Metal Mouth (Part I)

So I've done it. I've gotten braces. At age 35. I'm finally correcting some speech problems that are a residual from a car wreck back when I was 20. You see, I was hit by a drunk driver in college and broke a bunch of my teeth. Over time, the "fake" teeth have shifted around due to the position of my "real" teeth. I've had oodles of dental work done to repair the damage and well, I've been living with the crooked teeth, no problems. I've been living with the overbite, no problems. But the lisp that's formed over the last 15 years, that has to go...

Doc says I'll have these on (and in 6 weeks, bottom ones too) for a minimum of 16 months, probably 2 years. And my speech (and smile!) will definitely improve. Frankly, that doesn't seem all THAT long when I consider that my son is nearly 3 years old and that time went by in a snap!

Day 1, a little dull pain and Day 2 is supposed to be the worst. We'll see, eh? At least I get to sport my Jayhawk colors for the next 6 weeks when showing off my new "metal mouth." So I present to you, a little TMI, my new braces:
(And for the next shot, maybe I'll take the time to put on some make-up or something...)

Wish me luck with these atrocious things!
~kerrie

The Monkey Horde

So Carter is fixin' to get his last few teeth in and has been a bit of a crankapotamus lately. We're blessed that he's pretty much ALWAYS happy, so it's been a tad rough dealing with his fussiness.

Anyway, seemed like the only thing to help ease his frustrations the other night was to let him "play" with every single monkey off of his shelf. Matt was trying to give him a little milk before bedtime and he wasn't having it... Instead, he wanted the monkey horde:
And slowly, one at a time, he picked off each monkey and tossed them to the floor:
Poor little Curious George:
And another one bites the dust:
Until the horde was no more:
Happy to report that those couple of molars are poking through and maybe, just maybe we're past the rough spot. Let's hope the remaining few teeth come through like lightning!

Hope you have a fantastic week!
~kerrie

Play Ball!

Silly little post to document some "play time" with Carter. He's a big fan of anything soft and anything that has chewable parts (previous posts have alluded to his taking-a-liking-to chewing on the, er, back side of most stuffed animals...and mainly just those with tails...).

Anyway, we captured a few shots of him playing around with some toys and having a grand 'ol time. See for yourself:
This next one shows off his two bottom teeth - ready to sink into this soccer ball:

While not his best shot, this next one has a good view of his top four teeth (we think he's got a couple coming in, as he's been a drooly fool lately...but none have peeked through this week):
And finally, pretty pleased with the morning's activities:

Ahh, to be a kid again and spend your morning playing with toys... Have a great day and hope you get a little "play time" too!
~kerrie

The Toothy Zoo Contraption...

So our wonderful, wonderful neighbor, Kristin, bought Carter this wonderful, wonderful "zoo contraption." Not only is it big and bulky, but it's made of chunky plastic (which Carter likes to bang on his head...or mine...or Matt's....)....but the best part really? IT PLAYS THE MOST ANNOYING SONGS EVER!!!

Yes, it has a "soundtrack" of about 4 REALLY awful songs and Matt and I drive each other batty singing them in the shower... And the worst part of it all, Carter LOVES the zoo contraption! He'll crawl all over the house just to get his giggles going.

Few shots from his level - yeah, busy playing with the zoo contraption here:
The penguin - always a tasty treat (and I just LOVE it when little babes wear blue jeans....CUTE!):
Dude, get away from my zoo!
Penguins AND elephants - yummm!
Ok, I'm only teasing Kristin about the annoyingness of it all (no I'm not...), but it IS totally cute that Carter is such a fan, particularly of the penguin.

A couple quick videos of his commando-crawling and penguin attacking - part 1:



Part 2 (dilemma, dilemma), with a sampling of that fantastic music:



And in other exciting weekend news...looks like Carter is getting a new batch of teeth in. Can't tell for sure, but we think it's a couple more on the top...but it could be a couple more on the bottom... Why can't we tell? Because we're brain-dead zombies today!

