Drake Nischeal Prasad

September 15th, 2011 2:42pm

The greatest day of our lives, the day our little boy Drake Nischeal Prasad was born. Only the beginning of a special life that would touch every person he would meet along his short thirteen month journey on this Earth. Weighing in at a healthy 6 pounds, 6 ounces he was a little guy. He was born in Modesto, California at Memorial Hospital. I remember the first time I held him in my arms, and stared at that precious face...I knew that we truly had something special on our hands. I was holding an Angel, and I had no idea. He was such a beautiful baby. Da was the first to hold him, and he got to cut his umbilical cord and set him on the scale. He looked at his new son with awe and happiness. He was so excited for Drakey to finally be here after a long 9 months. 

Drake took to formula pretty well that first month, he loved it. Made him nice and full and happy! He grew so much too, the first few days turned into the first few weeks, then months. Before we knew it he was already a couple months old!
His very first holiday, the only one that he got to celebrate twice was Halloween. He was too little for us to take out trick or treating, but we dressed him up in a cute little skeleton onsie, and he slept in his swing the whole night while Ma & Da were passing out candy and scaring all the trick or treaters.

 

We got to know his little personality, that really started to shine through at about three months old. He was such a good baby, only cried when he was wet or hungry. Drake really made parenting easy on us. Other people noticed all the time that he was such a good happy baby, very calm and easy to take care of. We were so lucky to have such an easy baby who never really had a bad day.

 

Drakes second big Holiday was Christmas! This was also an exciting time because his very first cousin Lariah was born on the 1st of December. We had so many hopes and dreams of them growing up together, maybe even going to the same schools…getting into mischief.

 

Christmas was so much fun, we loved finally getting to be able to be santa claus for Drake. We bought him a Bumbo, a tractor, a see and say and he got a whole stocking full of his favorite things. That was such a great morning. We woke up early and helped Drake open up all his presents. He was all smiles. We spent the rest of the day playing with all his new toys and hanging with our family. 

 

When Drake was almost 6 months old, we noticed he was very good at holding his head up and was taking an interest in food. It was time to start feeding him real stuff! His first taste was of rice cereal. He seemed to really like it and did not spit any out. This marked the beginning of his love of food. He was such a good eater, not picky at all and would try anything. Some of his favorite foods were scrambled eggs (unda), rice, avocados, chicken nuggets, carrots, broccoli, spaghetti, bananas, puffs, peas, oatmeal, chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and any kind of fresh fruit. Meal times were always something that we looked forward to. Feeding Drake was so much fun, even when he would make a mess.

 

One of our fondest memories of Boo and food was when we used to take trips to the mall. We used to always get an order of coconut gelato from Tuttimelon. Drake LOVED that stuff. He would be in his stroller and we would give him bites, and as soon as he had eaten a bite he would turn right around and expect more. He would actually get mad when there was none left. It was so cute. 

 

We used to take many of our trips in Daddys big truck. Drakey would love to ride in it because it was such a bumpy ride and he would be bouncing around in his car seat. The truck would make his little voice shake while he would try and sing to the songs on the radio. It would always make us smile and laugh every time we rode in the truck anywhere. He especially loved trying to sing to the Usher song "Without You". He loved music.

 

Another fun time that really stands out in our minds is Drakes first Easter. We had such a good day. We spent the day with family, dying Easter eggs, opening their handmade Easter baskets, eating lots of yummy food and just having fun together watching the babies play with all their fun new Easter stuff. Drake received a chocolate bunny in one of his baskets, and he was more interested in eating the box rather than the candy! He also got a toy fuzzy chick that he looooved playing with all the time. It was one of his favorite toys.

 

One of our funniest memories of Drakey was when he was about 9 months old, on Fathers day. Ma had gotten up to go to work, and went to get Drakey out of his crib. He was covered in something….something brown, and it was all over him and his crib.  As I stepped a little closer, I noticed Drake didn't have a diaper on…he had somehow managed to pull his diaper off and make a mess of himself….and his crib! I shouted for Da to come in, all the while, Drake is laughing and smiling! I guess he thought it was funny…but it wasn't a very fun mess to clean up. We always would say that was Drakes present to Da on Fathers day! We will never forget that Fathers day in June 2012

 

We loved taking Drake anywhere new, and one of the funnest places we visited was the Oakland Zoo. We had such a blast there! We saw all kinds of cool animals, ate a picnic lunch and learned a lot of things about the animals. They also had a petting zoo where he got to pet goats and lambs! Drake had a great day too. There were so many new things for him to see, and thankfully we have lots of pictures from that day to look back on. We also used to buy him a souvenir T-shirt from every place we visited and we also have a few from other people that brought him shirts back from their travels. 

 

When Drake was 8 months old, he was really starting to become independent. He was crawling around everywhere, and all he wanted to do was play! He was also able to crawl up and down the stairs by himself at this point. He was so smart, much ahead of his time thats for sure. He would amaze us with the things he would learn to do on his own. He was also starting to stand up on things, so we knew pretty soon he would be walking.

