Because I Said So!!! Mom Knows Best!

Rowan now has four teeth that are fully in
and 3 more on the way. 3 weeks ago she was a
total gummy baby and 2 weeks ago the first one
broke the skin. The other three showed up on the
scene with in the next couple of days. I swear I
have never seen a Baby pop so many teeth up in
such a short period of time. Andrew got his first
around this time but after that tooth he got one,
maybe two in a month tops. Not little Miss thing though,
everything she does has to be NOW from the second
she came into this world. Heck, Rowan even came
into the world fast. With Andrew I had hard labor
for a good 6 hours and when I say hard I mean like
full on one more push will do it those lying doctors
and their fairy tales. Since when does one more push
last 6 hours. Rowan on the other hand was born so
fast she had a bruise on her for head from hitting
my tailbone on the way out the door. She sat on her
own fast, she stood fast, she rolled over and babbled
and every other baby mile stone there is super fast.
She started drooling like a faucet from the time she
was a little over a month and I for sure thought she
was going to get her first tooth early. Little did
I know she was going to save them all up for a group
appearance. She looks super cute now with a mouth full
of chompers but that week before the first one broke the
skin was just about one of the longest in my whole life.
I held that little rigid girl kicking and screaming for
7 solid days of tears and teething tablets and Ora-gel
and paced the floors and sang off key and pretty much
wanted to cry with her. Either she had the teething Woes
bad or the fact I am now in my forty's made her teething
just as hard on me as it was on her. But they are here,
all pretty and sweet. There is something about children's
little tiny square baby teeth that makes you go aweeeeee!
We have made it too the first gap tooth grin and next stop
will be waving goodbye to these little guys she worked so
hard for and sending them off to the tooth fairy. For now
they are hers and she did a good job.
So now Rowan needs a toothbrush. Now what to get?
Just like everything else in the baby world so much had changed
from the time Andrew was a baby to Rowan. With Andrew my
choices for a toothbrush for a little tyke were do I want a Blue
handle or a Pink one? Now they have bells and whistles and
gadgets and gold covered bristles. Okay, I was joking with the
bristles thing but it rhymed. I can't even remember the kind off
tooth brush Andrew had though for they just weren't that big of
a deal. Electric ones were out but they cost and arm and a leg
and only adults had them. Now you can buy those electric jobs
for 12 bucks that are just about disposable. I tell you, as much
as battery's cost it almost is cheaper to buy another one then to
replace a battery. Now if memory serves, mind you it gets pretty
fuzzy now a days, but if it serves, back then all kids brushes were
soft. Now you even have a choice there. In fact, instead of my Blue
or Pink, I can now choose the color, manual or electric, the bristle,
if it is good for back teeth or if it has a roof of your mouth job and
so many other things I almost long for my Pink or Blue back. I just
didn't know where to start so I thought I would call on some of my
younger friends and ask them. Lucky for me where I live I had a
good slice of the generation gap. For Moms with kids at home it
was kinda like the three bears. There was the far end from me a Mom
with real young girls, then the boys in the middle and down at my
end I would have to say we were Papa bear for Johns daughter was
the youngest at 13 followed by my son at 16 then we had 20 and
25. A pretty far stretch from the one year old on the far end. If
I had a question about younger kids all I had to do was walk down
the block to I got to the age I needed. This Baby's too big, this
Baby's not much better and this one is just right.
"Excuse me neighbor I only wave to, how did you pick your
daughters toothbrush out?"


BLINK BLINK "excuse me?"


