Weekend Update Delay

It’s 1 a.m. and I am dying to get my beauty sleep, but I am waiting on my Mac to install it’s original settings because it looks like it’s sold! And my Cinema Display is sold too.  Crazy enough- the price I got for my 5 year old Mac bought me a brand new laptop (Dell) with antivirus, wireless photo printer, and external hard drive with some change left over.  I love being thrify.  And I am going to sale my old laptop too, which should bring in a little more, which can go to Lola’s DOC Band bill.  Lol.  I am having a garage sale in September to help pay for the bill, so I’ll let everyone know when so you can come see if I have something of interest! Also, if you have ANYTHING you want to donate to my garage sale I will come to your house and pick it up.  My grandparents find me stuff all the time to add to my garage sale stack in the garage and my mom has some more stuff for me to add.  I really don’t mind having garage sales.  I LOVE that I make money and clean out my garage and house all at the same time.  There is really no negative to it, except you have to wake up early one, maybe two mornings in a row.  :(  LOL. 

Well I want to write more, but I am sooo tired.

Maybe tomorrow.

Love Nat   

Peace at last.

I am a whole new woman tonight. 

Appointment went really good (2 1/2 hours!) and I was glad Clay was finally in on it all.  We decided… drum roll… to move forward.  We even had the scan done today, so next Wednesday Lola will have her band.  I feel great about this decision.  I am ready to move forward. 

Some great news and things to keep praying for… they thought the band would only need to be worn 6, maybe 8, weeks.  Yay! I’ll go every week for adjusting, because she is growing so much right now.  Please pray for a short time in the band and that my little furnace baby will adjust to the temperature with the band on.  I’ll have to be mindful that she sweats a lot and keep her hair dry and band dry.  Please pray Lola won’t mind wearing the band and that her fabulous sleeping habits won’t be interrupted. 

CT does a DSi which takes a picture of her from all angles and presents a 3D model of her head (actually her whole body) which they then make a model of her head and a band to fit it.  It was very interesting.  Lola had to wear a stocking over her head AND face!  The girl could have cared less.  It was funny. 

Lola has brachy, which we knew, and no plagiocephaly.  Just FYI I guess.

Please be praying for insurance as well.  There is a chance I can get insurance worked out if the HPB HR rep will write an exemption letter regarding the exclusion in our benefits.  Then it will only cost $600 versus a whole lot more.  Big prayers towards that. 

Some parents this is an easy decision for them and some may choose not to and some may go back and forth like we did.  I think it’s important to really think through it and make the decision you feel is best for your child.  I felt like it was important for Lola to wear the band so her head and skull could be shown the proper way to grow again.  If she didn’t wear the band it would only know to grow the way it’s shaped which isn’t the best way for her head to grow. So there it is. 

Well I will write more later with some pictures hopefully.  We have a couple of more doctor appointments tomorrow.  One for me and one for her.  Oh I sold my display to my Mac so I probably won’t be able to post pictures for awhile unless Clay and I share his desktop… fat chance on that.  :)

Thanks for all the prayers and support.  I really felt peace today about 3/4ths of the way through the appointment.

Love you all.

Natalie

P.S. Lola- I think this will be so funny if you read this all one day.  And thank me for your pretty round head, because if we left it up to your daddy you would never have been able to wear headbands.  I try and let him be the decision maker but since his tooth has been half rotten for two years now and he magically thinks it will heal itself then we can leave these types of decisions up to me! :)  Love you Lola Lou.   

Shouldn’t be allowed to write or even think for that matter…

I won’t say much.  My brain has literally crashed and all my decision making powers have been given to Clayton. Just an update before tomorrow’s CT appointment.

Our CT appointment is tomorrow and a lot of doubt has entered our minds on whether or not to move forward with a band for Lola’s head.  I have to be careful because a lot of opinions and thoughts are crowding my brain and in the end Clay and I need to feel confident in the decision we make.

Lola can at least look back and read this some day and realize how much we care about her and her cute little, big head. 

 

A few thoughts:

I feel like her head is improving daily, yet I doubt it will ever be really round. 

I feel like her hair will be a huge advantage for her. 

I haven’t seen very many before and after pictures with brachy that seem $4,000 worthy,

except the blog I talked about a few post ago.

If Lola was NOT symmetrical then I would definitely move forward but I feel she is.

Her width is my main concern

and her pediatrician said a band would not correct the width.

I  think it may some, but in whole, she has a wide head.  Will blame Clayton… just kidding.  Kind of.

