Sunday, September 30, 2012

Cameron's Plagiocephaly

Cameron began wearing the Star cranial band on August 3.  So it has almost been 2 months.  That doesn't sound like a long time, and really it isn't, but as far as the helmet part of things is concerned it has felt like a long time.  :)  I have said this many times and I will say it again... we are extremely fortunate to have such an easy going baby because Cam has always been perfectly ok with the band.  You would think it would irritate him, but he doesn't seem to mind at all.  I know this experience would be much, much harder if he didn't like the helmet.  I intended to post specific information on his head and the shape situation before, but did not get around to it.  I have been taking pictures though so I thought I would post a few of the progress he has made.  When we started the asymmetry was 14.4 and the last measurement it was 8.5.

Also, for a while Cam's band was just white without any decoration until we were able to go to a Wrap Party!  Thanks to 360 Wraps and their Wrap Buddies party he is now sporting a very cool football themed helmet.  He was already turning heads, but now people are really looking to see the cool design on the helmet.  :)  We had a lot of fun at the party seeing other parents with kids wearing the bands/helmets.  All really nice people and all kinds of different babies!  I talked with one really sweet mom who told me that they were on their 2nd band and her son was quite a bit older.  They originally started about the same age as Cameron.  As we were talking I was getting worried we may have the same situation until she continued talking and mentioned he doesn't sleep in it!!  I just nodded and was polite but was thinking "Don't you know his head is growing when he sleeps and if the hemet isn't on it can't correct anything?!!"  So after hearing that extra bit of information my anxiety lowered... we are still thinking he will just need one band.  That is what the cranial tech/doctor said he thought originally and so far things are tracking that way still.  It was cool to see the process of the bands getting wrapped.  Tommy, the owner, did most of the actual wrapping.  They take a big sheet of tacky paper that is printed in the design selected, place it on the helmet and use a blowtorch to get the paper to adhere properly.  He does some trimming and somehow makes the design smooth on the helmet.  Then they trim the extra stuff off and the helmet is ready to go!  I took a few pictures of the process.

Cameron is going to have another measurement at his next appointment.  I hope to see lots of improvement with the asymmetry.  I can tell it is better... he is growing so fast and always faster than what they are expecting to see.  It must be the miracle grow we put in the bottle.  :)

Before the band-- late July


Before the band-- late July

A couple weeks after getting the band.

September 13- 6 weeks with band

September 13- 6 weeks with band

September 29- 8 weeks with band

September 29- 8 weeks with band


360 Wraps- Wrap Buddies Party!- September 14th


Cam's band waiting to be wrapped

Tommy wrapping his band

Getting closer!

All done!

Front Before

 Front After

Back Before

 Back After

Cameron is 5 months old!

It has been a big month for our big guy!!  We had been trying to get him on a schedule with his naps that was more consistent and would work with having an older sibling... So early this month Cam just started to be more consistent and we have a general schedule now.  Yay!  I think anyone who knows me well knows I am a planner and knowing what is coming and trying to be in control of what is coming is important to me!  Yes, I am a "control freak"... Little man reminded me though that I can't control everything!  It helped, I think, that we also dropped a bottle during the day because we added more in to each bottle.  Things are MUCH easier now that he eats every 4 hours during the day because we can actually get things done between the time he eats!  Cameron continues to be extremely easy going and rarely gets upset.  He is content to watch everything going on around him and smiles and laughs when you play with him.  I posted another update on his helmet where I talked a little about the party and how much we love his new helmet design.  I do think it is pretty cute.  :)

Our sweet little guy is still battling eczema so I took him to the pediatrician.  He gave us a stronger steroid cream (we were using Cortisone) and we have been using it for a few days... it seems to be helping a little more.  The doctor seemed to think he will always battle eczema, but I have talked to several people who said their kids grew out of it or that they grew out of it.  It doesn't seem to bother him even though it looks like it would itch or hurt.  So as long as it isn't causing him pain I will not fret too much.  We will continue to try to get his skin completely clear.  

There are lots of little exciting things to share, so here they are:

