Nathan's Braces

Nathan got his braces on February 21, 2012.  The previous November the Orthodontist estimated that it would take Nathan another 6 months to a year to lose the last 4 of his baby teeth and he would start braces then.  Boy was he wrong, Nathan lost his last baby tooth 2 months later.  The orthodontist asked him if he was pulling them out with pliers:-)  I do think he was kind of motivated.

But at least that part is over, the past 3 months nearly every single Sunday during the middle of Sacrament meeting Nathan would reach over and show me a molar that he had pulled out months before during Sacrament Meeting.  He would forget that he had stuffed the tissue with his tooth in it into his suit pocket every single week and then happily find his toothy surprise each Sunday.  It was kind of funny, and gross!

For his "Last Supper" Nathan requested chicken wings (his favorite), corn, and garlic bread.

We took about 100 pictures of him eating his last meal.  You've got to celebrate these things, right!  This is just one of the more flattering ones.

Speaking of flattering, he was not happy that I insisted on re-combing his hair the morning of his braces.

However now that he has seen all the pictures he is super happy that I did.  He'll be stuck with that before picture until his braces come off and I kept telling him that he didn't want to see that picture and have everyone comment on his crazy hair instead of his crooked teeth:-)

A little scared, but excited and anxious. 

Okay, he had good reason to be scared.  They had to downgrade his mouth opening apparatus 3 times before they got to a comfortable size.  The lady applying the brackets wasn't exactly the friendliest either.  I wish he had gotten the same technician as his brother.

Bearable pain, poor guy!

Yeah, the brackets are all on.

Checking them out in the mirror.

Brace Face!

Of course, the girls had to check out the braces.  And try to feel them too.

Our two boys in braces!

Oh my goodness, I am so happy that my boys have braces now! It feels like the beginning of an era for them that I have looked forward to and that makes me super happy.  I'm also happy that the majority of the boys braces will be paid for in this calendar year because the flexible spending limit is $5,000.  Next year it drops down to $2,500 so it is saving us nearly $700 in taxes that we would have had to pay if he started next year.  That's always a good thing!