Genetic Traits

Family genetics have been pretty kind to our kids. They all have beautiful brown eyes, are good spellars, have healthy (large) appetites, can curl their tongues, have thick hair that never falls out, have long skinny toes, cute dimples, and are sure to be killer Scrabble players someday .

However I have to admit that there may be a few traits that they're probably not quite as happy about inheriting. For instance -- Glen + me = 100% probability of gazillions of freckles and no waistline. There's no way to escape it. Even when I was skinny (yes, there was a day) I still had no waist to speak of. Now I'm the poster child for the new Apple Shaped Middle Aged Women of America, but I digress here...

I had high hopes when I married Glen that perhaps my terrible teeth that had to have braces TWICE, would be balanced out by his perfectly straight teeth that have NEVER needed braces. All I wished was that a couple of the kids to inherit his pearly whites, instead of mine. But alas, it appears that my dental DNA is a little domineering, because my crowded, misaligned teeth seem to have won out on every single one of the kids! Dang it!
It's a good thing Cami is so charming, beautiful, intelligent, and loving, because she got the worst of the teeth genetics and inherited anomalies we didn't even know were possible...a peg tooth (kind of like a peg leg in her mouth) and a missing permanent tooth. All right up in plain sight next to her two front teeth.

We've spent the last couple of years in denial while we finished paying for our firstborn's newly straightened teeth. Finally after taking her to a few orthodontists to get second opinions, we've come squarely to the fact that her teeth are going to cost us approximately the tuition for a bachelor's degree to get them fixed up right. *YIKES*

After delaying the inevitable as long as possible and planning for a future of rice and beans for the next twenty years we finally unwrapped our fists from our life savings and took the plunge.

Today, in a mess of bright lights and cotton filled cheeks Cami singlehandedly ensured that the orthodontist can retire next year.
Thankfully she's got so much other good genetics going on (thanks Glen!) that she still looks gorgeous in her newfound sparkly metallic smile....certainly much cuter than I looked in my braces all those years ago.

Now if only I could talk Spencer into skipping high school to get his orthodontics degree....