Fun Fall Day

Sunday was such a fun fall day!  We had some yard work to do in the morning but luckily we had this great helper.  He had fueled up with TEN mini pancakes for breakfast and then requested a "peanutjeddy" sandwich before we went outside.  He loved the leaves! 

 

Bryan was using the leaf blower and he thought it was pretty funny.

There's a weird flare on this picture but I love it because it shows two things -His ability to turn anything into a horsey and his tongue that makes it's appearance while he's focused.

 

 I had a hair appointment in the afternoon and then we headed to Keller's Farmstand to try out the corn maze.  It was freezing so we didn't stay long but it was fun.  Jackson really thought the object was to collect as much corn as you could possibly hold.

Charley was bundled up and enjoyed napping close to mommy.

 We checked out some of the other stuff around the grounds before we let Jackson pick a small pumpkin.

"Hebby" "Hard!"

I was pretty excited to catch this one mid snot bubble.

After JJ picked the perfect pumpkin we headed to dinner and then home!  Bryan and I carved pumpkins while the kids were sleeping.  So fun!

Pumpkin Babies

Today was Charley's turn in a pumpkin.  I kept putting it off because I didn't want to clean the inside of a pumpkin but today was the last day it was going to be warm so I jumped on the chance to do it.  I'm so glad I did!  It's fun to have pictures of both kids like this.

 

I love my pumpkin babies!

Caroline Jane ~ Four Months

This girl will not smile for a camera.  Oh my.  Her poor face pretty much sums up her attitude the last couple weeks.  She was sick a couple weeks ago, then got her DOC band, and now I think she has an ear infection.  She's just pitiful.  And so are her sleep habits.  She tricked me in the beginning into thinking she was going to be a great sleeper.  We'll get there.  Slowly.  Jackson and Charley usually look a lot alike but this month's comparisons don't really show it.  JJ wins the More Flattering Pictures award for the fourth month.

 

 Caroline Jane, at four months you:

• weigh close to 16 pounds.  We'll know for sure on Thursday after your appointment.
• wear a size 2 diaper.
• wear size 6 month clothes.  You have a few things that are 3-6 months but you're mostly done with that.  Some of your sleepers are even 6-9 month.
• are wearing your DOC band full time now.  You wear it 23 hours a day.  Your one hour of head freedom is for a bath at night.  Boy is your head stinky after 23 hours in a helmet.
• have the best laugh.  You are pretty stingy with it though.  You give the most laughs right when you wake up from a nap and are getting a diaper change.
• don't really have a schedule right now.  Somehow what we had going stopped working for you.  Mommy thinks you might have some reflux that we are going to get checked out at the doctor.  Jackson's activities have us out of the house a lot and it makes it hard for you to get a good nap and fall into a schedule.
• drink about 30oz of formula a day.  It's usually split across 5 or 6 bottles.
• are really unpredictable at night.  You have slept all night a couple times and there are nights when you wake up every hour.  I can usually just put your pacifier back in and you go back to sleep.  When that helmet comes off, we are going to have to work on the paci thing.
• have gotten much stronger with your physical therapy.  The doctor told us we didn't have to go anymore.  You definitely won't win any muscle contests but you aren't quite so wobbly anymore.

 

We're ready for Winter.  You've stored plenty of food. :)

Charley has her DOC band!

Getting Charley's DOC band has been quite the process. I am totally frazzled and overwhelmed with the process. She had her fitting for the band last Friday. They took pictures like the ones posted in her evaluation post but the therapists had to hold her to get the perfect view. They made a mold of her head and made the band for her and we picked it up this past Friday.

 

The fitting was Friday morning and was about an hour and fifteen minutes long.  I had Jackson with me and he did fairly well.  Luckily there was some construction going on outside our window so he was able to watch Bobcats moving bricks around.  The first time they put the band on her it came down way too low and covered half of her eyes.  It took lots of adjustments from the therapist but we were on our way with instructions to let her wear if for 3 hours and then take it off for a skin check. 

 



This is what the DOC band looks like before it was wrapped.



Right after we left Cranial Technologies we went to Vinyl Touch Graphics.  I was so impressed by these men.  They dedicate 4 hours every Friday to wrapping bands for families for FREE!  They wrap semis, busses, vans, windows, etc. and they use the same process on these little helmets.  It sure makes it look better and not so medical!

 

She did fairly well on Friday and even slept in it part of Friday night.  After a little more time in it on Saturday morning, I noticed that she was getting a little bump/blister above her ear.  She is still not wearing the band full time (23 hours per day) because she is still getting a bright red spot from pressure.  They are very careful about the integrity of her skin.  We have an appointment tomorrow for another adjustment and then hopefully she can be in it full time.  It has been quite the process!

 

 

 

This is how we both feel about this whole process.  I am terrified that she's going to outgrow this band and need another one.  They told me only 5-10% of babies need 2 bands.  Then I read the paperwork they sent home and it said up to 20% need a second one.  Our insurance is not covering one cent of it so just the first band is costing us $2,000!  OUCH!  Please, God, don't let her have a growth spurt and outgrow it. 

Hopefully by Thursday we'll be well on our way to a round head!