 

May was an exciting month for us, we took a trip to the San Francisco Zoo that was a blast. None of us had ever been there before, so it was fun to explore something new together as a family. We saw many exotic creatures and Drake got to watch a Pelican feeding! We ate lunch together outside, and Drake even got to ride on a train around the park. He was such a good boy…never fussed or anything. We were so lucky to be able to do these kinds of things with him.

 

Later on that month we took another trip to Monterey, to celebrate our friends sons first birthday party. We had a great afternoon celebrating with friends and eating pizza and cake. We took a walk down cannery row and Drake got to see the ocean and the beach for the very first time. He was mesmerized by the waves. We tried sitting him down in the sand on a towel, but he almost ate some of the sand…lol, silly Boo. 

 

By August, the end of Summer time, Drake was unstoppable! He was almost walking, crawling, climbing all over things. He was growing so big, getting taller everyday. He even had a few teeth start coming in that month. Lucky for us teething was a breeze. He had a few nights that I know his gums bothered him, but nothing that mom and dad couldn't handle. We gave him baby orajel and froze teething rings to help him get through it. He also loved to eat cold things, like pudding, yogurt and popsicles to sooth his little chompeys.

 

September was probably the best month of little Boos life. We took a trip to New York City! We stayed for a week in Brooklyn with Drakes Auntie & Grandma. That was the best vacation of our lives. He slept pretty much the whole time on the almost 6 hour flight in Mama & Daddys laps. We did something exciting and fun every single day we were there. We have so many pictures and memories. He was a little Boo in the big apple. We even celebrated his 1st birthday early, we had pizza and cake in Dumbo park under the Manhattan Bridge, during a sunset. We rode Janes carousel and he opened all his birthday presents in the grass. He got his very own play iPhone, which he loved right from the start. We explored the city one day, where we spent some time in the big FAO toy store. Drake was laughing and smiling with us, looking at all the toys and trying silly hats on. Towards the end of that day, we also took him to explore Central Park. We had so much fun there, Drake even got to swing for the first time. He chuckled so hard because he loved it so much. He also got to play in the fountains with Da. Luckily we took a video of him swinging in the park.

 

We took the subway all over the place, and Drake was so good on every ride. we rode in taxies and walked all over the city. One day we took the subway all the way to Coney Island and explored. We ate lunch at Nathans famous hot dog stand and looked out at the Atlantic Ocean across from us. That same day we went to the NY aquarium, where Drake got to see lots of aquatic animals including a big walrus, lots of beautiful fish, sharks and jellyfish. He loved it so much, staring at all the animals moving around in their large tanks. That same day we gave him pennies to throw into a wishing pond…he didn't want to let his coins go. To this day I still find coins all over the place, in the most random spots. I think of them as little gifts from Drakey in Heaven.

 

On our very last full day in the big apple, we took the subway to the Bronx and explored the Bronx Zoo all day! Drake loved seeing all the animals…we saw lots of exotic birds, monkeys, and we even got to walk through a butterfly garden. Drake was such a good boy, never making a fuss. We were so blessed to have such a good baby. I love looking through all of our silly pictures we took that day.

The flight back was tiring, we had a three hour delay and Drakey was a little fussy, but he fell asleep as soon as the plane took off and didnt wake up until we landed back in SF.

 

After we came back from our NY trip, Mommy stayed home full time with her baby. It was the best time of my life, those few months I was absolutely blessed with all the time I got to spend with him. I just wish I had stopped working sooner. We used to get up every morning and Id make him his favorite breakfast, Unda…or a scrambled fried egg. Daddy used to make him flat eggs, lol and he liked eating them in squares. Sometimes he would have oatmeal, french toast sticks or muffins for breakfast too. After that we would watch Yo Gabba Gabba, his favorite show and get ready for whatever we had to do that day. Somedays we would just stay home together and play, and wait for Daddy to get home from work. Drake knew what time he would get home, and he used to get so excited when he heard the garage door open and heard his Da's voice. 

 

September was probably one of the funnest months we had together. Drake turned 1 year old on the 15th…our little boo was getting so big. We celebrated his birthday with his cousin Lariah, we ate yummy cake and opened some of his presents. Lariah got him a sweet pair of black Nikes that he wore all the time! Ma & Da got him a xylophone so he could play his own music. He loved that thing, we have a cute video of him playing on it. Later on that month we had a big Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday bash for Drakes first birthday. All of our family and friends came from all over to celebrate with him. For a lot of those people, it was the last time that they got to see him. His party was so much fun though, we had a big bounce house, a face painter, we had lots of good food and we had a big beautiful cake made. Drake also got to make a big mess and eat his own little cake in front of everyone while we sung him Happy Birthday. He was such a good little boy that day too. He loved seeing and being held by everyone. He got soooo many presents! Our entire living room was FULL of gifts. One of our favorite ones that he got was from Ma & Da, we got him a big remote control truck, that looked just liked Daddys. He also got an electronic drum set and an elephant that shoots plastic balls in the air to catch that he always loved playing with. We are so grateful to everyone who made the time to come that day, and spend time with us and our Angel boy. It was a very special day that we will never forget, the only birthday that he got to celebrate with us.