When I look at Lola, I think she is beautiful,

so it makes me feel like there isn’t really a reason to fix it,

on the other hand I don’t want to regret it when she’s sixteen…

or any other age.

Something else I definitely am concerned about is her head sweating.  She is a sweater BIG TIME.  It’s almost weird.  Okay IS weird.  And she HATES being hot.  So in Texas heat, a band on her head, and sweat-

I just don’t see this being a good combo for her and feel she may not be okay with this.

I hear it can be a real easy transition for babies, but I am definitely having my doubts that it will be with Lola and that will leave all of us frustrated. 

We can’t afford to waste $4,000. 

Last, I don’t want anyone to think we wouldn’t do this because of money.

Insurance not accepting the claim definitely has us evaluating the situation more, which is good, but not making the decision for us. 

We have something worked out that will allow this to be doable for us,

so that isn’t a deciding factor.   

I love my Lola Lou.  Her giggles made me at peace today.  

 

Clay and I made a list of questions, okay you caught me, I made a list of questions and we are both going to the appointment tomorrow.  Clay will pretty much make the final decision.  If we both feel a peace about moving forward we have the scan scheduled too, but if we have a hesitation then we will wait on the scan.  They were very nice and could fit us in for a scan as soon as we wanted if we still move forward.  Her pediatrician appointment is Thursday and I would like to ask him a few more questions from a pediatrician standpoint. 

Well I must go to bed tonight early.  Lola was asleep by ten and I should have taken full advantage.  I’ll learn some day, although I feel this is prime time for moms!  :)

I’ll update tomorrow night. 

Thanks for prayers and support.

Bad News, Good News- Which First?

Well I guess I'll start with the bad news first.

Insurance isn't accepting the claim for Lola's DOC Band.  The HR rep from HPB is trying to help us and so is CT.  We will pay in cash and hopefully be reimbursed by insurance at some point, but risking the possibility of not.  And it just so happens, I chose the most expensive company costing $3,600 for one DOC Band.  I feel confident that one DOC Band will be enough, but please be in prayer that it is and that insurance will have some leniancy towards us.  They really have been very nice so far and the severity of Lola's head may be reason enough for them to accept it.  The official no has not been received yet, but our policy excludes DME that is used to reshape a part of the body including cranial molding.  Sometimes when they receive measurements and a letter from a medical professional stating the need for one, they do accept it.  The HR rep did say she has dealt with this same issue with another employee and it all worked out in the end.  So fingers crossed and some prayers please!

Good news is Lola will receive her DOC band next Wednesday.  This Wednesday she has her photo study and evaulation.  We also were able to go back and add an appointment for her DSi, which is a scan of her head so they can make the mold.  Leila, from Maysa's Blog, actually suggested doing that, which was fabulous.  So she will get her band that much sooner now!  And the DSi replaced their old way of making the mold which didn't look pleasant for Lola or me.  So I am very happy about that.  It was the one thing I was hesitant on.  Yaya! The band comes plain so I will have to decide if I want to decorate it.  I think I will get use to seeing it on her then decide what direction I want to go with band decor.  Most I have seen have been decorated.  I am hoping Lola will be out of hers by Christmas, so I am glad we are able to move so quickly with CT.  They have been super so far.  I'll have to write after her appointment on Wednesday.  Clay is finally going to be able to make an appointment so we are super excited about that.  He should be at this appointment and the one next week.  :) Smiles for that!

Chick-fil-A job is going well.  Dad and I met during the hospital stay for Maw-Maw and I was able to start my part today.  Mom kept Lola and I got almost 4 hours in.  I plan on working tomorrow and Wednesday as well.  Then some during the weekend.  I like how I can work out my hours on my own.  This is fabulous.  Dad was right that I would like this. :)

My Maw-Maw had shoulder surgery and is doing well.  They took her pain pump out on Saturday which was probably helping with pain more than she realized.  She saw the doctor today and all looks good.  I have been trying to check on her and Paw-Paw as much as possible.  Lola and I are going back over tomorrow morning to help her out.  Lola entertains Paw-Paw while I try and take care of Maw-Maw for a bit.  Paw-Paw and Lola have gotten to be buds.  I have some cute pictures I'll post soon.  I'm on Clay's work computer right now!

