My twins are 3!!!!

Carson & Emilynn turned 3 yesterday!!  I had meant to post all day long, but it was a long, crazy day.  We had a fun party (in my opinion) and the twins finally fell asleep at midnight last night and I was about 2 seconds behind!  I let them stay up as long as they wanted to play with all their new stuff.  Today has been a bit quieter, but we did head out for lunch and to get a few last minute grocery items and dog food. 
I will post all the party happenings soon, but for now I am just enjoying my kiddos, and doing a little Christmas baking.  I don't know why I planned to bake after a party where I made chili, hotdogs, and cake for 75 people.  I am enjoying it today though, and amazingly didn't scrap the idea. 
Henry's appointment went really well and I'll update on that too.  His helmet will be in on January 2nd is the short update.  More on that later......
For now, I hope everyone enjoys the holidays with their families and has a very Merry Christmas filled with Jesus and the true "reason for the season." 

Christmas happenings

We've made a lot of progress on the list of things I wanted to do this month! 

We've gone to see the train display, rode to look at lights, went to the parade, made cookies with the cousins, heard the Cantata, had the dance Christmas party, and we are going to see the drive-thru nativity tonight. 

It has been fun because the kids know what's going on this year, and they get so excited about everything! 

Except looking at lights....well, they enjoy it but after about 2 houses, they are ready to go back home.  Dustin, Carson, and Emilynn that is.  Henry and I are happy to ride and look.  I told them Henry and I were going by ourselves one night without the party poopers/grinches!!!  :-) 

The parade was fun, and I took our homemade cookies for the kids to eat while they waited.  I felt like that was one of my "have it all together mom moments!"  haha!!  Actually, we just made cookies beforehand, so that's why I had them.  :-)  I think we'll do it every year though because it kept them occupied while waiting for it to start. 

The church's Cantata was beautiful, as always.  It amazes me what a smaller country church can do! 

We are going to go back to the train display, we stayed an hour and Carson still wasn't ready to leave.  He doesn't "do" much, like dance or social events....so I try to appease him when I can. 

The gifts are bought, just have to wrap those.  May do that tonight after kids are in bed.  We have Christmas with Dustin's Dad's side of the family tomorrow afternoon, so I have to wrap that stuff anyway. 

Cards are ready to drop in the mail, Birthday invitations already went out.  I think we have it sort of under control for the moment.  Of course there's laundry, dishes, etc. that always starts piling up if I don't do it every single second!!! 

I also went through the toys and took out a bunch, and reorganized everything.  It drives me crazy when they are all mixed up, that's no fun.  I am preparing for the new stuff and trying to keep the toys at a minimum when possible. 

We are just busy as we prepare for Jesus' birthday.  Hopefully we can make him a cake along with the twins' cakes and the holiday baking I plan to do. 

Right now we are enjoying Kenny Chesney's Christmas CD- the kids have taken a liking to "All I want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan!"  Haha!!  Hope everyone's enjoying all their own holiday happenings and traditions!!!!!

Plagiocephaly

I haven't updated on Henry's specialist appointment because I just needed to take some time to process everything and find peace with the situation myself first. 
The short update is- we're getting Henry a helmet. 

The long update is- my Mom and I took Henry to meet with the pediatric neurosurgeon on Tuesday of last week.  She took some time and examined Henry and told me his flat spot wasn't affecting his brain growth, a good thing.  It had caused his forehead to bulge out a little on the flatter side, and also his ear (his right ear) to be pushed forward a bit.  She basically said what I didn't want to hear.  She said it was up to us whether we got the helmet or not because it would be considered cosmetic at this point.  I honestly wanted someone to tell me yes, he needs it.  Or no, he doesn't.  It's just not that simple.  She gave us a prescription for it, and the name of the orthodist we'd need to see to get it, and said we could talk about it and decide.  She kept on and on about how cute Henry is and how there wasn't much we could do to make him any more adorable.  That part I agree with!  Haha!  He is certainly a little charmer, that's for sure. 

Dustin and I have talked about it and we decided to go ahead and get the helmet.  We don't want to regret later on NOT getting it.  Especially if we could do something to help with his head shape and we didn't.  If you wait much longer, you've missed the window of opportunity and it's too late.  I don't want anyone to think we are just "vain" in doing this.  If so, why would anyone ever get braces, that can be just cosmetic, right?  In all actuality, a flat spot is truly not just cosmetic.  It causes all of the cranial bones to shift.  You may not suffer any consequences from it, but then again, you could I'm sure.  Also, what if he needs glasses?  If his ears aren't aligned, that's going to be hard to manage (my non-medical thought anyway).  My personal thought is, if the brain is round and the head is flat, there's bound to be some affects at some point in your life, even if it is much, much later.  Maybe not, but all these thoughts are running through my head.  So, for our peace of mind as parents, Henry is getting a helmet for a bit.  We will go on Monday to do all of his measurements and then the first week of January for the helmet.  There will be a few adjustment appointments as well.  He will have to wear it 23 hours per day for as long as it takes to "fix" the flat spot.  It will possibly take longer now that he's older to correct itself than if we had done this when he was younger.  There is now way to know how long it will take though, it depends on the child. 

