What a Beauty!!

 Molly's Got A New Look!

17 months...that's how much she aged in these pictures and how much it time it took to align her teeth. Seventeen months is not a long time - unless you are in braces!

The before picture was taken at the end of her 7th Grade year.  The after picture was taken after the start of her Freshman year!  Molly plays the trumpet (pretty well, if I have to say so myself), but has been discouraged while in braces that she lost some of her tone.  I heard her practicing last night and was very impressed with her range!  She got up there pretty high!  Way to Go! 



What a Weekend!

  WHAT A WEEKEND!

  

I love Fall ...

 I love High School Football, I love all the fun and hoopla of Homecoming

 The Pep Rally

 The Parade!!!

 The friends who are on the team....

 The friends who are in the Court!

 Family!!!

Half time shows with ALL THREE OF MY GIRLS

ON THE FIELD AT THE SAME TIME!

 My senior girl going to Homecoming

 My Freshman girl going to her first High School Dance

(sadly Mackenzie had to work)

 After Dance Bonfire with tons of teens!

A trip to the Apple Orchard...but we got pumpkins....

and on Monday Braces came off!!

(oh and I had a personal accomplishment of running 6 miles, hitting 40 pounds lost and going down one more size...)

Just For Fun!

Many women LOVE shoes....I cannot say that I have been one of those....until lately.  As I have had the need to buy new clothes I have discovered a renewed love for shoes.  Tonight I bought these for a new outfit I got for a special banquet we're going to on Thursday night.  As soon as I put these on I KNEW they had to be mine.. They were the perfect color to go with my outfit and are a soft camel colored SUEDE! Then I noticed they were on sale...THEN I remembered I had a coupon for 20% off!  They were $130 at Macy's...Marked down to $42 then 20% off that!  I paid $34!!!  I love them more now!  AND they feel wonderful and make me feel pretty! 

A few more of my indulgences...

But these are my new favorites....

I Had Company

As I have written about before, I am running a 5K in November and two of my girls are running it with me! We will be doing the Hot Chocolate Run in Chicago. Bailey really (I MEAN REALLY) wants to do it with us. The problem is that she is not allowed to run yet...you can understand, her upper and lower jaws were removed and detached and put back in a different place in her mouth. She is still wired and still healing.



However, being the hard worker and determined young lady that she is, she has decided to "train" in whatever way is appropriate given her circumstances.... Running would jar her jars too much and cause potential damage. Biking, is, after all, low impact and safe.
I want you to think about this, though... due to her mouth being wired shut, her primary breathing is done through her nose. When you exercise, workout, exert yourself, you most likely breath through your mouth! She kept up with me pretty good. I generally ride about 15 - 17 mph. I took it down to 11-13 mph for her sake and she was having some trouble breathing. The air was cool and she said that the cold air kinda irritated her nose breathing.

So, we did 11 miles together...I have to admit that I kept turning my head around to be sure that she was doing OK. Again, another handicap of her wires is that the volume of her voice is pretty low. Try it. Try talking loudly with your mouth shut and your jaws together. Not much as far as volume. I knew I wouldn't be able to hear her if she yelled because she was having trouble. But, I kept my eyes on her and we developed some sign language.

All was good. She put in a good workout. I had some company and could show someone my route. It's fun to show someone where I go on my biking adventures. She admitted later that she was pretty busy looking at all the scenery around the lake and through the trails that she forgot she was working out...that's what I like about my route. And now the leaves are hinting at turning colors....its gonna be a pretty fall ride!

Once again, my Bailey showed another dimension to her strength and commitment! On Wednesday she will have only 2 more weeks! Can you believe it has gone so fast?

Wanna Peek Inside?

 You've seen the outside...how about a peek at the inside?

Just look at it for a while...study it...now remember when you see inside a mouth you don't see the teeth roots..imagine where the gum line is... the upper curve is NOT her lip....its the upper jaw...Look now at the bottom jaw towards the back.....see it?  see where it looks like the bone was cut and there is an uneven part?  Yep, you are seeing right.  If I am not mistaken, that IS where the jaw was cut at an angle and "spliced" together.  The Dr. tells us that the bone will fill in and she will not have an "edge" to the bone. 

