Winter

While 99% of my friends are sharing pictures of their hometowns transformed into Winter Wonderlands, we have this...

Beautiful, sunny days at the beach. Yes, we suck! However, this is far from typical day this Winter. This year, it has been colder than usual, and we Floridians were caught off guard in December by a record setting 15+ days of freezing temperatures. January was slightly better, but still cold. Just now, are we starting to see a return to our average 50-60 degree weather. Mother Nature has even treated us to a few days in the 70's, an encouraging sign that Puxatony Phil may be right about an early Spring!Since Phil's predictions are somewhat questionable, we decided to get out and enjoy one of those 70-degree days with a little family fun in the sunshine. The perfect medicine for Winter blues!Our impromptu beach outing resulted after discovering an unused birthday present from Jaxon's 5th birthday in the garage. The kite that Aunt Emily sent was the perfect entertainment for the day. While it wasn't particularly blustery, the breeze was sufficient for us since we definitely fall under the novice category when it comes to kite flying. Baylor found the activity thrilling and was somewhat unwilling to share. What else is new, right? Ahhh, two-year olds. Gotta love 'em!Eventually, as in hours later, mommy got a turn. Of course, at that point, the wind promptly died. Go figure.The boys merely turned their attention to playing in the sand. That never gets old, thankfully.Then, there were the sand dunes to climb and tumble down. Never a dull moment at the beach!Jaxon tried his hand at photography. Anh and I wanted a "couple" picture, but Baylor was adamant that he be included. He's certainly not camera shy, and he doesn't take no for answer. Truth be told, he was right. The picture is better with him in it.Of course, then Jaxon was jealous. A quick father-son shot easily smoothed things over. These two with their competitive personalities. I fear what the future holds when it comes to sports or even worse...girls! Of course, if the competitiveness leads to straight A's, I won't be complaining.While they're very different, the boys are also two peas in a pod. While we take some incredible trips and get wrapped up in some awesome adventures, I believe it's simple days like this that will stand out in our memories of family time together. When you take the time to slow down and enjoy life's simple pleasures, you realize what a gift you've been given by simply receiving another warm, sunny day.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Introducing my Star Student! Jaxon was honored last week at school with a Character Counts Award for Respect. It's nice to know his parents aren't the only ones to recognize Jaxon's excellent behavior.The whole family was on hand to see Jaxon receive his award and acknowledgement, and the pride that Anh and I felt as his parents was overshadowed only by a little brother's love. Baylor took a seat right next to his big brother in the student section and cheered, "Good job, Jax!" as Jaxon's name was called. The pride was radiating off Baylor's face. As his mother, I pray that moment inspires him to turn the corner with the Terrible Two's behavior!Jax took his place on stage with the school's other honorees and briefly enjoyed the spotlight.Although, I'm fairly certain Jaxon enjoyed the post-ceremony reception complete with cake a lot more!

The Adventure Continues

Not only is a blog entry long overdue, but it's time for another Adventures in Potty-Training update. So, as the title implies, we're still working on it much to my disgust. Baylor, on the other hand, is quite content to sit around in his own shit ALL day long! As of a few weeks ago, Baylor had actually started lying about whether he had to go potty, and even worse, he wouldn't tell you if he had an accident. Baylor even started crying and would throw his hands up shouting, "No! No! No!" if you were walking towards him to put him on the potty or to change his soiled diaper. It was pretty much a complete regression.

So, I decided we had to somehow implement a "game-changer" to spin potty-training back into a positive light. As some of you will remember, Anh and I resorted to bribery when pottery-training Jaxon. However, Baylor already has pretty much EVERYTHING a kid could possibly desire thanks to big brother. It might technically be a hand-me-down or shared possession, but the kid has it ALL! Initially, Anh and I tried rewarding Baylor with candy for a successful trip to the potty, but we very quickly realized that Baylor was losing interest in that reward. So, I was grasping at straws to find motivation for him. Then, I spotted this while walking through a Target clearance aisle.

At $100, I figure it equals 5 boxes of diapers. So, if we speed this process along by at least 5 boxes, it was money well spent. I ran the idea by Anh who had cleaned out the garage the day before, and he left the decision squarely in my court. As soon as I made the purchase, I texted Anh to tell him the good news and in response, he said, "Glad u bought it. Was just thinking the other day how we have entirely too much garage space." I'm gonna guess he wasn't entirely on board with my decision. Ha!

