First Trip to the Dentist - Ryan

For the final dental post in this series, I present...drumroll, please...Ryan's first dentist appointment!

I've mentioned it in the other dental posts and about three thousand times to various friends, family, acquaintances, therapists, people in line at the grocery store (kidding!), etc, but I was worried and nervous about this appointment. Ryan has some sensory sensitivities and does not like things in his mouth. Thomas and I have gotten to a point that we can brush his teeth, but it's not always easy. There are sometimes tears and/or gagging involved, and we typically have to put something in his hand to prevent him from pushing our hand or the toothbrush away from his mouth. Did I mention that he's pretty strong?!?! LOL. Anyway, I was concerned about having someone else working on his teeth, not knowing his signs and tendencies. I was worried he might cry (which would not be all that unusual for the dentist's office, I'm sure) and also work himself up to make himself sick from the crying (that happens sometimes), or gag and lose his breakfast right there in the office. There were a number of things that could happen that I was worried about.

I know I must sound like a neurotic mess, but I honestly was not nervous at all about either of other boys' appointments. Ryan's just different. And it did not help that this appointment was the same day as my mom's birthday, so I was a bit emotional from the get-go.

All in all, my worries were unfounded - shocker! The appointment went just fine. There was no gagging, no vomit, no major scenes. He didn't always like what was happening and he got a little upset and cried (just a little!!!!) but I was able to distract him and quickly help him get over being upset. I held his hands and sometimes helped to hold his chin down to keep his mouth open. The hygienist and dentist were very sweet and understanding and did everything they could to keep Ryan and me comfortable.

Ryan in the lobby waiting for the appointment

Not totally loving it...

Sweet baby!

Always happy :)

With the dentist

Post-appointment: glad to be done!

I promise I won't be so worried and nervous next time we go to the dentist. I'm glad to have this "first" checked off the list and in the rear view mirror. I'm proud of Ryan and his brothers for knocking their dental appointments out of the park!

Valentine's Day aftermath

The boys got lots of Valentine's Day sweets from their friends at school. Some moms got really Pinteresty, but some, like me, just did an old school valentine. That makes me feel a little better for my lack of creativity (or interest) in making cool Valentines. Maybe next year...but doubtful. 

I'm sure the boys got all sugared up during their party at school that afternoon so when we got home, they wanted to play outside for a while. The day was nice and the sun was still out, so have at it! They had gotten some bubbles in their Valentine's baskets so we had a bubble party. So fun! 

William popping all the bubbles

Stokes INSISTED that he wanted to blow bubbles. I had
to teach him a few tricks and he did pretty well!

Go buddy!

Bubbles are the best, right?!?!?

I got some more love that evening with kisses from all my boys! Notice I'm wearing a {new} purple Clemson jersey. Thomas got me a #4 jersey for Valentine's day. I put it on over my clothes and when the boys saw it, they really, really wanted to put on their Clemson jerseys!!!

William

Smoochers!

Ryan

He wouldn't participate to give me a kiss on the lips for the camera

Stokes

loveeeeee

Thomas and I waited until we put the boys down for bed to have our dinner, so we could eat in peace and really enjoy our meal, as opposed to scarfing down bites in between feeding Ryan a bite and telling his brothers to sit, or eat, or to stop doing [whatever - fill in the blank here]. We had filets from the New York Butcher Shoppe, loaded mashed potatoes and asparagus with a bottle of wine that we brought back from wine country last year. Delicious dinner!

I'm a lucky lady! <3

LOVE

It's Valentine's Day and I have 4 sweet valentines that I adore.

Triple the Love

This morning, Thomas and Stokes had to head out before Ryan was dressed and ready so I wasn't able (or didn't have time) to get a picture of all three of them together. I had to improvise and take 3 separate pictures and then picstitch them together. It's *almost* as good as them sitting all together!

The boys have a Valentine's Day party at school today so they were all excited about that. Tonight we'll have a quiet dinner at home. Sounds like a great day to me!

Valentine's Day from years past:

Valentine's Day 2016

Valentine's Day 2015

Valentine's Day 2014 

It's so interesting to go back and look at these old posts. I marvel at how much the boys have changed and how different our lives have become from year to year. I'm thankful for this blog as a way to keep and track all those changes for me, because I can't seem to remember anything!

I hope your day is filled with love, love, love and chocolate!

Winky faces, just for you!

And the silly faces!

