Ear Piercing

Maddie has been talking about getting her ears pierced for months!  We finally talked Chris into it on vacation.  Well, today was the day it finally happened.

Actually, Maddie loved the idea until it came time to do it.  We were going to go yesterday but she started to say she didn't want them done and wanted to wait for a year or two until she was 5 or 6.

So today I just decided we were going to do it no matter what!  We brought Emma with us for moral support.  

However, once we got there and Maddie picked out her earrings, she was fine.  She winced for a second and then she smiled!

Now her ears are pierced!

After Church

After church we went to Mimi and Papaw's for breakfast.  I snapped a few pics of Ty and Maddie in their yard.  I always want to take their picture every Sunday....the only day of the week that Ty and Maddie are showered, in matching clothes, and hair fixed....however, I always run out of time to take it before leaving for church.

Family and Fireworks

Friday night we had our family over for pizza on the grill.

To stay cool the kids had a water balloon fight and swam in their pool.

Ty launching a balloon.

Emma got hit with a balloon!

Then we went to the fireworks in New Concord.

walking to the house where we watched the fireworks

The girls dragging Ty along.

The fireworks were awesome!  

My Crazy Weekend, AKA the Helix Piercing Adventure

So, last week I took a break from posting blogs for the Fourth of July; I hope you all had a great week! I decided that for the rest of the summer I will only be posting a blog on Sundays, instead of doing both Sundays and Wednesdays. Working full time takes it out of you!

A Classy Helix Piercing

Yesterday I was very brave.
I made an appointment at Kenny Curtis and got my helix pierced!                                           
In case you didn't make the connection with the picture, this is the upper part of the ear. To keep it classy I'm going to have a single helix piercing in my right ear, and I chose a tiny sparkly earring so it matches all my outfits while I wait for my ear to heal.


What does this have to do with saving money? Well, I decided to go to a professional because cartilage piercings are harder to do (piercing guns are bad for the cartilage area, so Claire's was out of the question). I paid a little more money to have it done right so I wouldn't have wasted the money in the first place. It was only thirty dollars at Kenny Curtis (located in Marina), and that included the earring as well.


I've been wanting a helix piercing for a while now; I waited a long time to make sure it was something I really wanted. I think Rosie Huntington-Whiteley inspired me with all those cute cartilage earrings in Transformers 3. My fun, quirky, older swing-dance teacher has one too; I think I figured if she had one I could be brave and get one too. 


Yes, I almost passed out afterwards from shock, but they had a padded bench for me to lie down on and lots of cold water to drink, thank goodness. Also, if you're going to get your cartilage pierced, take someone with you who can drive you home because you probably won't feel up to driving. I sure didn't. My dad came with me and I felt a lot more comfortable with the whole experience. I almost went by myself, bad idea!

The actual piercing of the ear didn't hurt very much, and it only aches a little bit right now. The woman who pierced my ear was great (her name is Devin); she made sure I knew exactly where I wanted the earring to go, and she gave me lots of good advice on how to clean the piercing (apparently rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide create scars!). I am extremely happy with my piercing and I do not regret it one bit. I am excited to find pretty earrings for my piercing after it heals!

                                                                       

~Rachel 

                                                                       
                                                                         

                                                                   

Hand Piercings, Finger Piercings, and Hand Web Piercings

                        Hand Piercings, Finger Piercings, and Hand Web piercings are all very rare and rather extreme. In fact, if you are even considering getting one of these piercings, you are truly one of the brave. The pain varies, and in fact usually there is minimal pain involved with the piercing, but the aftercare of these particular piercings is only for the stringent at heart.

Your hands are two of the most active places on your body. They are constantly in motion, they are full of germs, and they are very sensitive (all those nerves running through our hands help the brain process pain, pleasure, and temperatures). A contemporary phenomenon is getting the surfaces on your hands pierced. I'm not against these piercings at all, but more than most piercings, it is important you understand the risks before committing to the piercing.

Hand piercings are all surface piercings, so they are susceptible to the usual suspects - migration and rejection. Your hands are chock full of muscles, tendons, and nerves, so the constant motion of your hands don't exactly work in your favor. Generally, the less disturbed the piercing area, the quicker and more successful the healing. With hand piercings you will not have the luxury keeping a hand "protected". It will be exposed to the elements, germs, daily stresses, and abuses straightaway. For this reason, only get a hand piercing if you are willing to do the following.

First of all, you must clean it religiously. Your piercer will recommend cleaning it somewhere around three times a day with a warm saline solution - don't skip this step! The saline helps keep the piercing site clean and free of buildup. You will have special instructions concerning which soap you can use, what moisturizer you can use, what liquids or gels you can't put on your hands (Neosporin is always a no-no), ad infinitum. Smoking is definitely discouraged with a hand piercing, for the cigarette smoke that will inevitably drift around it will irritate your new piercing and prolong the healing. You must also be sure to keep the piercing site clean, not just from germs, but from dirt, trash, food, etc. Remember, you have a very delicate piercing that is being assaulted from all sides, so be careful!

Your lifestyle may have to change as well during the healing period. Besides not smoking, you shouldn't be wearing gloves (they can tear the piercings out) or engaging in any activity that may put your hands at risk. If your career heavily depends on using your hands, you may want to think about getting one of these piercings extra carefully. Your everyday life will be affected by this piercing for at least a year - which is the general healing time. If you've never had a body piercing before, this probably isn't a good one to start out with!

Now that the risks are known, and you still want to go ahead, here is what you can expect! For starters, don't get pierced with a ring or hoop. You are just begging for it to get ripped out! Your hands touch too many objects everyday and a ring jutting out will get snared on something and it will be gone before you know it. Your piercer and you will decide if surface bars or curved barbells are best for your piercing location (which is largely determined by the shape of your hands, exact location, and lifestyle). It is not uncommon to have to get refitted a couple months after the piercing, for the swelling should have gone down enough to where you might need new jewelry to lie closer to the skin.

