Our First Easter

One of the best parts about having a kiddo in the house after so many years is the ability to really celebrate the holidays. There are some fun things you just can't do without a child around. Easter was no exception. I broke out the fingerpaints so Jonas could decorate some construction paper eggs to hang on our walls. He also helped me put up Easter Stikees on the windows.

I had a lot of fun filling his Easter basket with toys, treats, a book, and a game.

Here is Jonas in the morning wondering where his Easter basket is hidden, not noticing the very obvious large lump on his bed!

After we pointed out the lump, he was excited to look underneath the blanket.

What was the first thing he pulled out of the basket? The tangerine! Forget the toys and candy-this boy loves his fruit!

This is Jonas literally running in place with joy while Zack opens his tangerine for him. His other favorite item in his Easter basket was a toy phone from my Aunt Jane. He's been on it nonstop since Easter morning!

Later in the day, Jonas got to do an Easter egg hunt in the front yard with his cousin Bryce. He was pretty good about putting the eggs in the basket until he lost interest and wanted to play with his new chalk toy instead.

It was awesome to be able to start new traditions with our little family and show Jonas some of the fun aspects of celebrating the holidays. Some day we'll be able to really hide that basket, and he won't be able to fit inside it anymore! 

"Hoppy Easter" from our sweet little bunny to you and your family. Hope it was a good one!

Cake and Presents

While the newly baptized Jonas took a nap, the rest of us had a big brunch feast after Mass on Easter Sunday.

When Jonas woke up, it was time for cake! We had a confetti cake with whipped frosting that said "God Bless Jonas."

Then he got to open some presents. Here he is with some gifts from his godparents. The lamb has shamrocks on it and says the "Our Father" and an Irish blessing when you press its foot. It even has a name tag personalized with "Shamrock."

As you can see, Jonas didn't like the cake at all-ha! This is that smile we were missing in church earlier in the day.

 He wasn't a fan of the presents either. Yeah right!

This puzzle from Zack's stepbrother Dave and his girlfriend Leah is awesome. It's got musical instruments on it, including the ones Zack and I play (guitar, violin, and piano), and it plays music when you match up the pieces. Easter bunny Jonas is a fan.

And of course his grandparents continue to spoil him. He's gotten blankets, toys, clothes, and more. I'd say our little guy had a good day!

Easter Sunday Baptism

Jonas got baptized on Easter Sunday at our church, Most Precious Blood, in Denver. We are really grateful that Father Pat was willing to perform the baptism on this special day and before Jonas's big surgery. We're also grateful that our families were able to come out and join us for the celebration. Several students, friends, and other acquaintances were also in attendance.

Jonas looked adorable in his white outfit and cap. He wasn't quite sure what to make of all the people and commotion. He basically went into shutdown mode, sucked on his thumb, and clung close to us. So to everyone else, it looked like he behaved like a perfect little angel. But we knew he was pretty freaked out, and it was kind of sad. Only near the very end of Mass did he start acting more like himself, smiling and wanting to explore. He even tried to dunk his head back in the water when we took some pictures near the baptismal font after church, so I guess he didn't mind that part too much!

With every big event, there are always a few hiccups. One of our funny moments included losing Jonas's clip-on bowtie before Mass even started, only to find it later when I changed clothes at home. I think it was stuck in my hair?

My brother Justin (Jonas's godfather) walked all the way across the church to light the baptism candle off the Easter candle, only to get back and breathe a sigh of relief that he had made it, which of course blew the candle out. Ha!

When my sister-in-law Cindy (Jonas's godmother) went to put the baptismal garment over Jonas's head, she had to do a quick maneuver to get Jonas's thumb out of his mouth. She was successful!

Here is my whole family after Mass.

And here's Zack's side.

Jonas let us have it in the car on the ride home, wailing and screaming his head off. Poor little kid was worn out and tired of everything and everyone. After a quick lunch and a good nap, he was happy to eat his cake and open some presents, but that'll be another post. Hooray for Jonas getting baptized on such a special day!

Meeting the Family

Jonas met some of his family this weekend! My parents, brother Justin and sister-in-law Cindy (and their son Bryce), and my sister Morgan, along with Zack's dad and stepmom are all in town for his baptism on Easter Sunday. It didn't take long for Jonas to warm up to these new friends.

We didn't know how Jonas was going to do with visitors in the house, especially another little boy, but he's been amazing. He's been giving out hugs and kisses and having a blast playing with everyone. There have been lots of big smiles and giggles. He's also gotten some new clothes and toys, so he's having a good ol' time.

Here's just a sampling of the smiles that have been shared so far...

