Sinus Toothache?

Sinus headache?  Yeah sure, I've heard of that.  I'm sure I've even experienced that a time or two before.  Sinus pressure, pain, issues in general...  Check, check, and check.  When you are a seasonal allergy sufferer and everything is already starting to bloom, then sure, you know you are in for some (or all) of that too.   But a sinus toothache?  Well, I never.  That is, until now.  

So let me start at the beginning.  It actually started several weeks ago.  I noticed a sudden onset of sensitivity in my teeth.  I have never had sensitive teeth before, but suddenly they were extremely and inexplicably sensitive to cold.   And not just one tooth- all of them on my right side- top and bottom alike.  What in the world?  So I switched from my normal tooth whitening toothpaste to a sensitive toothpaste, thinking that perhaps that would help.  It didn't- not really- not even after a few weeks. How odd. 

Then one day I started having pain in my gums (again only on my right side) but on both the top and the bottom gums.  I couldn't isolate the pain to any one area.  It just radiated up and down my gum lines, pulsing and throbbing with incredible pain- the worst ever. One night, it was so bad I couldn't sleep at all.  I called my dentist for an emergency appointment the next day, thinking something was terribly wrong.  Could a cavity be causing all this pain?  An abscess?  Did I need a root canal?  A whole new set of teeth?  I would take anything at this point to help minimize the pain.

But when I got the dentist, they couldn't really find anything wrong.  They took x-rays, examined my mouth, teeth, and gums, poked and prodded, applied ice to individual teeth and areas of my mouth to try to replicate the awful pain and thus pinpoint the source of it.  After about an hour of searching, they eventually sent me on my way.  Apparently, my mouth was just fine.  Only it wasn't.  It definitely wasn't. 

The next several days brought some relief in bits and spurts.  Some days the pain was bearable, some days nonexistent, and then others it was back with full force.  And when it was hurting, it felt like the worst toothache known to man.  Every nerve ending in my face was all lit up all at once.  From my eye, down to my cheek, along my gum line, toward my ear, along my jaw, and even down into my neck.  But only on my right side.  It was so bad it brought me to tears.  I wasn't imagining this.  What was I going to do?  

I finally threw in the towel and went to see my regular doctor.  I didn't have a fever or any other sinus symptoms.  No drainage, no weird mucus, no congestion, nada.  But it turns out that the pain I was experiencing was a sinus infection that had settled into my right sinus cavity, which incidentally- when swollen with an infection impinges on the nerves in your teeth and gums, and causes the radiating and nauseating pain that I had been feeling. The solution?  An antibiotic, of course.  It has now been almost 4 days of antibiotics for me, and the pain is more manageable, but definitely not gone (yet).  It feels like things are moving now- draining perhaps.  But when I get congested, the pressure builds up and works on all those same old worn out nerves again.  I would not wish this discomfort pain on my worst enemy. 

Oh, and since I've never had experience with this before, it has taken me forever to figure out what seems to trigger the pain.  For me, it has been any time I try to lay back or lay down or recline my head even to the slightest degree.  Those movements seem to send me right back into a whirlwind of pain.  So as long as I don't try to do anything senseless like rest or sleep or recline my zombie-like head, then I ought to be ok for the foreseeable future- at least until those antibiotics finish working their magic.  

And no, pain relievers don't touch it.  I've tried them all, and I don't care what anyone says, OTC pain meds don't alleviate tooth pain. In any case, I am on the road to recovery.  I think.  I hope.  I just thought I would share in case you ever encounter a toothache that you cannot trace to a dental issue. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a sinus toothache.  And it's no fun, dearhearts.  But it is very much a real thing. 

How to Clean Kids' Bath Toys

It almost seems like an oxymoron to have to wash bath toys, right?  But bath toys get icky fast.  They spend a lot of time submerged in water and need a regular cleaning from time to time- just like everything else.   And it's actually really easy to do.  Read on for more. 

1. Make sure you start with dry bath toys that you have squeezed all the extra water out of.  
2. Then mix up this simple solution: 3/4 cup bleach per gallon of warm water.  We have a lot of bath toys and I like to get them all done at one time, so I often double this formula just so I don't have to go back more than once. 
3. Submerge toys in the solution.  If they are squeeze toys, then squeeze some of the solution into the toy and shake well.  
4. Let toys sit in the cleaning solution for a while.  Some say that 5 minutes will do the trick. Others let it go for hours.  The last time I cleaned our bath toys, I let them sit about 30-45 minutes while I was busy doing other things.  
5. Rinse well with warm water and pat dry.  Make sure to squeeze all the solution back out of those squeeze toys.  
6. Bonus points to the mama who figured out that you can fill in the hole of squeeze toys with a bead of hot glue to prevent water from getting back in.  It's a super quick and easy step that might be worth a try next time you take on this task. 

Once your bath toys are rinsed and dried, they are all ready to go again!  That was easy- and so worth it!

O Valentine Tree! O Valentine Tree!

This little project was super quick and easy and came together in just one morning with a little help from my toddler girl.  We always assemble an old fashioned tinsel tree in her bedroom for Christmas, and as we were taking down all the other Christmas decorations and storing them until next year, I held out on her tree.  Even after all the ornaments were packed away, I still lit her color wheel each night at bedtime and shone it onto the (bare) tree because our baby girl loves it so much.  Then one night, my husband said "why don't you make it into a Valentine's Tree?"  And that's all it took!  The seed was planted and we ran with it.

For this project, I simply hunted down a couple of packs of vintage Valentine cards featuring her favorite cartoon characters, and they became our ornaments.  Lexi loves Scrooge McDuck and the Mickey Mouse gang, so I knew where to start.  A quick eBay search turned up an unused pack of old Ducktales Valentines and a second pack featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Of course, I started with her all time favorite- Scrooge McDuck, and put him in a red heart cut out, and affixed it to the very front and center of the tree.  

Here are a few other of the sweet little Ducktales cards that we transformed into ornaments.  I used colored paper to make little cut outs, and Lexi helped paste the Valentine card to each one.  We used ribbons to make bows on many of them, and then just attached a wire hanger to hang it on the tree.

And then as we neared the end of our project (and my tot's attention span) some of our ornaments became decidedly more simple in nature.  But I just sprinkled them all around the tree, and the effect was every bit as charming. 

The package of Mickey and Minnie Mouse cards were all "Hollywood" themed, which I thought was adorable too.  Lexi also really liked these sweet cards, and we had a big time decorating her tree with them. 

So there you have it!  A super fun and simple project that added a ton of sweet Valentine charm to Lexi's bedroom for this season.  And as her tastes change, we can certainly make new ornaments in the future, although I can't see myself getting rid of these.  They are just so sweet, and will always remind me of her 2 year old preferences.  :)

 
And we are still running her color wheel every night- just now on her Valentine's tree! Happy Valentine's Day with love from our house to yours!