Woo-doff

Your morning serenade:

Yes, Laney has a weird thing on her upper lip. Here's the story on that:

About seven months ago, we took her in for a visit with the dentist and confessed that Laney still liked to sneak a pacifier. We'd had a backslide since Hagen was born and Laney was able to climb in his crib and steal his. The dentist told us that if we got rid of them right away, she was still young enough that her lips would pull her teeth pack in place. But if we let it go on any longer, her teeth would be permanently pulled outward and she would need to wear a retainer. Well, that's all they needed to say. I dreaded living through the final withdrawal period, but my fear of a screaming, wailing toddler was nothing compared to my fear of the cost of orthodontia.

In the end, we took the coward's way out and blamed it all on the dentist. "You can never have a pacifier again, because your dentist says so." There were about three days of crying and drama, and then she was over it. BUT, she developed this strange nervous habit of picking at her upper lip. To help heal it, and to encourage her to leave it alone, I've bought her all manner of lip balms and fruity lip glosses and even expensive "lip butter." In the end, I will probably end up spending the same amount of money on cosmetics that I would have spent on that retainer, but at two and three bucks a pop, I won't notice as much.

Love,
Mom