Car Situation...**UPDATE**

Well, since my recent post on FB, a couple of you have asked about the situation with the car and what is going on. So, here's the deal.

Here in the great state of Maryland, your car has to be inspected before it can be registered by the state. So, within the first 60 days that you move here, you have to go to the DMV (or MVA as they call it here) and get temporary plates. You then have 30 days to have your car inspected and return to get your permanent plates. Well, we went a couple weeks ago and started the process, so our inspection was due. We took the cars earlier this week for an inspection and oil change. The Vibe (my car) passed after the front windshield had a bit of a repair (at no charge, thank you very much). However, my darling husbands car, the 1998 Saturn, did not pass. This car was given to us as a wedding gift from his parents in 2002. It was "our" first car. It moved with us from MI-VA-WA-MD. It has had just about every system repaired it seemed. In Seattle, Ken was driving it more than 50 miles in a day. It has been a great car and we were excited to keep it around a little longer now that Ken works less than 15 minutes from work! We thought we'd get upwards of 200K miles on it!! But the state of Maryland has other plans.

They say that if we fix everything, they will pass the car. We've also heard that once it passes, it won't have to be fixed again. And the more you look at cars around, you very rarely see "older" cars around in the area. Any who, we're trying to decide what is best for us. We would prefer not to fix the car and purchase a car with cash. But unfortunately, we used our "car cash" fund to buy a house a few months ago (remember that?) And as Ken reminded me today... "If only we didn't own two houses - this wouldn't be such a hard decision!" And boy, is that the truth!!

There is the possibility that we could live with one car for a while, but we would have to apply for a temporary driving pass for me to be on the Navy base, as I'm a civilian and don't currently have access to the base (so i could take Ken to work).

We've decided that we'll probably need to buy a bigger car for me to drive rather than buying a smaller car for Ken to drive, as we will most likely be adding to our family (NO - I'm not pregnant. But we are always talking about it). And it doesn't make sense to drop money into a smaller car when we'll have to turn around in a year or so and buy a bigger car anyway.

So... As of yet, as you can tell, no decisions have been made. If we buy a car, we're leaning towards a mini-van. Although GM doesn't make one, so we'll probably go with a Honda or Toyota. And unfortunately, from what we can tell, the stock isn't that great around here so we'll have to buy new rather than used, as they are pretty much the same price! But, when and if we add to the family car fleet - I'll keep you posted. :)

**UPDATE**

As it usually goes with my assumptions of my husband and his thought pattern, I was wrong. My darling husband has been busy this weekend researching Maryland State law and the paperwork given by the mechanic. Basically, the Maryland Car inspection process is riddled with fraud, and Ken seemed to think that this guy was ripping us off. Basically, if he saw something that might not be up to code, he was not passing the car. For example, the mechanic failed our tires and said that all four tires needed to be replaced. But when you look at them, only two are in need of being replaced. Anyway -- Ken has decided to have the car repaired instead of purchasing a new one. And I support him in this decision. We just don't have the money to take on another $30K debt. So we're planning to continue saving as we have been for a new car and hopefully in a year or so, we'll be able to put half down or so for this new car that we'll definitely need by then! In the mean time, Ken has been on the phone with the mechanic and the state police discussing the case and the work that the mechanic did on our car to clarify what the law says. Basically, the state trooper he spoke with did side with Ken until he spoke with the mechanic. So, not sure what will happen there. Nonetheless, we'll end up fixing the car in the next few days and all will be back to normal... well, all but our pocketbooks :)

Reading...

So, I am not a teacher by any means. I've never been one to explain something very well or sysincly, but for some reason (and probably with emence help from the hubby), Finnegan knows all of his letters and the sounds that they all make (and he has known this for 6 months or more). But within the past month or so, he's been sounding out words and "reading" them. I thought I'd blogged about the day he sounded out the letters for the word "truck" and then put them all together. I was so proud (but can't seem to find the post -- perhaps it was a picture and comment on FB). Anywho -- Finnegan's a HUGE fan of Super Why, although we only watch it on Netflix. I can't follow the TV schedule and just prefer to have him watch it when he's been a good boy, or I need to get a quick chore done. He loves to sing the songs and talks about letters ALL day long. He's LOVES it when we're at Target and he see the big "G" on the screen right before checkout.

