Five years ago today I married my best friend. On the best day of my life.
Thank you, my wife, my partner, my guide, my strength, my joy, my dearest love for making each day since then even better.
Let there be five and fifty and five hundred more years to come!
1 comment December 8th, 2006
Where did November go? We’ve had a lot going on lately – family visiting, changing jobs, therapy appointments. I often feel as if I’m running just to stand still.
Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. We spent Thanksgiving in Fort Collins with Neal’s family this year. His brother and sister-in-law flew in from Southern California and his cousin from Germany, Sandra, joined us, too. She’s currently doing a study abroad program at a school in Aspen. This was Sandra’s first Thanksgiving celebration. The verdict? She likes pumpkin pie, but she likes pecan pie better. 
All of the relatives enjoyed spending time with Anna and it seemed Anna enjoyed spending time with them! I’ve uploaded some pictures of our festivities.
While Colin and Roby were here we had an early Christmas. Anna enjoyed opening everyone’s presents (actually, that’s a lie…she enjoyed eating the paper. The opening of the presents was simply a means to an end). Thank you Colin and Roby for the gifts! The reader you gave Neal has already been put to good use. Did you know that dolphins nap with one eye open?
Anna’s recovering from another one of her month-long colds. At the one month mark I took her to the doctor. From her symptoms the doctor thought she probably had a sinus infection. She’s in the middle of a 10-day course of antibiotics right now. God bless the person who created flavored medications. I can’t imagine these antibiotics taste very good on their own, but with flavoring Anna actually likes them. When I say she likes them, I mean she gets all excited when I bring out the medicine-filled dropper. I suppose it could be worse, she could hate them and kick, scream and spit when I gave them to her, but there’s just something wrong about a baby getting super-excited about taking medication. She does the same thing with the Tylenol. Yippeee…give me my drugs!
I forgot to mention that Anna has gone to her first swim lesson (loosely defined). We thought it would be a good idea to introduce her to the water earlier rather than later, and also thought that the water might have a therapeutic benefit. Anna’s therapists agreed. In water she gets instant feedback when she moves her arms or legs. She seemed to like it, but the water in the pool was very chilly. Thank goodness the lesson only lasted about 30 minutes; otherwise we might have had an Anna-cicle on our hands. We bought a little nyoprene swimsuit that should keep her trunk a bit warmer. We haven’t had a chance to try it out yet because Anna’s been sick. I hope that we’re all healthy this Saturday for her next lesson. We’ll see if the wetsuit makes a difference.
I’m going to post a movie soon of Anna babbling. The week before Thanksgiving Anna went from single syllable vocalizations to babbling like a brook. It is such a joy to listen to her “ba ba ba ba ga ba da da”. She’ll talk to anyone who will listen, and even those who don’t. It was the most bizarre thing, she literally started babbling overnight. On Wednesday she wasn’t saying much of anything, and on Thursday she wouldn’t stop talking. She’s also figured out how to make noises by moving her fingers over her lips. She’ll even mimic you if you do it first. She’s got “dada” down pat; we’re stil working on “mama”. And we *think* we may be seeing the beginnings of Anna’s first sign: food! It’s honestly hard to tell whether she’s just being orally fixated at the moment or actually trying to communicate.
This last Friday our daycare arranged for Santa to visit during the morning. Friday isn’t one of our normal daycare days, but I wanted Anna to have a picture with Santa. We dressed up in a new dress that Granny Debbie bought and stopped by the daycare center. It was so fun to watch all the kids of different ages sit on Santa’s lap. Several from Anna’s room were completely freaked out by the man in the red suit. When it was Anna’s turn the photographer told me to keep Anna facing away from Santa while I placed her on his lap. Tricks of the trade, I guess. Anna was fine with Santa. She stared at his beard (she has a thing for men with facial hair and hats) and seemed quite content. She wouldn’t smile despite my efforts at tickling her and generally making a fool of myself. All was well until…Santa spoke. She started crying and the photo-shoot was over.
