really??!

London had been wearing his d-band about 2 days when I started to notice that it shifted to one side. I also noticed that his right eye was a little swollen on Sunday morning. Around noon I took it off to see how his head was doing. I saw that my sweet baby boy had bright red dents everywhere that the band touched. They almost looked like his skin was burnt. I kept the band off and called and left a message for them to see him first thing Monday morning. I was going to have his grandparents take him but coincidently I was having serious issues with my allergies and was sick and had pink eye. So, I stayed home and Kary's mom came to help. We took him to his appointment. They said I did the right thing by removing the band. The technician said he had heat burn and my poor baby's skin was flaking off in places. He is so laid back and doesn't complain and I started to feel bad that I kept it on for 3 days but shit, I figured these people knew what they were doing. Anyways, they had us put the band on for a few minutes and did a photo shoot from all different angles. London was adorable and was cracking up the photographer. He even grabbed her camera strap and started chewing on it. He was having a great time playing in the little toy car and was totally awesome the whole time. They made us wait quite a while as they sent the pictures away to be evaluated. They started acting kind of odd and I started to pick up on the fact that they screwed up and had made a band that will not fit London properly. They ended up telling us we could go home and asked that we leave the band there.
A few hours later they called and told me that they are going to need to make a whole new band and that he'll need another DSI (pantyhose photo shoot) and will get his new band on April 7th...ugh...I was relieved that they will make him a better one but not thrilled that we need to wait longer and re-decorate the whole thing. We spent $10 on tattoos and specially ordered them. I wonder if this happens often or are we really that unlucky? This place is the best of the best. They have high-tech imaging and still somehow London's band wasn't right for his head. I guess we'll just have to make this next one even better. D-band take 2!

all head-geared up!

Our third appointment at Cranial Technologies was London's band fitting and we were sent home with the band. At first it was way too big for his little head and the technician left about 5 times to keep shaving parts off so it would fit better. Even after we left I noticed it didn't seem to fit like it should. It was almost 80 degrees the day he got hit and we stripped him down to his onesie on the ride home. Sure enough, he was sweaty by the time we got home. We were instructed to take the band off every 3-4 hours and check. We did see some red marks but figured they were part of the process. Kary ordered tattoos to decorate the band and got busy decorating. London only had about a day with a boring white band. For now I am trying to get used to this big contraption intersecting my baby kisses! But for a perfect head shape, I'll make the sacrifice.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Kary's birthday was March 22nd but he had to work all day so we celebrated his birthday Sunday night with dinner at PF Changs with his parents. London had a great time with his grandma and grandpa and even got to help daddy open his new kinect for the xbox360. Kary was super excited. We were not huge fans of the food last time we went but this time our veggie meals were much better. We got some delicious cheesecake and tiramasu for dessert. London was about to suck his fingers off when he was watching me eat mine.
On Kary's actual birthday I decided to drive to his salon after work and London and I were planning to surprise him. I picked up London from the babysitter and we stopped at the store and got a balloon, some cheesecake, and veggie sushi. I did it all one-handed while London was in my arms and it was 85 degrees out and my AC in my car was broken. I finally was on my way to the salon and I was told to be there by the front desk girl by 4:00 because that was Kary's scheduled break. I was making perfect time. I was pretty flustered and blindly started driving after getting off the exit. When I realized I had gone too far it was time to put the address in the GPS. Ours is a bit outdated so it took me to an abandoned warehouse and I was pretty sure my GPS was trying to murder me. I got all turned around and the front desk girl gave me the wrong directions again. I finally called the salon after driving all over for like 30 minutes (London napped the whole time) and told Kary I was in town. I was actually right across the street. He was still happy to see us. Unfortunately he was super busy and we had to wait an hour for his break. It was interesting trying to entertain a 5 1/2 month old in a fancy salons. We spilled milk on the couches and I even changed him on the massage table (no pee or poop...I promise!) Finally we got to spend time with the birthday boy but only about 15 minutes. But, it was the thought that counts right?!

hyper little baby!!

