Yesterday

Last night as I was putting Kanyon to bed, it occurred to me that maybe this was the day I did this for the first time:

Once I put him to bed, I went back and checked in my journal and sure enough, April 3 was the day I held the Grand Kanyon for the first time!

Imagine a tennis ball and that was his head. He weighed well under 2 lbs. Probably several ounces less than his birth weight of 1 lb. 9 oz. I will never forget his miniature hand on my chest.

He was nestled down in my shirt (the same shirt you will see in a lot of NICU pics....we left it there so that I always had a button down shirt to hold him)and rested comfortably there for a long time.

He still throws his head back like this and his nose is still my favorite part of him!

To say that he was tiny doesn't do justice to his unfathomable size. His back was so small and I remember holding his entire body in the palm of one hand but feeling like I needed to use 2 hands since thats what you do when you hold a baby! :)

I'll include part of my journal entry from that day:

"...we had a big afternoon. I GOT TO HOLD HIM! I was nervous going in, but Jim the nurse was very confident. Once I got him I felt great! He layed on my chest and was so warm and cuddly. That was probably the greatest moment of my life! Mom and Susan [kory's mom] being there was so great. Kory was so sweet-so happy for me and wanting so bad for Kanyon to be as near as he could. We finally took some "family" pictures. After it was all over everyone was so happy! Its like that moment healed all of us. We all hope it did as much good for Kanyon as it did for us 4!"