Cranial Technology

Yesterday was CJ's evaluation to see if he's a candidate for a helmet or doc band for his misshaped head. We went to a place called Cranial Technologies for this. They were very nice and we got seen right away.

We went back and first they took pictures and measurements of CJ's head shape from all different angles. We got to bring home those pictures. I do not have a scanner, but I took a picture of the pictures with my camera so you can see just what his odd shaped head looks like.



So here is all the medical mumbo jumbo about his head. He has Plagiocephaly of the right side and Brachycephaly on the back of his head. So what this means is the back right of his head is flattened and the left front on his forehead is flattening too. So because his head was restricted on the back it got pushed in on the back and has thus caused some asymmetry on the front as well. He is mild on their scale, but he does qualify for treatment with the Doc Band.

This is not something that can correct on its own at this point in time. If he were younger then we could try some repositioning, but because of his age it just won't work. Now we don't have to do this. His head will continue to grow in this misshaped manner though, but it won't hurt him in anyway. The only thing we would have to worry about is fitting a bike helmet to his head in the future if we were to leave it like this. We'd have to add some extra padding. Now this Doc Band is still relatively new so there are no studies on the effects of it on a child beyond preschool age. Up until preschool age though there are no signs of there causing any sort of hearing or vision problems in children who have worn it and it seems to have no effect on the development of the brain. CJ would need to wear the helmet for 12-14 weeks though 23 hours a day.

Right now we are waiting on the approval from the insurance company. They do cover 100% of this treatment which is great and they don't need a whole lot to do that approval. We just need the doctor to write a note of medical need and a prescription for the Doc Band and we are good to go. The person I spoke to about this yesterday said it usually takes the doctor's office like 2 or 3 days to get them this stuff and then another week for the insurance to approve it. Trying to see if I could speed the process along I called the doctor's office to let them know that we are definitely interested in continuing with this and they told me they were working on it then and it should be a week before they are done with their part. Hmmmm, that was a bit discouraging. But maybe they just wanted to give themselves that extra time so I'm not calling them everyday or something asking where the stuff is. I've found their office to be really good so far about getting things done right away so I'm hoping it won't take too long.

Once the insurance is all on board with this though we can then schedule the appointment to have the Doc Band fitted to his head. This process is going to include taking a mold of his head. That should be interesting. And it looks like CJ will be wearing this until just about his first birthday. I'm hoping we'll get to have it off in time for his first birthday. What a great birthday present that would be. A nice round head helmet free for the newly turned 1 year old.

All in all things went well. They were very nice and helpful. They assured us that since it only weighs 6 ounces that it's not going to effect him in reaching any of his developmental milestones. He'll still be able to learn to sit and crawl and walk with this on. So we are very anxious to get this whole process started. It's just too bad that there's not a Cranial Technologies closer to us. This is an hour away from us and the next one is in New Jersey. Luckily there is lots to do down there though. We should get to know the area well since we'll be down there every other week.

It's Real Life - "Where the Magic Happens"

Welcome to another week of "It's Real Life". We were asked this week to take pictures of "Where the Magic Happens" AKA our bedrooms. So come into the bedroom and please don't mind the mess. I'm afraid I haven't been following Flylady as well as I should.






Open the door and come on in...

Here's my bed. It's actually made. That's rare to see. Joe hates when I make the bed. Too much work for him to get into it at night I guess. Who knows. Sure am glad I made it today though.


This is my dresser. I didn't really realize how many stuffed animals I actually have on my dresser until I took this picture. Mr. Polar is the large teddy bear on the end there and I have had him since I was 10 years old. He's my favorite bear. The rest of the stuff on there are just lotions, makeup, my brush and comb, and some jewelry boxes. Oh yeah and the kids piggy banks are on my dresser too. I had to take them away from them because they kept taking their money out to "count it" and I was tired of them loosing it or fighting with each other about who's money was who's. So in my room it went.


Here is Joe's dresser. Got the TV on top of that and the DVD player. And of course a large teddy bear.


Here is my night stand. It's pretty cluttered up. Lots of medications on there. Actually I'm not sure why I hang onto those. They are all medications from last year when I was pregnant and they kept changing the blood pressure medication that I was on or the dosage that I was on. I guess it's time I get rid of them. It seems such a waste though, but by now they probably are just about expired anyways. And underneath in my night stand there's all sorts of stuff. My blood pressure monitor, some more lotion, vaseline, baby wipes, and some books that I read a long time ago.


Now for my favorite part of the room...
That's right, the little boy that sleeps in it. Shhhh, he's going down for a nap. We should leave now.

So that's my Real Life for this week. I realized after I uploaded my pictures that I forgot to get a picture under my bed and of what I sleep in. Well, I do have a lot of stuff under my bed. We have limited storage so we have lifters on our bed and have boxes of stuff under there, some board games, porcelain dolls, and arts and crafts stuff. And as far as what I sleep in that's not all that exciting. Just a t-shirt and a pair of shorts in the summer time. In the winter it's a shirt and pajama pants. Sorry, I would have gone to take more pictures, but I didn't want to wake that sleeping baby boy.

