humble brag

Last Friday we got some unexpected bad news about Caiden, but it was balanced by some great news for Cameron. So allow me to humble brag for a bit and celebrate this news with you.

If you’re not familiar with the St. Louis Public School system, it is often sorely lacking. It’s one reason a lot of families leave the city for the county. However, there are some diamonds within the rough and one of those diamonds happens to be in our neighborhood – Kennard Classical Junior Academy. It’s still part of the SLPS system, but as a magnet school they have more control over their curriculum.

There are a couple of catches with Kennard. First, you have to test in. The minimum eligible scores are an IQ of 125, and 95% on academic achievement tests. Second, you have to be chosen via a lottery. Waiting on the results for both can cause a bit of sleeplessness for a STL city parent. Especially ones like ourselves, who absolutely love their home and neighborhood and have no intention of moving.

Cameron took the tests back in September, and his scores flabbergasted both Chris and I. We always knew we had a smart boy, but it’s something else when a professional confirms it. He completed the tests with scores way above and beyond what was needed. Consider step one of getting into Kennard conquered.

The lottery was held the last full week of October. Chris and I checked the site daily to see if results were posted yet. On Friday we were able to confirm that Cameron would be joining Kennard for the 2013-2014 school year. YAY!

It’s especially nice to have something to celebrate right now. It proves that while life may throw you curve balls, something else always brings balance. (And did I just use a baseball analogy? Who am I?)

caiden’s big adventure

I’m sitting here, struggling as to how to begin this post. But here we go.

At Caiden’s four month appointment, the pediatrician wrote an order for a head x-ray. He was concerned that his poor breech head wasn’t rounding out normally. Chris and I had discussed his head shape before, knowing it was a bit abnormal and figured he would require a helmet to help correct it. So I wasn’t overly concerned when we went down to radiology for his scan.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the word surgery.

Caiden’s plates have prematurely fused. Specifically along the sagittal suture line (along the top of his head). It happens to about 1 in 2000 kids. It didn’t happen just because he was breech, but it probably started occurring while in utero. As the neurosurgeon explained to us, the derma surrounding the brain is supposed to send signals to the cranial plates when to expand or fuse. Sometimes it doesn’t work, like in Caiden, and they are not sure why. Since his plates fused at the top, his other plates are over compensating causing his head to be oblong. Cam also had the same shaped head after being breech, but his plates allowed for movement to reshape normally. 

Luckily we got the diagnosis early enough and Caiden is a candidate for endoscopic surgery. The doctors will remove a 2.5 cm strip where the bones have fused, basically creating a new soft spot. Without complications, we are only looking at one night in the hospital. We have been told that most babies bounce back after surgery, eating and acting normal on the second day. After a week he will be fitted with a helmet, which he will wear until his first birthday.

A brief description of his condition can be found here. I also have a brochure that I can email to any interested parties. 

This is hard for us to digest, but we are comfortable with the surgeon and the hospital. St. Louis Children’s Hospital is always one of the highest ranked children’s hospitals in the country, and the neurosurgeon was recommended to us by our pediatrician as well as pediatricians who work with mom. He is the only one performing this surgery endoscopically in town, allowing for a much faster recovery. Caiden’s brain development has not been hindered at this point, so it’s better to go through surgery now before that becomes a problem. One surgery will correct the problem, and there should be no long-term effects. He’s also young enough where he won’t remember any of this.

Surgery has been scheduled for November 13. So please keep us in your thoughts, as our family tackles this unexpected obstacle. We know we can make it through anything with all of the love and support you give us everyday.

sweet serenade

Caiden has taken an interest lately in all things Cameron.
But nothing beats a big brother singing to you.

it’s my fault, really

I mention retouching, and my husband decides to have a go at it. Feast your eyes on the results.

After ten years you would think I would know better.

quick photo catchup

What did we do this September? Eh, just a couple of things.

Apple picking with school for one. Cam had his last field trip of the year at Eckert’s. I packed up Caiden and volunteered as Cam’s apple bag Sherpa. I got a few snapshots of the busy boy finding his apples over Caiden’s head who was resting in a baby carrier.

 

Best part of apple picking? Enjoying the fruits of your labor. Check out these two cuties.

