In Limbo

Today, Evan had his final evaluation for his helmet therapy. He's officially outgrown it after 9 weeks, so he got a second set of pictures taken to evaluate the changes. And, here they are (side note - cute stockinged baby again!) Top is before, bottom is after:

From the front, you can see that his head is a lot more symmetrical across the top! His face also has more symmetry. 

You can see it's also a little more rounded in the back.

And,  you can see it's much less of a severe of a slant in the back - our biggest concern, but that there still is that flatter spot on the left. 

So, in sum, Evan's made some great progress, but he isn't "there" yet. His plagiocephaly is still on the higher side of moderate (down from severe) which, to be honest, is pretty disappointing. We knew going in that because much of his problems were caused in utero, they would be harder to correct, but I can't deny that I had visions of getting a "mild" score on his evaluation. He did improve in the overall shape of his head (he had some mild brachycephaly also, which caused some wideness above the ears and a head that was more circular, instead of longer than it was wide), and does look so much better. 

Still, it looks like we're headed towards another helmet. We need to wait to hear back from insurance, which can take up to 3 weeks, and then it will be at least a week after that to get the new helmet, so he probably won't have it until he's close to 8 months old. Since growth slows down, he'll have to wear it for 3-4 months, taking him right up to his first birthday. 

It's hard to be "starting over" and I've been going through a lot of the emotions I had the first time around, which seems silly, since I'd been feeling so good about our helmet process up to now. I don't worry about public opinion any more, but more that I'm missing out on almost his whole infancy, it feels like, with a little boy who I can cuddle without worrying about a broken nose from getting bonked by a hard hat :). I'm also stressed that it will take about a month to get a new helmet, since the later it takes to get a helmet, the longer it needs to be worn and the less effective it is. 

But, I'm trying to look on the bright side. I'll have almost a whole month to snuggle and cuddle with my sweet baby and rub that soft, blond hair of his. A month of kissing his head all over, instead of just the top, and rubbing my face in his sweet little neck. He is perfect, helmet or not, and I'm still so thankful that this is something that can be fixed and isn't something that requires surgery or medication or something else that could threaten his wellbeing. If anything, the helmet has been keeping him safer, especially as he's become more mobile. This time with it off has made Ed and I both more nervous as he crawls around exploring, and sometimes we wish that we could put that helmet back on so we wouldn't have to worry about him banging himself up :). 

So, we're currently in a kind of limbo. Done with our first helmet, but not done with having a helmet (most likely). It's sort of a weird place to be, but we're going to make the most of it. 

Happy Birthday, Love!

Happy Birthday to my amazing, wonderful, perfect-for-me husband. You are more than I ever could have hoped for and I love spending each and every day with you. Our little boy is so lucky to have you in his life!

(We had a fantastic time celebrating a new year in Ed's life by spending 3 days up in Sedona. Many, many pictures and a full blog post - or two - to follow :) )

Starting Solids!

As I mentioned, I've been stuck with the whole eating thing with Evan. After reading the Baby Led Weaning book, I really connected with the idea that Evan will be happiest if he's in charge of feeding himself. After all, he's definitely in charge of how much he eats while nursing. But, big chunks of food legitimately freaked me out. 

So - compromise? I baked up a sweet potato and, after mixing in a little water, put a little helping on his tray. I also gave him a spoon with some sweet potato loaded on it. 

First attempt? Spoon went in the wrong way, but seemed to feel great on his gums. 

He liked to switch off between the spoon and playing with the goop with his hands. 

Ultimately, though? He liked the spoon the best. He would start to fuss whenever I'd take the spoon to reload it, and really liked to suck and bite on it. Of course, he's teething hardcore right now, so that was a huge part of it. 

The funniest, though, was the sippy cup! Evan lunged for it as soon as we put it on his tray, and seemed to know exactly what to do with it! Granted, he needed to tip it up a little more, but I'm pretty sure he got some water out. Must have reminded him of a bottle.

He is so wonderful :)

Our happy little eater!

Changing Seasons

Things are changing around these parts.

Wear his super cute CAL shirt since it's finally cool enough for sleeves! Thanks, Christine!

First off, it's definitely feeling like fall! I'm currently sitting on the couch wearing actual pajama pants and uggs, while under a blanket and drinking a cup of tea. Nighttime temperatures have been in the high 40s, which means we wake up to a 70 degree house. Not cold by any means, but a huge improvement from our 80s indoors. Evan is wearing sleeper pajamas in the mornings and pants in the evenings. Life is lovely!

