You Capture - my weekend in Body Parts

Wednesday, March 9


Last weekend we made an impromptu  trip to Seattle to visit the cousins and go to the Emerald City Comic Convention.  The following body parts are not all real or human.  There were some impressive costumes and several characters were unknown to me. 

I do know these guys though, not personally of course.

Luna dog's nose.

Jumping body parts.

Resting body parts.

And a possibly broken body part. 

That kid in the pink shirt who was jumping really high, well she got a sharp leg pain and has been unable to walk on her right leg since Sunday night.  She is actually getting around great with crutches and feeling less painful.   We have to wait a few days to see if a hairline fracture will show up on the x-ray.  


Click here to see more Body Part photos.

Finally lost!

Tuesday, June 8

Sydney's loose tooth had been driving her crazy for days.   She prayed every night that it would fall out now!   She said she didn't care how much it hurt or bled, that I should pull it out.   Well I tried several times, trust me, it just wasn't ready.  Here is what it looked like yesterday. 

Finally this morning I could tell it was ready.  I pulled it out on the first try and tried to keep a blank expression on my face.   She was so surprised and happy that she lost her first tooth!

Spring break fevers

Wednesday, March 26

Yes, there is a beautiful blue sky with the forcast predicting a high of 68 degrees today and my kids have fevers!  Actually Sydney is mostly better already, but now it's Kyla's turn.  I should have posted this yesterday for Syd.   

Why do I have a stack a tissues with no box?

Because Miss Ducky needed some shoes of course.  Her feet are so big, no one else's shoes would fit.

I love it when my kids get inspired to do art projects that grow and take a long time.  She started with this girl...

and decided to add the rest of her body and some scenery.

I found this story and drawing in Syd's newly cleaned out closet, where there is a shelf that looks like a little desk.  I guess she is a closet writer now.   I think Kyla finished the story for her.

Translation:   Once upon a time there was a little girl.  And her name is Aria.  She was picking flowers in a garden by a tree.  And she loved the tree and it was her favorite tree. 

I hope we get to go play outside soon, before it starts to rain again.

I survived!

Friday, March 12

The last five weeks have been hectic as I knew they would be. I signed the girls up for swimming lessons 2x/week in an effort to get them and myself away from the screens in our life and get more exercise. The only bad part is that Monday through Thursday we had something scheduled until 5:30 or 6pm, which really cut into being able to cook a decent dinner. I think being able to get dinner from my personal chef twice a week really made it possible. (I love you Elizabeth!)


The good part is that the girls didn't even realize they had not watched TV, played Wii or their Nintendo during the week until just this week. It’s 4pm on Friday as I'm writing this and no one has even asked to turn on the TV.

I've been exercising at the gym at least 3 days a week, riding the bike and going to Zumba! I think I'll go celebrate by taking my hubby out to McMenamin's Mission Theater & Pub for a burger and a movie. (Thanks Maria!)

Have a great weekend everyone!


If you need a laugh, please visit Daddy Scratches.

You Capture - Hopeful

Thursday, March 4

Wow, this challenge was not easy, but I gave it my best shot.  This first shot was from a few weeks ago.  My 5 y.o. at a cosmic bowling birthday party, hopeful for her first strike.

Here are a couple of boys I spotted at the park looking hopeful.  I eventually saw them make a basket and they were pretty excited.

I've been trying to get back into the exercise routine lately, oh wait I was never really exercising in the first place.  I tend to be a fair weather exerciser, only walking or riding my bike when it's nice outside.  Last fall my hubby got us a joint gym membership. I snuck this photo of some seniors hopeful about staying healthy and strong.

 I've been blessed with good genes and a pretty good metabolism, but me and my metabolism have been getting lazy.  I decided to start working out before the nice weather hits and try to lose a few pounds.  These next two are me being hopeful that the scale will show me what I want.

Click here to see the other Hopeful photos over at Beth's blog.

The Portland Rose

Wednesday, March 3

Here is Kyla holding her temporary retainer, waiting to get her new one after getting her braces off two weeks ago.

I know things aren't super clear in this photo, but it may be the best look you get at this Portland Rose.  Kyla got her retainer on Monday and chose this from about 30 different designs. 

See the little hook on the right side?   It's connected to a tiny spring so it pushes on her back molar to maintain space for the permanent teeth that haven't come in yet.   Let's hope she never loses it.  Good luck with that! 

Phase 1 - Complete

Friday, February 19

On Monday Kyla got her braces off!  Here is her before pic from about 8 months ago.

Here is what her teeth look like now.

I couldn't get her to open her eyes even though we were standing in the shade.  It's nice and sunny here this week!  Her front teeth look a lot better.  A lot of what the braces accomplished you can't really see from a photo, like widening her palate and maintaining space where her 2nd yr molar was pulled.   Now she has to wear a retainer at night. Not sure when phase 2 will start, probably not for two to three years.

Now she has a really big space on the upper left side since the orthodontist pulled out her very loose 1st year molar on that side.  Right before bed she asked me to send the tooth fairy a reminder email.  Hey, good idea and it worked!