William's Dentist Appointment

This wasn't William's first rodeo, er, trip to the dentist, but his first visit was so long ago, well before he really knew what was going on, so I would consider this almost like his first trip!

He had been hearing about Stokes going to the dentist (it made a big impression on Stokes!) so he was excited when I told him that it was his turn. No surprises here, he did great!

Unfortunately, since this wasn't officially his first visit, he was only scheduled for 30 minutes instead of an hour like Stokes had. That meant that the hygienist didn't spend as much time explaining everything and letting him play with the dental tools. Oh well - what he doesn't know won't hurt him. ;)

Playing games in the waiting room

Holding the mirror - so cool

Teeth cleaning

Counting teeth

William with the dentist!

I'm proud of my boy for doing so well! I'm still dreading the appointment for Ryan that is coming up soon. What's that scripture -
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:34
I need to keep that in mind! That's always a good reminder. And that expression - 85% of what we worry about never happens. Yep. We'll see how it goes when it happens. Until then I just need to not think about it!

Fire

Yesterday was a sad day for us and our church family. Our sanctuary caught on fire. News traveled fast and far. I was getting texts midday from friends near and far to notify me, check in, and offer prayers.

The damage to the building is devastating. This was a big event around here. The road in front of our church was closed down. It's a main road, like one of the biggest in all of Greenville. I was reading emails and Facebook posts throughout the day yesterday and today and it's a sad time for us. I can't wrap my head around it. Thomas actually drove by today to see what the building looks like. I think the word "jarring" sums it up pretty well. There have been so many memories made there - weddings, confirmations, funerals and baptisms. 

We are currently going through a renovation and our sanctuary has been under construction since the beginning of January. We've been having services in our gym until the sanctuary is usable again. Our plan and goal was to be back in the renovated sanctuary by Easter. I'm sure that will change now, in light of the circumstances. 

The reason that we're renovating is due to our BEYOND initiative. We're growing, our congregation is expanding, so we're outgrowing the building, and in addition, we recognize that there are a lot of people in our direct community that don't have a church family yet. We want to make room for them to join us. It was time for expansion. What a great thing! Especially at a time when church membership numbers are dwindling. We're proud to be part of church that is growing. 

The Youth sprung to action and made this sign last
night to show their support. The finished product referenced
Romans 8:18
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be
revealed within us."

There are several reasons that we can look on the bright side of this devastating event that took place yesterday. 

1. No one was hurt. Not one person. All the kids that attend preschool there, all church staff, and all construction workers were uninjured. Praise be to God. 
2. Since the building was under construction, there was nothing in it. It's just a building. All the pews, hymnals, instruments, etc had previously been moved to another location. 
3. This is an awesome reminder that our "church" is not a building. It's the congregation. It's the people. It's the community. This is one of those things that is going to bring our church closer together and it will strengthen us. 
4. Our mission is fishin'. That's a slogan that is used a lot at our church (and a big part of the reason that we're expanding). We want to invite others and be a welcoming place for anyone and everyone that needs a church home. I do feel like all the publicity, news coverage, and social media attention helps get the word out about our church and how amazing it is. It's very possible that someone that does not attend church, or hasn't found a church that has spoken to him/her will see our pastor on the news, will hear stories about our prayer vigil and will see the love that surrounds our church - any one of those things could be the catalyst that encourages that person to visit us this Sunday or a Sunday in the future. 
5. The cross that hung over the altar was undamaged. It's one of the few things that wasn't completely destroyed. It's been a part of our church since it was first established in 1988 and in our original sanctuary. It will be a part of our new sanctuary once it's build. We will be so proud of that wooden cross. 
6. There are a lot of prayers being extended towards our church right now. Bonus points. Prayer is a powerful thing.

The aftermath

The cross remains

I don't know what the future holds for our building plans. But I know this: we will have a service this Sunday in the gym. It will be packed. 

God bless our church.

Memories from the old sanctuary

What it looked like

Boys' baptism in 2014

With our awesome pastors

Family picture

The cross suspended in front of the window
is the one that survived the fire

Circus

As I alluded to in the Monster Bad News post, we didn't go to Monster Jam because we had other upcoming plans. Those "plans" translates to tickets to the CIRCUS, which was in town this past week. I don't recall ever having been to the circus before, so it was fun to get a chance to go since the circus is on its last tour and will be done after their shows conclude in May. The circus has been an American staple for generations so we definitely wanted to attend before they "shut their doors", so to speak.