And as it always happens, apple picking falls on the same day as the balloon glow, my favorite event in St. Louis. I have a few friends that are deterred by the crowds and traffic, but we have it down to a science and manage to get in and out without any problems. This year, we went to both the glow and the race.

The boys, Gram and I enjoyed a walk around the event where we met giant dogs and cats…

saw parachuters…

and pretended we were firemen.

 Gram enjoyed her time with the kiddos.

Even angry Abby. (Sorry, this picture cracks me up. Can you be jealous at age 3 months when Gram is holding a cousin and not you? Because Kirsten seems a bit perturbed.)

The draw of the day is always the big bunny, who starts off the race.

After the bunny is off and floating, the remaining 70 balloons “chase” after it. It’s quite a sight to see one rise up after another.

I love this photo of the four of us. It’s a rare occurrence to find myself in front of the camera. Too bad the burp cloth had to go and ruin it. And too bad I don’t know anyone who can fix that for me. (Kidding, of course. We battle each other over retouching all the time. I am a purist and like the photos to reflect what actually happened. Chris likes to have fun with them, as many of you know.)

At the end of September we had a block party. Can you guess what the hit of the party was?

We’re so lucky to have such fun and loving neighbors who look out for one another. I wasn’t able to stay out for long (a little one was having trouble going down) but it’s always fun to get together with everyone. Too bad the kids had such a rotten time.

That’s our September in a brief photo recap. Maybe I can recap October events before the month ends. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

musings of a mother of 2

I have always been a mediocre blogger. Or maybe inconsistent. I mean, how hard can it be? Work full-time, raise two kids, house-keep, errand-run (and let’s not forget bathing) all at the same time? Blogging always falls by the wayside.

Not that I’m the only person out there who faces the same (and more) pulls and tugs at their free time. Kudos to all the single parents out there, because I cannot begin to understand how any of you still have hair.

But I do enjoy sharing stories and photos of our crazy family life to those who want to hear, and this is the place I choose to do it. So let’s catch up on the Shatto family, shall we?

Speaking of the little one, he went through a colic phase that coincided with my hair-pulling phase. (Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but it was interesting.) I heard over and over during my pregnancy that I would be in for a shocker with kiddo #2 since Cameron was such an easy baby, and they were right. Or maybe I jinxed myself by calling him Firecracker while in utero. Either way, we had a fussy baby on our hands. Things could have been a lot worse though. At least Caiden would settle down and sleep during the night. The trick was getting him down to sleep at all. He would refuse naps all day, causing him to be over-tired at night and he fought all my efforts to settle him down. But once I won the nightly battle, he would stay down (for at least three hours).

My biggest discovery of the differences between child #1 and child #2? It’s so much easier to take care of child #2, since you (seem to) know what you’re doing. However, it is so much harder to take care of yourself. Time doesn’t necessarily allow for rest and recovery. It took a lot longer for me to feel “normal” again after this c-section and I am not known for my patience (with myself).

Just when I felt I was juggling our new life successfully, it was time for me to return to work. I enjoyed my 13 weeks off with Caiden and was not ready to see it end. I might have spent a total of four hours apart from the little guy and imagining 8 hours a day without him was heartbreaking. But on September 26 I reentered the work force to a very welcoming group of coworkers. I will admit that it was easier this time than it was the first time, but it still sucked. Luckily Caiden joined Cam across the street from me at the Nestlé Purina Child Development Center. Since he’s so close, I am able nurse him instead of pumping all day. A little baby snuggles during the day goes a long way. Plus, I could not be happier with the care both Caid and Cam receive at the center. The teachers are wonderful with the kids and great at communicating with parents.

Our family continues to laugh and thrive, so much so that it’s hard to find the time to catch everyone else up with our lives. But I will continue to do my best on sharing the good and the bad here. In fact, a second post will be done within a day. “How does she do it?”

dance practice

Most of you know that my sister is getting married in 18 (gasp) days. Knowing this, we felt that we should brush Cam up on his dancing skills. Most importantly, he needed to learn Gangnam Style.

Now he’s ready to dance with his Daddy, since he claims this is the only dance he knows.
Watch out girls!