First Family Vacate

The man had never been to delicate arch before, can you believe it?

 

A majestic symbol for Utah, so breathtaking at sunset.

 

So I planned our first little family getaway to Moab with this daughter of ours.

 Luckily we make friends wherever we go, because she stops people in their tracks.

 This hike is only 3.2 miles roundtrip, so we thought it would be a breeze with Amberly on my back. However, she did fuss a bit on the way up because she absolutely despises being too hot. Jon had to just hold her in his arms for the last bit of the hike.

 

Overall we were proud of our girl for making it to the top with us! She smiled at any stranger who stopped to give her some attention. Finally, she is becoming less of a poker face and showing off her melt-my-heart smiles!

 

Little granola girl, loving the outdoors.

 

SIMBA......

This one got a lot of random people stealing a photo.

 

 

 

The next day we pushed our luck again, hoping she'd take her morning nap on me while we hiked around Devil's Garden. Well, we made it to Landscape Arch at least.

 

They say it's the longest natural arch in the world. I really wanted to continue to explore Devil's Garden, but baby was all done.

 

 So we snagged a quick photo at Balanced Rock and then began the 5 hour drive to Zion's National Park for Jon's annual family reunion.

 

It was colder this year at Zion's! Glad I brought her jacket and hat.

Too cute too cute too cute

 And I had to get a photo of Amberly's Great Grandma Davis holding her. It was the sweetest. Grandma Davis is an angel, 94 years old, and sharp as a tack! She's got all the secrets to living life to the fullest. I just adore this woman and love being around her.

 

 

A very small handful of some of the Davis clan in the pool.

There were a LOT more of us. And I can never remember all of Jon's cousins names for the life of me. To make things even more confusing, about half of his relatives have the same name. No joke. There is more than one Daniel, Nathan, Laura, Jonathan, Matthew, Ben, Andrew, Chris, Rachel, James, Josh, and Joe. Bless me.

 

Doesn't it remind you of that scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"?

'This is Nick. And here we have Nick, Nick, uh Nicholas, Nick Nick, Nikki, Nick...and I am Gus.'

 

 

Our first little family getaway was such a blast! The only partially miserable duration of the trip was the drive back home - Jon had the stomach flu, baby was super upset  with spending so many hours in her car seat, and of course we got stuck in traffic right around Nephi. So...that was an adventure for this mama!

 

We made it home safe and sound, and I think we all just may use this day to recover from vacation. Ironic how necessary that is, isn't it? 

 

The Half Year Mark

Yes, yet another post to simultaneously celebrate and lament the fact that my baby is getting so big! Look at this beautiful girl!

Weight: 17 lbs 8.5 oz of awesome chunkiness (77th percentile)

Length: 27 inches (91st percentile!)

Head: 16.75 inches (61st percentile)

Nicknames: 

"Poker Face" (Only Mommy and especially Daddy can get you to smile on command)

"Bamberly" (Aunty Mary and Uncle Josh)

"Boo Boo"

"Goose"

"Little Puppy" "Little Pudge" (Dad)

Milestones:

You rolled over three times on Mother's Day AND we saw your first tooth coming in on the bottom! No wonder you drool like there's no tomorrow. We tried to give you some mashed up avocado and squash which was hardly tolerable for you. Hilarious. You've been eyeing our food for so long, we assumed you'd love solids! You are not a fan, however. The worst was the mashed up banana, you gagged about three times and sorry to say, it was pretty entertaining! It must be the texture of the banana...my bad. Mama is going to make you some homemade rice and oat cereal this week. Hopefully you like that better!

Next milestones coming up: Sitting up on your own and crawling!

Sporting your first pair of Nikes

Celebrating your first Easter

Uncle Nate

Uncle Seth

You've been such a good sport, letting me still dance with my clogging team and going to numerous clogging competitions. 

The Mommy Friendly Team. So much fun.

And we went on our first hike together Little Miss!

I totally appreciated the extra calorie burnage.

You seemed pretty confused for the majority of the hike, so you slept through most of it.

We also had a little scare, Amberly Faith.We had to do an EEG exam on you.

My sad girl.

Uncle David and Grandma Mecham were particularly concerned about the way your "baby spasms" were looking. They are so pronounced and somewhat unique compared to other babies. In the 1 or 2% chance that you were having infantile seizures, Daddy and I decided to get your brain waves tested while we had good insurance coverage through my work. It was a difficult test on all three of us, but especially you. Not fun to bring you sleep deprived, tie your arms down, and go through the messy process of prepping your little head and getting you hooked up to the machine. It gave Daddy and I a mere glimpse of what some parents have to go through when their children are seriously ill. Your test came back normal, for which we are still saying prayers of gratitude. But many parents do have children with serious medical conditions, and my heart goes out to them. I cannot even imagine...

