Posts filed under 'Birthdays'
We can’t believe you’re four years old today!
Four long and too short years ago you were born into this world. Our firstborn, our much beloved daughter, and our favorite girl in the whole world.
This past year seems a blur, filled with so much activity. You’ve spent your time this past year learning to ride horses and having fun learning gymnastics. So much energy! Naps have become a thing of the past this past year. It wasn’t too long ago when we were worried if you’d ever learn to run and jump, and now it seems that running and jumping are all you ever want to do. Which makes us as proud as we are tired.
You’ve done a great job in preschool this past year, and we’re amazed you’re already learning to read. Soon you’ll be reading to us and your little brother whom you alternately adore and despise, in roughly proper measure.
Two casting camps and a trip to Alabama were highlights of the year as we continue to work to make your left side stronger. Thank you for putting up with all that, and with the constant reminders and exercises we make you go through each day.
Four going on fourteen, your parents frequently say. Precocious and demanding and joyous and laughing and screaming and kicking and beautiful and snuggling and saying such grown-up things.
Thank you, Anna, for being part of our family, for letting us love you, and for giving us so much love in return. Happy birthday, little one! We love you!
March 15th, 2010
One year ago today you were born, little boy, and what an amazing year it’s been!
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.
January 15th, 2010
No time for a big update, but I did just manage to post some photos on our Flickr site. Have a look!
October 24th, 2009
Wow. What happened? It’s been a busy while of things here lately.
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.
May 9th, 2009
We’ve been a little busy lately and have failed to post some of what’s been going on! Anna is now a big 3 year old, and has wasted no time in her desire to be a “big kid.” She wants to do everything that the “big kids” are doing. Today Neal took her sledding for the first time on a pretty big hill near our house. She did great sledding by herself and wanted to sled down the big hill just like the “big kids” were doing, which necessitated her climbing up that huge hill many times! Neal was really proud of her, and I’m sad that I missed it!!
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.
March 30th, 2009
Happy birthday, dearest little one! Three years ago today you were born into this world.
I can’t even believe it. It seems like just yesterday. And it seems like ages ago, too. Granny and Papa are coming for a visit next week, and we’ll have a little party with family then.
But today you will open presents from your Grandad and smile.
Today Oma and Opa will come for brunch and give you hugs.
Today you will get to eat chocolate and “pinkalicious” ice cream.
Today we’ll take you out to Red Robin and get you a pink balloon.
Today your daddy and mommy will try their very best to make you laugh and giggle. Because that is the very best sound in the entire world.
Have a very happy birthday, my love!
And here’s wishing you many, many, many more.
March 15th, 2009
It’s really good to be home. Per expectations, the doctor gave Tara and Noah their final checkup and cleared us all to go home by mid-morning. By lunchtime we were back at home, where Granny and Anna had just finished making “Welcome home!” signs for Noah and “pinkalicious” cupcakes for the “big sister party” we’d planned for Ms. Rose.
Everyone’s doing well. Noah’s still spending the vast majority of his time sleeping (as is only right and good!). Anna is as enthusiastic about her baby brother as you could expect an almost-three-year-old to be (“he’s a real baby!”). Max greeted the newcomer with reasonable interest and has spent most of the afternoon upstairs hanging out with all of us (compare to Anna’s arrival, when he hid in the basement for about a week). And Granny’s been a superstar, handling most of the cooking and cleaning.
We’re off to bed soon. We’ll see how our first night all together goes — here’s hoping we manage to get a little more sleep than we did at the hospital.
But it’s good to be home.
Note: I just posted the day’s photos on our Flickr site, including a pretty cool video of Anna singing a rousing rendition of “baa baa black sheep, havin’ you da wolf” for her baby brother.
January 17th, 2009
Today is Neal’s birthday. Anna has been practicing her “Happy Birthday” song in preparation for the day. By request, we are posting a video of Anna singing “Happy Birthday.” It isn’t the best she’s ever sung this song, but we think you’ll find it cute nonetheless.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Anna Sings Happy Birthday (~1MB). You’ll need the latest version of QuickTime Player to view this movie. Here’s the link: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
Enjoy!
April 6th, 2008
We’re taking bets on how long it will take the monkey in our family to figure out that she can push the chair to the kitchen counter, climb onto said chair, and access all the forbidden wonders located on the counter top. This evening we walked into the kitchen to find Anna standing on one of the kitchen chairs. When she learned this new skill, I haven’t the slightest idea. She certainly was pleased with herself! So…who’s going to make the first bet?