Tonight, I was very impressed when he spelled out the letters of the word "ambulance" (seeing it in a book of course) and then sounded out the letters and repeated what the word said. He kept spelling and saying the words in the pictures. Then he began to spell the next word "flying". He said the letters and the sounds each letter makes. We asked him to put the sounds together to make the word. He burst out the word "Airplane!!" Ken said, "Close, buddy!" I just laughed inside. He's getting it, sort of!

Now, if only he could get the hang of potty training!! ;)

Rocket Ship Room

Among all of the decorating projects in the new house, I have tried to knock out some of the easier ones first... and this was one of the first COMPLETED job at the house. I had been completely convinced we would paint each room in the new house, but after looking at the rooms, this is the only one that could could without a new coat of paint, and still "work". The blue needed to touched up, so I've painted most of the room, but it still looks not too bad. The sponge painting was there, we just added the decals to match his desired "rocket ship room" theme.

I actually pretty proud of this bedding set. I'd found it weeks ago at Target and was waiting for it to be marked down on sale. I was going to get the toddler bed set, just to save money, but decided to hold out for the twin bedding set, as he can use it after he gets twin bed later this year. So I waited, and waited, and I just so happened to stumble on a sale a couple of weeks ago that lowered the price from $60 to $40. What a deal!! Super exciting!!

Praise the Lord

After a week since Finnegan's surgery - His teeth are starting to make the descent down. I'm pretty surprised that it's happening so early, but we are very pleased. The right one is coming in first, and the left is slowly behind it. This morning, Finnegan slept in until 9am... I assumed it was from his body healing... And sure enough it is.

YIPPEE!!

Tooth Update

Howdy Readers --

It has been 6 whole days since our excitement last week with Finnegan's teeth. We're finally getting back into a routine (as we had house guest last week too). Finnegan has been less than careful with his budding teeth. It seems that since the initial trauma, his teeth have receded back into his gums even more. But I'm unsure if that is from the extra trauma he's had (he's hit his gums twice since the injury) or just swelling. He has another appointment with the dentist in 2 weeks for a follow up exam.

From what we are reading online, the suggestions of the dentist are in line with proper dental theory. His intruded teeth should begin to emerge in 2 months or so. If not, they will have to be removed. We've been encouraging Finnegan to talk his teeth down... he's so cute, and says "Come on out, teeth!"

Thanks for all the encouragement, friends. It was pretty scary. I am like any normal mom, who sometimes has the ability to over react about the smallest injury. But I've had my share of scary moments before this and have over reacted, so I've had practice to try to keep my cool. And since we were in public, that helped too! The only time that I almost lost it was when we were sitting in the ER waiting room, and Ken and Finn emerged from the bathroom (as Finn had big boy pants on and had been dry all night through all this craziness -- and still hadn't wet his pants) and Ken sat down next to me, while Finnegan walked past me and returned to his playing, Ken leaned over and told me that Finn was really sad. I asked him what he meant and he told me that while they were in the bathroom, Ken was telling him about his teeth and trying to help him understand that his teeth aren't going to back for a very long time. And Ken said he got this really sad look on his face as the reality hit him. Ken said that he didn't cry, but had this super sad face. It was then that the tears welled up in me and I was sad for my little boy as this was a tangible way that he was experiencing the reality of his consequences. More than a spanking or quiet time in his room, and more than simply a removed toy. The true consequences of mistakes, that mommy can't fix. UGH!

It was then, about 2 days later that we began to see a real smile from him. Something that I didn't realize we'd missed until it showed up again. His huge grin without restraint. What a beautiful thing. And yes, Lacey, he is a super precious boy, with or without his teeth. I was sad at first as his 3yr photos are coming up soon, and he won't have teeth. But then, I realized -- as I did with Penny's newborn photos and her tumor/teardrop, that this is who he is and this is what he looks like. And we love him regardless if he has front teeth or not. And he is super cute and sweet with out them, as he is with them. So, although we do pray for their safe arrival back to where they belong and that there won't be any damage to his permanent teeth, we also pray for NO oral surgery, and no more complications with the whole process.

This is our sweet boy after an all family birthday party with our cousins during their recent visit -- this is 3 days post accident.

Teeth Disaster...

