The good and the bad of early June

Our June started off with a fun event- a 4th grade recorder concert at the elementary school for Chloe.  She has been practicing her recorder for the past few months quite faithfully and has been very excited for this concert.  Recorders are notoriously not the most amazing sounding instruments, but I love that they are great devices used to teach children music and instill an enjoyment for music.  Chloe made top honors for the recorder in her grade.  When she is determined she is a very hard worker and excels at things.  It was very fun to attend her concert.  And recorders actually sound pretty good when played in a large group with the accompaniment of a piano! :)

Mitchell's start to June, however, was not so fun.  He had been complaining of one of his teeth hurting for a few days and one night asked to see Uncle Nick- the dentist/orthodontist of the family.  Uncle Nick was out of town and I had unfortunately put off find a dentist since moving here.  This event forced me to quickly find a dentist and pray that the one we chose could fit us in on an emergency basis.  The night before finding a dentist, Mitch was up almost the entire night in the worst pain I've ever seen him in.  Pain killers did almost nothing and he was awake and crying practically the whole night.

By the next morning, he was an emotional and physical mess.  He couldn't really eat and couldn't stop holding his face by the tooth that was causing so much pain.   I felt very blessed to find a dentist that morning and also get an appointment scheduled later that same day, just a few hours later.

The appointment was nothing short of a disaster.  Mitch was in so much pain and with no sleep under his belt, he was completely hysterical.  Everything is ten times worse when you are sleep deprived and tired.  As soon as the doctor started talking to him he started to cry.  And he didn't stop for the next 1.5 hours.  The doctor did a quick X-ray to try and assess the problem.  The x-ray showed an abscessed tooth, most likely.  The only way to be entirely sure was to drill a hole in the tooth to reveal the nerve/root of it all.  That showed that for sure it was abscessed, meaning that there was an infection at the root of the tooth- a very painful infection.  The only good cure for it would be to pull the tooth.  The doctor said we could try antibiotics but there was a good chance we'd be back here soon to have the tooth extracted.  I told him to extract it and be done with it.  Luckily it was a baby tooth (molar).  Unfortunately, it was his 11/12 year molar, a tooth he wasn't set to lose for 4 or more years.  But after just being there with him in hysterics for 20 minutes, I was ready to end it all and be done (and so was Mitch!)

Part of the problem was he was so out of his mind tired and in so much pain that he said the numbing shots weren't working.  And by this time he had been in a significant amount of pain for nearly 36 hours or more.  The dentist must have given him 4 or 5 shots of medicine before we were through.  None of us could honestly say if he really could still feel pain or if he was just so hysterical that he thought he was in pain and actually wasn't.  Either way, it was a long, long appointment for me, Mitch, the dentist and his assistant.  (Jocie was there too and miraculously she slept the entire time, despite the screaming and crying).  Poor, poor Mitch.  My job was to hold him down (as he was kicking and thrashing and trying to pull things out of his mouth as the dentist tried to work).  It was not an easy job, as Mitch is a big boy.  I also tried to calm him down with words but that really did very little.  I was sweating and very anxious as nothing I did seemed to help him at all.  The dentist and his assistant tried calming him down but to no avail.  The dentist had to stop and restart so many times.  Mitch kept telling all of us that "he had never been in more pain in his entire life" and that "we just didn't understand how much it hurt."  I took him into the bathroom at one point to let him get a drink and to try and calm him down.  It was like it wasn't even my real Mitchell in this situation.  He has never had a hard time at the dentist EVER.  This was a big first for him to be so upset at the dentist.  I felt bad at how quickly I became frustrated and impatient with Mitch, as I knew he was in lots of pain.  But we all knew that the pain could be over quickly if he would just hold still. It was very frustrating to try and explain and make sense of something to someone who couldn't/wouldn't be reasoned with.  And in a public, professional place of business nonetheless.

As we stretched on past an hour (for what should have been a quick 10 minute extraction procedure), I could feel all of us becoming a little desperate.  Bless the doctor and his staff- they were so incredibly patient with Mitchell.  After giving him what felt like more than enough drugs and chalking up his insistence that he could STILL feel pain to an over exhausted body, the doctor decided to just grab hold of that tooth, not let go, and yank it out no matter what.  Mitch did not handle that well (at all) but finally that tooth came out, Mitch half sitting up, body thrashing around.  I have never been so happy to see a tooth outside of a mouth in my entire life.  The dentist stuffed him with gauze, I profusely thanked everyone in the office who had dealt with us (and used almost all of their lunch time up) and darted out of that office.  Mitchell was still crying and I was near tears myself.  I felt nearly as tired as he was.

By the time we got home it was finally time to take the gauze out (which was also upsetting Mitch).  I took him right up to bed and laid with him until he fell asleep. 

He was out cold in less than 2 minutes.  It has been a long time since this big boy of mine has fallen dead asleep at 1:00 in the afternoon in his bed.  He slept hard for a few hours.  When he awoke, my sweet Mitchell was back- happy and most importantly- pain free!  I was so relieved.

My parents had gotten into town the night before for the weekend.  They were so sweet to watch Livy and the twins while we were at the dentist trip from outer darkness- what a life saver!

After some food, Mitch was ready to play tetherball with Papa.

I was so happy to seem him back to normal. 

Both of my grandmother's came on this trip as well.  Great Grandma Dewsnup (or Grandma D as we call her) got to meet Jocelyn for the first time.  She held her and put her to sleep many times over the weekend.

Great Grandma Wright meeting Joce for the first time as well!

This was Papa Blakeslee's first time with J too. 

My parents got a hotel to help accommodate the extra guests they brought and Ben took the kids over to swim there one night.  They were in heaven!

I found this after the kids left to go swimming.  Chloe is queen of making rules and printing them out.  I love that the reward for winning is getting to play Dad! 

The next morning as we made plans for the day, Papa pushed all the girls on the swings.

We decided to go to Whitman Mission in Walla Walla, about an hour's drive.  Whitman Mission is a National Historic site where Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa established a mission there that became an important stop along the Orgegon trail from 1843-1847.  It was in Indian territory and the Native America Cayuse people were very weary and suspicious of these "white men."  The Whitman's were very kind people and were trying to help everyone, but when a measles outbreak killed half of the local Cayuse and most of the white people survived, the Native Americans blamed the Whitman's and killed them, along with 11 others.  An outdoor memorial to the Whitman's, and a visitor's center with information is now where the mission used to be.

Ready to go (in nearly 100 degree weather!)  Jocie and I sweated together in our front pack get up.

The kids loved walking around and seeing teepees and covered wagons.

Selfies!

The big kids by the grave honoring those who were slain.

There is a small hike to the top of a paved path that overlooks the beautiful Walla Walla area.

Livy and Papa getting a drink

On our way back home we stopped at Ice Harbor Dam to find out that it was closing in 10 minutes and they wouldn't let us inside. 

We looked around outside instead.

Ready for bed that night after a HOT day outside with 3 lovies!  

June was incredibly hot in Tri Cities this year- it was triple digits for at least half of the month and no cooler than mid to upper 90's the rest of the month.  When it hit triple digits at the very beginning of June, I remember thinking to myself "We aren't in Seattle anymore!"