January

January 2019

January is the longest month. Despite the fact that the kids were out of school for what seemed like so many days... with a bunch of early release days and a three-day weekend followed by a four-day weekend. It still felt long and gray. I've tried to change my perspective on January and change a few habits and it has helped somewhat but January is just long.

The month started off with a ton of dental issues. Right before New Years Kameron had a filling come out and with it a chunk of his tooth. This, while a nuisance, shouldn't be huge deal...but it was/is. First, all of the dental offices were closed until after New Years unless it was a serious emergency which it was not. As soon as our pediatric dental office opened we got him right in. But things just went down hill from there. Kameron would need...best case scenario a crown and worst case scenario an implant. For both of those things he would need to go to regular i.e. grown up dentist. He's 18 now so it is probably time to bump him up anyway. We made an appointment with the regular dentist and Kam's tooth situation got more complicated due to some odd genetics. Kameron is missing 3 permanent teeth. They just never formed. This is a weird trait that runs in families and is apparently on my side because my nephew Dane is also missing some permanent teeth. Kameron also only has one wisdom tooth and Bryn has zero wisdom teeth.

The dentist has talked to Kameron in the past about really taking good care of those baby teeth and that they can last a long time. The dentist's dad is in his 70s and was born without a few permanent teeth and still has his baby teeth. The mom of one of the dental assistants at our regular dentist was missing a permanent tooth and she still has her baby tooth and she is also in her 70s.

Anyway...Kameron has been lectured to take good care of those teeth but unfortunately things haven't gone as planned. A few years ago, he got cavities in two of his three baby teeth...the ones that he needs to hold onto. They were filled and things were fine until his filling came out and part of his tooth and of course it was one of those darn baby teeth. Our regular dentist determined that there was no saving that baby tooth. The rest of it needed to come out and Kameron would definitely need an implant. The kicker is that implants take time. After the post is implanted it takes approximately 6 months for it to heal into the bone and then a fake tooth needs to be formed around it. With Kameron's mission looming, getting his tooth fixed puts us on a tight schedule. This month Kameron had three different dental appointments and he is scheduled for his implant in February. The good news is that our dentist used to be in our stake and gave us a huge "missionary" discount which was unbelievably kind as this procedure is expensive despite having good dental insurance.

Meanwhile during the same week before New Years...Tyler also had a toothache and had to wait until after New Years to get it checked out. He had a different dentist that he went to...not the one that is doing Kam's implant...and when he went in he was told that he needed two root canals and maybe a bridge. WTH?! Let me preface this by saying that Tyler has only had one cavity in his entire life...me too...no root canals...no nothing. We both got our first cavities in our 30s. Isn't that weird? Tyler and I have had zero dental issues and our kids have all had several cavities and all sorts of weird issues. Maybe our little weekly dixie cups of fluoride treatments in elementary school in Utah really did the trick and protected our teeth. Maybe we will eventually die of fluoride poisoning but our teeth are strong!

Tyler kept being prompted to get a second opinion and to change our dentist. So since Kam needed a new dentist... Tyler, Kam, and I all switched over to our new dentist...the one that used to be in our stake. Our new dentist was flabbergasted about what our old dentist had told Tyler. Our new dentist said that all he had on one side was a regular cavity that needed to be filled and then on the other side he was just going to fill that tooth as well but if it looked like Tyler needed a root canal once he was in the tooth he would do that also. No bridges necessary! Hallelujah! That sounded so much better! That just goes to show that you really need to find dentists that you can trust! Ailey and Bryn also had their check ups and cleaning and THANK GOODNESS they both were fine. No cavities! All in all we have had...SEVEN dental appointments in January and three more scheduled for early February. Sheesh.

Hanging out at the dentist... our home away from home. LOL.

In other news..more of Kameron is falling apart. While dealing with his tooth issues he also had knee issues. Kameron ruined his knees running track and XC. He ran all through elementary school, middle school, and through his sophomore year of HS. At the end of track season his sophomore year his knees were shot. They would swell and hurt and it was impossible for him to run. His pediatrician said that he needed to strengthen the muscles around his knees and had him do a bunch of PT exercises. Kameron did them for awhile but not as much as he should have. Without him running they seemed to get somewhat better. They would swell if he played sports or went on a hard hike but the swelling would go down and while somewhat painful they weren't too bad. He was reminded over and over again to do his exercises. Which he didn't do.

