Smile! part 1

Well Smile I am not comfortable with as many of you know I don't have those perfect teeth and growing up i was often picked on.  I was already shy by nature so it was easy for me to hide in my shell even more when it came to certain things.  I really never liked my picture taken because i never wanted to show my smile, my ugly mouth, my embarassing teeth.  Buck tooth was most common name i got.

Do you have dental insurance?  do you have coverage?  extended?  No, No and no....why is it that Dental work can be just as important to our health as the need for a regular doctor but you can't get the help you need if you don't have money or the right coverage/insurance?  Growing up it just wasn't in our cards for our family to be so lucky.  When the time finally did come, we ended up moving and i became of age that was not covered anymore. bah!

So on into Adult hood i went feeling small, low self-esteem and very uncomfortable.  In my early 20's our family was hit with a big life changing event and i turned to liquid courage and thru that i felt like i had found acceptance in who i was and how i looked.  I sobered up knowing full well that, that was not a way to live but tried hard to hang on to my new found confidence...heck i conqured the world on my own, ok not quite but i did do some travelling on my own to the south pacific. 

Shortly after coming home i met someone and was finding myself shell shocked that someone as good looking as this guy was, was showing interest in me and heck even talking family with me.  Confidence stay strong!  Well a year and a half later we were married and welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world, but my confidence and self esteem started to nose dive and i felt myself shrivel up again, just from a few comments thru arguments or what have you that arose, or even from just seeing little kids from the park or school stare and question my teeth again.  Little kids...really?? i know but made me realize that i don't want my kids to experience what i went thru nor do i wish them to be the kids i was faced with every day at school.

 

My mom was terrified of needles and drill sounds so the dentist was out for her and we never really got that experience when we were younger either.  So recently, I was presented with a very special gift of getting assistance for dental work...the whole shebang!  Really!?!?!  wow that is very generous and surprising and thoughtful and i am overwhelmed and appreciative!  But, for someone who virtually has never been to a dentist in her life where do i begin and can i handle it!?!?

I bit the bullet, called the recommended dentist and went for my first appointment.  I got x-rays done and half my teeth cleaned, then went back for a second cleaning 2 days later to finish it up...hey not so bad...i survivied and have a great story to share with my boys now.  And the biggest kicker...me the chocoholic has no known cavaties!!  NICE!!

Starting to feel good about myself again knowing that all this is happening, just waiting for my ortho appointment. 
And then we go camping, enjoying family holiday time...we just were getting started in Salmon Arm lounging in the tent after our first night and i get bumped in the face by Austen's head...no biggie right these things happen...except when it breaks your front tooth in half.  Yikes, Panic!!  We managed to get ahold of a dentist that could see me later that morning and by lunch time i walked out with a new half tooth.  Amazing what technology can provide this day in age.

 

Someone who has never been to a dentist in 30 years has now had 3 visits in a month, and this is just the beginning.

To those of you who are scared or don't have the funds...i'm learning there are ways to get the help you need, you can do it...it is never to late!  We all deserve to  smile! :-)

watch for updates as i continue to go thru this amazing transformation!

Camping 101

Well Camping what do i say...It is a great family bonding time and experience.  I'm kinda sad to see that there are less and less of the true camping experiences out there ie: tenting or campfires because of lack of better judgment on many human errors that have caused many forest fires over the years.

None the less...in the end camping is camping!

The boys and I as of the moment in writting this post have been on two camping trips in just a short amount of time.  The first was at the beginning of the month and it was just the three of us for a 5 day 4 night adventure...we joined in last minute with our group of friends from our mommy group.  This was our first time joining them and i'm glad we did, we had fun and had a great experience despite all that we did experience.  It was in a remote area near Hope, BC.  And given my previous comment about not many using tents...the majority in the group were tenters.

The location of our site was perfect, it was large enough double sites to accomadate our group and it was steps away from the lake/beach and a playground with a large field also steps away.  I can see why it was a hit from last year.  The only big drawback was the insane amount of mosquitos...lets just say they had a feast of the kids and my pics don't do justice of the amount of bites given.  With this being a frustrating issue the group has decided to look else where for next year.

 

That all being said, everyone still enjoyed their time and the kids spent hours upon hours just playing in the lake, pretty much only coming out for food.  We experienced two nights of thunder and lightning storms at the end of our trip along with a crazy wind storm that came out of no where.  But the group came together and helped each other out in the time of need.

Our last night, we experience a bit more rain and storms than we expected and our little 3 man tent just couldn't handle that pressure so i woke the boys in the middle of the night to move them to the truck as we would have been in puddles if i had left them any longer.  In the morning i dragged everything out and it was pretty wet and Brayden's pillow was soaked! 

 

Lessons learned here:  Have fun no matter what!  Bring the strongest mosquito repellent you can find and yet be prepared to be eaten alive!  Bring extra tarps and pegs!  Have a proper camp stove!  Large tent!  And jumper cables!

Despite being down one parent on this trip, getting wet and almost blown away and eaten alive, awoken bright and early every morning by the geese alarm and feeling slightly unprepared for the trip, i personally feel i handled it all well and it didn't dampen our exerience or mood to go again!

In fact....

4 days after ariving home from this trip we were on the road again towards Salmon Arm for a golf tournament and decided to camp it again.  I spent an entire day searching and trying to find a good deal on a bigger/better tent for our family tho as i said our little 3 man one was not going to do if we were to head out camping again as a foursome.  Then i got an email from a friend who was on the camping trip suggesting they had one to spare.  Thank you!!  We had a bigger tent and it with stood the rain and gave us the space we needed!

Our campsite in Salmon Arm was not as glorious as the one previous and infact i spent a couple days debating with myself as to which one i preferred over the other...each had their own 'personality'.  And by glorious i mean, we were not lake front and farthest from isolated, but it was a 'resort campground' and it had a pool, hot tub and wifi...BUT the tenting sites were right along a busy highway so that was not so pleasant to experience hearing trucks roar by at 3am!  We did however manage to leave the mosquitos behind at our last campsite therefore managed to also recover from all the feast pits they left us. 

 

Brayden did get one wasp sting but handled that like a champ!  I got into a head on collision with Austen...litterally, we were lounging in the tent after our first night and he bumped his head into my face and managed to break my tooth in half...freak out time!!  But, we found a dentist in town who managed to take me in last minute and basically built half my tooth in less than an hour.  There will be more on this later as i will be blogging about my dental experience.

 

Needless to say after almost two weeks of camping and interesting experiences and lack of sleep due to one event or another I was ready for our annual trip to 'Shuswap' the other side of the lake to visit family friends at their place...

Till next time Camping...Till next time!