Two-and-a-half years

Two and a half years... that's how long I've been wearing my braces. A little over a year ago, I had my upper and lower jaws broken in 5 places. I'm healed, my jaw is strong and I am counting down the days (finally days!) until my braces come off!!

D-day (debracing day that is) will be April 9, 2013. Can I get a Hallelujah!!?

I will make sure I take pics that day... going in then coming back out! With smooth teeth!!

CANNOT WAIT!!

Just a little bit before...

Surgery day is looming... 2 days away. Eek!

Hubby and I had delicious tender steaks for supper tonight and I am glad to have had the chance to eat one of my favourite meals cooked by my favourite guy.

So... I figure now is as good a time as any to share with you (my awesome readers) some pictures that my wonderful friend Nancy (of Nancy Snow Photography) took of me in her home studio a couple weeks ago. She ordinarily does photo shoots for children and families, but since she's a good friend she hooked me up :)

Even though the orthodontist and surgeon take their own pictures for diagnostics, I wanted to have some nice pictures that I was happy to share; and more than just a selfie taken at arms length!

Now without further ado, here I am, in all my braced/negative overjet glory!

Face on:

Side profiles:

 

Now, just remember... the next pictures I post will be way less polished! There will be no studio lighting and I will have a puffy moon-face and NO makeup! LOL

Thank you everyone for all the support you've given me, I appreciate it so much! I will be taking my laptop to the hospital with me, and as soon as I feel up to it, I will be updating this blog.

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Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, there's just one week to go!

Today was my pre-op day, and I spent a looooong day at the hospital going from waiting room to sitting/waiting in a chair in a hall, to another waiting room... et cetera. I had blood drawn for pre-surgical tests and impressions made of my bite (big apologies to the tech whose job I surely made more challenging what with all the gagging). Measurements taken, umpteen questions asked (both hospital staff and me asking questions), and x-rays done.

I am soooo glad I took with me a fully charged Kobo and Blackberry today. I read about 40% of "The Help" and kept in touch with hubby and some friends via BBM. I sat in one particular waiting room alternately reading and watching the snow blowing around outside.

By the time I made it home I was exhausted and chilled to the bone. A nice hot shower and some snuggles from the dog and I am feeling quite a bit better. It will be a nice early night tonight, and I can't help but wonder how I'll feel a week from tonight while I am in recovery after my surgery.

After chatting with the surgical resident this morning, she said that until they do a mock surgery with the models they make from my impressions she said they can't determine if they're doing both the LeFort (upper jaw surgery) and the BSSO (lower jaw surgery). There is a chance I could just have the BSSO which would mean less hospital/recovery time. I had to sign a consent form stating that when the surgeon gets in there, there is a possibility for genioplasty even though the chance is super slim.

So now, with one week to go before surgery, I have answers to most of the questions I had and I have a list of things I want to get done this weekend to get my house (and my fridge) in order for next Friday!

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Making a List and Checking it Thrice

I like to be prepared. Perhaps more accurately, I don’t like being unprepared. Maybe it’s my inner girl scout at work, but whatever it is, means I like to be ready for any situation I might come across. When my husband and our friends vacationed in Cuba a few years ago, it was joked that any minor medical emergency could be dealt with my rummaging through my luggage. Not entirely untrue… we did use some of my mini-pharmacy to take some packing from stitches out of a friend’s chin. That same vacation I found it took some mental preparation to leave our room without a sweater, “just in case”. Being an east coast gal, I am always leery of weather claims that insist I would be warm enough without a jacket or sweater. At an off-roading event last spring, our friends played a game called “Did Beth Bring It?” to try and come up with an item that I didn’t bring. When you’re spending 3 days camping and playing in the woods, it is good to have a handle on things you might need for repair/comfort!

In anticipation of my upcoming surgery - 2 weeks, 3 days but who’s keeping track? - I have been thinking a LOT about what is to come. What to eat drink. What can be blended, what shouldn’t ever be blended (I’ve been advised a Big Mac is a tragic blender meal). How long till I am sick of Boost/Ensure? I have freezer bags with cubes of blended berries that I strained the seeds out of (shut up, I am not a keener) and look forward to adding those to the smoothies/supplement drinks I’ll be eating drinking.