Last, but certainly not least, church.  I went to church at Lakeridge Bible Church this Sunday.  It's quite different going from Watermark to Lakeridge, but I did like it.  Clay is going with me next Sunday (remember he was out of town).  It was funny because Kebby, Lola, me, Laura, Sarah and her son Collin all went.  I was wondering if we looked like polygamists.  Should I have said that?

Well Nurse Jackie is on and I need to watch it so I can go to sleep!

And it's real nice to have Clay back!  Lola and I picked him up at the airport but the drive kind of put me in a sour mood, especially after some irate BMW man cursed me out and flipped me off because I got stuck in the Toll Tag lane.  My Toll Tag wasn't working and it worked like 2 days before that!  How was I suppose to know?  That man got so mad- I think he needs to see a doctor about those anger issues.  I'm paying almost $4,000 for a baby helmet- and I am still smiling.  LOL

Good night moon.

Oh wait moon... It's 11:30 p.m. and I am trying to talk Clay into going to get us some milk.  We ran out! He said he would run to the gas station on the corner, but I told him that milk has poison in it.  I don't know why, but I just can't drink gas station milk.  So off to CVS he goes, which is closer than Wal-mart! No poison in their milk! Yaya!

Okay moon- Good night again.  

Might as well read at the end of the week…

When I had a baby, I lost all decision making skills.  I used to be a prompt decision maker.  Not so much any more.  I think I blame it on this: baby reviews.  I started reading so many reviews on baby products that now before I buy or do anything I want to read a review, which makes life much more frustrating.  So after exhausting all options and insurance, I have finally made a decision with Lola’s brachy.  And it’s final.

I am using Cranial Technologies (CT) located in Dallas.  I was able to talk with Leila from Maysa’s blog and a mother of Quads from Dallas who actually used the Dallas CT location.  They both had wonderful experiences and in Suz’s case, 4 wonderful experiences! :)  Also, it does seem several doctors recommend this company over all others.  I do hear good things about Star Cranial, but not from anyone who has personally dealt with them.  So now I can focus on getting the DOCband and moving forward.  We have an appointment next week and looks like Clay can finally get in on this.  CT should know within a day or so if insurance is on board.  So after next week, hopefully we can get in ASAP for an appointment to get the mold of her head and the band normally comes in about a week later.  So she should have this band by the time she is 5 months old. I think that is a great thing.  Then hopefully she can be out of it by Christmas, but if not no big deal. (Right, Laura??)  

I can’t wait till next weeks appointment.  Everyone at CT has been so nice via phone and e-mail so far.

Lola also has her well child visit next week and she will have to get some more s-h-o-t-s.  Poor thing.  Such a tough life.  It does make me think how hard it must be for little ones who really do see doctors and hospitals too much for their tiny little age.  It was hard having Lola at the hospital last week.  It makes you grateful for box-headed little babies. 

I adore Lola.  Nonna babysat tonight so I could hang out with my substitute husband, Laura.  Clay has named her this.  And when I picked Lola up she was already in baby land dreaming away.  So when I got home, she went straight to her crib and now I miss her.  I just want to go and wake her up… BUT I am smarter than this!  Glad to know, ay?  I can still peek in on her.  She looks so baby-ish tonight.  Sweetie pie.

Big thanks to my little sis for sleeping over with me over the weekend.  Yes, I am too scared to stay by myself.  Clay will be back Sunday.  We do miss him.  But it’s fun having Kebby here too.  Feels like I am in high school again and I look over thinking she should be 10 years old.  Hard to believe it’s her last year of high school.  

Clay seems to be having a blast.  He said Andrew Zimmern is a very nice guy.  This will be a great story for American Way.  I can’t wait to see which direction he does with it.  I am definitely jealous.  A traveling freelance writer.  What a stud!  He sent pictures today of his room and it’s screaming my name, particularly the bath tub.  It opens to the bedroom and is huge!  I love big bath tubs!  Wish I was there with him!

Well I am going to try and be asleep before 1 a.m. tonight.  Hmmm…

Good night. 

Change in direction?

Well it turns out insurance will cost the same 20% for either company now, so I have a choice to make.  To be honest, Star Cranial does have more technology but I am more impressed with the Cranial Tech before and after pictures and the way their bands are made.   I think I am being a pain for the nurse practitioner at Children's but I feel like if she would have explained what was going on in the first place, I wouldn't have been so wishy washy... lol... yes, wishy washy.

I looked up the locations for both companies one being in Dallas and the other in Addison.  There wasn't a huge difference, although CT is closer.

