Oliver's dental restoration procedure

We've been to the pediatric dentist 4 times this year already as she keeps finding cavities and areas of concern of the enamel on Oliver's teeth. He's always had a discolored one in the front but the first time we went she told me he had 3 cavities and then 3 month later he had 3 more. I decided to ask our hematologist about if it could be related to his bone marrow disorder since he has bony deformities now which is related to it. He told me that there are research articles from Europe that does show that the enamel on the subject's teeth can be poor which is what Oliver has. His dentist is unsure if his adult teeth will be as poor as his baby teeth but if they are there is special toothpaste you can use for those.

Friday, we went to Mercy Hospital for outpatient surgery to have his teeth fixed including 3 fillings, 2 caps, and 2 molars with silver caps. She then put sealant over the rest of them in hopes that they don't develop cavities. We arrived bright and early and he never once said that he was hungry which isn't like him as he couldn't eat anything. We had a bit of a wait until they took him back so he occupied his time the best we could with cartoons, coloring and books but still he was impatient and wanted to go home.  We took his puppy with him and they even gave puppy a ID bracelet so that way "Puppy AKA Firedog" could go back to the OR with him. 

They gave him some Versed and Tylenol about 20 minutes before taking him to the OR so that way he would do okay with leaving us and not be too scared. They started his IV back there after giving him some gas to put him partially asleep.  The video below is after they gave the Versed and he was so silly. As you can see his balance was off quite a bit and he found the strings (suspenders) on his pants so interesting.

When he came back he was scared but not crying until he saw me then he started to whimper and cry. The nurses said he did really well as kids usually scream and cry. He is a brave boy!

As soon as they mentioned ice cream to him, he was fine and ready to go home. He chose chocolate ice cream of course. He didn't have much pain, I only have him Tylenol once at home as he said it hurt but that was it. We were able to go home later that afternoon. 

Halloween 2014

Here's what we've been doing over the last week...

Fall fun in the leaves

Carving pumpkins 

Oliver choose to be a fireman this year for Halloween. I know, a far stretch for him since he seriously thinks he really is a fireman. It's been cute this year with Shawn working down at the fire station as they add on to it, and Oliver trying to be helpful, that he really believes he is part of the department. They even let him play with the hose down at the station (a garden hose that is.) 

Halloween night was very cold, in the 30's for temp so Oliver worn warm clothes including his winter coat and gloves. It was super windy too that his fire hat kept falling off so we had to use double sided tape to tape it to his hood. Here he's ready to go. 

Our future fireman, or current according to him. :) 

Fall trip to Nebraska

We recently got back from my sister and brother-in-law's house in Nebraska. This is the first time we'd seen their new house which is very lovely and new compared to ours. We arrived late on Friday afternoon and had time to play outside and indoors with Uncle Darrin, Ian and Annaliese. 

Saturday we headed to Camp Fontanelle, a church camp turned pumpkin patch in the Fall. It was very chilly in the morning but once the sun came out later that afternoon it was a beautiful day. 

There were plenty of pumpkins to choose from for just a donation to their patch. 

We all went through a corn maze choosing the short route. We had this map and there were checkpoints randomly in there but we didn't really follow the map nor answer the questions at the checkpoints as we let the kids decide which way to go. That did not help my anxiety and claustrophobia. 

We eventually found our way out and headed to find the bounce castles. The kids each had a map and actually did fairly well and navigating us toward it or at least they sounded like they knew what they were talking about.  

Last summer Oliver was scared of bounce houses but not this year, he's enjoyed them very much especially when he can be in one jumping and playing with his cousins. 

Next was a hay ride back to the beginning.  

Before we left the kids jumped on the big jumping pillow. Oliver loves his cousins and tries emulates Ian following him around and doing what he does. They all enjoyed jumping even after some tears when people knocked them down.  

Oliver always has a great time with his cousins. It's always hard to leave because they do get along so well. Oliver said on the way home that they should move closer and that his teacher would probably let them come to preschool with him. :)

Oliver's birthday

Oliver turned 4 on August 19th. He was super excited because he started school the day before and he was able to take treats to share with his classmates and wear the birthday crown. He wanted many things for his birthday but one of them was to go see "Plane's Fire and Rescue." The theme then evolved into a firetruck/fireplane birthday. 

This is the after school on his birthday with some of his gifts. Since we weren't having the party until the follow weekend we told him he could open up one gift and of course he picks the biggest. It is an Imaginext Fire station. 

The movie was playing in our local theater the weekend after his birthday and both sets of grandparents came to the movie to help celebrate. This was Oliver's first movie in a theater and he did so well. He did keep asking where all the fire trucks were though and I kept telling him that it was about planes putting out fires.  

After the movie we came back  to our house for cake and presents. Since we just had popcorn at the theater we did presents first. 

 

Oliver requested a fire truck cake and he loved it. 

It tasted pretty yummy too.  

First Day of Preschool

We (as in me) had such a hard decision in whether or not to send Oliver to preschool this year since he turns 4 tomorrow and will be one of the youngest in his grade. Oliver did not have trouble, he was excited from the time I told him he would be going to school and riding the bus and that excitement didn't stop this morning when he went for his first day of school. 

