Brace Yourself

The girls are finally back at school full time and things are getting back to a regular schedule around here. Now that summer is done we are catching up on all the not so fun chores that we put off in favor of relaxing and enjoying the sun. One of those chores was taking Youngest to the Orthodontist.

She is only 8 but has pretty bad crowding so the regular dentist said that perhaps she would need a spreader to help her jaw grow a bit while her adult teeth are coming in. No biggie, I thought. Shouldn't be too costly, I thought. She'll only need it for 5-6 months, I thought. Ha. The Ortho took one look at her and layed out a plan of action that will involve braces (cheerily dubbed "Stage 1") and lots of $$ laid out over the next 18 months. After that they will re-assess her mouth (which should be gold-plated by this point, lol) and decide when to start the next round of braces ("Stage 2"..also taking many months and many $$). Needless to say I was reeling in shock by the time the nice lady was laying out all the payment options they offer.

Of course we were expecting braces at some point, having two little girls and all, but not for a few more years. Eldest's mouth is coming along nicely and she won't need any hardware for at least 2-3 more years. We foolishly expected Youngest to follow somewhat of the same path. Of course we want to do the right thing but we also want to choose wisely rather than just throw lots of money at her teeth and hope for the best. So we are going to get a 2nd opinion next week and then make the decisions after that. I'm really hoping that the next Orthodontist has a plan that is a little less drastic and will involve only one "Stage". Paying for braces for the next 6 years is not my idea of a good time.

In the meantime, preparing for the worse, we are trimming as many expenses as we can. Our worst frittering of cash is eating out at nice restaurants so we will have to bite the bullet and have more meals at home. I will also be pretty much stopping all yarn shopping for the foreseeable future. Sigh. Good thing I have ... hmmm ....several years worth of projects lurking in my craft room. Too bad I don't have a gourmet chef and an unending pantry down there too, lol. Seriously though I am worried about money being tight but I know that we can pull the spending reins quite hard when we have to.

P.S. my latest socks (at the top) are Lorna's Laces in "Irving Park" for me, me, me!