With that being said, I’m going to miss food. I love to eat. I am a texture eater too, so not being able to chew is going to be a pretty big thing to adjust to! So I have been keeping a list… a list of things I love that I want to make sure I eat before my surgery. As my time gets closer, it is becoming clear I need to make a strategy for when I am going to eat these foods. Hubby is going away the weekend before my surgery, so we can’t have any special meals together that weekend. We are going out this weekend for my favourite breakfast though, eggs benedict. The thought of the Hollandaise sauce makes my mouth water even as I type this.

So while this whole braces/jaw surgery journey is about to come to a peak, I can’t help but think longingly about the future as well. A future that includes raw carrots and broccoli, pistachios, crisp apples, caramels and burgers/pizza/sandwiches that I can chomp into without spending the following 20 minutes fishing bread/dough out from between my brackets.

The worst is yet to come, but the best is just beyond.


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A Tale Worth Reading

There are lots of blogs out there chronicling peoples' trip through braces and jaw surgery. Some are graphic, terrifying, hopeful and some are just confusing. Well, tonight I came across an almost daily journal of a guy in Alberta who went through double jaw surgery somewhat like what I'll be going through in 3 short weeks (as of right now there are no plans for me having a splint). If you are interested in reading a candid and well written tale of jaw surgery, check out: http://doublejawsurgery.com/
(and it doesn't hurt that the guy is 100% adorable too!)

In other news I got my letter today from the Department of Oral and Maxiofacial Surgery today... one little sheet of paper to confirm that on February 3rd I'll be having my face rearranged (as it were) by my surgeon. I also have my pre-op day booked for the 25th of January. They tell me to anticipate a full day of hospital appointments. From what I've been told by others who've gone through it at this hospital, there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" where you sit in a waiting room for ages and the actual x-rays/measurements/impressions take an alarmingly short amount of time. I expect the ole Kobo will get a lot of reading time in on that day!

So now here I am with three weeks to go. Butterflies take flight thru my insides when I think about what is to come and I try and quiet them with careful planning and a heart full of hope. Or else I'm just like an ostrich with my head in the sand!

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The Countdown is ON!

Yep, here we go. Less than a month till the big surgery day. My freezer is getting filled with things I am blending and freezing for the coming days where I eat through a syringe. I have turkey dinner (from Christmas) and turkey soup too (blended smooth). I even included a couple meals of finely diced turkey dinner (turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas) for when I am able to start on small/soft meals again.

I been able to say so far, that I hadn't been nervous. Can't say that anymore. 2 nights ago, I had a panic attack. Actually, at first I thought I was having a heart attack, then I took a second and thought about what I was feeling and it became clear that the horror-show type images that were in my mind (about the upcoming surgery, bone saws, titanium plates, etc) and decided to just go to sleep and hopefully wake up refreshed.

Thank goodness, I did wake up feeling less traumatized, however really run down. I have come down with some kind of sickness... throat is swollen, my head is hurtin' and I just feel blah. Well, as long as I get all this out of my system before the big day I'll be fine.

New Surgery Date

So it has been a few months since my last post.
New wires. Power chains. Push coils. Tender teeth. Soft foods.

But also camping, hiking, swimming, sun, family, friends. It has been an amazing summer. When my teeth are sore, my wonderful husband is more than happy to share meals with me that are easy for me to chew.

And so we come to today. I had a visit to the orthodontist this morning. As I'd had impressions take 2 days ago I knew I would today get word from my ortho whether he recommended moving up my surgery date or leaving it as is.

And the verdict is...

New surgery date of February 3, 2012.

It is only 2 months sooner than my original date, and it means I"ll be playing an abberviated curling season. It also means I'll be wired shut for my husband's birthday and Valentines Day which makes me sad only because we won't be getting our annual heart shaped pizza.

I am excited anxious nervous curious about what lies ahead.

When you were given your surgery date, what feelings were you most aware of?

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Raw Broccoli

In my braces-less days, I loved raw broccoli. Plain, with dip... whatever!

I tried a piece the other day. It took HOURS to stop finding wee green bits in my mouth/laced through my brackets, and this is AFTER multiple brushings, water-pik-ing and rinsing with mouthwash.

So until these braces come off, I am a cooked broccoli kinda gal.

Chalk that up as another food that is (near) impossible to eat with braces on!

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How about a little S&M in my mouth?

On Monday morning, I got a power chain (bottom teeth) and 2 push coils (top teeth). It is now Thursday night and my teeth STILL HURT. I mean I can finally chew my food but still can't eat anything crunchy. I tried a granola bar at work today and lets just say it was not a successful snack.

