Hannah is officially done with her helmet treatment. Yay! She started back in April and she did great with it, for the most part. She got hot wearing it a few times and there were a few weeks where the redness took a bit longer to disappear than was expected (which forced an emergency trip to Charlotte on a Monday afternoon - no fun), but overall, she did great and we were given the green light for her to stop wearing it as of 5/31/13 (after her head grew 5 mm that week!!!!). We went back for the official completion/graduation appointment on 6/14/13 where they did her exit scans so we could see the comparison from the beginning of treatment to the end and they sent us off with a certificate saying she's an official DOC band graduate. What's really amazing is that the week before her treatment ended, her ears were still pretty off symmetrically, but that 5 mm growth spurt the final week really evened them out so we are very happy with the treatment and the results. Her sweet little head is perfect and her ears are symmetrical and she's been getting lots of forehead kisses for the past month.
Hannah will be eight months old in about a week which boggles my mind. She weighed in at 14lbs 5oz at our last doctors visit a couple of weeks ago (that was clothed weight) which is a huge jump from her mere 4lbs at birth, but she's still really small for her age. She's in the 3rd percentile, but she continues to grow proportionally for her height/weight so that is great news. Last Friday she welcomed her first tooth on the bottom. The one next to it is still hovering under the gum line (and slowly driving her crazy) but hopefully will pop through soon so she can get some relief.
Overall, she's a very good baby. She likes being in the car seat and usually doesn't mind to travel; she gives away the smiles and "talks" and laughs constantly. She loves to watch ceiling fans and still loves to kick her feet. She is very ticklish and laughs like crazy when daddy kisses her toes or blows on her tummy. She doesn't care much for nap time, but she'll usually sleep okay if she is in a place that is free of distractions. She is rolling back to tummy and tummy to back really well. She's not able to sit unsupported yet, but I believe that due to her torticollis (the neck muscle issue) and being a bit behind getting good on her tummy that she will get there. She's been doing really great on her tummy ever since we got her helmet off and while she still has a bit of the neck tilt from the torticollis, she is able to keep her head upright (and not tilted) when she wants to -- she just falls back into the tilt when she's really tired or stressed. She loves to eat solids now and is getting really good at eating - she likes bananas and sweet potatoes and peaches and pears and yogurt. She wasn't too keen on the carrots but we'll try them again and she tolerates the apples but I think they're more boring than the other foods. :)
We love her to pieces. Here are some pics (and a video from earlier this evening)! Enjoy!
