My cousin Dean and his wife Melinda just had a new baby! In this photo, big sister Madie welcomes Lilyanna Kay Steadman into the world! Lilyanna was born at 2:39pm this afternoon, tipping the scales at 9 lbs. 7.8 oz and 21 inches long. Mother, baby, father and big sister are all doing fine.
Welcome Ms. Lily! We love you!
Add comment October 12th, 2006
Last Friday Anna had her six-month check-up. She’s doing great! She is now 27 1/2 inches long and weighs 17 lbs 4oz. (90-95th percentile for height and 75-80th percentile for weight). We had our normal round of shots - three total, which is one less than last time. Those are always so much fun for both of us! Our doctor was very impressed with the progress Anna’s made on the use of her left hand/arm since she saw us about a month ago. I thought that was encouraging.
Anna’s two bottom teeth have finally pushed through, so we’re a little less grumpy about our gums these days. Thank goodness! Although now that we’re not using tylenol and teething tablets before bed, getting her to go to sleep has been a real challenge. Tonight she screamed for about an hour total (broken up in 10-15-20 minute increments). What a nightmare.
This week Anna is “skipping a grade” (as Neal likes to call it) at daycare. I’m really excited about this move. Anna is at the top of the food chain in her current room. She’s a few weeks younger than the two oldest boys in her room, but neither of them is sitting independently. The rest of the crew is much younger and barely rolling over. I’m hoping that seeing babies crawling and whatnot will give Anna some ideas that she can try out. I swear that she is learning things from her cousin Henry who is crawling all over the place!
I neglected to post anything about my Mom coming to visit during the week before last. We had a wonderful time and we hope she did too! She spent most of the week playing with her grandbabies and buying them outrageous toys. As always, it was great having her here. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the entire Kansas family when we go home in October for my cousin Aaron’s wedding. Anna and I will be spending a week visiting everyone.
Add comment September 24th, 2006
About a month ago we took Anna into her pediatrician because we were concerned with the use (or disuse) of her left hand (affectionately known as Bob). Mom, being the neurotic type, had done some research which stated that infants are basically ambidextrous until at least 12 months of age, and that any hand preference exhibited before that age is a developmental red-flag that points to a neuromuscular issue. Well, Anna is VERY right-handed at 6 months and we thought it would be best to have her checked out. Our pediatrician confirmed our suspicions that Anna’s preference for her right hand (otherwise known as Martha or “bossy right”) was problematic. Furthermore, Anna showed some definite developmental delays in the use of her left hand. She believed that Anna’s core body strength was very good and that she was developing equally on both sides, but that her left side seemed weaker than her right with her arm more affected than her leg. Her initial thoughts were that she’d suffered a stroke (yes, babies have strokes!) or had some malformation of the brain. She referred us to a pediatric neurologist from Children’s Hospital in Denver for more tests and evaluation.
Unfortunately, we had to wait two weeks for our appointment with the neurologist. As you can imagine, Neal and I were pretty much beside ourselves. We were worried and upset: will Anna be able to run and jump, will she be able to type or play the piano? Will she have difficulties with speech or learning? Will she be able to do everything that she wants to do? These types of questions, among others, consumed our thoughts. I basically flipped out and let my obsessive/compulsive tendencies have free reign. I read more and more about Anna’s symptoms and became more and more distraught. I basically had her diagnosed before we’d even seen the specialist: cerebral palsy.
During those 2 weeks of waiting we discovered that we have an amazing support network. The director of our daycare center has a daughter with a mild case of cerebral palsy. I met her daughter and you’d hardly know that she had any impairment at all! After years of therapy and hard work, her daughter graduated from high school and college and works at the daycare center while looking for a full-time job. The director has already been a wonderful resource. She has offered to teach me the therapy games she used to play with her daughter and has purchased a few toys for Anna that promote use of her left hand. She wants to be an active part in Anna’s therapy program and will be working with Anna while she’s at daycare. What a surprise and relief!
