I recently took the boys to see the movie Pete's Dragon.  The original movie was one of the few movies I remember seeing growing up.  I particularly remember that movie because for some reason I cried through about half of it.  I think the 'parents' in the movie were very scary and mean and as I recall, I did not like the friend I was going to see it with.  I don't even remember her name or all the circumstances, but I just remembered the only opinion I had of Pete's Dragon was tears, so I took the boys to the new one and it was really, really good!   So now when I think of Pete's Dragon it is happy memories.

I took Jacob for another orthodontist appointment.  He continues to turn his both his palate expanders and is set for braces on our next visit in October.  He has several permanent teeth that are coming in and he has not yet lost his baby teeth.  (Speaking of baby teeth...the last two nights Joseph has had a tooth in his tooth pillow and woken up two mornings with the tooth still in his pillow ~ gasp.  Parent fail!  We keep writing notes and hopefully the tooth fairy will have time tonight to stop by.)

Benjamin also went to Jacob's orthodontist for a second opinion.  Benjamin has been seeing a different orthodontist for 4 years and we are still on phase 1.  Every time he goes to the dr., the doctor always leans back in his chair and sighs deeply.  So, I was ready for a new set of eyes to look at things.  This new orthodontist said that Benjamin really does have a complicated case.  (Hopefully I don't lose you with all the details)  If you know anything about teeth, he has a cross bite, open bite, class three and tongue thrust.  In layman terms that means...a cross bite is where the front or sides of teeth hit the inside of the bottom teeth, an open bite is an insufficient overlap of top teeth ~ which seems contradictory to cross bite.  I think one part of his mouth is cross bite and another part an open bit.  A class three bite is again where the bottom jaw is forward of the top teeth.  And then the tongue thrust is a behavioral pattern where the tongue is pushed through the incisors during eating, talking or rest.  So, he has some very contradictory stuff going on.  Plus, he has so many teeth he has not lost yet and all parties seem to think his bottom jaw is still growing out.  The new doctor strongly recommended pulling off the 4 brackets on front teeth, removing all other wires, putting in a retainer and giving Benjamin a year off to grow some more and get some more permanent teeth.  The bad thing, the new doctor said we are past the point of being able to have a more simpler fix for the bottom jaw.  I guess when they are 8 or 9 they can put kids in a night 'mask' to help try to bring the top teeth more forward.  We missed that window and it frustrates me to think the old (current) orthodontist missed that.  So, Benjamin sees the old (current) ortho in 10 days and hopefully he will agree to remove everything and just take a break and wait.  Part of my concern is I have already paid for certain things and I don't want to switch Benjamin over to the new doc and have to pay again for something I have already paid for.  However, the current doc is older and on the cusp of retiring, so I don't see how I could stay with him.  One thing the new doctor mentioned twice, is depending on the growth of the bottom jaw, surgery could be the best recommended fix, which he added, if you can't attach a medical condition to it (sleep apnea, etc) insurance won't pay for it and it costs about 10K.  I certainly trust this new doctor though.  Guess if everything gets removed from Benjamin's mouth and we decide to wait a year, I have some time to save up.  Plus you can't break a jaw until they are done growing, which might even be closer to 16.  

Then the doc took a very quick look at Joseph and uugghh.....looks like Joseph might take after Benjamin.  They are both on recall list for 1 year.  

I decided to jump in and do the home assembly job.  I have already started working on my stuff.   I have to put 1,000 units together a week, which is 6-7 boxes.  So, I am hoping as I get more proficient, that I can complete all of that in about 8 hours!  As long as I stay diligent to a schedule, should work out great.