You see, we had about 2 hours total of sleep on Saturday night, as he kept waking up (and screaming bloody murder...) about every 2 hours and wouldn't sleep in his crib, just in our arms. So Matt and I took turns staying up, therefore neither of us got our zzzz's. As I type this, he's sound asleep in his crib (and has been for a couple hours, so let's hope he makes it until morning) and hopefully past the worst of it.

Also, Matt's taking him to the ear, nose, and throat doc (here in Albuquerque, yay!) tomorrow for his ear-tube consultation. Fingers crossed that the doc can "work his magic" and keep our boy ear-infection free for, well, the rest of his life! I'll post a quick update tomorrow after we get the news.

Hope everyone has a great night and a great week!
~kerrie

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Peas

(yes, another Muppet Movie reference, I can't help it...)

Well, our little boy is becoming a world-class eater. He's been enjoying sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, carrots, and his most favorite, PEAS! Took a few days on the peas, but by day 4, he was digging 'em. [Later addition to this post - forgot Matt took this photo with his phone while I was out of town - look at our boy enjoying his peas!]
Been a little lax on the photo taking during meals, but shot this one last night (with a little help from Matt) to show off his new top 4 teeth (which do nothing during meal time, as everything is just pureed goo) and can't seem to get a shot of the bottom 2, as he just sticks out his tongue:
Anyway, we're being a little lazy on this Saturday afternoon, so I thought I'd put up a couple posts. Carter's been doing a little swing-time while I pay the bills and peck away at the keyboard:
Dinner tonight with some friends, so hopefully Carter will be on his best behavior! Hope you're having a lazy Saturday afternoon, too!
~kerrie

Up Close And....

Had a lazy weekend around the Greenie house, as Carter is cutting teeth...and not one, not two, but FOUR teeth are coming in!!! Been fun for the whole family, too! And since he had a bit of a, um, nasty temperament, we ended up canceling most of plans this weekend.

However, we did get a brief outing to the zoo. Saw some lions, crocodiles, monkeys, and briefly caught the polar bears before we took Mr. Cranky Pants home for a nap.

Here are a few family shots: 1) Matt, Carter & the Monkeys; 2) Kerrie, Carter & the Polar Bear; 3) Kerrie & Carter; 4) Polar Bear; and 5) Matt, Carter & Crocodile.

Ended up on Sunday being REALLY lazy (except we had a fun outing to CostCo...weee!) and then Mr. Chatterbox demonstrated his much, much happier self. While trying to catch him on video chatting up a storm (which is hilarious because he has one volume...LOUD!), he got pretty close to the camera:



And part 2 (and stay through all 15 seconds for the surprise ending...hehe!)


Ok, we were just being silly with that one :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and I'll post again this week for the "official" 6 month post...and I'll try to get a close-up of those choppers!
~kerrie

Mom, My Teeth Hurt...

I previously posted that Carter's bottom 2 teeth are comin' through...well, it's made him a tad, um, cranky at times. We're still pretty blessed, as he has quite a happy disposition, but this teething thing is chiseling away at that happiness (for all of us...).

Main source of comfort for Carter is jamming his fingers in his mouth. Exhibit A (and note the huge jean shorts...size 9-month one-sie looks snug and the size 6-month shorts look like gangsta baggy pants!):And if the fingers aren't available, the toes will do. As shown here in Exhibit B (check out the adorable baseball socks!):
In other news, been working on some back strength and doing a little sittin' time in the bumbo seat. Fun all around, see:
But sometimes, when the teeth keep pokin' through, Carter gets a little pouty (check out the size of those cheeks!):
Maybe chewing on the fingers will help?

Or this stuffed giraffe?

Or perhaps the feet...ah yes, that's the ticket:
Until all of Carter's teeth come in, we'll just grin and bear it. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!
~kerrie