London has been a crazy hyper little baby! He loves to pull hair (mostly mine!), smack things out of people's hands, grab toys, smack himself in the face with toys (hopefully unintentionally) scream across the room at the dogs, grab his toes and eat eat eat! He loves sweet potatoes, carrots and rice cereal. He's not a huge fan of fruit. Most of the time he looks at me like I fed him poop...so we stay away from fruit for now. I am surprised because I LOVE fruit and was obsessed with bananas as a baby.
London can sit up unassisted for a little longer now. It's crazy. He sits in his highchair but is still not ready for the restaurant ones (which we embarrassingly found out as we strapped our wobbly baby into one and watched him tip over)
London's bottom teeth have finally broken through so we're hoping the crankiness and waking every two hours at night is fading away for now and we can have our happy baby back. For the most part London is pretty mellow but when he gets upset, he will let you know. He still wants his mommy when he's tired but is so much more open with other people than he was when I was home with him. He started sipping water from a sippy cup and does a pretty good job swallowing some of the water but most dribbles down his shirt. He looks like such a big boy drinking from the cup.
His little personality is really coming alive and I am getting a little glimpse of the boy he will become.
I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves...

Doc Band Update

London had his "Digital Surface Imaging" (DSI) appointment on Thursday. Kary and I were prepared for exactly what was going to happen and even had London watch the video with us at cranialtech.com
It was basically just a photo shoot while London wore pantyhose over his head. They put them on his head to smooth out any hair (although he has very little) and kind of squish everything down so you can really see the head shape. Kary and I were instructed to sit in a chair and not bring attention to ourselves to distract London. That was really hard because I was cracking up so hard I was in tears. He was trying to stick his tongue out through the netting and the technicians were flashing toys and lights all over the place and he was sitting there like a little slobbery monster. The staff there is amazing! There is a woman named Mary who is super sweet and we were lucky to have her be the technician that worked with us and held London while they did the images. She said he was the quickest most cooperative baby (although she may say that to everyone) After a few minutes we went back in the room and reviewed the images. It was so cool and once again funny. The images looked like a London baby doll and at one point they turned him completely metallic and were spinning the image around. He was such a good boy and we let him hold a D-band and explained to him that he'll get his in 2 weeks. We scheduled his next appointment for March 24th at 3:00 and that's when we'll go home with the helmet. We took London to a few art stores last weekend and found some great pirate stickers. We will probably give the helmet a few different looks for the duration of treatment, we're not totally sure how we're going to decorate yet. In any case, he'll look adorable. The techs said he will most likely only wear it for about 8 weeks but maybe a bit longer. We are actually excited to get it on and then get it off :-) London also has surgery in about a month. I am getting very nervous about it and just want to get it over with. So, the next few months will be a crazy challenging time for sweet London. But, he has proven that he just goes with the flow and smiles through it all. He is truly amazing! I could not have asked for a more perfect little human to share my life with :-)





This is the machine that took his photos. He sat on the little stool.



















This is what London is diagnosed with, he has both flat head syndromes.











This is what a doc band looks like.

Look what I can do!

We can't believe it has almost been half of a year since little baby London came into our lives. He turned 5 months this Saturday and wow what a busy little guy he has been. He is reaching all his developmental milestones in clusters and developing so fast I think he even scares himself with all that he learns so quickly.
London has found his toes and loves to chew on them and hold them when he's on his back. He also discovered how to roll over and can sit unassisted for a brief moment before clumsily tipping over. He now loves rice cereal and opens wide and kicks and giggles while eating. We have been teaching him sign language and have started with "eat", "more", "I love you" and "mommy" and "daddy." We are hoping he might catch on and do some signing around 6 months.
Today while wrestling with London, Kary noticed he had a mark on his knuckle when London shoved daddy's finger in his mouth....sure enough, 2 tiny bottom teeth have sprouted! London is doing great with it and doesn't even seem bothered. It may be a whole new story when his molars cut through.
London had his doctor re-check and is fully recovered :-) No more ear infection and no more lung or nose congestion...yay! He was so adorable during his visit. He sat with his hands folded over his chubby belly while the doctor and nurses talked to me. They were once again awesome with him and Dr. Knutson gave him the ok to start baby food! It's a good thing because he has been trying to grab food out of my hand all week. He even tried to grab some lady in the doctor offices bag of trail mix. Kary and I can't wait to give him all kinds of fruit and veggies. We just hope he's not too picky. We plan to raise him vegetarian so no pureed beef for this baby. He also loves bathtime and has been going crazy splashing water. His other new love is his doggies. He gets mad when Brooklyn and Brixton don't acknowledge him and even gave Brooklyn's jowls a tug the other day. The dogs are so good and patient with him and Brooklyn is his protector. I have been feeling super guilty with the lack of attention they have been given but I know in the next few months they will be pumped to have a little guy chasing after them. Each day London surprises me with what he can do. It is truly amazing how fast humans learn and grow.


"gentle winds blowing and stars all above you. Night night little Pookie, I love you and love you. And love you and love you and love you and love you" (our bedtime story)