Flashback to Fourteen
One word for you…ow! My teeth hurt, my mouth hurts. No pain, no gain right 🙂 It feels so weird to have the braces on, but very familiar. Took about an hour to get them put on with this big lip spreader thing on my mouth holding my mouth off my teeth. I’m sure I looked really attractive. While the back part of each braces is plastic there is still quite a bit of metal so they’re definitely visible. I had a sudden thought – maybe I should have done Invisilign 🙂 (The reason I didn’t is that self-discipline is not my strong suit and I worried that I wouldn’t be diligent enough about wearing them) This way I have no choice.
So my teeth were pretty sore yesterday – the feel a little better this morning. It’s mostly the bottom teeth which were really crowded. The inside of my mouth is sore too from rubbing on the metal. I know it will toughen up.
I’m bolstered by the fact that the orthodontist said I had beautiful teeth (in and of themselves). He said most adult patients that come in have all kinds of crowns and fillings of which I have none.
I picked up Noah from school and he immediately wanted to see. Mark’s comment was “You look like a teenager”. Natalie kept saying “Braces” every 30 seconds and wanting me to smile.
Haven’t gotten a pic yet (it hurts to smile right now).
The BIG Day
Well today is the day – the braces go on. My appt is in an hour. I have to admit I’m a little nervous. Not sure why. I guess I’m still wondering what I’ll look like. I remember at 14 thinking that getting braces on was so traumatic – the whole metal mouth thing. While I don’t remember being extremely self conscious the entire time they were on, I obviously was if an entire 2 years of my life went by without an pictures with an open-mouthed smile.
You’d think at 32 I’d be confident enough that I wouldn’t care what the braces did to my appearance. Wrong! I care, at least a little bit. They’ll be mostly plastic which should help 🙂 But that’s 2 years with them on – a big committment. On the way to school this morning my 6 yr old asked “Will you have them on for the rest of your life mom?” I said “No, just 2 years – till your 8 and a half.” His response was, “But that’s forever!” (in exasperated voice). Thanks Noah 🙂
Here goes nothing. Wish me luck (thanks for the phone call T). I’ll post a picture soon….maybe 🙂
My Big Brother is the Big 4-0
Well this weekend me and the kids flew to Denver for a surprise birthday party for my big brother who turns 40 on Friday. We’ve been trying to orchestrate the surprise for several months. Phil and his fiancee live in the Sacramento area. My other brother and his family live in Denver. It was becoming quite a challenge to mesh all the schedules but then Phil decided to visit Brad & Suz in Denver over the holiday weekend. So me, the kids, and my parents flew up there and surprised him when he and Trish got there. It was lots of fun. The kids had fun playing with their cousin Grace and we had a good family visit. The kids even got to play in the snow. I’ll add a pic later. It’s good to be home though.
Moving forward with the braces
Well I did it. I’m committed now. On Monday I had an appointment to have my molds taken. They get sent off to the lab and I go in on February 27th to have the braces put on. I decided to get clear braces to make them a little less noticeable although there is still some metal. I’ll post a picture when I get them put on.
One Mom's Lifesong 