But the power chain and push coils are designed to made teeth MOVE and that they do! When I told my husband what I had done at the orthodontist, he said the new additions to the braces sounded kinky. Then he saw me and said with the push coils, it looked like my mouth made a perfect electrical circuit. Hardy har har.

But as I have 7-ish months until surgery I just need to suck it up and take ibuprofin for the pain and use wax on irritating brackets while dreaming of crisp apples and juicy corn on the cob!

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In limbo

Nothing to report.

Still braced.

I need to stop rolling around in my sleep as I often wake up face first in the pillows and I need to physically pull the inside of my bottom lip away from my brackets. Did you cringe when you read that? I cringe when I do it.

Next appointment is about 3 weeks away. Stronger wires? Shifting moalrs? Taking the wrong bus to the ortho's office (again)? Time will tell!

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Back from outer space aka. Remember me, I used to blog here

Hey. It's been a while. Hmm, a long while.

But here I am! Still braced. Teeth, they are a movin.

Last Tuesday morning I went to the orthodontist for another wire change. The week previous I had impressions taken to determine my bite's progress. In my mind I was hoping that he would look at the molds and say "hey, lets make that surgery date closer" but as the end of my appointment got closer and he didn't say anything. So I said to him, "13 more months of this huh?" And then he looked at the mold in his hands and said what I was hoping he would. Surgery date is going to be about three months sooner.

Gulp.

Yeah, it is what I wanted to hear and then, when I did, I felt my breath catch a little.

I guess in my mind, I have been fixated on April 20, 2012 as my surgery date since October so when the thought of it being sooner was a bit overwhelming for my brain. But then I thought about it. Pfft... I have already done reading and reasearch and I'll be game for whenever and whatever the ortho and surgeon throw at me.

Blender, food processor, mom's juicer... I'm good to go!

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Well isn’t this just lovely

Okay, so with the help of my good buddy Advil I am dealing with the discomfort of the molar bands against my gums. Even the tightness/pressure from a new arch-wire being in place is manageable if not uncomfortable. Heck, I even like smiling/grimacing at my reflection to check out my new clear ligs… they look so nice all shiny and new and not stained with mustard/curry/red wine!

Then, like predicting a scary part in a bad movie… I could sense something was amiss. The insides of the molar bands are rough. Prickly sharp. I vaguely recall the technician who fitted them grinding something on the insides on the bands (I try to zone out in the chair).

They looked like tiny ridges. This is what is scraping my tongue… however the scraping turned into something much more sinister and now the sides of my tongue felt like they were being run over a rasp. Over and over and over. I figured I could ignore them and just forge ahead.

So I had a snack of leftover tuna and some leftover mashed potatoes before I headed out to curling (can’t eat too much before a game, it doesn’t sit well) figuring I’d eat more when I got home. By the time I was back home 3 hours later my tongue hurt so bad it hurt just resting in my mouth. The mere thought of eating anything was enough to make me wince. So I figure I’ll just brush my teeth and head to bed.

If only. As soon as I started brushing, the sensation of toothpaste against the right side of my tongue felt like I was brushing with acid!

So I tried to spit out what I had in my mouth realized that the way your tongue moves when you spit pushes the wide part of your tongue against your teeth… in my case, against the molar bands and when I did, I saw blood in the sink. I stuck my tongue in front of the mirror to check out the right side where it was hurting the worst and saw the damage. My tender tongue had a scrape/gouge along the side. Well fuck me isn’t that fun? Figuring I had few options, I thought I’d just brush the rest of my teeth and try to rinse out my mouth. Never ever have I cried in pain from brushing my teeth before. I do not wish that feeling on anyone… even the people I don’t like. Okay, maybe a few of them.

Today, in order to have some relief, I have a gob of orthodontic wax pretty much encapsulating the right banded molar that is giving me grief and so far (after about 12 hours) it is helping. I can speak normally (if not sensibly) again and my tongue feels less raw and the swelling is going down. I still can’t imagine chewing anything so today I have had: 1 bottle of pomegranate/cherry Vitamin water, 1 can of chocolate Ensure, a dozen jarred peach slices that I mushed them against the roof of my mouth, and an Aero bar. You know, for energy! Haha! Tonight I made Kraft Dinner for supper. Mmmm soft and "cheesy" KD. It was easy enough to eat (pretty sure I could have devoured the entire pot-full) but I took the wax off my banded tooth to eat and it HURT. SO. BAD. dammit all. Felt like my tongue was being shredded. Tongue looks raw. Wax is back on now. Fawk.