If you want to see more of my Real Life pictures you can check them out here.

6 year check up

Today we had Kaitlyn's 6 year check up. Everything was great. She's 44 inches tall and weighs 49 1/2 pounds. I think the doctor said she was in the 50th %tile for her weight and the 10th %tile for her height. Either way she was pleased. We are going to have to take her to the eye doctor because she didn't do so great on the eye test. She was 20/40 in her right eye and 20/50 in her left eye. Her hearing was perfect.

The doctor sat down and talked to her about behaving like a big girl now that she's 6. Told her that now she can't cry like a baby when she doesn't get her way and has to do something to calm herself down and then come and talk to me about why she's upset. Not too sure if that will sink in or not. She was told about using her helmet for everything. The doctor even gave us a couple of games that the girls really want to play. One was called High Low. This is a game to play at dinner. We each have to tell a high point about our day and each of us will make one up for CJ and once that is done we can sure a low point if we have one. Joe worked tonight so we didn't get a chance to try it out, but the girls really want to do it.

The other game she told them to play was actually something to help me out with chores. She said we can write down a bunch of different chores on pieces of paper and then everyone picks a chore out of a bowl. We all have our assignments and we set the timer for 15 minutes and then go do the chores in that time and meet back at the table. Once everyone has finished their chore correctly we then get to set the time for another fifteen minutes and do something fun like play cards or go outside to play. This was a game that the girls really want to try and hey I'm all for getting them to do more chores around the house. So sounds like a plan to me.

She then talked to Kaitlyn about fire safety and strangers. We'll have to have another talk with Kaitlyn about strangers because the doctor asked her if she had ever met a stranger and Kaitlyn said no. So I guess she doesn't know what a stranger is.

Once she was all done chatting with her it was time for a check up. Everything looked good. Kaitlyn had to get her booster shot for chicken pox today too. She was so brave. She didn't even cry. Although, the doctor does such a great job at distracting them. She got a lollipop, bubbles, and a singing dancing toy to distract her. She got to pick two prizes when she was done. She chose a sticky lizard and a bracelet. And we also left with stickers. She was happy and really likes the new doctor.

Next week we go for Natalie's 9 year physical. I'll be sure to update about her then.

Wordless Wednesday: Bathing Beauties

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Prayer Request

This is my friend Renee's daughter Kennedy. She is an amazing little girl who as I type this is getting some major surgery and could use some major well wishes and prayers. She is having spine fusion surgery right now which the doctors anticipate will be an 8-9 hour surgery. Kennedy is just four years old. And in her short life she has overcome a lot. She's had numerous surgeries already and is even in remission from Cancer. She's a fighter so I'm sure she'll pull through this just fine, but she can use all the prayers she can get out there.

If you click on the button above it will take you to Renee's blog where she is updating on Kennedy's surgery. You can also read all about Kennedy there and her three amazing siblings and amazing mom and dad. If you want to add this button to your blog you can copy and paste the link below. I have it displayed on the left side of my blog.

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Thank you all for taking the time out to pray and just have good thoughts for Kennedy.

8 months old

I wasn't really planning on posting an 8 month update on CJ, but things change. Here is CJ 8 months old today and he's sitting up. He's doing such a great job. His therapists came out today and were very impressed with how much improvement he has made in just five days. He still hates tummy time which could be because of the reflux. Thursday we are going for his evaluation to see if he needs a helmet to help reshape his head. He should be over 17 pounds now. I have no idea how tall he is, but he's still short.

Natalie and Kaitlyn are having more fun with CJ now that he's getting more active. They like to roll the ball around with him while he's sitting on the floor. Here are the three of them together sitting on the floor though. Aren't they three cuties?


Be sure to check in tomorrow for an update on Kaitlyn. She is going for her physical tomorrow. Only three months after she turned 6. That's not too bad.

Girl Scouts Build a Bear Party

Last night we had our Daisy and Brownie End of the Year party at Build a Bear. It was so nice and I had so little to do. Much better than when we did this big picnic last year and I had all sorts of stuff to plan and get ready for. Plus I didn't have to worry about weather or parents. It was just the girls. And I think they had a great time. Unfortunately we were missing five of our girls, but all in all I think we ended up with a great turn out. We had a $20 budget per girl. We had each of the girls dress their bears in girl scout uniforms. We had seven girls bridge from Brownies to Juniors and four girls bridging from Daisy's to Brownies. So the girls who bridged put their new level on their bears and the girls who were still Brownies put Brownie uniforms on their bears. Each girl got a patch to put on their own uniforms and one for their bears to go on their uniforms. And when parents came to pick up they got their parents to buy their bears some new outfits too. It was tons of fun and I definitely recommend a Build a Bear party to anyone. My girls are already asking for a Build a Bear party for their next birthday. They've got nine months to wait though so we will see. But here's a peek into our Scout Build a Bear party for you...