Consignment cutie...

I had the cutest conversation with a little girl today in a local consignment store over Kieran's helmet.  I love little kids and their honesty.

Here's how it went;

Her: "Does your baby have a bicycle?"

Me: "No, sweetie.  He's too young for that.  He's wearing the helmet because his head is flat and the helmet will help to fix it."

Her: "Why is he broken?"

Me: "I don't know, it just happened!" (I wasn't going to get into logistics with a 4 year old LOL)

Her (as she reaches out to touch Kieran's hand and then pulls it back): "Is he sick?"

Me: "No, he's not sick!"

Her: "Just a flat head?"

Me: "Yup! Just a flat head."

Her (as she wandered away): "Oh okay"


It was so adorable! I could have just eaten her up!

The look on her face when she went to reach out for Kieran and realized his helmet might mean he's sick was priceless.  It took all I had not to laugh!

So about those starers...

I feel like we're constantly in the middle of a staring contest and I'm always the one to blink first.  Everyone stares.  No one asks why he's wearing the helmet, they just stare. 

I'm guessing they don't want to offend by not asking what's wrong with my kid's head, but I'm much more offended by the staring.

No word of a lie, one woman walked in front of the stroller, stopped, stared,  walked, stopped, stared, walked, stopped, stared, rolled her eyes and left.  Seriously chick?  Was that necessary?  He's a baby, not an alien.  It took everything we (John, Mary and I) had not to call her out on it.  Mama bear managed to stay in her den, but it was freaking hard. 

A big part of me wants to stick a sign on him that says "Ask me about my head" or "I swear I don't bite".

I need to come up with some witty comebacks or get him a shirt like this...

The man of many hats...

We spent a lovely (rainy) day in Stratford today with Kieran's auntie Mary. 

Kieran was wearing his helmet and of course, people stared.  People STOPPED and stared.   No word of a lie, I've never seen so many heads turn in my life.   I thought one woman's eyes were going to fall out of her head onto Kieran's lap.

Come on people, it's a helmet, not a second head.

Kieran told us he needed a disguise.  What do you think?

More about the staring tomorrow.  It's bad, real bad.

Don't bug him...

We're on day 3 with the helmet and so far so good...he really doesn't seem to mind it at all. I'd even go as far as saying he likes it! He keeps grabbing the loops around the ears and rubbing his head. He's sleeping with it on, he's rolling all over the place, he's my normal, happy, little dude!

I ended up swinging by Michael's to pick up some stickers after I noticed every freaking person on this side of the Earth was staring at him like a freak of nature. I'm hoping it will make him look less like a storm trooper and more like...a storm trooper with bugs on his helmet.

I like it. We don't need no stinkin' wrap. We got us some stickers.

Oh and to all you people with staring problems, Kieran has something to say to you...

I have my very own Storm Trooper...

We got it! We got it!

We had such a long day yesterday.  We left straight from our Baby Signs class to head to Toronto for our 1pm appointment.  We got there just on time because traffic going into the city sucked, as usual.

Trevor brought us in and stuck the helmet on Kieran's head.  It still needed to be trimmed and have the straps put on, so he measured it all up and went to fix it. 

He came back, still not right, measured some more, left again.  It was a long process...almost 2 hours! 

When the helmet was perfect he put in on my little dude's head again and he FREAKED! I mean screaming blue murder.  It was way past his nap time though so I was hoping it was just because he was tired and fussy.  We took it off, went over how to clean it and what to look for, and we left (by this time it was after 3pm).

On the way out we met another little cutie with a helmet.  While we were waiting to make our follow up appointment we chatted with his mom and grandma for a bit.  They were amazing - full of information and so encouraging.  Their little guy's head was so flat you could hold a book against it before he got his helmet.  They took it off to show us what it looks like now and oh my goodness! It was almost perfect!  It was so nice to see how well these things work!

Anyway, we had to make a stop in Mississauga on the way home for John to go to dragonboat practice (and to grab some supper...we were starrrrrving!)  Kieran finally got his nap on the way and before we went in for dinner I decided to try the helmet again.  I was expecting the worst, but he loved it!  His hands went right up to his head to feel it and he was smiling!

He wore it in the car seat between the restaurant and the rowing club.  No issues.

During dragonboat practice I took him for a walk through a park and he fell asleep in the stroller with it on, no qualms whatsoever. 

I'm so, so thankful that he's so comfortable in it! Maybe these next few months won't be so bad after all!

Beauty in Imperfection...

I recently joined a group on Facebook called Beauty in Imperfection.  To be honest, I only joined it because of it's name not knowing what it was really about.  Today I actually took a moment to read about it and now I need to spread the word!

