Ella is a BIG GRADUATE!

Ella is a BIG GRADUATE! We went to the orthotist last week and he didn't have much positive to say about Ella growing anymore. He suggested we get a second look and maybe an x-ray to see if her head would do any more correcting. I have taken pictures along the journey and hadn't seen anything happening in over a month. She was definitely starting to get really stuffed in there and wasn't herself. Quite crabby. Daddy went away for the weekend and I thought I'd give it a go, without. Test it out, to see just how she reacted. Wow, a different person!!! So much happier! So when Daddy got home, we had a talk. Deciding to go get an x-ray or letting it go was hard, but the orthotist confirmed what we had already been thinking for a month. So her graduation date was 2.21.09! She wore it for just shy of 4 months. 10.24.08-2.21.09 This is a lot longer than a younger child would have to wear it, but is way over the limit of age they say it will work for. I of course expected it to be perfect when done, but that is not usually possible in a older child. I am mostly happy with the results, but being her mother, obviously wished for more. I will love her no matter what and am so proud of her! She was such a trooper through this whole thing! Congrats Ella!!!

11.4.08~Very flat on the right back and bulging sides. Had a
slight bulge in the forehead too, but went away nicely!














2.22.08~Still a very slight flat spot and slight bulging
on the sides.

Another update.

Thanksgiving was just perfect! I had a great time with the family and Ella was decent while daddy was gone for 5 straight days. I didn't get much done while he was gone, but that's okay. It was good quality time with the munchkin!
Jeremy of course did lots of hunting the last month between bow and gun season. Got himself three deer. We had to throw one away, because the meat got spoiled. Now there's muzzle loader, turkey, ice fishing, sturgeon, hmmm what else am I missing. There's always something to hunt or fish for every day of the year.
I have finally noticed a bit of difference in her head. She's been wearing the helmet for a little over a month now. I was starting to get worried, but I think she is going through a growth spurt. She begs to eat all day long so it must be! I've been taking pics of the progress and will post them when we are finished with this awful process.
Got another page done. I haven't had much time to work on anything, but had a little time here and there the last two weeks. Another from the beginning of the month.

Now it's time to get busy and buy those presents. Got a head start, but it's creeping up fast!!! Three weekends until Christmas. Wow, where did time go? Busy few weeks ahead! Can't wait for it to be over, sadly...

Little nervous...

So, I'm a little nervous about El's helmet. Yay, she likes it, but... I know it takes way longer for her to see results being a older child, but it should have at least budged by now. It looks exactly the same to me. There's no way to tell, since he never gave us a scan or a mm measurement. Ugghh, I'm just so frustrated with this!! Don't know what to do. Everyone says to just wait it out, but when there's so little time, I don't know how long "waiting it out" is. All I can do is hope and pray...

A quick update...

I had a wonderful weekend! It was girls weekend! Stayed overnight on Sat and had a blast. Audra and I had a blast talking and laughing. We haven't done that in years. Now that we're both married and I have El, there is no time to bond like we used to. It was nice to reconnect!

Ella is definitely used to her helmet. I know it's early for a older child with plagio, but it doesn't seem to have done a thing yet. This Friday, it'll be a month. In a month, you should see at least something! I still sit and wonder if this orthodist knows what is going on. I have made a decision that if by 1 1/2 months there is no change, that I am going to try to find someone to take a look as a second opinion. It just sucks, because there isn't time to get a second opinion. We need results now! I will keep praying and keep hoping for a positive outcome!

On a good note...
Friday is so close, but so far away! I can not wait until 7:00 on Friday evening! Tickets in had already, I am pumped to go to the Twilight movie!



Sat starts the season of me being a single mama. Jeremy heads out to the woods and I don't see him for a good month. He is determined to find that nasty buck that has been teasing him for weeks. I hope he gets him and then life can go on!

Just an update.

Tomorrow's the big day. The new prez will be found. I hope America makes the right decision! I think at this point it'll be better no matter who it is!!!


Week 1 check up went good! We took El to get her helmet checked for areas rubbing wrong and all was good. Her side burns were getting rashy, but it should be fine now! He said now we should just wait. So her I am waiting........


Done a few layouts in the past couple weeks. I did an adorable "To sexy for my clothes." Here's the others:

I am letting go of what people think...

Okay, so this is really a hard thing for me to do. I wasn't going to take any pictues the whole time she had this stupid thing on, but that is not fair to her. She needs to know what, why, and how we did this. So here is the first step for me to excepting this whole helmet thing. I have always been about what others think. I hate that! I don't want to be that way, but for some odd reason I am. It is something I absolutely need to work on, so El doesn't have to feel that way when she gets older. People are cruel and I hope because we chose to do this people will have one less reason to make fun. So here is my little Ella on day 4. Such a brave little peanut!!

