Half Empty….

I am sooooo tired of winter!  It’s always about this time that I start going down….  It seems that these few months drag on like years, doesn’t it?  We have no where to go, kids are stir crazy, it’s usually our sick season at it’s best, the weather is horrible, nothing to look forward to for weeks, and every day seems to be a feat of great proportions.

This week I got my permanent crowns on, and it was worse than I could have ever imagined from the moment the dentist stuck that first needle in my swollen, inflamed muscle.  Fourteen crowns on and three hours later, I am completely doped up from the laughing gas (apparently still in my system) and Novocain numb up to my eyes, not to mention the unbelievable excruciating pain throbbing to the beat of my heart….literally throughout my entire head, neck, and jaw.  I pulled over after driving about four blocks realizing I should NOT be driving in this state…..I actually felt drunk.  I started to cry, then realized that crying made everything pulsate even harder and stronger in pain….so I forced my eyes dry and carried on, praying that God would keep me safe through the thirty minute drive home.  Not a good day.

My husband and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary this week!   He won a free night’s stay at a hotel downtown with movie tickets and dinner!  We have planned this one tiny little night for weeks, to get away and celebrate our ten years together.  We joke that we could have spent a month in Greece with the money going into my new mouth!  So true it is…. Just how it goes….so this is life.   It is now the night we were supposed to be at our lovely hotel getaway, and instead we are making frozen pizza with the kids and watching old videos (finally getting to Cade!) in our home.  Celebration sacked.  Grandpa and Grandma are too sick to watch the kids over night.  So, as with our luck, we will not be celebrating our anniversary, yet again.  Going nowhere, going stir crazy, going down….  I am still in severe pain and my hubby has a cold.   Sigh….

Half Full…

There’s nothing better than a sunny day in the winter!  It changes everything about my mood, and gives me the energy I need to make it through these long winter days.   It is has been an amazingly healthy month for my children…and that needs to be put in the record books!  Usually by now, we have been to the hospital or urgent care a half a dozen times, and NOT ONCE have we needed emergency medical care this winter!  Wow!  I do believe my children are getting stronger!!!   Every time my daughter starts coughing in the night, I think “here it comes…” and it hasn’t come! Even my son has fought off a few bad colds without going down that asthmatic road.  I am feeling so grateful for this season of health!

I love the cold nights with nowhere to go and we can snuggle in for the night with pizza and videos spending quality family time together.   It was our anniversary weekend, but because it got cancelled we are home resting.  I am bummed we can’t have our weekend away, but we are both feeling bad and we wouldn’t appreciate it as much anyway.  We will reschedule and do the weekend when everyone is good and healthy.  That will be something to look forward to!

I had all my permanent crowns done a few days ago… it was awful!  My jaw was locked and shot pain all over my neck and head.  My grinding at night has been traumatizing this dental work and making it more painful than it needed to be.   I was so grateful for the laughing gas they used during the intense procedure even though I still feel a dopy hangover from it!  My dentist and assistant were so sweet and were so encouraging and supportive throughout this entire experience.  That makes such a difference when you are going through so much.  I was also so grateful that day for the sun and having clear roads to drive on. Had it been one of our dreadful snowy days, I am not sure I would have been able to make it home.   My friend offered to watch my children and do after school pick-ups for me, so I could get this all done.  I truly thank God for my wonderful circle of friends!  I can always call on any of them and I know they are willing to help me out!

Winters in the Carter home are usually full of sickness and stress, sleepless nights and captive days.  This winter seems liberating.  Even though I have had a rough round with my teeth, I realize how quiet and seemingly peaceful these days and nights have been without crisis, without worry, without fear of either child being very sick.  I can’t take that for granted!  I feel grateful and always acknowledge this blessing literally every night I hear the silence and we have a home full of health and peace.  Now, THAT’S something to celebrate!!!

Half Empty-Half Full

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!