Tug-o-War

Lucas and Roscoe love each other -- no, really. We spend at least half our time breaking them up because their either 1) french kissing (yuk!) or 2) "rough-housing" to the point where one of them is getting hurt. Other times, they're just being boys ... like this morning. The blue blanket is Roscoe's security blanket (thanks, Sheryl!) and he drags it with him wherever he goes. Oh, on another note ... at 3 months, Roscoe is over 7 lbs. the vet thinks he'll be about 21 lbs. Havanese are suppose to be between 10-15 lbs. so looks like we scored!

If you turn the volume up, near the end you can hear yours truly singing one of Lucas' favorite songs. He loves music time at school and is enjoying "singing" along to many different tunes.

Tom Shines at Food Network Wine & Food Festival

Tom participated in the "Grand Tasting" as part of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival yesterday -- one of only 40 restaurants in south Florida to be invited to what is quickly becoming THE most prestigious (snooty) food show in the U.S. and one of the most coveted events in town (tickets sold out long ago and I had no luck getting one which was going for about $200!). With the mercury registering over 85 degrees on South Beach, Tom and his team served up nearly 3,000 servings of "seared sea scallops with a truffled sweet corn broth" -- ask Tom how many times he said that with a smile! Several folks rated it the best of the lot including famed pastry chef, Jacques Torres, who owns two candy factories in Manhattan. Needless to say, he had a great showing and was pumped up after his performance -- bean and I couldn't be prouder!

And now, we wait...

After reviewing Lucas' echocardiogram with a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Perryman said there's nothing to do now. According to Perryman -- who is the director of pediatric cardiac surgery at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital -- he said there are only two reasons to correct an ASD: 1) if the hole is too big which results in a large amount of blood leakage or 2) if it's affecting the heart's function. Lucas' ASD is very small (about 3mm) and his heart is functioning normally. Perryman suggested we continue to monitor the ASD, but said there's nothing to do at the moment ... in other words, Lucas doesn't need surgery in his opinion. However, he does need periodic echocardiograms to check for any changes.

We also learned Lucas is not a candidate for catheterization because of the ASD's location -- too close to the valve. That said, if the ASD needs to be corrected at some point, it would mean open heart surgery. Perryman is going to bring the case to the weekly conference of cardiologists next week and see if they reach concensus. We're certainly feeling a little more relieved, but not as satisfied as I had hoped. We need to ensure this is the right course for our little man. The one thing we know is Lucas will be do for another echo in a few months and we'll see what the future holds. For now, we wait and pray that Lucas can spend the rest of his long, healthy life ignoring the tiny little hole in his heart.

Thanks for your thoughts, emails, calls, and prayers -- they're more meaningful than you could possibly know.

Heart-of-Hearts

I wanted to share a timely, wonderful entry from one of my favorite bloggers who has a weekly column on Parent Dish. Last week's entry, Avery and the Purple Crayon brought me to tears (admittedly, I cry most of the time I read Jennifer's stuff because it strikes me on a visceral level). I have been a fan of Jennifer's since I first read her story in "Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives". I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do.

Happy Valentine's Day

We needed to reschedule Lucas' appointment with Dr. Perryman today because we're still waiting on the CD with the echocardiogram images from Miami Children's Hospital. We've rescheduled for next Wednesday, February 20th. We have an eight-page report from Lucas' cardiologist in hand, and will hopefully have the CD before the end of the week. In speaking to Dr. Silvia (Lucas' "unofficial" awesome pediatrician who sees him at the Mailman Center for Child Development, next door to the Debbie School) about his ASD and the possibility of having a catheritization versus open heart surgery, she suggested we see an interventional cardiologist at Jackson Memorial Hospital for an opinion so we'll probably go that route too, depending on what we hear from Perryman. Indeed we travel the road less traveled.

Here's a valentine's day message from Bean and a peek at Roscoe (we finally settled on a name for our newest addition).

Happy Valentine's Day!

2 Years Gone By...

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my mom's passing...I can't believe it's been two years since I last laid eyes on her. All the time I wish she had lived to meet the bean--how meaningful it would have been to her, how much joy he would have brought into her life. Tonight, to honor her memory, we enjoyed dinner al fresco on Key Biscayne and toasted to her over icy Presidentes. We then went to the site where we spread her ashes and scattered rose petals on the bay -- even Lucas tossed some petals in and waved out to her. It was a beautiful night and a lovely, simple way to pay homage to her -- I'm certain it would have made her happy.

A Cut Above

Tom slipped in a puddle and fell while holding Lucas yesterday, right outside of Lucas' daycare center. Lucas landed face first on the pavement, and before we knew it, he was gushing blood, screaming, and had a huge welt on his forehead. Luckily, I work on a medical campus so we rushed him to the children's ER where he was seen immediately. They kept him for observation for several hours, and he was released early in the afternoon. It was a scary, stressful day, but we're so glad he's been behaving like himself, eating and playing as usual. Here's the shiner he's currently sporting.

On a lighter note, it was high time for a change so I cut my hair ala Katie Holmes (Mr. Cruz's wife) in a layered bob -- and am donating all 10 inches to Locks of Love. The bangs didn't really translate in this photo, but you get the gist of it -- Tom likes it and so do I.