Mrs. C gives another exam.

Sunday, December 6

No, not that Mrs. C! It's was me, you know, Dr. C's wife. So Kevin, who only seems to get sick during school vacations, got a fever last Tuesday and he still has it! Enough already. This is only the second time in over 8 years that he has had to cancel a class. Sydney missed a whole week of school and we're all pretty excited that she gets to back on Monday. Hmmm, where were they about two weeks ago? Hey, was it that birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese? (I don't think Kevin will be going back to Chuck-e-disease ever again!) So, back to my story of how I've been waiting for the chance to say that my name was Mrs. C. I though about telling the kids at the elementary school that I volunteer for that was my name, but it's not like I'm a teacher or anything. They just call me Deanna or Sydney's mom or Kyla's mom. When I was growing up I never knew what to call my friends' parents. Even now it makes me uncomfortable calling them by their first name and too formal to call them Mr. or Mrs. so and so. Whenever I shop at Safeway, they always say, "Thank you Mrs. Cantrell, you saved $42 .00 today." It always makes me feel old or reminds me of Kevin's Granny. So last week I went to the university. Here is the sun trying to blind me while I'm walking towards the new bell tower near the science building.

I made copies of the exam and stashed them in my bag.

Then I set off again to hand out the exams in a different building.I let everyone know that Dr. C was still sick, but if they had questions I may be able to answer them or I could always call his cell phone. Then I said, "Oh, by the way I'm Mrs. C." I think that surprised several students, but they were a little preoccupied by the exam to really discuss it.

My hubby rocks!

Monday, August 31

Actually, he rides, a lot. Congratulations to Kevin (aka Dr. C) for reaching your goal of 1000 miles on your bicycle this summer. This photo was taken last Thursday night, which was his last chance to go riding before our weekend camping trip with my family and before the first day of school starting at the university where he teaches.
We're proud of you honey - you are awesome! I'll never catch up to that, but I'm encouraged to start getting in shape too.

Veggies & Snapfish

Tuesday, August 11

Our garden is going crazy! We only have 1 zucchini, 1 cucumber, 2 green peppers and 4 tomato plants. Last week we picked at least one zuc and cuc everyday, then on Saturday we pick 5 zucs, 2 cucs and the only 3 peppers we will probably get, plus a bunch of tomatoes.
Here is the sad part. I'm dying to make some gazpacho soup, but I have this stomach bug that just won't go away. In fact today I'm on the BRATT diet, which means I really can't eat much and I'm so hungry for some veggies!

So far we've all been enjoying having a little garden this summer, which leads me to my next point. There is this Snapfish giveaway and all you have to do is tell about one of your favorite summer moments. We're looking forward to having some great summer moments next week when we go camping. Not sure where yet, but we're going.

Phase I - Before & After

Tuesday, June 30

I think Kyla was both excited and dreading the beginning of her day yesterday, but she survived getting braces on her top teeth. She was a little sore in the afternoon. Today, she already seems used to them and they are not too sore. She is still getting used to the amount of food that gets stuck in all her appliances. She has a lot of metal wires in the roof of her mouth that are part of the palette expanding process. She got a goody bag with all kids of cleaning supplies and soft foods so that makes it all exciting. Here she is just before her appointment.

And after.

I think they make her look older. Maybe 'cause back in my day kids didn't get braces until they were about 12. I didn't get mine until I was 14! Did you need to see them closer?

She survived!

Wednesday, May 13

Kyla did very well for her molar extraction this morning and everything went smoothly. She got her kiddy Valium, which tasted awful.
Then they set her up with oxygen, which tickled her nose.

Next was the laughing gas, she did a little laughing, but mostly looked relaxed.

I kept waiting to be kicked out of the room, but they never asked me to leave. When they were ready to work on the tooth they said I might not want to watch. I have watched a total hip replacement before, but I was happy to read my magazine. It didn't take long and after she rested a few minutes and they made sure she could walk, we went home with her tooth in a baggy.
Here's Kyla zoning out with her iPod and some chocolate pudding.

She was a little sore after the local wore off, but after some pain medication, ice and watching a bunch of cartoons with dad, she was feeling much better. I think she's trying to show off the hole in this picture.

So no one is going to school tomorrow and I hope it's not to hard to keep the girls from playing crazy. No vigorous activity for four days!

Ankle-what?

Tuesday, May 12

Kyla has an ankylosed tooth and she is having it pulled out tomorrow! I had actually heard of this term before in my work as a physical therapist. Not for a tooth, but a spine. When you have inflammation of the spinal column and the vertebrae start fusing together - not good.

Kyla's 2nd year molar (upper left side) is fused to her jaw bone. It's a baby tooth, so not too big of a deal. While all her other molars are moving down while she grows and have permanent teeth developing underneath, this darn anklyosed molar looks like it is sinking back into her gums because it is stuck. X-rays show that the permanent tooth underneath is not developing properly. So removing the tooth is really the only option for everything to progress normally.

