sleep in the crib and they could sleep on an air mattress next to her.  Rose got to sleep in mom & dad's room in the pack-n-play, which honestly went better than we expected.

 

We spent Tuesday hanging out at the house, shopping, and taking the girls to our favorite local park (Athens Downs in San Ramon) to play.  Then on Wednesday we all got ready early and headed into San Francisco to finally go see Baker Beach.  It is now a new favorite spot of mine.  I loved the views, the beach itself was beautiful and parking was easy.  Everybody really enjoyed spending time playing in the sand and each of Jennie's girls ended up in the water, fully clothed, at some point.  The beach is beautiful enough as it is but the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge is really something else.

 

We tried to get a photo of the cousins together on this piece of driftwood and this is the best we got.  The girls were so, so amazingly good together all week.  I was worried about fights over who got to play with toys or whining or tantrums but I don't think we saw hardly any of that at all.  Instead, the older girls just played and played together and we heard giggling and make believe and singing coming from Clara's room on a constant basis.  And they wore each other out enough to take good naps every day too.  Rose and Adelaide seemed happy to have each other around too, and they crawled or toddled (respectively) all around the house chasing after the bigger girls or going between the grown-ups to be entertained.  Clara is already missing her cousins like crazy and I am certainly glad that we will get to see them again in a few weeks at Christmas, but it was nice to have plenty of together time without other plans.

I tried to take a couple of family photos for Jennie and her family and got a couple of cute ones that work, even though the girls had to be troopers and look practically into the sun in order to get the Golden Gate Bridge as the backdrop.  Jennie is now 18 weeks along in her pregnancy (with twins! have I already mentioned that on the blog? she finds out gender on Wednesday maybe) and is on modified couch rest so she couldn't walk very much and had to ride in a wheelchair most of the time, but that was kind of fun to push her around Target when we went shopping for stocking stuffers, etc. (since we both knew it would be easier to get stocking stuffers now when Grandma and Grandpa and Jess-Jess could stay home with the girls to watch them). 

Rose had a mouth full of sand by the time we were ready to leave but she didn't complain.  We had enough foresight to bring changes of clothes for each of the girls so when we got back to the car we just stripped them all down and brushed off the sand before changing them.  We did lunch at Boudin Bread Factory (its our standard spot when we are down in the city with visitors - their grilled cheese is my favorite in the world) and then Paul, my mom and I headed home with Adelaide and Rose so they could take naps and Paul could do some work from home while Jennie, Ryan, and Jessica took the older girls to see the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf (which apparently was less than impressive to the girls because they wanted to see the sea lions swimming instead of just sunning themselves on the docks).

 

 

Thanksgiving Day itself was lovely.  Paul smoked a turkey and I roasted one in the oven (we wanted lots of leftovers and weren't super sure how the smoked turkey would go).  I don't think we will ever be able to go back to regular turkey after having Paul's smoked one.  It was amazing and easily the best turkey I have ever eaten.  The girls loved watching the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade together and even tried dancing like the Rockettes when they performed. 

 

 

Rose wasn't super interested in eating her first Thanksgiving dinner.  She had a couple of yams and some roll but then was ready for her nap.  The older girls got to sit at the kids' table in the living room, which worked out pretty well.

That night at around 10:00 p.m. Jennie and my mom mentioned wanting to look at some dolls at Target for Jennie's girls when they couldn't find the ones they wanted online, so we ended up doing a little black Friday shopping on Thursday evening.  It didn't feel as weird as I thought it would.  The store had been open for four hours already so the crowds were mostly gone.  And it was nice doing a little shopping without having to stay up crazy late or get up crazy early to do it. 

Other than the feast, we enjoyed playing Scattergories one night and the girls had lots and lots of stories read to them since we pulled out all of the Christmas books.  Paul and I went on a double date with Jennie and Ryan to get Thai food one night, then Jennie & Ryan went shopping while Paul and I went to see "Interstellar" (it was intense and I had to leave the theater for part of it but overall it was good).

And on Friday we went to the movies to see "Penguins of Madagascar", which was hilarious and fun although Jennie's girls did not like it. 

