A Surprisingly Sane Blog

Last week I posted an entry about the fact that my darling daughter has a crooked head, and that it is up to us to decide whether or not we should choose to correct it.

Could you say no to this precious little baby?

Thank you, by the way, for all of your support and opinions regarding this decision.  It made me feel a lot better knowing that you all didn’t think I’m nuts for wanting to do this.

After discussing the issue, it was a clear answer:  of course we have to do this for her.  We don’t want April coming to us ten years from now asking why on earth we didn’t fix her head when we had the chance so that her ponytail wouldn’t look crooked.  Or ask us why bike helmets don’t fit her.  Or why sunglasses can’t seem to reach her other ear.

You see, sweetheart, your head is asymmetrical.  We could have fixed it when you were a baby, but we just didn’t want you to have to wear a helmet for 3-6 months.  We decided you would be fine just learning to live with the fact that a crooked head is nothing to be ashamed about. It’s cosmetic.  Get over it.

Yeah, that just didn’t sound like it would fly to us, either.  I mean, regardless of whether our insurance covers it or not, I would prefer to give her one less reason to feel self conscious during the awkward teenage years.  I would feel terrible if this issue made her feel bad about herself in years to come when I could have done something to help correct it.

So today I had to take her to this place where they do the helmet fitting.  It was more of a consultation than anything else.  Basically, the orthopedic lady (technician?) took pictures and measured the asymmetry of April’s little head to send to our insurance company.  From there, they determine whether or not they will cover the cost of the treatment, and then we do the actual molding and fitting for the helmet.  If they do cover it *fingers crossed*, they cover 100%.  Please send happy insurance vibes our way!

I mean, it won’t change our minds about doing this if our insurance doesn’t help, but it would be really nice if we didn’t have to cough a few thousand bucks out of our empty pockets.

Now, I’m just parroting the information given to me from the appointment, so don’t take what I say as the Word of Christ and set it in stone, okay?  But to give you an idea of how “off” her head is, asymmetry up to 3 mm is considered normal (no one’s head is perfect unless your mama’s vagina didn’t have to stretch at all to push you out... in which case, there are other issues more embarrassing than a flat head going on).  But anyway, once the asymmetry reaches 10 mm or more, a helmet is (apparently) no longer considered to be simply for cosmetic correction.  Supposedly, having moderate to severe plagiocephaly can lead to problems such as frequent ear infections, dental problems, and other issues.

April’s  discrepancy between the right and left cranial vaults is is at 13 mm.  I know.  Ugh.

So there you have it.  My kid is going to wear a helmet.

But again- how could anyone with half a heart and at least one brain cell say no to this?

At least she’ll have something protecting her skull while she learns to walk, right?

It’s such a bummer it’ll cover that amazing hair of hers. *sigh*

Current Mood: Alarmed

Holy shit.  Are you seeing what I’m seeing?

Someone is moving in next door.  As in, the house right next to mine.

I am SO NOT okay with this.  If you haven’t seen my post about this before, you can read it here.

I’m sure they’re nice people.  They look happy enough while they’re piling all their crap into their new house, anyway.

I know, I’m a bitch.  It’s just that… well, I got very used to that house being vacant.  And I feel a bit possessive about the abandoned house for some weird reason.

I mean, I never even saw a SOLD sign on it or anything!  Just all of a sudden, a car and the damn Uhaul parked in front of it.  People got out of the vehicles.  Inhabitants are moving into the house next door.

I’ll get over it soon enough.  Don’t mind me.

Current Mood: Alarmed

1. I like to drink wine.  That’s not bad.  The bad part is that I’ve breastfed both my kids while I’m still a little buzzed.  (*ducking*)
2. I drink coffee and still nurse.
3. I give my now-3-year-old (!) small cups of decaf coffee so she can sit down and drink it with me.
4. She loves it.
5. I eat chocolate for breakfast while downing cups of luscious-smelling caffeine.  Then I breastfeed.
6. When Julie asks for chocolate nicely, she gets a bite.  Even if it’s breakfast time.
7. I hate trying to sleep with my kids in my bed… they’ve both slept in their own crib since the very beginning.
8. I leave the majority of the poopy cloth diapers for James to clean.
9. I secretly think kids are kind of disgusting.  I love ‘em anyway.
10. I kick James *really hard* in the middle of the night sometimes.  On purpose.
11. He doesn’t always remember.
12. I’ll gladly allow James claim my own slipped fart as his own if we’re in public.
13. I spend way more time with my internet buddies than with people in person.
14. I make James call everyone.  I hate picking up the phone.
15. There is no schedule in my house.  If my kids want to go to bed at midnight and sleep till noon, they do.
16. I go to church weekly, then still come home and use condoms and toys and oral sex in bed.
17. I haven’t been to Confession in probably a decade.
18. That’s not going to change any time soon.
19. I don’t believe my sexual choices are a bad thing anymore.
20. I like to role play being a bad Catholic school girl and spank the crap out of James’ tight little ass in bed.
21. This isn’t really a role play… I just really am a Catholic school girl gone bad.

Current Mood: Mischievous

NEEEEEEEEED COFFEE NOW!!!!!!

Current Mood: Alarmed

There are three things I’m a firm believer that you just can’t force your kids to do:  eat, poop, and sleep.

They have the final say on those every single time, and it’s just not worth the battle fighting them on it.

When they discover that it irritates you when they refuse to poop, your kid is going to use that to get to you.  In a world where they have very little power over anything other than their parents’ heartstrings, those are three doors they alone hold the keys to.

And if you make a big deal out of the fact that your kid hasn’t taken a shit in two days… well, you’re most likely going to run into a situation were he/she/it has a colon backed up from the Tuesday before last week.

Why am I mentioning this?

While my child has a healthy appetite and was potty-trained from very early on, I kind of suck as a parent in the the whole sleep area.  This is a reminder to myself that no matter how exhausted Julie is, I cannot force her to take a nap.  The more I ask her to stop jumping on her bed and having conversations with God-knows-who in that ridiculously loud voice of hers, the more she’s going to be a defiant little twerp just to annoy me.

It could be worse.  She could be one of those kids who smears shit all over her walls during naptime.  Or one of the ones who refuses to eat anything  but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Or a 3-year-old who still wakes up twice a night crying because she wants to nurse (no, I’m not tandem breastfeeding).

But holy cow, the whole nap time thing manages to get under my skin in the worst way possible.  The evil part of me wants to go in there and smack her little butt as hard as I can.

But I don’t.  I know it’s not going to do a darn thing except give her the satisfaction of knowing that refusing to nap is one thing she can do to make her mother crazy without fail.

*Sigh* I give up.  There are some fights you just can’t win.  The white flag is waving from my side of the house.

Current Mood: Alarmed