7 Months (and a bit old) and our first family trip.

We now have a 7 month old and many apologies for not posting after we had our scan. We left for a family trip a couple of days later and it completely slipped my mind.

The scan went swimmingly, she was very good of course. The tech said it was good that we could notice a difference. We started at a 15mm offset on her flat spot and the scan measured we're down to 11mm. That's about the only one of the numbers I remember and that makes sense to me. The tech said he had hoped for more, but at least we had some growth and hopefully this month will be a big growing month. He didn't do much adjusting, just shaved a little from her right ear where it was rubbing. He didn't need to take anything from the inside which is good, need to keep that pressure on the sticky-out bit. He said if we are extra lucky we might only need one more month but more than likely it'll be at least 2 more. That's not too bad, and since the first one went by so quickly, we left in good spirits.

Two days later we set off for our first family road trip. Daddy had some business in St. George so the Radish and I went along since we have some family down there too. The car trip down was fine, a little bit of crankiness in the beginning, a nap and then she played the rest of the way. I sat in the back as entertainment. The only issue we were worried about is that it's quite a bit hotter down there than here. Luckily our hotel had fabulous air conditioning. Mommy and Daddy practically froze all night. The Radish slept in her Pack and Play. It was challenging to be in the same room as her, it meant we had to sit in the dark and whisper from 7pm on. She slept mostly well, but did sound very sad and lost when she did wake up. While Daddy did his thing during the day, we took early morning walks, went shopping, went swimming, visited her Aunt, Uncle and Grandpa, and just generally relaxed. It was actually quite lovely. She was complimented all the time by strangers about how lovely and happy she always was. All the praise must have gone to her head because she had the most shocking night of sleep ever the night before we were due to head home. It was probably too much excitement and being in a strange place.

So we headed home with a very tired baby and fortunately she took a wonderful long nap right from the start. It made the trip quite easy. She only got a little bit grumpy about 20 minutes from home and I can't say I blame her. I was pretty sick of being in the car by then. All in all, she was just great, but seems to be really glad to be home and in her own bed. I got home and realized I hadn't taken any pictures what so ever. How awful of me! But I do have a cute couple to show off and they'll just have to do!

We're one month in!

Yesterday marked 4 weeks in the helmet! I haven't dared to look and try and notice if there is a big difference. I've been too nervous in case there isn't much. The day we were due to get the helmet, I took a picture of Erin from above. I took another picture this evening and we all held our breath as we looked at them next to one another. Here they are, what do you think?

In the "before" picture, You can see how the right side of the back of her head bulges quite a bit. In the "4 weeks" picture it looks significantly less bulgy. Or am I just imagining things? She is looking slightly down in the "4 weeks" picture, but that still looks quite a lot better. We will go for our one month scan on Friday morning and then we will know for sure what the difference is. I'm just quite glad it looks like something. Wahoo!

On top of this great looking news, she has started clapping. It's just the cutest thing to see. Here is a picture of her doing it (I know, clapping is not a static action but she is just so stinking cute in this pic).

Such a clever little thing. More to come when I've taken her 7 months picture. That's on Friday, so that picture will be along with the news from our scan.

Three weeks down, how the time flies.

Well, today we've been in the helmet for 3 weeks. It seems to have flown by but at the same time it feels like she's been in the thing forever. So weird. But she's still doing so well, hardly even notices the thing is on. She almost seems a little bit sad when I take it off. Funny child.

It has started to smell a little funny in the last week or so. I did some browsing online, because simply scrubbing it with rubbing alcohol once a day seemed to leave a funny smell in it. Now I leave it out in the sun for a bit every couple of days, that sucks the smell right now. Then, after scrubbing with alcohol in the evening, I then scrub with a damp cloth that has a little of her shampoo on it, then wipe it out with a clean damp cloth. Seems to take the smell of the alcohol out nicely. It's not awefull I suppose, at least you can smell it unless you get your nose right in there.

A follow up as well: the whole sleep training thing was a one night fail. Erin cannot cry it out. I did the bed time routine, gave her a cuddle and kisses and put her in her bed. She talked to herself for 40 minutes and then the crying started. So I waited as suggested, then went in to soothe when she didn't calm down. I tell you, when I walked out again once she'd calmed down, then the screaming really started. It just got worse and eventually she was hyperventilating and I gave up. It took ages for her to calm down again and she was still almost crying in her sleep. I've decided we'll have to go with a more gentle method, slowly cut our routine down and work to a point where she's drowsy but awake. It'll take a while but I think she can do it. It'll have to wait a while because we're going on a trip in 2 weeks and will be staying in a hotel. I just know that that will mess up any progress we've made so we'll wait. She's doing well and starting to sleep through without waking or needing to eat. She's done it 4 times now, not in a row however. Unfortunately, this means she sometimes wants to wake up at 5am for the day. Still trying to figure that one out...

The Radish's daddy is away on business this week, which is strange. This is the first time and not that I have a problem taking care of the Radish my myself, it's still very odd not having him here. Oh well, we'll be fine, keep ourselves busy. She probably be way bored of me by the time he gets home, but I'm sure that'll just make him feel like her favorite person. Which he is I think ;).

One week (and a bit) down... time to sleep train

We are more than a week into our helmet wearing experience and the radish is doing so well! She's not letting anything stand in her way.

