Archive for June, 2006
They say that children that attend day care are sick more often than those who don’t. Well, we’ve started down that road. Anna has her first cold. She’s started snoring louder than her Grandpa Rex (and that is saying something!). She’s been up for the last two nights coughing and snuffling. Needless to say, I’m very tired. When Anna doesn’t sleep, neither do the parents. I took her to the doctor yesterday because her pediatrician recommended she come in - seeing as this is her first cold and she’s still rather young. They confirmed that she has a good ol’ fashioned cold. They did give us some medication for the symptoms if the cold seems to get worse, and gave us the guidelines for when to bring Anna back if things get too much worse.
I realized that I haven’t posted anything about Anna’s new day care. Things seem to be going well there. She’s in a really good mood when Neal picks her up in the evening; wasted, but in a good mood. They have proclaimed that she is a “talker,” which from personal experience I’d say is true. Neal jokes that we should have named her Brook what with all the babbling she does. Ha ha. She’s becoming familiar with her surroundings and caregivers, and has started to enjoy herself! It has been a lot easier for Mom and Dad, too.
And on a very unrelated note: the sleeping through the night thing…a total fluke. She’s yet to do it again. We still get up at 3:30 or so every night. I guess you could say that I’m used to it now. I’ve learned to deal with fewer hours of sleep and interrupted sleep at that. I won’t cry again until she’s been sleeping through the night for a whole week! 
June 30th, 2006
It’s been a rough week emotionally for Mom. Last week I returned to work part-time (2 days a week), which meant that it was Anna’s first days at daycare. We found a nice, homey daycare on the north side of Longmont called the Cottage School where Anna would spend her two full days without Mom. Although it was a bit rough on Anna, I imagine it was more difficult for me. I guess you just don’t realize how accustomed you become to having this little being with you 24-7. We took her in on Tuesday morning and I cried; thank goodness Neal was there or I might not have left her! It was easier to leave her on Wednesday, but still tough. I ended up calling the school on both days to see how things were going. I’m sure they see this everytime a child is brought in to daycare for the first time, but I appreciate their calming my anxieties regarding Anna’s well-being. On Wednesday I picked her up from daycare and was greeted with a smile and squeal that made my heart melt. She seemed like she was having fun!
Last night was another milestone for Anna and me; she slept the whole night through! For three months now I’ve been dreaming of uninterrupted sleep, but somehow the event has left me with mixed feelings (yes, I know I’m being a bit melodramatic here). Anna still sleeps in our room and I kept telling myself that as soon as she can sleep through the night I’ll move her to her own room and her own crib. I’m not so sure I want to do that anymore! Afterall, her bedroom across the hall is so far away!! Just another sign that Miss Anna is growing up and that Mom needs to get a grip.
On a somewhat related, but different note: we’re moving Anna to a different daycare. Whereas we felt comfortable with Anna at the Cottage School, it was proving to be difficult for us logistically. The school is located on the north side of Longmont and we live on the south side. Dropping her off in the morning added about 30+ minutes to my commute and we were having troubles getting to the school on time to pick her up in the evenings - and that was without an accident on the highways. The new daycare, Sunset Academy, is just up the road from our house - about 3 minutes away, 5 if you miss the light at Ken Pratt. Sunset has the added advantage of having a 1 to 3 caregiver to child ratio (the Cottage school had a 1 to 5 ratio). The idea of having fewer infants to each caregiver is appealing; it means that Anna’s needs may be met more quickly.
When I started investigating daycare options back in April, I was excited about Sunset because of its ratios and proximity to our home. Unfortunately, they didn’t anticipate there being an opening in the infant room until November. We added our names to the waiting list and looked for other options. Imagine our surprise when we received a call on Friday indicating that they had an immediate opening. Knowing that the place satisfied our needs objectively, we had to determine whether it would satisfy our needs subjectively (i.e. did it give off a good vibe?). Anna and I went to visit on Friday and again on Monday and found the caregivers to be quite friendly and certainly on a par with those at the Cottage. The atmosphere was inviting and relaxed. We happened to be there on Friday when parents were picking up their children, and were happy to receive an unsolicted testimonial from one parent. She said that she lived in Boulder and willingly drove the 30 minutes to Longmont to drop off and pick-up her child at Sunset. Despite the inconvenience, she said she had absolutely no intentions of moving her daughter to a different daycare! Boulder has several top-notch daycare centers - so this truly says something about Sunset Academy.
Anna will spend this week at the Cottage and will move to Sunset starting next week! Let’s hope Mom doesn’t cry again next Tuesday.
June 13th, 2006
We had a fun-filled trip back to Kansas this last weekend to help celebrate grandma Anna Hess’s 90th birthday. Baby Anna was named after this fantastic lady, and we think that both Annas were happy to be able to spend the time together.
This was baby Anna’s first plane flight, and despite a couple of over-zealous security agents (Anna, it seems, has already managed to get herself on some sort of terrorist watch-list) and some turbulence that gave her mom some trouble, Anna slept through the whole ordeal like a little angel. As soon as we landed in Wichita, Tara’s dad picked us up and took us back to Towanda to meet with the preacher (for Anna’s baptism the next day) and then we all met for dinner to celebrate grandma’s birthday.
In addition to the birthday celebration, Baby Anna was baptized at the United Methodist Church in Towanda, Kansas on her great grandmother’s 90th birthday on Sunday, June 4th, 2006. Honestly, this was the highlight of the whole trip. Grandma Anna was recognized during the service, and was able to stand next to her great grand-daughter during the baptism ceremony, surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Later in the day she gave both Anna and Henry bibles to commemorate the event.
We stayed with Tara’s mom, who stayed up until well into the early morning hours finishing Anna’s dress baking a delicious cake for grandma Anna’s birthday celebration on Sunday.
Although the trip was short, we had a wonderful time visiting with Tara’s family. And it’s great to know that Anna tolerates the hour-long plane flight to Kansas fairly well.
We took lots and lots of pictures, which are now up on the site. Go directly to our Flickr site if you’re interested in getting the most bang for your buck. Note that we’re still working to categorize many of them, but feel free to browse! We’ll also be uploading a couple of movies here soon.
To everyone in Kansas: We miss you already, and look forward to visiting again or seeing you in Colorado soon!
June 7th, 2006
My brother Colin and his wife Roby were able to come out and visit over Memorial Day. Roby had been dying to see little Anna, and this was their first chance to get away from San Diego and come visit. There are some pictures available, though probably not as many as there would have been had I not been called to upstate New York to attend my buddy Sten’s wedding on Saturday. (Yep, yet another crazy weekend! But congrats to Sten and Rebecca!).
Everyone had a fantastic time, and we ended up having to work fairly hard to convince Roby that she wasn’t going to be able to pack Anna away in her carry-on luggage.
June 3rd, 2006
It’s been some crazy days, folks. Two weeks ago we packed up the Honda Civic, loaded the roof-rack, secured Anna in her carseat, and made sure Max was a comfortable as possible, and drove ourselves out to visit family in Kansas. The trip that normally takes us about eight hours took twelve, what with three or four stops to feed the kidlet. But Anna and Max slept through most of it, which made things go pretty smoothly.
Tara, Max, and Anna spent the whole week out with her folks, and had a fantastic time. Neal had to fly back to Colorado to attend a work retreat in Vail, and then flew back late in the week to catch up with folks and drive the twelve hour trip back home.
We’ve been super busy since then, and we’ll do another post or two about why, but we’ve finally managed to find a few minutes to share some photos. Check ‘em out. Movies should follow shortly.
June 1st, 2006