Mason is...WALKING!

Over the last few days, Mason has been standing for longer periods independently and taking multiple hands-free steps near objects that he could hold onto if he needed. Last night, Mason left a chair in the middle of the room and casually walked to the couch with probably 6 independent steps. Travis and I were both fortunate enough to see it happen. It was the very first time Mason stepped out into space with nothing to hold onto; no safety net. He did great and kept his balance the entire time! Hopefully we can capture it on film soon!

Mysterious Skin Bump

Things have been going really well for Mason lately, with the exception of a mysterious skin bump on his forehead. For about a week a red spot came and went and we really thought nothing of it. A week later, it stuck and has been growing in size and getting more red for the past 4 weeks. We have visited the Pediatrician twice and have tried two treatments, but nothing seems to make it go away or get any smaller. If it doesn't improve by the end of this week, we will have to visit a Dermatologist to see if they can tell what it is.

It looks like an infected clogged pore and we have been using warm compresses to try and bring it to a head so that it can pop and drain. He is on topical and oral antibiotics right now, just in case it is a bacterial infection. The compresses are hard to do when he is awake, so the past few nights I have been doing them when he falls asleep. It looked like they might be working and it was close to being ready to pop last night. My fingers are crossed that tonight will be the night. The Pediatrician feels that once it pops and drains, it will heal up pretty fast. Since the location is right between his eyes, she did not feel comfortable lancing it at the office and was not able to manually "pop" it at our last visit.

March for Babies

That time of year is coming up again! March for Babies is on 4/25/09 in our area. Last year Travis walked for Mason and was able to raise more than $1,000 in donations thanks to your generosity.

We have set up a bit of a different goal this year. There were many people that expressed interest in walking with Travis, so we decided to create a walking team. Our team will represent CDH and will hopefully help to raise some awareness. Our goal is to get 25 walkers this year to participate with Travis and Mason. If each walker raised $100, our team will generate $2,500 for the March of Dimes, a truly special organization.

I really wish I could walk this year, but the event is only 2 days away from my due date.

Please check out our Team Page and register to join us!

Playdate

This past Sunday, we were able to get together with the Baker's. Noah is one of Mason's CDH buddies and was Mason's roomie when they were on ECMO at UofM. We have all become such great friends and have really gone through this CDH journey step by step with each other. It is great to have friends that can relate to everything that we have been through.

We visited the Baker's at their house and the boys all had a great time playing. It was the first time they were able to play together ouside of a hospital or doctor appointment.

Check out The Baker's blog, they got some great pictures!!

Pudding Therapy

Who can resist a little chocolate pudding therapy? Not our little guy! A few nights ago I made some chocolate JELLO cook'n'serve pudding for dessert. We stripped Mason down and let him "have at it". He made a huge mess and even tasted it multiple times. He really had fun with it and made us laugh, and laugh. It was such a success that we decided to have pudding therapy as much as we can now. We can really start to tell that his sensory issues are now becoming far and few between. He didn't mind getting dirty and digging in the pudding. I served it warm so I am sure that helped a little.