" I said, How did you know what kind of toothbrush to buy for
your child."
So that approach really didn't get me any answers though I did
notice when I am outside the same time as them they rush the
kids back in the house fast as they can. I am starting to wonder
if I should be offended but I still needed answers so I hit the net
because what ever question I ask it the net never whispers to
its friends when it sees me and makes concerned faces like I am
off my rocker. My google search of good + toothbrush turned up
a load of the big old same old, same old, places who pay big
money to pop up at the top of a search engine and with all
their advertising we have been spoon fed for years to think
they were what it is all about.
But are they really that good?
I briefly pondered taking my quest to the streets and doing my
own version of the census. Hey, I have more then one question
on my mind. But after my little let's ask the neighbor thing went
bust I could pretty much see shackles in my future if I did that
in public and to complete strangers. Now my neighbors may think
I am weird now but before they thought I was sorta, well, yeah,
they thought I was weird then too but at least they didn't think I
was so crazy I did things like talk to field mice and build furniture
out of Banquet TV dinner boxes weird. Just a little different kind of
weird. If I took that chance on a City street with people that don't
know I am harmless for all intensive purposes I could get in a bit
of trouble so I needed a better way. I decided forums. They have
a forum for everything and I found more then one on dentistry and
toothbrushes. What I did was ask two sets of question. What do
you look for when picking out a child's toothbrush and what are
your favorite brands of toothbrush. For the first part of my
question the top five answers I got were;
1. Soft
2. Safe
3. Easy to handle
4. made for a baby's mouth
5. Affordable
Okay, duh! Now I do feel like a dork, these were all common
sense answers and I most likely could have skipped them. I will
say though it did make me feel a little better for now that I have
got my neighbors wondering if I will end up being a crazy Cat lady
I started to question my own sanity. It was nice to know I at least
still thought about the same things normal people did.
The other answer I got for part two were;
1. Oral B
2. Radius
3. Sonic Care
4. Phillips
5. TriFinity
Now wait a minute. I have heard of Oral B, Sonic Care and Phillips
for those are the big dogs, WOOF! The ones on the top of the
search engines with tons of advertising dollars to make sure we suck
up the hype if it is true or not. But I have not heard of the other
two. Hummmmmmmm, I love to learn about some new things here.
I contacted Radius and got a chance to do a review. They sent
me a little bit of everything. Perfect timing too for they got here right
when her first tooth was starting to break through so I held off on
my review a little for I wanted her gums to heal a tad. While I
was waiting I went and tried the other brush they sent. The first thing
I noticed is the brushes are made for your hands. Interesting. Now
when I say that I don't mean they are just comfy brushes I mean
they are really made for a left or right handed person. It allows for
a better grip and control. Who would of thunk? They also have this
big head to make sure your pearly whites are getting a good buffing.
Another thing, well two things, I liked are the fact they last longer
and are affordable too. Um, money, hey, if I can save that and get
a better product. More power to me! They also have this really
high bristle count and along with that big head they got my
teeth really clean but the part I loved is normally I have bad gums
and since I already have bad teeth I seldom enjoy brushing my
teeth, in fact it is the three times during the day I dread. My gums
bleed something fierce and with the Radius Toothbrush they
didn't. I was wondering why, for in my whole life I had never
used a toothbrush that didn't. Seriously, for me bleeding gums
was just a fact of life and I was shocked so I read their site and
it seems that big head I liked is the trick. It distributes the weight
better and without so much pressure in one spot and with all those
bristles it is still getting your teeth super clean. LOVED IT!
What else I loved and normally this would be the first thing I
raved about but this one time I let my poor gums take some
presidents, is the styles and colors. Not only do they offer some
of the coolest colors out there those brushes are made from trees
and are a 100 percent renewable plastic. Delicious! Oh, and there
is also that ADA thing. Those Dentist guys say they are pretty
darn cool too! So I am hooked on the Adult brush and
can now see why it made a top 5 list. I was impressed!
Now for Rowan. It took me a while to convince her to
let me brush her teeth. First she just wanted to play with
it. Though she has broke the gums and the worst of her
teething is over she still likes to chew on everything and will for
a while so I had to sit there and show her look, Mommy does
hers and now Rowan, UGH! Again, Mommy does hers and now
Rowan, AHH, one more time. Well you get the picture. Lucky for
me Rowan is a super fast learner. Did I tell you guys she can
play Peek-A-Boo. Not where I hide and appear and hide again, and
she giggles uncontrollably. This little seven month old baby covers
her own face and then re-appears for me and I get to giggle.
Can you believe that? I don't remember Andrew doing that to he
was like 2. Any ways, I got her to let me do it. No easy feat for
she also is determined to do things herself. She caved, I did a
happy dance and we started. I was really careful for I was very
worried that her gums would still be sore. If they were I had not one
peep out of her and now if I do my teeth in the bathroom and
she is with me we have to do hers. She insists. Now it would
be nice if I could tell you that brush made her teeth super
white and shiny but come on, they are new, it isn't like they
have had a chance to get worn and dirty so I won't make such
a silly claim but what I will tell you is it did not hurt her, fit very
easy into her mouth and was easy to maneuver. In fact this Totz
line for older kids is just as easy for I made my son try it.
Now the funny part there and don't tell him I told you, is instead
of using his fancy job that costs a fortune he is using that still
for it is so soft and still gets his teeth done right. I feel bad for
the boy that he has my teeth but at least now he has a brush that
works for him!

