tailgatin' and tur-duc-hen

We started our Thanksgiving week by tailgating with friends at the Yale vs. Harvard football game. (isaac made sure to sport his real team loyalty with the pacifier.) Our attempt looked pretty "WT" compared to all the Yalies in their corderoy pants, cashmere sweaters, and tablecloth covered chafing dish buffets. Let's give it up for beer and brats! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Since three couples had children under the age of one, we came up with a new plan for the bed and tailgate of the truck...giant play pen!! We just threw a few comforters and toys in and, voila! Safe, unsupervised fun! At the half, we packed up and made our way in to the game. Even though it was the biggest game of the season, the Yale Bowl was still not packed to full capacity. Isaac did not seem bothered by the crowds or cheering. One thing I found entirely too precious was Isaac wanted to sit with Tita Jenn, which was so appropriate, since it was their first football game ever! Yep, Jenn had never been to a live football game. You should have seen her face when she exclaimed, "Look! Real cheerleaders!" Sheer joy. Isaac fell asleep before long and the rest is history. (Yale gave Harvard a decent run for their money, but lost in the end.)











For Thanksgiving, we were fortunate enough, thanks to the generosity of Papa Doc and Mia, to dine with friends over a table of tur-duc-hen and all the good stuff that goes with it. Terrence and Kestlee were in for round two, and Jenn and Clemente joined us this year for their first taste. They're sold!



The only other big, noteworthy news in our lives is that Isaac has been subject to the worst diaper rash in the history of diaper rashes!! We're talking a FIERCE and ANGRY rash here people! We are finally seeing improvement, after about 5 days of oatmeal baths, extra-maximum-super-amazing strength 40% zinc Desitin, and lots of "open air" time. (and much to mommy's dismay, a few "puppy dog" accidents on the carpet as a result. God bless Oxy Clean!)



Hope y'all enjoyed the break!

11 months old

A year ago, we had one month remaining until we finally got to meet Isaac face to face. At that time, Keith and I decided to go out and take pictures of my belly and "Baby D". We are now one month away from Isaac's first birthday. So, to commemorate that time, we returned to the same spot for more pictures. This time, Isaac was on the outside. Enjoy!








Isaac, life is so much more wonderful and meaningful with you in it. Mommy and Daddy love you!

fall fell

Autumn was gorgeous this year. But, alas, the season sadly seems to be changing. Leaves cover the ground more than the trees, yellow and brown are the predominant colors now, and there is an unmistakable chill in the air. Thankfully, we had several opportunities to enjoy the beauty with walks near our house, and some day trips here and there. Take a peak...





Please look at how adorable our son was at his first storytime at B&N. He stood at that bench and listened to the entire story while we stood a few feet behind him. What a big boy!


Every evening, we take Isaac's helmet off for one hour to clean it while he gets a bath. He LOVES bath time. I prepare the tub while Keith takes Isaac into his room to strip him and take off the diaper. He then puts Isaac on the floor, all cute and naked, and releases him. From his room, I can hear him crawling and squealing down the hall until he appears in the doorway of the bathroom. The tile floor is freezing, so he usually puts one hand on it, pauses, and then takes off as fast as he can to cross the tile to the rug. He pulls up at the edge of the tub and looks at me like, "Okay Mommy, I'm ready!" This is every night folks. It's absolutely hilarious.



Last little bit of news...Isaac was invited to his first birthday party. The little girl in orange, Kate, turned 1. She started the birthday train that the rest of these cute babies are about to board in the next few months. Speaking of birthdays, Isaac's is 1 month from TOMORROW!!! Check the blog tomorrow for some fun, 11 month old pics of Mommy and Isaac.


Isaac is sick, so I'm home from work today and tomorrow. That's how I'm able to pump out these posts.

plagio-what?

Isaac was recently diagnosed with plagiocephaly. If you've done your homework, you know it basically means he has a partially flat head. His case is mild, but it's there and needs to be corrected. Technically, he has parietal occipital flattening, left frontal flattening and associated facial asymmetry, along with an ear shift of the right ear anterior to the left. Did you get all that? Me neither. Translation... back right is flatter, which pushed the right forehead, face and ear all slightly more forward. He's got a lot of hair, so it's not that noticeable. But, it was, and is. Can you tell in this picture?