"What are you doing over there?"

"Can I see?"

Changing is also happening with our little boy, though. I have this app on my phone called "Wonder Weeks" which lets us know about developmental milestones. This last one was a doozy - 6 weeks of promised crankiness that surely delivered. Thankfully, the app was right, and the cranky baby faded away a few days ago and left in its wake a happy baby who is crawling, breaking a tooth, and just so much more interactive with our world!

My favorite is probably that now, when I'm on the floor with him, he'll often crawl over to me and try to climb up. He also reaches out for me, which is just the sweetest.

First food! Or not....

He's sitting up much better (though he's still not completely stable), which means we're getting closer to actually starting food. We've given him a few pieces to play with (part of a banana and part of an apple) but, ironically, while he puts every toy under the sun in his mouth, he doesn't seem to have a lot of interest in putting food there. We're not in a rush, but we will be starting to give him more opportunities, especially now that I'm CPR certified (Ed's getting certified this weekend). I'm feeling pretty torn between liking the ideas behind Baby Led Weaning (giving whole foods from the get go) and being a paranoid mommy who feels safer doing purees. We may compromise and give him purees to play around with/feed himself - will that work? Who knows. Food before one is just for fun, as the lactation consultant at my breastfeeding group likes to say, so we're being pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

In any event, it's an exciting time. So many changes are happening with our little boy, and so many more seem soon to follow! He's definitely left the little baby phase far behind and has changed into this amazing, interactive, super funny little person.

Doing Our Civic Duty

It's Election Day! Evan made sure that we researched all of our choices before we voted, so we could make some informed decisions. 

Then, we headed through the neighborhood to our community center and dropped off the ballot! 

Happy Election Day :)

More Halloween Fun

While our Halloween was super low key, I did want to do something Halloween-y with Evan on the actual night. 

So, I bought him his own little pumpkin. 

After carefully cutting it open and removing all the seeds. we let him "go to town."

Apparently, though, going to town mostly meant just looking at it. Not as interesting as we hoped!

After a few minutes, this started happening. Evan's signal for "I'm all done - please take me away!"

Hopefully next year, pumpkins will be a little more fun :)

It was a super nice Halloween though! Just passed out candy while Evan played and Ed and I played a card game and listened to Halloween music. We had exactly 2 pieces of candy left when we turned out the lights at 7:30, when Evan went to bed (and the trick-or-treaters had significantly slowed down). Wonder what next year will hold?

California Adventures: Sonoma

Leading up to our trip, this leg was one that we were looking forward to the most. Ever since we found out we would be moving here, we had been excitedly talking about what we would like to do with our short visit.

Our first morning was spent enjoying the drizzly weather at the Cal State Sonoma campus. Ed had a meeting with a soon to be coworker while Evan and I explored campus. It will be such a great place for Ed to work and Evan to attend daycare. Afterwards, we headed to Petaluma, a city south of Rohnert Park (were CSU Sonoma is located), that we'd really liked from looking at online. 

We had a yummy lunch in downtown, and then enjoyed walking around. 

I loved all of the old buildings and look forward to many more lovely days exploring once we live nearby.

It really is such a picturesque place.

After our downtown exploration, we headed up to a neighborhood that Ed has been eyeing online. it's big selling feature? Well, it's not hard to figure out. 

It was a gorgeous day, which just accentuated the beauty of the golden hills - hands down my favorite California scenery. 

We took a very short hike up a trail across the street from some homes, and fantasized about having views like this just a few minute walk from our home. 

Our little boy was, like always, a bit sleepy, but still enjoyed the view, we think. 

Could you imagine living in one of those homes? They'll probably prove out of our price range, but who knows :).

As we headed back down to the car, it was with happy hearts. 

That evening, we headed out to dinner in a tiny town near Sebastopol, meeting up with my sister. My two boys looked very handsome.

Evan loved hanging out with his auntie!

We were so fortunate to be staying with a family friend, who has an amazing property up in the Sebastopol mountains. I was very, very taken with all the cute deer that popped up in the mornings and evenings.

And, spending time on her patio, with this gorgeous view, was heavenly. 

Spending time here was incredibly relaxing. 

Few things are as peaceful as sitting in nature. 

We finished off our visit by getting the local's tour of downtown Sebastopol.

After the shops, we, of course, had to go wine tasting. 

Evan made sure to wake up for this part. He will be a wine country boy, after all!

Evan seemed partial to the reds :). 

The next morning, we headed off through those golden hills, south towards our next destination. 

We cannot wait to call this place home.