Surgery Successful!

Wow, so it's been awhile since we've updated the blog! We've had a busy past few months, so I'll try to get everyone up to speed! Logan is now 13 months old! He's doing quite well, and we're so very proud of our little boy!
Physically, Logan continues to excel at everything he puts his mind to. He is crawling, relentlessly fast, I might add. Logan's style of crawling is quite unique, however. Unlike the traditional crawl, Logan instead crawls like a bear with his feet on the ground and his knees in the air! It's amusing to watch, but that's just Logan's style!
Also, he pulls himself up to standing with ease, even with a flat surface such as a wall. He's walking with assistance, such as his favorite toy, a plastic shopping cart, which he can push across the room. Also, he can "transition" between surfaces, such as standing at the couch and moving over to the ottoman. Needless to say, our physical therapist, Terra, is always ecstatic!Cognitively, Logan seems to be progressing very well! While Kireta & I are not experts at spotting the cognitive advances, other therapists are, and more than one has told us that they believe Logan will have a mild cognitive disability. This, of course, isn't for certain, but their observations are certainly valued, and we continue to work with and challenge Logan as often as we can.
Logan is able to put blocks into a container consistantly now, and he plays with toys such as trucks (whenever his brother lets him, he hasn't yet learned to "share") knowing that their wheels move and how they operate. Logan knows to bang the drum, or shake the rattle, etc. We're working on signing "more" with Logan, and he's doing the sign with his left hand, but not quite his right. Logan loves to wave at people, especially daddy, to whom he'll do a special wave consisting of a wave with his left hand, and waving his fist in his right hand, at the same time. I think he's trying to tell me either that he's going to give me a knuckle sandwich, or power to the people, we're not quite sure...
As you might or might not be aware, Logan just got through a minor, albeit still scary, surgery. This one was an incisional hernia repair, necessary for a slight tear in his abdominal wall caused from his chest drain tubes following open-heart surgery. Dr Karrer, a fantastic pediatric surgeon, simply made an incision (actually over the same scar from the chest tube), and then proceeded to sew together the abdominal wall with three stiches, and that was that. Since the main concern for this surgery was the anesthesia, we double scheduled the surgery with his lacrimal duct probing (in layman's terms, the unblocking of his tear ducts). Finally Logan should be able to tear like everyone else, and so his eyes will be less red and puffy, and best of all, much less tears running down his face:) This procedure was done fairly "old school," in that it was a small wire that was inserted down the inside corner of his eyes, clearing whatever blockage was there and opening up some soft muscle tissue between his tear ducts and his nasal canal. All of this sounds a bit scary, and it was, but compared with open-heart, this was a walk in the park. Logan was done with both procedures in 1.5 hours, and we were driving home by 10:30 am! I literally waited longer to get my passport renewed!
As for follow-ups with his beloved cardiologist, Dr. Carrie, we have found that while Logan's VSD (the holes in the heart) have closed completely, and his pulmonary stenosis is good at 28%, the leakage between his pulmonary artery and the right ventricle (the bottom left chamber of the heart) has progressed to border-line severe. What this means is that every time his heart (in particular his right ventricle) contracts, it forces blood up through the pulmonary artery. This is good! If you remember, one condition of tetralogy of fallot is pulmonary stenosis, or a constriction of the artery so that not enough blood can get through, thus leading to patients turning blue! What is bad is that as his right ventricle expands, it also pulls blood back towards his right ventricle, which the tricuspod valve is supposed to prevent (think of it as a one-way check valve).
So what does all of this mean? Quite simply, that Logan will need another repair, perhaps sooner than we thought. How soon? We don't know. Dr Carrie has made the point that his leakage is still much better than if they had done the traditional repair (check back 1 year for details regarding his "valve sparring technique"), and so applying that logic, I'd expect his repair to be between 3-5 years of age. This is when most kids who had their pulmonary valve completely removed would have their second open-heart. (Their third would be after adolescence). Since Logan has had his valve remaining intact, we have a very good possibility that his repair can be done via the cath lab, i.e. through his arterial line in his groin. The only problem is that he will need to be 40 lbs. He is presently only 17. Also, in 2-4 years from now, there's a good chance technology will continue to advance, and that weight could very well drop, let's say, to 30 lbs. I feel pretty confident that Logan will be 30 lbs 2-4 years from now, as he eats like a champ:) So for those of you reading this wondering if our little Logan will require another open-heart surgery, I can say probably not, but nothing's for certain. Please continue to keep Logan in your prayers, and in particular, that he will be of a proper weight so that when he does need his correction, that it can be done in the cath lab.