In other news, Anna’s therapy is going well. Despite a two-week interruption of our routine, her therapists still see she’s making progress. This is a good thing because I was feeling tremendously guilty for not being as diligent as I could have been about making sure we did all our exercises. I guess this is something that I’m going to have to get used to. There will be weeks when Anna’s therapy schedule is thrown off by holidays, illness, whatever. Being a goal-oriented person, I am finding it difficult to remember that this is a long process, and that nothing is going to change overnight – no matter how many exercises I do with her. Anna has made such incredible progress in the short time since we’ve been working with her. Neal reminds me constantly to think about where we were just a few months ago. He also acknowledges how hard this is for everyone. We’re having to teach Anna many of the skills her peers just learn on their own. That said though, Anna is very bright and picks up on things rather quickly. This evening she amazed us both by following the steps she learned on Thursday to pull herself up to standing (with help, of course). Those are the moments when I am so incredibly proud of her.
Anna is still commando-crawling, and getting pretty good at it, I might add. She seems to resist going up onto all fours. Her arm is getting stronger and stronger, though. She’s also using her arm/hand much more these days. She’s bringing it to midline to play with toys (as a helper hand). Anna’s occupational therapist has recommended that we get a Joe Cool strap for her thumb. This strap should help pull her thumb out so that it isn’t tucked in as much. Kathy thinks that this might encourage her to play even more with her left hand. As I mentioned previously, Anna is working on the steps to pull herself to standing. She has been attempting the brute force method for the past week or so – trying to pull up using just her arm strength. Her physical therapist thought it would be best to teach her the proper steps before she develops some bad habits. Pulling up is a big challenge because she isn’t really transitioning well from being on her tummy to sitting. It would all be a lot easier on Anna if she were able to get up on all fours, but we’re working on it nonetheless. We’re also working on helping Anna recognize that her left hand can do things independently of her right (i.e. that she can have objects in both hands and can chew on either one of them). This one is going to take a lot of patience on both our parts.
1 comment December 3rd, 2006
As many of you know, I’ve decided to leave my current place of employment and pursue a new opportunity as Director of Web Development at a small web development shop in Boulder.
Both Tara and I are extremely excited about this opportunity. Foraker Design is a very small company (I’m employee number 9!), but they’re growing fast. In this role I’ll have a chance to do quite a bit more “hands on” programming than I was afforded at Insight (the breakdown should end up being about 75% programming / 25% managing), and since Foraker is job shop that gets business from all shapes and sizes, I’ll also get a chance to play with some of the technologies and languages all the “kids” are raving about: Ruby, PHP, ASP, Java, et cetera. And while several people have commented on how leaving the “safety” of a big corporate environment is borderline crazy, in many ways I feel much more secure in working for a company where the employees are more than just entries on someone else’s budget sheet, and where I’ll likely have more say in our collective direction.
Yet the parting is obviously bittersweet. After four and a half years, I’ve made many, many friends at Insight. I am enormously grateful for the support, guidance, and encouragement I received during my tenure. I had so many teachers, from every part and every level of the organization. I thank all of them for allowing me to learn as we helped grow this business together. I am especially grateful to the members of the Software Development team, whom I now leave in my successor’s exceedingly capable hands: Thank you for your support and friendship, for the opportunity to be a part of the most dynamic and talented team of developers on the Front Range, and for all that you have taught me over the last few years. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you. I will miss you all.
I’ll start up again after the Thanksgiving holiday with a full belly and much enthusiasm for the new challenges that lay ahead.
3 comments November 21st, 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.
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
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).
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!
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.
August 15th, 2006
One week later and we’re still sleeping through the night! Most nights she cries for anywhere from 15-30 minutes before nodding off, but the last couple of nights she’s gone to sleep within 3-10 minutes. We’ve managed to keep her on the bedtime schedule, which sometimes proves to be a little difficult. I still think it’s worth it! More sleep for her, more sleep for us!
August 8th, 2006
Neal on twitter.com