The first part of January, Kameron had a 3-day jazz band retreat. During the down time he and his friends played hours and hours of basketball and football. When Kameron got home he could barely walk and one of his knees was enormous. Bigger than a softball and he was in a lot of pain. His other knee was hurting too but nothing like the big swollen one. We got him into our GP right away and this doctor agreed with his old pediatrician that Kam has to build up the muscles around his knees. His knee caps are so loose it gives me the shivers just thinking about it. His patella floats around and isn't in the right groove so it rubs and becomes inflamed. Kam went in for x-rays on both knees. Luckily no serious damage had been done. He was diagnosed with patellofemoral pain syndrome PFPS and bursitis. The doctor referred him to a sports medicine physical therapist who will then determine if his knee needs to be drained. He still has yet to go... the PT was booked out until February. The swelling has gone down quite a bit but his knees still really hurt. Kameron was freaking out that something was going to be seriously wrong with his knees that would prevent him from serving a mission. Missionaries have to pass some pretty rigorous physical assessments. They have to be able to walk an average of 6 miles a day and ride a bike an average of 12 miles a day. So between his darn knees and his tooth issues Kameron was super stressed out.

Kam is showing his actual kneecap. See how huge his knee is?

But during all of this rigmarole I got to cram in a mother/son lunch date with Kam. My brother, Kirk, and I have been on a quest for years to find the best cubano sandwich ever since we watched the movie Chef one Christmas. Kam and I found the ultimate cubano right here in Spokane!

 The same day that Kameron and I had our mother/son lunch date between his many doctor appointments...Tyler had a fun morning with Bryn at her elementary school for Donuts with Dads.

Is anyone on the celery juice kick? It is supposed to be really good for inflammation and is supposed to have all kinds of other health benefits. Kirk and Meki and their family are on the celery juice kick. We have tried all kinds of things to help with inflammation. Apple cider vinegar, turmeric, and on and on. The problem for Tyler is that as a Type 1 diabetic most of them absolutely plummet his blood sugar...dangerously fast. So he isn't able to do the anti-inflammatory things. We decided to give the fresh celery juice a try and yes, it also drops his blood sugar, but not nearly as fast as other things do. It's more of a gentler drop. That was exciting to find out so Tyler is all in!

Ailey and her dance team were coming in HOT this month. They had so many performances, competitions, and half-time shows. She was dancing all month long.

We have had fun watching her do her thing. But I don't think anything can top the fun we had watching her perform at Rubber Chicken which is the school spirit competition between our high school and our rival. The varsity girls play a basketball game and the cheerleaders from both schools do a competitive half-time show and then the varsity boys play their game and both dance teams do a big competitive half-time show. Each year there is a theme and all of the student body and crowd get involved with props and t-shirts and all kinds of things. At the end of all of that...judges decide which school had the most school spirit and they are awarded "Chuck" the rubber chicken to live at their school for the year. This is a big Spokane high school thing. All of the high schools have these spirit competitions with their rivals. It actually is really fun!

So imagine our delight when we found out that not only would we get to watch Ailey perform (like we did several years ago when Reilly was on the dance team) but that she was also going to BE Chuck the Chicken!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! The smallest girl on the dance team has to wear the chicken outfit and do all of their dances in the chicken costume plus a bunch of other things to rev up the crowd. Reilly would've HATED being Chuck the Chicken but Ailey was excited!! Not only did she do an AMAZING job dancing as Chuck but SHE OWNED IT!! She loved every single minute of being center stage. Again Tyler and I just looked at each other like "Where did this kid come from?" She was the shyest kid ever and now she is rocking it at half-time like nobody's business. It was SUPER FUN to watch her!!

Dancing with the Silly Sacks...another weird school tradition.

Ailey in all her Chuck the Chicken/Baby Shark Glory!!

We sat up in a section with a bunch of friends from our stake and it was fun to cheer on all of our kids who were playing basketball, cheering, and dancing. It was a great night!