Radius has a full line of brushes and all have the same
excellent standards and designs and they even have an Intelligent
brush that lets you know when you have brushed long enough
and when you should check for wear. For that one you just
replace the heads and the handle last forever to save you some
cash! There is also a Scuba with a flexible head so you
can get your whole mouth and not just you teeth. Talk about
fresh! Need more? Well they have floss and travel cases and
have you covered in every way they can. In fact after my review
and all I learned I think they should be number one on the
list, mega advertising budget or not. Before I had not heard of them,
now I don't know how I lived without them. I have to say I never
thought I would get excited about a toothbrush but I did. Tomorrow
I am going to tell my neighbors!


Radius is going to let some readers find out for themselves
how good they are. 3 of my readers are going to win a brush.
Either the Kidz, Totz and Pure Baby. To enter just head over to
the site and look around then come back here and post what you
thought was the best brush or feature and what one of the three
you would pick. The contest will start tonight and run to midnight
on April 20th.
USA and 18 and older can enter daily and the winner
will be contacted by email and have 72 hours to
contact me with their mailing information. As always
you can earn a bonus entry by entering the contest of
the day every day and then posting that you did here
and other ways to enter are posted below.


Radius Toothbrush




Extra entries.
Extra entries only count after the initial entry
is completed.


1. Become a follower of my blog or Twitter
and post that you are. 3 entries,
please post 3 times.


2. Tweet about my blog and post the link
here. 5 entries, please post five times.


3. Grab my button. 5 entries. Please post
5 times.


4. Blog about this contest somewhere else
and post the link here. 5 Entries Please
post five times.






Hey there, while you are here don't forget to enter
my Mommy Tool Box and Port a Pong Contests!

Okay you guys, I know I am going to get a
lot of moans and groans here but I smoke. I have
for more years then I can count. I started as a
teenager, victim to peer pressure. I am not proud
of it but I was just another lemming jumping off the
cliff. I have tried to quit many times over the years
but I have that weight phobia of mine and every time
I tried it was like parking my butt at the counter in
Basken Robbins to I ate at least 30 of the flavors,
twice! I will keep on trying for I know it bothers my
son and ever since he started pre-school there hasn't
been a day that has gone by where he has not expressed
his displeasure. The other bad problem I have is caffeine.
I drink a boat load of coffee every single day. Minimum,
5 pots, maximum, over 10 on a long day. I have also
cut back a lot for a few years ago I had some major surgery
and for it I could not eat a thing for 2 days before and
drinking anything the last 24 hours. When I was wheeled out
of recovery I had a Morphine drip with one of those little
buttons you can press anytime you feel any discomfort and
I also had a pump. Those new things where they have
a direct line to where you are in pain and you wear it for
like a week then pull this wire out to remove it. Kinda yucky
but it sure works. The Doctor came in a bit later to check on
me and asked if I was in pain and I told him I know I
shouldn't be but my head was killing me. It was as bad as a
Migraine but it wasn't one. In fact my head has never hurt
like that before or again. He was confused and asked it I
had listened to him and not had anything to eat or drink like
he told me. I told him I was good but I might have snuck in
my last cup of coffee an hour or so past the deadline. He
laughed and then paused and asked just how much coffee did
I drink a day. I told him and he shook his head and said he
would be back. When he did come back a bit later I was almost
in tears for my head felt like someone was chopping it in two with
a dull spoon. He had an IV bag and hooked it up explaining
this would stop my headache and fast too. I tried to joke and
said I am quiet sure that with one more pain killer I will end
up sound asleep. He informed me it wasn't a pain killer and no
way would I be asleep anytime soon. It was an IV of pure Caffeine.
He said I was addicted to it and it was something you needed
to ween yourself off for going cold turkey could cause a lot
of problems. That is how much coffee I drank, an IV of pure
caffeine just to get me back to normal. The point here is I drank
so much coffee and have smoked for so long it has really done
a number on my teeth. Bad! Stained so dark around the edges
they have passed up yellow and turned a shade of brown. I don't
care how many times I brush them a day and what kind of
toothpaste I use it just doesn't go away. I wanted to get the
Zoom at the dentists but I could not justify spending a $1,000
something dollars on a problem that would just come back.
Andrew also has a problem with his teeth. When he
was younger he caught a virus that the only symptom he has
was a fever. It also affected his teeth. Thank the stars he only
had two adult teeth at the time but it settled in those and it
happened to be his top two front so it is very visible and turned
them a grayish yellow. He hates it but the only way to fix it,
or so I thought, was Lumiere's and until he has all his teeth
it isn't worth it. The result is Andrew seldom smiles and never
smiles with his mouth open. He is very self conscious about it
and I feel so bad for him. I ruined mine all by myself but his
was not his fault and until then I never even knew a virus could
do something like that. It has also been hard on him for he always
feels like people think he doesn't brush his teeth and now that
he is a teenager it bothers him even more for they are just
naturally more self conscience.

