My First Cavity

My tooth genetics have made it so I've lasted over a quarter of a century without a cavity. My streak has officially ended. Admittedly, I haven't been great about flossing, so I know it's my fault. It was quite an experience. I had two cavities between two of upper teeth. First they put a tube with a nose cover onto my face with a flow of happy gas. Breathing deeply, I was grateful to already be flat on the chair, because a vague sense of floating and a slow room spin began. After a few minutes my mind adjusted. One of the lovely dental assistants put a numbing agent on a long cotton-ended stick to place in the right spot. The dentist followed up with a couple of shots directly into the nerves above the teeth. He explained that for bottom teeth to be numb it's just one nerve in the back, but on top each tooth has its own. I found out that the happy/laughing gas isn't supposed to reduce pain, just relax the recipient. They had a plastic wedge on the opposite side of my mouth holding it open so I could rest. He drilled into each of the numbed teeth. I garbled out questions throughout the experience, and amazingly the dentist understood each one. I asked what they would use as a filling, so he showed me a whitish gooey blob. 

"No' 'e'al?"

"Nope. We haven't used metal for four years now."

They just had to keep the area dry and set it with heat (I think) for a few seconds, and then it was good to go. They even smoothed it out to be congruous with my teeth, and made sure I had a space so I could start flossing again. When I widened my mouth to show Zak before going home, he could tell it was a slightly different color from my teeth, but it wasn't obvious, especially in its location. It's pretty amazing what has changed at a dental appointment even in the last few years. This time they painted on my fluoride.

The bottom-right part of my face stayed numb for about five hours. I had fun looking in the mirror and covering half of my face at a time. My right nostril wouldn't even flare. This was much more pleasant than my wisdom teeth removal recovery. I hope I've smartened up enough to not require this again, though.

Mom's good example started from the beginning.

Growing up Mom always gave us half of a fluoride tablet after we brushed our teeth. Each night she'd encourage us in our brushing by singing a song to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

"Brush, brush, brush your teeth,

Get 'em nice and clean,

So when you have to go to the dentist

You won't have any cavities."

I hope to be a better example in the future, especially now that I know my teeth aren't invincible. Now is the time that I need to step up and to be the one from whom my daughter learns.

Shots

V got a shot at the hospital when she was born. We recently went to our new doctor's office, where the nurses kept saying, "Look at all of that hair!"and the doctor insisted, "I could just take you home!" She measured a healthy size and weight, after changing her wet diaper. I had her wrapped in a blanket after stripping her down, but took it off when immunization time came. She did quite well drinking the rotavirus vaccine, didn't spit up a single bit. The shots were somewhat less enjoyable. With a nurse putting pressure on each leg, they timed the first shots to go at the same time. She had one more on her right leg, and then with her pink character bandages applied, I scooped her into my arms. She cried for about a minute, but by the time we got to the car, she was smiling and laughing in her adorable cough-like way again. She's my little warrior. One nurse pointed out that as they get a little older and more aware, infants and toddlers dread the office and shots more and more. Fortunately, V's not to that point yet, but I think next time I'll try to be more gentle, using oil or something, when ripping off her bandages.

Zak and I reminisced about our kindergarten shots experiences. I remember dragging my leg around at the baby shower Mom was given while pregnant with my first brother, and being in a lot of pain. Zak apparently built a make-shift crutch and woefully revealed to his Mom, "I have a bone in my leg."

Nicole and sister, Cassie

Zak

Boo at the Zoo

Courtesy of Steffani

For Halloween I wanted to have a family theme, so I convinced Zak to dress as Zorro, while I went as a flamenco dancer and V as my little piñata. The combination came about when I searched for costumes I could incorporate while wearing V in her baby carrier. I didn't see anything except popcorn for that, so I looked at baby and toddler costumes, and found an adorable little kid dressed as a piñata made from fleece. Realizing I had tissue paper in several colors from the baby showers, I grabbed a cardboard box and started gluing strips of it on there. I made sure the cardboard folded to fit around her, and stapled the bottom with my tiny stapler. After that I just cut slits across each strip of paper and stapled on a ribbon to hold it around my neck. I thought about making a donkey hat for V, but I didn't think it would stay on her very long, and she'd be facing me, so no one would see it anyway. I made a make-shift donkey head with leftover cardboard and a section of an egg carton. I think it turned out fairly well for a costume made entirely from items I had at home already.

We toured Zak's work during family
Halloween day, impressed with the themed decorations in each department. Those are dedicated employees, staying hours after work to create a video game/arcade theme, haunted black light hallway with shots of air at your neck, silent picture/roaring 20s theme, and full room of mustaches. That's the first time I've been allowed to tour (almost) the entire building.

For our church congregation's neighborhood trunk-or-treat and youth-led carnival, Zak and the 16-18 year-old boys filled the soda bottles we'd been storing with water, and set up glow-in-the-dark ring toss using glow sticks in the water and as rings to toss. My girls spearheaded the face painting and fish pond. I love seeing everyone's clever costumes as the neighborhood gathers. Unfortunately, I left my camera's memory card at home; we did, however, still have fun with the glow sticks and camera at home.

Courtesy of Steffani

Some friends invited us to the local zoo to see animals and get candy for our little one (who is too young to eat candy...so candy for us, really). In order to let her actually see the animals, I decided to push her in the stroller, which meant she could wear the adorable butterfly costume Grandma Hooper found for her. I didn't use it in the baby carrier, because the wings and big fluffy belly wouldn't fit. It worked really well, keeping her ears, feet, and little body warm with some pajamas underneath. Some of the animals were hidden away for the winter, but we got to see camels' flopping humps, vibrant zebras, and large cats. V was tired, and kind of fussy until she did fall asleep, so I don't think she soaked up much of the animal atmosphere, but I'm glad we went. I miss Cache Valley's pumpkin walk, but the Boo at the Zoo was great fun.

Our women's Halloween craft