Johansen Farm with Friends

We spent last Tuesday morning at another fun Fall place near us.  It's been fun to check out a bunch of new things that other moms know about.  We went with the moms group that I coordinate. While the pictures may lead you to believe that I left Charley at home to fend for herself, I didn't.  When you have a two year old, a sleeping infant in a carrier is just not as exciting. Poor thing.  I have so many pictures of JJ like that.  Oh well.

 

Lots of pictures ahead:

 

Addison and Jackson getting a closer look at the goats.

He was so excited to touch the baby bird.

Good looking boy with cider donut residue on his face.

One week old pigs were shuggled with their momma.  Cute names!

JJ with his true loves.  Goats!

Then he found the hand sanitizer and watching it fall to the ground proved very entertaining,

The whole gang on a tractor.

It was so fun until he had to share the driver's seat.

A real hayride!  We can check it off our fall list.

It's impossible to get 6 two-year-olds to each look through their own window.  Better luck in 3 years.

I looked over before we left and Jackson had snuggled between two friends with sandwiches.  I didn't bring anything because we were going to eat at home.  Luckily for him, Cooper's mom was willing to share half.

 

We all had a great time and it was fun to enjoy the nice weather.  Now I have two sick kids so today we are laying low and possibly taking Charley to the doctor so they can have a listen at her chest.  Her featured post is coming soon.  She gets her DOC band on Friday morning.

3 Month Pictures

I took Charley to JC Penney for her three month pictures.  I usually like the non-studio pictures better but this was in our budget.  I'm so glad I did because I LOVE them.  I think they turned out great and it was half the cost of JJ's pictures and I took home prints.  I had two outfits picked out for her but we only got to one.  We took some diaper pictures between outfit changes so by the time we got the second outfit on, she was done.  There was one picture of her in that outfit and she was crying.  Now I know for next time to put her in the best outfit first!

 

 

CranialTech Evaluation

I took Charley to CranialTech this morning.  I went in thinking they would say it was mild and I thought it could go 50/50 on whether she needed a DOC band or not.  The physical therapist also noticed that her neck was really weak and gave me some exercises to add to the exercises and stretches we are already doing for her neck. 

After they called us back, they had me get her undressed to her diaper and we went into the photo room.  They put a netting over head so it would hold her hair down and give a better image.  Her hair really camoflauges her head shape.  In just about 3 minutes they were able to get 360 degree digital images of her head.

The physical therapist looked at them and we went over the results.  Charley has severe Brachycephaly and mild Plagiocephaly.  She is definitely a candidate for the band.  An insurance liaison will call me in a couple days to let us know how much they will cover.  A few hours after her appointment, they sent me these images.

This just shows the actual measurements that the digital image showed.

These look pretty scary!

These are the shots that I think are the most obvious.  You can see the back of her head just drops down flat instead of forming a round shape.

I'm interested to hear from the insurance liaison to see when we can get started. I'd like her to get started in it as soon as possible.  They said she could be in it for as little as 6 weeks.  I'm actually pleased that her results came back the way they did.  I was a little afraid they were going to say she could go either way and then I'd have to choose.  If I chose to treat her, I would have wondered if we wasted the money because it would have gotten better and fixed itself.  If I chose not to, I would constantly be staring at her head and wondering if I should have fixed it.  I prefer that decision be made for me.

So now I just wait for a call and we'll make our appointment as soon as we can!

Caroline Jane~Three Months

I can't believe Charley is already 3 months old.  Actually, at this point, she's a week and a half past it.  Ooops.  This girl is stingy with her smiles sometimes and she wouldn't smile for these pictures for the life of her!  I tried everything.  I even had Bryan home to help.  I could be that Jackson had been crying (for no apparent reason other than he's 2) for about an hour.  We all wanted to sit in a chair with a blank stare.  I thought about redoing the shoot to get a smile but I never did that for Jackson and I want it to be real.  So, if I tried everything to get her to smile at 3 months and she didn't do it, then fine!  That's just her.

Caroline, at three months you:

• weigh 15 pounds.  You are just a big pile of the cutest, deepest rolls I've ever seen!
• eat 6oz 4 times a day.  You eat at 7, 11, 3 and 7.  You also take 3-4 oz anywhere between 3-5am making your total about 28 oz. 
• are a much better sleeper than your brother was.  Thank God!  You go to bed around 8 or 9 and get up around 7am.  You wake up once to eat.  If you wake up other times (usually just once more) I put your pacifier back in and you go back to sleep.
• are starting to take more regular naps.  They vary in length but most of the time they're about an hour.  Hopefully those will start to stretch out soon.  It's hard to have much of a schedule with your brother's busy social life.
• can roll over!  I thought it was a fluke but you did it several more times.
• are still really wobbly with your head.  You have such a huge noggin that it's hard for you to hold it up.  I'm hopful that lots of tummy time will help that along.
• started laughing this month and it is so cute.  The first time you laughed was after one of Jackson's music classes.  I was changing your diaper and I tickled you and you laughed. So sweet.  Now, you laugh quite a bit, often for no reason.  You just look at the animals on your bouncer and belly laugh.
• are going to the nursery at church.  You were never a problem in church but now that you're getting so big, it's just easier to drop you off there instead of hold you during the service.  You always get a great report.
• are just a little too small for your 6 month clothes but too big for your 3 month clothes.  You'll be fitting in your 6 month clothes perfectly in no time.
• wear a size 2 diaper.
• are such a happy, content baby.  The only time you get really fired up is when you are hungry.  I guess that explains the rolls.