Has it been a year already?

I can't believe that one year ago this week we were starting physical therapy. I honestly can't even remember what it was like to have a child who wouldn't roll over or use all of her muscle groups. I am now trying to constantly get my 18 month old to stop moving. She is on the go non-stop. She has come so far in this past year. Praise God! She is moving great and her little head looks wonderful.
I was thinking about deleting this blog the other day. (I barely ever post anything on it anymore) The very day I was going to delete it I got a very encouraging email from someone who was just about to enter the helmet process with their child. They shared how encouraged they were by reading our posts. So, I decided to leave it here for a while. It was and is our prayer that all we went through would be used to help others. It has been amazing how many people have come to us for advice or support on issues with torticolis or helmet therapy. It has been a blessing for our family to see how God has used this in the lives of others.
Sorry for the short and random post, but that is all I can think of for now. It is a little late for my brain but this is the only time i have to blog. Like I said... Morgan never stops! Careful what you pray for.

Update

Morgan is enjoying her helmet free life.
I am enjoying putting little bows and ponytails in her hair. Here are a few pictures of her without her helmet. The one of her holding her helmet was made the day we left the hospital.We will be going back soon for a follow up physical therapy appointment. They just want to make sure she is doing everything she should be at this stage. I can say I am 100% sure she is plenty active! She is so busy and I am very exhausted by the end of the day from trying to keep up with her. She is not even walking yet. It scares me to think about what life will be like once she starts running.

Graduation Day

Today is a very happy day. Morgan has graduated from helmet therapy. We were so happy to leave Vanderbilt Hospital today with Morgan in our arms and her helmet in our hands. She looks great and we are so thankful this is over. We will post more info later when we have a chance about what the doctor told us. We wanted to go ahead and get the word out while I had a second. Here is one last picture of her in the helmet. Many more helmet free pictures to come!
Thank you all for your many prayers. As Avery said as we were leaving the hospital... "God heard our prayers."
More to come...

Get this thing off!

Lately Morgan has been very fussy. It is almost as if she is saying, "get this thing off!" She usually ends the fussing by pulling her helmet off. I have no idea how she is getting it off. It is molded to fit her head perfectly. It looks incredibly painful when she starts tugging on it. Somehow she turns it around sideways where she is looking through the ear hole. Then she pushes with all her might and off it pops. Usually she gets it stuck and then I have to come running to the rescue. The other day we where on our way home when she started pulling it off just as we got in the driveway. This time she didn't cry she just started laughing. I knew she was OK so I took off inside to get the camera. We are just a few days from what we HOPE and PRAY will be our last appointment in Nashville. Enjoy the pictures.

1st Birthday

Our sweet Morgan turned One today! WOW, the time has gone by so fast. To celebrate her first birthday she learned to take her helmet off tonight. That is not a good thing. Here are some pictures of her enjoying her first cake. I am so gad we took the helmet off. It would have been very hard to clean.

where did it go??????

Several days ago I posted a blog entry about our trip last week to Disney and today I loged on to post a few pictures when to my surprise there is no post about Disney anywhere. Now, I know I am not crazy because I know of others who read it and asked me to post pictures... where did it go? So let me sum up what was in the missing post.
It has been a while since my last entry because we just returned from a long stay at the happiest place on earth. That is right, we have been in Disney World. It was a great vacation and both of our girls had a blast. The weather was very warm and not great temperatures for wearing a helmet. We talked the trip over with her Dr. ahead of time and he suggested we remove the helmet anytime we were outdoors. The risk of her overheating was just to great. I have to say I so enjoyed seeing her sweet little head all week. For 5 days Morgan traded in her pink helmet for a pair of pain Mickey ears. She was just to cute.
Tomorrow Morgan will be trading in her helmet for a birthday hat. She will turn 1 at exactly 3:12 pm. I can't believe she is already one. This year has been full of ups and downs. A first birthday is always exciting but for me this one is especially exciting. It is very encouraging to look back over this year and see how many times God has provided for, comforted, loved, and guided us. I know what we have gone through is so small but it makes me wonder how and why people go through things with out Christ. I have leaned on Him so many times during the last year. I would not want to go through this again but I am very thankful for the things God has taught me along the way!
I hope all of this makes sense, after all it is 1:00am. I guess that means it is now Morgan's birthday. Happy Birthday!

Another Appointment Over

Well, I left today's appointment a little discouraged. I was secretly hoping the Dr. would say, "her head looks great you can take off the helmet!" Of course, I know her head still has a little flatness but I was going for positive thinking. He looked at her head and said she was looking good but we could have a few more months to go. I looked at Will with one of those I am going to cry looks. He then said to the Dr., "What if we come in next month and say we are finished?". He said that would be OK too. Her forehead is now corrected which means there is no longer any worry of her eyes of ears becoming unsymmetrical. That means no surgery! He said at this point he is just being a perfectionist and he would like to see one spot on the back of her head fill out another 2 milometers. I appreciate him being a perfectionist, after all that is why we are paying him so much. At this point even if we see no change over the next month I don't think anyone else would ever notice the flat area. She already has a head full of hair and as it continues to grow it will become less and less noticeable. At the end of the appointment he said there was a good chance we would see a big improvement this month and he would then suggest removing the helmet for good! I am going to be praying for a major growth spurt and a major change. I am learning a lot about patience and trust through this experience. I am just so ready for this to all be over with.
In a previous post I mentioned taking the girls to have their pictures made outdoors. Rebecca Marr, who made the pictures, gave me permission to post two of them here. Thanks Rebecca for emailing them to me. I wanted to share them here on the site so you could see how much better Morgan's head looks. These were taken almost a month ago and her head has improved so much since these were taken. You can really see the improvement in the pictures where she is looking to the side. I also posted Avery's 4 year pictures... just because they are so adorable. Rebecca does a great job. If you are interested her website it is www.amomentintimestudio.org