A small tribute to fall

Can you feel it? Fall is here! Yesterday I pulled out my long jeans and cardigan because it was too chilly for shorts and t-shirts. You see, I have this love/hate relationship with this season. I love the cooler weather, the changing leaves, the smell of my pumpkin pie spice scentsy, fall decorations, and of course the holidays. I hate this season because it also signals that winter is on the way, and I HATE winter. You would think that after living in Cedar for close to 24 years I would be used to the cold weather and the snow....Nope. I hate driving in it, I hate going out in it, and I hate having to scrape my car. The only time I enjoy the snow is around Christmas time, after that, I am done and ready for spring. 

So two weekends ago we had the chance to go to Lake Powell one last time for the summer. To get to Lake Powell we have to drive over Cedar Mountain. As we were driving I couldn't believe that the leaves on the trees were already starting to change on the top. It definitely felt like fall on our drive over. Once we got to the lake it felt like the middle summer again as the temperatures were in the high 80s and the sun was out and shining. 

Once we arrived back in Cedar, once again I was anxious for fall after the drive over the mountain. I had promised Jake that I wouldn't put any fall decorations out until October....but, I couldn't wait any longer, I put my fall wreath on the door, pulled out a few other small decorations, and threw a pumpkin pie spice wax cube in my warmer, and voila my house felt cozy. I also had the urge to bake with pumpkin, so I made a couple batches of pumpkin cookies and a couple of batches of pumpkin bars, and our house was in full fall mode.

At this moment, I love fall. I love it all. Give me a month or so and I will be sad to see it over and winter on its way. But for now, fall is good, fall is very good. 

View on the top of Cedar Mountain

Summer Summary

How can it be the beginning of August already?! Where has the summer gone? I feel like winter drags on endlessly for months and summer flies by in the blink of an eye. What a summer this has been! It has been an unusual one for sure. At the beginning we were able to attend a family reunion with Jake's Wilson family at the end of May. We were able to spend 4 beautiful days in Alta, Wyoming participating in fun activities and being with family. The first time I went to Alta a few years ago I wasn't sure if I liked it there or not. We went in the middle of March one year for spring break and it was still freezing with at least 6 inches of snow on the ground. In my mind spring break is supposed to include sunshine and warm weather. Just give it a few months and by the end of May Alta is so pretty! All the snow is melted, everything has greened up, and the temperature hangs in the mid seventies.

 At the end of the reunion we packed up and head south four hours to Salt Lake City.
We had doctor's appointments for Kason's head. We first went to the helmet facility and had his head scanned. I was feeling pretty confident that we were going to get the okay to keep the helmet off for good. After the scan was complete, the physician was really quiet. My heart sank. I asked if Kason's head had begun to revert back. All he said was, "his numbers did drop some." My heart sank some more. At every visit in the past, this physician was always so positive and optimistic about Kason's head shape. This visit he was quiet and just told us we would have to wait and see what Kason's surgeon, Dr. Siddiqi said. As we drove to Primary Children's Medical Center to meet with Dr. Siddiqi I felt sick. I was sure that we were going to have to keep the helmet on for another 3 months. The wait to see the surgeon felt endless. I was completely on edge. Once we made it back to the room we waited forever more. Finally.... Dr. Siddiqi came in and looked at Kason's numbers. He didn't say a word as he felt Kason's head. He said, "Everything looks great!" *Big sigh of relief* I asked about the numbers of the scan and he told us that he isn't concerned about the numbers as much as he is about the shape of Kason's head and if the soft soft closed up properly. The doctor said Kason's head was one of the best he has seen! *Another big sigh of relief* We were cleared to leave the helmet off for good.  Yay!

Next we were off to a week long Grant Family Reunion at Lake Powell. We left on Tuesday and stayed until Saturday. We had so much fun being with all of Jake's family. We had two houseboats for all of the family and we enjoyed days of swimming, playing, wakeboarding, boating, and relaxing.  Kason loved riding around on the paddle board and riding on the boat. We sure do love Lake Powell.

After the trip to Lake Powell we said goodbye to Jake's parents who were off to Croatia to begin their 3 year mission. We have truly missed them this summer. About the same time, Jake and I took off to Las Vegas for the summer. (see post "Livin' in LV" for our Las Vegas Adventures)

 

On August 15 we moved back to Cedar City! We enjoyed another trip to Lake Powell and a cabin trip. Kason turned 1 year old on August 19. I can't believe that my baby is transitioning into toddler years! He is such a joy to have in our family. He is walking everywhere these days, loves playing with balls, learns new words every week- currently his two favorite words are ba (ball) and bompa (grandpa). We celebrated by having family over for a BBQ and cake. At first Kason wasn't sure what to do with his cake, he made the funniest faces when we set it in front of him.  But after a minute or so he caught on and made a mess!

