Traveling papers.

ZD got orders yesterday.
Official orders for our first duty station since he returned to the Army.
We were all looking forward to a little excitement.

Would it be the two year tour to Korea?
Would it be time in the DC area with all the great history and museums?
What about Colorado? Now that would be something brand new for all of us.

Where are we going?
Nowhere. That's right. No. where.

ZD's orders are for the very post that I've lived around for 31 years.
My life as an Army wife has been sooooooo exciting. I've been here and Ft Bragg.

It is good news though. ZD has numerous contacts at the post. He has a reputation amongst military and contractors alike.
All of our family is here or nearby. We are entrenched in the community and we love our life. And our very old dogs will live out the rest of their lives in the yard they know so well.

But........

Some excitement wouldn't be a bad thing.

Orders could change. His report date isn't until March.
ZD has had reoccurring dreams about us being in Germany. He said that in his dream that I loved it there.

Maybe next tour.

I am not ready for this.

My oldest son is growing up.

A few nights ago he and ZD were up after bedtime having "a talk." I was banned from the area but I overheard a few phrases and questions.
"How do you know if a girl likes you?"
"....always be a gentleman."
"How did you get mom to like you?"

Then oldest child started using the phone to call his friend and a girl. (2 different people) The conversation with the girl was a marathon session.
Last night he ate dinner at his friend's house. It was very strange setting the table for only 5.
It was a glimpse of our future.

"Soon, we'll be eating dinner alone." I told ZD.
"Thank goodness the youngest is only 4." he countered. I didn't want to remind him that the "baby" will be 5 in a few weeks.

Then, just to hammer the point home, Andrew came up complaining that his back teeth hurt and must be loose.
Nope...they aren't. He's getting his first adult molars. And he'll be seven this week.

Where is the pause button?

Water WIngs

Yes, for only $6.99 (times 2) and a pair of healthy lungs, you can can have your very own water confident child.

And even better, these roll right off the little tykes arms just like that water worm toy. (Am I dating myself? Do you know what toy I'm talking about?)
Actually, I think they are called "Arm Floats" now and not "water wings."

But who cares about semantics when you can go down the water slide with all your brothers, their friends, and several hundred strangers.

Be wary of the side effects : Cannon ball jumps, repeated wandering out into the really deep water, and big white tan lines on your biceps.

Also beware of hot metal items or you'll be shelling out another $6.99.

A visit with the Orthdontist

The oldest boy has an overbite. A week or so ago, he went to do his initial x-rays and let the orthodontist make a plan on how to fix his mouth.

Initially, she planned to to do the treatment in two stages. Stage 1 would last a year and would cost us $1000 after insurance. We never discussed stage 2. Apparently, stage 2 is a really big deal

Today, we met with her to hash out all the plans now that x-rays, molds, and pictures had been done.

Things changed...a lot.

The oldest boy apparently has a skeletal overbite and a dental overbite. The good news is that according to his growth plates, he hasn't yet had his major growth spurt. In fact, he's god another 10 to 12 months of slow growth before he really starts growing.

Both the Orthodontist and I found that quite amazing since the 12-year-old boy is already 5 feet 8 and wears a size 14 shoe.
I don't want to think about him growing a lot more.

Anyway, The dental overbite will be treated with braces. The skeletal overbite will be treated with this contraption to encourage his lower jaw to grow quicker.

Yeah....that's what I thought also. It's called a Herbst appliance. They look like the things on our storm door to keep it from slamming.

The poor boy will have to wear this and/or braces for the next TWO YEARS. And he will will most likely wear a retainer until he is in his 20's. (So says the orthodontist.)

Poor kid. He's got years of torture ahead of him. Paid torture.

How much will 2+ years of dental torture cost us?

Are you sitting down?

I would recommend it.

Especially if you have a kid with an overbite....and very little in the way of a chin.

And you know insurance only covers about $1000 to $1500.....lifetime.


Ok....you've been warned.
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$5900.00, plus $170 for all the x-rays, molds, and photos.

The boy got spacers in today. He hasn't complained but he did ask for some Tylenol. In a week he will have metal bands put in instead of the crowns in the above picture. A week after that, he'll have 4 baby teeth pulled. Then he'll be measured for his torture device....umm...Herbst Appliance.
Two weeks after that, everything will be installed. Braces, spacers, Herbst, and a few bands just to round out the event.

But it's better than the option of waiting until adulthood. Adults with skeletal overbites have to have jaw surgery.

Thank goodness he's still growing.

I wonder if the mil-pay can set up an allotment to the orthodontist. We do have three more boys coming up behind this oldest one. We might be able to fund our own treatment room.

Oh...and we'll need to start a shoe fund. We can't find many shoes larger than a 14 around here. I don't foresee his foot to stop growing any time soon.

Summer update

We're still playing baseball. Matthew's team is 4-1. Jacob's team is 3-1. Andrew's team is 2-2. And Sam's team has just discovered where 1st base is. We're having a great time though. All the families on the boys' teams are just wonderful. That makes the practices and games a lot of fun for me.

We're swimming almost everyday and the boys and I are getting brown as Indians. Um.....Native Americans. Um.....we're getting fairly tan. My favorite life guard is back for one last summer before he graduates college and enters the real world. He gets tickled at Sam's new found love of water and just shakes his head as Sam cannon balls into the big pool.

On Friday, my oldest managed to get on the front page of the local newspaper. Even underwater he's a complete ham. We didn't even know that the lady was a reporter. We thought she was just a nice lady who has a new underwater camera and wanted to try it out. (No that's not me in the background. We were out of shot laughing at the whole thing.) ZD and I were rather surprised when we saw that shot right on the fold.

We've had a run on car trouble here. ZD's car busted a manifold and my van developed an oil leak. Our stimulus checks went to the local Goodyear place. It was nice that we had the money....i just wish it could have gone towards something more fun.

Oh....and ZD has a request for orders. For the non-military people, that means that he has a new job lined up and planned for. I don't want to get too excited about it just yet. A lot of things could happen between now and the end of February. Another unit could need someone. Jobs could get shuffled. Plus the unit doesn't even exist yet.

I don't want to say too much yet but it's the ideal place for us. And we won't be going to Korea. We're quite happy.