You arrived a little early, eager to meet your momma and daddy and your big sister and your beloved Max, and to start to get to know the world. Like your sister you were strong and vital from your very first moments, and you remain so to this day — such an active, curious, rambunctious little boy.

What an amazing person you are. There is such a sense of peace and presence about you. And joy! A basic, fundamental happiness.  Your smile is a weapon you wield quickly and eagerly, and to devastating effect alongside your beautiful blue eyes. Together, they melt hearts and seem to solve any hurt.

In your constant learning, you teach us new things every day. Your enthusiasm and optimism and curiosity bring us all such joy. More than anything you constantly remind us to relax and see the world through your new eyes and enjoy these first learnings once again. It is such a joy to embrace you and your sister and each other and appreciate each new moment together.

Thank you, Noah, for joining our family and for and teaching us so much. Happy birthday, dearest boy. We love you, and are so very proud.

Anna’s Casting Part II: Our last post ended with Anna having her leg casted to help stretch her tight Achilles tendon. Almost 2 weeks post casting and we can say that it was a real success! When Anna had her first cast removed the following Monday, we already saw improvements in her flexibility. They measure flexibility in terms of degrees past neutral (think of neutral as your toes pointing up to the ceiling if you are sitting with your legs out in front of you) with both a straight leg and a bent knee. When we started Anna was minus 10 degrees with a straight leg and neutral with her knee bent. After the first cast she was almost neutral with a straight leg and 10 degrees past neutral (good!) with her knee bent. After the second cast, Anna was 10 degrees past neutral with a straight leg and 20 degrees past neutral with her knee bent. “Normal” flexibility is defined as 20 degrees past neutral, so we were very excited with the outcome. We’re getting a new brace within the next week or so that will hopefully help to maintain this new flexibility.

I re-read my post from the night before the initial casting; it turns out I was worried about nothing. The process was actually not bad at all (of course, I’m not the one who had a cast on her leg). Anna did everything she would normally do without a cast (some stuff she even did better with the cast than without) – climbing, running, jumping, etc. On the first couple of nights after she received a new cast she complained a little about leg pain. We were told by her PT that this was normal, and that we should give her Tylenol/Motrin to help the pain. After that she didn’t complain at all. Anna was completely freaked out by the cast saw the first time the cast was removed, but didn’t shed a tear during the removal of the second. I’d have to say the one drawback to the entire process was the inability to bathe. Three year olds are stinky beings, and I swear Anna played in the dirt more during those 2 weeks than normal. She left a definite ring around the tub when we were finally able to take a full-fledged bath after 2 weeks of sponge baths!

This past week Anna has been attending a “Helping Hands” camp at the Mapleton Center in Boulder. This is basically a constraint therapy camp where all the campers wear casts on their unaffected hands in an attempt to encourage increased use of the affected hands/arms. This is the first year that the Mapleton Center has offered this camp, and the turnout was a bit lower than they expected. I hope that they continue to offer it in the coming years because Anna is LOVING it! The low turnout has been great for us. There are 3 kids at the camp – 3 little girls ages 3-5 – and 4 adults (2 OTs and 2 volunteers) to manage them. We get the best of both worlds – the benefits of a group setting while still getting the one on one attention from the therapists! Anyway, they practice dressing in the mornings, do all sorts of crafts, spend time outdoors, bake, and play with one another. All the activities are designed to work on particular fine motor skills with the affected hand. She’s had such a great time, and I know she’s working hard by the simple fact that she falls asleep on the way home (it is a rare day when Anna falls asleep in the car). For Mom, it is nice to meet other parents whose children have hemiparesis. We’re planning on getting together after the last day of camp to compare notes!

Noah is now 6 months old! I cannot believe that so much time has passed. It seems like such a short time ago since he was born, but at the same time it seems like forever. The little man is really progressing! We believe it won’t be long before he’s mobile. He’s holding himself up with his arms and tucking his knees under him. We should probably get busy with the childproofing now! YIKES!

Noah had his 6-month check up last week. He weighs 17 lbs. 10 oz. (75th percentile) and is 27 1/2″ long (90th percentile). I was rather surprised that his weight earned him a ranking in only the 75th percentile. He’s a heavy guy!! He’s apparently fallen off his growth curve a little, but the doctor didn’t think it was anything to be concerned about. Anna did exactly the same thing at 6 months. Noah is teething like a madman; he chews on everything in sight and drools all over. For the last couple of weeks hee also seems to have had some sort of GI infection that, when mixed with the teething, has made us go through diapers, wipes and A&D ointment like they are going out of style.

Oh, I almost forgot! Noah has been sleeping in his own room since June 29th. Although we’ve had some ups and downs since he moved from our room, he’s been sleeping much better (and longer)! Last night he slept from 7pm to 6am, and then went back to sleep until 6:45 (when I had to wake him). Sleep does amazing things for his disposition too. He’s a much happier little guy when he gets enough rest! Naps remain a challenge for us, but he’s been doing much better at home in his own bed. If only we could get him to sleep at daycare.

