#4 Support Our Troop

Mia's Dental Surgery

I'm not sure who was more scared about today's procedure; me for knowing what was about to happen or Mia for not having a clue what was going on. We had to be at the Surgery Center by 7:45am for an 8:30 surgery. We only had to wait minutes in the waiting room and I had to fork over $213 dollars that I really don't have right now. They had me remove her shirt, socks, and shoes and that really upset her. She didn't like the mini hospital gown so that came off within minutes. When the nurse took away her clothes to guard, Mia got upset and kept trying to tell on the nurse that took them. She does the same thing in the house when Jose or I discipline her, she runs off to the other parent to "tattle-tell". Mia was taken away crying and reaching out for me so of course I spent the next hour in the waiting room feeling sick to my stomach with worry.

Dr. Rex came out to see me and explained what they had done. Mia now has 8 crowns in her mouth and they "shaved" her bottom teeth so they now look like they have big gaps between them. The front four crowns have porcelain on the fronts to look less obvious. Now Erika and Mia have one more thing in common. My stomach was in knots remembering how Erika was when she came out of the same surgery. She was confused and crying and kicking and it had been such a tramautic experience for me because I hadn't been expecting it. When they brought me back, the nurse was holding Mia and she was still drowsy and confused but not crying. I settled into the chair and just held Mia and waited for her to wake up. She had the hospital gown on again, one sock was missing, and now she had an oxygen monitor on her big toe. There was an IV in her left hand and her mouth was pretty swollen.

Mia surprised all of us though. It took her another half hour to wake up but she did so nice and slowly. Mia barely made a fuss at all. Her biggest concern was getting the hospital gown off of her once again and putting her own clothes back on. The nurse Jenna was absolutely fabulous and so patient with Mia's little requests and demands. Mia ended up with a popsicle, cup of apple juice, and a cup of water and she kept rotating through all of them. A complete angel with no screaming or crying, we were so lucky this time around. I was able to call Jose to pick us up at 11am which was a little ahead of schedule but they said she was doing really well. When we got her home, she slept off and on for a big part of the afternoon but they said she'd had the effects of the drugs in her system for awhile. I gave her one dose of children's Motrin to help ease the pain she might have been feeling in her mouth.

One Drill Sergeant, Two Drill Sergeant

The family that works out together stays together. We brought these push up things home with us from Dad's house as I get the feeling that he won't be doing any working out in the near future and if he does, they are light enough to send back in the mail to him. AshLee learned how to do push-ups with me while I was still in the military. Erika and Mia missed the opportunity for that brainwashing so I'll have to start them on it in little doses. Both girls have already participated in two 5K's with us, of course, Mia was in the jogging stroller both times but she'll be running them soon enough.

Reconstruction Surgery

Wednesdays are early release days at school so Erika came home from school while it was still nice outside. She went straight to work recreating the snowman as best she could. Erika kept getting upset and impatient because the gravel wouldn't stick in the snow because it was icier today and they just fell right back out. I think she did a pretty good job considering that the poor guy had toppled over and the snow balls had smashed apart.
After the snow activities outside, we bundled up the family and headed out to Juniper for another gym session and to take the girls swimming afterwards. Due to it being the beginning of the year when everyone is still pumped about working on their New Year resolutions, the gym is pretty packed in the evenings. You have to come later on when most people have gone home to make dinner or go to bed. We go from 6-7pm and then open swim goes from 7-8:30pm so it works out perfectly for us.

Snow Day

 Erika didn't really want to wake up this morning so I let her sleep in a little later. Which means she doesn't catch the bus at 8:15am and I get to drive her to school by 9 o'clock. So we pulled up to the school at exactly the right minute so score one for Mom this morning. When we pulled back in the driveway, I decided to shovel it off and hit the sidewalks so that Jose wouldn't have to do it when he got home. Right after we get started, who pulls in the driveway but Jose! So he got to shovel the snow anyways and Erika and I started making a snowman in the yard. I definitely need a little practice in how to roll the perfect snow ball. The first one was lopsided, the second one was about the same size as the first and I had to ask Jose for help lifting it up. I tried to patch the gaps with more snow but I'm not sure how that was working. The poor head was flat on several sides so I did a lot of patchwork there.

Of course, my poor snowman self-destructed before Erika got home from school so she didn't even notice him. Jose and I took advantage of the fact that we were home together without plans so I called the gym and reserved a slot in childcare for Mia. I bought a 10 visit pass quite awhile ago and today was only my second visit. I am very proud of myself too. All of the treadmills were full when we got there so I did a full 30 minutes on the Arc Trainer and burned a lovely 374 calories. By then, one of the treadmills was open so I was able to get in a quick mile before our hour was up. We generally do one hour slots in the childcare and this was Mia's first time by herself without having Erika with her. She cried when I left her there but they said she stopped pretty quick. I made us another appointment to come back tomorrow evening so I can get back into the gym habit. Mia has her pre-op appointment tomorrow morning and then Jose goes back to the cardiologist in the afternoon.

Jell-O Magic Mousse

It is amazing what kind of food and recipes you can encounter in your cupboards and pantry when you try to eat only what you already have. It's so easy to order out or drive through a fast food place when your pantry is disorganized. You open the door and glance in and nothing that would make a meal jumps out at you so you shut the door and shrug your shoulders. Eating at home for the last week or so has been so interesting. Today I grabbed a box of Jell-O to make as a no fat snack for myself and the girls and I noticed the receipe on the side of the box for Magic Mousse. Instead of mixing two cups of hot water and then two cups of cold, you start with three cups of boiling water, add the Jell-O and dissolve. Then mix in a tub of Cool Whip which we just happened to have left over from the holidays so score one for Mom using one more product that we already had! After it's all mixed, just pop in the fridge and there you have it. I'll have to score it 3 out of a potential 4 stars because we liked it but Erika didn't care too much for it. The Cool Whip separated and rose back up to the top but it didn't taste bad at all, more like a creamsicle if you ask me.

# 3 Snap, Krackle, Hat