Alright, I've spent plenty of time evaluating Logan. Now let's get to the fun stuff, shall we? Pictures! (Also, Kireta is much better than I at posting new pictures [almost at a weekly basis] on her facebook page. Since I am obviously poor at updating this blog, you might want to check her page more often if that's what you'd like to see:) Without further ado...

We had a large 1st birthday party for our little man! We bbq'd and had everyone outdoors on a beautiful day!

Logan even got his own cake. He dug his hands into it, and realized that while it tastes pretty good, he really wasn't that into the texture:)

Logan loves his Auntie!
Nana & Gabe made the trip out from PA! We had all of the grandparents (minus PopPop Geoff who should be out later) come out for Logan's 1st birthday! Grammie flew in from Pittsburgh, and Poppy from DC!
Lately, Logan's been sporting the baby-hawk. NICE!!!
Here's the before bedtime ritual...reading books!
Who's a stud? Logan is!
The family had a little retreat up to Aspen, which was simply breath-taking! Independence Pass is our new favorite for mountain sight-seeing!
Breath it in deep!
Here's a shot watching some fireworks on the fourth of July! Surprisingly, both boys loved the show...
especially Logan:)
Can you tell Logan's default is happy?
Last, but not least, we had a great time in the neighborhood fourth of July parade! Cya next time!

Big Boy Logan is 9 Months!!

Wow...9 months already!! Our little man is the charmer alright! He loves attention from everyone and gets it. His smile will melt your heart. He loves to sit up and wants to all the time. He even has been pushing himself to the sitting position by rolling from his back to stomach, rolling to his side (or bowing) and pushing up...he has done this six times already in the last couple of days! Our lil tough guy!!



Now that Logan has the sitting thing down we're working on crawling. He will stay in the position for about a minute but will get frustrated when you help him get- going. Something new he has to get used to. Terra, our physical therapist, is still very impressed with how strong Logan is. She is always so amazed with how he tolerates her maneuvering his body into different positions. Noah was crawling just before he turned 8 months but we have no doubt Logan will be soon.

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks? Logan also really enjoys eating his veggies, fruit and meat! He's a meat eater. Noah never cared for the meat in a jar. Logan likes chicken and turkey with gravy...pretty much if you give it to him he'll eat it!

Here's Logan with Noah and cousin Kennedy. It's so hard to get three of them to smile at the same time. Logan loves the camera and is always smiling when Mommy takes his picture...my little model.


We had such a great visit with Aunt Dondi, Kevin and Kennedy. Noah really enjoys the company of his cousin. Here we are at the Denver Aquarium. We finally had a nice day to walk around downtown as well. That's all for now. Happy 9 Months my Logan!!

LOGAN IS 8 MONTHS OLD!!!

Our little guy is 8 months and such a joy! He officially started sitting on his own 2 weeks ago! He is getting bigger, more personality and of course cuter each week:)

What a big boy!

The boys hanging out. Noah always looks out for his little brother.

Logan is holding his bottle on his own here and there. He's flexible and holds on with the help of his feet as well.