T minus 30…our trip to Alabama is rapidly approaching! I’m a little more relaxed about the trip this time around, but I’m sure I’ll turn into a complete basket case soon. We find out about housing at the end of this month, which makes me a little nervous. I’d much rather know earlier that we have a confirmed place to stay. We’ve been prepping Anna for our trip to AL. We have the same therapist we had when we were there last year. Anna keeps telling us that she just really misses Reggie. I hope she still feels that way when we cast her for a month and make her do difficult things with her left hand. Anna was a very different little girl the last time we were there. She’s definitely come into her own over the past year, and I hope her independent streak doesn’t affect the therapy program (and ultimately, the outcome).

April was… filled with birthdays! Happy birthday dad! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to Roby and Colin! Anna helped make cakes and blow out candles and open presents. Yeah cake!

Noah’s growing like a weed. Huge thunder thighs on the boy (check our pics on Flickr), but otherwise he’s just pretty large-ish like his sister was. Such a happy kid, though, full of smiles and smiles and more smiles. He generally behaves himself except right around Anna’s bedtime when he gets grumpy and starts to lose his little mind.  Yeah, bedtimes are tough these days in the Enssle household!

Anna’s been doing well. She’s getting more and more used to Noah every day, and she’s even being really sweet and loving with him lately. (Though from time to time she does ask us when we’re going to get her a sister…). She’s pretty much adapted to preschool, and is doing well there, too. We just had her evaluation with the school district therapists and, contrary to our own expectations, we’re probably going to “mainstream” her and keep her at Burlington instead of Tiny Tim. The hope being that she’s enough of a social butterfly that she’ll work hard to emulate the other kids and what they’re all doing on the playground and in the classroom.

Meanwhile Tara’s been somehow managing to keep up with a sysiphean workload. She’s back to work part time, and balancing all the drama at work with Anna’s horseback riding, PT, OT, preschool, and daycare appointments.  Oh, and the whole breastfeeding thing keeps her running on about 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I’d like to say I help out but it really seems like a drop in the bucket these days compared to her crazy schedule. (Thanks hon!)

Debbie joined us for a week, and it was wonderful. I think she had a great time with the grandkids, and she was an enormous help around the house. With her help we’ve finally got Noah’s room painted, curtains hung in the living room, some furniture re-arranged, and mostly caught up on laundry. Oh, and we ate well, too!

Work has been good for me. We’re busy! Very busy! Which is great in this economy, so I’m not complaining at all. Frankly, I’ve been spoiled of late, since Tara managed to let me sneak away for a couple days of camping and rock climbing with the guys from work, and then to a conference last week in Vegas. (‘Twas my first time in Vegas! Wow. It’s full of stars…). I owe her lots and lots of babysitting.

Max is annoyed at the dearth of lap real estate these days, but he’s getting by as best he can.

Well, enough said for now. Hopefully you’re all a little bit caught up. Really just the usual crazy insanity here.

Speaking of other big kids…we have a rather large baby in our house. Noah had his 2 month appointment a couple of weeks ago. The little man tipped the scales at 13 lbs (97+th percentile) and measured 23.5 inches in length (95th percentile)! What can we say…we have large children! Other than his size, he is healthy and doing well. As Neal posted recently, Noah has started smiling and talking a lot. He’s really such a happy baby. Anna’s 3 year appointment saw her measuring at 39 inches tall (95th percentile) and 33.5 lbs (75th percentile). She’s fallen off her growth curve a little in weight, but she had been sick the week prior to her appointment. We aren’t terribly concerned about it and neither is the doctor.

March was a very busy month for us. We did another round of constraint therapy with Anna down at Children’s Hospital. Anna was so cooperative with it all, and gained quite a bit of strength in her left hand/arm during this round. At about the same time, she transitioned from early intervention therapy services to therapy through the school district. She started district-based preschool the Tuesday after her birthday, and seems to like it. I guess I should say we *think* she likes it, but honestly she doesn’t like to talk too much about it, which makes Neal and me a little nervous. We’re also not sure how much “therapy” time she’s receiving and what the level of quality is. The other day I asked her if she’d seen one of her therapists that day, and Anna told me that she had and that they watched a movie. Huh? What’s the therapeutic value of a movie? Having been so incredibly hands-on during Anna’s therapy sessions in the past, not knowing what’s going on while she’s having therapy at school is more than a little frustrating for me. I’m thankful we are able to augment her district-based therapy services with private OT and PT sessions.

