Phillips/Alston/Smith family picture

It was great to have us together for Thanksgiving!

Exposed!

These were taken while Lily was air-drying her diaper rash and wanted to wear the Dora backpack. She was also wearing Camille's shoes around.

Sink baths

These were pictures from sink baths last weekend when Lily had a stomach virus with a diaper rash. This was the first time I've used Epsom salt for diaper rash and it worked amazingly! Moms, it worked overnight--you should give it a try.

Garbage disposal repair team

When Matt had to replace our garbage disposal recently he had a crew of little girls to help him. Camille actually was a big help even wearing a dress.

The inside of the disposal was gross, and very interesting to Camille and Lily.

Stephanie's post-surgery progression

Happy Thanksgiving! I am actually at home with Camille because she came down sick with a fever this morning. I'm working on the computer while watching The Goofy Movie (this can't capture my full attention). You'll have to wait for the current picture without my braces. I'll have to get Matt to take one.

I thought it would be interesting to see a compilation of pictures following my progression during 15 month process of braces, jaw surgery and recovery.

Look at these pictures from the bottom up.

I did get my braces off recently and now I'm adjusting to having impaired speech again because of the retainers I have to wear all the time for 3-6 months. After that I can wear them at night only. I'm happy to no longer have rough brackets making sores in my cheeks.

The first picture was taken 11/8/08 before my braces came off. My face is still slightly strange in sensation, but my surgeon says it should all recover within a year. If not, it's certainly bearable.

5/15/08-- When this picture was taken I was feeling much better but I was still quite numb in the face and learning to smile was a real process. Matt took a bazillion pictures as I looked in the mirror and tried to make a natural-looking smile.






5/3/08--In this pictures my muscles still wouldn't work for much of a smile, so I didn't try. The nose splint was removed but I had to keep the tape on my nose dry because it was keeping my nose in place. That makes for a dirty face under the tape! I fought acne for months after the surgery which the doctor said was also my body's reaction to the surgery. I also had to avoid me or any children from bumping my nose.

This was when I was getting ready to leave the hospital the night of 4/25/08 after surgery all day on 4/22/08. Hindsight, we should have just stayed in the hospital Friday night because it took several hours to get discharge paperwork and then wheelchair transportation down to the car. After driving all the way back to Rowlett we had to find an 24-hour pharmacy to fill my prescriptions. After that night of setting Matt's cell phone alarm clock for every 3 hours so Matt could get up to refresh my ice packs and crush up my pain medications in syringes with chasers of Boost, we had to go back downtown on Saturday morning for a followup in the doctor's office. All that riding in the car wasn't fun either. We wondered what the people in Walgreens thought when they saw me all swollen up with ice packs wrapped around my head. Matt thinks they probably just thought I had cosmetic plastic surgery, since it's so common these days.

This was taken in April 2008 before my surgery. The orthodontic work before surgery actually made my bite worse while they prepared me for surgery. That was my real bite.

We took this picture 8/30/07 right before I got my braces on.

Lily's presents

Lily had a great time opening birthday presents. She loves this cute mug and calls it her "coffee cup." Lily has never seen Peter Pan, but she had a wave of excitement when she opened the Tinker Bell pajamas. Infact, she immediately started trying to pull down her pants in the middle of the party to put them on.

Lily wanted this toy put together right away, but even this came "assembly required."
Knowing Lily obsession with shoes (hers and everyone else's) it's no wonder these slippers have been a hit.

She had a fun time, and then she had to hurry to get down for a nap before she turned into a pumpkin (or a 2 year old temper tantrum).

More of Lily's birthday pictures

Here are more pictures from Lily's birthday party. I tried to prepare all the food myself but when I went to thaw 2 containers of previously cooked and frozen meat sauce for my pasta casseroles, I discovered that one of them was chili (not bolognase meat sauce)! My mom saved the day bringing over a supplemental main dish. We ended up with lots of extra food and the arrangement was pretty.

Lily was very excited about her cake and especially the balloon plates that she carried around Walmart. She calls them her "Happy Plates." I didn't have any theme to the party, just a meal suitable for all ages. Lily changed her mind from a blue cake to pink at the last minute (thank goodness).

You can see Lily started eating with a fork and soon decided the full hand was a more efficient icing delivery method.

Little bit

It's so cute when kids say things incorrectly. I often think I'd never forget how they say it, and then it's gone. Lily consistently says "Libidit" for "Little bit." I think it's so cute!

Lily's 2nd birthday

Lily had a nice birthday with 10 people over for a family lunch celebration. Lily had fun opening presents but she wasn't much for picture-taking, always turning her back to the camera. Surely we have some more pictures somewhere of her cake and blowing out her candle, but Matt will have to get them for me when he gets back in town this weekend.

This is Lily dancing with her new musical birthday card. Thanks Gigi and Boppy!

It was cold this morning so I let the girls have their new hats and gloves. They looked like they were going out into a blizzard!

Pretty smiles!

Look at those curls!

Lily has had lots of potty success recently (except for this weekend with a stomach virus).

At the Primrose school costume parade Lily was happy until she saw me and didn't want to sit with her class on the curb. Her teacher told her what to do, and she sat down screaming but obeying. The little rabbit next to her was patting her and saying "Dat okay Lily." It was so cute!

At the church fall carnival Camille had a blast on this big inflatable slide. She went down many times with her Cinderella dress up over her head. She didn't want to take it off.
This was a lighted pumpkin coach, but it was hard to photograph.

Lily liked playing games and doing things her own way.