Think it was a hectic day around the house?

Or maybe a hectic week?  Got this series of texts from the wife today...

I was dying laughing...

The melon is getting larger and more roundy

Sophie went in for her one week DOC band checkup.  According to the measurements, her head is already getting more roundy.  She was, however, very displeased that I plopped her down in the grass during her one hour of helmet free time today to get a picture of that roundier little melon.

Or did you think the post was going to be about this melon?  It's getting more roundy too...

The full sleeve is probably next

Noah figured that if one Curious George tattoo on your arm is fun, applying a whole sheet of Curious George tattoos across your belly must be fantastic! He was particularly amused that the birthday cake covered up his belly button.

 

Strap in!

Monday was the big day for Sophie's DOC Band.  We went in to have it "installed."  Really, it was to do all the test fitting, instruct us how to clean and care for it, and then send us home.

Last few pictures pre-helmet, practicing her walking around the doc's office.

An aside:  This kid has the best facial expressions.  She is always cracking us up with her funny faces.  Awesome.

Helmet goes on for the first time.  Sophie is clearly not pleased.

But it turns out to be not so bad.

"Hey, look, I've got a crash helmet!"

The helmet was off, then on, then off, then on.  They kept making little tweaks to the fit, then come back to give it a try.  Pretty soon she figured out the system, and knew what would happen when they walked back in with it.

Then her mean ol' dad made fun of her.

She is doing pretty well so far.  A few spots remain red after we take off the helmet for an hour, which we were told would likely mean another quick visit for some more adjustment.  We will see if that happens tomorrow.  Otherwise, she seems to be pretty much ignoring the thing.  I think it actually bothers her mother more than it does her.  But hey... you want a round headed kid, this is the only way to get one.

After tomorrow, Sophie has to wear it 23 hours a day for 15 weeks.  The timing of which is rather fortuitous, since our newly sprouted watermelon will take roughly 15 weeks to mature.  Perhaps we should consider making one of these?  Just as a comparison, of course.

---------------------------

An anecdote from our first visit for the DOC band consultation, which I neglected to relay.

So we are in the room and the physical therapist / doc is going over Sophie's measurements and explaining the benefits of the DOC band.  I went into this visit somewhat skeptical that she really even needed one (are you surprised?) and expecting that they would have quite the pitch as to the benefits of a round head.  Sure enough, they did, rating Sophie as a severe and then listing all the possible things that this DOC band would solve.  One of which being that a bicycle helmet might not fit properly someday and therefore would not adequately protect her head in the event of a crash.

I think Paige could literally hear the muscles in my eyes straining to prevent them from involuntarily rolling.

At this point, I need to explain a little background.  I often reference the fact that while Levi and Noah's... uhhhhhh... persistent personalities may cause us great grief as parents attempting to navigate them through childhood, such persistence will be a valuable asset later in life.  Especially in their careers as Marines.  Or Navy Seals.  Or Green Berets.  Really, I'd be OK with any of those.  They just need to suppress it long enough to survive boot camp.  And at this point in the conversation, Paige always insists that I am not, I repeat not sending her little babies off to war.

Back to the doctors office.  Lady explaining bicycle helmets, blah, blah, blah.  Jason's eyes beginning to roll.  Paige sensing impending snarky comment from her husband lacking social skills.

So she attempted to turn the conversation toward a helmet I might be concerned about fitting...

"Or her Air Force helmet!" says Paige.

Ack!  Cough cough.... sputter... wheeze.  I get grief all the time for wanting my boys to serve their country, and then she goes and plops my 1 year old daughter into a fighter jet cockpit?!?!?  I'm still old fashioned enough to believe that if there is fighting to be done, it is the men who should be doing it.  Chivalry and such.  And now my wife has my daughter off fighting the war, while the boys sit home.

The Air Force helmet reasoning was less than convincing.  I just want a kid with a pretty shaped head...

Well, lookee there. A watermelon!

When we planted our garden, one of the items was watermelon. Even though no one in our family really even likes watermelon that much. They took a while to sprout, but then they went absolutely nuts. The vines have crawled out of the box and formed a carpet roughly ten feet long across our gravel.

You would think that for all that activity, we would have a bumper crop of watermelons. And you would be wrong.

Paige spotted the first one a few days ago.



Good thing we aren't big watermelon fans, cause it doesn't look like there will be much to go around...

Eaten alive

The day after we got back from our Mexico trip, it was apparent we had a hitchhiker.  Luke woke up the next morning covered in bites.  Face, arms, legs, back.  All covered in big red itchy bites.
 

He was not a happy camper.  Paige washed all his sheets and that seems to have fixed the problem.  Whatever it was must have stowed away in his blanket.

 

We actually ended up taking him to the doctor, because a day later they were still there, and a few had started to turn into large bruises.  Doc said it was just bug bites but no sign of any permanent damage.