Gloomy Monday

Snow has officially fallen the last two days. Ugghh, winter is here. Of course, no accumulation, but I saw the white stuff. I'm not real happy! My fault for living in WI. Right? It was such a gloomy Monday. I also had to break out the shoes. Yuck!
El has gotten used to helmet very well. I'm so proud of her! She is taking it like a pro! She was supposed to wear it to bed tonight, but I decided one more day. She is supposed to be getting used to sweating somewhere else, other than her head. She is still sweating under there and I did not want her to have to sleep in sweat. Hopefully one more day will get her used to it.
Yay, here little butterfly costume came today! It is ADORABLE! I can't wait until Friday! She'll be so cute! For me not liking Halloween, I sure am excited now for the day to come!

Day 2 down!

Things are going well witht the helmet! Yay! She is taking it way better than expected. Tomorrow is going to be a test for sure. She will have to wear it for naps and bed. I've already decided that if naps don't go, then bedtime is helmetless. I am going to need sleep and so is she. Plus, I think I'm getting strep throat and I think tomorrow's going to be a long day either way! Yuck!

First full day almost down, only 4-8 months to go...

Full day one is almost over. She is down for her second nap, not wearing it yet for naps, but seems to be taking it well. Me on the other hand... not so good. Every time I look at her, especially when she's tugging at it, is torture! I know it's hot and uncomfortable and I don't blame her for tugging on it. She is sweating like a pig, the poor thing. But, she's been brave and taking it like a champ! I am so proud of her! So, we just keep wearing it more and more over the next couple days until her body gets used to the heat and just her getting used to it. By Monday, she'll be wearing it full time, 23 hours a day.
I was mistaken that at 18 months she'd be finished with it. She apparently, depending on her growing, could be wearing it up to 24 months. I don't care how long, as long as there are results! Keep the fingers crossed!
On a good note! I went and did some retail therapy today! I got two sets of acrylic stamps, an emboss glue pad, a paper distresser, and a pack of paper to add to my 3 1/2 foot collection. It may be higher, but I love paper and am proud of it! I should really go through my stack and sell some though, cuz there's a crap ton that I haven't even touched in months. I will probably get a stack together and put it on Craigslist or something. Maybe have a contest. Who knows! Or maybe I'll keep it and litl E will practise someday being a scrapper with her mommy! I sure hope so!

Brave litl peanut!

Big day for little El. She got her helmet today. I was at work while Jeremy went and got her fitted. It fit, so they brought her home wearing her new cheesy white $1500 piece of jewelry. Ugghh, it's plastic. Really, why so expensive?? Anyway, I get a text message from J while at work and open to a photo of my poor helpless little peanut wearing her new helmet. I break down right there and bawl. And bawl. And bawl. Then, I suck it up to come home to my brave little girl. She was napping so I didn't have to see it right away, but soon as she woke it was time to put it on again. Tears well up, but I tryed to stay happy so she does as well. So, I guess we'll wait and see how things go. I'll keep praying.

Going to be one long weekend...

The appt has been made now to go get the helmet. It's on Friday. This is going to be one hard weekend! I hope everything goes okay! Please keep your fingers crossed or please keep praying for us. I think we are going to need it!

Irritated!

One of my clients put me over the edge today. I had to go into the back room and take many deep breaths to save myself from going off the deep end. She showed up 20 mins late last week and thought nothing of it. (just a note- she has the amount of hair of four people) So comes in today 10 mins late and says she's having some bathroom issues. Well, stay home on your fricken pot then, don't bring your shit (literally) here! So I start doing her hair and "wait I'll be right back." Keep going "wait I'll be right back." Keep going "Oh, I need a eyebrow wax too!" Keep going "wait I'll be right back." Keep going "Oh, I need my bangs trimmed." AAAHHHH!!!!!! I finally get her done (35 minutes late) and want to just kick her out the door. What a pain in my ass!! Oh, and I'm sure she'll be back soon enough! She comes in all the time for a flat iron style from me because she has so much hair SHE doesn't even want to do it! Clients like that just make me want to throw in the towel!

Then on top of it, here we are 3 1/2 weeks into waiting for that damn helmet and still nothing!!! By the time it finally is ready Ella's going to be 16.

And one more thing (while I'm bitching) If one more political call is going to call here at home, I'm going to disconnect my phone! Doesn't the "do not call" list mean anything??? So here the phone rings and wakes up E from her much needed nap! It's always Obama, so when he gets to the big house, can I call him there everyday???

I think it's time to crack a bottle of wine!

Just an update.

