Recap Of Last Week

Last week was interesting. Yes, that's a good word - interesting. I'm going to give y'all a recap of last week!

To begin the week - our HOME STUDY came in the mail!! Yay! For us, that didn't really signify a step in paperwork because our agency already sent our home study to USCIS for us, BUT it does mean that we can officially apply for a grant through Pinelake's Outlive fund!! We are super pumped about that!

Monday was Memorial Day. Lee had to work, but Miller and I went to Decatur to Lee's family's home and went swimming. Sweet Miller loves the water.

Miller also got his FIRST HAIR CUT

Tuesday was our anniversary :) and by the way, our "anniversary fundraiser" did/is doing well! While we were at the movie our little man decided he would start trying to learn to walk!! Below is the link to a video Kelli (lee's cousin) filmed while she babysat him that night!

Video of Miller

Now if that video doesn't look like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time then I don't know what does :) don't ask me why I thought of a deer, but Miller's legs sure are wobbly!


Wednesday is when things got "interesting." I'm going to try to be as efficient with this explanation as I can be. When Miller was an itty bitty baby, for one reason or another, he preferred to lay only on one side of his head. By the time Lee and I noticed, his head had begun to flatten a little on one side (a condition known as positional plagiocephaly). We notified the doctors (this was at about 2 months old I'm guessing) at an early age. They told us to do what we could to keep him off that side and we did. We wedged him, we did all sorts of stuff. Each month we would ask the pediatrician about his head. Our pediatrician hoped that it would "iron out" on it's own, however, at our 9 month visit he referred us to the specialist. So Wednesday was our visit with the Specialist! I could probably write a book on all the details that that visit entailed from all the medical details to the emotions that Lee and I both went through - but I will spare you all the details and skip straight to the verdict!  Miller will have to wear a helmet for 4 to 6 months for cranial remolding! Although he is older than the typical child who receives a helmet (age 5 to 6 months) we are praying that we will still see results. The specialist is confident that we will see some improvement, although he is skeptical about 100% correction. Miller will wear the helmet 23 hours a day for 4 to 6 months... in the summer time... in Mississippi. Yes. Hot. Are Lee and I excited about this? Absolutely not! But we, along with the doctors, feel like this is the best thing for multiple reasons. Please pray for our hearts and our journey! If you are interested in getting a "sneak peek" of what the helmet will look like, you can google "Starband Helmet." June 12th is the tentative date that Miller will get his helmet.

Thursday Miller woke up with 103* fever. He maintained a high temp all day. Lee brought him to the Pediatrician and we ruled out strep and ear infection which left us with the all too common diagnosis of... you guessed it... Fever Virus! Basically, baby has a virus which is causing a fever but doctor isn't sure what the virus is and it will usually go away within 3 days. If not, bring baby back in! :)) But I do have to say that the Pediatrician visit allowed Lee and I to address several "questions" we had regarding the helmet issue (mainly revolving around why Miller didn't get it when he was 5 months old). Again - that's another story :) Lee and I felt better after talking to our Pediatrician. No, nothing was resolved and my baby still has to wear a helmet, but it felt good to conversate with him and understand more about his perspective. Then late Thursday evening I got a sweet kiss from the Lord. I didn't go into detail earlier (b/c it would literally be a book) but on top of Miller being at the VERY END range of age for getting a helmet, the orthotics people couldn't get Miller in for a week to fit him, then it would be another 2 weeks before he got the helmet, leaving him 11 months old :(. So all day Thursday me and friends were on the phone trying to SQUEEZE my baby in for an earlier visit and it just wasn't happening. They were too booked, but very sweet (and consoling to a crying mama)! So, the sweet kiss.
I had JUST walked back into my department and was talking to my boss. I faintly heard a pager beeping. Now, normally I would have completely ignored the pager for 2 reasons - 1, I didn't even know whose pager was beeping and 2, it was 4:30 in the afternoon and by that time most stuff waits til tomorrow. But something in my gut made me tune in and go see if it was mine. I walked back to my office and sure enough it was mine. I called the number back and it was Orthotics! All he said was "bring him tomorrow at 1:30." Do you know how excited I was?? Probably not fully because I spared you all the emotional details, but just trust me that I was COMPLETELY OVERJOYED!!

FRIDAY... The long awaited switch from paper charting to computer charting took place at UMC. You may have seen the word "epic" on some of your friend's facebooks! This is what they are talking about. One word... Craziness! More important topics - My Miller Man!
1:30 on the dot, the Blackburn crew (lee, Miller and myself) walked into URC for Miller's helmet fitting! What did this helmet fitting entail? Well, they made a cast mold of Miller's head. They took a bunch of measurements, then used plaster (the stuff they make casts out of) and molded Miller's head. Miller sat in my lap while all this took place. We were very anxious about how this would turn out and let me tell you... HE...WAS...PERFECT!! He had to sit STILL for approximately 12 minutes while they put plaster all over his head and allowed the plaster to harden. Of course someone held his head, but he didn't fight it!! He was great. I almost cried several times because he was so good! Lee and I had prayed so hard specifically that he would do well so they could get an accurate mold. Our prayers were answered before our very eyes! It was awesome. The mold was a success. They said it looks perfect! So they mailed it to whoever will make the helmet and hopefully we will get it June 12th.

 This was him waiting to get the mold done! If that isn't the cutest baby you have ever seen then I don't know who is!!! They put that stocking over his head so the plaster wouldn't stick to it.

This was him post-helmet fitting. Believe it or not this picture was taken between sweet smiles! That's one proud mama in that picture!

We don't have any pictures during the fitting because Lee videoed the whole thing. I am trying to figure out how to get the video off my phone.

Friday night Lee and I were talking about Miller and the helmet. We both agreed that we had been sad long enough and we refused to continue that through the next few months! Don't get me wrong - I am not in denial that there will be very hard days and the entire thing is a big inconvenience, however, this is where we are. This is the path the Lord has laid before us. This will be our journey for the next few months and Lee and I both agreed to just have fun with it! There are tons of mamas who have blogged about their baby's helmets, made stickers for them, etc. So we aren't going to try to bury our heads in the sand for 6 months! Instead, we are going to embrace this journey and hope that one day we look back at pictures and smile!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
                                   - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18