Mango's Journey To Braces Part 2

This morning Mango had another visit to the orthodontist, where they placed her sutural expander. It is glued to her back teeth, and I will need to "crank" it once a day, using a special little tool, to slowly expand the width of her mouth. If you look very closely at the picture below, you will see the tiny hole between the arrows where the little tool goes. We did the first turn today at the orthodontist so they made sure I knew how, and Mango said she felt some pushing on her teeth. They assured her that this was normal, shouldn't actually ever hurt, and should only last about 15 minutes each day. She said the glue tasted horrible, but is very happy they will let her eat fruit snacks again! (She couldn't when the spacers were in before.)
Lunch was an adventure as food gets caught between the expander and the roof of her mouth, making this already very slow eater even slower, as she'd try to clear it out between every bite.
But our happy little darling is adjusting to her new mouthware, and is still as smiley and giggley as ever....which is just how we like her!

An Outdoor Saturday

It was cool here today, but we still spent much of the day enjoying the outdoors. I love the high 60's/low 70's sort of days!

This morning, we began planting a few vegetables in a mini-garden. (Yes, we know it's late to start seeds, but everything we planted is of the quick growing variety.) Now, if we can just keep the bunnies away, maybe we'll have some fresh veggies in a couple of months. We're also going to attempt some watermelon's and musk melons, but those will need to go outback where there is more space.

Monkey also officially "graduated" from his tricycle to a bicycle with training wheels. He told me "The first time on the new bike was AHHHH very scary, but the second time on the new bike was FUN!" And for those of you who are concerned about such things, we did later find Seely and Random's very first bicycle, so Monkey no longer is resigned to using the pink one.

This evening, DH took a couple of the boys to the home improvement store and returned with my Mother's Day present....a patio swing. It is supposed to be a secret, so you can't tell until tomorrow (though I've already tried it out and have given it a two thumb's up)! Now, I can sit outside and read and swing contentedly while the kids run around and play, and my vegetables do their best to grow inspite of (and despite of) my best gardening efforts.

Aren't Digital Cameras Great??? Or Mango's Journey to Braces, Part 1

Over the past few months, when Lily has had issues with her ear post area, we've started taking a digital photograph of it, so that she can easily see exactly what we are talking about. It's important that she learn what the area looks like when it is healthy and when it's not healthy, as someday she will be out on her own and need to make a decision for herself on when to see the doctor.
Today, Mango had some orthodontic spacers put in around a couple of molars, so that they will have room to place some metal bands there in a couple of weeks for her "sutural expander". She was curious about what these blue bands looked like in her mouth, so I offered to take a picture. In typical Mango fashion, she thought it was hysterically funny to do this, and happily gave me permission to post the picture of her mouth on my blog!
You can see a couple of her permanent teeth are coming in well behind her baby teeth. This has happened with every single permanent tooth she has gotten to this point. Her mouth, quite simply, is much too small for her permanent teeth (and those of you who know just how much she can talk can quit laughing about her having a small mouth now!) They will place the expander in about two weeks, and I will have to use a small tool to "expand" her palate every morning for about 6-8 weeks. (This supposedly doesn't hurt. But it doesn't exactly sound very pain free, does it?) Once her mouth has expanded to a more proper size, she will have braces put on the top teeth for a few months to try to pull everything into a better alignment, and to hopefully allow the other permanent teeth to come in in their proper places.
She is a trooper though and did great at the orthodontist today (and they did great with her, which is even more important!).
Maybe we'll have to make this process a blog series!!!!

Simple Woman's Daybook for 5/4/09

FOR TODAY, May 5th, 2009
Outside my window...The sun is shining; there are only a few big, fluffy clouds in the blue skies, and it is supposed to get up to 71 degrees here today.
I am thinking... about the fun we had this past weekend.
I am thankful for...the money CSC was able to raise and for all of the wonderful people (especially two of my children) that have been brought into my life because of that organization
From the learning rooms... Mango is completely done with her school year, and the others are working towards the end. They know what they need to accomplish to be "done", now they just need to do it.
From the kitchen... Maybe spaghetti. It always takes me awhile to adjust our menu to a new season. We don't like having to turn the oven on once it gets warm outside, so I have to start remembering all of my "stove top" type meals.
I am wearing... a maroon Eeyore shirt, blue jeans, and striped socks
I am creating... no current projects are in the works
I am going... to BSF this evening.
I am reading... a series by an author named Cheryl Wyatt. I've never heard of her before, but she's actually quite good!
I am hoping...Mango's mouth won't get too sore today. She started her orthodontic work this morning, and they put in some spacers to create room between the teeth for the bands she will need for her expander. She is already telling me her mouth hurts and looking sad. And no one can look genuinely sad quite like she can.
I am hearing... pages turning, computer keys tapping, and the soft scratch of pencils as three kids do their school work; and the not so quiet voices of two kids playing and crashing matchbox cars
Around the house... Laundry to fold after our weekend away, but truthfully, I don't plan on spending alot of time indoors today!
One of my favorite things... Time with families and friends, and an orthodontic staff that is caring and nuturing with their young patients
A few plans for the rest of the week: School work, and time outside

If you would like to see more Daybooks (and some of them really are fun!), please check out this link.

Life at the Hotel Part 2

We are back home from a busy, but absolutely wonderful weekend.

Saturday morning, several of the adoptive families gathered at a local park for a picnic. The kids enjoyed the beautiful weather and running around together.Monkey was reunited with his best friend at the orphanage, "Thing 2". It took them a little while to warm up to each other again, but they sure make a cute pair! Can you imagine the mischief these two got into together when they lived in the same room?????

Saturday evening, about 800 people gathered to celebrate 30 years of the ministry of CSC. My favorite part of the evening was hearing a recently adopted 16 year old young woman speak about how she was now living her dream of having a new family.
It was a wonderful time of connecting with friends old and new, and of celebrating a ministry that has blessed so many.

Life at the Hotel

This weekend we are at a hotel for the CSC adoptive families weekend. It's a great time for our kids to connect with other kids they knew and lived with before they came to us, and for the families to connect and share stories.
Our rooms are wonderful, and we share a courtyard area with several other CSC families, so kids were running across the grass in and out of each other's rooms. Later, we had dinner with a couple of the other families.


After dinner, all of the families got together and watched a silly video made by CSC staff, had some snacks, played a game, and then most of the kids hit the pool.Is it any wonder that no-one but the adoptive families came anywhere near the pool area with this many people????? Really, the kids were all very well-behaved and had a great time together (though not many of the adults, even the ones who didn't intend to get wet, actually managed to stay dry!)
It's a hopping place here tonight, with lots of smiles and good times being shared. And the party only continues tomorrow!