3 Little Hapas

Every so often we all need a little change of scenery. For me, I love going down to Tucson because I know the town (well not as much as in college but it's mostly the same) it's a short drive and the Sonoran Desert is absolutely beautiful. The outdoors is at your fingertips...just a few minutes out of town and you have access to the most amazing hikes and scenic drives.

We enjoyed hanging out with a dear friend of mine and cruised around the UofA, hitting the bookstore for some souvenirs, of course. We also met up with my cousin Maggie who is graduating this fall and took in some very yummy Vietnamese Cuisine. That's the other great thing about Tucson, so many little ethnic places it's so hard to decide where to go.

The kids had a fun time and I enjoyed not having to cook or clean for a couple of days. We took a drive through the Saguaro National Monument (East) and had so much fun looking at all the unique saguaros. Next time we hope to be more active and see some parts of the Catalinas. It's so much more fun to spend time outdoors than constantly searching for ways to entertain the kids with movies, etc. The last time we were in Tucson we went to Sabino Canyon and the kids had a blast swimming in the water. It's those kinds of memories they will take away most from childhood. Next up, camping???

I can't believe Aiden is approaching his 6 month mark. Boy have we been busy! The doc band is doing wonders for his head. We're seeing some nice rounding in the back and just waiting for the right side to fill in. His forehead is also rounding nicely and I just love rubbing his head when we have our 1 hour of bath and playtime. He's actually got a bigger head overall, so it's nice to rub his freshly clean hair and snuggle up to him for a few minutes a day. Just 4 more weeks left, yipee! I'm really worn out keeping up with his weekly appointments and everything else to take care of. I've slacked on the PT for his torticollis so I need to get back on track so he doesn't regress once the helmet comes off. It itches and causes heat rash; he can't get comfortable in bed. I've even placed some tempurpedic foam in his crib to help with that. We're up at least 3-4 times a night (well, I am anyway) but now that he's becoming more mobile, he's finding that stomach sleeping is quite comforting. I've been slow to introduce rice cereal, he mostly plays with the spoon and spits out 3/4 of what you feed him. In the next couple of weeks we'll get him started on some fruits and veggies, hopefully he'll like that more.

Today was the day Aiden got his Doc (Dynamic Orthotic Cranioplasty) Band to treat his Plagiocephaly (i.e. flat head). He looks so cute in his little helmet (aka his durable medical equipment). He's been doing great, he is sleeping in it just fine, nursing without problems and seems happy overall. We have to check for red spots and take it off every 3-4 hours the first couple of days. We don't want any skin breakdown. We also have to keep him cool since he will sweat a lot in the band, which can lead to a heat rash. He already has a yeast rash on his neck so we're trying not to make him more uncomfortable. I'm hopeful he's going to cruise through the next 2 months and do great. There is a small chance he will need another band after this one is done, but let's hope it corrects his little noggin. One ear is also slightly pushed forward so that may not correct. We are hoping that his head will round out nicely on top as well as the back so he will have a more normal appearance to his head and forehead. Gotta think about when he's a teenager someday and trying to ask out those girls :) Thanks to everyone for your encouraging words as we go through plagio adventures. If you'd like to see some other babies in their bands and learn about the device you can go to cranial technologies' website:

Uncle Glenn doing his fireknife dance for the seniors.

Our little Hapa girl danced to "Aloha Week Hula" at the Thunderbird Retirement Resort for her very first hula performance. She was so beautiful and got lots of "ooh's and aah's". We celebrated with her favorite dinner at Red Lobster...shrimp of course! She's learning a new song in class called "Keep You Eyes on the Hands", Tahitian and poi balls and seems to enjoy it very much.

We had our yearly family portraits done when I was 34 weeks along and feeling pretty good. Gotta get some shots of that big belly! The kids were being silly but as always, photographed well for Kim and they turned out great. Now that baby Aiden is here I'm sure he'll be taking center stage for a while. We can't wait to show him off through our blog.

Click to see our new addition to the family! Don't forget to push pause on the playlist first.

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