JUST TIRED

Yeah, pretty much that's not new news, but it's beginning to catch up with me as today I've had a headache all afternoon. Tylenol doesn't seem to have helped-- yet. Still holding out hope tho!

Emma had PT today and unfortunately her new knee braces are causing a bit of pinching on the back of her thighs. Only when she bends her knees far enough for the calf and thigh braces to touch (which is right about 90 degrees). Even with leggings on under the braces it pinched. Looks like when I bring the braces back in for the REALLY SHARP points on one of them to be filed down I'll have to ask the orthotist whether he has any suggestions for the pinching. Other than not bending her knees that far...

Today was a beautiful day but we've stayed inside anyway. Not sure why-- except maybe my headache. Maybe we'll venture out for some outside playtime after dinner. Maybe I can talk Mike in to helping me move around the car seats in the van at the same time...

When we first brought Emma and Micah home they were 17 and 11 lbs and neither held their head up. For this reason we had both of them in backward facing car seats. I'm so thankful for our new van because though it's still a little difficult to get to Micah's seat (behind the driver, next to Kristopher's forward facing seat), it is nowhere near as difficult as it was to fit everyone in to the minivan!

Well, the time has now come for Emma to turn around and go forward facing. I held out as long as possible, but now it's necessary. She is about 30 lbs and has a very strong neck now. I talked to her PT today and she was completely fine with the transition. There are a few reasons we need to do this. The biggest reason is that we're trying to combat her hyper-extending her knees, yet in the car seat she props her legs on the seat back and bends her legs backward severely. The second reason is connected to that and that's due to her new knee braces. Since she hyper-extends so much the knee braces could be worn in the car to keep her from doing this. Unfortunately, getting her in the car with her knee braces on is VERY cramped. Her legs aren't super long but she is over 36" tall and since the braces only bend at the knee to 90 degrees, she doesn't really fit...

So... Emma, Micah, and Kristopher's car seats are all being moved! Maybe we'll move Brianna too just for fun. We do need to clean under each of their seats really good since they've had quite a bit of food in the car...

Right now Micah is behind the driver with Kristopher in the middle next to him. Then Brianna's behind Micah with Emma in the middle next to him. Three of them are still rear-facing. The new arrangement will have Kristopher behind the driver (he can climb in and buckle himself-- but with the last setup wouldn't be able to get around Micah's backward car seat to get in so he was in the middle), Emma in the middle next to Kristopher, and Brianna and Micah (both still rear facing) in the back.

Though Micah is big enough by weight standards and strong enough by neck strength standards, we're keeping him rear facing because there's no reason to turn him around yet and he's safer backward facing. Brianna is just 21 lbs and the minimum to turn around is 20 lbs. Plus, she has lower tone than Micah does and though she's pretty good with her neck strength there's also no reason to turn her around yet if she's safer backward facing.

Off to make dinner... leftover tater tot casserole for the adults and mac 'n cheese for the kids :)