 

Clearly an unpleasant experience.  Although I don't think it was quite as unpleasant as Luke's facial expression would lead you to believe.

 

I laughed until it hurt

If you know my buddy Jonathan, head over to his blog to watch him run from a giant ball of flame in totally inappropriate footwear.  Heck, even if you don't know him, it is still funny!

I watched this multiple time last night, until my sides ached from laughing so hard.  My wife just stared at me in wonder, failing to understand why watching my friend scamper from a giant flaming ball was quite so funny.  And I'm not sure I could really answer her, other than that it reminds me of being 12, and all balls of flame we scampered from back then.

If anyone was wondering what to get me for Father's Day

Grandpa's old pipe?  Seriously awesome.  I'd call it Jim Vedders old pipe, but still.

Coolest thing I've heard of since booger flavored jelly beans.

Interview with Luke

You would think, from this interview, that swimming lessons at Miss Molly's house were simply awesome.  It isn't until two minutes in that he admits that he "cwied cause I fought I would sink."  Paige told me that in reality, he spent the entire swim lesson wailing for Mom to get him out, cause he was going to sink to the bottom.  Miss Molly had a hard time not laughing at the little drama king.

Then I interviewed Sophie about the fact that she has moved out of our bedroom and into the girls room, her newest English language skills, and the fact that her mean ol' Dad won't let her play with his electronics.

Medical pictionary

When we got back from Ethiopia and took Sophie for her first medical checks, we were told it looked like she had giardia.  Or as my friend at work, who had it once as a kid, calls it...

Beaver fever!  Ha!

So we gave her medication and her symptoms seemed to be getting better, but not always.  After fiddling around with what we fed her, we started to suspect she was lactose intolerant.  That can apparently be caused by beaver fever, but I guess lactose intolerance is fairly common amoung Ethiopians, for whatever reason.  So after cutting out anything dairy, we finally were getting a lot more of this...

in these...

Today, Paige decided to test the theory and give her a yogurt...

The sweet smell being the confirmation of the theory, not the effects.  So yeah... lactose intolerance.  Poor kid... missing out on heaven in a cup.

And in other related news, Levi and Noah have been working their way through a stomach bug the last two days.  Their life pretty much consists of this...

And then repeat again, ten minutes later.  Poor little sunken eyed kids...

Post in which our kid looks like something from a horror movie

 

That's her in the middle, with the creepy stocking over her head, screaming.

We decided to get Sophie a DOC Band.  On our first trip to Ethiopia, we immediately noticed she had a pretty significant flat spot on the back of her head.  When we picked her up on the second trip, it looked like it might have gotten somewhat better, but was definitely still there.  Especially when you get her head wet and hair slicked down.  Our pediatrician checked it out and said she didn't think anythin was required.  We went for a consultation anyways at Cranial Technologies, and they recommended a band (surprise, surprise... since they sell them.)  I personally think they oversold just how severe Sophie's head is, but again, they are in the business of selling expensive headgear.

We debated the appropriateness of dropping a small fortune just to have a kid with a round head.  After all, only 4 weeks earlier she was in a place where people die from lack of a few dollars worth of medicine... and we are going to spend thousands on a well formed head?  Seemed... inappropriate.  But, she isn't growing up in Ethiopia.  She is growing up in 'Merica, where having a big flat spot on the back of your head might be just one more thing to be singled out for.  And we figured she will have her hands full enough in that department.

So we decided on a round headed baby.  Today was the appointment to measure her head for the band.  Her engineer dad got all geeked out about the camera system that takes a bunch of simulaneous photos and converts them into a solid 3D model.  I asked if they could give me CAD geometry so I could make a prototype Sophie at work.  She said they couldn't do it... but I wasn't the first to ask.

The money shot.  Flat spot is the back right side of her head.  Plagiocephaly is the technical term.

In 2 weeks, we go back to have her custom band fit to her head.  Then the poor kid has to spend the next 15 weeks of summer in the thing.  Ughhhh.  She will thank us when she is 16 though.  Hopefully.

And Paige already found a local place that will do a custom wrap for free.  So the only key decision that remains is...

The pink camo skull and crossbones motif?

Or the always classy A-Team theme?

Or something else? (since I already know Paige will veto both of those.)

Farewell Rocky Point

Good thing they have on life jackets

Cause these two don't have a whole lot of fear...

The other kids enjoyed the beach too, but in different ways.  Luke revelled in the biggest sandbox he has ever seen.

And did a little bit of "swimming."

Ella got all decked out in the life jacket, but then was too freaked to go in the water.  Might have had something to do with everyone telling her to shuffle her feet.  "Why?" she would ask?

"Uhhhhhh, might be stingrays.  But probably not right here.  But you should shuffle.  Just in case."

Pretty much killed any desire she had to go splashing in the stingray infested shallows.

Sophie was content just to splash and eat sand and salt water.