Helmet day!

Today Cainan got his helmet! It looks really cute on him. He is adjusting to it. He tried to get it off right at first, but didn't fuss about it. For the most part, he has left it alone. We have to take it off every hour for the next couple of days - just for a minute to wipe his head and wipe the helmet until his body temp. adjusts to having it on. He is sweating in it - no doubt! Cutting his hair was the right thing to do. And then every night before bed he has it off for one hour to rest his head and for us to give him a bath and make sure he doesn't have any red areas. He wears it 23 hours a day. We have no idea how many months he may have to wear it, but the average it 2-3. We are hoping by Christmas he won't need it anymore. Only time will tell. He is in bed right now, just playing around, but hasn't fallen asleep yet. Hopefully he will sleep okay in it. It may take him a few days to get used to it being there all the time. He is a little trooper! We have to go to the office every 2 weeks for an adjustment to the helmet as his head starts to change shape. It is really cool. The drive to the office is 1 1/2 hours, so that is not so cool. But it is the same office we go to for his cleft lip/palate stuff, so we have to go there anyway!
On a fun note - Cainan and I had lunch today at McDonald's. It was IN the hospital! I guess that is a good way to get hospital customers to have a fast food joint inside their hospital!
Otherwise, today we spoke to the ENT office about his surgery on Thursday. We will probably have to be at the hospital around 6-6:30am to get him prepared for surgery. He will love that. The hospital is about 45 minutes away, so we are going to have to leave really early. We should be getting a call tomorrow from the hospital with all the details. We got his medical clearance (again) from the pediatrician today, so we are all set!
The girls are doing great. Finley is still sick, and acting cranky. She doesn't have a fever or anything, just a really runny nose. She is staying home from school the next two days (she only goes three days a week), so hopefully that will allow her to recover a little. She and Cainan have been getting along better. Much less toy fighting. Tonight we took a walk around the block, and Finley was feeding Cainan fruit puffs, and he was letting her! And they held hands a little bit, and played really nicely together. They are in the "tolerating" each other stage.
Cainan is also walking more and more. He will go long stretches now with walking. As long as he has a goal to reach, he will walk to it. It won't be long now, and he will be walking full time! What progress he has made in the month since Gotcha!
Also, just on a personal note, I wanted to tell my family friends on this 6th anniversary of September 11th that I love all of you, and thank God for you every day. I remember right where I was this day 6 years ago - in Johns Hopkins Children's Center where I worked as a nurse - in the elevator a stranger told me that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I thought he was joking. I had just taken a little girl to surgery. I ran back to the floor and everyone was glued to the TVs. We tried to shield the kids from what was happening, and it was really hard. We were very close to the pentagon, and they were trying to figure out how to get the "non-emergent" patients out of the hospital to make room for all the people they expected from the pentagon. That never happened since there wasn't anyone to bring. Then the hospital went on lockdown and no one was allowed to come or go, and we all had to stay a really long shift. It was a really awful day, and as I watched the memorial today, the memories are still very fresh in everyone's minds. We hugged each other a little tighter today and were thankful that we are all together.
Here are some pictures of our little ones from today! Enjoy!