Posts filed under 'Birthdays'
One year ago today you were born, little one, and what an amazing year it’s been.
You’ve learned so much in these past few months: How to breathe, how to cry, how to nurse, how to burp, how to roll over, how to sit without falling over, how to sleep through the night, how to laugh, how to babble, how to giggle when tickled, how to drink from a bottle, how to say mama and dada, how to make the signs for food, milk, and the cat, how to sit up all by your self, how to crawl, how to stand up, how to make friends, how to play with toys, how to read books, how to grow teeth and just a very little bit of hair, how to snuggle, how to eat grown-up food, how to find your way across the room, how to cruise around the coffee table, how to climb stairs, how to clap, how to pick up things with your left hand, how to wave like a princess, how to blow big smacking kisses across the room, how to give hugs, how to give kisses, and how to light up an entire room with your beautiful smile.
And we’ve learned so much too: How to give birth, how to change diapers, how to give baths, how to dress tiny babies in tiny clothes, how to install car seats and baby gates, how to nurse, how to burp a baby, how to make a little girl smile, how to function on very little sleep, how to make a bottle, how to make breakfast, how to teach a baby to stretch, clap, sit up, eat, crawl, stand, sleep through the night, and climb stairs, how to cope with the fears all parents face, how to sing, how to distract, how to be more organized and not worry about when we aren’t, how to be more patient, how to love each other when we’re under fire, and how to love you, unconditionally, always and forever, for you are the most wonderful and rewarding thing in our lives.
Thank you, Anna, for joining our family and for and teaching us so much. Happy birthday, dearest girl. We love you.
March 15th, 2007
Anna’s Granny and Papa from Kansas are visiting us! Anna’s 1st Birthday party is this weekend and they made the drive out to Colorado to help us celebrate. I can’t believe that the little Miss will be one year old! We’ve said it before, but Neal and I agree that it has been both the longest and shortest year ever. So much has happened since this time last year, yet it seems like only yesterday that she entered this world.
Next Wednesday Anna and I will be making a trip down to Children’s Hospital in Denver to see if she is a good candidate for a special type of therapy. We’re meeting with a rehab doctor and a hand specialist. The therapy regimen is called Constraint-Induced Therapy and involves the casting of her unaffected arm for a period of 2-3 weeks. While her right arm is casted, we’ll be doing intensive therapy with her left hand/arm. This type of therapy has shown great promise in children with some form of hemiparesis, and there are several studies that document this success in the literature. We’ve tried some home-grown constraint therapy using a couple of very thick socks or a ski mitten placed over her right hand/arm; it is amazing what she can and will do with her left hand if her right hand is out of the picture. We’re hoping that this therapy will help Anna realize that her left hand can do things, too!
If Anna is deemed to be a good candidate for this therapy, we’ll probably start on the 19th. This is potentially going to be a tough time for Anna (and for us, too). I’m hoping she tolerates the cast and is still able to do many of the things she does now. I’ll keep you posted on our progress!
March 6th, 2007
It is absolutely amazing how quickly time flies these days. We’ve been quite busy, as usual. Granny Debbie returned home to Kansas yesterday after a week-long visit. We miss her already! I hope she had a nice time visiting her grandbabies, because I know we certainly enjoyed her visit. Neal and I went out on our very first date since Anna was born. Granny Debbie watched Anna while we went out to eat. Of course, we spent about 50% of our time away talking about Anna and wondering if she was giving my Mom a hard time! It was really nice to have some time to ourselves, though.
On Sunday we celebrated Henry’s 1st birthday! Speaking of time flying, I can’t believe that it was one year ago that we rushed to the hospital to be with my Sister at Henry’s birth. It literally seems like yesterday. Henry seemed to enjoy himself at his party. He was a little confused when everyone sang to him, but enjoyed the attention as he made a total mess of himself and his cake. Happy Birthday H-man!
Last week we heard from the doctor’s at Children’s Hospital regarding Anna’s blood work. Anna does not have a clotting or bleeding disorder that caused her stroke. From what it sounds like, this was an isolated incident. This is all very good news because it means she is not necessarily at increased risk for additional strokes.
I realized I haven’t given any reports on Anna’s occupational therapy appointments. So far we’ve had two session and we’ll have another one this afternoon. Thursday is shaping up to be a busy day for us. Anna has physical therapy every other week and occupational therapy every week on Thursdays: one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Our first OT appointment didn’t go so well, as Anna was cranky and very skeptical of Kathy. Last week’s session went much much better. I made sure she’d had a nap and a snack before the session started.
Kathy was quite impressed with Anna’s progress. Anna has been relaxing her hand more these days, which is a great thing. If she’s having a good Bob-day, she fists her hand only slightly and most of the time it is open. Of course, there are those days when it seems like her hand is clenched very tightly and no amount of stretching will make it relax. I’ve tried to correlate it to something – lack of sleep, hunger, stress, not enough stretching – but I haven’t nailed down a definite cause yet. I doubt it is any one thing that causes her to tense up. Overall, Kathy told us to continue doing what we are doing: a little constraint therapy, sensory work on her left side, stretches, etc. We’ve been trying to strengthen Anna’s left arm by doing lots of weight bearing exercises: baby push-ups, leaning and propping. I can really see a difference in how long she can hold herself up using her left arm.
I believe Anna tries very hard to please us and works exceptionally hard at the tasks we give her. I don’t mean to be sappy, but it often brings tears to my eyes when I see how hard she is working to do something. I remind myself constantly that what she is going is very hard work. I know that I couldn’t do many of the things that I’m asking her to do! And yet, she furrows her brow, grunts a little, and pushes herself a farther. What a trooper.
November 16th, 2006
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!
October 12th, 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.
August 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 mom and dad came down to visit us yesterday to celebrate my dad’s 67th birthday! Debbie baked an outstanding Boston creme pie (or is it cake?), and we all helped make one of my dad’s favorite meals: schnitzel, potato salad, red cabbage, and asparagus. There are some good photos that I just posted to a new birthday photo album.
March 25th, 2006
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