Slowing It Down (By Force)

Okay, peeps.

Holy goodness.

I feels like just a heartbeat ago, we were two weeks into Summer, and, now, we’re less than two weeks from the end!

It’s WILD.

Also wild?

How behind in posting I am. :(

But I feel like there are a handful of really apparent reasons for that, like…

The fact that this daughter o’ mine had a minor dental surgery a week ago that wasn’t exactly planned and kind of threw our schedule for a loop:

Less than three weeks ago, at her regular orthondonist appointment, we were told that we needed to consult an oral surgeon and get two of Chica’s wisdom teeth removed that were pressing on her lower 12-year-molars and keeping them from coming in properly and keeping everything from being positioned correctly. 

Oh, and if we could take care of it ASAP, that would be superfantasticgreat.

Oh, oh, and if we could work the surgery and recovery in before school, that would be idealbutreallynecessary, so just get on it.

Double oye.

I suppose the one positive was that we already had an oral surgeon because this isn’t Chica’s first dental run-in of that variety.

By the time we made it in for a consult about 10 days later, we suspected this whole shebang might mess with our plans to visit grandparents in Oklahoma and…yup. Sure did. Boooo.

The surgeon had a cancellation two days after the consult and we had to hop on it, considering the only other available date wouldn’t have allowed enough time for recovery before school.

I guess it’s a good thing Chica didn’t have much time to angst over it, beforehand. Last Wednesday morning, it was wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, and we knocked it out.

She handled it like a champ and was my bed buddy for a few nights:

I was wildly impressed by her resilience that day. She’s a tough cookie. :) I didn’t even get any fun rambling about, like, aliens or something when she was coming out of anesthesia, ha. Such a cool, chill cucumber.

By the next morning, the swelling definitely set in, but she was still pretty stable. 



She had to just rest and eat mush for days while we iced the area and kept her pain under control.



And she definitely got tired of eating alllllll the soft things. So many eggs, ha.



BUT.

The most amazing thing to come from this unexpected event was the forced time to just slow things down.

For so much of the Summer, we’ve been quite busy and it was actually kind of incredible to be forced to hang around, cancel plans and just BE.

I’ll share a separate post about alllllll the things I’ve been tackling, thanks to a massive To Do List of my own, but it was also really wonderful to shift into a lower gear and spend some quality downtime with my babies. 

We busted out LEGOs! For the first time in ages. :)

Chicklet camped quietly upstairs to complete hers, and the rest of us gathered around the kitchen and just worked away at a slow and steady pace.









Sometimes it takes a forced event to really sit and learn to be still—or to at least be in one place without a massive schedule of places to be.

Truly, it was an unexpected gift to be at home, to nest, and to feel both accomplished in getting things done and in spending time together. 

Nothing but positive vibes. Recovery from more than just Chica’s surgery, if I’m being honest.

I’m still not sure if we ever manage to hit the perfect mix of busy and chill every Summer. And I suppose we have different needs and goals every Summer, too. Maybe no one Summer is all things to all of us, and that’s past of the journey.

But, man, am I glad to have had this downshift. WE NEEDED IT.

Many (many!) more catchup posts tomorrow, peeps!

Until then…HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Over and out. 

P.S. For anyone curious…Chica’s surgery and the recovery was spot on with what the surgeon expected. Day 3/4 post-op involved the worse pain and swelling, she did have some small yellow bruising along her jaw around Day 5, and now we’re in the yucky phase of flushing out the wounds with a water syringe after meals for several weeks. Oye.

All that to say: I’m extra glad we went with Chica’s request and knocked this out ASAP, as she wouldn’t have been healed enough to be comfortable if we’d waited until the week before school!