Kameron was hanging out with his cronies so we never really saw him. I do appreciate him being tagged on FB in photos! :)

My friend Rebecca and I were able to squeeze in one last marathon Starbucks meet up before she moved to Wisconsin.

Kam is super excited that he FINALLY gets to vote in an upcoming election!! That kid needs to major in political science!!

I updated all of our kids pictures on the piano a few weeks ago and came across this:

Different but still the same. I love it. 
And...then I had a nice little cry about how quickly Kameron has grown up.

One Saturday most of our family drove down to Stacey's to watch our niece River play basketball. She did a great job and it was fun to watch and cheer for her.

River's team won all three of her games!

We watched our nephew Dane do his thing during time outs and half-time. :)

We all went out to eat at the best little restaurant in their town. So good!

We dropped the kids and John off at Stacey's house and Tyler, my mom, me, Stacey, and Kelley went to one of our favorite antiques stores and found some treasures.

These guys had some fun cousin time!!

Things with Primary have been CRAZY this month...with the new schedule, new curriculum, putting on a Temple and Priesthood Prep Night...and I got a new counselor and secretary. Whoa. We had 12 kids move up early to YM/YW as 11 year olds so the YM and YW ended up getting quite a few kids and those organizations needed to be restructured to accommodate that. I lost my first counselor to YW (my friend Caroline) but ended up replacing her with my good friend Annie. Yay! My secretary got called be the librarian and help out with Sunday School since that has also gotten a bunch more kids. So I got a new secretary (Jordyn...new in our ward) and I think she will be great! So it ended up working out okay. The bad part was that they started releasing people in between Christmas and New Years and not getting new people called until the 2nd week of January which made things insane. Especially since we were putting on the Temple and Priesthood Prep night for 12 kids and their parents with decorations, refreshments, and six speakers. My good friend (and 2nd counselor) Shannon and I did it all by ourselves. We had to hurry and squeeze it in fast too because there was a youth temple trip the first week of February and it needed to be done before that! I am glad that it is done!

I also hosted book club at my house this month. We read Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart. I had already read it for Spokane is Reading. Everyone liked it. We had a bunch of people out of town so we had a smaller gathering this month but it all worked out and was a fun night with a great discussion.

Bryn had her 4th Grade Music Concert:

Reilly and Hunter came in a bit late and Bryn was so excited to point them out to her friend.

Not only did she sing but she also played the recorder. Sayonara recorder! Last kid...last recorder. You will not be missed.

Bryn and her friend Kaylee.

Bryn did a great job!

Tyler and I set some goals for the New Year for ourselves and our family and I am happy to say that we have made a good start on them already. I was talking to the missionaries from our ward and they are having some serious issues with new missionaries coming out that can't cook...like at all. They can't cook an egg or even make the most basic things. (There have been changes with feeding the missionaries so they are required to cook most meals for themselves rather than eat at members homes.) Kam is a pretty good cook but we are having him do some of the main cooking for our Sunday dinners as practice and he is doing a really spectacular job!! We also started our home study for Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families and I absolutely love it! We have had some great in depth discussions for our FHE. We always had FHE on Sunday nights anyway so it has been really easy to incorporate this program. Plus, we have older kids which makes it even easier. We all take turns planning the lesson and leading the discussion...even Bryn. The manual and online resources make it so easy. Tyler and I have also been staying really active despite the snow and ice. Being outside really helps with my January blahs. I have read a lot of books this month and have tried to *find* the coziness rather than feeling that cooped-up-cabin-fever-feeling.

I love this quote that I found on Instagram at the start of January. It really helped me set my intention for the month and gave me some great perspective:

Winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year that is coming to a close. Like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary to our tired limbs, our burdened minds.

Our modern culture teaches avoidance [of this rest] at a max at this time; [with] alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, overspending, comfort food, and consumerism. And yet the natural tug to go inward as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and the weather so bitter that people are left feeling that winter is hard...it can be lonely and isolating. Whereas in actual fact winter is kind. She points us in her quiet, soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection.

Winter takes away the distractions, the buzz, and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into womb like love, bringing fire and light to our hearth. And then...just around the corner...like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again to dance in the sunlight. 

-Venice Wyatt