Reading time with Grandpa Keys

Meeting Grandpa Dill

Grandma Dill with her two grandsons Bryce and Jonas

Wrestle time with Uncle Justin

Stacking cups with Mimi (Grandma Keys)

Kisses for Aunt Morgan (ignore the unfinished wallpaper border-apparently I can't measure correctly)

















Jonas has been especially cute and sweet with his cousin Bryce. I'm going to do a separate blog post sharing pictures of the two of them, but I'll wait until after tomorrow, because I'm sure we'll get some more adorable ones of them together on Easter. I'm so glad Jonas has fallen in love with his family so quickly and easily, and I think they've fallen in love with him too!

Spring Fever

What do you do when it's near 80 degrees on a spring day in Denver? Well, if you're Zack and Jonas, you break out the tools and put together the water table! Jonas loved "helping" Zack. We got out his pretend tools, and he proudly wore the little tool belt and hammered some things.

Once they got the water table together, Jonas had fun splashing around and getting himself all wet. He and Zack especially enjoyed the squirting cannon feature that could shoot Mom (and her camera!) from afar.




We've got a couple of cold days before the Easter weekend, but I know we'll get lots of enjoyment out of this water table (and the tools) throughout the rest of spring and summer.

Bonding with Molly Brown

I'd say things between Jonas and Molly are improving...

Don't be totally fooled. He still freaks out when she starts heading right toward him, but he'll at least walk around her now (while keeping a very close eye on her at all times) and doesn't have to be held at every moment. Yesterday morning upon waking up, he even pet her from the bed with no prompting and blew her a kiss. Jonas loves feeding Molly and giving her treats, and he's already realized that she'll take care of eating anything he throws on the ground (great). Meanwhile, Molly has claimed a new spot during mealtimes-directly behind Jonas's chair. I wonder why!

Our Son's Surgery

On April 23, Jonas is going to have a major surgery on his skull. He was born with a form of craniosynostosis called metopic synostosis with trigonocephaly. Stay with me! Your skull is made up of plates. Craniosynostosis is when one of the sutures fuses together early, which happens in about 1 out of 2000 births. Jonas's metopic suture closed early; that's the one that runs from your soft spot down the middle of your forehead. This form of craniosynostosis happens in about 1 out of 15,000 births, so it's not super common. Trigonocephaly means that because of this early fusion, his forehead has a triangular shape to it. Are you still with me?

Okay, so what's the problem with this? Well, obviously there's the physical appearance aspect. Nobody really wants a triangle-shaped forehead! But the main concern is brain growth. Jonas doesn't seem to have been affected yet, but we don't know what kind of intracranial pressure is going on inside his little head. Also, people who don't get this fixed tend to have problems in the future like bad headaches, developmental delays, etc. So we are opting to do the surgery on him.

The surgery is called a cranial vault reconstruction (CVR) with frontal orbital advancement (FOA). It'll involve a wavy line incision from ear to ear over the top of his head. They won't have to shave his hair, and once he heals, you won't even be able to see the scar unless he has a buzz cut. But it'll look pretty gnarly in the beginning. A neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon will reconstruct his little skull in about three hours, and he'll spend a few days in the hospital. The swelling will be bad at first (his eyes will even swell shut for a day or so), but he'll get better. He'll have to wear a protective helmet for six weeks afterward since he's a very active toddler. Then he'll go for checkups every now and then, but otherwise, he'll be a normal little boy!

We've been working with Denver Children's Hospital, and they've been amazing. They even answered our e-mails over Christmas when we were in Kyrgyzstan and found out Jonas had this condition. We had our consultation with the surgeons yesterday, and they are friendly and professional. The technology at that place is also pretty sweet! Jonas had some cool 3D photos taken for his "before" shots. We're happy that they were able to schedule us in for surgery so quickly, because normally children have this surgery done when they are less than a year old, so we wanted it done as soon as possible. Zack will also still be on adoption leave, so that will be super helpful as well.

I didn't really mention our son's condition beforehand or talk about it much with anyone until now, because I wanted to meet with the surgeons first and make sure we were going ahead with the procedure. I also didn't want to share this news before I was able to share pictures of our son, because I didn't want that to be the first thing people looked at when they saw him. But now that you've seen how cute he is, I'm not worried about everyone just looking at that. I also feel like I have a responsibility to teach others about this condition, because I had never heard of it and knew nothing about it at all. By the way, those adorable arched eyebrows of his that everyone loves? That's actually a symptom of his condition!

So yes, this is a pretty major surgery, and it's super scary that they're going to cut my son's skull open. But I guess I feel like we've been through so much already with just getting to the point where Jonas has joined our family, this just seems like another "bump in the road" to get past so we can move on with our lives. I probably won't feel so calm about it when I have to hand my baby over in the operating room though!

On the bright side, Jonas probably would have been adopted locally if he didn't have this condition, so we're thankful for it in a weird way. And we're lucky to have the resources and insurance coverage to be able to help him, because that never would have happened in Kyrgyzstan. Please keep Jonas (and us) in your thoughts and prayers on April 23!