Last Tuesday we had our appointment with the specialist from Children’s. I was very stressed and anxious. We went in knowing that there was definitely a problem and that it was probably cerebral palsy, but we didn’t know what level of severity or what other areas of Anna’s body may be affected. She asked us many questions about my pregnancy, Anna’s birth, and her development. She confirmed what we suspected: Anna has cerebral palsy (non-specific left-sided hemiparesis). However, she was able to say that it was a very mild case and that with therapy and early intervention, she should be able to do anything she wants (Neal: Like become President, for example). At this point, the doctor does not believe that Anna’s speech or cognitive abilities are affected. She wants us to have Anna’s vision tested by a pediatric ophthamalogist as soon as possible to rule out any vision problems, although she doesn’t think that there are any major issues. And most importantly, she has ordered both physical and occupational therapy for Anna.
Sometime during the next month, Anna will be going in for a sedated MRI down at Children’s. I have to admit, the sedation part freaks me out a little bit, but if it has to be done I’d prefer it be done at Children’s with anesthesiologists who work only with children. The scans will give the doctor a better idea of the extent of the damage to Anna’s brain and what may have caused it. If it turns out that Anna did have a stroke, the doctor would like Anna to visit the stroke clinic at Children’s to rule out the possibility that she has some underlying clotting disorder that might cause her problems as she grows. We’ll see what happens.
During the days since our appointment I’ve been attempting to navigate the social services maze in an effort to get Anna “in the system.” We’re awaiting an evaluation with the St. Vrain Valley School District’s Child Find program. It’s my understanding that they can help coordinate Anna’s therapy and bring together all the interested parties (i.e. daycare, therapists, etc.). I’m hoping that our pediatrician can help us in this department as well. We have Anna’s 6-month check-up on Friday. She’ll have the information from the neurologist and we can proceed from there.
We’re remarkably calm about the entire thing. We have a plan of attack now. I know I will feel even better once we find physical and occupational therapists and we start our sessions. In the meantime, we’ll continue to do our “common sense” approach when working with Anna. She’s really made a great deal of progress in such a short time. We’re very hopeful. Who knows, she may very well grow out of this. Only time will tell. One thing is for certain, she’s still Anna! And we love her so very much.
1 comment September 17th, 2006
The teething fairy has been to visit us! We don’t like her. We wish she would do her thing without causing Anna pain. Yes, Anna is teething and it is not fun for anyone involved. She has one tooth that has broken through the skin and another that is close. She’s pretty fussy and generally not her happy-go-lucky self lately. And the nights have been especially fun. She is either in pain or is testing us because she will not go down for bed without a serious fight. This often involves anywhere from 1/2 to 2 hours of screaming (I gave up after 2 hours and took her downstairs with me - it might have lasted longer if I hadn’t. ). Anna is ahead in the on-going Anna vs. Parents match-up.
In other news, Anna has moved up to eating cereal twice a day now: rice and oatmeal. Very exciting. She loves to eat. She reminds me of a baby bird when we are feeding her: mouth wide open and making noise! Next week she will be 6 months old and we plan to start her on some vegetables. Cereal is pretty easy to clean up…I can’t imagine peas and other veggies will be! We’ll make sure to document the event with pictures.
Yesterday Anna, Henry, Jo and I went to the zoo. It was Anna’s first trip to the zoo and she could have cared less. Both the kids were more interested in all the people and other babies than they were in the animals. Anna found a strap on her stroller the most exciting thing of all! Jo and I enjoyed getting out for the day. It was kind of a proof of concept: we can take the two kidlets out for the day without much trouble.
So Anna would really like to type something here, so I’d better close. Here are her parting words: hn .u mn h v tbn jhiy;l\]’
?>}”>?, pnoj,[kn uj 6 r333333333333333e
1 comment September 8th, 2006
Tara fed Anna her first “solid” foods last night. The doctor told us at our last visit that Anna could probably start on solid foods after her fifth month or whenever she really started being interested in what we grown-ups were eating. Well, she’s been grabbing at our plates for the last couple of weeks now, so we thought we’d try her out on some yummy rice cereal!
