What Hannah's Getting For Christmas

We got surprising news at Hannah’s seven week checkup at Cranial Technologies. Her physical therapist, Robin, said that Hannah’s head was basically corrected and that she would graduate from her band at her next appointment! Robin adjusted Hannah's band one last time, and Chris and I are expecting her to outgrow it in the next two weeks.

We've been really amazed at how quickly her treatment has gone. In fact, Hannah will have only been in the band eight-and-a-half weeks by the time she graduates. And since we were fully expecting her to be in it the full estimated 12 weeks, this is a nice surprise. Robin said that it makes a huge difference when babies are treated as early as possible since they are constantly growing, which has most definitely been the case for Hannah. We're very grateful we did this sooner than later.

So here is a list of some of the things I'm looking forward to post-treatment:
• washing Hannah's hair with smelly-good shampoo again
• kissing my baby's smelly-good head without a stinky band in the way
• snuggling with Hannah without a big, hard helmet in my face
• showing off Hannah's beautifully round head

Merry Christmas, Hannah! Mom and Dad got you a round head.

(By the way, Hannah's wearing a stocking on her head not because she's about to go rob a covenient store. It is actually used to smooth her hair down for us to get a better look at her head. Her hair has grown a lot lately and it's looking reddish!)

We're Half Way There

We just finished Hannah’s fifth week of treatment in the DOC Band. My mom got to go with us for this week’s appointment since Chris was out of town. So she got to see for herself a model of the way Hannah’s head looked prior to treatment compared to her round head today. The transformation is incredible!

This appointment went well, as they all do. Hannah’s doing great considering she’s been in the band such a short time. The average Joe can barely detect any flatness now! I’m so anxious for treatment to be over and done with and to see Hannah’s perfectly round head.

They do a growth adjustment at every appointment, which is now every other week. Basically what they do is adjust the size of the band, carving out some of the foam lining to allow her head to grow in specific areas. This controls the growth, helping her head to round out.

At this point, we can see where the foam is getting fairly thin in some areas and we’ve wondered how many more growth adjustments we have in this band before she outgrows it. Our physical therapist, Robin, said she guesses that she could do about three more adjustments before there’s nothing left to adjust. This would mean Hannah has about six more weeks in the band. Of course this all depends on how quickly or slowly Hannah is growing, so it’s definitely subject to change. The good news is that it doesn’t look like she’ll need a second band. So maybe Hannah will graduate from her band by Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Hannah! You’re getting a round head. : )

I Love My People

Here is a picture from our weekend. Chris is working on school stuff and Hannah is helping him. The best thing about this picture is how their legs are crossed alike.

I love my husband and my little girl. They are my favorite people.

Little Fraidy-Cat

So I have a little fraidy-cat on my hands!

Hannah was scooting all over her room, playing with her toys while I was putting away her laundry. At some point, I had her closet door open, and she immediately made a b line towards the door. Since it's not quite baby-proofed, I shut the door before she could make it there. She was easily distracted, though, by the springy door stopper. I thought since most kids like to play with door stoppers, it would be fun to watch her discover it for the first time.

Well, she tugged pretty hard on it and pulled the white stopper off of the spring, and of course the stopper made a huge noise. She looked back at me and let out this little wail as if she were saying, "Momma, come save me!"

So I went and sat in the floor behind her to show her there was nothing scary about it. She stopped whining and just stared intently at it as if she were expecting it to make another sound. After a few minutes, I got up to finish putting away the laundry. She started whining again, so I tried coaxing her away from the door to come play with her ball. She really wanted to play with her ball, so she turned to her belly and began scooting towards it. But she stopped after one scoot, turned and stared at the door stopper and whined at it. I would call her again, she'd scoot once, then turn again to the stopper and whine. This happened five or six times before finally I went and stood in front of the stopper so she couldn't see it, and she eventually made it to her ball and forgot all about the scary door stopper. :)

The end.

Hannah and I Made The News Yesterday

Hannah and I were interviewed yesterday by KLTV 7 regarding a new iPhone application's ability to decipher a baby's cry. Here is the clip from the show, which was actually one of their lead stories.

Hannah's Newly Designed DOC Band

Check out Hannah in her newly decorated DOC Band, courtesy of East Texas Engraving and Wrapz, Inc. It has been hard to get a good picture because this big girl is mobile!! So here are a few candid shots.

Hannah has gotten so many compliments on how awesome her new band looks. And I think it makes her a little more approachable. Since she started treatment, I noticed on occasion a few stares or quick glances from people who weren’t quite sure what to make of the big white helmet on her head. But now that it’s decorated and it even has her name on it, we’ve actually had a few folks smile at her and say, "Hi Hannah!"

We can’t thank you enough East Texas Engraving and Wrapz, Inc.! Kristie, the graphic designer, did such a great job! And Fernie did such a great job applying the wrap, having never before wrapped a band. Thanks to you all! We'll be sure and post better pictures when she sits still long enough! :)