Mister has been sick all week (hence my Wordless Wednesday- The Bucket post). It started on Monday evening with him vomiting. On Tuesday, it was all he could do to keep Pedialyte down. On Wednesday, he seemed better, so I advanced him to a BRAT diet, but that was too much, so back to the clear liquids we went. Then on Wednesday evening, he also had one bout of diarrhea.

Thursday morning, he got up and informed me, “Look Mommy, the sun is going up, and I’m not sick anymore.” He looked so happy and was full of energy.

I *thought* that it was a great way to start the day.

Fast forward twenty minutes to the breakfast table, where he promptly threw up his breakfast.

I was at my wits end, so I called the pediatrician and scheduled an appointment. I didn’t take him in before that for several reasons… 1) I am a nurse with pediatric training. I know what signs to watch for with dehydration. 2) Aside from IV’s for dehydration, there isn’t much they will do for a three year old with a stomach virus. But, as I said, I was at my wits end. So, off to the doctor’s office we went, puke bucket in hand.

Apparently, I was doing everything right, because the pediatrician sent us home and told me to let him eat/drink whatever he wanted, and not to be alarmed if he continued to vomit through Friday, possibly even into Saturday. And she said that it would take 7-10 days for his stools to “firm up” again, as his system had been “wiped clean.”

Nice.

So, I let him eat/drink whatever he wanted. And cleaned up the messes afterwards.

During breakfast yesterday, he grabbed the bucket and got sick. He then wiped his nose, rinsed his mouth, and kept eating. Poor kid! You know a kid is hungry when they will do that!

After being stuck at home since Monday, I HAD to get out of the house yesterday. I was feeling cagey. So, I put the kids in the Step 2 Canopy Wagon that we have, and went for a walk. I pulled them on a 5K route, and it took me about an hour and ten minutes. I had to stop three times for Mister to get sick. Good thing I took the bucket. Between them, Mister and Sister weight 60 pounds. Add the weight of the wagon, and I think I got in some pretty good exercise. Judging from the soreness in my posterior this morning, I worked muscles that haven’t been worked in a while.

So far, this morning, Mister has only had diarrhea and no vomiting. I am hoping that means we are headed in the right direction! And so far (with the help of lots of hand washing, alcohol gel, and bleach spray) Sister has been spared from the digestive rebellion. I hope it stays that way.

Last night, Hubs came over and asked me if there was something on his back and lifted his shirt. Um, yah. Large angry red welts! So, two doses of Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride later, he went to bed feeling slightly less itchy, but still with an angry rash. This morning, it hadn’t improved, so off to the Take Care Clinic he went. And home with a Medrol dose pack he came, for an apparent allergic reaction to the catfish he had for lunch yesterday.

Anyway, how was your week?

You may remember that I wrote a post, back in February, entitled Delayed Gratification in which I discussed how disappointed I was when I learned that I would not be getting dentures in one day at the “$99 dentures in one day”, and that it would take up to two weeks to get the metal caste back for my lower partial denture.

That was five weeks ago.  Yes.  FIVE!

The office called when the metal caste came in, and I went in for an appointment on March 9th.  The wax mock ups for both the full upper denture and lower partial denture were ready to be tried in, and I was excited!  The upper denture fit great, but I was NOT happy with the placement of the teeth.  When I smiled, there was a very visible line of “gum.”  Granted, some people have gummy grins, and that is fine.  But, when that “gum” is made of pink acrylic, it is best not to show it off to the world!  So, we discussed resetting the upper teeth in the denture and then moved on to try the lower partial in.

It would not go in my mouth.

The tech was just dumbfounded.

She called the doctor in.

She looked at the lower partial wax mock up and at my mouth.

They removed everything from the metal caste (wax and teeth) and tried again.

No go.

They broke out some wire cutter looking tools and played with the metal caste a bit.

Still no go.

You see, I have two (count them, two) natural teeth.  Both have porcelain crowns with metal inlays for the clasps of a partial to sit in.  Apparently, when the lab received my impressions, they thought there was a mistake with the impressions and ground those two “teeth” down until they were the size that a natural tooth would be.  Then proceeded to make the metal caste from what they thought it should be.

Idiots.

Suffice it to say, I did not get my dentures that day, either.

New impressions had to be made. Which meant another five minutes of sitting with goop in my mouth trying not to gag, while inwardly seething at the nerve of some nameless faceless lab tech in another state who thought he was doing someone a favor by correcting the “problem” with two teeth that were too large and had a funny crook in them.

Moron.

So, I drove home frustrated and repeating the diddy on patience that I tell my kids…

A friend of mine once taught me the diddy, “Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, for it’s seldom found in women, and never found in man.”  While funny, I refuse to believe that it is impossible for my son or husband to be patient, so I tweaked the diddy and say, “Patience is a virtue, possession is a must, for if you don’t have patience, your little heart will rust.”

I finally got a call on Monday that the new metal caste had arrived at the dentist’s office, so I scheduled an appointment for Wednesday to try in the wax mock ups again.  I went in to try them in, and the metal caste was perfect.  But, I still wasn’t pleased with how much “gum” showed on the upper denture.  So, I asked them to reset them again, which they did without complaint.  When they brought them back, I was ecstatic.  I thought they were beautiful.

So, I signed the paperwork stating I was pleased with the aesthetics of the dentures, and that they could make the final acrylic pair.  I went back today, at 2 o’clock, to pick up my teeth.  After smoothing two tiny pressure points, they handed me some denture care goodies, told me to call if I need any adjustments, and sent me on my way.  When I got home, I immediately opened a bag of baby carrots that I had waiting for this very occasion, and began munching away.