This week marks the end of my maternity leave. I’ve got mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I will very much miss my shadow that’s been with me 24-7 for the last 11 weeks. On the other hand, I’ve not had a moment to myself in 11 weeks, so work will be somewhat liberating. I feel less angst about leaving Noah at daycare than I did when I left Anna. Noah will be attending the same daycare as Anna, so the surroundings are familiar to us. We know the caregivers in the baby room (they took care of Anna when she was wee), and have a very good relationship with the center’s director. Still, it’s hard to leave your baby with others because no one can care for him like us. I hope his first day is not too stressful – I imagine mine will be.

Oh, and Anna’s been doing just great with her new cast (which is very, very pink!). Seriously. We’re all amazed at her positive attitude and she’s getting some really good therapy done. Her new therapist said that the cast might just make it all simpler for her, in a way, by removing the constant conflict in her mind about which hand to use for each and every task.

We took Noah in to the doctor shortly after his 5-week milestone to make sure that his cold hadn’t turned into something more serious (namely, pneumonia). He weighed in at 11 lbs. 13 oz! Looking at him, it is hard to believe he is only 7 weeks old. He’s now wearing some 3-6 month clothing! Anyway, his cold hadn’t turned into anything more serious, but it certainly has proved to be long-lived. He still has a stuffy nose 2 weeks later!

We’re starting another round of intensive constraint therapy for Anna this week. Starting today we’ll be wearing a cast on her right arm to encourage her to use her left. I know it sounds strange to say it, but we are actually looking forward to this session, as Anna’s been more and more stubborn about using her left hand. We think she is in need of a “cognitive reset” that the casting seems to provide. Unfortunately, she’ll be casted on her birthday again this year (we were in Alabama last year at this time).

Speaking of birthdays, Anna will be 3 this month! It is so hard for me to believe that 3 years have passed since she was born. Lately we’ve been looking at lots of pictures and videos of when Anna was Noah’s age (Anna’s been curious about what she was like when she was a baby), and that has been a true walk down memory lane. With her third birthday comes the end of our early intervention home therapy services. She’ll be receiving therapy through the school district now, and starts at our neighborhood preschool two days after her birthday. We’re hoping that she fits in there and enjoys her two mornings per week.

Other than those developments, things are pretty “normal” (if you call having zero control and limited sleep “normal”). We’re learned a few things:

1. You can sleep just about anywhere, and do so on a near nightly basis.
2. You can sleep through just about anything if you are tired enough.
3. You cannot please everyone all the time, so please the one that is screaming the loudest first.
4. Bouncy seats, swings, and anything else that keep the baby quiet and sleeping are gifts from God.
5. Changing diapers doesn’t seem nearly as critical and urgent for the second child as it did for the first.

We hope to post some pictures and videos in the near future. Noah is actually smiling now, which is such a joy to see.

Tara and I are starting to get into a bit of a rhythm? Maybe? Well, okay maybe not. It’ll take awhile, I think. Thrice-weekly contributions of yummy delicious food from my co-workers are indeed helping, however. We weren’t great about cooking during the week with just one child, and with two it’s proving even more challenging. (Thanks Foraker!)

Meanwhile: I can’t believe I’m sick again? Not. Fair.

It’s definitely been a bit of a challenge, trying to coordinate all the demands of a new baby with the needs and wants of a very demanding almost-three-year-old.  Tara’s spent the last two days at home with both of them, and it’s been a little hard.  But she’s learning.  She says the trick is that you just have get over the fact that there will be moments when one of them (and sometimes both of them) are just going to be upset and screaming about the lack of immediate attention. Obviously, I’m completely terrified of the day when I’ll have to manage both of the little buggers all alone myself!

Work for me has been a challenge too, mainly because of the sleep deprivation. Anna’s been up in the middle of the night for at least an hour or two every night since we brought Noah home. She’s caught a new cold, and I’m taking her in to the doctor this morning to get her ears checked since an ear infection is often the culprit when she’s up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. That being said, we’re also willing to admit that it might just be a combination of a cold + the psychological impact of the new baby that’s making sleep even more of a scarce commodity that usual.

Thanks to Debbie and the folks at work, though, for helping to keep our freezer stocked with food.  Not having to worry so much about what’s for dinner is a godsend, since it’s probably going to take us awhile to figure out a new rhythm!

Meanwhile: Noah’s doing well. Working on getting his days and nights straight, but otherwise just doing the usual new baby things (i.e. sleeping, eating, eating, awake for 15 minutes, sleeping, eating, pooping, sleeping, eating, etc.). There are some new photos up on the Flickr site.

It was too snowy yesterday for us to get to Anna’s physical therapy appointment in the morning, and the riding center cancelled her hippotherapy because it was too cold (apparently even horses don’t like 7 degree weather!). So we spent the day hanging out with family.

Debbie’s been cooking up a storm before she leaves on Thursday, trying to stock our freezer. And the good folks at Foraker are chipping in too — at this rate we won’t have to cook anything until mid-March or so. Which is awesome, and for which we are exceedingly grateful!

Okay. Time for a quick nap before I have to hop in the shower and get ready to get Ms. Anna up and moving and off to daycare before I head in to work.