I just love the DOCband over the STARband.  I have probably made up my mind, but someone with experience in this would be great to talk to.  I joined a plagio group on Yahoo but am having a hard time learning how to navigate through it.  My questions haven't posted yet as I think they have to be approved first.

I'll give this a break for awhile.

But some exciting news... I have made this blog public for the time being and my blog will be on the list of plagio blogs on Maysa's Blog who's blog I shared with you earlier this week.  It's a great blog.  If you are interested in Lola's brachy then definitely check out this blog.  It's very helpful.

I need to start enjoying my weekend!  Peace! :)

Test Run

I am making my blog public again for a period of time... it may go back to private, so please bare with me. I will announce if/when I go back private so you can e-mail me if you want to be included. :) Sorry for any confusion.

Thanks for being readers!

Star Cranial Center Here We Come…

So my fears of Lola looking like a football player are put aside.  Clay and I decided to definitely move forward.  We feel it is important to take this one opportunity to correct Lola’s head shape while we can.  It looks promising insurance will pick up 80% of it AND since she was born this year we have already paid her deductible which will save us $1,000!  Yaya!  If the helmet cost $3,000 then we should owe around $600.  I think that is a small price to pay to give her a round head.  BUT I’ll remind her when she was older that we paid big bucks to give her a pretty head and couldn’t buy groceries for months to come! :)  I’ll pray for gallons of Skim Milk to show up on my door step… Mom, didn’t this happen to you?  Literally. 

LOL… I find it so funny to think what we do for her and really she has no idea and probably doesn’t care.  I’ll spend so much time debating over a $10 Marshalls purchase, but not hesitate to get her a highly recommended high chair by dozens of strangers online!  By the way, she LOVES her high chair.  I rolled it in the den the other day and gave her a juice bottle and let her play with it (She’s learning how to feed herself!) and watch TV.  Hahaha.  I took pictures of course!  Lola, when you read this someday, just know that your Momma (me!) could have gotten EIGHT pedicures for the price of that dang high chair- and I could have gotten TEN, but I had a good coupon and our Maw-Maw gave us $20 towards it! :) Gotta’ love GREAT grandparents…lol. Thanks Maw-Maw!  And it’s a good thing your grandmothers by you outfits, because fancy high chairs don’t leave money for those either! Nonna is a sucker when we go to Target and I always walk out with at least 3-5 outfits for you!  She thinks everything looks gorgeous on you- which it does!

Okay back to Lola’s head.  We have moved forward with Star Cranial Center.  I liked Cranial Tech as well, but it isn’t in our network.  I think both come highly recommended.  I am not for sure how soon she will have one, but hopefully not too long.  I am hoping she will be out of it by Christmas.  This is our goal.  Lola is about to hit a huge growth spurt and it is perfect timing for a helmet.  This new word for helmet starting now is STARband.  This is what Star Cranial calls them.  They are called DOC Bands if we would have used Cranial Tech.  If insurance doesn’t cover this, I would see Clay and I pursuing it anyways.  I think it is important.  And now when I see anyone and everyone, I can’t even focus because I stare at their head shape!  So if I run into you- just know- I will judge your head.  :)

There are a handful of plagio blogs and I find them encouraging, so with that I may make my blog public again.  I am not for sure it’s a great idea, but there would be a lot of positives to doing so.  And I would love for my story with Lola to encourage someone, like other blogs have done for me.  You all know I will journal this whole experience.  From the start- she has been my little box head girl… and now she won’t any more.  Kind of sad.  She’ll probably still have a big ol’ head… “I get it from my Daddy…”  LOL.

I think this will all be a positive experience.  There may be some tears from me getting use to seeing Lola wearing her STARband and there may not be.  It’s for a season and for the rest of the seasons in her life… her head will be rounder.  Hopefully she will adjust quickly to wearing the band. 

Please pray that insurance will be swift and accepting and this process will be helpful and easy on us.  Okay on me.  :)  I pray Lola won’t mind wearing it and continues to be a good sleeper. 

Thanks for support.  A thanks to Joi for hooking me up with a great resource.  I look forward to talking with her. 

I’ll keep you all updated of course!

 

TODAY NEWS:

My Maw-Maw had surgery today on her shoulder.  The repair went well and the pain from her shoulder was due to a tear and separation but also growth that shouldn’t be there… I can’t remember the name, but the doctor burned and scraped it out.  He acted like this may be causing her the most pain out of the 3 issues.  Hopefully it doesn’t come back.  I have pictures of the inside of her shoulder.  Pretty cool. 

