The average cost of raising a child born in 2003 to the age of 18 is $226,813 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual “Expenditures on Children by Families” report.  I feel like we might be well on our way with Morgan, age 12.  On 3.3.16 we added a shiny new set of braces to her smile with royal blue rubber bands in honor of the Royals (we were heading to Royals Spring Training the next week).  Her teeth are naturally very straight, no spacing or bite problems, but braces would help give her a more beautiful smile.  This shouldn’t cost much right since it’s not a complicated case!?  Well braces are just braces and they are expensive but a necessary part of a pre-teens life.  She has totally embraced them and not complained once of pain (I know she wants to, but she’s too sweet).

Now we also have a lovely pair of glasses!  And we are kicking ourselves for not adding her to our vision insurance in January.  A couple of years ago we took her in for an eye exam because she was having some mild difficulty with reading.  It was advised to me by a teacher friend to have her eyes checked as poor vision could be contributing to her issues.  And I’ll never forget when my best friend, Lisa, took her daughter, Olivia, in for an exam and she was practically blind and they didn’t know.  Well that’s an obvious exaggeration but her vision was pretty bad and Lisa felt terrible that she was just figuring it out.  It was determined that Morgan’s vision wasn’t perfect but she didn’t recommend glasses at that point.  She did recommend Vision Therapy for her which we did at home religiously every day.  Excruciating.  Fast forward a couple years and Morgan’s reading is right on track but she is complaining of blurry vision.  So, it appears her eyes are bad enough now that she would benefit from wearing glasses.  After a week of waiting and Morgan asking every afternoon if the glasses had arrived…the glasses came in!  We have a new and improved Morgan and have made a dent in our $226,813.  We love you Morgan and you are worth every cent 🙂