Keegan's Casting Appointment

We went today to get Keegan's head casted in the Woodlands on the way back from Dallas. The people at this place were remarkable and great with babies. I am so thankful since I will be going back on a regular basis for the next couple of months. It was confirmed more for me today that we were making the right decision. The man took measurements and pictures and pointed out several other abnormalities about his head. Evidently the flat spot in the back was causing his left eye to be smaller, the bulges above his ear that I thought were normal were not, and his slightly cone shaped head is attributed from it as well. He is going to come out looking incredible! The casting was not the best experience but Keegan made it. I think it was harder for mom to watch. I am suprised I held the tears in at one point. Jonathan had to hold him down the whole time and talked so sweet to him. It was precious! You can see the process below...



I hated this part first...


this part was not bad... he did not even cry.


sweet dad


when they sat him up to do the back..he lost it!


casting the important part (in the back)


big sigh...all done (what you don't see is that one second later he smiled and laughed)


mom...really? you just put me through that and now you are taking a naked baby picture??


We will get the helmet in 7-14 days and then the doctor thinks it will only be on for two months! I can do that! Keegan can do that! Jonthan can too! It will be painted maroon to support the Fighting Texas Aggies. Evidently, Jonathan wants it to soak through the helmet into his head and brain wash him. I think it will be cute and take the focus off the helmet. Whooo...what a day. When we got home, Jonathan informed me that at the end he has to do this again! At least I will know what to expect.

The Helmet is Approved!!

I will write later about Christmas...but just had to make a quick post! We were approved for the helmet before the new year and his head gets casted later this week! Below is a picture of his head. I wanted to take a "before" picture so I can see the progress!

Virgin Blogger

There's a first time for everything and this is one of them. I'm not sure what I think about the whole "blogging" craze but I have officially been sucked in to the every increasing vortex of technology I don't understand. I want to warn all readers ahead of time that I'm not a dynamic writer and I tend to ramble when I don't have a specific topic to write about. Besides being a first time blogger, I'm also a relatively new dad. It has to be the greatest experience in the world. I can't tell you how much fun I've had in the past 5 & 1/2 months playing and watching Keegan grow. The best part of my day is when I get to go home and leave the corporate world behind. I walk in the door and my son smiles at me when mommy says "daddy's home". And then an evening of laughing begins causing me to forget about everything that went wrong at work. There are a few times of the day that I wish would last forever: My early morning runs when noone is up except the newspaper delivery person and when I get to wake my son up. As soon as I stick my head over the rim of his crib he goes crazy, and does his little "I'm excited" dance, flailing his legs and arms. Can there be anything greater than that? I promised my wife that I would write today but promised nothing beyond that. I have to say that I like this "blogging" stuff and I may try it again, so check back soon. Merry Christmas!

The Pursuit of Happyness

Last night, Jonathan and I went on a date! I think this is #3 since Keegan was born. Leigh and Laura graciously came over to babysit. We have not seen a movie at a theater since June and that was the DaVinci Code. We chose very carefully what movie that we were going to watch because who knows when the next time will be. So, we chose The Pursuit of Happyness. I had seen a billion (okay...maybe 3) interviews with Will Smith and his son Jaden and have been itching to see it. Mainly because Jaden is so cute. He makes me want to adopt a black baby so he can have hair like his!

It was very inspirational, but at the same time it was convicting. For the last two months, I have been dreaming of a house, even down to what paint colors I would use. Dreaming of a yard for Keegan to play in, a big(ger) kitchen, more bedrooms and a garage, especially when it is raining. After watching what this father and son went through-sleeping in subway bathrooms and rushing to get in line at a homeless center to stay for the night-it really put my life in perspective. Jonathan has a job, and a good one. We own a comfy home with two bedrooms. We have food on our table every night. We have presents under the tree. We have insurance. We have running water. We own two cars. We have nice clothes. God knows the desire in my heart, but he also knows the greed. Thank you, Lord, for showing me how good we have it! Thank you for all the blessings!

Welcome Baby Jaykob!

Jerrell and Kay are now proud parents of Jaykob Samuel. Born with curly brown hair and beautiful lips he is going to be a looker! What a joy to see a new life enter into this world to incredible people who are going to raise a godly son. Keegan no longer is the youngest resident at Bayou Woods, but he is proud to have a friend to play with!

Just a few pics...

Waiting for approval

I feel like I have been on the phone all week with the doctors office and the insurance company. Our request for the helmet was faxed yesterday! It took 4 days to do that!!! Doctor's offices are not always prompt. The insurance company is 10-14 days behind on approving requests so that means we are down to the wire in getting it approved and Keegan's head casted before January 1st. We have an appointment "penciled in" for December 29th at 3 pm, the last business day of the year, to get it done. Crazy! So, please pray that the insurance company does not enjoy their holidays too much! We need approval even if it is 2:45 p.m. that afternoon! It is all in God's hands.

What takes me to my HAPPY place

1. Fireplaces and bonfires
2. A BIG Sonic Coke
3. Flannel Pants and Hoodies
4. Christmas music (that is after December 1st)
5. A clean house and clean downy fresh sheets
6. Hot Showers
7. Nestle Tollhouse Cookies
8. Keegan's sweet smile first thing in the morning
9. Fresh Flowers
10. Rain hitting my window while sleeping
11. New Car Smell
12. Snowy days
13. Laying out by the pool with Christine
14. Ugly Betty (my new favorite show)
15. Target
16. A full night of sleep!!
17. Getting my hair highlighted
18. Driving home to Mansfield
19. Finding a good sale
20 Hugging my sweet husband!

