I just posted some photos from way back around Halloween time. Actually they come all the way up to just around Thanksgiving time. Yeah, we’re a bit slow here, but better late than never!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enssle
We’re just catching up, and we’ve got some more recent photos and videos coming soon, so watch this space!
December 13th, 2009
Just a quick note to let folks know I just posted some new photos on the Flickr site, including a short movie of Mr. Noah smiling!
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.
March 7th, 2009
Mr. Noah is now just past his three-week-iversary. Doing well, doing all the things you’d expect a three-week-old boy to do (eating, pooping, having gas pains, sleeping during the day mostly and mostly not during the night, et cetera). I’ve just posted some new photos, including some from his first bath (!).
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.
February 8th, 2009
Well, it’s back to work for me today. Boo. I’m really not sure I’m ready. I know Tara’s not ready for me to head back. But duty calls. We’ll have to see how things work with me running on only about four hours of sleep each night…
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.
January 27th, 2009
I just posted a bunch of photos from way back in November and December. Good shots of folks at Christmases in both Kansas and Colorado.
There are also some new photos of Mr. Noah. You can always view Noah-specific photos on Flickr in his own, personal photo set.
Everyone here is doing well enough. Tara and I are splitting shifts and so far have managed to be able to do a good job of alternating really bad nights.
Oh, and Granny Debbie and Tara painted Anna’s room pink today (I got carpet cleaning duty). We thought she’d lose her mind with joy at the “pinkalicious-ness” of it all. Instead: “Hmmm. Hmmm. I’m… I’m really hungry. Can I have a treat?”
So much for trying to make the toddler happy!?
January 23rd, 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.
1 comment January 17th, 2009
Anna met her little brother today. She seemed very proud about her new status as big sister, happily presenting wee Noah with his first stuffed animal (a black bear she’s named “Fred”).
We’ve posted a bunch of photos on the Flickr site, so take a look.
It’s been a long day. Noah’s doing great — sleeping mostly, but also doing a generally good job of breast feeding. We’ve had lots of family in the room today visiting, which made for a busy day. (Frankly, I’m exhausted).
Very probably heading home tomorrow, which Ms. Anna is extremely excited about. She’s missing her momma, and wants to have her baby brother home “right now”.
Off to try and catch a few winks now. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes!
January 16th, 2009
I just uploaded about 3 months worth of photos. I don’t really have much of an excuse for not posting them sooner. Time just got away from me, I guess. I have lots more to write about, and now that the pictures are out of the way, hopefully I’ll find the time to share. I’m also working on some video clips.
Updated 7/4/2008, by Neal: Now with even more photos! I just uploaded a bunch from last night. My brother Colin and his wife are in town, and I was a little crazy with my new camera. There’s a great series of Anna portraits there though!
Updated 7/5/2008, by Neal: Now with video! Turns out Flickr (the folks who host our photos) have started a new video service. I uploaded a movie of Anna dancing to “Happy Feet” there. Let us know how this works for you?
1 comment July 2nd, 2008
I’m finally on the road to recovery after being sick since this last weekend. Thank God for Dayquil. Hopefully I’ll be completely well by the time my Mom arrives this weekend!
Anna is doing a great job with her therapy. Her therapists are constantly amazed at how hard the girl works. We do have our meltdowns from time to time, especially when they ask her to do something that is pushing her to the limit. For the most part, Anna does what her therapists ask her to do, but today she was either tired, frustrated or just demonstrating how terrible the twos can be. After days like today, I imagine the folks in the apartments around us wonder if we are skinning our child. Anna let out some of the most ear-piercing squeals/screams when she didn’t get her way today. It was truly a battle of the wills (and I’m not sure we (the adults) came out on top!).
Yesterday Anna had her first bath in a week. Yes, you read that correctly…ONE WEEK. For the first time in a week, Anna had her cast removed to check for any skin issues or irritations. She had a small blister between her middle fingers, but otherwise things looked fine. The smell…now that was a totally different story. Yuck. We gave her a bath and washed her stinky hair, and she enjoyed it so much that she didn’t want to get out. But all good things must end and the cast had to go back on. Surprisingly, putting the cast back on did not cause any problems. She actually cooperated completely.
I’ve been slowly posting more pictures. We hadn’t really posted any since before Christmas, so there is quite a backlog. Make sure to check previous pages on Flickr, as you’ll probably find newly posted pictures there as well.
3 comments February 27th, 2008
I posted some pictures we had taken recently of Anna and Henry in their Halloween costumes. I’ve got some other photos to post, but I have to get them off of the camera first. Too few hours in the day.
We had Anna’s neurology appointment on Monday, as well as her preliminary evaluation for this second round of constraint therapy. The neurologist thought Anna looked great, and commented on the fact that if you didn’t know Anna had hemiparesis, you couldn’t really tell. Whereas this is GREAT news, it is going to turn into the bane of our existence vis a vis receiving medical services. Anna still has quite a ways to go in terms of her therapy, but we are reaching a point where the medical community says “oh, she’s functional, so we aren’t going to treat her anymore.” It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m seeing that as an issue coming up.
The OT at Children’s who will be working with us during this next round of constraint therapy believes the botox injections could really help Anna gain more functioning in her left arm/hand, so we will be proceeding with the treatment. This is not really a cut-and-dry decision for us. Because Anna’s tightness is more in the deep tissue of her shoulder and smaller muscles in her forearm, the botox injections will be a bit tricky. There is no way that the doctor is able to help the tightness in the deep muscle tissue, but she can do an injection in her forearm. These smaller muscles are harder to isolate and if she is not precise in her injection, she could end up causing decreased functioning in her fingers (for grasping). Of course, if this happens the constraint therapy is really going to be difficult to continue. I’m of the opinion that if her fingers are affected by the botox, we will call off this round of constraint therapy completely. The OT believes there are still gains that can be made, even if her grasping is affected…but at what cost!? A completely frustrated little girl? I don’t think so.
Neal is rightfully concerned that if the botox does affect her grasp that we may lose ground during the time that the medicine is blocking the signals to the brain (botox’s effects usually lasts about 3-4 months). She is beginning to use her left so much in her daily life (unprompted, no less), it would be a shame to see her disregard it once again. Needless to say, we are quite nervous about the procedure. Not only are we injecting a dangerous neurotoxin into our baby-girl’s arm, we are also exposing her to the risk of decreased functioning of her left hand. To minimize the risk of an unintended muscle being injected, the doctor will use an electronic stimulator on her needle, which will show her which muscle she is in contact with. I’m not sure how this will work, but I’m sure we will learn soon enough. Anyway, it is not an easy decision. These are the times you can’t help but think about how unfair life can be.
3 comments October 30th, 2007
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