Week One is Done!

We've made it through the first week with the helmet! How was it? Well it was... easy. Seriously! I can't believe how fast little Missy adjusted to it. If someone would have told me how smooth the first week would go, I would have never worried so much! Here was the rundown on our week:

Tuesday, Day 1: Wear the helmet for 1 hour on, 1 hour off, no naps, and no overnight time
Wednesday, Day 2: 2 hours on, 1 hour on, no naps, no overnight time
Thursday, Day 3: 3-4 hours on, 1 hour off, begin wearing it at nap time, but not overnight
Friday, Day 4: 4-8 hours on, 1 hour off, wear during naps, and wear overnight
Saturday, Day 5: Full time use

Friday was the first night she had to wear the helmet to bed, so I was prepared for the worst! But Makenna was a total champ. She didn't wake up once. Not even a little fuss! I actually got up 3 times just to check on her and make sure the helmet hadn't rolled over her face and sufficated her. (Which, I'm quite sure would never happen, but my mind goes to weird places in the middle of the night.)

So now that we're on to full time, here's kind of our schedule:

Take the helmet off for 15-20 minutes in the morning to give her a little break from overnight. Her poor little head sweats quite a bit so this helps to air everything out (Cuz let me tell you, that helmet starts to STINK after a while. Pew!) and then we put it back on until after her afternoon nap when we take it off again for a 15-20 minute break. Then it's back on until bath time in the evening when we get to leave it off for a whole hour before bed. During the hour, she gets a bath and we rub the helmet with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol to try to keep it clean. And then it's back on until the next morning.

When we first learned of the helmet, we were told she would need to have it on 23 hours a day, and that seemed like a lot! But at the appointment they told us we had to leave it on for 20-23 hours a day, so she has it off for about 1.5 hours a day. And the day goes by so fast, it doesn't even seem like she's wearing it that much! See? Easy! Who knew?

As one last note, I had to share a pic of her wearing it this weekend. We're (still) redoing the bathroom so this tool bag of Cory's is a popular attention-getter.

[Hmm... I think I'll help dad with his tools :) ]

So, now we wait until her next appointment on March 10th. But so far, so good!

Cookies

Ah, Peanut Butter Patties... my arch nemesis. I may seem like a healthy eater, but don't let that fool you. I've definitely over-indulged a time or two on these babies in the past.

Here's how it used to work during Girls Scout season: I would convince myself that I could go without eating these decadent delights. You can do it, I would tell myself, It's just a silly cookie! But let me tell you, after two straight days of "convincing myself" and constantly remembering that they were in my cupboard begging to be eaten, I would inevitably give in. And before I knew it, the box was more than half gone and I'd only be 10 minutes into my recording of the The Bachelor. 15 minutes into the show, I was in remorse and guilt. I can't believe I ate all those cookies!

It took me a long time to figure out that by completely restricting myself from sweets, I was actually setting myself up for failure. I didn't want food to control me and I should be able to indulge in Girl Scout cookies every now and then, right? So, I decided to make a change. Why not enjoy a sweet every now and then and quit beating myself up about it? Seems so simple... I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out!

Now I actually make it a point to keep chocolate in my house. Seems backwards, I know, but it actually works for me. If there's no chocolate, I crave it. And then crave it so bad that before I know it I'm in the drive-through at Dairy Queen ordering a large Chocolate Extreme blizzard.

There's no harm in balancing your diet with some chocolate every now and then. Or, in my case, every day. :) My favorite is to eat a Dove Milk Chocolate candy every night after supper. It's so delicious and melts in my mouth... it cures any craving I have and keeps me from going overboard. Plus, who doesn't love an inspiring quote with every piece! Thanks, Dove! :)

Here's to chocolate eating!

Helmet Day

Today was the day. Our 4:30 appointment at Children’s Hospital in Omaha would mean that from now until 6 months from now (potentially), Miss Makenna would need to wear a helmet for 20-23 hours a day.

Let me begin with a little history: At Makenna’s 4 month check up at the clinic, my Dr. and I discussed the flatness on the back of her head. It wasn’t bad, but still noticeable.

The child slept on her back all night long and didn’t move! And she wasn’t sitting up enough yet to let it round out. We agreed to take a picture from the top looking down on her head, and then another one on her 6 month appointment to see if it had rounded out at all. 

By her 6 month check-up, it really was looking better. She was sitting up completely by herself at this point and we thought for sure it would finish rounding out by itself. 

That brings us to her 9 month check-up, when we realized we would need to do more. It really wasn’t rounding out, and she still slept all night on her back, not moving at all, which continued to put pressure directly on her flat spot. 

Our Dr. recommended a specialist. Fast forward a month and here we are. Talk about an anxious Mom! My stomach was doing flips all day. I was ready to get to the appointment and get it over with. 

It's going to be an adjustment at first, but I'm confident she will do just great once she's used to it. Let's pray I do the same! Why is it so much harder for Moms?

But I do have to share a couple of pics to document the day. Here's a pic of her in the bath with wet hair. It's the official "before" pic. You can really tell that she needs the helmet in this one! 

[Naked baby]

And here's a pic with the new helmet. She still looks sweet to me! ;) 

[New accessory!]

I'll be continuing to update throughout the process in order to document the whole thing. This first week should be interesting... :)

What's new

So what's new at the Larson house? Where to begin...