Thomas had a tradition of going to the circus with his Granddad when he was growing up, which is so neat and so memorable for him. We decided to invite Granddad and GranO to come down to Greenville and go to the show with us and his great-grandsons. They both accepted and we were thrilled.

We got tickets for our whole crew as some friends that we were going with - Amanda, Trey and their little boy, Jackson. We are all ready to go. We had decided to get tickets to the 11 AM show on Saturday to avoid afternoon naps, but this made me a little concerned. The reason is because I spent all of last week in Buffalo at a work conference. Last year, I was at the same event and instead of getting home Friday night, there were weather issues and flight cancellations and I didn't get home until Saturday afternoon. I was so worried that the same thing would happen again this year. I really didn't want to have to miss out.

Luckily, all was well with the flights and I got home on Friday night around 8:30. Whew! What I walked into, however, was not great. I knew William had gotten a stomach virus on Thursday and had to come home from school (MaSha to the rescue!!!!!), but what I didn't know was that Stokes had gotten the bug on Friday and had to come home as well. So neither William nor Stokes was in school on Friday. Although William wasn't vomiting any longer, he had to wait the full 24 hours before returning. William's case was pretty mild, but Stokes apparently got it bad on Friday and wasn't keeping anything down. I hate being away from my kids, but it's even worse when they're sick and I'm not there to take care of them, and someone, usually MaSha, has to step in and help out. It was a mess. So although I was so relieved that I made it home and wasn't going to have to miss the circus, as of Friday night, we weren't sure if any of us would be able to go, due to illness. I was crossing my fingers that Ryan wasn't going to get this bug that was going around. Oh and by the way, at last count, there were thirty something kids that got the stomach virus at the boys's school. Yuck. MaSha had offered to stay home with Stokes on Saturday morning if needed if we wanted to take the other 2 if they were well enough. Did I mention that MaSha is a saint?

Oh yeah, and we had heard from Granddad that both he and GranO were fighting colds and weren't going to be able to make the trip down for the show.

Germs, anyone?!?!?!

Our fun circus outing was hanging by a thread and we weren't sure what we were going to do. We knew we'd have to make a final decision on Saturday morning after assessing everyone's health.

Saturday morning came around and the boys all seemed fine. Stokes hadn't thrown up since I'd been home, after not even being able to drink water on Friday afternoon and evening, and everyone's stomachs ate and kept all their breakfast. That was a good sign. I really, really wanted to get everyone out to the circus together, so we decided to go for it. We still had the two extra tickets that Granddad and GranO weren't going to be able to use, so we invited MaSha and our friend Jackson's grandma to come along.  Grandmas are the best!

Trailer out front of the arena

Ryan was LOVING it!

Family pic before the show started

Ryan was clapping and kicking his feet
with pure joy

Camels

Stokes, eating his body weight in popcorn

MaSha with Stokes

The TIGERS!

This part of the show was very impressive. I couldn't
believe what they had the tigers do. It was also a little
bit sad. Poor tigers.

Dancing tiger

The circus was a big hit. Ryan seriously loved it so much. He would clap his hands and his legs were just going, going, going the whole time. That's how you know he really likes something. We ended up passing the boys around between Thomas, MaSha and me, and they rarely sat in their own seats. Hopefully it wasn't too distracting for the people sitting around us. I was a bit worried about the snack situation and varying from the BRAT diet that we'd been doing at home with the stomach bug, knowing that circus concessions proooooobably don't include bananas and rice - HA! We ended up getting popcorn and our most recent sick boy, Stokes, did not seem bothered by it at all. He pretty much ate half of the box all by himself. We did great up until intermission and at intermission, Thomas and I took Stokes and William for potty/snack breaks. After we came back to our seats, Stokes kept saying that he was sleepy and wanted to go home. We reluctantly asked MaSha if she would take Stokes home with her and miss out on the 2nd half and she was thankfully game to do that. Apparently as soon as they left, Stokes was asking to go back to the circus. What a turkey! She made him live with his choice - it's never too early to learn a life lesson, right?!?!? William and Ryan stayed for the whole thing and seemed to really enjoy the show. They took a great afternoon nap after the show, which was a win-win.

I'm so glad that we got to go to the circus before it ends. Although the boys probably won't remember much, if any, of this event, I'm happy that they were there.

Picture of the boys and me on Monday morning before I left for Buffalo

Picture of some co-workers and me from a company hockey game in Buffalo

Lee, me, Stacey, Jeff and RJ