Lola and I were there with the family for the entire day and then around 8 p.m. we had to leave because I ran out of bottles.  It’s midnight and the last I heard the recovery nurse still wasn’t sure if she would be discharged late tonight or have to stay.  Hopefully either way, she is comfortable.  They have a pain pump in her shoulder and I bet she is still sleepy from being put under today.  I love being put to sleep :)  My Maw-Maw does not though.  This weekend Lola and I will be checking on her frequently.  We don’t have many plans and Clay is out of town being a fabulous freelance writer.  We love when his writings earn us money and even more so when they are featuring cool stories and travel.  I can’t wait to hear how his time with Andrew Zimmern went.  I’ll share any exciting stories!

Keep Maw-Maw (Linda) in your prayers. 

I got a cute picture of Maw-Maw and Lola right before they kicked us to the waiting room.  I’ll post pictures soon but I am not on my main computer right now.

 

Pretty long blog and with no pictures.  Hopefully this didn’t bore you!  I’ll be glad I documented this one day- right??

Nat

Important Stuff

My day didn't go as planned.

I woke up at 8 a.m. excited to get ready for a full day of work and I don't mean Lola. Today was suppose to be my first day back at CFA. My dad had cleared his schedule so we could get a good meeting and day in to start everything off on a good note. After today, I would be able to move forward with a clear idea of what my goals and focus needed to be.

But at 8:30 a.m. a received a call. You wouldn't believe it. The plastic surgery clinic that is taking Lola in about her head late next month had a cancellation and wanted to see if I could bring Lola in today at 11:00 a.m. I kept thinking while I was listening to the message... just don't be today, just don't be today. I desperately wanted her to see this doctor sooner so this was my opportunity. I embarrassingly called my dad and he was very gracious about it. He understood and didn't make me feel bad at all. Thankfully, because I felt bad on my own. So I should hopefully start CFA later this week. Maw-Maw is having surgery so it may be next week before we can pull an entire day together like we had planned on doing today. Thanks to my dad/boss for being so great about things today. I feel like this was God's way of confirming why CFA is my best option and how there really is no pressure.

First the real name for box-head is plagiocephaly and Lola's kind is Brachycephaly Plagiocephaly (BP). It is were there is a flat spot on the middle back part of her head causing her head to become widened and it's creates a tower top which causes the slope on top of her head. The pictures of babies with BP look so much like Lola it is unreal.


So to the appointment. I took Lola in and it was a pretty big deal. Bigger than I thought. My mom went with me. Clay was planning on going in September but obviously with no notice he couldn't manage to make it today. I was glad to have someone with me. Thanks Nonna. They took measurements of her head, did a scan of her head which was very neat, did photographs of her head (like professional ones- lol), and then talked to me about all the details and measurements. I didn't make any decisions today. We did go ahead and ask them to move forward with insurance so if we decided on getting Lola a helmet then insurance would already have accepted or denied the claim. If they do deny it, I don't see us moving forward because it would cost around $3,000. If the do accept it, then Clay and I have a decision to make.

Here's the bottom lines:
1. Her head will never be "normal" without a helmet. It may get better, but not round like a helmet would do.
2. The width of her head is not normal compared to other baby girls her age. A normal range falls between .5 - .6 and hers is .983. She said on a bell shaped curve (the top being normal/average) Lola would fall at the end of the curve... And to be perfectly honest the width bothers me more than the flat spot.
3. Her head does have a flat spot which has caused the width problem and the tower affect, which means the top back part of her head comes up and then the top slopes down to get to her forehead.
4. This window of time is the absolute perfect time to fix her head.
5. She thought 23 hours a day for about 3 months would correct her head shape.

We don't really want to decide right away, because we need to know if insurance will cover this or not.

Here's are thoughts:

1. If we have the opportunity to make her head shape more round, should we?
2. Does more round, mean prettier? (Who knows)
3. They didn't always have helmets and everyone else's heads seem fine.
4. Have you ever looked at a lady (or man) and thought she is so unattractive because she has a flat/wide head?
5. And my last thought is I feel like her head is hers, and I am a little nervous to change it up. (It's her trademark! lol) I would just hate it later, if I feel like I should have done it. But I wouldn't know that till later... gambling on her head shape doesn't seem fair to her.
6. I am adding an after thought after visiting the website below. I think her pictures of the progression are impressive and I love the end result, so to speak. Their numbers/measurements are close and she had lots of luck with her head shape and she didn't do it until she was a little older. This make me want to move forward 100% with or without insurance. See website link below.