I got the chance to review some products for Luster and
jumped on it. I had heard some good things about the teeth
whitening systems in general and though I had little hopes of
a drastic change I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a whirl.
I got to try two of their systems. The 3 day and the one hour
white. The three day came first and I received it a while ago and
was waiting on the 1 hour to do them both at the same time.
Turns out we couldn't wait for Andrew was so anxious to try
he dove right into the 3 day a couple of days after it came.
I will tell you about that one first but before I dig into it I also
want to let you guys know we finished both of the reviews a
couple of weeks ago and I held off telling you about it for with
a product like this I wanted to make sure the results would last.
I would hate to point you in the direction of a product and then
have the results only be a temporary thing. Just like any wrinkle
cream or other product that would change your cosmetic appearance
I feel the results can't really be judged until you live with them
for a while. I say this because I bought an eye cream once after
reading a review and paid a small fortune, I am talking over 100
bucks here. The results in the review were that impressive and I
get puffy dark circles under my eyes. This was supposed to be a
miracle cream and I bought into it hook line and sinker. It worked,
it was amazing and the puffiness gone, dark circles gone, I used
it every single day for the bottle said the longer you use it the
better the results and it will pretty much heal your skin of all
ailments and though each bottle of the cream lasts only a couple
of weeks if you used it for 90 days it would be just like getting
a face lift and your baggy eyes would stay young and vibrant
looking. HOOK-LINE-SINKER. $400.00 dollars later I had my
90 days in and thought, shew, glad that dolling out the dough part
is over now I can just enjoy. Within a few days my eyes were
as puffy and icky as ever. I called to speak to them for there was
a guarantee and they explained that worked on the basis if I was not
happy they would send me a new bottle, not my money back. HUH?
You have to love small print. I spoke to a friend of mine who works
in the medical field and found out that the active ingredient in the
cream was pretty much the same stuff as what was in Preparation-H
and that's why it worked while you used it and it would never be a
product that would have lasting results. Since then I make sure things
work like they say and stay working before I post the full review for
if they don't I want to tell you before you sink a house payment into
something like I did!

On to Andrew. He got it and it was really simple to use. There
is a special mouthwash you use then a bottle of the whitener. The
mouthwash is like an activator. Andrew was to use his for 3 days
3 times a day. He did this over a long weekend and stayed home
instead of going to his Dads for we wanted to make sure he remembered
and did it right. It was super easy for him to do and I swear by the
end of the first day you could see results. He didn't but he was also
trying very hard not to get his hopes up. By day two even he could
not deny the results. On day three he was humming as he applied it
for he was so excited with the first two days results. This is a
boy who has not had an open mouth smile since he was 8 and I swear,
and he will kill me, I caught him practicing smiles in the bathroom mirror
towards the end of day 3. On the forth morning he was done and
I was stunned at the results. So was he! Other then a little dis-coloring
near the edges you would not believe these were the same teeth.
Now I am not going to lie to you, if you look in the bright light
you can see the dis-coloring for it is his whole tooth that is
discolored, I mean the tooth too, not just the surface and there is
not way for any product to get inside the tooth. That is why a
dentist said Lumiere's for a permanent covering is the only way to
fix it and that isn't fixing it but covering it instead. With the
Luster 3 day he got close to the same results and it was so
much easier and the boy smiled! An Open Mouth Smile. In
turn so did I, how could I not when I saw how happy he was.
Now Andrews was done a month ago now and they are still as
good as they were on the morning of day four. The boy is thrilled
and so am I for I just can't afford the Lumiere's and it broke my
heart to have to tell him that. Now he is tickled pink and the
funny part is I have to remind him to smile now for he is so used
to not smiling. So our review, or I should say Andrews on
Luster's 3 day white, PERFECT!! I could not say enough good
things about it and Andrew feels like he has hit the jackpot
bonanza lately with the 3 day white for his teeth and the Yu-Be
Cream for his dry elbows. Five stars all the way!