Here we are to September.  Jake is back in school and enjoying his semester so far. Also, a little side note, September is Craniosynostosis Awareness month! We sure do love our little cranio baby. We are so happy that we are almost to the one year mark of his surgery. He has handled it all like a champ and we couldn't be more proud! We love you Kason!

Last weekend we attended the Great American Stampede Rodeo. Jake and I try to attend one rodeo a year. I don't know why we like them so much, but we do. It was a fun date night and it was fun to have an evening together without the baby.

We had a couple of Jake's siblings visit this past weekend. It was so fun to have visitors and to spend time with some of Jake's family that we don't see as much of. Jake's sister took some new family pictures of us, which turned out so stinking cute! Thanks Rachel! We also attended SUU's homecoming football game. Even though they lost, it was a fun date night.

That wraps up my summer summary. Fall is quickly approaching and I am so excited! Hopefully I can post more frequently!

Livin' in LV

 Jake and I are enjoying our time in Las Vegas. Jake is settling into his new job nicely and I am settling into a routine here in LV.  We have had quite a few adventures of our own in just a few short weeks. We discovered that we had carpet beetles....ick! We saw them diving into the carpet one Sunday afternoon and were totally freaked out, considering Kason spends most of his day on the carpet. We called the main office and were told that pest control could take care of them! Yay!  Also, on that same Sunday we discovered that our oven didn't work! I tried to make biscuits for Sunday dinner and they took several hours instead of 12 minutes. Nobody has been by to look at the problem, despite my submitting a work order! Kason cut his very first tooth a few weeks ago.  He was quite sick while teething, probably the sickest he has ever been. He was running a fever of 103! Jake was in Los Angeles for training and I was all by myself! Of course Kason would be the sickest he has ever been when I was all alone in a new city. Talk about panic! But after that little pearly white popped through he was fine!  I am just praying that the next tooth is a little bit easier. It was a very long week to say the least. I enjoyed how totally cuddly he was because Kason is NOT a snuggler, but at the same time I hated it, knowing he was feeling horrible and I hated seeing him so miserable. He was also mega clingy and whiny, which was out of character for him, and to top it off he was waking up several times a night just screaming! Poor bug, he was miserable. Thankfully is is back to his old self, which means no more cuddling for mamma.  Now, on to some adventures I never expected to experience. Our first week here, we witnessed a man steal an ice cream cake from Cold Stone! He just took the cake and darted across a very busy road to the mall across the street. Well, I should clarify, we didn't WITNESS him not pay for the cake, but we saw him take it out of the freezer and loiter with it for a few minutes, and he followed us out the door and across the road.  We know he didn't pay for it because the line was horrendous when we left and he wasn't even standing in it. Our next burglary experience happened just a few days ago, remember the carpet beetles and pest control? Well, we authorized them to come and spray when we were in Cedar City for the 4th of July. (I know now, that was not smart.) We returned Sunday night and I noticed a box of band-aids on the counter. I know that I didn't leave them there, I make sure everything is put away when we leave town. That box of band-aids was in a plastic tote in a cupboard when we left town. We opened the tote and there was an empty bottle that contained prescription Tylenol. I know that the bottle was full because I went through the tote before we moved down Las Vegas. The pest control person had helped himself or herself to the Tylenol that was prescribed to me after I delivered Kason. He/she also forgot to put the band-aids back, had they put them back, we probably would never had known! Thank goodness we didn't have any of Kason's oxycodone left from his head surgery. Jake and I have enjoyed trying new restaurants that we can't experience in Cedar City, it is a fun place to live, despite the mishaps and heat. We stay cool by going to one of the three pools in our apartment complex. Kason is such a water baby!  It is a fun new experience for us considering we have lived in Cedar our whole married lives. It has been fun to experience something new. 

On My Mind Lately...

So as of lately I have been thinking a lot about "The Mommy Wars." Some of you may have heard of them. For those that have not, "The Mommy Wars" was a term that was originally used to describe the controversy between working moms and stay-at-home moms. Lately, this term is being used to describe other parenting issues such as breast feeding vs. formula feeding.  This post is not to add to the "Mommy Wars," but it is my own personal thoughts over the last few weeks. I am not saying my way is best, I am just writing down my thoughts about how it is okay for every mom to raise their child differently. 