***If you are squeamish or have a weak stomach, you might want to choose to NOT read this post. It describes a traumatic event that happened to our small son with photos. BE AWARE***

When I was a little kid, about 2 and a half, I fell up a set of stairs at my parents house, and bumped my teeth on the stairs as I tripped. I broke both of my front teeth off at the gums and had to have them pulled by the dentist. Here is a photo of me in the 1st grade, with no teeth...

Subsequently, I didn't have front teeth until I was 8 years old. Promptly that summer, after my adult teeth came in, I tripped and broke one of my teeth in half. I had to have it bonded and pinned. So needless to say, I'm a little sensitive to teeth or face injuries.

But August 10th, was our anniversary and we were planning to go to dinner as a family. I was excited. It had been a while since we'd been out together and this was a special occasion. We got to the restaurant and had the usual 20 minute wait for the local Olive Garden. When our table came ready, we sat and ordered. It was a wonderful night. The kids ate, and played and were happy. There was a moment that I was very happy knowing we were out and we weren't having any problems. After dinner we ordered dessert and were patiently waiting for it to arrive. Finnegan then, tipped back slightly into his chair so his chair was tetering on the back two feet. Then, in slow motion, the chair began to tilt backwards. In his fear of falling back with it, and in order to preserve his head in the fall, he opened his legs, and rotated his body forward, in order to remain upright. But when he did and the chair landed on the floor, he abruptly planted his mouth into the front edge of the wooded seat. He erupted in screaming, and the resturant was silent. Immediately there was blood everywhere. Ken scooped him up and bolted to the bathroom, as we were unsure at the time if it was his mouth or nose that had received the trauma. The man seated behind us asked if he was ok, and I said I wasn't sure. I didn't know what to do, and then I made that mom decision... This was my son, and I will go where I need to to see him. I picked up our things and Penelope and bolted to the bathroom, and Ken was there with Finn. Finnegan had calmed down due to the wonderful calming presence of my husband. And Ken couldn't find his teeth. They were not in his mouth but there was blood everywhere! We didn't see them in his lip and hadn't noticed them on his lap. I told Ken that we must then take him to the emergency room. We left the resturant with our children and headed as fast as we could to the ER.

On our way, Finnegan was crying on and off and fussing. Obviously, he was hurting and scared. I asked him what was causing his outburts, and he said that he was scared more than in pain. So we prayed as a family, asking God to keep him brave and asking God to be with the doctors to have the knowledge to help him. After our prayer together, there wasn't another outburst from him, and he hasn't cried since.

At the ER, the triage nurse recommended a dentist that specialized in pediatric dentistry that also did sedation dentistry too. We would call them the next morning for an appointment. He let the triage nurse look at him as well as the PA once inside the ER. They decided to do a chest x-ray to make sure he hadn't asperated his teeth - since we didn't know where they were. All in all, he did well at the ER.

I called the recommended dentist first thing on Wednesday morning and had to make an appointment at the north office, about an hour from our house. They had told me that we'd have to wait until a spot opened up... but I would rather wait in their office rather than waiting 24-48 hours to get an appointment. So we made the drive up and waited... but didn't wait too long. Once we were in the office the dentist was very kind and gentle with Finnegan. She was very concerned that his teeth were broken at the gum line that he will have to have surgery to remove them by an oral surgeon. They took an x-ray of his teeth and this is what they found...

If you aren't experienced in x-ray reading, this shows BOTH of his front teeth and the canines on each side as well. The teeth are fully intact and simply pushed back up into the sockets that they grew from. Hopefully, what they told us, is that the teeth will come back down normally. But we've been doing our own research and learning that sure enough, the teeth only have 2-3 months to come down before they need to be pulled. So we will keep an eye on them.

In the meantime, we've begun to discuss with him what it means to have no teeth and that he won't have teeth for a while, but that they will come back. He was very sad at first. And for an almost 3 yr old, he has comprehended exceptionally well. He understands that he was not being careful and that it caused him to get hurt and the consequence is that he knocked his teeth out. He is such a sweet little boy. He's sort of tired of talking about it, and has started smiling again in the last day or so, now that he's used to the lack of teeth that he has. Here are some photos of him...

My sweet little toothless wonder... And now, we'll sing to him at Christmas "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" just as my family sang to me oh so many years ago!

Weird Coincidence

I share a birthday with Chelsae Clinton (same year and day) and my sister shares a wedding anniversary with her (different year).