The plan was to let Baylor sit in the car as a reward. After a successful day, I'd actually let him drive the car. Things started off great! Baylor was thrilled to see a car that is all his, and eagerly visited the potty so he could pretend to drive afterwards while honking the horn and turning on the headlights. Then, we headed out of town to meet Grandfather and Grandma at Disney World and our progress started to unravel. Obviously, the Mini Cooper couldn't make the trip with us. Plus, our schedule was all off, and Baylor was too distracted by the Disney magic to focus on bodily functions. That is until Grandfather presented Baylor with a Lightening McQueen penny that he made in one of those Press-A-Penny machines.

Baylor was OBSESSED with that penny for 2 straight days. It was with him at ALL times. If he dared put it in his pocket, he had to check on it every 10 seconds to make sure it was still there. One night after a successful potty break, Grandma rewarded Baylor with a second penny. He sprinted to show me and exclaimed, "Look! I got money cause I poo-pooed in da potty!" Seriously?! Is that all it takes?! A freakin' penny?! Well, kid, I've got 10,000 pennies tied up in that Mini Cooper. What does that get me?!

And, the adventure continues...

Telling It Like It Is

Suffering from a bout of "mean mommy" syndrome. Tonight, I said to Jaxon while we were out on Anh's earshot, "Daddy is going to give in to Baylor's tantrum because he's a softy." Jax paused and then asked, "What does softy mean? You mean because Daddy is nicer than you?" Ummmm...yeah...I guess that's exactly what "softy" means. Thanks.

Tell Us How You Really Feel

Cel-Le-Bration Time, Come On! You know the tune! Sing it with me! Okay, I guess you'd like to be let in on the good news first. Ha! I had to find out from a third party (another parent) because Jaxon fails to tell me anything at all about his day regardless of the fact that I pretty much interrogate him for details. Apparently, the class bully Little Miss M is moving to Kentucky!

Jaxon's teacher, Mrs. P, shared the news with the class yesterday on M's last day. I'll paraphrase, but the other parent who was actually present for the big announcement said it went something like...

"Well, Class, I have an announcement. Today is M's last day because her family is moving to Kentucky, and we won't be able to see her anymore." Then, the entire class (except M) CHEERED and shouted "Woo hoo!!!!" I'm sure Mrs. P would have loved to join in the celebration, but she somehow kept a straight face and explained to everyone that it was actually a "sad" occasion and stated, "Everyone will miss M." Yeah right! I think the cheers prove that to be a white lie! Although, I really congratulate Mrs. P on taking the high road. I'm sure as the classroom door closed behind the last student after dismissal, she did a little dance. I know I would have!

Everyone's Got One...

An opinion! Well, unless you want someone to have one. In which case, they never do! That's how things played out today at Jaxon's orthodontist appointment. After speaking with two dentists in the last 6 months and hearing two different strategies on how to best correct Jaxon's underbite, it was finally time to meet with a specialist that could not only weigh-in on the issue, but also take action. So, it should come as no surprise that his advice was to do nothing...for now.

Our new orthodontist, Dr. O, feels that we have two options. At first, he was hesitant to even discuss those options with me. However, I'm pushy and don't take no for an answer. Shocking, right? Well, it's true. The options are dependent on whether Jaxon's underbite is a result of a dental or skeletal issue. Apparently, that can only be determined via x-ray. Since regardless of the cause, Dr. O wants to wait a year to take any action, he opted to not waste my money today by conducting an x-ray that would need to be repeated in a year anyway. For the record, I did appreciate his concern for my out-of-pocket expenses. Clearly, his staff made him aware that we don't have dental insurance. Otherwise, something tells me the x-ray would have been ordered.

Now, the hypothetical options that I pretty much forced him to discuss with me because he feared I'd refuse to leave his exam room without some sort of information. Option 1, Jaxon will be fitted with braces and through the use of elastic bands, his upper jaw will be pulled forward and the lower one pulled back until the two are aligned. Option 2, surgery. When pressed in a not so delicate manner to weigh-in on the likelihood of surgery, Dr. O admitted it was a strong possibility. He agrees with Dr. K and Dr. F when it comes to the severity of Jaxon's underbite. When I continued to press Dr. O for details, he said he would probably recommend that we do the surgery sooner rather than later meaning we could do it at the age of 7.