Moms are posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. what they believe are the best ways to be raising children. My own social media feeds are blowing up with pictures, research, and links to articles that are supposed to be the best ways to be raising babies, and for some, it is exactly the right way, but for others, it may not be. 

After  reading the shared articles and realizing that I am not doing what the "experts" say I should be doing, I am left with a nagging thought in the back of mind, wondering if I am being the best mom I can be to my son. I quit nursing my son after two months, yep that is right he is 100% formula fed and has been since October. Now I know that "breast is best," but I was one of those women who had all different kinds of problems with nursing. It was one problem after another and I was completely miserable. I did do it for two months and I tried to keep an open mind, but in the end I just couldn't do it. Kason also preferred the bottle and nursing him was a battle. For the sake of my marriage and the relationship with my baby, I quit the nursing and moved to the bottle. It has been great, we are all happy. I am no longer miserable and crying to my husband every time I feed the baby, and the baby loves his bottles. 

 I started feeding him rice cereal at 3 1/2 months instead of waiting until 4-6 months. I started feeding him fruits and vegetables at 4 months. Guess what? He loves the cereal, fruits, and veggies. He hasn't developed any allergies and he is fuller longer. He is not screaming every hour and a half because he is hungry. He also sleeps through the night because those stay with him longer. 

 He has been sleeping in his own crib in his own room down the hall since he was 1 month old. Now I know that you are supposed to wait until they are 6 months old to move them into a crib in their own room, but we all sleep better with our rooms. When we go on trips, Kason sleeps in the same room as us, and he doesn't sleep as good as he does at home. When Kason shares a room with Jake and I, none of us get as much sleep. Our noises and movements wake him up, and vice versa. That first month when Kason was in our room I would hear every movement he made and would wake up and feed him. He wasn't always really awake, and we were waking up more than we probably had to. He would whimper a little and I would think he was awake and hungry and so I would flip on the light which would really wake him up. Now that  he is in his room I can't hear every little whimper and I only wake up when he cries and I know he is really awake. I walk down the hall and take care of things in his room. My husband who is in school and working also sleeps better because I am not flipping on the light and making noise. He sleeps so much better in his own room and so do I. 

 Dare I say it?  I put him to sleep on his belly. Yes, you read that right, I put my baby to bed on his belly. For the first 3 months I put him on his back which worked alright, but after Kason had his surgery and he had his helmet on, "Back to Bed" was not working for us. On the back of Kason's helmet there is a large strap that holds the two pieces of the helmet together, and every time I laid him down he would jolt awake because he was uncomfortable in the helmet. The large strap made it impossible for him to lay flat and the helmet would dig into his neck. After several nights of him being up every hour because he was uncomfortable, I finally put my fears aside and put him to bed on his belly. He slept so much better! I was so scared to do this because it is a big "no-no," but he was so uncomfortable and he was rolling to his belly by himself in his crib anyway so I decided to try it one night. I must have checked on him 30 times that night because I was so nervous, but he did just fine, he loved it. I was put to bed on my belly and I survived.

All of these "confessions" go against all of the expert articles that I have read. So is my baby not bonding with me like he should be because he isn't breast fed and he sleeps in his own room? I don't think so! We have plenty of play time and I enjoy looking and smiling at him when he drinks his bottle. For those that do choose to co-sleep, that is great! I just couldn't do it! 

Only within the last week or so have I realized that yes, I may be doing it differently than some, but I am not a bad mom. There is not a one size fits all for raising a baby. What is important is that as a mother I am listening to my baby and my instinct and I am doing what is best for us. I think each mom knows what is best when it comes to her child.  I have a happy, healthy, six month old who is thriving.  I have nothing to be ashamed of. Sure, I may not be doing the same thing as other moms, but that is okay. I love my son, and I am pretty sure he loves me, and that is what is important. 

I know that Kason came to our family because we are the best fit for him, and him for us. Babies go to the families that will be the best at raising them. Each mom raises their child differently, and it works for them. I know that now, I don't have to be doing it the same as everyone else. I just need to be me, and I am raising Kason in the best way for him. 

Craft-Menu Board

I have been wanting to make a menu board for months now, but just didn't know how to go about doing it. After getting a few ideas off of Pinterest, I combined things I liked and created my very own menu board. I made this craft for under $20 dollars.