 

 

It was a great holiday that was made even more special on Saturday with Rose's sealing to us in the Oakland temple, which I will post pictures about next.

Utah trip while the house was being sold

The girls and I got back from our trip to Utah on Tuesday but since then we have been busy with house stuff for the sale and then Rose came down with a bad cold (fever and awful congestion).  The flight there was a breeze.  There wasn't a single whimper from either of our little babes.  Clara was talking about the flight for a solid week ahead of time so she was super pumped to finally be at the airport going through security and was a big helper by carrying her backpack and staying right by my side like my little duckling.  On the plane she read the in-flight safety manual and the airline provided magazines while snacking on pretzels and orange juice (and fruit snacks and apple sauce and yogurt covered raisins that I brought with us).

 

We had a plane change in Los Angeles where we hit a snag when the airline didn't bring the stroller back up to the gate and instead sent it to the baggage claim area but both girls just chilled out while I got it sorted out.  While we were standing just outside the plane but not in the terminal, waiting for the stroller to be brought up, a man got off the plane and gave me such a nice compliment about how well-behaved both girls were on the plane and he said he felt like I handled it all with "grace under pressure".  It really made my day.  Seriously, any time you see a mom with her kids flying alone you should say something like this to her because it is huge.  It was even better when he came back a minute later and handed me his business card, explaining that he was a manager at a hotel in San Francisco and wanted to offer me and Paul a complimentary night stay for a little getaway since he remembered what it was like being at this stage of life. 

Jennie had brought Emma, Lily and Adelaide up to spend the week with us at my parents' house while we were there.  It was their first time meeting Rose and they were enamored.  Emma and Lily were so good with her and could constantly be found laying next to her giving her kisses or cooing at her.  Adelaide kept crawling over and swatting at Rose affectionately to the point where somebody had to constantly keep Adelaide away when Rose was laying on a blanket. 

Rose got to meet all sorts of relatives.  This is my aunt Renita enjoying the fact that one of Rose's favorite pastimes is snuggling.  And snoozing.

Jessica had rigged up a "fishing pole" and cut out a bunch of paper fish so the girls could "fish" off the balcony into the backyard.  Jess would stand underneath the balcony and attach the fish or small prizes like Minnie Mouse socks or Starburst jelly beans.  The girls were in heaven and had fun taking turns.  My mom got Clara the new outfit and Clara demanded to wear it as soon as she saw it.  The hat is my favorite and I so wish I could get it in my size.

One night we planned to go up into the canyon to roast hot dogs but Mueller Park (where we planned to go) wasn't open yet for the season so we ended up at a local park with a portable grill.  The big girls played on a big grassy hill and we had a nice little picnic with the most amazing macadamia nut cookies you have ever tried that I found here.  Seriously you should try them - they are like my new favorite cookie, which is saying a lot since I have high cookie standards and I wasn't a huge fan of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies to begin with.

It was nice spending time with family.  I think I have mentioned this before but my mom has 3 sisters and 1 brother and none of them ever married or had kids so my siblings and I are the only grandkids and my aunts are sort of like additional moms.  I lived with them more than one summer to earn money for college working in Salt Lake while my family was living in Nebraska or Idaho.  My grandma has Alzheimers and isn't doing so great.  She cannot seem to grasp that all 5 great-grandkids are girls, even the ones with long hair and bows wearing pink dresses, and constantly asks how old the little boy I am holding is.  The obsession with boys is because my grandma had 8 older brothers and she talks about them constantly.  Regardless of gender though, my grandma sure loves babies and was so happy to talk to them and try to get them to smile at her. 

I love this picture of my grandpa and grandma Johnson with Rose.

And I caught this picture of my dad (Grandpa Russ) playing with Rose before he realized I wasn't just taking a picture of her.  Our timing was perfect because we got to be there for my dad's 63rd birthday.

We are a family of readers and all the girls adore having books read to them.  Grandpa Russ willingly obliged.  I finished a good book while I was home too called "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" and I definitely recommend it for a fun, quick read.  I don't know why but the girls wanted this Christmas book that is a spin on Goldilocks and the Three Bears (except with Santa eating cookies, etc.) read over and over.

