Waiting for the Abominable Snowman....

There is a pseudo- "blizzard" rushing through the Portland area right now. It's probably the closest thing to a blizzard we will ever see around here. I am perfectly happy staying in my PJs all day long, sipping a warm chai latte, surfing the net, catching up on my DVR programs, and being plain-ass lazy. :) Meanwhile, from the time we got up at 7:30 this morning until noon, Glen was very antsy...he ended up shoveling the walkway, chopping wood, and anything else to keep himself busy. We are polar opposites when it comes to this! So around 1:00, he drove over to his sister's boyfriend's house to, of all things, play Rock Band. It's now 5:30, and we've gained probably 4 inches of snow since he left! I hope he can get home safely.

On baby-making news, nothing to report, except I am at cycle day 29 with no signs of ovulation. :( My average ov day is day 16, so obviously, I am very behind! I am learning a lot about my own body, so that is the best part about the temping/charting/testing. For several months, I have questioned myself as to whether I really want to have a baby now, or if I just like the idea of having a baby. I cried when I tested negative last month. I guess I'm ready!

We just found out that good friends of ours in California who had a very difficult time getting pregnant the first time (and were successful in 2006!) have just found out they are pregnant again! We are so happy for them. If anything, I have learned from several friends not to worry too much...patience, though difficult, actually is a virtue!

I'm in the middle of my 7th week (4th set) of invisalign braces...they are better than I thought they would be! I am starting to notice my top teeth getting straighter and my bottoms feel less crowded when I floss. This is cool.

My Invisalign diet: I need more lemons!

I've graduated from tomato soup and grilled cheese to crab cakes....much else, I can't chew. To be honest, I can handle ripened bananas, berries, yogurt. Perhaps I need to ask Jenny for a few of her baby food puree recipes. :) But those lemon drop martinis I had lastnight went down really easy. We went to Portland City Grill lastnight for an Oregon Physical Therapist Association fundraising event, and I made sure to replace calories lost from food with a glass of white wine and 2 martinis. Afterward, we and our friends Jeff, Megan #1, Ernie, and Megan #2 stopped by Voodoo Doughnuts to satisfy Glen's craving. They are known for their bacon maple bars (that's right....I nice maple bar slathered with a couple of strips of greasy, crispy bacon) and a variety of other ones (click on the link!).
Then we went to Paddy's for a nightcap...and home by 11:00! We just can't handle the late nights that we used to. Papa Rod took in puppydog Tech for the night (because, truly he really does have a soft spot for his pseudo-grandchild until we can give him a real one). I have a feeling it won't be so easy with one that doesn't play fetch, sit, stay, and go potty on command....

First day of Invisalign

I got my "attachments" and first set of invisalign trays today. They HURT....but I've only had them in for 4 hours. I hear they get better after 1-2 days. I wear each set for 2 weeks, so that means when I put on each new set I get to look forward to this mighty painful initial adjustment.

The attachments I mentioned are little buttons of tooth-colored enamel that are attached to certain teeth that need to be rotated. My trays have indentions to catch these buttons in order to provide that rotation. I tried to take pictures of them, but our camera *sucks*.

So I can only have water while the trays are in; otherwise, I have to take the trays out to eat and then brush/floss/rinse/reinsert trays...EVERY time I want to eat something. Tonight I took the trays out after about 1.5 hours in, tried to eat soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Uh, yeah, not so great. I have 4 of those attachments on my bottom teeth, and due to the overjet/overbite I have, I can't fully bite down because my top teeth hit those buttons on my bottom teeth. Looks like the "invisalign diet" is off to a great start. I'll be sipping soup for a while! Not to mention the pain I felt with trying to put the trays back in after eating...(those little attachments are a pain in my ass!)

Oh! I forgot to mention the sanding of my teeth that I got to enjoy today as well...the dentist took a thin piece of metal that serves as sandpaper to reduce the width of some of my crowded teeth and allow room for them to shift. It felt like what hearing nails down a chalkboard sounds like.

This better work! (and if I could lose about 10 pounds, that would be great, too!)

I got grillz

Last Wednesday, I went back to the dentist to get started on my Invisalign treatment. They did new x-rays, took close-up digital pics of my teeth from all angles, and made molds of my teeth. It took 2 tries on both upper and lower molds....each one was held firmly on my teeth (with my mouth wide open) for 5 minutes. The first didn't work because the plastic material didn't surround my teeth all the way. I personally didn't think the process was as bad as other people on the 'net have talked about. So now, all I can do is wait until they call me back with the Clincheck (computerized pictorial of my teeth going through invisalign treatment) to make sure the end result they have projected is what I want. Hopefully, they'll call me in by the end of next week! The only down side is the addition of another monthly payment to the list of bills we already have.....

Invisalign

So I have wanted straighter teeth for YEARS...and because I'm such a vain person, metal braces really were never on my "maybe" list. I went in last Monday for an Invisalign consultation with a local dentist, and he thinks it would be a great treatment option for my needs. Here's what Invisalign is all about.

So I get to go in Wednesday to have my teeth molded, get awful pictures taken from all directions, and hand over a cool $500 first payment to get things rolling. The dentist sends all my info to Invisalign and they develop a computer-generated guesstimate of the way my teeth will look throughout the process. When I and my dentist approve of the pictures, sets of trays are molded, and I wear one set for two weeks, move on to the next set until my teeth are where I want them to be. My insurance covers 60% (that's the biggest reason why I'm following through with this).

The biggest change will be brushing, flossing, rinsing, and cleaning the trays every time I eat something (no, you don't eat with them on). That's a lot of work, especially while I'm AT work. Apparently, most people who do Invisalign lose 5-15 lbs because they don't snack as much. Yippee! I could use some help in that area. :)