Supplies:
insulated cookie sheet ( I chose one with a hole in the top, just to make it easier to hang)
coordinating paper
poster putty
velcro
magnetic pencil cup
small notepad
cheap magnets
hot glue gun
vinyl
ribbon

The most challenging part of this craft for me was figuring out how to get the paper to stick to the cookie sheet. I found that small amounts of poster putty worked great! I would just place small amounts around the edges. I would just make sure the pieces were pulled flat so that the paper wouldn't look bubbled. Maybe I did it the hard way? I don't know, as I said before, I didn't know how to go about this craft and so this craft was a lot of trial and error.

Once I got the paper to stick and look smooth, I cut the vinyl. I used my Cricut to cut the word the "Menu" and the days of the weeks for the magnets. If you don't have access to vinyl, paper will work just fine.

I then set about making the magnets for each day of the week. I just bought cheap magnets at Walmart. I cut seven 1 inch circles using my Cricut. I then pulled the clear bauble away from the magnet and stuck my own circles on top of the magnet. I then used a hot glue gun to glue the bauble back on.

For the grocery shopping list notebook I used velcro to adhere it to the board. I then made the dinner cards and placed them in the magnetic pencil cup.

I then threaded ribbon through the handy dandy hole at the top of the sheet and tied a knot. And tada! Menu board complete!

I am really excited with how this turned out. I got really frustrated trying to figure out how to make the paper stick,  but once that was solved I loved this project. I am so excited to begin using it. I am hoping that it will help me to get organized in my meal planning and shopping.

New Year....New Post

It has been quite some time since I lasted posted. I thought I would write a quick update on our lives for the last couple of months. We enjoyed the holiday season. We spent Thanksgiving with the Grants. All eight of Jake's siblings and their families were able to come to Cedar City for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed various activities such as movies, games, and of course....food! It was so fun to be able to be together with the entire family. Jake's parents have been called to serve a mission in Croatia starting on June 21, 2014. We are really excited for them and this opportunity. This past Thanksgiving was the last Thanksgiving everyone will spend together in quite some time. We then spent Christmas with the Garretts. Once again we enjoyed movies, parties, ice skating, and once again....food!  Jake spoiled me for Christmas, and of course we spoiled Kason. I know Kason was too young to appreciate any of the presents, we still had fun buying him things and setting them out on Christmas Eve. However, Kason did enjoy unwrapping presents, he enjoyed looking at and playing with all of the pretty paper and bows.

Jake finished up another semester at SUU in accounting. He did really well in all of classes even though we had quite a bit going on in our lives during the last semester. I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished! He worked hard to stay on top of his classes while we were up north for Kason's appointments and surgery. He has started a new semester and is getting closer to graduating next December. He also just accepted an eight week internship with Deloitte in Las Vegas, Nevada! We will be moving down there this summer. I am so proud of him! Jake was also released from his calling a week or so ago. He was released as the 2nd counselor in the YSA 13th ward. Jake did a great job in his calling and I think we are both going to miss the YSA ward a little bit. Although, we are excited to start attending our new ward next week.

I have been busy staying at home and taking care of Kason. He is definitely an energetic little guy. He already has so much personality.  He is not one for snuggling and cuddling anymore. When he is awake he wants to be looking around and seeing what is going on.  He takes quite a bit of entertaining. He is so interactive and happy, he just wants to be talked to and smiled at all of the time. It is hard to get anything done when a cute little guy such as himself wants my attention. During his naps I try to get some cleaning or laundry done, I also enjoy scrapbooking and crafting during that time as well.

Kason is doing so great. He has adjusted to his helmet, and we discovered he is so used to it that he actually sleeps better with it on! He has started eating rice cereal as well as fruits and veggies. He enjoys those quite a bit! He has also started sleeping through the night consistently....hooray! We have also discovered that Kason is a water baby. We have taken him to the swimming pool twice now and both times he has loved it! He splashes and plays and cries when we get out. We are pretty excited that he likes the water, since both us enjoy it as well.  Kason is his usual happy, smiley self.  He loves to play and giggle. He is such a happy baby, I love it! I think I have one of the cutest kids around, I know, I know, I have to say that because I am his mom, but it is true!