I think in the long run this may seem like a silly thing to give so much thought, but at the time it seems serious to us. Will you all pray that this will be an easy decision for us and we can make the right one? Clay and I both agree that the helmet will probably be harder on us than her. I don't know anyone who has put a helmet on their baby so if you do, any insight would be great.

This is me publicly asking for your opinion. E-mail it to me!! I am going to post some pictures so you can get a better look! :)

I tried to pull ones that weren't all about flattery so you could really see her head shaped. The helmet will help the width (the part above her ears) go more toward the back to make it round therefore making her head not so wide. The slant on top of her head should round out as well with the aid of the helmet. (Soon I will post pictures when her hair is wet. It looks like a different head then!)






P.S. I have a cute story. Kebby, Clay, Lola, and myself went to Tino's tonight. Clay offered to pray over our dinner... so we prayed. On our way out I only had one quarter for gum and Kebby asked first so she got it over Clay. Impressively Kebby trusted Clay to get her the gum since she was holding Lola. When he came back outside with the gum he had a goofy little boy grin on his face. He held up two gum balls and was so excited an extra one came out for him. He said, just like a little boy would, his chin tucked under and kind of shy..."It's because I prayed." Just maybe it was.

After doing some searching on the internet I ran into this website:
http://mymaysa.wordpress.com/
This website is worth clicking on- even to just see the first page. It's scary how much Lola's head is shaped like hers at 6.5 months. I really liked her website. It is a good personal website to explore. I liked seeing her pictures and I think I will get faster results just because I am starting her earlier? She had a baby with the same thing and got treatment for her, but when she was older. I can tell her baby had this through her earlier pictures and her head does seem wider now, but to be quite honest- she is one beautiful baby. I actually really like the way her head is shaped! I want to explore her website a little more, but I think her head shape looks great on her! :)

Taking a minute to journal...

Sometimes I just want to journal the old fashion way, the way we would journal five years ago... you know with a pen and paper... possibly a pencil and call it a diary.

If I did attempt a tangible diary, I wouldn't get very far. I would hate the way my handwriting looked. Has anyone notice that? The more you use computers, the worse your handwriting becomes. Seriously. It drives me nuts. My brother could possibly have better handwriting than me. When I write out a check (yes, I still use a checkbook) it looks like I have Lola paying for things. Since my handwriting is so terrible I would want to start over or I would forget what I wanted to write down since I would only be focused on trying to improve my penmanship. I guess anyway I go about having a diary I am going to get distracted. It is in my blood. Thanks mother. I am really ADHD and I have noticed how it affects 99% of the things I do in life, except Lola. I have a feeling when Lola is a tad older my ADHD will start to kick in with her too.

My organizational compulsions help the ADHD though. I redid Lola's closet yesterday while she slept. She was a fussy girl, probably do to "teething." Tylenol didn't seem to help much either. I finally got her to sleep by slow dancing her to Otis Redding on volume 35. The highest is 40. And she loves to dance. We both are secretly in love with Otis Redding, which I guess is permitted since he is no longer living. After she fell asleep, I kept his album on while I attempted to pull out everything that no longer fits Lola and reorganize what does. I took my cute little size hangers (dividers) down because everything in her closet fits her or will very soon. I organized it by shorts, pants, shirts, onesies, jumpers, dresses, and jackets. Everything else has a place in drawers. Her clothes stretch from one end of the closet to the other. I didn't think she had very many clothes, but I guess she does. BRU has a cute pair of jeans I want to buy, but I am waiting. They are only $11, but I just look at them and start sweating. It could be a long while before Lola will be in jeans. At least her closet looks super nice, with or without those silly jeans. P.S. She has a shoe rack now.

So sometimes I catch myself talking about mom type things 24/7. I try to cut it out, especially if I am with Clay, Kebby, or really any other human being. It almost seems impossible though. That's why I like Laura. We can have some great "mom" conversations that don't make me feel like a loser, but we can think up some other things to talk about that don't relate to our babies... My poor other friends have to hear all types of baby talk. They need kids, and soon.

Kebby, Lola, and I went to Ginni's real quick tonight to check in on the house progress. Real cute by the way. I was holding Lola and she kept randomly screaming at Ginni. Just quick loud burst of sounds that were funny, but also very strange. She was crazy and thank goodness she is only a few months old... she pulled it off. I still think about it because you could tell it was aimed toward Ginni. Lola must have been thinking something. I think she was trying to get more attention from Ginni. Smart girl, but that won't fly when she's older. I am in for it. I know.

