Dental Care, Mixed With A Little Life Lesson

Dear Daughters,

This may seem like a funny topic, but it is an important one!:)

 

 I decided to change our Dentist and ended up forgetting to schedule us all for new appointments. By the time I remembered and they could get us all in, it had been almost a year since we've been seen. If I'm being completely honest I wasn't really worried about two of you having cavities, it seems you have inherited the Taylor/Lund teeth from me and my side of the family. One of you had already had one cavity and I knew there would be a possibility of another cavity because, you Daughter- do not like to brush or floss your teeth. And then one of you had your very first dental appointments and I was curious to see how your little teeth had been doing.

Daughter's, I think we were all in a bit of shock when one of you came out with the hygienist and he told us, "The good news is all the cavities she has are in pretty easy to fix places, and they are evenly spread out on all sides of her mouth." I was thinking it must be four cavities, but when we were told EIGHT- I think there was an audible gasp from us all!

I know my lack of remembering to get us into the dentist played a role in the cavities, and I also know the genes your Dad passed down to you probably played a role, and on top of that the lack of good brushing definitely did not help.

Growing up I had my first cavity on a loose baby tooth, and the dentist said it was just beginning. I was so embarrassed to have a cavity, because my siblings rarely had any. I pulled that tooth that night, and from then on I was a little obsessive about flossing and brushing my teeth.

Your Dad as a kid hated going to the dentist because no matter what he did to care for his teeth he always had many cavities. And for some reason your Dad doesn't numb well for the cavity repairs, so it was very painful and quite traumatizing to go to the dentist.

You each had a 50-50 chance on who's teeth strength you'd get, and one of you seem to have gotten you Dad's. I'm sorry- it's not fun, it hurts, and I know you were really embarrassed. But, life has a funny way of teaching us things. All through life we take things for granted. We each grow teeth, we each know how to care for our teeth, but sometimes it's really a pain to take the time to take care of them.

If we choose not to take care of our teeth, just like in life there are consequences. We are told to brush and floss daily, a couple times a day if we can. If we do that, no matter what genes we have gotten from our parents- the result is stronger and healthier teeth, rather then dirty weak and cavity filled teeth. Even if we do what we should each day to care for our teeth, sometimes we still get cavities. But it doesn't mean we stop taking care of our teeth. If we stopped trying it would be so much worse.

Do you see where this is leading?:) In life we are also told and taught to do certain things- but we take many many things for granted. We have been blessed to live in a time where many things have a quick and easy fix and solution. But no matter how far technology comes- we still have a responsibility to continue doing the basics. The basics I'm talking about are praying and reading your scriptures. It takes time and effort to remember to read and pray. Trust me, I know it's not easy. It's something I struggle to remember to do. But when I do take the time and put forth the effort to take care of the basics, I know I am better because of it. My day is better, I feel happier, I have an underlying peaceful feeling. But even when I do the basics, sometimes things happen. We are not promised a perfectly easy life is we read and pray daily, just like we are not promise perfect cavity free teeth by doing the basic dental care. But we end up in a much better situation if we take care of the basics.

I know it may seem like a far stretch to like teeth to life- but it all comes down to taking time for the basics. I love each of you and want the best for you. I wish I could shield and protect you from the things that are going to cause you pain in your life- just as I wish I could have been the one in the dentist chair getting cavities filled instead of watching one of my girls have to go through pain. But I know, I KNOW, if we take care of the basics we are going to be blessed! I can't take the place of each of you as you go through your struggles and trials in you life, but I hope you each remember this tiny little lesson- brought on by eight little cavities.

And I hope you each remember to keep brushing and flossing daily!

I love you bunches!

Love,

Mom

A Learning Lesson

Dear Daughter's,

Today one of you did something every girl does at some point in their life..

 

Daughter, you tried to trim your eyebrows. Unfortunately the trimming didn't go very well and now you are left with very uneven and slightly bald looking brows. I'm sorry you have to have this little lesson in life. It's not easy to be at an age where you are learning how to do so many things by yourself.

Daughter, when I asked you about your eyebrows you became defensive and tried to act like nothing had happened to them. I made you sweet girl! I know every little thing about your body- when you were placed in my arms for the first time I was in complete awe with you. You mesmerized me. I could stare at you for hours. Your perfect copper penny colored eye brows were one of my favorite things about you- and they sat right above your beautiful bright blue eyes. I would trace your eye brows to calm and relax you when you were sick or just not able to sleep. I would kiss those same perfect eye brows every chance I could.

 

Daughter, do you remember months ago when you had your eyebrows waxed the first time? We talked about "letting the professionals do it." I talked to you about not trying to pluck them on your own at such a young age because your eyes play tricks on you. You will end up plucking your eye brows completely off because the more you look and pluck, the more uneven they begin to look. Why this has to happen- I just don't know- sometimes our eyes can be deceiving.:) When we had that conversation I didn't think about you using scissors to trim your brows. I'm so sorry I didn't warn you how awful those would be to use.

As I watched you leave for school today I had so many different thoughts. I will be honest, I wished you wouldn't have chosen to do this a few days before our family pictures are scheduled. I felt a little sad that you felt you couldn't talk to me about what happened. But Daughter, the more I thought about this little event in your life, the more it made me think of how quickly you're growing up.

Daughter, everyone has moments in their lives that they do something embarrassing to their appearance- it's just part of growing up. Part of the reason I wanted to start this blog is because I want you and your sisters to know that a lot of things are going to happen in your life, some may be good, and unfortunately some may be bad. But that is normal. It shapes us into who we become.

Daughter, when I was your age I wasn't worried so much about my eyebrows, it was my hairy upper lip- I really really disliked my moustache!:) I tried bleaching it, but that didn't work well. I tried to talk to my mom about getting it waxed but she said no. I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went through the house and found anything sticky, masking tape, duct tape, band aids.. I started with the band aids because they seemed to be the least painful choice. I put the adhesive side on my upper lip and rrrrip! Oh, it hurt so bad!! I knew I'd never be able to use anything more sticky- the tape options were out, so I stuck with the band aids. I can't tell you how many I used, but I just kept putting them on and ripping them off, feeling some hair ripping out of my upper lip.

Daughter, for all that pain I went through, I was very sad to see that there was still dark hair left on my upper lip, and not only was there dark hair, but because I have super sensitive skin I had an allergic reaction to the band aids and now had a nasty rash across my upper lip. I grabbed lotions and creams to try and soften and moisten my poor upper lip- but the damage was done. I had a hairy and now rashy upper lip! That rash took almost two weeks to completely go away, it was so embarrassing!

I also did in fact pluck my eye brows almost completely off, but I was a little older. Luckily eyebrows grow quickly, and fill back in nicely!:)

 

Daughter's as you grow up things are going to happen that might embarrass us, either things we do to ourselves, or things that happen out of our control. The more you learn to laugh at them and learn from them the better it makes you.

I love you Daughter's! I even love the one of you who has uneven eyebrows right now!

I love you each bunches!

Mom