MRI

Grayden had his MRI last week to make up for the one that we missed while we were in Philly. We met with the neurosurgeon here in Grand Rapids to go over the results and all is well. He said that there is no evidence of a syrinx and that all looked good from his standpoint. There was evidence of tethered cord,but this is the case with all kids who have Spina Bifida and it is a wait and see as to whether it will become symptomatic or not. He also said that his brain looks good. The shunt is functioning as it should and there is no evidence of obstruction.

Zander is addicted!

We spent this past weekend  at Crystal Mountain with my dad and Karen for our Christmas with them. They rented a mountain top condo and we had one giant sleepover party with Robyn, Dave, Chase, Teagan, my Uncle Kevin, Aunt Terri, Elizabeth, and Jon. We had such a great time and are begging to make this an annual tradition. I love watching the four kids get to play and hang out as well as getting a chance to hang out with their older cousins who we dont see very often. The kids had so much fun and of course were so spoiled that I never thought I was going to be able to convince them to leave.

Zander and Teagan pushing Zander's new stroller

Zander and Teagan taking a break to watch "Mouse"

Zander getting ready to ski.

Grayden meets Santa

Zander sleeping on the couch with his snow pants on because he was afraid if he took them off he would miss his chance to ski again.

Christmas crafts with Aunt Robyn

One of the most exciting things about this weekend was that Zander got a chance to down hill ski for the very first time. From the moment we arrived at the condo he started asking "I go skiing?" I thought for sure that he would go down the hill one time and get his fill, but not this kid! He loved it. He went skiing three days in a row thanks to his cousins Chase andTeagan who so kindly shared their gear and thanks to Grandma Karen and Papa Jack who sacrificed their quads to take him on numerous trips up and down the mountain. He was a master at the chair lift and he absolutely loved the magic carpet on the bunny hill. By the end of our third day he was going down the bunny hill holding onto a hoola hoop with my dad's support. I was so impressed!

Zander meets Santa

Zander with Papa Jack, Grandma Karen, and Teagan skiing the bunny hill.

Little Artists

Christmas tree lighting and meeting Santa

I feel so very greatful that my kids are able to have so many amazing experiences. They will have priceless memories for a lifetime to come.

Standing

Althouth we are not totally encouraging this yet because we are still working on crawling on hands and knees and some quality differences, I wanted to share Grayden's determination. He is pulling to his knees everywhere and trying to stand more often.