Aiden is 5 Months Already?!

I cannot believe how fast the time went! My baby boy is 5 months old already!

My sweet baby is now...

My big boy

Aiden Updates --

• He now weighs 20lbs 5oz and is 30in long - I know! Crazy right?! Well his Daddy is 6'7, so this is normal to us, his big bro was above average too
• He is wearing 9 & 12 months clothes - he sometimes wears 18 months because his legs are so long, they don't fit in 12 month PJ's
• He is in a size 3 diaper

Yes, I promise he really is 5 months

• He sleeps from around 8:30pm to 7:30am almost every night
• He rolls over on his tummy the minute you lay him on his back
• He has tried rice cereal and he doesn't really seem to care about it, he sometimes gets mad because he wants his bottle and he doesn't want to wait to be fed the cereal

• He is eating 7oz about every 4 hours
• He grabs for everything you put in front of him - including my hair , bracelets, and necklaces
• I'm pretty sure he has some teeth coming through at the bottom, because he has been chewing on his hand a lot lately
• He loves sitting in his little activity seat so he can watch his big brother and Lola

So, here's the skinny on my Mini -

*side note - I call him my Mini because he is a total mini me! Don't believe me?! Look ....

My hubs and I on the top and our mini's on the bottom (unreal right?!)

Anyways, back to it ....

At Aiden's 2 month check up, we were told that we needed to keep an eye on his head. He favors his right side and tends to sleep, lay, and turn to that side. The pressure of his car seat, bed, bouncy seat, and rocker has caused him to have a flat head. At his 4 month check up, our pediatrician referred him to a neurosurgeon. No mother ever wants to hear that their little boy has to go to a neurosurgeon. I had so many questions and when I asked the pediatrician anything, she told me that I should save all my questions for the specialist.

So here we are, my husband and I, thinking what is going to happen, how are they going to fix it, is this serious....?! I called the neurosurgeon last month to make an appointment and the soonest opening that they had was today. My husband and I had to wait a whole month, to find out what was going on. Of course, like a million people do, before the appointment, I took to Google to see what I could find out about the condition. I wanted to prepare us for what we might be told. Needless to say, Google is not the place you want to research with any medical questions. The worst of course came up, "surgery"....

So we went today to the appointment, spoke to the neurosurgeon, who we absolutely loved. She was so personable and answered all of our questions.

Talking to Daddy in the room

We then went into another room to see an orthotist. He wrapped this sock thing around his skull (minus his face, of course) to see the exact shape of his skull.

He moved + my iphone = bad pic

After the orthotist took a few pics of his head with the sock thing on it, we had to put Aiden in this little machine, think cat scan machine, without the top. Then a little red laser scanned over his head and sent data to the computer. It was to get the exact measurements of his skull. We were told he has a severe case of positional plagiocephaly (pronounced play-geo-ceph-aly). To try and explain it without being too boring, it's where the head is flat and causes other parts of the skull to shift either forward or backward. The neurosurgeon said it would be best for him to wear a brace for the next 3 months for 23 hours a day. Here is a clearer picture of plagiocephaly (found on Google)

The good news is, NO SURGERY!!!! I was very nervous that it might have to come to that and so relieved when we were told, he wouldn't need it and the flat spot isn't going to cause any pressure on his brain. We were told the worst problem he might have is in his teen/adult years, he might have TMJ. If you don't know what that is, it's when your jaw clicks or locks up because it isn't aligned correctly. But because we are fixing this now, when he is small, he most likely won't have any problems into his teen/adult years. --- GOOD NEWS!!

Through it all today, he is still always a happy boy

And now a word from my little guy (talking to Mickey Mouse on TV)  -