My New Job

I am enjoying my new job as an associate dentist at the office of Steven Titensor, DDS, in Flower Mound, TX. It is a beautiful office, as you can see from the photographs. The aroma of baking cookies fills the air, and we offer our patients comfy blankets, neck pillows, and paraffin hand treatments. Dr. Titensor has been practicing about 25 years and is a master in the fields of cosmetic and general dentistry. I am excited for this opportunity to learn.

I am still in the process of building a busy dental schedule for myself, but as word gets out, I am sure I will be booked solid in no time! It is quite different from the public health dentistry I have been practicing for the past 5 years in Provo. Most of our patients are earning a regular income, or flat-out well-to-do, whereas many of my Mountainlands patients were living in poverty. I do feel like those underserved patients were more grateful for the services I performed and less demanding. I miss using my Spanish, too! I was doing a lot of extractions and root canals on severely decayed teeth, and have not performed anything like that in Texas yet. I felt quite useful in my old practice, as the patients were in great need of dental care. These patients have "high dental IQs," as some would say. They have had insurance and regular dental care most of their lives, for the most part. I do look forward to utilizing skills that I did not have opportunity to use much in Utah, such as crowns, veneers, implants, and other cosmetic procedures.

Our front desk

Our waiting room

Our operatories look like this

If you need some dental work in Texas, come and see me!!

SAHM

So now I know what it's like to be the wife of a graduate student rather than the student. I always felt so out of place in dental school, being in class with all the husbands while all those valiant wives and stay-at-home-moms stitched quilts and scrapbooked and had play dates and talked about potty training and such. I was a little jealous at the time as I studied for my Immunology and Pharmacology exams, and a little not. Now I can start to see why and how they banded together so tightly. It is a wee bit lonely to be a grad student's wife and a mother. Corey arises at 6 am and is gone studying until just before Zach's bedtime most nights. Tonight is the first night (likely of many more to come) he says he will not make it home before Zach goes to bed. I am so proud of him and grateful that he is taking his schooling so seriously. It makes us really appreciate the time we have together.

Zach and I chowing on PB&J sandwiches for lunch

It is different for me to go from working fulltime to only working 2 days a week, and then taking care of Zach single-handedly for the time Corey is at school. I love the time I get to spend with Zach, and hate that I missed so much during that first year (thanks to the rigid stipulations of my student loan repayment contract). But it is exhausting to be his sole source of entertainment, care, comfort, discipline (sort-of), etc. for so much of the time. I seriously do not know how single parents function. I am not complaining- I really can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. (Besides hanging in Maui, of course!) There is honestly nothing better we could be doing with our lives right now than to further Corey's education so that he can take on the role of bread-winner and provider. I'm sure it will fly by and be totally worth it, just like dental school.
But don't be surprised if I start blogging all about potty training and scrapbooking!

And painting. I am "remodeling" our rental house one room per week, so far. Last week it was the guest bathroom, this week it was the living room. I LOVE the deep red I painted it. It instantly made this house feel warm and homey. I will do a future post with all my before and after pictures.

Zachy will occasionally play with my old Cabbage Patch Kid. Corey has tried to throw it out on numerous occasions. He is well-known for taking dolls away from our nephews, and doesn't feel a bit of remorse when the boys cry like girls about their stolen babies. He feels he is doing them a great service by preventing future gender identity issues. Big fat meanie!!

Luckily, Zach has obvious overflowing testosterone levels, as shown in his latest truck-surfing expedition. I don't think Corey has anything to worry about!