Now for the one hour white. I did that. Now remember
Andrews teeth were stained a different way then mine. Mine would
be your normal staining but with the amount of coffee I drink and
the 27 years of smoking, mine were much worse. I had plans on
doing the 3 Day and Andrew the one hour but he couldn't wait
for the other one and I hadn't the heart to make him. I really did
not think a 1 hour anything could help mine for I don't want to
be gross but my teeth were very very stained. So much in fact,
the edges of my teeth were brown and looked tarry. Sorry if you
just ate but I feel you guys need to know the truth to understand
if something works or not. Now I broke open the 1 Hour and
it sorta had the same thing as Andrews but also included this
light thing. I had to use the wash, then the whitener then hold this
light up to my mouth for 2 minutes and repeat it up to 20 times
in an hour. So out of 60 minutes that is 40 with the light.
Now not everyone would have to do that long and the directions say
that but since mine were really bad so I went the full 20 times.
It is kind of a pain but when you measure that against the
fact those trays take a while too and you have to do them for
a lot more then an hour it seems like a more then fair trade off
for me. I did do a kit once that was a tray and I had to wear it
for an hour in the morning and an hour at night for 10 days and
that was a pain for if you forget you needed to start over. With this
it says up to 20 times and if you skip one its fine as long as you
get most of them in. I was really excited to do this for it was
the same day I used the Head Organics shampoo and wanted
to go out and show off my hair and was really hoping for good
results here for I had some lip stick I was aching to wear but
always skipped for it is bright and I also, like Andrew did not
like attracting attention to my mouth. I know it is only an hour
but I will tell you it is a hard wait. One of the longest hours
of my life and since you are holding that light you can't take
you mind off of it buy doing something else. When I was done
though, IT WAS WORTH IT! My teeth looked awesome Baby!
I could not believe it worked. Let me repeat that, IT WORKED!
I got to use my lipstick and go out and smile
SMILE
SMILE
In fact everyone in this house loves to smile now! Now unlike
Andrew who does not do anything to stain his teeth other then
natural wear I still smoke and drink a lot of Coffee so I thought
mine wouldn't hold up well at all. So far they have! I can't say
for how long they will stay looking so nice and white for it was
only about 2 years ago when I did that 10 day whitener program
and my teeth looked really bad before that and that time after a
month they were already starting to look bad again. With the 1
hour it has been almost 3 weeks and no signs at all yet. I am
much more hopeful that this will last longer for so far so great!
Plus hey, I know it is not a good excuse to keep smoking and
drinking coffee but if they change again I can always fix them in
an hour. Alright, down yell, I understand I am just making excuses
to keep doing my bad habits but tell those guys over at Luster to
stop making products that work so well for it isn't me, they are
the ones enabling me.
( Crosses fingers and hopes lame excuse sounds better to
you then it did me!)
All in all it has been 6 weeks for Andrew and 3 for me
and both of us are delighted with the results. Neither of us have
noticed the results reverting back to how they were and both
were super happy with the end results. I would say Andrews
teeth were brightened by at least 5 shades. Other then the two
stained teeth his were pretty good to start with and that makes
it hard to judge but the two that were are a remarkable difference.
On my teeth I know the box says 6 shades but I swear it went
way over that. I forgot to take a close up photo of the before
and didn't realize the one I had taken recently doesn't clearly show
them but you can see how dark they are. I have an after so you
be the judge but I feel they went from a muddy water yellow to
an off white and I can so live with that! In fact it makes me smile!
Rock on Luster!

Luster would like to make you smile too and they are
going to give one of my readers a 1 Hour White System too!
To enter just head over to their site and take a look around then
come back here and post something you have learned in a comment.
The contest will start tonight and run to Midnight on April 14th.
USA and 18 and older can enter daily and the winner
will be contacted by email and have 72 hours to
contact me with their mailing information. As always
you can earn a bonus entry by entering the contest of
the day and other ways to enter are posted below.

Luster One Hour Whitening System


Extra entries.
Extra entries only count after the initial entry
is completed.

1. Become a follower of my blog or Twitter
and post that you are. 3 entries,
please post 3 times.

2. Enter any of my other contest. I entry
per contest, separate post for each entry.

3. Grab my button. 5 entries. Please post
5 times.

4. Blog about this contest somewhere else
and post the link here. 5 Entries Please
post five times.

5. Tweet about this contest elsewhere. 5 entries
please post five times.

Hey there, while you are here don't forget to enter
my Mommy Tool Box and Port a Pong Contests!