Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Christmas Season

Our newest family members: the multi colored is Sprocket Rocket and the black one is Psycho Ninja. 
Vannahs Cheer Camp!
Vannah doing Aunt Jaimes makeup!


























Thursday, November 26, 2015

2015 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a mad scramble this year.  Our plans were to visit family for the holiday, but unfortunately a case of pneumonia kept us home. So on Wednesday, I ran to the store and grabbed whatever I could to make us a Thanksgiving meal. I managed to grab the one and only thawed out chicken they had. It was the closest thing I could get to a turkey. Only thing I forgot was stuff to make a pie, but one of our friends heard that we didn't have a pie and quickly made the most amazing pumpkin pie for us. We ended up having a wonderful meal and a nice relaxing Thanksgiving.....well except for my husband, he tried to join in but after 10 minutes he had to go back to bed. Pneumonia is not fun!
Still eating an hour after everybody else had finished



Friday, November 6, 2015

Another Alopecian

Back in February (2015) I was brushing Vannahs hair. Actually, I was in the process of tying a little bit of the hair back so it would stay out of her eyes. I noticed a super tiny bald spot, about the size of my pinky fingertip. It was small enough that I wondered if it was Alopecia Areata or if I was just letting my mind run away with me since Koda has it. I decided that I would just let it be and not worry about it. If it was alopecia areata then there was nothing to do about it anyways. 

Eventually the spot went away and we forgot about it. Summer came and went. We were constantly busy and just having fun. Eventually school started and Vannah began first grade. On Sept 1, which happens to be the start of Alopecia Awareness Month, I went to brush Vannahs hair before she headed off to school. That's when I realized her hair started farther back then normal. We knew immediately that it was Alopecia Areata.
Vannahs Alopecia has been more aggressive then Kodas. A few weeks later her spot spread even farther.
Just 1 1/2 months later it was still spreading
Her hair has become noticeably thinner so we decided it was best to talk to her class and let them know what was going on. Her class all think it is pretty neat and Vannah has embraced her uniqueness. She wears a hat occasionally, not because she is embarrassed but because she wants to. I think she looks pretty cute in her hat. 
We are now 2 months in and she is still losing her hair. Every morning we take a sticky roller to her bed to clean all the hair off of it. This pic shows her sheets after just a few hours of them being put on her bed. 
No clue how much hair she will end up losing. The hardest part of Alopecia Areata is that it is completely unpredictable. Koda loses hair in spots and it doesn't grow back for months and months. Vannah is losing a lot more hair then Koda ever has, but her hair is also already growing again. 

All I know is that I'm pretty proud of Koda and Vannah. They are beautiful kids and they are proud to be Alopecians.
UPDATES:

November 20, 2015 pics:
Her hair as of Thanksgiving. Still slowly spreading:

UPDATE 1-20-2016
Vannahs hair is really coming in now. It's nice and thick in places. Currently there are no new spots. Alopecia is absolutely crazy!