So, I had mixed feelings when we left the office. On one hand, I was relieved that Jaxon will not be having extensive jaw surgery when he is 6 years old. On the other hand, there's still a strong possibility that this surgery is in his/our future, if Dr. O determines that Jaxon's underbite is due to a skeletal problem. I wanted to hear that surgery wouldn't be necessary, but that can't be determined at this point. Of course, I also felt somewhat hesitant to accept Dr. O's "wait & see" approach when both of our dentists seemed to agree on one thing, and that's the need to do something now while Jaxon's jaw is still actively growing. Of course, Dr. O is the specialist which means his opinion should mean more, right? Who do you trust?

When in doubt, start calling all of your professional friends. Thankfully, we have a few. Anh met quite a few orthodontists-in-training during his surgery fellowship because there was a bit of overlap with the oral maxillary fellowship program at the medical college. Well, now, they're all in private practice. Our friend, Jenny Beth, strongly disagreed with Dr. O's willingness to perform the surgery (should it be deemed necessary) at the age of 7. She advised us that waiting until Jaxon is an adolescent would be much more advantageous because we need to rule out the possibility of a post-surgery growth spurt undoing the alignment.

Then, Anh spoke with another friend, Mike, who is an orthodontist about an hour North of us, and he offered what will hopefully be the best advice...to come see him. After hearing everybody else's 2-cents, he seems convinced that surgery doesn't have to be an option. God, I hope he's right! So, we'll be calling Dr. Mike's office tomorrow to set up an official appointment for our 5th opinion, I think??? Yes, 5th opinion. Like I said in the beginning, everyone has got one!

On Second Thought, Keep Your Opinions to Yourself

Yesterday was kind of tough. Jax and I had our routine 6-month dental cleaning. Since our last appointment in July, the office has hired a new dentist, Dr. F, and I figured it would be good to hear his thoughts on potential treatments for Jaxon's underbite. Our last dentist, Dr. K, felt that Jax's underbite would be best corrected with headgear worn at home/overnight to pull his upper jaw forward into alignment with the lower jaw. The idea of wearing headgear for 6-12 months is certainly less than ideal, but definitely better than the surgical option she said we'd be looking at if we waited too long and his jaw stopped growing and could no longer be manipulated. The only true problem in the scenario is that Jaxon can only be fitted for the headgear once he loses his baby teeth and his molars come in, and in that department we are running behind schedule. When faced with the knowledge that the jaw typically stops growing around 7 years of age, I realize that we're in a bit of time crunch now that Jaxon is 6. The clock is ticking on the window of opportunity.

So, obviously I welcomed Dr. F's thoughts as a second opinion. Well, until he actually examined Jax, paused for what seemed like FOREVER to collect his thoughts and form a plan, and then told me that in his opinion, headgear would do very little to improve the situation. After another long pause, Dr. F informed me that there's a very good chance Jaxon will have to undergo surgery sooner rather than later. When I told him, that wasn't the news I expected or wanted, he offered the possibility of Jaxon being fitted with a retainer-type aparatus that could be adjusted biweekly to encourage his jaw bones to expand. However, Dr. F said he wouldn't be at all surprised if surgery was the only option. I'm telling you, Jaxon's underbite doesn't look "that" bad to me. I'm shocked that such drastic measures may need to be taken.

By drastic, I mean a surgery that will break his jaw and reset it in proper alignment. His mouth will be wired shut for 3 t0 5 weeks which will be painful and limit him to a liquid diet. Who wants that for their 6-year old child or anyone for that matter? Needless to say, I found the news quite upsetting. We'll meet with an orthodontist, Dr. O, next week for a true assessment of all the possibilities. After hearing his thoughts, I'm sure we'll be meeting with another orthodontist and possibly some oral surgeons to hear their thoughts. I'm hoping for better news. My fingers are crossed! At least, neither of us had any cavities. Yay for some positive news!