  • Cam drinks 4 bottles with 8 ounces each (plus 1 TBSP rice cereal).  When we increased it to the 8 bounces that is when he was happy to go 4 hours between bottles.  Big hooray!
  • Nap times are around 9 or 9:30 where he sleeps 60 to 90 minutes or so, then around 1 or 1:30 where he sleeps 60-120 minutes (he sleeps longer for KK!), and then again around 5:30 for 45-60 minutes.
  • Cameron was waking up EVERY DAY at 5:30 for most of the month.  We got in the habit of letting him lay there and talk for a little bit, and then we would bring him down to sleep some more next to me.  It has been fun getting to talk to him and give him hugs and kisses, but I am very glad that the past few days he has started to sleep longer until 7 am or later.  Keep your fingers crossed this continues!!!  :)
  • We lay him in bed around 9pm, and that is really as early as we can reasonably do it with our nighttime regimen.  In general I give him some kisses and tell him it is time for bed and he plays a little in his crib before falling asleep.  No crying usually... just some gibber-jabber, squeals, and kicking around of his legs.  :)
  • Cameron rolled over from his back to his stomach!  This was 9/27... he got his left arm pinned beneath him, but the rest of him was completely on his tummy.  I was definitely happy for this achievement with his development, but also worried.  I remember the many, many, many times where I'd see Emerson's face almost completely down in her crib and I'd run upstairs in a panic fearing she couldn't breathe.  Now I am entering that time with Cameron!  But so far so good... He figured out how to get his arm out from under him and turned his head.  So I know he knows to do that, but it is still scary.  It seems he actually likes to roll to his side more now, which is probably because he hasn't mastered rolling over.  Until he does he may favor sleeping on his side.  
  • We tried to see if he wanted to eat rice cereal by itself earlier this month.  This was right when we dropped a bottle and I wanted to see if this would be helpful with that, but he wasn't ready for it yet.  He was interested and wanted to see what it was, but definitely didn't know what to do with the weird stuff on the spoon.  :)  Since he is so happy with the 4 bottles I don't think I will worry with trying again until right at 6 months.  I still can't believe that is just around the corner!
  • He is still wearing 6 month clothes and they generally fit well.  I think he could wear some 9 month stuff, but those clothes are too warm because they have long sleeves. As soon as the weather cools down, which I hope it will, we can have some more fun clothes to wear.  
  • We moved Cam to size 3 diapers this month too since we were out of the size 2 and he was at the very top of the weight limit.  They were pretty tight around his waist too.  So the bigger diapers are much roomier, a little too roomy because if you don't secure the diaper well around his legs he will pee on himself and you!  
  • Cameron weighs around 18 pounds 10 ounces.  We go to the doctor next month and will get more stats.
We took some fun videos this month too that I shared with some already:

Cameron rolling from stomach to back-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOdgjE2JXOw&feature=g-upl

Cameron was really moving his legs trying to get somewhere-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um0pxXh0tJ8&feature=context-gau


Cameron laughing when daddy was blowing bubbles on his tummy-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nugdPetsxE

And here are some pictures:


Little man sort of trying some rice cereal.

The kids just hanging out  :)

More hanging out... love how happy he is here!

Our sweet Aggies

His middle name is Chandler, but we will take Handsome  :)

Enjoying bath time in the big tub!  See Emerson's hand on the left?  She was helping, sort of.  :)

My sweet little guy cuddling

Uncle JP and Cam

Uncle Glenn and Cam

Hanging out watching some football

Cameron and KK- they both love her!

Getting so big!

Cam sleeping on his tummy after rolling over.

Our 5 month old cutie pie!

Sweet siblings... they look so alike here!  

Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Pumpkins Are Here!


Today we visited the Arboretum and got to see all the pumpkins!  It was the first day for the pumpkin village to be open (according to the website anyway) and we thought it would be fun to all go see.  Also, I had not been able to see the Chihuly exhibit so that was neat to see.  I am sure it is really beautiful at night all lit up.  It is a gorgeous day and it was a really fun way to spend the morning.  Emerson wasn't too interested in the pumpkins... she was more interested in being able to walk around. The older she gets the more difficult it becomes to get her to hang out in the stroller.  And I can understand that... I'd be annoyed to be strapped in to a seat too!  Cameron was of course the easiest going baby ever this morning.  He is such a great baby... he really goes with the flow. We got him in and out of the carseat several times and he was so chill.  With even cooler temperatures on the horizon I think we will plan some picnics this fall.  I am sure we will be headed back for even more pumpkin pictures!  I asked one of the volunteers how many pumpkins there were and she said 50,000.  Can you imagine???  I would like to see a time lapse video of the transformation. She said the garden was transformed within a matter of a few days.  A crew comes in with a ton of guys and they form long lines and toss the pumpkins down the line to place them all along the paths and in the village area.  It is extremely impressive to see the volume of pumpkins and the variety of pumpkins.  There was one color we didn't see though... and I wonder if someone is working on this in College Station, that is an Aggie maroon pumpkin!  :)

Here is a view of some of the village

Lots of shapes and sizes

Look how creative they are... they made a little pond (gray pumpkins) with ducks (gourds).  That's pretty clever and creative!

Our carriage!

Our little princess!  :)

An Emerson sized pumpkin house

Little man in the pumpkins!

So pretty how they wrapped the tree!

That is a big pumpkin!

Dorthy and Virginia

Emerson loves playing in the water!

We did let her walk around a little!

Some of the exhibit... that must have taken a reallllllllllyyyyyy long time.

My loves... 

Sweet girl with MomMom

Those globes are really beautiful in the sunlight.

Frank's parents

The gals

GG