Argh!

Argh! #1.  As I was holding my sweet little cuddly baby girl against my chest this morning and enjoying the wonderful mommy/daughter snuggle-fest moment... she growled!  Argh!  I told Zeus he could no longer reinforce the growling sound by growling back at her because she now growls ALL THE TIME!  lol  Uh, this is why kids need daddy's... to teach them all the things a mommy never would!  :)  We WERE able to catch the growling on video last night, but I've got to figure out how to upload it so that I can post it.

Argh #2.  Mia is getting really, really, REALLY good at pulling off her NAM.  As soon as I put it in, her cute little hands go right for it and grab/pull on it and dislodge it.  I tried taping across it - cheek to cheek across the NAM - but she would get her fingers under the gaps of the tape (the gaps from where the tape goes from the appliance to her cheeks on each side) and still manage to pull it off or pull it out such that it was sitting crookedy and pinching her lip or mouth.  When this happens, it causes her to emit a high pitched squeal of pain that stops our hearts when we hear it!  The worst is when we are driving and she 's in the back seat when it happens.  Not only does it startle us and scare the bajeebers out of us, but we have trouble getting to her quickly from that angle.  Also, in the car we don't have anything to cut the tape with.  I can usually find a way to angle back and rip the tape to get the NAM out, but it pulls on her little skin and sometimes actually pulls skin off and makes her little cheeks bleed - worst thing ever! - so I try not to do that. 

Good news is, that it seems to be doing what it's suppose to be doing as we saw from yesterday's appointment.  Bad news is, the other day she pulled it out three times in an hour!!!  Argh!  It wouldn't be so bad, but it's not like a shoe that you just pop back on and can go on your merry way.  With the NAM, I have to clean her little mouth out with a special sponge and water because the denture cream residue becomes slimy and gooey in her little mouth, as well as pick the remaining denture cream off the NAM and then scrub/rinse every crevice of it before putting it back in.  The process of actually putting it back in is high drama and causes her to cry for the two minutes I have to hold it in for the denture cream to set, so needless to say it's a time consuming and heart wrenching process.

Today I came up with the Darcie Austin Moreno adaptation of the Nasal Alveolar Moulding device,(or DAM NAM as I like to call it) which has successfully kept the NAM in her mouth the entire day.  I'm actually quite impressed with my ingenuity and wonder why I didn't come up with it before hand.  Unfortunately it is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, unattractive and odd-looking as you can see below.

Pobrecita with the DAM NAM.

Fortunately it doesn't seem to bother her, and it makes it so there are no upper edges for her little fingers to curl under so she can't grab onto anything to pull it down.  Unfortunately, she now resembles a nose-less creature from some sort of bizarre sci-fi show.  *SADNESS!!!* 

Now we REALLY get looks out in public!  I keep telling myself that it IS helping and that we only have to do this for another month and a half... we only have to do this for another month and a half...

In the "good news" arena, have I mentioned before that I love craigslist?  I rarely buy anything new anymore.  I always watch craigslist for it and usually can find the item in great shape for about half the original price.  Woooo whoooo!  Yesterday I sold my old shower curtain and towel set from my Utah house (Zeus didn't like it cause it was too "girly").

 Goodbye cute bathroom set that had been sitting in the closet for 6 months.  I will miss you terribly.  :)

It sold for $40 - yay!  I was able to use $25 of my profit to buy...

 ...a Bumbo seat and tray for Mia for $25!

I've been wanting one for a while to help her with sitting up and neck control.  Thank you craigslist for helping me clean out my closet AND save/make money!  Not only did I NOT have to spend $50 to get a new Bumbo and tray, but by selling the bath stuff ON craigslist and buying the Bumbo set FROM craigslist, I have a $15 surplus AND a cleaner closet AND a Bumbo seat for Mia to chill in!  SCORE!

How do I love thee, craigslist?  Let me count the ways...