Don't Even Go There

Brace Face? Metal Mouth? Is that what you're thinking? I should hope not! I know I heard those confidence boosters (NOT!) when I was a kid with braces, and it seems to me as if many kids today are a whole different kind of mean than they were when I was growing up. Then again, when I was growing up you were actually blinded by the metal glinting out of someone's mouth, whereas in this day and age you get to pick your color (note the "rainbow" layout on Darcy's brackets) and make a fashion statement, so perhaps the days of name-calling are over. Maybe now Darcy will hear only, "Hey, cool braces!" or "Wow, those are some funky colors you've got there!" Dr. Holinga (the person who conducted our homeschool assessments) told Darcy that when her daughter had braces, she would get the bands changed to match each major holiday--red for Valentine's Day, orange for Halloween, etc. Peyton said, "Did she get green for Earth Day?" Now see, that's just the sort of smart, aware little comment that Peyton comes up with once in a while. Here I figured she'd link green to St. Patrick's Day, but no . . . she thought of Earth Day. Clever, don't you think?

ANYWAY, to get to the photos . . . Darcy actually got these lower braces on Monday but I was saving the pictures as a surprise because I thought she was getting her upper braces today and I was going to post a "Before/After" shot. But as it turns out, I was a little confused. (Shocking, I know.) Here's what happened . . .

I think I actually blogged previously about Darcy getting her palate expander--or maybe not. Anyway, long story short, she got a palate expander on her upper jaw about six weeks ago. I know it was six weeks ago because she was due to go back for her six-week checkup this past Monday the 9th. But on FRIDAY the 6th, for some inexplicable reason, her palate expander became dislodged from the band on her molar so we had to make an emergency trip to the orthodontist. Only her orthodontist practices in several different locations and unfortunately, he was at the downtown location on Friday. So when I say "we" had to make an emergency trip to the orthodontist, I really mean "Randy" made the trip, which you could view as either a colossal mistake on my part or the smartest move I ever made!

See, after Randy left the orthodontist he called my cell phone and said that Darcy needed to come back for a follow-up appt. on the following Thursday (that would be today). I reminded him that she was already scheduled to be back on Monday the 9th, and questioned whether or not that appt. had been cancelled/consolidated into the appt. for the 12th (today). He said that the Thursday appt. would be to re-insert the palate expander (apparently it actually BROKE and had to be repaired) and assured me that I did indeed need to keep BOTH appointments.

Okay, I know you can see what's coming but stay with me . . . So Monday rolled around and because Randy is always SO good about being available when I need him, I decided to let him go on to work and I would take all the kids with me--the orthodontist is literally three minutes from our house and a checkup takes ten minutes, tops. A funny thing happened when we got to the office, though--we waited a little longer than usual and finally the receptionist came out and said, "Um, did you have an appointment for this morning?" I explained about the "extra" trip on the previous Friday and she said, "Yes, and you were supposed to come back this Thursday." I pointed out that it was my HUSBAND who had insisted this appointment was still on, and the receptionist just shrugged and said, "Well, since you're here, let me ask Dr. Hrabowy (pronounced Ra-BOW-ee) what he wants to do." In just another minute she came back and said that Dr. Hrabowy would go ahead and see Darcy, and the next thing I knew, a dental assistant was ushering me back to the area where Darcy was reclining, and she proceeded to give me all the instructions I would need to manage Darcy's discomfort as she was placing these plastic thing-a-ma-jigs between Darcy's brackets.

Now, the reason this may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise is because Darcy was actually supposed to get a "lip bumper" on her lower jaw at this checkup, but for whatever reason Dr. Hrabowy felt he could bypass that step and go straight to the braces. Today, as expected, she got her palate expander re-inserted and she'll go back and have that looked at in another six weeks. And that's everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Darcy's orthodontic history!!!


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Sawyer is in a phase right now where he says "Cheese" for every photo and he never, ever looks AT the camera. It may be hard for you to tell but since I'm the one who shot the photos, I can tell that Darcy is becoming increasingly tickled in each frame by my comments of, "Oh, Sawyer!" when I would snap a photo and his eyes would be shut or he'd be making some goofy expression (see Exhibits C, D and E for proof). Believe it or not, Sawyer IS saying "Cheese!" in all three photos!