Here’s a little movie of Anna eating her first food (QuickTime, 2.6MB).
Add comment August 18th, 2006
Anna’s starting to get a little mobile. Tara got a good little movie of Anna enjoying some tummy time (QuickTime, 1.7MB), and another of her rolling over (QuickTime, 1.6MB) from her back to her tummy all by herself (yes, the binkie is a true motivator for the pre-crawling set).
Lots of milestones here of late!
Add comment August 18th, 2006
Another “first”: Anna’s now able to sit up by herself for something of an extended period of time. Tara took some good pictures.
1 comment August 15th, 2006
The “firsts” are turning out to be just as amazing as everyone says they will be. Last night at dinner Ms. Anna started laughing at her silly mom, and then laughing at me when I tickled her ribs. Absolutely amazing, and one of those moments in parenthood that makes the whole “lack-of-sleep-and-no-time-for-yourself” thing seem meaningless by comparison.
Add comment August 15th, 2006
Last Friday would have been little Ben’s seventh birthday. We were happy to babysit for Ms. Madie on Friday evening while my cousin Dean and his wife Melinda took some time out to have a quiet dinner together to talk and reflect. And it was great to see folks at a birthday party in Ben’s honor on Saturday.
I just can’t believe what kind of changes a year brings. This time last year none of us had any real clue that Ben was sick, and certainly no expectation that he might not be with us today. The passing of such a wonderful little boy still doesn’t make any sense. And every time I look at the picture of Ben and his dad we have in our living room I cry.
We miss you Ben.
1 comment August 13th, 2006
We were happy to welcome some of our relatives from Germany this past week. My aunt and uncle from Duesseldorf stopped in for a visit on their way up to Aspen, where their eldest daughter will be attended boarding school for a year.
We’ve some pictures!
2 comments August 13th, 2006
It took two horrible nights for Mom to come to the realization that maybe Anna should be sleeping in her own room. Sunday night was perhaps the worst night since she was an itty-bitty baby. She was up every hour and was in no mood to sleep from 2-4 am! I was so incredibly exhausted on Monday and so was she, which meant she was kind of crabby. Crabby baby and sleepy mom…not a good combination.
So yesterday I made the gut-wrenching decision to move Anna to her room (yes, I know, it sounds silly and melodramatic, but it was very difficult). All day yesterday I put her in her crib for naps and we continued when it was time for bed. She only screamed for 30 minutes (broken into 5, 10, and 15 minute intervals) before she nodded off. She woke up once at 11-ish and then slept solidly until 5:30 this morning! Here’s hoping we’re starting a positive trend and that this wasn’t a fluke.
My sleep was rather fitful, but mostly uninterrupted. I’m kind of paranoid about the SIDS thing. When she was sleeping beside our bed in the bassinet, I could hear her breathing or peek in to make sure her chest was moving up and down. Not so when she’s in the other room! You can’t hear her breathing on the baby monitor and checking on her involves opening her bedroom door, which always runs the risk of waking her. I imagine it will get better with time.
On an unrelated note, Anna had her 4-month vaccinations on Friday. Whereas we didn’t have the 3-hours of crying, we still had the elevated temperature. She ran a fever for about 24 hours (up to 101.5 degrees), but seemed to be okay otherwise. The doctor did not give her the DTaP (the one with whooping cough), suspecting it caused her reaction last time, but maybe one of the others is causing the problem? We’ll have to see what happens at 6 months. Needless to say, I’m going to schedule her appointment for early in the day on Thursday. Be prepared!
This weekend Anna had her first day of full health in a little more than a month! Sunday was a great day (until the night, of course). I’m so happy to see her feeling better. What a drag to be sick for more than one quarter of your life.
1 comment August 1st, 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. 
1 comment 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!
Add comment 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.
Add comment 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.
Add comment June 1st, 2006
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