Hey You With the Face

My son has the uncanny ability to make the most ridiculous faces, and by ridiculous, I mean ridiculously cute.

Check it:

Poopy Face


Happy Face


Mischievous Face


Crazy Face


Sleepy Face


I can't believe I'm sitting Face


I'm in the tub and having fun Face


Whoa! Weee! Face


I blink for pictures Face


Please stop taking my picture Face


I'm the man Face

Nature Boy

We've finally had a chance to spend some time outside these past few weeks. It seems like this year winter didn't go on forever as much as summer took so long to come. Some people might call that "spring", but it was far too dark and dismal for spring. Some might call it seasonal purgatory, or rather, San Francisco.

Luckily the rain has stayed away on the weekends and we're spending tons of time enjoying our new yard. Jake seems to enjoy it, as long as a blanket is underfoot. He's not quite sure what to do with this thing we call grass, besides rip it up and stick it in his mouth, but then he does that with everything. Here's some pictures from his first outing.

Would the real Jake Maxwell please stand up?

Jake Maxwell Casden meets Jake Maxell Shufro.



Greg's brother's good friend Lee Shufro had a baby about a week or so before us. His name... Jake Maxwell. Fortunately, we didn't find this out until after Jake was born, not that we would change the name we had picked out for months. Jake got a chance to meet the other Jake Maxwell at his cousin Nicky's 3rd birthday party. I don't think either one was too phased by sharing a name.

Mother Nature got one sick sense of humor

Nature has played yet another cruel joke on this family. As if it is not bad enough that the events of Jake's cardiac arrest are forever be etched into my mind to relive over and over again in my imagination, we will now have to suffer through a set of very similar events as a part of a benign condition Jake apparently has called "Breath Holding Spells."

We're in the hospital again, this time after Jake's fourth such spell in a three week time period. Jake had an echo on April 14th. The results were good, not normal, but still good, with no change from his last catheterization in February - overall, positive news. That night Jake awoke about an hour after we put him down crying. As I picked him up to comfort him, his crying became more intense. After a particularly hard sob, Jake could not get his breath back, and proceeded to hold his breath of close to 20 seconds. After he finally took that breath he went stiff, the color drained from his face, his eyes were open but rolled back. He was out for close to a minute.Then, just as quickly he snapped out of it with a couple more cries and went back to acting completely normal.

We placed him on the pulse/ox immediately and his vitals were normal. His coloring came back immediately, and he sucked down 5 ounces of milk like nobody's business. It was as if that event never happened, which is why the cardiology fellow on call wasn't too concerned when I called him to tell him what happened.

Fast-forward a couple days to Friday Night: We have a repeat of the exact same sequence of events as I describe above, right down to the timing - about an hour after we put him down. Only this time when I get to him he looks like he's having a seizure. His back is arched, eyes rolled back, hands and arms twisted up by his head and feet curled in. Then he slumps into unconsciousness again. We were terrified and called 911. By the time the ambulance arrived Jake was back to acting totally normal. We decided to take him in anyways so here we are - all of Jake's vitals are normal and he's no worse for the wear. It's hard to say the same for his parents, however. Quite frankly, I just don't know how much more we can take.

The making of a tear

I've got wings, but I can't fly...

I'm talking about Jake's hair. I always knew I'd have a little rugrat running around rocking some badass hair.

"I Love Presents!"

If I ever get around to updating the blog to recap our Christmas, you'll see the adorable onesie I got Jake that has a mischievous looking Christmas Tree on it with the voice bubble saying, "I Love Presents".



Jake was flush with presents for his birthday, too. Check him out on his new ride-on toys:

A new hot-rod from mom and dad.




And a "Race Day" ride-on from Cousin Nicky and his parents




Jake loves to ride around on both of them!

Psycho-Mommy Photo Shoot

An overzealous photo shoot the morning of Jake's birthday produced 80+ images. Here are some of the best ones:

One Bad Bug is One Year Old

Jake is one! He turned one four weeks ago. Make no mistake, I now suck at blogging. But rather than explain, I'm just going to share. Below is a letter that I've written to all of his doctors, and to anyone who has involved in his care over the past year. It sums up the emotion this occasion brings up for us.