See the bright white dots on the bottom jaw?  Those are the screws...See the loops?  Ya, keep in mind those extend under her flesh and are attached just under her eye sockets....the base of those loops are just outside her inner, upper lip (check out the next picture)

So, did this upset your stomach or help you understand more of what went on? 

Pretty brave, huh? 

Could YOU do this for 8 -10 weeks?

Could you eat from a syringe and rubber tube and all liquids for 8 weeks? 

Bailey eats EVERYTHING using these devices.  The Magic Bullet liquefies the food, the strainers keeps seeds, chunks, etc out of the meal & the syringe & rubber tube gets it into her body.  Notice that she can fill the syringe only to 2 ounces...after 4 ounces she is usually full!



I can attest to the fact that she has not complained, moaned, griped, or cried about not being able to eat what we are eating...not even when we get Lou Malnati's or Curry (two of her favorites).  She will smell it, smile and say, "I can't wait to eat that in a few weeks!"  Could YOU do that?  What foods would YOU miss, crave, want?



Another week - behind her!

WOW!  I can't believe another week has gone by!  So much has happened in my life....that is a blog for another day, though. 

Amazingly enough, it is also one more week closer to Bailey being unwired!!

She just passed week 5 and is on the downward slope of the "being wired stuff".  She is still handling all this with so much grace.  At her Dr.'s appointment on Tuesday she was informed that the process of "being undone" will be a two or three step process.  In 3 weeks they will cut the wires and take out the splint.  They will put on rubber bands and she will begin to open and shut her mouth.  Then, in the next step they will be doing outpatient surgery to remove the skeletal wires and posts that were shown in a previous blog.  Two of the upper posts that you did not see in the previous pictures will remain in her mouth the rest of her life. 

As you can see from these pictures she is doing really well.  We are adjusting to her new look and I think so is she.  She really is a beautiful girl inside and out!

Bailey actually took these pictures one day from the SKYPE camera on the computer.  Now, you may be asking, why in the world is the computer in the dining room!?  Well, I redecorated the main floor office and we had to temporarily reassign the computer to the dining room on a small table until the office is ready for the rest of the furniture to be reloaded....but that, too is a blog for another time.  (It's almost finished!).




To quote Bailey after her last visit to the Surgeon, "I got this!"

 Bailey told us a story from her English class the other day....her teacher left the room for a short period of time.  After he left the room, a girl in the class took the opportunity to ask Bailey a question about her mouth and that started the rest of the class asking...then the teacher came back in and it turned into a "Q & A" time about Bailey!  She is NOT one who likes all that attention, but she IS one to feel confident and secure about who she is and what she is going through.  God has prepared her for such times as this.  She was able to articulate what is going on and why very well.  It was yet another time for her to display God's goodness to her. 

Like I said, she is an amazing young lady!! 

Later today I DO plan on posting pictures I took of the instruments she uses to eat. 
I promise those are coming....

Bailey update - HALF WAY!

My brave strong girl is half way there!  Wednesday was the 4 week marker!  When I gave her a hug this morning I congratulated her on making it graciously 4 weeks.  I also told her the uphill part of this wired shut journey is over and it will be down hill from here.

I know she will face trials along the way.  I know that just because it is "downhill" from here that it won't all be easy.  In fact, she still has one more surgery to go through!!  At some point those wires up in her skull under her eye sockets and on her cheek bone will have to come out.  At some point those screws in her jaw will have to be unscrewed....YUCK!  We should find out in a week or two when that will happen.

Her face is still swollen in her upper cheek area but the most difficult part is that she still has no feeling in her upper lip and the area directly over the upper lip.  When she smiles it honestly looks like she has some botox that was injected up there.  She hates that.  Last night while talking with her about this,  I was amazed that she still didn't have feeling up there.  Her response was, "Mom, they cut those nerves up there...it's going to take at least 8 weeks for that to come back."  Dang!  When did she get so patient?  I love this kid.  I know I keep saying it, but I am amazed at how she is dealing with it. 

Tonight I plan on taking some pictures of her eating utensils and try to show the process of how she eats.  I also am just about finished with the redo of the family office (I am setting up one for me in the basement!)  I so wish I had more hours in the day.......