Melanie Harper, the woman who runs the group, is a fantastic sketch artist.  She's started this project to help raise awareness about craniofacial anomalies.  She's working hard to put together a book and video of sketches of both kiddos and adults with cleft lips, various craniofacial syndromes, craniosynostosis, postional plagiocephaly, facial hemangiomas and other craniofacial disorders.

Her portfolio can be found at http://craniomommy.daportfolio.com/

If you have a little one who is perfectly imperfect, take a second to check out her site and give her some support or send her a picture of your sweetheart to be included in her project!

We're too excited to sleep...

Exciting news alert!

Kieran wants to know if he looks different to you?

That's right...my little man is 6 months old.  I can't believe it. 

You know what else I can't believe?  Remember this?

WE FREAKING WON!

Bad mommy blogger, bad...

I haven't updated in a few days. We've been stinkin' busy!

So it's only a week away from the helmet, and guess what? I found a company that does vehicle wraps that thinks they can help us out with the decorating! The owner told me to come in when we get the helmet and he'll see what he can do. I could kiss him. For serious. Now we just need to think of a design.

Hmm what else is new...

Kieran is doing awesome with solids. He's had rice cereal, oatmeal and barley (booooring) and some fruits and veggies. Peas are his favourite.

Yea I know, my kid looks like Popeye. Toot toot.

Mother's Day was a bust, but we won't get into that.  I did get an awesome gift from my little dude (and my big dude) though, so that made up for all of the bad that happened yesterday.

I think that's all I have to update ya'll on.  Stay tuned tomorrow though...we have some exciting news!

We missed Wordless Wednesday...

We were too busy blowing raspberries.

Left to our own devices...

I came across something the other day, and I thought what a great idea (if it does in fact work)! It's called a Noggin Nest.  It's supposed to help keep pressure off the back of your babe's head, from what I can tell.

It got me thinking about other gadgets that might help.  I've come up with quite a few.

So for those of you who aren't sure about what to do to help round out your kiddo's head, this is for you.

Along the same lines as the Noggin Nest, there's something called the Mimos Pillow.  I like this because it's breathable.  Not pretty, but breathable.

Next up is the tummy time mat.  Pretty much a no brainer.  Kieran seemed to do okay with this one.  Didn't love it, but hey, it was tummy time, what's there to love?  He didn't hate it either though, at least not for the first 30 seconds.

Sleep wedges are next on the list.  Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.  Within 3 minutes of putting Kieran on his side, he'd wriggled onto his back.  Every.  Single.  Time.

Next I came across this thing.  It's called a RESQ wedge.  It creeps me out.  But it might work for you.

Even creepier is the Hushamok.  It's apparently supposed to help prevent plagio by distributing the baby's weight more evenly. 

Don't ask me.  I don't know.

Sleep success, but I'm a mess...

The first night in the crib was a success! Well, for the baby at least.  I, on the other hand, was up every hour checking in on him.  I was a mess.  I'm exhausted.  Not only was he in his own room, but he was sleeping on his side!  You expected me to sleep?

I need a barrel of Starbucks this morning.

In other news, we're only 2 weeks away (possibly only 1!) from getting the helmet and I'm still at a loss about decorating it.  Should we Bling it?  Should we paint it?  Should we wrap it?  Should I just cheap out and buy some stickers?  This thing is huge.  A hockey helmet almost.  It's going to take a lot of stickers.

I tried to sell our sob story.  Someone told me they thought they could help us out, and then promptly stopped returning my emails.  The nerve!  The rest of them must just think I'm a crack job because they never responded at all.  The dudes at 360 Wraps must be saints or something, because no one else in the industry seems interested in giving this mental mama a hand.

That's it for today.  Off to enjoy my coffee.

Revelations and relaxation...

Okay, so apparently my kid has decided that he loves to sleep on his side.  Seriously dude?  You couldn't have had this great revelation 3 months ago to avoid this whole thing?

Anywho, while it's great for his noggin, it's terrible for my wellbeing.  I'm up half the night worrying about him rolling onto his belly and smothering himself in his sleep.  I keep leaning over the bassinet to make sure he's still breathing. 

I know, relax mom...reeeelax.

I'm working on 4 nights of crappy sleep and busy days and to top it off, we've decided that tonight is going to be the first night he spends in his crib.  And I thought I was neurotic over the side sleeping - I've got a whole other thing coming.  We can't let him sleep in the bassinet any longer though.  He's having to sleep diagonally to fit in the damned thing anymore.  I just can't let him go.

Relax mom....reeeeelax.