Hello Helmet Goodbye Plagio!

If you have talked to me at all in the last few months then you probably know that I have been going back and forth about weather or not to put a helmet on my little Mya. She has Plagiocephaly. Here is a quick lesson on Plagio that I found online.

What is Plagiocephaly?

Plagiocephaly often results from external forces applied to the soft infant skull.
There are actually three different types of misshapen heads. As causes of plagiocephaly are combined, it’s not uncommon to see heads that illustrate two of the deformities.

A parent’s first instinct is to wonder “what did I do to my baby to cause this?” Guilt is common, but there are many factors that can contribute to plagiocephaly and chances are, it was nothing you did intentionally. A baby’s skull is so soft and malleable until the sutures fuse around two years of age. For this reason, any external forces, whether during the pregnancy or in the infant’s daily life, can contribute to the head shape.

So, hopefully that filled you in a little bit on what is going on with her head. Of course all of those pictures are worse case pictures. Her plagio isn't as bad as the picture. You wouldn't notice it if I didn't point it out to you. We have been working on repositioning her while she sleeps since she was 3 months old. It just hasn't helped the front of her head as much as we would have liked it to so, she has some asymmetry in her face now. If the bones in your head aren't aligned then the bones in your face and jaw won't be. That is my main concern. Because, lets face it, she is going to have lots of red hair that will cover her head shape anyway right (fingers crossed). So we finally decided to just get the helmet and get it over with. The helmet holds her head in place where it sticks out, and leaves room for growth where it needs to fill in. They digitally scanned her head and made a Styrofoam head that they poured a mold on to make the helmet fit just perfect. It was pretty cool to see the scan come up on the computer while they scanned her head. She has to wear it 23 hours a day. I only take it off for cleanings 1 hour a day and to let her head breath. The Dr. said she will most likely have to wear it for 4-6 months. She just got it yesterday and she has been so good with it! It doesn't seem to bother her at all. We slowly make our way up to the 23hrs a day. Today she has to have it on 2hrs, off 1hr repeted all day. And then she gets it off while she sleeps through the night. By day 7 she will be wearing it full time. I am so happy that we finally decided to get her in the helmet, so I can stop worrying about it and we can just get it fixed already! Our insurance doesn't cover it and it is a $1,600 helmet!!! But, I am sure that most parents would pay anything to help their child. I would hate for her to notice it when she was a teenager and then find out that I could have fixed it! Talk about a guilt trip for the rest of your life! I think she looks cute in it. Next on my list is to decorate it so she looks extra cute!! We are so grateful that we have the opportunity to fix it! I'll keep you all posted on how it goes!

Happy Birthday Madi

So, Madi's Birthday was on a Sunday this year. We decided to just have a low key birthday. We went to church and then came home, had some lunch, and went on a walk because it was a beautiful day!

Madi had lots of fun chasing Seths car all around her favorite place in the basin behind our house. Mya just watched in her stroller while munching on a piece of watermelon.

We all had a good time enjoying our nice weather! After that, we headed home to put the girls down for a nap so I could get started on Madi's birthday cake. It was a lot of fun! We decided to have all of Seths family come over for birthday cake and presents after dinner. Madi was so excited to have all her cousins come over! Madi had a great time with everyone! Here are a few pictures!

I thought I would ask Madi this year what kind of birthday cake she wanted but I just kept getting answers like, a bath cake, a light cake, a mommy cake (pretty much whatever she was looking at at the time). So I gave up on that and just looked online until I found something that I thought she would like. I surprised her with it when she woke up from her nap. She really liked it, and all the kids had fun eating the cupcake cones.

She got lots of fun presents! Here is Seth putting together her new scooter!

We love our little Madi Buns so much! She is such a cutie pie! I can not believe that she is 3 already! How the heck did that happen?? She is starting to test us more and more as she gets older. Just reminding Mom and Dad that we need to step up our game ;) She is getting too smart! She loves to play outside and get dirty! She loves drawing on the side walk with her chalk, playing hide and seek (or "hide the sink" as she would say), playing "Not It" (tag) and playing school. She is so much fun to have in our family. Thanks to everyone who came over, sent birthday gifts, and called Madi on her birthday! She had such an awesome day! We love you all!

Halloween

I love Halloween time!! I love decorating my house, especially now that Madi can help, and I love picking what I get to dress my girls up as. I know that won't last too much longer with Madi getting older. I decided to make the girls costumes this year. My mom always made ours so I thought I would give it a try. One little problem with that is that I don't sew! I have a sewing machine and my mom showed me how to use it when she gave it to me, but I almost never use it. So, I had to watch a YouTube video and call my mom 3 times to figure out how to thread the bobbin and the machine. After that, it wasn't too bad. I sewed Madi a little Tinkerbell dress and Madi her and Mya some wings. I already had made Myas tutu. So this is what they ended up with.

I had fun making them, and I was glad that they looked different then all the other Tinkerbells, and lady bugs we came across. We got a lot of use out of them. First we had our ward fall festival at a park. It was freezing cold!! So they had there costumes on for about 5 min and they were both crying so I ended up layering every piece of clothing in my bag on them. I ended up having to go back to the house to get a few more jackets and hats once Seth got there. Madi had fun trick-or-treating around every ones blankets, so it ended up being a good time.

The next day Madi had a Halloween party with some of her friends. We all planned a game or an activity for the kids and brought a spooky treat! It was a lot of fun.

On Halloween day it warmed up (thank goodness) so Madi didn't freeze in her little costume. We made it through our little neighborhood and she was done. So we came home and she had fun handing out our candy to the kids.

The next day was Madis 3rd birthday! So I will post about that soon!