I was a hot mess.

I think ... sometimes ... people's perceptions of other people get skewed by the internet. As I sat here thinking about all the things I need to blog about ... I felt, um, unmotivated.

Earlier today, I posted this on twitter and facebook ---> Took all 3 kids to the dentist ... no cavities!

And the comments I got -- haha ... they made me laugh.

"Impressive!"

"I can't say what impresses me more...that you took three kids to the dentist at the same time or that all three have no cavities. Woo hoo!"

"... you make it sound so effortless!"

I assured them that I obviously had them fooled, because I am pretty sure I looked a hot mess up in that dentist office. Let me see if I can recap our morning ...

At 7:45 a.m., I figured I best get my butt in the shower, since I knew I had to be at the dentist office with all three kids by 9:00 a.m. Mason, Payton and I got showers, while Nika continued to sleep -- clearly I thought I had more time than I really did.

I asked Mason to go get dressed and bring his toothbrush into my bathroom so I could brush his teeth. We were headed to the dentist, after all -- needed to make sure we got rid of all the plaque. He was almost done getting ready, until he brought in a pair of tennis shoes that had knots in the laces. He wanted me to get the knots out, as his continuous pulling on the laces was clearly only making things worse. I asked him to get his other shoes and he whined that he didn't know where they were.

I love whining. Especially when I am rushing around to get all of us out the door. Sigh.

I got Payton out of the shower and started to get her dressed. She proceeded to have her daily conversation with her Dora underwear -- apparently she didn't realized we were pressed for time.

Hiiii! Dorda? Dorda? Hiiii!

I finally got her to put her clothes on and I went to grab her toothbrush. It was gone. I quickly remembered that yesterday morning Mason told me she dropped it down behind his bed and he couldn't get to it. Fantastic. I asked him to go crawl under his bed and get her toothbrush ... we were going to the dentist and she needed her teeth brushed!

But mom, I can't reach it!

Did I mention -- I love whining.

Something about sharing toothbrushes completely grosses me out, so I decided Payton would just have to go to the dentist with plaque-covered teeth. Lovely. I planned my excuse all out in my head -- just knowing they would be looking at me like I'm a hot mess.

Clearly, I didn't care.

By then, it was about 8:50 a.m. and we should have already been on the road. Meanwhile, I was half naked, I had wet hair and Nika was still asleep. I'm awesome.

I quickly got dressed, tucked my wet hair behind my ears and ran to grab Nika. I knew if anything, I had to get her teeth brushed. Meanwhile, her hair was a mess and her cheeks needed a heavy dose of lotion.

I yelled for all the kids to go get in the car. Two out of three had no shoes on and none of them had coats on. My car was in the garage, so it was okay -- right? As I opened the car door, I realized that Payton's car seat was not installed, as an adult had to ride in her seat a few days ago and I had to uninstall her car seat. Awesome.

I ran back in the house, got a pair of boots for each of the girls and grabbed three winter coats. Off we went.

We pulled into the dentist office only 5-7 minutes late ... pretty good, eh? I parked right in front of the door and had the kids run inside ... me carrying their coats. I signed us in and was asked for my insurance card and identification. Neither, nada -- I had none with me. I had been there several times before, but apparently their policy is that you must present both cards at every visit.

We'll make an exception for you this time, but blah blah blah. Whatever.

We go sit down and I got a brush out of my purse to comb Nika's bed head. She had snot coming out both nostrils and a red mark on her cheek from when she fell yesterday. She looked a hot mess.

Actually -- I'm pretty sure *I* looked a hot mess.

We were called back into the exam area and they took Mason to one chair and Nika to another. Payton stood in the corner, covering her mouth with both hands and shaking her head no. Mason did awesome gripping the arms of the chair and Nika cried. When she was done, her face was so puffy that she looked like Rocky.

Poor kid. Actually, it sort of made me happy that she cried -- it shows that she has gotten a little more feisty than she used to be.

And then it was Payton's turn. She was mad -- she screamed, she kicked, she flailed. Awesome.

I love screaming, kicking and flailing.

Oh my gosh, what a day. If I don't laugh, I'll cry. It just makes me laugh to envision all the people there looking at me like I was nuts -- and me wishing that they knew I am somewhat normal.

I think? Ha.

I know I'm not the only person who has these type of mornings. Fess up.

In better news -- none of the kids had cavities.

Mason's 6-7 year molars are coming down, although the one side is getting caught up on a baby tooth ... so the dentist wants to keep an eye on that.

We feel fairly certain that Payton is missing her two lower lateral teeth -- those are the ones on either side of the lower front teeth. The dentist isn't concerned and hopeful that it will just help prevent crowding when she gets her adult teeth.

I received confirmation that Nika will end up in an ortho office at some point. Her teeth are pretty crowded and we also discussed a palate expander for her. This would help with crowding, as well as make more room for her tongue to fit comfortable in her mouth. Her sleep specialist also talked to me about getting a palate expander to help with oxygen flow -- we shall see.