A Hairy Situation

As if the diaper changes, drool-catching, booger snatching, and valiant efforts to still conceal the dark circles under my eyes weren't enough to solidify my existence in mommy history, check it:

My hair is falling out.

Yes, the inevitable has finally happened. My sub-par genetics in the tresses department and raising a 3.5 month old have joined forces, resulting in strands being left around the house and pretty much everywhere I go. It's like a stringy trail evidencing my whereabouts throughout the day. "Heidi Hairs", as Josh calls them, have been showing up in the strangest places. The other day, when I was changing the little guy, I pulled one out from his diaper. I grabbed the end with my fingertips, aghast, and started pulling it out from under his bum, slowly, slowly.......slowly....holy shit. He just gazed up at me looking utterly amused, as though he'd been knowingly hiding it in there and was just waiting for me to find it like the afikomen.

Other weird places my mane has shown up:

-Max's crib
-the glider in the nursery
-on the decorative mini Christmas tree centered on the kitchen table. Eew.
-in between Max's clenched fingers (yes, we've officially entered the "Ponytails Only" zone).
-in the car door


In other, non-follicle-related news, we are  gearing up for the holiday season! Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we are looking forward to spending the day with our families, all together at Josh's mom and stepdad's home. I've always felt lucky and blessed that our two families have come together so cohesively over the years and can celebrate special occassions together, not out of obligation, but rather because we all simply like each other. Technically, this will not be Max's first Thanksgiving. You see, it was last year's Thanksgiving that Josh and I discovered we were pregnant with the booger. Although we didn't tell anyone at the time as it was so early on in the pregnancy, Max was there with us all as we ate turkey and stuffing, laughed in the kitchen, and played board games. What a landmark to look back on.

Wow. Hair AND turkey. Bet you didn't see that coming. Bon appetite!

I always knew our little rockstar would be in a band!

Just an update on our sweet Max. He is smiling as I write this!

We went to Cranial Technologies today to get an evaluation on Max's head shape and asymmetry, due to his torticollis and subsequent plagio/brachycephaly. Say that five times fast. No, really, go ahead. I'll wait. It's a mouthful, so allow me to translate into terms that I myself would have much better understood about two months ago:

Because Max's left neck muscles are slightly tighter and shorter than his right, he has a tendency to tilt his head to the left and favor looking to the right. As he continued to lay on the same spot of the back of his head while lying down, day after day, week after week, his head is misshapen in the back. Fortunately, these conditions do not affect brain growth or function whatsoever. We go to physical therapy twice a week to address the muscle tightness, however, the head shape is best corrected by a temporary orthopedic helmet called a DOC Band. For about 6 to 9 weeks duration, Max will sport this band 23 hours out of the day, so that as his head grows, it fills in the correct areas to become nice and round. He should be out of the band by late February or early March, and Mommy's gonna save ALLLLL the pictures to show his little girlfriends when he gets all machismo and teenager-y.

The evaluation was quite simple and seemless. I was asked to strip down Max to just his diapie, and we were ushered into a room with a table draped with a white cloth, a pillow, and equiptment fit for a magazine cover shoot: bright lights, that umbrella looking thing, you name it. As I propped up Max on the pillow for the photo sesh, he started to smile, giggle and wave about. "Ooh! Take the pictures now! Oh did you get that one? He's beaming! Ok now shoot, he's drooling out the side of his mouth! Did you see that, he's kind of making a thumbs up sign... take it!"

"Ma'am, we're here to get pictures of his flat head."

Right. Carry on.

So there you have it. Max should have his helmet in about a month. As my brother (Max's Uncle Andy) put it best, "He'll be all the more ready for those batting cages!"

Batter up!

How do you make a costume dance? Put a little booger in it!

Hello, readers! Lots to write about and I gotta move fast, as Mr. Max is taking a nap and it is only a matter of time before I see him squish and squirm around on his monitor, subtly implying, "I'M SO OVER THIS." So I will try to get in as much as I can, starting with an important announcement: Max slept from 8:15pm - 8:15am this morning!!! (happy dance). His sleeping has gotten so much better ever since he has started taking naps in his crib (we also changed swaddle blankets to one that practically mummifies him, but that's an aside). As far as a daily schedule goes, well, we're working on it. Mommy's first mistake: looking on the internet for the normalcy of infant schedules. Below is an example of what one may find when Googling others' opinions on parenting a 3 month old.

Exhibit A:
- my DS ("Darling Son", for those unfortunate few who aren't hip to the world of online mommy forums, tsk tsk) had a schedule down to the minute by 6 weeks old, as follows:
8:08 am - wakes up
8:30 am - first feeding
8:36 am - burps followed by a smile
9:08 - 12:24 play
12:24pm- helps Mommy in with groceries
12:53pm - nap
1:07pm-  play, feed
1:29pm - smiles and coos, diaper change
1:34pm - more play, sign language and foreign affairs

.... you get the picture. Oh, this baby also slept 12 hours a night straight before he even left the hospital.

Awesome.

Repetitive Googling (RG) is a chronic condition in which new mothers seek specific, biased information from the internet, which typically backfires causing otherwise avoidable stress and anxiety which can only be comforted by a slice of something chocolate. If you have at least three tabs open on your browser lasting 4 hours or more, consult a physician.

I could sit here and type out, one thousand times, to NOT look on the internet for any answers about your little booger's habits. I oblige you. However, I believe that learning this lesson on your own is imperative; as a new mother, we ourselves have to put our hands on the hot stove of the world wide web until we reach the point in which we can truly recognize its worth (or lack thereof). Because the truth of it is, you can confirm or negate ANYTHING you want via the internet. According to what I have researched, (insert parenting practice here) is ideal/encouraged/indifferent/frowned upon/avoided/an abomination. So I have made a vow to scrap the internet altogether, when my natural motherly instincts are begging for a vote of confidence: "Put me in, coach! I know what I'm doing!"

Onward. Last Monday was quite a special day for Max - his first Halloween! He did great in his chicken costume, as did his Daddy:





I took Max to his Musicology class that day, where all the little munchkins wore their Halloween costumes (oddly enough, not one went as an actual munchkin). If there is one thing on this planet that is cuter than kittens in snowshoes, it's babies in costume. Exhibit B:




Told ya.



Farmer and her chickens

After class, we went home so Max could take nap and psych himself up for his first night of Trick Or Treating! We dressed him up again and went to our friends Nick and Stacey's house to meet up with them, our friends Chad, Ashley, and Jaclyn, and their adorable children. We all ventured out into the neighborhood for some candy hoarding fun. Though Max slept in Daddy's arms the entire night, he will always have pictures to look back on to document his first Halloween ever.

Later that evening, Josh and I went out for Cave Creek's Annual Halloween Pub Crawl. It was our third year doing it, and it felt good to keep up with one of the traditions we love.


Lately, the main focus of our days consist of continued efforts to help Max correct his torticollis and plagiocephaly (if you didn't know about this, gotcha! You haven't been reading.) He continues weekly PT and we are scheduled to get an evaluation on his head shape and "severity" (geez, that word sounds so severe) of his tort. Meanwhile, I try to keep him off his head as much as possible, so no more head stands. Just checking if you're still paying attention. I actually carry him around in the Baby Bjorn while around the house, as setting him down in his swing or bouncy seat makes me feel like Mommie Dearest's irresponsible sister. We also incorporate numerous stretches into our day to lengthen his neck muscle. I will be sure to keep you all posted on his definite progress!