Big Changes

This has been a week of big changes in the Johnson household.

The first big change is that Vivian got braces this week. I posted a few months ago that this was coming, and now it is here. She is SO stoked! We went in on Tuesday to get the treatment plan and cost. She was disappointed, because she thought she would get them that day. When we started looking at when we could put them on, we found out that they only do appointments Monday thru Wednesday. They had an opening on Wednesday, so we snagged it.

So far, braces are no big deal. Very little pain or discomfort. She has brackets on her top front teeth and her top back teeth (her only permanent teeth on top so far). The wire only connects the front teeth at this point. She also has an elastic chain on those teeth to bring them together. At her next appointment she will get the connection between the front and back teeth. That is six weeks away.

We don't have a timetable on this phase. It depends entirely on how fast her teeth move into place. Once the front teeth are together, we can schedule the very minor surgery she needs to trim the connective tissue between her gum and her upper lip. This will keep her teeth from spreading again. That will probably happen before the back teeth get pushed back into proper position.

Once this phase is complete, we will again be waiting for baby teeth to fall out and permanent teeth to come in before beginning phase 2.

The other big change this week is that Emma Grace and I went shopping for her first bras. You men may want to stop reading at this point. Not that I'm going to say anything graphic, but if you're like Cliff, you probably already have your hands over your ears (or eyes, since you are reading) and are screaming, "Lalalalalalalalalala!"

For anyone still reading, this was a big deal. And we had some fun. We tried a couple of different styles and settled on one with a classic bra style but no hook in the back. It goes over the head. She liked this particular one because it is pink and because it has sparkles on it.

So far it is a novelty for her. Bittersweet for me. My little girl is growing up. I knew it was coming, I just hoped I had a little more time before all these changes started.