I just pray(!!!) that I will be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my family this weekend.

Heavy Metal v. I’m With The Band

You know when you eat popcorn and a miserable little piece of kernel gets lodged between your teeth up under your gums and you vow you’d give up popcorn forever just to get the bit out and feel some relief; and you attack it with toothpicks/fingernails/floss ignoring the discomfort because you know once its out things will start to feel better? Metal molar bands feel kinda like that, except without the relief at the end because the effers are permanent (well, until the orthodontist removes them at the end of treatment). Constantly feeling like you need to floss to get something bad out from between my teeth has got to be some form of torture. Unscrupulous folks out to get their pound of flesh could save themselves a lot of misery chasing people with knives (or whatever it is they do) and just jam stuff between the teeth of those they are out to get redemption from. I’m glad I have a devious mind! Ha ha!

Molar band... torturous thing

But yeah…metal molar bands, they hurt. More accurately, they hurt like hell. It feels like there are little teeny razor blades nested firmly against my gums.

And why do I have them you ask? Well as it has been explained to me, they are to create a stable anchor point for the surgeon when my jaws are in pieces… a solid brace point if you will. *shudder*

Oh come on, you know reading this, you want to trade places with me. Everyone must want this sort of oral nightmare! I’ve never hated going to the dentist (correction: having a root canal through a front-tooth crown was nerve wracking enough to have Ativan prescribed) but this sort of tooth manipulation/movement in my adult mouth is totally un-fun. I stopped growing years ago. These chompers I’ve got have been happily in place since I was a teenager. The pressure from moving teeth in my mouth is causing some epic headaches and these molar bands are the current bane of my existence. Melodramatic? Yeah, probably. But this is my blog and I’ll whinge if I want to! I just keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end!

Gimmie space, oh baby gimmie space!

I am fighting a cold, but I am not winning. I am chock-full of Advil Cold & Sinus as well as some daytime cold relief capsules we had in the bathroom  this morning. I am counting the hours/minutes/seconds until I can go home and curl up on the couch with my dog and a blanket and a cup of Neo-citran because I somehow felt I had to drag my butt into work today. Silly girl.

So in addition to feeling miserable with a faucet for a nose, I had an appointment at the orthodontist to have spacers put on either side of my 2nd to last back molars on the bottom. Spacers look like tiny rubber washers that are stretched and then “flossed” between my teeth. Yeah… they were a pretty damn tight squeeze to get them in. Now they are in place and I can actually “bite” on the tops of the spacers. It’s a weird sensation… kind of like when you’re blowing up balloons and you chomp down on the rolled open end. Anyhow, aside from that annoyance, since they are pushing against the teeth next to them I have intense pressure in my mouth. This of course complements the sinus pressure in my head.



Bad cell phone pic of the blue spacers


The purpose of the rubber spacers is to push my other teeth away from the "naked" tooth to make room so that a week from today when I go back in, the metal molar bands being put on the aforementioned molars will *hopefully* go into place with relative ease. However I am bracing myself for the possibility that it will suck. And I suspect rightfully so, because to quote my orthodontist, “next week, be prepared for about 45 minutes of tugging and wrestling in your mouth”. Oh golly, I can hardly wait. Then in October I get to have the same thing done to the top teeth.

But for now, it feels like I have steak stuck in-between my teeth and there is nothing I can do about it. I am under strict instructions to NOT floss between the teeth the spacers are on. Blarg. I was sent away with 4 spare spacers and instructions on how to put them in place in case I lose one. Considering how difficult they were to get in place at the ortho’s office, I am not banking on them “falling” out. At least I hope not! Either way, I have a week with them in!

I Dream of Teeth

I had my first braces related dream last night. I’ve heard of people having nightmares about braces/jaw surgery and I am sure as my own surgery day creeps closer my subconscious will filter in some orthodontic influences, but this was my first orthodontic dream. It wasn’t even bad all things considered. Two weeks ago my bottom front teeth were aching pretty badly. The morning after the worst day of pain I noticed a small visible gap between the two bottom front teeth, which to me explained the pain. So in last night’s dream, I didn’t have pain but I did have crazy spaces between all my teeth. It looked like when a small child gets their first teeth and they are all spaced apart. I guess I must be okay with the “it will get worse before it gets better” part of major orthodontic treatment because I didn’t wake up panicked or disoriented (you know, like I do when I dream of work ha ha).

