So, what's up with the name?

"Bug" is Jake. We started calling him Bug in the hospital. We came into the CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) one morning and Jake was bundled up in a green blanket wearing this ridiculously cute green hat. He looked just like a little bug snug in his cocoon.

Well isn't that sweet? What about the "One Bad" part?

Anyone reading this blog probably knows of my husband's love of hot rods, specifically Mopars. Between 1968 and 1971, Dodge called their B-body cars the Scat Pack - the Coronet, the Dart, and the Charger - all the muscle cars. The Coronet was called the Super Bee and "One Bad Bee" was an advertising slogan Dodge used for it. Greg went to the drag races recently and came back with this for Jake.

Greg was gone all day at the drags, but everywhere he went there was something to remind him of Jake.

Put it all together and you get "One Bad Bug". Or, more simply, my son is a badass. His nickname is Bug. He is "One Bad Bug".

There you have it.

Welcome!

Welcome. I'm Amy, aka "Bug's Mom" on this blog. Bug is my son, Jake Maxwell Casden. He was born on March 26, 2008 at 8:12 AM. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 13 oz and was 20 inches long. He came out screaming and playing air guitar (see Fig.1).

Fig. 1: Jake playing air guitar

Jake's a special boy. He was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect when I was 20 weeks pregnant. A big one. Aortic stenosis evolving into hypoplastic left heart syndrome. I had an innovative (innovative = experimental) procedure done in utero to open up his heart valve. The procedure worked in preventing HLHS from fully developing and Jake from needing multiple open heart surgeries. But that's not what I'm writing about here.

Jake is now four months old. Despite the rough start, he's doing quite well. You can read all about those first three months here. This blog is all about the growing, discovering, struggling, learning and loving we're doing now. (See what Fig. 2 for what Jake looks like now).

Fig. 2: Jake Now

I hope you enjoy the many adventures of One Bad Bug and check back often to see what he's up to.