Monday, February 26, 2007

Party Time

Happy Birthday Eli and Tatum. We had a huge birthday party for them on Saturday. It was wild and chaotic, but now that I think about it the best parties usually are. They were surrounded by family that showered them with love and presents.

Eli and Tatum are waiting for the guests to arrive. When Eli saw everyone coming he said, " Oh boy, oh boy everyone I know is here!" He was very excited.



They both received so many gifts. They are very spoiled! This is a picture of them together before the circus of opening presents started. I was trying to keep every thing organized. I knew I was in trouble when I looked up from helping Tatum with some of her presents and saw only pink presents left on the table. I don't know how Eli knew but he managed to open all the presents for him and left the ones for Tatum. I was kind of impressed that he knew which ones were his and I was shocked at how fast he tore threw them. A big change from Christmas. Thank goodness Aunt Angela was keeping track of who gave what, I didn't have a clue.




Eli's birthday theme was Buzz Lightyear, of course. He had Buzz balloons, plates, napkins and a Buzz cake. He really liked the cake, before the party he kept getting the step stool out to look it. I was afraid he was going to put his hand in it or something.




This party was a little more special for Tatum since it was her first. Even though she had no clue what was going on she had fun. She had a special onesie made for her that had a cupcake on it with one candle in the cupcake. We put that on so she could eat her cake and not worry about getting her dress dirty. She also had a cute birthday hat.




When we brought her cake to her and sang she thought that was the best. She was grinning ear to ear and giggling.




It took her a little while to figure out what to do with the cake. Once she got the idea there was no stopping her. She did get a little carried away, she started throwing the cake. She has a good arm; she managed to get some on the wall and the couch.



Forget Campbell's, birthday cake is Mmm Mmm Good.


Tuesday, February 20, 2007

She's Graduated!



After wearing her STARband helmet for 3.5 months Tatum has graduated! We are very happy with the results. I'm happy to have a "baby" to cuddle with again and smell her sweet head. Her head would get really sweaty and stinky under the helmet. She doesn't seem to notice it is gone, well that is until she bumps her head and realizes that it hurts.

God has really blessed us during this time. He has been amazing. For starters we had a great doctor who recognized the problem early and referred us to a specialist. Other families are not that lucky, because some doctors tend to dismiss plagiocephaly. We were told it is unlikely that insurance will cover the helmet because it is seen as a purely cosmetic procedure. We prayed about this and not only did insurance cover the helmet, but they approved it in 3 days. Anyone who has ever dealt with medical insurance knows that this is pretty uncommon. If insurance didn't pay it would have cost us $3,000. When she was first diagnosed they said she would have to wear the helmet for 4-6 months. Most likely 6 months because her case was pretty bad. Now, 3.5 months later we are done. It has really been a positive experience.



This is a picture when she was first diagnosed in August of 2006.




Another view of her head.



Ta Da the end result. You look marvelous baby!