My husband’s family are all going to see my braces for the first time this weekend so I had better be prepared to tell my “why-did-you-get-braces-when-your-teeth-were-already-straight” story a bunch of times. Ten bucks says his grandmother makes some comment about the cost.

And speaking of people noticing my braces, my friend’s 4 year old saw them for the first time last weekend and he was pretty curious about them. Explaining what braces are and what they were doing in my mouth to a 4 year old was interesting… he doesn’t care that they make me look a bit different; he just didn’t know what they are. So, he looked in my mouth, touched the brackets and wires and was generally a curious kid. I think he understood what they are to a degree, but he’s 4 and we went from talking about what the braces were doing in my mouth, to running away from imaginary crocodiles. To be honest, he is my favourite person I’ve explained them to so far. I didn’t tell him about the surgery, I figure he doesn’t need to know about that until the time comes. Then, I am sure I will need help explaining why my teeth are banded together but I bet as long as he knows I will be “better” at some point; he’ll be okay with that too. My friend on the other hand, gets squeamish and visibly uncomfortable when I mention the surgery so it might be up to someone else to explain it to his little guy without gagging. I am not eager to think about the actual methodology of the surgery, but so long as I don’t analyze it too much I should be okay!

I believe in the magic of hot dogs

Well, it’s been two weeks since I got braced. Those first few days really sucked. My mouth/teeth were achy and everything I tried to eat was a challenge. I wore the orthodontic wax over most of my brackets with elastic-hooks and the insides of my lips/cheeks were raw and tender. Then, last Saturday my husband and I were having lunch at a campground and I ate/spit out the wax I had on my brackets. When I was done eating, I brushed my teeth and to my surprise it didn’t feel like the brackets were hurting me anymore! I don’t know what the turning point was, but I am going to go ahead and credit the magic of bbq’d hot dogs. For the record, mustard stains the clear ligs on ceramic brackets. But I love mustard and am not about to give it up! LOL the discolouration is minimal so it’s not that bad. Either way, I haven't worn wax in almost a week and I can honestly (and thankfully) say I am used to the braces!

My co-worker who had upper jaw surgery on August 31st came back to work on Monday of this week. She was only off for not quite two weeks! I keep telling her she is going to make me look bad when it’s my turn to be off work recovering from surgery. Then again, I am 7 years older than her and there is a chance my surgery will include both jaws. That aside, her mouth seems to be healing really well. The swelling in her lips is going down and you can tell sort of what her bite is going to be like when everything is done. Talking to her about her surgery and recovery is a good thing for me, and her current progress inspires me when I am having a blah-braces day. I had another girl in the office come to me after seeing the other co-worker on her first day back and ask me if I was scared about my pending surgery. Well of course I am! If it wasn’t nervous about it I would be worried! However the thing that keeps me positive about it is the thought that things will all be good when the whole process is done!

I am amazed the amount of people I know that have had the surgery done. They see my braces; comment how it doesn’t look like I need braces, I explain it’s for my jaw/bite and that I will be having surgery at some point. Then the “oh, I had that done”. It seems more common than I thought! It’s also nice to get feedback and hints from people who have gone through the whole shebang and are all recovered (years later!). Again, I know its going to be tough going for a bit, but I keep thinking about the future and what I will feel and look like. I am debating asking the surgeon if, while he’s in surgery if he’ll shave down the bump on my nose! LOL

The Architecture of my Mouth

This morning I went to the orthodontist. An hour and a half later I left with a mouthful of orthodontic construction material. In the time that I’ve worked for the Construction Contract Administration department of an Architecture firm, I’ve discovered that I sometimes view the buildings around me as ordinary or artfully designed thoughts and ideas. And it seemed to me that the things I have in my mouth are not all that different. Building construction materials have similar purposes as orthodontic construction materials. You could think of it as: I have rebar held in place with metal (and ceramic) footings concreted to my tooth surface. All in an attempt to help straighten and correct the Architecture of my mouth. Yep, that’s how my brain works.

