Hello February

(Please click on the photo to view some non-MRI pictures .)

I just thought I'd throw a post up real quick to get some photos and videos uploaded, and to give a quick update on Jake's melon.

First, as we posted last time, Jake has learned all about being mobile. We need to get another video soon because his progress is unbelievable. He has no trouble getting where he wants to go. He doesn't quite army crawl, but rather just pulls himself around by his arms, dragging his legs. This technique works very well on the hardwood floor, but not so well on carpet. His favorite mode of transport, however, is still riding in one of our arms.

We recently found out from the pediatric neurologist that the MRI showed that there is SOME extra cerebral fluid, but barely even enough to be considered excessive. Regardless, he has suggested we get an appointment in with the neurosurgeon for a second opinion. We are currently in the process of trying to get that appointment made. Michele found out that we're about number 15 in line just to be considered, so it could be a while. In the mean time, we got some paperwork and a CD with MRI images from MIND. If you would like to read all the "doctor speak" click the button below to open or save the PDF file with their scanned results. Some of it is redundant, but a lot is pretty interesting.




You can also click on the YouTube video below to see almost all the MRI photos strung together to form a mini-movie.

Bust out the Baby Gate

I guess we called it! Jake took his first crawls (?) forward this morning while Michele was playing with him before day care. Per usual, he did much better before the cameras came out. You can still see a little bit of it in the video below.

While we can still catch him pretty easily, gone are the days we can leave the room while he's playing on the rug with his toys. Who knows where he might end up?!

Just Past 10 Months Old

(Please click on the picture to view more 10 month photos).

The OTHER thing we did on Sunday was get a few shots of Jake since he turned 5/6th's of a year old!

We tried to get a picture of him crawling backwards, since that's his new favorite mode of transportation, but, as you could guess, he did not cooperate. He still hasn't quite figured out how to propel himself forward, but it probably won't be long.

Pretty much at the same time that he learned to get up on his knees and scooch backwards, he also figured out that the knee makes a better pivot than his belly. He can spin around on a dime now, and is VERY quick about it.

Looks like we're going to have to start baby-proofing!

The Week Flew By

(Please click on the picture to view more photos.)

I should have never said this in the last post,

We're kind of going through the post-holiday lull right now. There's not a ton going on, but we're keeping busy.

We had quite the week this week.

Monday
After spending the day with Jake, I went to the Red Wings game with Jason. We had great seats given to me by a friend, and got to watch the Wings beat the Habs 2-0. We also had a great view of the CCHA and GLI banners. It was a beautiful sight (bottom of the photo on the left - spoiler alert: they are both green and white)!

Tuesday
Michele had a snow day, and spent the whole day entertaining Jake and doing some chores, as the photos clearly show. All I know is I don't get the camera out every time I do chores, but maybe I should. At any rate, this is where the bulk of our photos came from for this post.

Wednesday
We took Jake in to get his MRI in the morning. He did VERY well with the oral sedation, and stayed asleep through the scan. He then woke up promptly without any real stimulation after the test so we were able to head right home. They had warned that some people have to stick around for several hours while the child comes out of the sedation!

We hope to find out the results around the 23rd of next week.

While Michele took the rest of the day off to be with Jake, I headed down to work. I then stuck around after work and met Dad for dinner at his favorite downtown restaurant, Loco Bar, and then we went to the North American International Auto Show. There weren't a ton of new cars, but there were a couple that stood out.

My Personal Picks
If we needed/slash could afford an upscale minivan: Nissan Quest
If we needed an affordable minivan: Kia Sedona
Favorite hotrod: Holden Efijy
Favorite full-size, pickup: Ford F350
Favorite SUV: GMC Acadia
Favorite convertible: Saturn Sky Redline
Favorite convertible that I could fit in: Pontiac G6 (I still love the hard top).

Thursday
Thursday was a somewhat normal day. Michele got stuck at school late in a meeting while I tended to Jake. He had a great day back at daycare, and Michele said he got VERY excited when he saw his teachers in the morning!

Friday
Michele took Jake duty again Friday night so that I could resume going to the gym. It's been very hit-or-miss since Jake was born, and I decided that I really need to start getting into shape. I want to be ready for swimsuit season, and they already have their suits out at Target.

Saturday
After grabbing a few lattes from Beaners, we headed up to Pete and Teri's. DLCnM also joined us shortly after lunch as did Grandma Remenicky. We all basically just hung out and played around with Maiya.

Saturday night, after putting Jake to bed, Michele and I went to Fenton Cinemas and finally saw The Pursuit of Happyness. We both thought the movie was good, but probably won't look to buy it on DVD.

Sunday
Sunday morning found us headed to Flint to pick up Grandma for church at Saint Michael's with MPnA. Jake did very well during Church, but ended up getting a bit fussy at breakfast. Michele had a bunch of school stuff so we headed home right from the restaurant.

We did one other thing on Sunday, but that will have to wait for another post.

Happy Monday

(Please click on the picture to see more photos.)

We're kind of going through the post-holiday lull right now. There's not a ton going on, but we're keeping busy.