I think most girls have a part of their brain that is fantasy land. Sometimes I fly away to fantasy land and forget to come back to reality. I have always been a realist. Lately I think I want to be an idealist. My brain is all kinds of screwed up. I also haven't been able to make a decision to save my life... except the other day. I real life spider was crawling on Lola's box head and without any hesitation, not one second of delay, I calmly reached for this itzy bitzy spider and flattened it between my thumb and index finger. No chance of survival and Lola's head was spider free. When it was all over, I was amazed at the "mommy moment" I just had. I no longer was thinking about the real life spider, but about the real life mom, ME! I smiled. And kept smiling all day long.

So I am now officially a stay-at-home mom who is working part-time. Did you all like that description? There is a position at CFA that is new and our stores have never had one. Unit Training Coordinator (UTC). I am taking on this role for all 3 stores and working closely with each team and Dad to develop training material and systems that will improve their stores and allow consistency and continuity between the 3. This job is one my Dad has been wanting to put into place for awhile. For someone who likes her ducks in a row, I sometimes think it is a negative thing that is a new job, because the role hasn't been defined quite yet. BUT really it's a positive thing, because it leaves a lot of room to help shape the job so it can be something that could work really well in my life and in CFA's. I start Tuesday. Nonna will watch Lola when I need to get a good stretch of work in or when I need to be in the stores. Hopefully she'll watch her two days a week and Clay can help at nights a little more. Now that Lola is getting better at entertaining herself, working during the day should be more feasible. I think it may take some practice, but I'll get use to it. We are gonna commit to 60 days and see how this looks and what it turns into. The bulk of the work in the beginning will be done from home. I'll have to keep you all posted on the new job. I am kind of nervous, which is silly, because CFA is a second home, but I feel like the job I am so qualified and good at now is being a mom, not a UTC. It will be good for me, Lola, and Clay though. I am excited.

BIG NEWS!

My talented hubby will be going out of town next weekend to hang with Andrew Zimmern who has a food show on the Travel Channel. Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, soon to be Bizarre Worlds with Andrew Zimmern. Clay is doing a story (freelance writing) for American Way Magazine (Airplane Magazine) over Andrew Zimmern and I can't wait to hear about the experience. I was going to try and catch this trip with him, to Miami, but my Maw-Maw is having surgery the day before so I am staying close by. The last trip he did for a freelance story where he traveled was while I was pretty pregnant, so I had to stay close by again. I missed a nice trip to Mexico! There is a good possibility he will be interviewing J.J. Abrams as well, so hopefully I can catch that trip in the near future... and I am hoping it will be in New York! :) I think it's cool that his writing skills land him jobs like this. Too bad this wasn't full time. Maybe one day they will offer him a job as a full-time writer. Seems like a great, interesting job. Don't get me wrong, the one he has is good and we are thankful. If I was a man, I would want a job where I traveled some. I'll have to let you all know how the trip went. The last show I watched, Zimmern ate parts of a male animal that I won't say on my blog and snakes. I hope Clay doesn't do anything that bizarre or it could cause serious problems in our hanky panky time. I feel like the show's name doesn't quite describe how bizarre the foods are and if you have a weak stomach it is probably best not to watch. I'll let you all know what Clay gets to eat and do over the next weekend.

Well Kebby just came back over and it's getting super late, so I'll end here for now. Kind of on a gross, but cool note. Sorry.

Love Nat

Giggles and Second Round of Cereal!

I started doing this to Lola after I took her formula infested shirt off and out came the giggles. The first giggle was the cutest so Clay ran to grab the camera and here are some more giggles caught on tape! Yayaya!

This was us on our way to our play date this morning. Didn't make it out of the PJ's until we got there. Oh well. I took a picture while stopped because I love how she plays with these buckles. She really uses good motor skills here.

Here goes the second round of cereal! This time we used cereal that was whole grain oatmeal with banana. She seemed to like it. This time around she started to figure out the concept of opening your mouth to get the food in it. Hopefully she'll remember that concept when we attempt the 3rd time! :) In a couple of weeks we should be starting baby foods!

So Messy...

So gross...

So fat...

But still so cute!



At Tino's! Of course. Kebby's pick today.