Enjoying the swimming pool together

Enjoying ice skating as a family

Kason on November 22, 2013- One month Post-Op

I thought maybe it was time to sit down and write about Kason and his diagnosis of sagittal craniosynostosis. As a new mom I had a vision in my head of what everything would be like once my baby was born. Well that vision was shattered about six weeks after Kason was born. At six weeks old Kason was diagnosed with a condition called sagittal craniosynostosis. Unlike adults, babies have seven plates that make up their skulls. These plates are separated with sutures that eventually fuse together around age 2, to create the skull. Babies heads are made this way so that they can easily pass through the birth canal at birth and so that their brains can grow. The suture on the top of Kason's head had already begun to fuse.The fusion cannot happen this early because a baby's brain is rapidly growing. In the first 9 weeks their little brains double in size. If the plates are fused together, then it makes it difficult for the brain grow, causing pressure on the brain, and also causing the babies head to take on a deformed shape. When Kason was born his head looked perfectly normal, nobody noticed a thing. Fast forward six weeks (and remember the part about babies brain doubling in size in the first 9 weeks) and Kason had a very elongated head with a ridge running along the top. The top of his head was more of an oval than a circle. The back of Kason's head was longer than most babies (he looked like he had a permanent cone head.) Kason has so much thick blonde hair that it took us awhile to notice it, and even then we just thought he was still a bit cone-headed from the birth. We later found out that the fusion probably began to happen while in the womb.  My sweet mother-in-law who used to work as a Maternal Newborn Nurse noticed that something wasn't quite right with Kason's head. She thought we should have the baby's doctor check it out. When we took Kason to the doctor, he felt that something was off as well, but he had never had a patient with this kind of condition. He said he was going to get us a consult with Primary Children's Medical Center.  

We waited a few days and still we had not heard from him or the hospital. We were anxious to find out if Kason had craniosynostosis or not. We have a family friend who was able to put us in touch with the head of pediatrics at PCMC.  The doctor said he would be happy to diagnose Kason if he had x-rays of Kason's head. We decided not to wait around anymore and ended up ordering our own x-rays for Kason through Kason's primary care doctor. Within the hour of emailing the x-rays up to PCMC we got a phone call from the doctor saying Kason had sagittal craniosynostosis. That was the moment when my vision of how life would be with our sweet baby shattered. We knew from our own research that our baby would have to have head surgery and wear a helmet for months, or even up to a year. That day I felt so upset and sad, I just sat and snuggled Kason for hours and kissed his head. I was upset that in all of the babies born, it was me and my baby that had to go through this. I found myself angry that it was us that was given this trial. I was upset that Jake and I were first time parents, we have no clue what we are doing in raising a baby, let alone a baby who has craniosynostosis. I found myself looking a my friend's babies that were born around the same time that Kason was and envying their perfect round heads. I desperately wished that my baby had a round head like that. 

We were put in touch with Dr. Faizi Siddiqi who specializes in cleft pallets and craniosynostosis. Once again, within the hour, Dr. Siddiqi got in touch with us and set up a consult with him for the following week.
The next Tuesday we met with Dr. Siddiqi and Dr. Riva-Cambrin who is a neurosurgeon. They explained Kason's condition  and told us that we caught it in perfect time. With Kason being only 7 weeks old, they could perform an endoscopic surgery that would be less invasive and a quicker recovery time. They explained that the ideal time to perform this surgery would be when Kason is 8-10 weeks old. They said if he was older than that, they would have had to wait until he was 9 months old and perform a total skull reconstruction surgery that would take 5-6 hours. We were extremely blessed in that we discovered in time and Kason would be able to have the endoscopic surgery. They scheduled surgery for two weeks later on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Through those two weeks I was anxious and nervous for Kason to have to go through such a major surgery at such a young age. Two weeks later we headed back up north for the surgery. 

On Monday morning we drove to PCMC so that Kason could have some blood work done before the surgery. Afterwards we had an appointment with the company that would make Kason's helmet that he would have to wear called Shields. They scanned Kason's head so they could see the dimensions before the surgery. By the time Kason is completely done with wearing the helmet the width of his head should be 80% of it's length. The scan showed Kason's percentage at 70%.  That night we had to quit feeding Kason at midnight and by 5:00 the next morning he was starving. We had to be to PCMC on Tuesday morning by 6:00 so we could get registered for the surgery that would take place at 7:30. It was hard because Kason was hungry and screaming and we couldn't do anything about it. About 7:00 I was able to get Kason to fall asleep. We met with the two surgeons who would perform the surgery at 7:20. We then met with the anesthesiologist who would be putting Kason to sleep. While visiting with the anesthesiologist we found out that this was not a routine procedure, like we had thought. We were told that this was major brain surgery. Kason would have an IV in his foot and in his head. He would also have one in his artery on his wrist. He was also going to have a nose tube and a mouth tube. All of these tubes were for "just in case" something went wrong. It was then that I realized that we were sending our baby in for a major surgery that he may not come back from.