Went for the check up at the orthodist office yesterday. They just needed to check that everything was going okay and answer any questions we had. I just had two questions. My first was about the car seat. Random, I know. The point was, the radish is still in an infant car seat (the ones you can take in and out of the car, that clip into a base that stays in the car). Our particular seats instructions say that she needs to move to a bigger seat when her head is an inch or less from the top of the car seat. Well, without the helmet, she's just fine. With the helmet, she's getting quite close. I was just wondering if this would affect the safety of the seat, if we should measure her height from the top of her head or from the top of the helmet. He said it shouldn't make a huge difference, but obviously once she gets close to the inch barrier with her head, to then get another seat. 

On Tuesday evening, while doing the "one hour of freedom from the helmet" time, we noticed that the radish had a few slightly rasied spots on the back of her head, on the spot that's most prominent and therefore has contact with the helmet. Most of the red patch faded very quickly, as it usually does, but there were about 3 little bumps left that didn't go away within the hour. I put the helmet back on for the night, since the skin hadn't broken and didn't look painful. I resolved to check in the morning and then of course speak to the technician at our appointment. It didn't seem worse in the morning but, of course, hadn't gone away. At the appointment he reassured me that it happened often and was simply the spot where the radish's head was rubbing on the helmet. He didn't want to adjust the helmet too much, as that might slow progress, but he did smooth out the spot where it was rubbing. He also suggested putting vaseline on the spot to help lubricate it a little. If it still doesn't clear nicely, we'll try some hydro cortisone cream on it. He said that if it is still a problem after trying that, to come back in and he will take some of the foam out so it doesn't rub. I hope we don't have to do that, because as he said, we need that contact with the prominent area to stop it from bulging out more.

Other than those minor issues, she is doing just fabulously. We'll go for her next scan in a month, where they'll scan her head again and compare that picture to the first scan and check our progress. I can't wait! I just want to get there and see how much different it is. I'll try not to agonise over it, to avoid being disappointed if there isn't as much change as I'm hoping for.

Since the radish is doing so well (sleeping better than she was before the helmet) I've decided it's time for her to start learning to fall asleep alone. That's right, 6 months old and Mummy still helps her fall asleep for every nap and bedtime. Granted, for the last few weeks, she has been so great about going back to sleep when she stirs during the night, and more recently, during naps. So, since all the colds, runny noses, vaccination after effects and helmet breaking-in are all over with, the time has come. It's gonna be kind of aweful and I'm sure there will be crying (from everyone involved) but we're going to try. More to follow on how it is going...

I'll take a new helmet over 6 month shots any day.

The radish had her 6 month check up yesterday which included 3 injections, poor little mite. The shots always mess her up for a few days.

Needless to say, she had been getting so good with the helmet, we'd worked up to the full day yesterday. The day before she had slept the whole night through in it, only waking once to eat and going to bed really easily. It was lovely, I was feeling all positive. Last night was kind of hard because of the shots. I think she started running a low fever in the middle of the night and so was very sad and there was a lot of crying and very little sleeping on everyone's part. I only figured it might be a fever this morning, after the poor thing had been in the helmet all night.

We were told by the orthotist (I think that's what they're called) that any time she's running a fever, to take it off. So it's been off today and she's still not 100% so we'll leave it off tonight. I feel crappy about it but at the same time, that's what we were told to do. She usually only has a very rough time the first 24-36 hours after the shots. Then she's just a bit more cranky than usual for a couple of days. So hopefully we can put the band back on tomorrow morning.

Anyway, the appointment was great (except for being poked with needles). She is now 24.5 in. long (50th percentile), 17lbs 8oz (80th percentile) and her head size is in the 80th as well. She's hitting all her milestones on track and we'll be having 2 meals of solids a day now. The other great news was that we only see the doctor again at 9 months and there are no vaccines scheduled for that appointment! Hooray! Six months until we have to deal with this again.

On another note, she tried prunes for the first time today and was quite revolted by them, but ate them anyway. I drank prune juice while I was pregnant and didn't really enjoy it either. She does the same little eyes-closed-shudder that I would do. Too funny.

Mommy and Daddy get to go out this afternoon/evening and have dinner and a movie. Quite excited. Hope she's good for her grandma. I wasn't sure if we should go or not, what with her being the the grumpiest baby alive, but grandma insisted. She's a star!

Here are some comparative pictures in celebration of the radish's half birthday.

One day old.

Six months old.

First night sleeping with the helmet...

Needless to say it was kind of hellish for all concerned (there is a reason helmet has the word hell hidden in it). She had a disastrous day napwise which never bodes well for bedtime. The poor nanny was at her wits end. But even though she was exhausted, Radish was still trying to be so sweet and would give me smiles and giggles all the way up to bed time.
It took and hour and a half to get her to bed (a process which usually takes 30 minutes at most). So poor mommy was as exhausted as poor radish, but she finally passed out. Luckily she managed to go 4 hours before she kicked up a fuss again and so I fed her and she went right back to sleep! Yesterday was a "4 hour on, one hour off" day so I had decided to take it off after the 4 hours if she was having a hard time. But I left it and she went another 4 hours! This time, her diaper had leaked (FML) so a 2am wardrobe change had to take place which means taking the helmet off. I just left it off, thinking that we'd gotten lucky with those 8 hours anyway and she might as well finish the night off well.
We started today at 6am as usual and she was bright and sunny and sweet. Today is a "8 hours on, 1 hour off" day and I'm feeling confident. We'll get through this rough patch I just know it. The child will probably become so attached to the thing, we'll have more trouble getting her to stop wearing it. Now I'm steeling myself for her 6 month check up and shots tomorrow... blerg!

This was dear sister's suggestion as a way to save money on the whole helmet process... nice.

We paid for the helmet ourselves, which stung a lot, as our crappy insurance would not pay, but more on that another time. I'm off to my last day of work, then it's summer vacation! Three lovely months with my little radish and her daddy. So excited!