Friday Profile Picture

Ok, so here is last week:

And here is today:


Not sure that you can tell a whole lot of difference (and she would not sit still for me tonight!! LOL!) But I think in real life, I do see a difference!

We got our Band Painted!!

Yesterday afternoon we took Isabella's band to see Leigh Gibson ( http://whymsicalmurals.moonfruit.com/ ) to have it painted. Words cannot describe how fabulous it is!! We decided on a girly Dr Seuss theme....so here are the pictures!

Friday Profile Picture

Today is day 4 of the Doc Band. Call me crazy, but I think I already see a difference! (-: Anyways, tonight before her bath, we decided to take a picture of her profile & will do so every Friday in the same spot throughout her treatment. Here it is:

DOC Band Day 1!

We went today at 1:30pm & Isabella got her DOC Band!


So far, she is doing pretty well. They have you take it off every 3 hours (while awake) for the first day or two to check for redness. If there is any, you just leave the band off until the redness goes away. It should go away pretty quickly....which it did. Isabella just had a bit of redness on her right eyebrow area & then on the bottom left back of her head. She is in bed for the night right now & so far, so good. We have our 1 week check-up on Jan 25th. Later that afternoon we have an appointment to have it painted by a wonderful local artist. I am excited for that! I THINK we are going with a girly Dr Seuss theme...with pink!!! But then again, I see these adorable ones with flowers and such on them & then I want THAT! (but Shane likes the whole Dr Seuss thing, which I do too....) What do you all think!? For now, I put some flower stickers on it to spruce it up! (-:

Last Day before the DocBand!

It's kinda sad!! Sniff sniff! Our lives will change tomorrow...I know, it's just a helmet, right? But think about it...she will have to wear it 23 hrs a day! What if she hates it? What if my normally awesome sleeper screams & cries and hates the band at nap & bedtime? What if she gets pressure sores?! I am just hoping that we will be one of the ones that posts & says "after just 6 weeks (or 9 weeks) we are graduating!!" LOL! Well, we leave you with one last before shot...

Getting Ready for our Doc Band!

As I mentioned before, Isabella will be getting a "DocBand" soon. On the 18th to be exact! We are eager to get started & even have a painter lined up to paint it for us on the 25th! The other week I ordered an iron-on Watermelon patch from E-bay for $2 and today found a great deal at Target on a shirt & leggings! (total...$6!) And then we went & bought cute iron-on letters....here is the result:


I am not sure if I included the link last time or not, but
HERE is the wonderful artist who will be painting our DocBand!

We have Snow!!

3 inches and counting!

New Year, New Head!

Happy 2011 to everyone! I am hoping that 2011 brings us as much happiness and joy as 2010 did, minus the flood etc! (-:

Now...the new head! Our little peanut Isabella has a little bit of a flat head in the back. Sure, a lot of babies do, right!? I first noticed it at about 4 months. At her Dr's visit, our Ped didn't say anything about it, so I didn't either. I just made a concerted effort to keep her off her back more, tried to encourage more tummy time (which she hates!) I am not sure how I managed to raise 3 normal headed kids & my much sought after IVF baby ended up with a flat head!?? Maybe it WAS because I had 3 other children to chase after & take care of and chauffeur around...poor Isa ended up on her back in a car seat more often. Maybe she just naturally has a flat head shape from how she laid in utero. Who knows. At her 6 month well visit, (which by the way, her head had VASTLY improved!) the Dr ask me if I thought her head was a bit flat in back. Yes...it is.... but it is sooooo much better than it was at 4 months. He was not too concerned, said it didn't look bad, but that there was a place he could refer us to for a free evaluation to see if they recommend any treatment. He thought they would just say to continue to watch it since it had improved since 4 months. So, on December 21st we took a visit to Cranial Technologies. They met with us & explained their services and evaluated Isabella. This included taking "mug shots" of her head!

Turns out she is in the Mild-Moderate category & they do recommend that she wear a "helmet" as I used to refer to them....it is actually called a DOCBand. Her condition is technically called "Brachycephaly", which means flat back of head. (-:
The flatness on the back of her head gives her a little added height and a "sloped forehead". (which personally, I do not really see!) However, you can tell by her mug shots that she does definitely have some flat headedness going on. Shane was not at all convinced that she needed any treatment, but I wanted to do it. I could not live with myself if I didn't at least try to help reshape her beautiful little flat head! Besides, if we do not treat it, she could have problems with overbite in the future. It was not imperative that we treated her & it was up to us. Nothing bad (besides possible dental problems) would come of a flat head. You can see the little lines they drew on the pictures of where they would like to see her head round out & "shelf" if you look at her mugs closely! Besides, insurance covers 90% of the $4000 fee! And apparently, if you have insurance, they charge them just $2500, so actually, we only have to pay 10% of $2500...a mere $250. Not too bad! We go again tomorrow for her 3D imaging, where they create a Doc Band specifically for Isabella. It should be ready in mid January. As of now, they say she will wear it for 23 hrs a day for about 3 months.