I went upstairs to his room this morning and for once he wasn't hiding under the blanket from me like every morning, but was sitting at the side of the bed ready to go. He picked out his firetruck shirt to wear today and went running downstairs. He was so excited, so much so that he didn't even want to eat breakfast but I talked him into a zucchini muffin at least. 

We then waited on the porch until it was time to walk to the bus stop. The bus comes in the morning around 7:40 so most mornings, besides today, he will get on with the daycare kids still in St. Olaf. Preschool is full days Monday -Thursday so he rides the bus home again after school. 

Waiting for the bus with his friends. Kimberly, standing with Oliver above, is one of our daycare providers daughters who with her sister Rebecca are a big help with Oliver and especially in calming my nerves as I know they'll look after him and make sure he gets on and off the bus okay. 

Here's the bus. When it came up the hill Oliver wasn't jumping like he was before, he almost became timid but acted like he knew what to do and ran to get onto the bus once the driver signaled that it was okay to cross.  

He budged in front of people to climb onto the bus. Since he's still 3 years old today, he had to be harnessed in for one day, so I had to help him strap in. 

Grandpa Chuck met the bus at the school and snapped a few pictures. Here he's just gotten off the bus and met his teacher assistant. 

This afternoon when the bus dropped him off I met him at the bus stop and he was smiling saying that school is fun. Hopefully that excitement lasts for a few years at least. He said he played a lot and made some friends although he couldn't remember their names. He is fortunate that he has many daycare friends in his class and the other preschool class and his best friend from daycare and Oliver share a locker together. He said they had hamburgers and peaches for lunch and Goldfish that he brought for the class for snack along with milk. He likes the urinals and says it really cute as if saying 2 words- "urine-alls."  He told me he played outside, took a rest, read books, played kitchen, and colored. He said that the teacher told him that they were going to learn this year so I asked him what he learned today and he said to sit cris-crossed with his legs. :) He's excited to go back tomorrow and that's all that matters. We made birthday treats to take for tomorrow. I can't believe he'll be four, time can really slow down. 

Tomah tractor pull

Shawn, Oliver and I left on Friday after work to go to Tomah, Wisconsin to meet his parents at their camper. We went up there to go see the National tractor pull. Shawn and his parents have gone up there quite a few times but they never got me up there until they wanted to take Oliver along with them, so we decided to make it a family adventure. 

There wasn't much left to do Friday night but hang out in the camper before going to bed but Saturday morning we all got up and played for awhile until we went for pancakes and sausage. Right after eating the pancakes, Oliver wanted to jump on the giant jumping pillow. It was actually pretty cool and he even got Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Shirley up there to jump with him.

We stayed at a KOA in Oakdale which actually had a lot of cool things to do. I mentioned to Shawn that this would be a great place to take our camper because of all the activities including a pool and playground beside the pillow. There is always time for a pool noodle sword fight 

At the tractor pull. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be but really I've only ever been to the tractor pull at the Clayton County Fair. At the national pulls there are tractors that don't even look like tractors and other vehicles (for lack of the official term) that are just a frame with multiple engines and a seat that are super loud. 

Oliver enjoyed the first few minutes of it and seeing the black smoke up grew increasingly bored and tired and wanted to leave. That made for a long day for us but good thing there was a cool playground set there.  

We walked around a bit and saw all the food vendors and the bathrooms quite a bit as well until after a few hours we called it good and left. 

Shawn and I both agree that we'll wait a few years to take him back when he can sit longer. We'll settle for the Clayton County Fair for now where it's not so big and there are more things to do.

Our first camping adventure in our new camper

This winter we got a new to us camper that required a bit of work and a lot of cleaning. My father-in-law Chuck put down a new floor in there for us and Shawn and I spent many hours cleaning it up over the last few weekends. It's a starter camper for us that meets my requirements - a bed, toilet, and sink. It comes complete with a ton of storage inside and a full kitchen. We went camping close to home for our first adventure this past weekend to try it out and good thing because Shawn and Chuck had to fix the water heater right away.

I had to work Saturday and Sunday so Shawn and Oliver slept in it by themselves Saturday night and I came home and came back to camp after work on Sunday. We camped next to Chuck and Shirley so it was handy having them close by especially since I had to work.Oliver had fun camping by the park and that is where he requested to go over and over again. Good thing Grandma was willing to take him. He also enjoyed riding his bike. 

Shawn and Oliver played with the CAT's in the dirt and Oliver learned about grading of dirt. 

Monday, mostly everyone in the park left as the long weekend was over by mine was just starting as both Shawn and I had today (Tuesday) off as well so we stayed an extra night and were the only campers left.  Oliver was completely covered from head to toe with dirt from playing outside all day so he got a "spray down." He's terrified of taking a shower and with the camper only having a shower we compensated by calling it a "spray down" which he actually did well with. 

 We had many friends stop by to visit us and had time that night to roast marshmallows and relax in the peace and quite next to a nice campfire.