For hand piercings, the location can be almost anywhere. Surface bars will almost always be used, and the pain might be a bit intense. Rejection risk is high since there is not a lot of skin or tissue to penetrate, but with care this can be a relatively long term piercing.

Finger piercings generally don't hurt nearly as much as they look, but these too have a high risk of migration. Generally pierced at the base of the finger to look like a ring, surface bars or barbells are used. The finger will swell after piercing, and is highly prone to infection, but by following the right aftercare and being super careful, you just may be able to make this piercing last a good long while.

Hand web piercings might be the most popular of the hand piercings - the webbing between each finger (especially between thumb and forefinger) is very thin and not hard to push a barbell through. It is also prone to rejection and migration, and infection is a very real possibility. This piercing should not affect your mobility (none of these piercings should affect any of your body functions), but the hand webs are major points in acupuncture therapy, so if you talk to an acupuncturist they probably won't be keen on you receiving a piercing this area. There's no western scientific evidence that piercing your hand webs will hurt you, but if you follow eastern medicine and science, you may want to hold off on web piercings.

All in all, piercings on the hand are rather extreme. They require constant care, zealous protection, regular cleaning, and even then it's not a guarantee that these piercings will last. Yet, if you want to push the boundaries and your lifestyle affords it, you can try to get a piercing on your hand. For many people who successfully have them, it's their favorite piercing!

Lip and Cheek Piercings Information

                        Piercing has become allotment of our boilerplate culture, so it is no abruptness that abounding bodies are because analysis piercings. Facial piercings accurately lip and audacity piercings are adequate a aerial acceptance surge. There are several altered types of lip and audacity piercings, including the Medusa, the Monroe, the Lip Frenulum, Lip plate, and Labret. Afore accepting adorned in any of these locations though, it will behoove you to apprehend on and apprentice added about the risks associated with anniversary piercing.

The Medusa is still a almost aberrant piercing, but abounding acute parlors accept noticed that added and added bodies are allurement for this piercing. Amid anon beneath the septum of the nose, in the centermost aloft the top tip, a Medusa acute is eye communicable indeed. Actual agnate to a labret piercing, the brawl rests in the dip on the top lip. There will be abscess afterwards the piercing, and for some bodies the affliction is minimal, while for others the affliction is intense. There are a lot of assumption endings amid about the lips, and while best accomplished able piercers will not hit a nerve, there is consistently that slight accident that charge be advised afore committing to the piercing.

The Monroe additionally goes by two added names: The Madonna and The Crawford. Named afterwards the three iconic women with acclaimed moles abreast their aperture (Marilyn Monroe had a birthmark on the larboard side, Madonna has one of the right, and Cindy Crawford has a birthmark actual abutting to the high lip) the acute area you accept will actuate the exact name of your acute (left audacity = Monroe; appropriate audacity = Madonna). These piercings alleviate rather quickly, but for a brace canicule to a anniversary afterwards the acute there may be cogent swelling. Afterwards 8-12 weeks, you can alter the adornment (which will be too big...the antecedent adornment charge board swelling, so as the abscess goes down, the adornment will be too large) with article a bit added snug. This acute is actual popular, and looks actual admirable if able aftercare is carefully followed.

The Lip Frenulum is addition attenuate piercing, and not anybody has the actual analysis to accept this action done. An high lip frenulum acute is generally alleged a "smiley" because back the wearer smiles, the bound bean can be seen; a lower lip frenulum acute is alleged a "frowny" for the aforementioned reason. These piercings are simple procedures for a able piercer, but it is important to bethink that teeth and gum accident can absolutely appear over time with these piercings.

The Lip bowl is actual attenuate in America, but accepted in genitalia of Africa and the Amazon. This attending has a adherent afterward in abounding analysis modification circles, and the convenance is absolutely actual age-old - but not for everyone. Lip plates abide of acute the lower lip and over time addition (properly referred to as "gauging") the aperture to board lip plugs. Lip plugs are annular discs usually fabricated of ablaze copse or clay. Once you accept committed to the Lip plate, your lip will be continued to a point area alone surgical operations can annihilate the broad aperture in your lip. This is not a acute to be condescending about - alone do this if you accept done all the analysis you possibly can, and are accommodating to stick with it for the continued haul. While best piercings alleviate with no arresting effects, this accurate acute will not. For all intents and purposes, this is a abiding piercing.

The labret is the best accepted array of lip piercing. Abounding bodies accept assorted labret piercings! It can board rings or studs, and takes about 6-8 weeks to heal. Best bodies afterwards the allotted healing time get a appropriate allotment of adornment that has a labret backing, to advice anticipate tooth and gum aggravation. There are abounding types of "bites" - breezy agreement to call assorted acute placements (ex: Snakebites = two labret piercings on adverse abandon of the lower lips); there is abundant abeyant for character and individuality. Horizontal lip piercings are acutely rare, and best piercers will not accomplish this blazon of piercing.

As with added articulate piercings, infection can appear with lip and audacity piercings. There is a lot of bacilli amid in and about the mouth, so accurate charwoman will advice anticipate infection. As always, alone get broken in able ambience and with absolutely antibacterial accoutrement to abbreviate your adventitious of austere bloom consequences. Eating ambrosial foods, arresting alcohol, and smoker should not appear during the aboriginal 6-8 weeks of your new acute - all of these will arrest your bodies healing efforts. Your piercer will accord you a complete briefing of what to apprehend during healing, how to cope with problems that may arise, and the best aftercare habits. Assuming you accept a appropriate bulk of accepted sense, your new lip and audacity acute will be healed in no time!