Keith and I first mentioned it to our Pediatrician at Isaac's 2 month well-child visit. Response, "Oh, it's not that severe. It will correct itself." Okay. She's the pediatrician, she's seen this before, so that's why she said that, and we believed her. 4 months well-child visit...we bring it up again. Same response. 6 months...same. 9 months...we are fed up. It never got better. It never corrected itself. So we finally pushed for a referral. (At this point, we asked ourselves, why did it take us so long to push? We should have gone with our parental instincts sooner. But, we didn't, and my heart still struggles with that.) Anyway, we were finally referred to Cranial Technologies for an evaluation. They took pictures and measurements of Isaac's head from every angle and presented their findings, which I stated above. They told us it probably would not get worse, but that it would never get better without help. Thankfully, his development has not been affected. But, in the future, do we want him to deal with helmets that don't fit right when he wants to ride a bike or play sports...or glasses that sit uneven on his ears...or possible jaw trouble? Definitely not, if we can help it.

So, first step was to create a mold of his head so he could be fitted for a DOC band (the helmet.) They pulled white hose over his head to flatten everything down. He looked so pathetic, all smooshed and squeezed. I asked Keith to take a picture and Isaac actually tried to smile at Daddy under those hose. Precious. They sat him on a stool surrounded by cameras and with one click, they captured 5 different angles at once. Brilliant! Before such technology, they used to cast the child's head with plaster. Thank goodness we didn't have to go through that!



We went back two weeks later for the fitting. They explained that he has to wear the helmet 23 hours a day for about 4 months. We take it off 1 hour every night to clean it and wash his hair. He gets to play for a bit, and then it goes back on. The first few days Isaac didn't sleep that great, and would tug at the helmet every now and again. But other than that, he really took it all in stride. I was the emotional mess. My heart broke every time I looked at him with that white helmet. So medical and depressing. He wasn't phased, but I was. (The day after he got the helmet, he learned to climb the stairs. I suppose that was good timing...just in case he falls...he's got protection.)



I kept trying to tell myself things could be so much worse. "Steph, this is temporary, correctable, and something he will not even remember." However, that only spoke to a small part of my heart. There rest of me was already mourning the loss of four months without is snuggly head. You see, it is an affection spot for me. I'm always rubbing it, kissing him right behind the ears, softly scratching the back while he nurses, holding him cheek-to-cheek, and when I rock him, it perfectly nestles in the crook of my neck. Now I'm met with cold helmet every time. Also, Isaac soothes himself by twirling and playing with his hair on the backside of his head. The first time I nursed him with the helmet, as he was getting sleepy, he reached up only to find hard helmet. He felt around trying to locate some hair and finally made it to the top of his head where he found a small strand sticking out. Are your heart strings being tugged yet? Well, things got brighter once we got the helmet wrapped. Now, I smile when I look at him, and so does everyone else. We don't get empathetic stares in public, but lots of "he's adorable!" comments. Wait, Steph...wrapped? First, take a peak and then I'll explain.


Basically, we knew we wanted to decorate the helmet and I had done my research on paints and stickers and the like. In my searching, I came across a blog in which a dad wrote about having his son's helmet wrapped. Turns out there is a sign shop in Dallas that does it as their philanthropy. Awesome! Except, we live in Connecticut. So, we found a sign shop near us and inquired if they could do the same. Long story short (ha!), we sent them our idea...they created it...didn't charge us a dime...and it turned out fabulous! Props to the guys at Signarama in Wallingford, CT!!!


So, that's the latest on our life here in CT with our cutie Isaac in his helmet. Sorry it took me so long to get all this down and out to y'all. I'm glad you are up to date now. We're sending lots of love your way!

trick-or-treat

So, do you notice something new on Isaac's head? Well, it's not part of his costume. I will tell you more about it in the next post. Your homework is to google "plagiocephaly". Ciao!