I've stocked up on all the soft foods I can think of: oatmeal, eggs, smoothies, yogurt, applesauce, soup and of course chocolate pudding and Jell-O. I just remembered I need to get her iPod ready with some more relaxing music than Captian Bogg (rockin' pirate music).

She's a little nervous, but her I have assured her it will be way better than a broken arm. Plus the fact that I survived having a total of 14 teeth pulled over the years, 6 of them baby teeth.

She goes in at 9:30am for the equivalent of some kiddy Valium (that should be interesting). Then she'll have a little laughing gas and it should only take them about 10 min to do the actual extraction.

If your friends with Kyla, maybe you could send her an email at kylapc at gmail dot com.

I'll try to post an update tomorrow afternoon.

Brace yourself

Tuesday, March 10

I can't believe it, Kyla hasn't even turned eight yet and she had her first visit to the orthodontist and they're ready to start. Be thankful that they haven't sent me the pictures from the visit because I would have been tempted to post them and I think they might look pretty scary. Kyla didn't look very comfortable as they stretched her mouth as far as they could and stuck mirrors inside in order to take pictures from every angle.

It's no surprise that both the girls will need braces as Kevin and I both had them. Kyla's got all sorts of things going on: narrow upper palate, cross-bite, and an ankylosed molar (I'll explain that in a second). Things have sure changed since I got mine 20+ years ago. They do them in two phases now, which makes sense to start early to prepare the way for the permanent teeth yet to come in. Are you ready? The bottom line is 5-6k, x 2 girls = ouch! It's a good thing we weren't thinking about this last year or we may have spent that sabbatical right here at home.

For all you relatives here are the gory details. It's all starting now because Kyla has an ankylosed 2nd yr molar, which means that is it fused to her jaw bone and the permanent tooth underneath isn't growing properly. The more she grows, the more the tooth is sinking back into gums. This means that the first step is to have the tooth extracted by an an oral surgeon. Then she will have a spacer there to keep the other teeth from moving into the empty spot. Next they will put a metal arch across the roof of her mouth to expand her upper palate. She will also get some braces on the front four teeth to help make room for her canines. Phase 1 will last about a year and phase 2 starts around 12 years old. It will be nice that she may be totally done by the time she starts high school. I didn't even get my braces until I was fourteen.

For the rest of the week we're going to forget about all of this and head to the beach so I better get packing. Check back on Thursday to see the photo challenge on texture.

Fly with dragons

Saturday, March 7

Today is the first day of Kevin's spring break - Yay! The last couple of weeks have been busy and we're looking forward to some family time and a trip to the Beach on Tuesday! We haven't been to a beach since last September and I honestly can't remember our last trip to the Oregon coast - I'll have to look back at my pictures to see if we even went last year. Syd and I were at Costco and I could resist this big dragon kite.

I truly tried to convince the girls not to take this kite out the box until we got to the beach, but they were sooo excited and not to be reasoned with or bribed. Well, yes of course they wanted to fly it and were very disappointed when I told them it was absolutely not possible. They don't care that kites skies free of power lines, space to run and one more little thing called wind! For now they are happy just running in circles in the back yard. I sure hope they don't loose any parts or break it before we get there. Now let's all hope for some decent weather! Look, there is Kyla's right arm without a brace - her broken arm is now a thing of the past.

"Why does my arm feel so long?"

Friday, February 13

I thought this post would be titled, "The Second Place Color is....", but when we went to the fracture clinic yesterday we were pleasantly surprised. We thought Kyla would be getting a new, below the elbow cast. First they used that special saw to cut through the old cast.
Then they pried it open.

And her arm was free! Here she is trying to straighten her elbow after 3 weeks of immobility.

Yay! No more cast. Now she is just has to wear a velcro brace for 3 more weeks. We don't even need to go back for a check up. We are all looking forward to washing that arm in the shower - no more plastic bags!

And the winning color is...

Thursday, January 29

Kyla had her follow up at the fracture clinic today, nine days after the big fall. We got to talk to the pediatric orthopedic doc and he explained that her forearm had fractured at an angle and they would be molding the new cast to help it heal straight. Hope you enjoy the photos - something new for me. I've seen a hip replacement surgery, but not a cast - crazy.



First they cut off the old splint/bandage. Whew, fresh air!


Then they cleaned it with rubbing alcohol - pew stinky. The first layer is a cotton sleeve.


The second layer is a soft fluffy bandage. Even though I was a PT, I still don't know the names for this stuff - sorry. Then they did two layers of fiberglass (I think) bandage which they soak in warm water first. Kyla contemplated her color options for the last week. At first it was going to be blue, then a few days ago she switched to green, but when it came time to decide she couldn't resist the neon pink. I was voting for purple, but they didn't have it.


Then they wrapped it temporarily with a stretchy bandage to help everything hold together. It took hour hands to mold it while it was hardening. She's feeling the pressure - ouch!

A few finishing touches and . . . viola, she's ready for the world with her pink armor. We go back in two weeks for more x-rays and there's talk of the next cast stopping below the elbow. Boy would that be nice.