If you are finding this blog because you are also dealing with plagiocephaly, you may be wondering about the cost.  Our area has one of the lower figures for helmets, according to all of the research on other blogs I've seen.  The helmet is $2500.00 and that is due up front, of course.  Insurance sometimes pays for this, but in Henry's case it most likely won't since it is considered cosmetic.  They will submit his measurements to the insurance company, but I'm 99 % sure it won't be covered and am not even expecting that.  We will be leaving payment when we go Monday to cover it so they can go ahead making his helmet if insurance denies it.  I know that seems like a lot to some, but truly I think it will be money well spent to correct his head shape.  I don't want him going through life self-concious over this and not able to shave his head short because his head looks "weird".  We are blessed to have a health savings account, but I'm not sure what options are available if you do not.  I'm just being honest.  I read on some blogs where people were able to get a special credit card to just pay for this item, maybe called Care Credit or something similar.  I'd really, really hate to think children need these helmets but don't get them for financial reasons.  That may be something I research and look into. 

So, we are moving forward into our plagiocephaly journey.  I am being up front and open about this because I had a friend say that their other friend's child had a leg brace but they were very hush hush about it.  I don't want to be hush hush.  I am trying to prepare myself for stares as we go out with it, and also I'm sure children will have questions.  Maybe we can help another family going through this if we are an "open book" on the subject. 

I am 100 % at peace with our decision because I've decided most things I regret in life are things I didn't do, not things I did.  And I'm sure Henry will look adorable in his helmet!  We just have to figure out what "bling" to order to decorate it.  My favorites so far are the ones that say "Fixing my flat" with cars and "under construction" with construction stuff.  We want to make it look less "medically" if possible. 

That's where we are...I will update on this again Monday after the appointment with the orthodist. 

Henry's Stats

Henry weighs in at 19 lb. 12 oz. and is 28 inches long.  He is 50% for everything, although he seems really long to me.  :-) 
I will update after his dr.'s appointment Tuesday.  I'm not looking forward to it to be honest.  They said in the welcome packet to bring a book because you could have to wait a while.  I don't think it's ever good when they tell you that up front!!! 
It is at the huge hospital downtown, so I'm anticipating parking issues and possible issues finding it. 
Maybe I need to be more positive!!!!  I will try to have a better outlook on it!! 

It's December!!! Bring on the holiday fun!

I'm so excited it's December.  It seems like I plan for the season forever.  I start in the summer because if not, I would be super-stressed come this time of year.  Especially with a birthday party to plan that's just 4 days before Christmas.  I had read on a website a few weeks ago that you should make a December "bucket list" so that you don't get swept up into the hustle and bustle and not get to do all the special, meaningful things with your family.  I love to shop early so I don't have to be shopping during the month of December.  I am going on Saturday shopping for a few last minute, birthday party things because my mom offered to babysit the kiddos.  I need to hit the cake shop, craft store, party store. 
Anyway, here are the things I hope OUR family can do this month.  What all do you want to do with your family this month?   Don't overbook!  It's easy to get too busy this time of year! 

• Ride to look at Christmas lights- we'll do this several times.  We went tonight for about an hour or so.  We planned to stay longer but the kids asked to go home and we were all really tired by 8:30.  Yes, we are starting to go to bed earlier!   I can hear all kinds of logs being sawed all around me right now-music to my ears!!!!  :-) 
• Church Cantata- that is tomorrow night.  I look forward to this every year.  It is always beautiful!  Dustin is going to keep the kids at home because they won't sit still and be quiet for the whole thing-we've tried.  Last year they had outside people do nursery and Carson cried the entire time, so I don't want to put the kids through that.  I will enjoy a little time to myself and Dustin will hear the Cantata during worship service later in the month.
• Christmas parade-in a few weeks.  Henry probably won't go if we can find someone to keep him indoors.  We'll see.  We may have to divide and conquer. 
• Drive-thru nativity.  I can't wait to see what the kids think of this.  I look forward to it each year.  It's a whole story, with about 10 different scenes. 
• Make gingerbread houses-I'll probably get cousin Hunter for this too- cause you know I love a project that involves messy toddlers!
• Bake cookies with cousins Shelby, Hunter, Kelsey, & Riley.  We are doing this instead of exchanging gifts. 
• Visit the train display at our local hardware store.  Going here Monday after my dentist's appointment. 
• I also hope to let the kids walk around the park and look at all the lights and see the different scenes in the little houses. 

This is all I think we'll do so far.  We also may go to the local zoo for their presentation of the Christmas story using the zoo animals.  Also, we've been thinking about caroling with church.  I don't know if we'll do all of this, but we'll do what we can and not stress about the rest. 
Making a list will help us keep things in check and not overbook ourselves.