To Helmet or Not to Helmet

Today was H-Day. Helmet or No Helmet. Two months of repositioning Keegan to round out his flat little head and it all came down to this appointment. I had butterflies in my stomach all night and into the morning waiting our verdict. The waiting room was packed with women oohing and awwing at Keegan and all I wanted was an answer. I just wanted to sit in silence but the woman in blue sitting across from us wanted to talk about the durn stroller of all things. We finally were called and Dr. Butros looked at his head and said that it looked better. He could tell that I was working on him. Yeah for mom!! I was relieved and then he switched gears.

It seems that Keegan is one of the cases that us as parents have to decide if we want to put a helmet on him. Even though it has improved, he could not guarantee that it will round out completely without assistance. Cosmetically, if it never rounded out, he could be embarrassed of it. In fact, the later we wait to see if it does round out, the longer the helmet would have to be on him. Then it would be time for hot weather, which would develop rashes under the helmet, and babies can hardly tolerate it. I am sure I would not be able to as well.

I decided to ask him if his son's head were flat like Keegans...what would HE do? He said he would do it. Yuck. Not what you want to hear. We left feeling a little confused and then we talked to our mothers, who on separate phone calls echoed the same advice. "I would do it if it would have been you " they said. "If you never did anything about and he was teased...you would feel bad that you never fixed it." True. It would kill me. So we are going to get a helmet. (big sigh)

I guess the helmet is a small price to pay for 4 months or less to make sure that we are doing the very best for our son...even if is cosmetic. The thing that I will miss the most is rubbing and kissing his cute little fuzzy head.

A few things to pray for:
* We get it authorized and have it made before the new year because we have met our deductible until January 1.
* Pray that we can move past our pride that our son is going to wear a helmet.
* Pray personally for my stress level as I move forward with this and also plan the girl’s retreat.
* Pray for Keegan when they have to do a casting of his head.

This should be an interesting journey to say the least. But one good thing...there is a Harley Davidson shop that paints those suckers and so he will be stylin’! It would be fun for you to comment on how YOU think it should be painted. I could use some ideas. Trust me, Jonathan is already bent on a maroon one. So that idea is taken. Stay tuned... I am sure I will take pictures and write in this process.

The Curse of the Popular Name

As of this morning, I was on the phone with the 5th investigator wanting to take us to court. Yes, that is right, Harris county is after us. Before your eyes bug out and re-read the first sentence, they are looking for a different Jonathan Sanders who has a truck and is not paying for it. Isn't that fun? They have our address and phone number. So these "so called investigators" call us and tell us that they are issuing court documents in our name and each time I tell them that we are the wrong people. I have offered many times to prove that we are not the enemy by faxing his drivers license, social security card, whatever they need, and each time they say, "I will fix it!" Well, so far, no one has succeeded. They started calling us in September.

I know of three Michelle Sanders in the United States. The first one lives in New York and we found her by accident. I e-mailed Jonathan a date night e-vite, trying to be cute, and he replied to her. I put the wrong e-mail when I set up the account. Stupid me! Her boyfriend saw it, got furious, and she asked if we could write and e-mail explaining the situation. A year later, I forgot that this happened, and I set up another e-vite for a girls ministry event. Let's just say she received responses from lots of girls! She was annoyed. (I don't blame her!)

The second Michelle Sanders lives in Indiana. Her e-mail is super close to my g-mail account and has received many e-mails from my friends inviting her to parties, lunch, and she has even received a rsvp for a shower I was hosting. She at least has a little sense of humor about it.

The third Michelle Sanders lives in Oklahoma. Our church was doing a background check on my new married name since they only did one on "Michelle Winn" when I started working there. They came across this woman who happens to have my same birthday and she has a background check of 9 pages. HR panicked a little and called Jill, our assistant in the office, to make sure that it was not me. Geese...doesn't character speak for anything? She has a different middle name than me. Otherwise, I could have been in a little bit of a quandary.

To say the least, my friend Janelle has a blog with a "how many of me" database attached to her site I realized just how unlucky we are. There are 778 Michelle Sanders and 469 Jonathan Sanders. I guess it makes for good stories, but when the county is coming for you it ain't so fun.

Look below and figure out just how many of you live in the US.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 778 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Oatmeal on my face...a big disgrace!

Home Sweet Home

I love going home to Mansfield when I have a chance. I was able to go home for a few days last week just in time for a day of ice and snow. It did not stay around, but it was a fun having the fire going, watching Miracle on 34th street, and decorating for Christmas. Mom always remembers the special things even down to the half glass of coke with pretzels and m&ms. There is always something new for Keegan when we arrive. He practically has a nursery at the house with a crib. She says "whatever it takes to see us more." Dad rushes home from work to see Keegan and loves to feed him at night and put him to bed. So sweet and soooo spoiled.

It was so much fun to hang out with Amanda, Janelle and Melissa for a play date on Friday. This was our first official group play date. It was a little out of control with all those babies but it kept us laughing. It was really an out of body experience to see everyone with their babies. It feels like the other day that I was rooming with Janelle and Melissa in college. We are all grown up now and moms! Wow..life goes way too fast.

My other roommate from college, Kristin, found out last Wednesday night that she is finally able to bring their daughter, Laney, home from Tiawan. They started the process in May and finally they received their travel date the first week in January. She is perfect for the Lewis family.

On Saturday I was able to go with my sister in law to Babies R Us to help her register. It is crazy to remember that just last May when I registered I was so lost in that huge store with no idea how to take care of a baby. Not that I am a pro now, but at least I know a little something.

it was a joy to be back home. Home sweet Home.

Ella is flirting with Joshua and Keegan is not sure about Jackson.
Keegan's socks just never stay on!

I guess we can't always have our little ones looking at the camera.