In other news…we went to the circus today. The Greatest Show on Earth is certainly lacking. Perhaps it is just because I’m older and jaded, but it seemed smaller and amateurish (Neal agreed). I mean, they had two clowns…yes, that’s T-W-O clowns; and some troupe from Bulgaria jumping through hoops and such. No tigers (thanks Roy), only one elephant, one horse, and some dogs catching frisbees. We arrived a bit late to the arena and tried to find our seats in near complete darkness. In the meantime, Anna was totally freaking out. The darkness, the spotlights, the people…all of it caused her to cry and scream at the top of her lungs. We honestly thought that we were going to be forced to bag the entire thing. After a bit, the house lights came up and we were able to calm her down. By the end of the performance, Anna was crying because we had to leave.
On Friday Anna received her new orthotic. I hate it. She doesn’t seem to mind it though, and I guess that’s all that matters. It extends up her leg to about the largest part of her calf. It has two hinges that allow her to bend her knee and ankle, but prevent her from pointing her toe. She’s definitely heel-toeing, but she sort of looks like a pirate with a peg leg. She swings her left leg out and around. I’m hoping her PT can tell me whether this will change once she becomes used to the weight and the way it works. We’re certainly going to need to go shoe shopping again. So far we have one pair of shoes that fit over this new brace. I’ve heard that Nordstrom’s allows you to split shoe sizes for situations like this. I think she’ll need a size larger for her left foot (and perhaps larger width, too). The shoes at Nordstrom’s may cost you more, but it is probably still less than what you would have to pay if you were forced to buy two pairs each time.
Yesterday Neal sent me to a day spa for my birthday present. What a great gift! I had a massage and facial, and I got my hair cut! I realized that this may be the first (no, maybe second) haircut I’ve had since Anna was born. Anyway, the stylist asked me if I wanted to keep it long and if I pulled my hair back. I answered not necessarily to both questions, and she took it from there. I must say I was pretty freaked out (still am a little) by my new “do”. It’s much shorter than I’m used to, and it’s layered. I don’t think I’ve ever had layered hair – feathered, yes; layered, no (oh come on…I lived through the 80s). Needless to say, I think I’m going to need a little time to adjust to this new haircut. It’s supposed to be “wash and go” because I told her I don’t have the time or patience to deal with fixing my hair. This morning I had to do a lot more than wash and go. Why does your hair NEVER look the same on the second day? Arg.
Max has a new friend (or nemesis, we’re not sure which) that comes to visit him almost everyday. This very curious, orange tabby cat has been making the rounds nightly. This rocks Max’s world. They loudly mew back and forth to each other for what seems like hours (this usually happens after everyone has gone to bed). I’ve resorted to spraying the orange tabby with water (through the window screen) to make him leave so that the house is quiet again. Max then runs from window to window looking for his contact with the outside world. Poor guy.
September 16th, 2007
Today we journeyed down to Children’s Hospital to have Anna’s cast made. It was a tramatic experience for Anna (and for me! She looked at me as if to say, “Why are you letting them do this to me?”). For those of you who do not know, we are casting Anna’s right hand to encourage the use of her left. During the next three weeks we will be doing intensive therapy using her left hand. We’ll be attending therapy at Children’s three days a week and we’ll be continuing our normal therapy sessions here at home. Needless to say it will be a busy time for us.
This weekend will be an adjustment period during which Anna will hopefully become more accustomed to having the cast on. Seeing her with her dominant hand out of the picture today made me realize how far we’ve come, and yet how far we have to go in regards to the functioning of her left hand. It was something of a reality check for me. I think it caught me unawares. Her evaluation at Children’s added to that reality check; the doctors/therapists spelled out what Anna’s issues were in a rather clinical way. It all sounded so negative. As to be expected, they were evaluating her from this point in time, without regard to how far Anna has come in the last 4 months since we started her therapy. For some reason it was hard to hear.
As if getting your dominant hand casted were not enough, we had Anna’s 12-month check-up today (and no, I didn’t plan on having both of these events happen on the same day!). Everything about her development looks good. She still doesn’t weigh enough for us to be able to turn her car seat around (darn). In fact, the doctor was still a bit concerned about her weight gain. She’s fallen into the 25th percentile in her weight – 19 lbs. 12 oz. She holding strong to the 90-95th percentile for height, however (31 1/2 inches). Some of her meager weight gain may be due to the fact that she’s had a stomach/intestinal bug this last week. I won’t go into detail…suffice it to say, carseats are not meant to handle vomit. Anna also has developed another ear infection in her right ear. So we’re back on the antibiotics. Silver lining: no shots today because she has an infection.
I posted a ton of pictures from Anna’s birthday party and Granny and Papa Rex’s visit to Colorado. I’ll work on posting some short movies of Anna eating her cake and such.
March 16th, 2007
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