Jake has his MRI on Wednesday. To prepare for it, he can't eat for a few hours before (only water) and also is supposed to only get half of his regular amount of sleep. I'm thinking that will result in a very upset baby, but we have to follow the rules. Michele will be taking the full day off to be with him after the test, but I thought it might be smarter to let daycare deal with him :) Actually, we like his teachers, so we probably wouldn't want to subject them to that.

Jake has a lot of toys that are pretty cool. We found one, however, that I think every parent with an infant/toddler should get. Jake fell in love with the drum we gave Elle for Christmas, so we went out and got him one as a 9 1/2 month birthday present (good reason for a gift, huh). Not only does Jake like watching the lights, rolling it around, and beating on it, but it doesn't annoy us! The melodies are not harsh, and the lights really are spectacular. If you have access to a Discovery Channel Store, I would highly recommend it, or you can find it here.

Also, we just got back Jake's 9 month professional photographs from JCPenney's. We ended up getting four different poses this time. You can see them here: POSE1, POSE2, POSE3, and POSE4.

Pediatric Neurologist Exam Results

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Before I get started, I think this has to post has to win the award for best blog title... maybe not.

Jake met with Dr. Manica, a very experienced (old) pediatric neurologist today. Dr. Manica is VERY personable, and took the time to not only explain why we were sent there, but to give us a mini-education on how the brain works. Once we had the fundamentals of the sides of the brain, the ventricles, the fissures, and the pores (arachnoid granulations), he was able to overlay our pediatrician's findings from the ultrasound so that we fully understood it. From a very high level, Jake is probably fine. He will have further tests, and his pediatricians need to pay close attention to his head growth, but for now they think he will likely outgrow his condition. Now, I'll try to explain what we learned.

In layman's terms, Jake DOES have too much fluid in his brain. Basically, the brain produces a bunch of fluid that the brain floats in, and to protect the spinal cord. This is not a pool of fluid, but a moving stream. After it leaves the brain, does it's job protecting stuff, it returns to the brain where it's sucked in by the pores and travels through the arteries to the heart, and eventually to the kidneys where it's passed out. The process typically takes 8 hours, and is started over. It's kind of like a continual flush of the system.

The problem Jake has, is his pores are a little too small to allow for the proper absorption and passage to the kidneys. This has caused some back pressure and has increased the amount of fluid in the top-front part of his brain. As his brain grows, hopefully the pores will also get larger, and have better capability to absorb the fluid. This article does a good job explaining hydrocephalus, but it is VERY technical, and provides information not relevant to Jake's condition.

If this was more serious, the fluid would back up all the way into where it is created (in the ventricles) which is on the inside of the brain. You can see why swelling there could cause problems. From the ultrasound, however, his ventricles appeared to by symmetrical and not shifted off-center.

Dr. Manica, then performed a neurological test that checked Jake's language skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and his social skills. He said Jake did excellent on all the tests for a nine month old even though he should really be tested as a 7 1/2 month old.

On the 17th, Jake will be headed back to the center for an MRI. The ultrasound was blurry in parts due to the fact that Jake was moving around. The MRI will give them a much better picture to make sure that their observations are correct. After the MRI, we will be meeting with a neurosurgeon to discuss the findings of the MRI, and then he can inform us of any further treatment that might be necessary.

We are all very happy with the news, and hope that the MRI will only confirm that he's doing OK, and will outgrow this problem. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

In other news, Michele visited with DLCnM yesterday on her last day of vacation. The whole family seems to be settling in well, and Maiya is starting out as a very good sleeper. We hope she keeps it up for Lynette's sake.

Happy New Year!

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Michele and I opted to ring in the New Year at home this year. Jake's sleep schedule was thrown for quite a loop over Christmas, and now that it was finally back to almost normal, we didn't want to risk breaking it before we start work again.

We had a lovely evening. Jake went down around 6:30 as usual. I then grilled out a couple of Top Sirloin steaks from Omaha Steaks while withstanding varying states of downpour. We added to the steaks with a mixture of baby redskin potatoes and asparagus cooked in olive oil and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. We accompanied the meal with a bottle of Jacob's Creek Shiraz. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I've decided to be more open to it for Michele's sake. While one glass was plenty, I actually did enjoy it. We then played a little PS2 (yes... Michele actually played a video game) before cleaning up from dinner. I got a collection of Midway arcade games for Christmas, and one of those games was a variation of Michele's favorite arcade game, Tapper. She cursed me for both beating her, and getting her hooked on it, insisting that she'll be spending more time in front of the PS2 in the future. After cleaning up the kitchen, we watched the movie Click while eating the creme brulee that I finally got around to making (from a mix). When that ended, we had enough time to flip over to ABC to watch their New Years Rockin' Eve party, and countdown to 2007. We then took Jake's first picture of the year, downed our mini bottle of champagne and went to bed.

Today, Jake really started getting into feeding himself puffs. You can see those photos here.

Also, here are some more shots of Maiya from DLCnM.

MPnA are headed down this afternoon to watch the Rose Bowl with us. I think we're going to have some delicious Taco Pie and then finish off the creme brulee.

We hope everyone had as good a start to 2007 as we did, and hope it continues through the whole year!