March 26, 2009

Today is our son Jake Maxwell Casden’s first birthday and it's been an unbelievable first year. He's had more harrowing experiences than most people ever go through in a lifetime and has made it to this huge milestone no worse for the wear.

Jake was diagnosed with aortic stenosis evolving into Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome at 22 weeks gestation. We underwent a fetal cardiac intervention at Boston Children’s Hospital. Jake was born in Boston on March 26th and had a catheterization at six hours old to dilate is aortic valve and create an ASD. Jake had a rough start but with time and medical management, he was able to leave the hospital without needing surgery.

We eased into life at home with the knowledge that at some point surgery to repair or replace his valves and to remove scar tissue from his ventricle was probable. Eating, reflux, and weight gain presented problems, but overall, life was grand. We were so happy to finally have our little boy home.

On the evening of August 3rd, Jake awoke from a nap with an intense cry. When he settled, he just didn’t look right to us so we brought him to the emergency room at Columbia/Presbyterian. An echo showed he was in heart failure. The next day, while awaiting transport to Boston, Jake went into full cardiac arrest. It took thirty minutes of CPR and several defibrillator shocks to get his heart rhythm back to normal. Fortunately no neurological, tissue or organ damage was sustained and we set about on the road to recovery. Another month in the hospital and Jake was able to make the trip to Boston.

On September 9th, coincidentally our wedding anniversary, Jake underwent open-heart surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital for EFE resectioning, aortic and mitral valve repair and an ASD fenestration. There’s been no looking back since!

Today, Jake is absolutely thriving. In January, he turned a corner. At that time, he was barely able to sit supported. Now, just three months later, he’s cruising and climbing! His reflux issues have also subsided and mealtimes have become much less stressful and he is finally starting to gain a little weight. At just about 17 lbs, he is small but mighty and we find it difficult to keep up with his unrelenting energy. He's commando crawling, getting his teeth, babbling, pulling up to standing, cruising and learning more and more each day. He loves his books and toys and can entertain himself for what seems like hours without fussing. All in all, we’d say Jake has quite a normal, not to mention wonderful, life.

As for his parents, well, we’ve learned a lot about who we are and what we’re capable over the past year. Strength and love go a long way but you have to arm yourself with knowledge, too. We’ve learned to believe in the power of science and medicine and to trust doctors who do not always have the answers. And we’ve been inspired to be better people by the remarkable example shown to us by our little fighter.

As we reflect upon the events of the past year, we find it hard to find the words to thank you for the role you’ve played in helping Jake reach this milestone. Sometimes words are not enough; therefore, we have made a donation to the pediatric cardiology programs at both Boston Children’s Hospital and Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York. Please know that you have played a very important role in this family’s happiness and our gratitude to all involved is unending.

Sincerely,

Amy, Greg, and Jake Casden


We had an awesome party to celebrate with at least fifty people at our new house. It was the first time many of our friends had seen Jake since before his arrest last summer. I was so busy entertaining and showing Jake and the house off that I didn't get too many pictures. Here's a few...

Bad Bug cupcakes decorated by the lovely Laurie Rudnick


Make a wish!


Jake's first taste of sugar!


Cheers!

Present and Future Posts on the Past

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long... (see previous post!)

It's true, I've lost momentum. Blame it on being overworked and overtired. Blame it on stress. Blame it on moving and unpacking, and getting my house in order (oh, yeah, we moved to the burbs and bought a house - details to come in a future post, or not). Blame it on wanting to spend my idle time spending time with Jake. Blame it on spending my idle time watching American Idol. Blame it on Facebook. Blame it on the rain that was slowly falling. Whatever the reason, it would seem that my daily schedule and motivation are not aligning to send me to the computer to update this here blog. Do I feel guilty? Hell yeah I do.

For now, I'm going to work on backtracking a bit to cover all the milestones and pitfalls we've had over the past few months. There's been a-plenty of both.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is my favorite holiday. At one time I tried to make myself sound cooler by falsely claiming New Years was my celebration of choice. Afterall, that fit in better with my party-girl image. But who was I kidding. How can you compare blowing a few horns and maybe kissing someone at midnight with presents? C'mon, presents! There's not much competition, is there.

