Big Girl Bed

Thursday night: Syd tells me she wants to sleep in her big girl bed and I jump at the opportunity. She also wants me to sleep with her and I made the mistake of agreeing. What I thought was going to be a 15-20 minute snuggle session turned into an hour and a half of Sydney staring at me and not sleeping. I finally snuck out around 10:00. Syd awoke at 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 to find that no one was in bed with her and she freaked out. One of us continued to climb back in bed with her until she fell asleep again. What a long night!

Friday naptime: I gave Syd the choice - crib or twin bed. She of course chose the twin and wanted me to nap with her. After I told her I wasn't going to sleep with her she chose the crib and slept for almost 3 hours. Go figure.

Friday night: I gave Sydney her choice of beds and she once again said the big girl bed but wanted me to sleep with her. I once again said I wasn't going to and after a huge tantrum I put her in her crib and left the room. After 20 minutes of screaming I went back in to calm her down and saw that she now had 2 books in her crib that weren't there before. She must have climbed out, got the books, and climbed back in. Dr McMahon said to wait until she started climbing out of the crib to put her in the bed so I figured she was ready. I took her out and told her she was going to sleep in the big bed alone. I had to run to beat her out of the door b/c she wasn't pleased. After an hour of screaming, turning the doorknob, and banging on the door she passed out in her bed.

Saturday naptime: Only 40 minutes of screaming.

Saturday night: Only 30 minutes of screaming.

Sunday morning: We found Sydney face down on the floor (see first picture) when we went to wake her up! We heard her around 7 am and think that must have been when she moved herself to the floor.

Sunday naptime: Only 15 minutes of screaming, an hour of playing, and a 45 minute nap. We peaked in on her and saw her on the floor again (second picture). She had raided her closet and threw things everywhere.

Sunday night: No screaming. She let us put her in bed and she stayed there!

Doing my stretches and eating at the same time! I'm multi-talented.
I hate these things but they keep my neck straight while in the car.

Dodged a bullet

Yesterday we had quite a scare. Easton's helmet doctor called and told us that when he sent his head scan in to the helmet makers they called him back with some concerns. They wondered if Easton had been evaluated for craniosynostosis yet (he had not). Craniosynostosis is where the plates of the skull start to close prematurely and can cause head deformities and interfere with brain development. The only treatment is surgery. So the doctor told us to get a skull x-ray as soon as possible to check. We went to the South Pavilion and they took about 5 x-rays of his head and told us we would have the results in 3-5 days. That was upsetting. Our doctor had told us we would know the next day. After a sleepless night, I heard from the pediatrician's office today that his x-rays were normal. Thank God. Finally, some good news. Thanks to everyone who has expressed their concern for Easton and for all of the prayers. It helps to know so many people are here to support us. We're hanging in there!

Good news and bad news

Easton and I went to his first real physical therapy appointment on Monday. Elissa said that she thought we had made some improvement already. Yea!!!!! We are doing his stretches during every bottle (5 times a day) and it seems to be working well. She said not to expect big changes but small improvements every week is a good sign. I was so happy to hear that.

Today we went to Mary Free Bed to have Easton's head scanned to determine whether or not he needs to wear a helmet. Upon his initial examination the doctor predicted that Easton would not need a helmet, that his head did not appear to be terribly mishapen. Unfortunately after putting him through the Star scan - two separate times b/c he wasn't being very cooperative at first - he got very different results. On a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being no helmet needed and 5 being extreme need for a helmet) Easton scored all 5's. The doctor was shocked. The flat spot on the lower right side of the back of his head is not that bad - that can be corrected very easily. It turns out that Easton's head is not very symmetrical when you look at him from the top of his head. He has more head on the left than he does on the right. The doc attributes that to his torticollis. This is probably not going to be able to be fixed - you can't just push an entire half of a skull over. The best he can do is try to stop the growth on the left side and encourage more growth on the right. So now we wait about 2 weeks for his helmet to be designed. Then we will go in and make sure it fits properly. He will have to make an adjustment so that the helmet does not rub on Easton's cyst on his forehead. The doctor anticipates that E will have to wear it 23 hours a day, every day, for the next 4-5 months. He gets to take the helmet off for bath time and so we can clean the helmet. Everyone says the babies don't put up a fight, that they take to it very well. I sure hope so. I'll be honest with you I cried all the way home today. Not because he has to wear a helmet, big deal. I'm just tired of hearing doctor after doctor tell me something else is "wrong" with my baby. When I look at him he is perfect - even with a bump on his forehead, a crooked neck, and a mishaped head. I wish he didn't have to go through all of this - surgery, physical therapy, and now orthotic therapy. To have to deal with one of those things is not fair for a baby, let alone all three. I can't wait for all of this to be over so that he can just be a regular kid.