I’m not sure how I feel about having the braces on. They aren’t hurting me yet, just a little aching so far. I managed to eat supper tonight with minimal awkwardness. But people do look. A quick double take... sometimes in a subtle manor, sometimes not. Some are all “hey, right on, good for you” others are aghast “ohmygawd... you're 30 and you got braces? Why? Your teeth are already straight” I have yet to put together a reply that doesn’t seem to take too long to explain. I think as those who see me every day will get used to them on me, and hopefully I won’t notice having them in my mouth after a bit.

Who knows... this is day 1. There are many many more days to come.

Do you know what tomorrow is?

Tomorrow... is B Day. No, not my birthday... which was Sunday. And as a friend on Facebook pointed out, that (according to his math) I was now in my thirties. Yeah. 30. Yippidee... *sigh* B Day is Braces Day. Tomorrow morning (at 10:45) I have an appointment to get my braces put on. I nervously excited. I know that this will mark day #1 of a potentially long orthodontic/orthognathic journey.

Today after work I went with two coworkers to visit another coworker who had jaw surgery yesterday. I was fully prepared to walk into her hospital room and see her all bandaged and bruised and groggy and swollen. I was happily surprised to see that she was talking and smiling and looked like she could just get up and run right out of her room. I got to see her “eat” tomato soup through a syringe which, while it didn’t look fun, looks do-able. Yeah, it’s easy for me to say that now. Once I am in her position I expect the novelty will wear off quickly. Until then, I will be wired and waiting to meet my surgeon.

Earlier tonight, my husband asked what time my appointment was at the orthodontist tomorrow. Then he says “Awww you’re not even going to get to eat lunch before you get your braces on!”. Yeah (sigh from me) I know. He then reminds me that will suck. Uh huh... I’ve figured that out (another sigh). Then he suggests we leave for work a bit early tomorrow and go into Smokeys (a local diner) for breakfast so I could have a great last meal before the braces go on. I love surprises like that! So, I am really looking forward to tomorrow now. For a week that started out so horribly, it’s been steadily improving!

Just one week to go

Here I am, one week away from getting wired. I'm not sure if I am more anxious/stressed about that, or turning 30 in three days. Both have their good and bad points. Turning thirty really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but somewhere in the back of my head is a wee voice screeching "OLD HAG!" at me. I think its because of the way society treats aging women. Beauty is all about youth when it comes to marketing. I guess having the braces on will young-ify my appearance a bit but I will still have the crinkles in the corners of my eyes when I smile and that bone-tired exhaustion from a stressful workday on my face from time to time. Never had either of those when I had braces as a teenager!

I have been running my tongue along the front of my teeth a lot the past few days. On days when my brackets are digging into my cheeks and there is constantly food-bits stuck in unreachable places (for my tongue) I hope I remember how nice it feels to have lovely smooth teeth. I am also worried that I will hate my adult smile with braces on them. I've read a lot from people who are terribly self conscious of what others think of how they look in braces. Most of my friends and coworkers know about the journey I am taking with my teeth and jaw and are very supportive, but I keep wondering about that girl in the mirror. She is brutally critical and sometimes I just don't like her. Bad hair days, breakouts (nope, haven't seemed to outgrow those yet), dark circles and the like mock her and make her scowl back at me. I predict the first couple days I will be smiling/grimacing at my reflection in the mirror or avoiding it altogether.

I hope I don't have too much pain with teeth moving and I hope the insides of my cheeks don't get sliced up like they did the last time I wore braces either. I will be carrying orthodontic wax everywhere and will keep a healthy supply of Advil at hand… I don't do pain well! Until next Thursday however, I have a stagette party to attend, a birthday to have, and loads of work (at home and at the office) to keep me busy. It feels like I have been waiting for September 2nd to come forever, and now that its so close I'm hoping this next week flies by!

I'm not above asking for help

I had a long chat with my mom last night and told her about this blog, after telling her exactly what a blog is. “You’ve had it since January and I am only finding out about it NOW?” was her exclamation. LOL She shouldn’t feel bad, the only person who knew about it until quite recently was my husband. We also had a wee laugh over the name I chose. I wanted something memorable, and I think the one I have does nicely. She chuckled over my account of taste testing baby food, then we talked about how when I was an infant, I never ate pre-made baby food as she made everything I ate. I expect I will ask her for much help when I am in the healing stage!

Tonight I went on errands to get some things in preparation for my (ugh, 30th) birthday party this Sunday afternoon. I am coordinating with my mom and stepmom to make sure I have many of my favourite foods at the party. I am absolutely going to try blending a few things together and seeing what sort of things I will find palatable. I am curious to see what I can make!