She was crying and we heard "Momma." My mom looked at me like "Did you hear that?" I did. She's been saying that a little while she is crying. I think it's just the sound she makes when crying???

A tad fussy because she wanted her Momma! :)

Play Date at the Pond

So Laura and I met at the pond this morning with our girls and cameras in hand. Lola isn't a morning baby so she was quite confused why she wasn't still in her pajamas in bed! She lasted a solid hour though and on our way home crashed. It was cute. Not many smiles from either one, yet still some very charming pictures of the two. Enjoy...

Aubrey and Lola doing their own things. Lola is really trying to tackle the paci. She can pull it out but she has a hard time getting it back in. (A side note- this mainly goes to Carole and MG- we don't do "He said/She said" with baby talk! It's totally inappropriate despite me saying so many "he said/she said" phrases a day thanks to her!)

I think Aubrey digs Lola's pacis. That one eventually ended up in Aubrey's mouth. I guess they'll be the kind of friends that even share their pacis. Oh my.
"Friends let friends share pacis!"

Lola was sharing B, but was not happy about it. I think it really did confuse her. Study her look here. I don't think she was as cool about B as she was her paci.

I liked this angle!

Still no smiles, but still so cute!

Poor Lola. One day she'll have payback. Laura and I better prepare ourselves. I think they may act more like sisters, than friends, which could be scary! :)

I better prepare myself. Laura is probably gonna kill me for this picture. I thought it was so funny. It's what moms do to get that one irresistible photo of their child.

I thought Aubrey's face expression was pretty funny in this picture.

The duck popping out in the background seems random.

Lola can't explore the ducks and stumps yet so she is on a quilt just chilling. She is probably wondering why in the world she is here. A couple of more months and hopefully she'll enjoy all the nature around her more.

My little girl. Sometimes her hair looks red. It's not. Normally.

She looks so big standing up. I love all the pictures where she is standing!

Love this one. Don't really know why.

I tried to keep the ducks away from Lola. I was scared they would think she was a big loaf of bread. Those ducks weren't scared of anything. Brave little suckers.

(See.) Aubrey is studying the weed more than the duck. LOL

I liked this angle and her little sandals.

Another angle I liked. (Poor Lola alone on her quilt!)

Oh wait- she had B to play with! She loves B! What a sweet little girl I have!

She's playing with her sunglasses.

Aunt Kebby gave her these and I just had to get a picture. I felt bad because I swore I wouldn't dress her up like a Barbie doll and here is one picture to show I did. Dang.

That's it.

Okay I am selling my Mac Mini computer with the Mac Cinema Display and wireless keyboard. It's all in excellent condition. If you or you know someone interested- let me know! Photos:


Always Nat

Pictures

I love looking at Lola. So I'll share the beauty of her with y'all.
P.S. There are some shots where you get a better glimpse of her head and I actually think it does look a little better. Hmmm? At least the appointment isn't for another five weeks so I can see if it continues to improve.

I just posted a lot of pictures I love and took over the last few days. Love this one.

I love her hair in this picture and her chubby cheek sticking out. I can't believe how much her hair is growing. It isn't getting fuller, but definitely longer. I love it even though it doesn't style very good right now. :)

She's such a big girl. I can't even stand it. What happened to my little (big) 8 lb baby? I guess 6 more pounds happened. Haha.

I thought her lips were funny here. She has the upper lip pulled in a little on each side.

A big girl once again- feeding herself. She can only do it with her juice. Kind of odd, but luckily she isn't great at it, so I can still feed her! :)

Lola and me having fun blogging.

I don't know why I choose this picture... I just liked it. Her face expression is cute.

This one didn't rotate, but oh well. I like the picture again.

Aubrey and Lola had a play date. Thank goodness Aubrey's mom is up for anything, anytime. Good qualities to have in friends!

Laura tickled Aubrey and she died laughing, which scared Lola to death (okay no babies really died) but Lola did cry and pucker for a few minutes. This was right before she freaked out.

I liked how Lola watched Aubrey play with her toys. Hopefully she will share good, but she might be like her momma' and not be a great sharer. Is sharer a word? Hopefully she will have better grammar than me! :)

Lola is much more aware of Aubrey now.
It's cute to see the beginning stages of their friendship.

Lola decided she needed to show off, so she took better posture and sat up straighter. I love this picture. Oh and Aubrey is still digging the walker. Not really into Lola. Haha

Look at my baby. I created her with a little help from Clay. :) She is gorgeous!

Lola: "Oh hello blog readers."

:) Nat