Here's Auntie Ash with the boys. A fun filled time at Chuck E. Cheese's....They love hanging out with their Auntie!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well hello again and Happy New Year!!! First of all, we'd like to apologize for not updating the blog in a very, very, very long time. Yes, of course it was the holidays, and for those of you who didn't know, we went back East for two weeks during Christmas time. That being said, it's still a lame excuse for not updating everyone more frequently, and for that, we apologize.
As you can see, our boys are doing very well, thank you! They both keep getting more and more handsome and continue to enrich our lives! Noah isn't quite two yet, but you'd think he was as he has hit his "terrible twos" early and 1.5! He certainly tests us, but he'll figure out his groove soon enough! As for our dear Logan, he is simply thriving! We're happy to report that he is very healthy, and even though his older brother has been through various illnesses for the past month (including hives, you'd think it was leapersy by the look of it, just an awful sickness), Logan has fared well and is happier than ever!
In the past two weeks we have taken Logan into Children's Hospital in Denver to have his six month checkup, as well as another EKG & Echo cardiogram (sonogram of the heart). Dr Elias (his pediatrician) is very impressed by Logan, and likes that he is sounding out "gaa's, goo's, and ma's." He also has taken up growling in the past few months, which is quite cute for now, but could be creepy later on:) All of these sounds are very good signs and Logan is actually doing everything a "typical" 7 month old would be doing. Also, some blood work was taken to test Logan's thyroid (a normal procedure for children with down syndrome) and we are happy to report his thyroid is at normal levels! Also, his blood count looks great as well, something you have to watch as children with down syndrome are 25 times more likely to develop childhood leukemia.
As for the appointment with our favorite doctor in the world, Dr. Carrie (his cardiologist), everything went smooth as silk. The VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect, or hole is the bottom two chambers in his heart) has completely closed and is as good as sealed. The holes that all babies are born with open are also completely sealed, and his pressure gradient in his pulmonary artery is perfect at 17% leakage (you don't want too low or high, this is what they strive for). His next appointment will be in three months, just to continue to verify everything is healing nicely.
As for strength, look out Lou Ferrigno!!! Logan is excelling at physical therapy, and again, is doing everything a "typical" 7 month old would be doing. He is able to sit up on his own for short amounts of time (his record is two minutes), and is able to support his own weight when I support him standing up! We're getting him ready for crawling, and Logan is able to hold the position of up on his knees and hands for short amounts of time also. The family seems to get a kick out of what his Uncle Mark calls "killers." When Logan lies on his back, he'll lift his head up in a crunch position, as well as his legs off the floor, doing a perfect "V" shape. We think it's hilarious, as most adults can't even do this maneuver! Like I said before, Logan will be my little powerlifter!
One of Noah's presents was an Elmo kitchen, which he absolutely loves! He loves to help Daddy cook and this is a good way for him to practice!
This is Logan with his Poppy out in DC! We spent one week in DC and the other in Lancaster, PA!
Wouldn't you know that the night we decided to drive up to Lancaster from DC there was a huge snowstorm! What normally takes 2.5 hours took six! We got into Lancaster about 4:15 am, and thankfully had Poppy's 4 wheel drive truck to do it in! We probably passed 50 cars off the side of the road in accidents!

Here's a great shot of my Mom, Geoff, and Gabe (all known to Noah & Logan as Nana, PopPop, and Uncle Gabe, respectively). This was a special visit for me for a few of reasons. Number one, they had not yet had a chance to meet Logan yet. Number two, I haven't been back East for Christmas for at least seven years, possibly longer. And last, but certainly not least, we had the opportunity to introduce Logan to his great Nana just before she passed away. The trip was special, and bittersweet at the same time, but I'm so thankful that we all had a chance to see our wonderful Nana one last time.
This is a great shot of how cute Logan can be! He smiles so often is such a great baby!
Logan even puts up with us dressing him in silly costumes like a reindeer! (At least it's not that pink bunny suit from "The Christmas Story"!
PopPop and Noah got along great, and liked to be silly.
This is Yogi the bear, or at least a distant cousin.
Smile Uncle Gabe, it's picture time!
Nana really enjoyed spending time with the boys, and held Logan whenever she could!
Logan also got a chance to be held for the first time by his Great Grandma!!! We visited with her before she went to Illinois for Christmas. We also had the opportunity to introduce the boys to their Great Grandfather, Ed, up in Spring City, PA. It was great to see both of them!
Logan likes to take pictures, but Noah is a little over it.
Gruncle Rand was down at Great Nana & PopPops and was able to see the boys as well.
Logan also got to meet Great PopPop for the first time! The similarities are striking!!! Look PopPop, it's a mini you!
Logan also met his Great Aunt Sis, who was happy to meet him! All in all, a great time back East, and we're very thankful that Logan was able to meet so many people for the very first time!

That's all for now, but we promise to update the blog more frequently! Check back soon!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Check out all the snow we got starting Wed. 19 inches...craziness! Half of it has melted away already. Gotta love Colorado weather;)

Lil' Pumpkin Logan

Watch out for this Ninja!

Happy pumpkin boy and the stoic ninja. Logan is always smiling for pics, Noah is over it.

Logan loves music and when you sing to him...he's such a sweetie!!