Well, she was just the cutest penguin ever! We went visiting (my two most favorite temp jobs ever) and Edith was a hit!

My friend Beth took these pictures - and I must say, she took the only two that exist because as you can see from my short sleeves, it was nice and warm on Halloween...so Edith didn't wear her lovely warm costume for very long.

Edith is 7 months old today...and she is just amazing...the smiliest, happiest baby I have ever met. We are so lucky to have her in our lives!!

Edith's helmet is AWESOME!!! You can already see a marked change in the shape of her head...how can I tell, you ask? Because they made a MOLD of her HEAD and it's on a giant POPSICLE STICK!!! We get to keep the Edith-sicle when it's all said and done, and I plan to store her helmet on it for safe-keeping. She really doesn't seem to mind the helmet when it's on, she gets a little antsy when I take it off to clean it and put it back on. She wears it for 23 hours a day straight, with an hour off for airing out. The helmet smells like a combination of Fritos and dirty sweat socks, and consequently, so does her head most of the time. What're ya gonna do?

Other than that, she is getting so big and so amazing. We went to the pediatrician on October 9th and Edith got weighed and measured...she is in the 10th percentile for weight and the 50-75th percentile for height. Long and skinny, just like Mommy. Yep. Just like Mommy. Shut up.

We're missing Daddy this week...he's in Germany again for his annual conference and I'm a single mom again. It's SO much easier when Jeremy is here, he is such a good Daddy and husband...he gets up with her and plays with her, and he's always happy to give me a break. It makes life so much easier! He called tonight and I put the phone up to her ear and she got the biggest grin and started dancing. She LOVES her daddy :)

I'll post some pictures soon...I've got to download them from my camera and the camcorder...and my cell phone...so many devices and pictures, so little time!

Some of you may know that Edith has a moderate case of plagiocephaly, and will be wearing a Doc Band, which is like a helmet, but without the top part. I got this information from the Cranial Technologies website to explain a little more of what the condition is, and how we're going to be treating it.

Plagiocephaly (pla'je-o-sef'ah-le) is not uncommon, and often results from external forces applied to the soft infant skull. It might sound complicated, but plagiocephaly literally means "oblique head" (from Greek: plagio = oblique, and cephale = head) It's called a parallelogram deformity because, if you look down on the infant's head (bird's-eye-view), this is the shape you will see.


From this angle it looks as if half of the head has been pushed forward, often accompanied by misalignment of the ears, facial asymmetry and bulging forehead.

The DOC Band®, a 6-oz device, consists of an outer plastic shell with a foam lining. Mild pressures are applied to capture the growth of an infant's head, holding growth in the prominent areas and encouraging it in the flat regions. Adjustments are made to the band weekly or bi-weekly. Length of treatment depends on the age of the infant and severity of the condition. Because no two heads are identical, each patient's treatment is customized.

Edith will be wearing the DOC Band® for about 5 - 7 weeks, maybe a little longer, depending on how soft or hard her head is and how quickly the band works. Since we caught this so early, she shouldn't have to wear it very long...some kids have to have a second band because they are older and it doesn't work as quickly! From all of the other moms I've talked to, kids get used to the band really quickly and it doesn't seem to bother them at all. One really good thing is that one of Edith's Cradle cousins who just came home from Guatemala has the band, so they'll have that in common as well as their agency :)

We are really excited about the DOC Band® and getting Edith's head fixed...even though she is perfect in our eyes, we don't want her to be the "kid with the weird head" when she goes to school. We're certain to get stared at for a while, but I plan to tell her that it's because she is so cute :)

Edith has been talking up a storm lately, and a couple of times there have been real words that have come out of the gibberish. The first one was Hon daa...which is of course BRILLIANT because Mommy and Daddy both drive Hondas, so of course she would know that...

Her second "word" was Oba Maaa! Yay! Our little liberal activist is starting early! I would have liked to get either "word" on video, but I'll settle on the warm feelings I got knowing our daughter is so smart!

I'm going to add a video...hopefully this works because I'm a newbie at this.

Edith Plays With Daddy

Edith is 5 months old as of yesterday, but it was busy yesterday, so I didn't download the picture till now.

It was really hard to get a smile because she is busy saying da da da or ma ma ma or na na na or ba ba ba...or she is spitting. She is a little woman of many talents!