Today's appt went way better than expected. Poor little Ella couldn't see, probably couldn't hear, and couldn't move. She way screaming and thrashing anything she could, but we just held her down. It was awful, but on the bright side... they had two doing the cast today, so it went pretty quick. Hopefully they also got a good cast so it won't need to be done for a third time. It's been two long weeks of waiting and now two more. I just hope and pray that we aren't to late. It has to do something, right?
Otherwise, life is pretty much the same. Fall is going way to fast and before you know it, it'll be snowing. Yuck! Hopefully it'll be mild this winter.
My class reunion is coming up. The guy in charge is a total tool. He said he'd put an ad in the paper 3 weeks ago and still has not done it. All that know are the ones that have been told through word of mouth. Oh, well, it's just drinking at the local bowling alley, it's not even going to be a real reunion anyway.

Another two weeks...

I am steaming out my ears right now! I just got home from work and Jeremy informs me that after waiting two weeks for the flippin helmet, we need to go make another cast on Mon. Nobody was even going to call us, Jeremy had to call them! I am irate right now!!! Now, it'll be another two weeks and that puts us at 15 months. Two, maybe three months tops for $1500 dollars. Ugggghhhhh!

Blah...

Fall is here! I just love fall! I love the leaves and the crisp air! It's sad to think that summer is over!
I am very excited to be able to scrap on Sun with mom. We will be scrapping all day. A day that is much needed!
Haven't had anything to exciting happen since the last post. We've been waiting for Ella's doc to call us to let us know the helmet is in. They said up to two weeks and it's been 1 1/2. I'd be happy if it never came in, but I know it's for the best. I've been emotionally better about this, but the minute I see her in it I'm going to go off the deep end again! I hope I can hold myself together enough to keep Ella okay. The more mommy's upset the more shes going to get upset.
I'll keep ya posted.

It's Been A While...

All of a sudden I have the song by Staind in my head... It's been a while. Love that tune.
Anyhow, haven't been on here in a while. After the last couple of post it got pretty busy in the life of Kristi. I haven't felt any urge to even update. I'm not really sure if I'm really into this whole blog thing. I never really did have a diary either.
Since the last posts, we DID decide to go through with the helmet. She was fitted last Monday. It was a horrible thing to go through with your child. It's very scary for them! Now, we are just waiting for the helmet to arrive and then it's four months of complete hell. The jokes, teasing, no sleeping, and temper tantrums begin. But, it's only four months of a life time.
Otherwise, not a whole lot is new. Jeremy has gotten two deer already and more to come with gun season around the corner.
I am so very excited to scrap with my mama this weekend coming up! We will spend a day of scrappin and eating. Love those days!
I will try to keep up on this more often! I just am a very busy girl!
Oh, BTW. Chopped my hair again! Short and sassy and feel like a hairstylist again! Yay!!! I'll try to post a photo next time it's done and cute!

Wish me luck...

Tomorrow's the big day... wish me luck! I am just sick about this appt. I haven't had this much stress in a long time! I just want it over!!!

A rude awakening

I just came across some awful pictures today. We were so far into denial about Ella's head that it makes me completely sick!!!!! I can't believe we left it the way it was. I am so glad that it has rounded out some, but I can almost gaurantee that after seeing those pics I want the helmet. I am ashamed to have waited this long. Now I just have to talk the husband into it. He of course is worried about the money, which is part of the reason we didn't do if before. Sick, money over our daughters happiness. I hope he listens well to what the doctor says. It's about time he does. Like I said I feel like such a low life momma and feel so shitty. Sorry Ella:(

I am definitely having a better day than the last time I posted. Although, I am very nervous for Friday. It is going to be a long day at work up until I can leave for this appt and then I have to go back. I'll probably want to bawl the rest of the day and will probably regret going back to work.
I am getting excited for fall! My favorite time of the year! I love the crisp fall air and the changing leaves. Oh, so beautiful!
Of course, Jeremy starts all his hunting expeditions and I will not see him much until all the seasons have closed for another year.
I will be busy at work with everyone wanting their hair pretty for the holidays! Can't wait for Christmas! It's coming to soon, though!
Not much is new, so I'll just update after Friday...

Still struggling.

So, I am having a rough time with this doctor issue and just can't seem to shake it! I want to at least try to forget about it until next Friday's appt, but I am going crazy! Every time I look at her, I feel awful! I have never felt this way. I feel like I'm letting her down. I can't believe that this is affecting me this way. It was not so emotional for me before. I don't know what it means, but I really am just wanting to be alone for a while. I especially don't want to talk to Jeremy, and almost bit his head off today. I know she has no clue what is going on, but when I look at her all I can think about is the fact that I'm a failure! I try to be happy around her for the simple fact that she has no clue why mommy is crying all the time, but it's so hard. She's so innocent and sweet and it's not fair to her. I just want this to be over with!!!!!!!!