In keeping true to my well intentioned philosophy of indoctrinating my beliefs upon my child, I went out and purchased this lovely onesie for his Christmas photos:

By the way, did I mention that Jake is half Jewish? Regardless, Christmas calls for celebration. Decorating, presents, food, and more food. And then, more food. My Aunt Jo makes three dinners for Christmas - Egg drop soup, followed by ravioli, meatballs and sausage, followed by smoked ham and turkey - a sort of deconstructed Turduckin, but better . But before we even get to that three dinners for one, there's Christmas Eve and The Feast of the Seven Fishes - not one, not two.... but SEVEN different seafood dishes. And then there's the appetizers and desserts and cookies and cookies and desserts... It's insane. The first time Greg came home with me he went and laid down on the couch away from everyone. When I went in to check on him he said he just couldn't be around food anymore.

However, this year we're staying home. It's just too early to travel with Jake. It's too close to his surgery and there's just too much at risk. While I'm sad and will miss my family, I must admit that there is something special about spending tour first holiday with just the three of us.

I'm looking forward to presents and to giving Jake lots and lots of presents for many years to come.

Excuses, excuses

I'm not even going to start this post with "I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long...". So I haven't updated. I've been a little busy. We've moved. My living room is still stacked with boxes. The house is halfway painted and we have an entire room without furniture. Then there's the regular household chores like scrubbing toilets and doing dishes and doing laundry (although those last two are a helluva lot easier with a sweet dishwasher and washer and dryer). Then there's work. My company laid off around 100 people. I'm pretty happy to have my job - let alone a job I love - but it's been stressful. Oh, and did I mention I now spend 3 hours a day commuting.

But enough of the excuses.

I feel guilty as all hell for not sharing Jake's stories for so long. I have a backlog of posts swimming around in my head but I have to move on with the current tales. Maybe I'll get around to getting caught up someday, but with an 11th month old, a new house, and a stressful job, maybe I won't.

Home Sweet Home

I have never appreciated the true sentiment of "home sweet home" more then returning home after spending weeks and sometimes months in the hospital with Jake. We have been through so much with him and to return home, physically and mentally exhausted, gave deeper meaning to the phrase.

Now, "home sweet home" has taken on yet another new profound meaning because we have just closed on our first house today! We bought a modest yet cute 1940 ranch home in the 'burbs. It's in a quiet neighborhood, has a good yard, a garage for Greg to work on our cars in, a washer and dryer (no more laundromat!) and Jake will have his very own room! It's structurally sound but needs some updating, and we intend to return it to it's mid-century modern splendor with some hard work and time. You can read all about our retro renovation at 31 Sherman.

We want to give Jake the world, and though a house is not the world, it's definitely an upgrade from the one bedroom apartment we all share now. I can't wait to paint and decorate his room, to see him run around the yard, for family holidays together in our home and for all of the memories we'll make there together.

Home, sweet home, indeed.

The Many Moods of Jake Maxwell Casden Part 3

One photo shoot. Many moods...

Peek-A-Boo

Jake plays peek-a-boo! We've played peek-a-boo for months, and Jake loves it, but this was the first time Jake decided to play along. I think he might just be the sweetest thing in the whole world.

Jake Casden is a Wild Man!

Jake is a wild man! He has more energy than any baby I've ever seen. He's so energetic that he actually broke his bouncy seat. Greg had to rig it up so we could still use it. Sometimes I think he may bounce right out.

Check it out.

Plush Guts and Microbes

I found an awesome gift for Jake from I Heart Guts. They have great stuff including spleens, kidneys, the digestive system and even a plush uterus!

Jake loves his heart and the aorta makes for a great teething toy.



This reminded me of Giant Microbes, plush little cuties of all your favoriate ailments, including bed bugs, e coli, herpes and the common cold.


I think both I Heart Guts and Giant Microbes offer excellent stocking stuffers. Get 'em now for the holidays!

I Suck My Thumb, and My Fingers and Toes!

Exhibit A


Exhibit B


Exhibit C

Pick of the Litter

Jake has discovered the cats. He reaches and grabs for them whenever they are near.



I think its fair to say they've gotten pretty used to each other, and rather comfortable together. Wouldn't you agree?