 At exactly 7:30 we walked with the anesthesiologist down a hallway and he stopped at a set of double doors and he told us that this is where he would take the baby with him and we would go to the waiting room. I handed my sweet baby boy over and began walking to the waiting room with Jake. It was hard to stop the tears that began to come after handing him over. It was hard not knowing if everything would be okay and if we would see Kason again. It was then that I remembered Kason's blessing and that Jake had blessed him to be healthy so that he could accomplish the things in this life that he needed to. I also remembered the blessing Jake had given the night before, and I was comforted knowing that Kason had two priesthood blessings, as well as many prayers from family. I knew that he would be okay and we would see him again. We sat in the waiting room for two hours while the surgery was performed. At 9:00 we received an update from the operating room telling us that everything was going well and he would be done in 45 mins. At 9:30 Dr. Siddiqi and Dr. Riva-Cambrin came and told us that Kason was out of surgery and that he did great. They said out of the 200 surgeries they have performed of this nature, there was less blood than there had ever been. They said Kason had hardly bled at all! Also, the material that covers his brain was not ripped at all either. Usually that is ripped and the neurosurgeon has to fix it, but not on Kason! I knew that Kason was being watched over. 

At 10:15 I was allowed to go and see Kason in the recovery room. (They only allowed one parent to be with him at the time.) I knew that this was going to be another hard part for me. I didn't want to see my baby in pain with a bunch of monitors and tubes hooked up to him. I thought I was prepared for what I was going to see, but I wasn't. Once again, I couldn't stop the tears as I looked at Kason in the bed with all of the tubes and monitors. His eyes were glazed over from the anesthesia and I could tell he was in pain and wondering why he was suddenly in pain. His head was orange from the iodine and he had dried blood on his face from the nose tube that they had pulled out after surgery. He suddenly began to scream and cry. His little cry was so hoarse from the throat tube they had pulled out that I hardly recognized his cry. The pain medication they gave him wasn't working and he was crying out in pain, I tried to hold him and feed him, but that did little to comfort him. Eventually, they ordered stronger pain killers for him and that settled him down enough so he could sleep. We then met Jake in the hallway and together we walked up to a private room we would be staying in. I was so glad to have Jake at my side again to help me through the rough time. When Jake saw Kason for the first time, I could tell he was struggling as well. As parents, we never expected to have to see our baby like that. Once we were in the room, I sat and held Kason for an hour or so while he slept, I eventually put him in his bed because every move I made would wake him up and he would cry in pain. Kason slept most of that day and night. 

By the next day, he was beginning to be more like himself, he was smiling and cooing just like he used to. He was even eating the same amount that he used to as well. It was so good to see him smiling again. Babies are so resilient! Yesterday, we took him back to Shields so they could scan his head again, his percentage was up to 74%! The surgery had already improved the shape of his head. Earlier this week we picked up his helmet and we are now breaking it in. By Saturday he will have to wear 23/7 for six months. It is definitely an adjustment! We had just settled into our normal routine post-surgery, and now it is all upset again trying to get used to the helmet. It is so top heavy, Kason has a hard time holding his head up. (He was so close to being able to hold it on his own without it wobbling before the helmet!) Now it is like he is a little newborn again learning to hold it on his own. 

I am not going to say just yet that I am grateful for this trial in our lives. I haven't quite reached that point yet, as we are still making weekly trips up north, and adjusting to this helmet, but I do know that we were given this trial for reason. We are supposed to learn and grow from it, and I know that Heavenly Father has been with us every step of the way. There have been many prayers said in Kason's behalf in the last 5 weeks. I know that one day when I am sending Kason off to his first day of first grade, this will be a small bump in the road that is long gone, and hopefully long forgotten, Kason will have a perfectly shaped head, and he will be a perfectly normal boy. This trial is affecting our lives right now, but in six months we will be done with it, and life will keep going. In my eyes, even with a helmet on, Kason is perfect. He is still his happy, smiley, bright-eyed, interactive, talkative, strong interactive self. I love him so much and I am so grateful he was sent to our family. 

Kason a half an hour after surgery

He slept the day away

Mom holding him right after the surgery

Getting discharged from the hospital....yay!

Mom and Kason playing a few days after surgery. We had to keep his head elevated to help with the swelling.

First time wearing his helmet.