Turns out your spasms are yet another way you express yourself, you little tease! It was worth doing the test so that we can know for sure it's just one of your cute, funny quirks. You do them most often if you are tired, frustrated, or overstimulated.

Mama is determined to make this tiny suit fit in a couple of weeks when we head down to Zion's National Park.

It's too cute to miss our chance! (Darling swimming suit from Aunt Alicia)

What can I say other than 

You have the most beautiful smile I have ever seen.

You bring so much joy to your mama, your daddy, and everyone who knows you.

Literally, Little Angel. 

You love to hang out with your Dad....

You make us laugh every day...

 

YUP. Walked in on this when we thought you had been napping for the last 30 minutes...that's totally her pillow wrapped around her leg. (Please pardon the red eye)

You're building all sorts of muscles...

 And you are growing up real fast.

Thanks for making my Mother's Day so special this year. :) 

And for being my Little Bestie.

I am getting addicted to cuddling with you. Daddy has to take you away from me each night so that you can continue your big girl habits of sleeping in your own bed. ("Just 5 more minutes Jon? Pleeeaaase?" :) 

So in love.

This just gets better and better. Each stage is my new favorite. 

Happy 6 months!

Insights on Mothering: Defeating Plagiocephaly and Torticollis

Amberly turned 6 months old yesterday! More to come on that, after we visit the doctor in a couple of days for her check up. This post is another celebratory one - in honor of her physical therapist graduating her today from her flat head/tilted neck syndrome!

Insights on Mothering: Lesson 2
(Plagiocephaly: also known as flat head syndrome, is a condition characterized by an asymmetrical distortion (flattening of one side) of the skull. It is characterized by a flat spot on the back or one side of the head caused by remaining in a supine position for too long.
Torticollis: a twisted neck in which the head is tipped to one side, while the chin is turned to the other. Congenital torticollis (present at birth) may occur if the baby's head was in the wrong position while growing in the womb)

I am so grateful I noticed the flat spot on the right side of her head, she was just a few months old. So I took her to Kelly Warner, Pediatric Physical Therapist at Orem Pediatrics. Through my job at the hospital, I used to refer pediatric patients to this excellent therapist all the time. I thought I'd see if he could help us out,otherwise that blasted baby helmet would be in our near future.

Her flat spot was measuring at a 9 mm difference between the two sides when I first took her in last January. Yikes! A 10 means baby needs the helmet. :( After going crazy with the stretches and exercises, she measured at 6 mm the following month. That was a relief because it proved our hard work was paying off! The next two appointments, our Amberly's head was at 5 mm of difference. And today she measured at 3 mm! (Zero to 3 is normal)

Hoping to remember these stretches if needed for my future babies. Amberly always tilted down to her left side, and had very limited ROM looking over her left shoulder. 

 3 stretches, two minutes each day (the third stretch is just holding her head so she's looking over her left shoulder)

 To strengthen her neck to relieve Torticollis, tilt her down to the left (or whichever side baby is tight on)

5 times a day for 3 minutes

Baby NO likey, it was hard work for her!

 Light up toys, phones, or Daddy is a great distraction while baby does the exercises.

 Make it a focus each part of your day to have baby look over the shoulder she is tight on (in our case, Amberly's left shoulder) as much as possible.

We love her bald spot. AKA "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" haircut

Baby should also sleep with her head turned the way she is tighter on, to help stretch it out. I found that a little baby donut pillow such as this was a huge life saver for my little lady!

Avoid leaving Baby in her car seat, bouncer seat, or any position that has her return to her torticollis, for longer than 20 minutes a day. 

And lastly, TUMMY TIME, tummy time, and more tummy time. At least an hour of tummy time each day, broken up into short time segments.

As you can see, Amberly was barely tolerating it for more than five minutes at a time and then would fuss. I tried to tell her to follow Hannah's good example, but to no avail! I'm glad Hannah held her hand for moral support. 

But after five PT appointments, my strong girl graduated from physical therapy today! Her flat spot is all but gone (she is measuring in the normal range, thank goodness) and I am happy to say that she enjoys her tummy time for 15 minute increments now! 

Getting prepped for crawl mode

We are elated that Amberly won't be needing a helmet and that we were able to correct her neck and head with the stretches as instructed. Those helmets are pricey and very inconvenient. I am certain it would have corrected her head but my girl would have had to wear that thing 23 hours a day, and she would have despised the entire process. She is a bit particular about things, and I know she would have loathed that helmet! So I stretched her, and stretched her, and stretched her some more. She hated the exercises, I had to trick her by doing them late at night once she was deep asleep. This wasn't my favorite when I was exhausted, but well worth it!

We have officially defeated plagiocephaly and torticollis!