 

During this time, after he had turned one year old, Drake started to learn how to dance.  Everytime we would tell him, "Dance Poo Dance!" He would start dancing. He would stomp his feet and throw his hands in the air. He looked so cute. We loved to watch him dance. We always thought he would grow up and do something in life with music and dancing. He also loved music, and any kind of instrument. Especially drums, his bongoes and his xylophone. 

 

After his birthday party the next major holiday was Halloween. That year we got him two cute costumes, we couldn't decide…he was a Lion and a Dragon. We also got really cute professional pictures done of him in his costumes. This year Drake was old enough to go trick or treating! We were so excited to take him around and show him off to the neighborhood. We got him ready, and he wore his lion suit trick or treating. All the neighbors loved seeing him, and when they would open their doors, he would walk into their houses and we would have to chase after him. He got lots of cool treats, including a caramel apple (that Da ate) some books, a bookmark and lots of candy that we let him eat once in awhile. He started to love chocolate after this. We also went to a really fun Halloween party that we had planned with our friends, Pepe, Jessica, their kids & friends. We ate lots of yummy sweets, Drake danced in the lights and the fog and he stayed up waaaayy past his bedtime that night. But we had so much fun together. He was also dressed up as a lion that night. 

 

Little did we know, only a week later we would be saying goodbye to our little baby. On November 7th, we awoke a little bit earlier than usual. Drake was awake when Daddy was getting up for work. Usually at this time, he was still sleeping. Dad went into his room and he was already standing up wide awake in his crib, smiling. He took him out, changed his diapey and let him play for a little while, while Ma was downstairs cooking his favorite for breakfast, his Unda. Daddy brushed his chompeys and did his hair. He was already trying to brush his own teeth, and he didn't want to get down from his step stool. He followed Dad downstairs in his pajamas, and we sat down together for a few moments. Drake was in his high chair eating his eggs. He was so happy and content just eating his breakfast as usual.  Daddy was running a little late, and he kissed him on his forehead and he told him he loved him and that he would see him later. Dad started heading out the door, and Ma said, "You forgot your coffee and you forgot to kiss your baby goodbye." Dad said, "I already did" but Daddy came back into the kitchen and gave him another big kiss on his head and told him again that he loved him, and off he went to work not knowing what the day would bring.

 

That morning just seemed a little too perfect. Drake was usually never awake when Da left for work, and we never all sat down and had breakfast together on the weekdays. It was like it was meant to be. After Da left, Drakey and Ma went upstairs to play in his room for a little while. I drank the rest of my coffee while my baby played and played. He used to go into his room and take all of his toys out of his toy bins. His room would have toys all over, but that was the way he liked it. Later on I picked out his clothes, a cute white polo shirt and some new khaki shorts to go with his Nikes. We listened to music as Mama got him ready. We brushed our teeth together again, and I did his hair. I felt compelled to take some cute pictures of us in the mirror that morning, and I am so glad that I did. They were the last good pictures of our son. We played a little more, and then I strapped him into his carseat and off we went.

 

On November 7th, 2012, Drakey and Ma were involved in a horrendous rear end collision, which caused Drake to be flown to UC Davis children's hospital, where he survived on life support for 24 hours before God took him home. He was a fighter and he was strong until his very last seconds. Drake passed on November 8th, 2012. 

 

This was the hardest thing for us to ever have to go through in our lives. Nothing else will ever compare to the pain that we felt that day, and everyday without our little boy here with us. Everyday we miss him so much. We miss his smile, his laughter, his dancing, his smell, taking care of him, the vein that was in between his eyes, cutting his toenails, brushing his teeth, changing his diapers, picking out his clothes, doing his hair…and just being around him. Many people say that they were blessed to have even met him. Everyone knew he was something special, right from the beginning. We believe that Drake was a borrowed Angel, sent here from Heaven to put smiles on faces and fill all hearts with love. He was a one of a kind child, who's memory will NEVER be forgotten by anyone that knew him. 

 

Everyday is still a struggle to get through, knowing that we won't be coming home to his beautiful face everyday, waiting to see us. We try and live our lives now in a way that Drake would be proud of us. We are his legacy, and we will both carry on his memories for as long as we are both alive, until its our time to go home and be reunited with our little Angel. Everyday that passes, is just another day closer to being with him for all eternity. 

 

Drakes memorial can be visited at the Turlock Memorial park in the Westwood Garden plot number 433. The cemetery is located in Turlock, Ca. 

 Drakey, listening to music on his headphones!


Eating birthday cake and making a mess!


"An angel got his wings, and we'll hold our heads up knowing that hes fine, and Ill be lucky to have a love like that in a lifetime."- Bayside