Some things are definitely worth the wait!

Thanks to Crystal Light for sponsoring this post. To learn more about how Crystal Light can flavor your day with 30 refreshing flavors, visit http://www.facebook.com/crystallight.

As the Mom of a two year old and a three year old,  I have devoted nearly every waking moment of the last three plus years to caring for these little people that God has entrusted to my care.  And somewhere along the line, I forgot that in order to properly take care of them, I need to take care of me.   I realized one day, when I looked in the mirror, that I had done what many new Moms do… I became so focused on being their MOM that I replaced my ME time with MOM time.   I forgot that amidst all of those moments that I spend on them,  I need to carve out a few minutes for ME.

Until recently, that is.   I don’t know what flipped the switch, but the light bulb went on.  I realized that if I fail ME, I fail my family.   I realized that taking time for myself is NOT selfish; it is necessary.  So, now I take it.   I can’t afford not to.

How am I taking time for myself?  I’ve started doing some of the things I love again…

I read.  I love to read, and I refuse to let my library shelf be reduced to preschool books.

I exercise.  On the days that they nap (which is becoming by far too infrequent), I exercise while they sleep.  On the days that they don’t, I take them to the basement with me and have them watch TV (gasp… yes, I let my preschoolers watch educational programming on PBS) or color while I exercise.

I take long hot showers and occasionally long hot baths.  I ask Hubs to keep an eye out for the kidlets (if they are still awake) and lock myself in my bathroom.  From time to time, I read in the long hot bath.

I write.

And this past month, I actually joined some friends for a ladies night out.  Three hours, no husbands or kids aloud.  I can’t tell you how rejuvenating that was!  And I plan on doing it again.

So, what do you do to take time for yourself?

Remember, visit http://www.facebook.com/crystallight to learn more about how Crystal Light can flavor your day with 30 refreshing flavors. I was selected and paid for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

We live in a drive through society.  Most people want their burgers in less than three minutes, instant replay on certain scenes, and instant mac n cheese from the microwave.   We want what we want, and we want it now.

I have to confess that I am guilty of the same.

But this last week, I learned a lesson in delayed gratification.

You see, I’ve worn dentures since I was about eight years old.  I am affected by one of the ectodermal dysplasias syndromes (Hay Wells Syndrome) and was born with only six permanent teeth buds.  So, when my baby teeth started falling out, there was nothing to replace them with, sans a visit to the local prosthedontist.

During my pregnancy with Mister, I gained quite a bit of weight, and my dentures wouldn’t fit anymore without leaving sores on my gums.  So I stopped wearing them.  Over three years ago.  I was determined to lose the weight before I got new teeth.  But, I have found that it is difficult to lose weight when your diet is restricted by the inability to chew properly.  So, when I finally decided that I was ready to get new choppers, I made an appointment at one of those “$99 dentures in one day” places.

My appointment was scheduled at 8 a.m., to allow ample time for the impressions, molds, etc. Despite freezing rain on this past Wednesday morning, I arrived at the office fifteen minutes early, just in case there was new patient paperwork to complete.  I completed all of the paperwork and sat to wait my turn.

When the dental hygienist escorted me to the exam chair, I handed her my old dentures with a mixture of excitement and dread.  I hadn’t worn dentures in three years, and there is always an adjustment period to new teeth.  After an x-ray and brief exam of the two teeth that I do have, the assistant must have said, “I have  your estimate.”  But what I heard was, “The damage is $1599.”

WHAT?

I had seen the sign.  That’s why I chose this place.  We didn’t want to use our dental insurance on this set of dentures, since we know I will need to do this again once I hit my goal weight.

“What about the $99 sign?” I asked.  The assistant explained, “That is our basic acrylic denture, which wouldn’t work for you because you are accustomed to a metal cast partial on the lower jaw.  We can make that for you, but I can virtually guarantee that you won’t like it. What you are accustomed to is our top of the line denture.  We would need to make that for the bottom denture, so we would also need to make it for the top denture, as the two need to be made of the same material.”

With tears in my eyes, I sent Hubs a text.  Before I could even say anything to her, my phone was ringing.  It was him.  ”Go ahead and have them run our insurance,” he said, “and we’ll figure the rest out later.”

So, I handed over our dental plan card and since the office had a “pay today” policy, discussed with Hubs what the max we could afford to spend on dentures that morning was.  ”$700,” he said.  After waiting for what felt like ever, but really must have been only fifteen minutes, the assistant returned. “The patient portion would be $684.10.”  A sigh of relief went through me, as I handed over my bank card.  We could do this.

At this point, the assistant smiled and said, “I just want to make sure you understand that the type of denture you are getting is not a “one day” denture.”

REALLY?

She continued… “The acrylic only dentures we can make in one day, however, because we need to have a metal cast for your lower partial, we have to send out for that, and it takes up to two weeks to get it back. I just want to make sure you understand that before we take the impressions”

So, I sat there with tears in my eyes and gook in my mouth knowing that I would walk out without my new teeth.  And then I had to ask myself, “What is the problem, really?  You waited three years to come in for this appointment, why are you upset that you have to wait two weeks to get them back.”

Two weeks isn’t too long to wait to love my smile again.

And there you have it… my lesson in delayed gratification.

I can’t wait to show off my new choppers!