Christmas in DC

We had such a wonderful holiday filled with many family members! It was great to have Rollin's first Christmas and Everett's 2nd Christmas surrounded by so many fun people. Of course, Grammy and Pap Pap made the trip up from Williamsburg, Aunt Abby and Uncle Steve came down from New Jersey, Aunt Emily and Uncle Matt came from Pittsburgh and Grandma Berry came from Dayton. We had too many presents, and the boys were extremely spoiled by Santa himself and all their relatives. Everett most loves his train table and Artic Cat, he cannot seem to get enough of either toy! We feel so very blessed for all that we have this holiday season and we are trying to take more time each day to realize how very blessed we are and be grateful for each moment we have together as a family and say prayers for those who are less fortunate. Here are some photos of our excellent holiday!

SANTA!

All last week we would ask Everett who was coming to town and he would yell "SANTA" in the cutest little voice we have ever heard. Well, when it came time to really go see Santa at the mall, Everett was not so excited to see him. Here are some photos of our trip to the mall and Rollin's first time seeing Old St. Nick.

The Ugliest House on the Block!

This fall Ben and I got sick of our house being the ugliest on the block, so we decided to take action. We hired our favorite go-to guy for all things around the house, Carlos, and asked him to make it look better. We decided a new paint job, new roof, new hardi shingle and creation of an overhang on the pop up would do the trick. We think the house looks 100x better, now for that flagstone walkway.....

Let it Snow!!

Record breaking snowfall in DC this weekend means lots of fun snow pictures! Here are some pictures of our little snow bunny!

Rollin's Journey with Craniosynostosis

It is December 13th and we are still at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in the neurosurgery recovery ward following Rollin's December 9th surgery for metopic suture craniosynostosis. I wanted to write a quick thank you to all our family and friends for all their support over the past few months as we prepared for this surgery and spent countless hours at different doctors appointments and specialists trying to get Rollin diagnosed and scheduling his surgery. Rollin continues to amaze us with his spirit and determination and we are so proud of him.

Here is a brief recap of Rollin's journey from diagnosis to surgery: in utero Rollin had been diagnosed with a few abnormalities- namely partial absence of the cerebeller vermis, two vessel cord, echogenic foci on the heart and duplicate collection system in both of his kidneys. In light of the abnormalities seen on ultrasound, I was seen prenatally at CNMC and had a fetal MRI and other tests. I was followed extremely closely and had weekly ultrasounds. When Rollin was born, the pediatrican on call said he had "an abnormal face" which was fairly offensive to us as parents, as we thought he was as cute as a button. At four weeks of age, we went back to CNMC for follow up testing on his fetal abnormalities and discovered that his vermis was now fully present (which is nothing short of a miracle since it is supposed to be fully formed at 18 weeks gestation), however, at that time we discovered that the suture in his forehead had closed prematurely. That began our process of meeting with neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons in the Washington, D.C. area to find the right team of doctors to perform Rollin's surgery.

After numerous interviews, we chose Dr. Robert Keating the chief of neurosurgery at CNMC to perform the neuro part of his operation and Dr. Michael Boyajin, the chief of plastic surgery, to perform the plastics portion of Rollin's surgery. They did a fantastic job and Rollin looks amazing. The first 24 hours after surgery were very difficult, he was cranky and upset (which was hard for us because he never cries), but each day he got better and the tubes started coming out and our little boy came back. We are now one week post op and he is doing fabulous! His eyes are still a bit swollen, but he is happy as ever. Here are some pictures of his operation.

Six Month Birthday

We took Rollin in for his six month appointment this week with Dr. Barakat- we love our pediatrician. Well all signs point to Rollin is developing right on schedule and is a big boy! He weighed in at 18 lbs, 9 ozs (75%), 27 and 3/4 inches long (90%) and his head size of 17 1/4 (50%). Rollin contiues to amaze us with his disposition, and is ALWAYS smiling and happy, he melts our heart and makes everyday brighter. How did we get so lucky? Love him to pieces. Here is a pic of our guy smiley!

Turkey Time!

Well the holidays are already upon us! Wow how time flies. We packed up the car (cannot believe how much we pack these days) and headed down to Williamsburg with the boys to visit Grammy and Pap Pap for the holiday. We had such a nice, relaxing visit with the family. Matt and Emily drove in from Pittsburgh and brought along sweet Mallory. We went to the Virginia Living Museum, which is the best acquarium, the boys loved it! The boys loved all the attention and got to spend lots of time with everyone as Ben and I headed for one night to Irvington, VA to the wonderful Tides Inn for our seven year anniversary (a few weeks late!). We had such a great time and the place is so beautiful, we actually spent our first anniversary there. We had a great dinner at a nice restaurant and went to the spa, on a long walk and sat on the pier just chatting- it was a nice break from the stress of everyday life. Here are some photos of our great weekend-- now on to Christmas!