It's always something

It's the end of my third Mother's Day and I feel like it has been quite a success. Aside from Ben waking everyone up at 5 AM, it's been a relatively calm day. I guess he decided he just needed to spend all the time with me he could today so, we were downstairs by 6 watching Surf's Up. Well, I was sleeping through it and everytime I'd just start to drift, he would come over and tap me on the head, arm, foot or shake me awake. He then proceeded to be grumpy while David and I were trying to get ready to leave for church. And inevitably, he fell asleep on the way. This meant that I was very hesitant to attempt any restaurant that involved sitting and waiting for food. Plus, since it was Mother's Day, everywhere was slammed. So, we ate lunch at mcdonalds. But it was peaceful and neither of my children were screaming.

That's a brief synopsis of today. The bigger ordeal that we're going through is making the decision to "band" Violet for her plagiocephaly, ie, "flat head". She is such a beautiful baby so, it's hard for me to see anything wrong with her, but we've finally decided that it's time to go ahead and take advantage while her head is still soft and easily correctable. There's a lot of medical bumbo jumbo I could go into, but it's unnecessary. Usually, plagiocephaly starts in utero and is then aggravated by back sleeping. Being a firm believer in following the AAP's recommendations, Violet has ALWAYS slept on her back. They don't say that back sleeping will prevent SIDS, but the numbers speak for themselves. Since the "back to sleep" campaign began in the early 90s, the number of SIDS deaths has been cut nearly in half. All of that to say, plagiocephaly is a small trade off in the grand scheme of things.

I've spent hours the past few days reading and researching everything I could find on which band or helmet is best and how to decorate it and what age is best. I have learned so much and feel like by the end of this I might be an expert. At first, I was SO resistant to the idea. I also came to realize how vain I am. God is doing a work in my heart and teaching me how to love my children in the best way. So, tomorrow I am making the call to Cranial Technologies in Charlotte to schedule her first visit. I am praying that her treatment will only be a couple of months because we are going to have to drive there every 1 to 2 weeks for adjustments. I know it sounds insane, but they are the experts and they deal solely with infants and I only want to deal with the best. I'll have to write more after we go. I also know this 6 ounce piece of medical equipment comes with a hefty price tag of between 3 and 4 thousand dollars. And apparently, some insurance companies are pretty stubborn and see it as cosmetic instead of reconstructive. I'm always up for a good fight though.

This will be an interesting journey, but I think it will all be worth it. There's always a chance her head shape would correct on its own, but the longer you wait to seek treatment, the longer it takes for results. And after 2, the bones in the skull are permanently fused and theres no treatment except surgery. I have to think of the future and how I could not possibly look at my gorgeous daughter and tell her that her head's flat on one side because I didn't want to deal with people staring at her in a helmet for a few months!

So, is our plight to sit and listen to our children cry at night....

Poor Violet is being subjected to the misery of crying herself to sleep. She's four months old and David and I finally decided it was that time. Ben was subjected to said torture much earlier, but I think we thought, being a boy, he should be tougher.

I remember the first night we let ben cry himself to sleep. It was terrible. We did everything we could to avoide just sitting and listening to him. I think we both took showers. I blow dried my hair. David shaved with his electric razor. It was pure torture. Tonight is nothing less than torture.

David has the fortune of getting to go back to Target where we were earlier to retrieve my cell phone which was left in the dressing room. That was the work of a certain 2 year old who is sleeping soundly amidst the bellowing coming from the next room out of his sweet tiny sister. Ben is an excellent sleeper which I would like to think we can attribute to letting him learn to "self soothe" as the experts would call it.

What a brilliant way to spend a friday night. David and I had these high hopes of being able to spend a peaceful night enjoying quiet conversation with each other, but now we are just sitting and waiting to see who gives in first.