Odom Party of Five

Jan 16, 2013

BRACE YOURSELF

#3 GOT HER BRACES OFF!!!!

She had braces twice and combined together,

for almost four years and now she is finally free!

Just in time for her 16th birthday....which is next week!

This is in the car right before going in the orthodontist's office:

(10th grade)

and here she is after.

She doesn't like these pictures because they are very close up, but I think they are beautiful.

She looks so different to me but, I kind of miss the braces and

I am really missing my little girl!!

She is loving it.

She has been all smiles since.

We have invested a small fortune in our girls' mouths.

(Oh the palaces I could have gone and things I could have had!)

The first time #3 had braces was back when she was in elementary school.

That time they were making room for all of her teeth and adjusting her jaw while it was still growing. The second time they were correcting/closing her bite and moving her teeth into the right space after creating all of that room.

(Her eleventh birthday)

#2 also had braces twice also.

She was so upset about getting braces while she was in high school.

(10th grade)

#1 was the different one and only had to have braces once !

(9th grade)

****************

So many adjustments and events for us here at our house this January!

This week it was the braces coming off,

next week

it will be #3 turning 16 and getting her driver's license!!

(I am not ready!)

We did finally get back to a normal school schedule...

we did find out that #2 has mono, but she has gone back to school and actually went

to her first class today. She also has gone back to work.

She works part time in the store of a local jewlery designer.

She will just have to take care of herself and get plenty of rest.

******************

Jan 13, 2013

Les Miserables

We have been playing out our own version of

Les Miserables

since January 4th.

#2 has been put the ringer.

Jan. 3rd

she was sedated

and

four impacted wisdom teeth were removed...

she was very out of it for our ride home...

and stayed that way for the rest of the day.

BF2 came for the night and everyone camped out in my bed.

Swelling was minimal and the pain was not as bad as she expected.

But...

come Sunday afternoon this happened......

and this ....

Every mom will recognize those "sick eyes".

Come Monday, after 24 hours of a temperature over 102,

we headed to doctor.

It was all #2 could do just to get there, much less sit up.

Her throat was swollen, RAW and NASTY.

It was all around the stitches in the back of her mouth.

She went through a battery of tests.

She had a pipe cleaner stuck up her nose "all the way behind my eye",

aka a flu test.

She had a mono test, that came out negative and then was

diagnosed with strep without being given a strep test.

Her throat was so nasty, I will spare the details, but the doctor immediately diagnosed her with strep when she saw it. All this and she was just days from having her wisdom teeth removed and she was swollen, sore and still had four raw wounds with stitches.

The doctor recommended a "horse shot" of antibiotics immediately

along with a bottle of antibiotics for two weeks.

Home we went

and this continued...

her 102 temp. did not go down, her throat got nastier

and she became more miserable.

I called the doctor on Wednesday, she was put on a steroid for her severe throat issue

and possible wisdom tooth surgery complications.

Friday morning this started happening....

and it continued to get worse as the day went on...

and it spread...

and she cried

and she was miserable

and she was READY for it to all be over.

We headed back to the doctor,

they wanted to see her immediately,

but saw a different doctor this time.

He was upset there wasn't a strep test done on Monday

and was obviously disturbed that such a high dose of antibiotics were given without

a positive strep test.

He was not happy a blood panel was not done and that a negative finger prick mono test was ignored.

He was very concerned about the scarlet red rash covering her entire body.

He told her to stop taking the antibiotics.

He sent us to

"The Lab"

for an extensive blood panel...

four tubes.

Too much for someone who had had such a bad week.

I had to scrunch into the little desk beside Brooke.

She wasn't handling it too well, but we got it done.

So it is Sunday,

our weekend went by and the rash got worse before it finally started to quiet down this afternoon.

The doctor is pretty sure it is a bad case of mono and not strep.

Mono mixed with antibiotics isn't a good thing.

It can result in horrible things like a scarlet red rash.

Brooke has missed going back to school after a month long break,

her first week back in class and work.

She is so ready for some normal.

She has recovered from the surgery, that was a piece of cake.

After we get the results from the doctor tomorrow, she should be able to head off to school for her

last semester of college.

(Oh my!!)

If she does have mono, she will just have to take it slow and one day at a time.

Thanks Brooke for letting me post these pictures!!!

Jan 4, 2013

WRAPPED UP

I am sitting watching one more bowl game.

Me at home on a Friday night is unusual.

I do have some good company though....

#2 had her wisdom teeth removed yesterday and so today has been a very laid back lazy day.

She is doing great. I have taken a lot of pictures and will share once the swelling comes and goes.

Tomorrow is supposed to be her "big" day, but so far her swelling isn't all that impressive.

We had a great Christmas,

but,

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT HAS COME AND GONE!

******************

The "new" thing to wear to school is "vintage" Christmas sweaters and sweatshirts.

Funny, not too many years ago, Christmas sweaters were stylish and pretty, not tacky. The more bells and whistles (literally), the better. The two older girls, have had "Tacky Christmas" cocktails in their sororities since being in college and now the theme has made its way into the high schools.

#3 was in need of some Christmas attire her last days of school before her break.

When my mom died, I kept a lot of her clothes and luckily, she had a lot of Christmas things.

On the last day before exams, #3 and her friends decided to have a "Tacky Christmas Day".

Barrett wore her grandma's Christmas sweater to school.....

I don't think it is tacky, a little old fashioned, maybe, but either way, I loved seeing her in it!

There is a nursery just outside of our neighborhood.

It is one of my favorite places on earth.

It is where I get all of my flowers for my beds and pots in the spring.

The green house goes on forever and they always have the prettiest and best selection of annuals.

I especially love going there during the holidays.

It is almost one of the most Christmasy places I know.

All of the greenhouses are filled with rows and rows of poinsettias.

I am amazed every year at just how many varieties there are.

It has become such a popular destination for Christmas card pictures, they have set up several different areas with different themes.

I wanted to get all three of my girls there at the same time this year, but our schedules just didn't work out that way. In fact, these pictures weren't taken on the same day. I took #1 and #3 on different days. #2 never made it there this year because of her work schedule.

(By the way...this is the first year I didn't send out Christmas cards since being married!

I still feel so guilty about it.)

I just love this place.

I love making my cup of hot chocolate outside in the cold and then wander around inside looking at the rows and rows of flowers.

Christmas Eve is our family time.

We had a quiet dinner at home.....

beef tenderloin on the grill.

The girls gave Art a personalized carving board for Christmas and since we were grilling on Christmas Eve, they let him open it early.

He loved it!!

#3 kept warm while he cooked.

We always sit at the coffee table and watch a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve.

Charlie watches the food!

On Christmas Eve we open one present...... our Christmas PJ's.

Art was very excited that his jammies were shorts..... he gets so hot while he is sleeping.

Have I ever shared that my girls don't call me mom, momma, mother or anything else normal?

They call me Momason.... actually spelled "Mama-son".

I looked it up:

The term originally comes from Japanese, where it is a term for a woman who works as a supervisor at a bar, nightclub, or similar business....The term mama-san in Japanese is emphatically not a polite reference to a mother, and should never be used as such....The term is also used to refer to a woman who works in a supervisory role in certain establishments in Southeast Asia, typically those related to drinking places.

I don't know how it started, but it is something that just happened a long time ago.

It is so normal to us and we have forgotten about how strange it sounds out in public.

At the grocery store during Chirstmas we had the bagger very confused...

he kept looking back and forth at all of us and finally asked...

"Are you Japanese?"