Jonathan's "Tattoo"

At birth, it showed up on his left arm as light blue spidery vains. We thought nothing of it as it was the same arm his identification bracelet was placed on in the hospital. After a week, it was becoming larger and more raised. Our first trip to the pediatrician's office after he was born revealed it was a hemangioma (malformed blood vessels) We had no clue what that meant, but later realized that little Jonathan was fortunate. It was just a superficial hemangioma...a birthmark...an evolutionary birthmark (meaning it would grow worse before eventually fading and becoming virtually undetectable). For some, these birthmarks can grow to be a large tumor leading to deformation an other developmental problems. They are typically found on the head and face...rarely on the extremities. Jason and I never really notice it anymore...it's become a part of our little guy and over the last couple of years, it continues to slowly fade away. This recent warmer weather, and the short sleeves that come with it, have revealed what is remaining of this birthmark (still continuing to fade away). A child at the park last spring asked Jonathan, "Is that a tatoo or something on your arm?" Jonathan was too young to know what in the world was said or what it meant...but it gave his mom a chuckle. Yeah...a tatoo? Not a burn, or contagious rash or any of the other speculations that people have who see it...it's just a cool tattoo!

Jonathan prior to his first birthday

Jonathan this past Easter