Spring Cold

Mason has been doing really well lately, with the exception of catching a bad cold yesterday. Actually all of us caught it. So far he seems to be handling it well, just extra tired with a runny and sneezy nose. He has a lung function test scheduled for Thursday, but we may have to reschedule due to his cold.

Over the past week he has become a full-time walker for the most part. He is still having some trouble standing up on his own without the use of a wall or object, so if he falls in the middle of a room, he will crawl to the closest thing to help him up. Mason is also going to receive some extra PT at UofM. A HUGE thanks to Jeannie and Dan for moving mountains to get us in! He had an evaluation on Thursday and since then we have been working on throwing and kicking balls, stepping over and around objects on the floor, carrying large objects while walking, core strength, balance, etc. Right now Mason's gross motor skills (according to the Peabody test) are at the 13 month old level. He is really interested in playing with the other neighborhood kids his age, but can't keep up with them yet. Six weeks of extra PT should really help him catch up to his adjusted age of 19 months.

Mason's occupational therapy has been going pretty well. He now has a few summer months off before we go back. We are at a stage where he just needs exposure to a variety of different foods and textures, something we can do at home rather than at the hospital. He is still drinking lots of water which is great. He is also starting to take some tasts of our lunch and dinner with a fork, as long as it is a sauce or gravy texture. Our next step is to get him comfortable with squishy and slimy solids like cooked veggies and fruits.

Update

I thought I would post a little general update on how Mason is doing.

First, the mysterious skin bump is well....still a mystery. It did pop and drain about a week after I last posted about it, and now it looks much better. Since then, we visited the Pediatrician again, tried a stronger antibiotic, and were referred to a Dermatologist. The Dermatologist said it didn't look to be bacterial or infectious which was good news. She did say it could be a number of things and we would not know for sure until we took a biopsy. She did say it does not look to be dangerous or bad and is probably a harmless growth. The biopsy will leave a scar and since Mason doesn't need any more scars we made the mutual decision to wait an additional 6 - 8 weeks to see if it will heal up on its own. If it doesn't, then we will proceed with a biopsy. The good thing is that it appears to be healing on its own, ever so slowly. We are hoping that it will be gone by the time the 8 weeks is up.

Mason is also walking around a lot lately and we have noticed that his balance is improving each day. I still stare in disbelief when I see him walking. I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Here is a video we captured over weekend.



Mason has been working with puzzles quite a bit lately. He really likes his wood stacker and is getting pretty good at putting the pieces back on after he takes them off. We also just started with a shape puzzle that has colors on it. Mason has done really well with matching up the colors which helps him find where the shape belongs. He just has a little trouble getting the puzzle pieces to fit perfectly into the hole and will become pretty frusterated. Once his fine motor skills catch up, I think he will have an easier time. He has also become really interested in his Sesame Street alphabet cards, I think mostly because there are pictures of Elmo and Cookie Monster on them :)

Here are a couple of recent pictures taken over the past couple of days:

Playing....
Watching cartoons with his snuggly blanket.
Helping with the kitchen remodel.

I thought I would end this post with a video of Mason being goofy.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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.