My Poor Baby

I think it's safe to say that the mommy guilt is very strong right now.  A few nights ago my daughter complained that one of her teeth was bothering her.  "The same one from a while ago," as she said.  Last time I told her to floss that area well and she said got something out and that she felt better.

This time, I decided to do the flossing so I could see what was going on.  It was between her back top teeth so it was not easy to reach much less see, so after getting a popcorn kernel out I had her lie down on the couch so I could see the area better.  I noticed that part of her tooth looked funny so I brushed the area a bit more and found that it looks like her tooth formed strange and I think that has created a pocket area where she now has a cavity.

This is very surprising to me because she has my husband's teeth.  You see, he can (and in fact did) go without seeing a dentist for 5 years and have the dentist tell him that his teeth are perfect.  In fact, the dentist pretty much called him a liar when my husband said he hasn't been to the dentist since he'd seen him 5 years prior. 

There are a couple difference between them though.  1. My husband is a religious flosser.  I'm pretty sure my daughter isn't (but she's going to be) and 2. My daughter still doesn't use florinated toothpaste.  You see, neither of my kids are good at spitting (my son in particular) so rather than have them swallow florinated toothpaste I've opted to use non-florinated toothpaste.  Needless to say the spitting practice has commenced in our house because this needs to change.  Yesterday!

Not only was I able to get my daughter a cleaning appointment for next week (the required precursor to getting the tooth fixed), I am planning on attending a pediatric dentistry talk given by our new dentist tomorrow night.  I'm hoping it will give me some insights on how best to deal with my kids dental issues.

More than that, right now I'm just praying that what they have to do isn't very invasive.  My hubby had a tooth pulled when he was a kid (to make room for his adult teeth) and it is a traumatic experience he still remembers with horror to this day.  I just pray she doesn't have one of those experiences (especially since her brother is already paranoid of the dentist too). 

It's bad enough that I didn't catch this sooner.   I'm not sure I can handle the guilt if she has a really bad experience too.

A Plee From This Mother's Heart

I've been following a blog for a while now (An Inch of Gray).  It came to my attention from another blog I'd been reading (Momastery).  Both of the authors were from Northern Virginia, so in a strange way it was my way of keeping up with people from where I grew up even though I've never met either of the authors. 

After following An Inch of Gray for a while, I discovered something about the author and her family.  She had lost her 12 year old son Jack to a tragic accident.  Yesterday, was the one year anniversary of that accident.  Momastery had an outpouring of love for Jack's family on their Facebook page that was just a.ma.zing.  It had me tearing up just seeing how much love complete strangers can show to others who are in pain.

Then late yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine from Florida posted a request on Facebook to pray for her 17 year old cousin who was in a terrible car accident yesterday.  As of now, she is in a coma and is hooked up to various machines to help her breath.  The doctors don't believe she is brain dead, but she is still unconscious and unresponsive so they are not sure of the damage. 

Please pray for Sierra.  Pray that she will be completely healed.  Pray for her family as they deal with this tragedy.  Pray for the friends who were in the vehicle with her and also got hurt as well as their families.

And I have one more request for all of you...  Love on your children.  Love them like you may not have tomorrow, because you never know what can happen.  On that note, I'm going to go spend some quality time with my kids.

The Big Reveal

In my last blog post I mentioned that I had been in a self-imposed hold for my life.  I told you that I was trying to accomplish a goal I had set and that I was working on my next goal and would probably be in another sort of hold for a while.

Well, today I'm going to tell you what this is all about.

I have decided to become a licensed realtor.  This is not a decision I came to lightly.  In fact I've been thinking about it for about 3 years but wanted to wait till the kids were older.  Technically, I'd like to wait till they are even a few years older, but life has necessitated that I do this now.

You see, a month ago my husbands hours were cut dramatically and for an indefinite period of time.  He is working on a new idea that we think will be able to bring in enough money to pay the bills, the only problem is that it will not be to that point for a few more months (maybe as many as 6 - 12).  So in order to help pay the bills without eating up all our savings till we get to that point, I decided I would try to find some work.  I still wanted to be able to have pretty flexible hours so of course I thought real estate.

When I contacted the realtor who helped us buy our new house asking her what I needed to do to get the process started, she asked me to come in to her office so we could talk about it.  When I got there, her partner was with her and I was offered a job working as a buyers agent once I got my license.  This is awesome on multiple levels: 1. My realtor was AWESOME!  She is the kind of person I want as a mentor and now she's going to be!  2. I got a job offer based on the way I bought our house (first time ever I think that's happened), and 3. I feel this was God's way of saying that this is the right thing for me to be doing right now.

So, what has been taking up all my time.  The licensing process of course.  In order to take the state test, you have to take a 63-hour state-approved class.  At the end of that class there is also a test.  Well, this last weekend I wanted to complete the class and take the end of class test.  All I needed to do to successfully complete the course was to get a 70% or higher on the test.  How thrilled was I when I got an 89%! 

The class I took was an on-line class.  That way I could fit it into my busy schedule but also because the earliest classroom class doesn't start till July 10.  During the online class, I had a few technical problems accessing the book so I ended up getting a study guide off Amazon so I could make sure I would meet my goal of taking the test when I wanted to.  After ordering the book the technically difficulties went away so I never really needed it.

Once I finished the class I scheduled my state test for the first available date which is July 3.  Since I have over a week to wait, I decided to take the practice tests in the study guide I bought to make sure I didn't forget any information.  I've taken 2 of 5 sample tests and I barely passed one and failed the other.  Not because I forgot a lot of information but because the book covered more information than apparently the online class did.  AAAAKKKK!!! 

So now I'm freaking out that I'm not going to pass the test next Tuesday.  My parents are planning on coming down in a few days to bring a 15' sail boat for us to store (and use - yippy!) so I know I will have them watching the kids some while I cram some more.

One more thing that I know will be really helpful.  Prayer.  If you could please do me a favor and pray for me I would appreciate it.