Physical Therapy Evaluation

Kevin and I took little E for his physical therapy evaluation on Monday. After checking him out Elissa, his therapist, told us that Easton only has 50% of the proper neck rotation towards his left shoulder. She told us that he is not the most severe case she has seen, nor is he the least severe case she has seen. He's somewhere in the middle. She recommended that he start coming to see her once a week for 3 weeks and then she will re-evaluate him and see if he needs to come more or less. In the meantime we are responsible for his therapy at home. Elissa showed us how to do 2 main stretches - a sidebender and a rotater - that will help loosen up his muscle. We need to do them 4-6 times a day, pretty much every time he eats. After a very frustrating and tearful first day of "therapy" I wanted to give up. Every time I tried to stretch Easton he would cry. Kevin and I figured out that the only time he doesn't fuss when we stretch him is when he is drinking his bottle. Hopefully Elissa says that's okay when we see her on Monday b/c it is working very well. It's hard knowing that I am the one who will determine whether or not Easton gets better in a timely fashion. That's a lot of pressure. I hope to see some good results soon - that will help boost my confidence.

Rollercoaster Ride

I love you brudder

Is the water cold Sydney?

She even crosses her fingers while she eats!

Easton - 3 months

Cutie Pie

We heard from Mary Free Bed a few days after our appointment with Dr. McMahon and received terrible news - they couldn't get Easton in for his physical therapy evaluation and head scan until July 10, 6 weeks out. We were devastated. His neck had gotten worse after 3 weeks, what would happen in 6 weeks? So I called our doctors office back and left a message hoping to hear there was another place we could take E for physical therapy. After not hearing back for a couple of days I stayed persistent (thanks mom and Dana) and called back again. This time Dr. McMahon called me right back and was surprised to hear it was going to take so long to get in. He made a quick call to the Center for Physical Rehabilitation in Cascade and now we are scheduled to see someone on Monday. Yeah! We will still have to go to Mary Free Bed on the 18th for the head scan to determine if Easton will need to wear a helmet to correctly shape his head because he only faces one direction to sleep. I'm so excited to get things going. I'm a little afraid of what the physical therapist is going to say about the severity of his condition but can't wait to start helping out our little guy. Other than all of that . . .. Easton is doing wonderful. He just turned 3 months and is a joy to have around. He smiles, coos, and squeals, especially when someone pays attention to him. He loves to play pat-a-cake and do the hand motions to the itsy bitsy spider. His reflux seems to have gotten worse so he now takes medicine two times a day. Hopefully that will help. He slept through the night for the first time on Mother's Day and has been consistently sleeping around 9 hours for the past week and a half!!!!!! Gotta love that.



As for Sydney, she has held Easton a few times now and talks to him a lot more. She tries to play with him and soothe him when he cries. She says, "It's okay. Sissy's here." It's so cute. Her big thing right now is playing outside. That's all she wants to do. She loves to play on all of the neighbors' playsets, run through the sprinklers or slide down into the pool. She did the cutest thing the other day. She woke up from her nap and when I went in there she handed me a dried flower petal that she must have brought in from outside. She said, "Pretty mommy, present for you." She makes me melt. She is still showing a bit of her obsessive compulsive tendancies. She lines up all of her "guys" in a very particular way, she crosses her fingers all of the time, and just tonight she did the same action over and over while playing with Kevin. She ran around the activity gym, pushed down on Easton's exersaucer (in the same spot every time), and ran up to Kevin for another treat. It was almost like one of Pavlov's dogs!