It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Oh who am I kidding, since the day after Halloween it has looked like Christmas.  I find it hard to stomach the sight of anything Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  Too bad that once Halloween hits, the site of Christmas is everywhere. Stores start selling all things holiday from wreaths to wrapping paper to stocking stuffers.  The malls are busily preparing for the arrival of the jolly ol' man Santa himself.  Every town is beginning to decorate street lamps with garland and lights.  All of this before anyone has even begun think about turkey.
The one and only Christmas thing that I force myself to think about before I have had turkey, is the Christmas card.  Since having kids, the whole card sending process has become more involved and pressure filled.  Not only do I have to try and choose a great looking card, I also have to try and get the perfect picture of my little darlings.  Not sure which part is harder. I have been looking high and low for the perfect card and have found some I am loving from Tiny Prints.  I have never used Tiny Prints before, but have received their cards in the past so I decided to check them out this year.  They have tons of fabulous options to choose from and even the super indecisive person (like me) is bound to find one that they love.  Here are just a few of the ones I have marked as favorites for this year:

This is just 3 of the options on my narrowed down list to become this years chosen Christmas card.  I need to stop browsing  Tiny Prints or my list will keep on growing.  Now wish me luck on getting that perfect (or maybe no so perfect) snapshot to grace one of these cards!

Bling, Bling!

Last week we said goodbye to Finley's stark white, clinical, boring looking DOC band, and welcomed something with a little more style.  We found out about a company called Vinyl Touch Graphics who will vinyl wrap bands at no cost.  After checking out their Facebook page, Dan and I decided to contact them about Finley's band.  After about a week of emails and design time, we had Finley's wrap installed and couldn't be happier.  I also decided to add a little something extra to it, and decked it out in little rhinestones, nothing gawdy, just enough to give it a little bling. 

It's not easy being green

Apparently, it isn't easy to live your life all decked out in the color green. 
Just ask Kermit the frog.

"It's not easy being green

It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over
'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky
But green's the color of spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river
Or tall like a tree"

Green is also the color of spinach, peas, and green beans. Their lives aren't that easy either, at least in our house.  These  food items that are not winners with Finley.  Now sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and fruit of any kind, she will eat all day if I let her.  The green stuff, no way. No matter what we mix together with any of the above, she can detect the bit o' green veggie and then reacts as if we just fed her rotten stinky feet cheese.

to help my nomination for mother of the year, yes I took pictures of my gagging baby
. 

 I recently gave her a little bit off the tops of broccoli which was not met with a violent shiver and look of total disgust so maybe it is progress, we shall see.

  

Wordless Wednesday (ok so it's Thursday)

Just fixin my flat

I debated wether or not to even post about the new hat that Finley is sporting these days. In the grand scheme of life, it is not a HUGE deal, and seeing a little one in a "helmet" has become more commom these days.  For most of us who have kids, we know just what the helmet is for and that it isn't some crazy torture device.  But there are some who don't know what it is all about, and this post is merely for their educational purposes. 

Like so many babies, Finley had a flat spot on the back of her headhead.  No biggie, kids most likely grow out of this and frankly, no one has a perfectly shaped head.  At 4 months, she was referred to a peds opthamologist for a possible lazy right eye, as well as a droopy left eye.  Come to find out that the droopy eye was not droopy at all. It was actually her forehead that was growing on a downward slant and the area above her temple was growing down and flat, instead of out and round. Thos e 2 factors make her left eye *appear* to be droopy.    At the time of her followup appt, the head shape had not gotten better and we were referred to Cranial Technologies for an evaluation. 

After visiting Cranial Technologies, it was determined that she did in fact have plagiocephaly (that's a fancy word for misshaped head) and  met the criteria for the use of a DOC band to help reshape her little head and hopefully shift her forehead to where it belongs.  Finley will wear her band, or as we call it, her "magic hat", 23 hrs a day for the next 3-4 months.  The time frame is a guesstamite and could change based on how quickly she grows and the head shape changes. 

Like I said, this is not all that big of  a deal. So what that  Finley has to wear a "magic hat" (and an eye patch for an eye disorder called Duane's Syndrome, feel free to ask me about that) that we still need to make a little more attractive.  We know that we could have a child that is way worse medically speaking and I think that this "magic hat" has taught both Kiegan and Liam a little lesson in being considerate and compassionate for others who may appear to be a little different than them.