In the mornings while everyone was getting ready  the girls had fun playing together in the living room and were a big help entertaining Rose for me while I did my hair and makeup.  I wish I had some pictures of this, but Emma, Lily and Clara all slept together each night in Jessica's bedroom.  Each of them had an individual little cot or air mattress set up taking up all the available floor space around Jessica's room and then Jessica would sleep on her bed in case any of them woke up (what a good aunt).  It took them forever to settle down each night, and they often didn't fall asleep until well after 9:00 p.m. except for the nights when I put Clara down at 7:30 and she fell asleep first, in which case Emma and Lily were better about keeping quiet since they knew they shouldn't wake her up. 

The great thing about this arrangement was that once the girls were down my mom could just listen to the monitor while they chattered and me, Jennie, and Jessica could go to the gym for the 8:00 p.m. yoga class followed by a 9:00 p.m. Zumba class for Jennie and me while Jessica trained for the half-marathon she is planning to run this summer.

One morning my mom and I drove the girls down to meet Paul's grandparents even though he wasn't with us on this trip.  Great-grandma Nash just had eye surgery the week before so it was nice to see her doing so well.  She had fun meeting Rose who was in a really cheerful mood and showed off some of her best full-face smiles.

Clara had just seen Grandpa and Grandma Nash a couple weeks before so she had fun playing with grandpa Nash and "gluing" herself to his back.  It's a favorite game of hers and she will practically choke you to death with her fierce grip until you tickle her off.

But once Clara got ahold of Grandma Nash's phone, she was oblivious to the rest of the world while she watched videos of her Nash cousins and played games.

We also stopped by Great-grandpa and grandma Robertson (Paul's mom's parents) for a short visit and it was good to see them too.  They live just around the corner from the Jordan River temple, where we got married.

On Thursday morning we took all five girls (ages 4, 2, 2, 10 months, and almost 3 months for the record) to the zoo and they loved it.  We actually had some of the best animal encounters I have ever had at a zoo.  Clara carried the map around and consulted it frequently.

The girls loved watching the sea lions who were super playful and obligingly swam right past the windows over and over again.

Probably my favorite was the grizzly bear that walked right up and pressed his nose to the window right in front of the girls though.  It was amazing.  There were two other bears with him and it was fascinating to watch them walk around their habitat.

Jennie and I were carrying Adelaide and Rose most of the day so Grandma Cece did most of the heavy lifting rotating between the three older girls to give them the best views.  I don't have pictures of these animals but the Amur Tiger prowled back and forth right in front of us for a good 5 minutes and we got to see the big gorilla who goes into the corner by a window every day at the same time and covers himself in a blanket to take a snooze. 

Another favorite adventure was going to the Bountiful rec center for some swimming at the awesome kiddie pool, lazy river, and water slide.  The girls all had a blast although Rose wasn't loving it at first.  Actually, she seemed pretty ambivalent about it at best, even by the end.  But at least she wasn't crying.  I will call it a success.  We took turns sitting with the babies and taking the bigger girls down the slide or in the lazy river, but Grandma Cece did the most sitting in the shallows with the under-one-year crowd.

Oh yeah, this is the part about having bangs that I REALLY hate - how they look when they get wet from swimming.  Blech.  Oh well.  Can I just say how happy I am that we have another baby girl who gets to wear my favorite newborn swimsuit that I bought when Clara was a baby? 

Jennie, Jessica and I took the girls to the Church History Museum in downtown Salt Lake to see the exhibits.  The girls tried pulling a handcart, learning traditional Mexican dancing while wearing dress-up skirts, and harvesting wooden vegetables at the indoor garden.

One afternoon while Jennie was out shopping and I was watching the girls by myself, I decided we ought to make paper dresses.  The girls picked out the colors from a stack of colored paper that has gone unused for years and then I helped construct individual designs for each of them. 

The girls also did an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, which they loved.  Lily was the most enthusiastic of all and it was hilarious watching her squeal and giggle while she ran from egg to egg.

And after our week of fun it was time to fly back home.  The return trip was much more difficult since Rose had come down with a cold and fussed a bit more, but overall the girls did well.

And the best news was that a couple of days after we got multiple offers on our house and are now under contract.  All in all, it was a very successful trip.