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!
01/16/09 10:18 PM at 10:18pm
Neal
Babies Family Milestones Photos
Noah Jackson Enssle was born today at 4:45PM, weighing in at 9 lbs. and 3 oz., and 21.3 inches long.
Mother and baby are doing great!
Welcome to our family, little man!
We all love you very much.
01/15/09 6:37 PM at 06:37pm
Neal
Babies Family Milestones
We’re at the hospital now! Tara called me around 11:00AM this morning saying she’d gone into labor and was having her sister Josie drive her to the hospital. I dashed out of the office, into the car, and made it to the hospital in about 5 minutes (it’s a 12 minute drive).
Everything’s going well, but now it’s just a waiting game. Tara’s having regular contractions, but no real action so far.
We’ll try to keep everyone updated!
01/15/09 2:32 PM at 02:32pm
Neal
Babies Family Milestones
It’s been quite a while since we posted. The big news is just how big Tara’s gotten: We’re now awaiting the imminent arrival of our baby boy! The official due date is January 19th, but at this point all signs point to the real possibility of an early arrival.
Tara’s mom and step-dad arrived today. Debbie will be on hand to help out both before and after to help out. Mainly we’re thrilled to have her available to babysit Anna while Tara and I are off at the hospital. For her part Anna is mostly excited but still a little bit confused about the whole affair. She likes giving Tara’s belly hugs and talking to her little brother, but I’m pretty sure she’s not entirely clear on what this all is going to mean and probably just a little worried, too.
We’re feeling behind schedule on just about every front because we’ve all been trying to recover from a really brutal cold that’s kept the whole household down and out for about the last two weeks. So the baby’s room is still unpainted, Tara’s barely managed to find and wash enough clothes for the new baby’s immediate needs, and the hospital bag is only half packed. Fortunately, I think we’re all just about over the worst of this bug. Just in time too!
The holidays were great, but super busy. For Thanksgiving we spent a whirlwind week in Kansas with Tara’s folks, shuttling between her mom’s place in Luray and her dad’s place in Wichita. Good times, but the whole trip was a little hard on the little girl, being so completely out of her normal routines.
My brother and his wife came out for Christmas. They were here for couple of weeks which meant we saw plenty of them (Anna loves playing with her aunt and uncle). Anna stole the show at her daycare holiday programme (check out the two videos on Flickr: “Snowman” and “Rudolph“), and generally enjoyed all the extra sugar and chocolate treats!
So there you go. We’ll try to be better about posting here. Watch this space, ’cause we’ll try to post with news as soon as we have any!
01/11/09 6:54 AM at 06:54am
Neal
Babies Family Holidays
We joined about 300 other folks this morning at the Marc Apodaca Jr. Children’s Glioma Cancer Foundation‘s first annual MJ Children’s Glioma Cancer Walk/Run.
Despite some chilly fall weather to start the morning, we had a fun time and got plenty of excercise. It was really great to get out and support an important cause (my cousin Dean and his family are involved with this charity, and helped organize the event). Anna, in particular, enjoyed walking with her cousin Madie and seeing her Denver relatives.
(Oh, and thanks, Shan, for the silliness that made this cute picture possible!)
09/14/08 11:38 AM at 11:38am
Neal
Adventures Children Family
Anna’s jumping!
It ain’t no long jump, and it ain’t no high jump, but both feet leave the ground simultaneously. We’re extremely excited. Jumping has been a major goal for all of us for at least the past six months, and it’s great to see her doing so well in the gross motor realm.
Heck, the girl’s doing great generally. The twos are terrible and wonderful all at the same time. Sure, lots of boundary-testing, plenty of wailing and whining when she doesn’t think she’s getting her way, but most of the time she’s a total charmer. Talking up a storm, with an ever-increasing vocabulary, longer and longer sentences, and she’s discovered the power of “why?”. She’s as social as ever, except when she announces she “wants to be shy”, which I never complain too much about because it usually means she “hides”, snuggly-fashion, in Daddy’s arms for the first 10 minutes until she warms up to a new social situation.
The next big deal is trying to get her to actually run, but I’d be willing to bet there’s some correlation between developing enough confidence to let both feet leave the ground in a jump and moving faster than just a quick walk.
Meanwhile: We’re both doing well, just trying to keep up with it all.
09/12/08 8:11 PM at 08:11pm
Neal
Children Family Milestones
Yes, we’re pregnant! Sorry if this is the first you’re hearing about it, but it’s been a crazy summer, okay? We know it’s a boy, due sometime in late January. It’s not surprising, but this pregnancy has been flying by. (Easy for me to say, no? But Tara’s fortunately over the worst of the nausea by this point). The panel’s green, all signs are good, and we’re starting to try and come up with names. For his part, the little guy is apparently pretty busy and moves around in the hottub a lot more than Ms. Anna did. People tell us that’s a boy thing?
Anna’s starting to get a little excited about being a big sister. She’s very excited to meet her new baby sister — er, brother (she alternates between the two…), but also clearly a little confused by the whole affair. Here’s to hoping she’ll treat her little brother better than she’s been treating poor Max of late (“No Max!” is a common refrain).
09/12/08 8:08 PM at 08:08pm
Neal
Babies Family Milestones
Rowan Michael Benjamin Steadman was born very late last night, weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. Mom and baby are doing well.
Congratulations and much love to Melinda, Dean, Madie, Lily, and all the rest of the Steadman clan!
We can’t wait to meet the little man!
07/19/08 5:12 AM at 05:12am
Neal
Babies Family Milestones
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?
07/2/08 8:47 PM at 08:47pm
Tara
Children Family Movies Photos
This weekend we took it easy. Anna’s managed to catch “hand, foot, and mouth disease” from some kid at daycare which means she’s running a fever and has a sore in her mouth that makes her not want to eat much (besides ice cream…). Surprisingly, though, she’s been in good spirits and sleeping pretty well despite it all. I’ve got a minor bug of some sort after running on almost no sleep for more than a week due to craziness at work, and Tara’s been running hard and feeling tired too. So we just basically hung out together and tried to relax.
Which makes Anna’s new favorite game all the more fun. It’s called “nap time”. Basically, she puts a pillow or two on the floor, asks Mommy and Daddy to lay down on the pillow, and insists that we close our eyes while she puts a blanket on, and off, and on, and off, and on, and off…
It’s the best game ever.
Updated: Here’s a photo of Colin and Roby playing “the best game ever” with Ms. Anna.
06/23/08 5:00 AM at 05:00am
Neal
Entertainment Family Health
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