First, my gym partner is back!! I've never been so excited to workout again! I have been going on my own, but not as religiously or with as much motivation prior to this week. Now that she's cleared to workout again (since having her baby boy 6 weeks ago), we'll be back to pushing each other to get up and get our sweat on. This leads to eating healthier, which leads to finding healthier ways to do things which flows back into getting my workouts in. It's a circle of healthiness! Thanks, Jenn, for restoring balance to my life! :)

Second, Cory and I have been working hard on redoing out guest bathroom. Well, Cory's probably been working harder than I have, but hey, I make a good gopher. I promise to post before and after picks when we're done. It's turning out to be a lot more work than we thought... I guess that happens when you gut a bathroom and start over, though, huh. Lots of lessons learned since beginning this project, that's for sure!

Third, we just found out a couple of weeks ago that it looks like our sweet baby Makenna will need a helmet to work out a flat spot on the back of her head. I've been through a lot of emotions since finding this out; anywhere from relief that it will be corrected to literally crying out of sadness that my child has to wear a helmet for a few months and might look silly. We know it's the right thing to do, though, so we will push onward. I like to keep my blog mostly about fitness and living healthy, but when I began to research the helmet process, I couldn't find many personal stories about it. So, there will probably be a few posts about our process. I want to get the word out about this!

Those are the major updates. Oh! And I signed up to run the Lincoln Half-Marathon again this year! It filled up in less that 12 hours last year so I literally set my alarm to go off at midnight when registration opened so I could make sure to get in. And I'm so glad I did! I'll be posting more on that later, too!

And, since it's just my lunch break at work, I suppose I should head back. More updates to follow!

6 Things -->

It's officially been 7 months since little Makenna came into our lives. I can't remember life before her, and yet it really hasn't been that long ago! I know I'm a completely new mom, but I'm already beginning to understand some of the advice I've received from the experienced one's. It got me thinking, what have I learned so far, and what would I tell a brand new Mom? While I've learned a lot, here's the six things I would highly suggest:

1. Let the small stuff GO.

Option one: Clean the dirty, dog hair infested floors, dust the furniture, and fold the looming pile of clean laundry in the basement (that you've had to start digging through and pulling wrinkled clothes from because your wardrobe is either dirty or in that pile). OR option two: Spend an evening driving an hour and a half round trip so Missy can see her Great Grandma. It's gotta be option two! So what if the house is a mess? Brush it off and move on. It will still be there tomorrow... and your clothes probably won't be any less wrinkled even if you had folded them. (Que the "wrinkle release" setting on the dryer!)

2. Get your tushy to the gym! 

Right now! (Well, feel free to finish reading this post first ;) ) I've said this once and I'll say it again: I. Need. My. Workouts. Bless my husband for giving me 45 minutes of sweaty, adrenaline pumping, Flo Rida rocking minutes to myself a few days a week! It's my best suggestion for any other mom out there.

3. Take your family to church.

Even when the baby's crabby and neither of you have had a good night of sleep. Cory and I grew up in different churches with different styles, but we both came out of it with the same values and understanding the importance of a relationship with God. I hope my children get the same chance.

4. Don't forget to unwind.

With a glass of wine and and good laugh at The Big Bang Theory. Uptight mom = crabby mom. And we all know that crabby mom = crabby house. True story.

5. Never underestimate the power of a child free "Girl's Night." 

Period. ;)

6. Just keep moooooving. 

Once I sit down, I'm toast. But if I can come home from work, change clothes, put on some music, and get a pair of good old running shoes on - I feel unstoppable. It's a perfect mood builder. Just remember: Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. And all of the dishes tend to get done, too. :)


Like I've said, there's plenty I've learned in such a short time frame! And I'm sure there's so much more on the road ahead! Besides, this is only Larson baby number one. ;) Ok, now we're finished so you have my permission to get your tushy to the gym. Have at it!

Weekend Update

I had a jam packed weekend, but I figured I would let my pictures do the talking this time:

{She's too sweet}

I had to take a snuggly nap Saturday afternoon with my babygirl. She slept more than I did on account of the pain in my arm from her laying on it. She is just getting so big!

In other news, I found this wonderful quote on my wrapper from a Dove Dark Chocolate over the weekend:

So simple, but still makes me smile. :) My favorite quote of all time!

And to top off the weekend, we had a super delicious and healthy dinner last night - Marinated and baked chicken breast, green beans with almonds, and fresh strawberries. Yum! P.S. It really takes extra thought into making a healthy meal when you are the only one home with a 4 month old. But I think I’m finally getting this down! I just have to make a conscious effort to think healthy. 

And, as a final note, I went for a three mile run today. I can’t believe how great running feels. Three miles is finally starting to become easy for me. A month ago I couldn't even make it 2 miles without having to stop! Tomorrow's schedule calls for 4 hilly miles. Hope I can tackle that at 5 am. Wish me luck!

A Few Notes

A few notes to pass along:

1. My relay schedule in my last post did NOT copy over well. I will be working on a better way to get that out.

2. I have NOT been eating well these past few days. I can tell because of how my body is reacting. I. Feel. Gross. But it makes sense - what you put in is what you get out. So, back to healthy eating this week. I think I will even be making a special trip for groceries. The produce in town is great, but there is very little selection. And you pay the small-town price!

3. Just wanted to drop a quick positive note and say that I feel completely blessed. I would be no where without the Lord, friends, and my precious family. Spending time with Cory and Makenna is the best way to lift my spirits. :)

Ok, that's all for now! I'm hoping for a long run tomorrow, but it's going to have to be early. Looks like the high tomorrow is pushing 93. Scorcher.