Athan will stand for Wiffle ball

(mostly) better already

Athan finally got some sleep about 4 this morning after his fever broke. He woke a couple hours later and is eating well. No fever. No more puking. He is Mr. Cranky Pants, but I suppose he's allowed to be today, right? :) Hopefully he will nap well this afternoon. Hopefully I will, too! ;)

uh oh

Athan has a fever. And he threw up once. Poor kiddo. A couple of our friends' kids are sick, so I suppose we should have known. If it's going around, Athan's quite likely to get it, whatever it is.

Thanks, in advance, for the prayers.

graduation

We saw the NICU Grad Clinic yesterday for the last time! After 3 hours of lengthy developmental assessment, Athan was released from the clinic. He "graduated," complete with cheesy certificate and everything. :) No real news to report, just more affirmation of what we already know: He's developmentally appropriate with the excpetion of large motor skills. He's gaining weight. He's got treatment plans to follow from Endo and Cardio for his health challenges. And he's just dang charming. That's our kiddo! :)

trying again

I had no idea how tired I was. Maybe I still don't. But about a month ago, Athan started sleeping. We still have the odd night here and there when he's awake, and fewer when he's awake and screaming. But mostly, he sleeps.

And the whole world looks different. I suddenly have gas in the tank again. I have space I didn't have before. My daughter's temper seems more like a normal event in the life of a 4-year-old instead of one more thing aimed directly at my weaknesses. Laundry seems like a welcome part of my work instead of an avalanche of threatening dirty clothes. Cooking is fun again. Times of reading and reflection can exist instead of dissolving instantly into necessary naps. Conversations are restful instead of taxing.

This week, we had lots of heavy stuff. 3 families moved (2 away, 1 across town), which meant lots of cleaning and packing and loading. On back-to-back days, it meant tears and hugs and goodbyes. Other dear friends are in the midst of crisis. There was babysitting and grocery shopping and therapies and doctor visits and other stuff that happens around here quite often, but there was more of it all, and it all came on the tail-end of a week apart for our family... It was alot, and we were exhausted.

But I also had the reserve to do that for a while. It was a sprint. And now I can sleep again. Predictably. I don't have to live in the fog of fatigue all the time.

I guess I'm writing just to celebrate this for us. Also, to say to anyone going through a time when life requires you to live on too little sleep, you're not going crazy! Give yourself MUCH grace to cope however you need to for a while. And sleep whenever you can. ;)

Shriner's

Yesterday I took Athan to Shriner's Hospital in Lexington. Some of you may remember that we saw them last fall, and they recommended we just come back in a year. Lately, Laurie and I have noticed new signs of weakness in his joints, especially his ankles, so I called and asked them to move up the appointment.

It was a good visit. We really like the ortho guy, Dr. Serey, who follows Athan there. He was pleased with Athan's progress, for sure! :)

Basically, all of us (parents, docs, PTs) were somewhat ambivelent about whether some kind of ankle brace would help Athan. On one hand, some increased stability might help him learn to walk. On the other, too much novelty and rigidity might hinder some of his current skills (like scooting), so he could loose the strength he gains from them.

Still, after Laurie's input, our observations, and the evals by Dr. Serey and the PT at Shriner's, the consensus was that a small ankle stabilizer is worth trying. They took us to the orthotics folks and did little casts of Athan's ankles. We'll go back and pick up the braces in two weeks, spend the morning getting them fitted, and then bring them home.

After our talks, they seemed to trust our willingness and ability to try different things with the braces. We may try leaving them on all day for a few days and see how he does. If he's too hindered, we'll try just putting them on in smaller segments of time. We can play with the timing and see what works best for Athan.

We go back to see them for a follow up visit in 4 months.

tired

Morgan and Ryan had a great trip to Texas/New Mexico. Athan and I had a full, but quieter week around here. I'm trying to find a way to write about life this week, but words evade me tonight. It's good to be back together. I'm going to bed and will try again to post tomorrow.

growth!

We saw Dr. Irene again last week. Once again, always a joy to be in her office.

Athan is growing! His weight was at about the 3rd percentile a few months back, then dropped back off the chart again, but now is at the.... are you ready? ..... 25th percentile! :) His height has dropped a bit, which is definately ok, to about the 75th percentile. Those two changes mean that his proportion measure (weight for length) is on the chart (10th percentile) for the first time ever! :) Go growing boy! :)

missing my girl today

the gifts :)

That's the scooter mom got for Athan, per Laurie's suggestion. He likes it:



And most of our friends and fam got him books! :) Yeah! This was the scene at my house a couple days ago. It made my bookish heart warm:

before cake, during cake, after cake:

I learned alot through the process of celebrating Athan's second birthday. I learned about myself, about community, about sadness and celebration. I also learned that I'm not a very good photographer (yes, I'm finally admitting it). These 3 are about the only ones that made the cut. ;)

before i get to the birthday pics

I have to take a break from the Athan-watching for a moment and tell you about my girl. Morgan is such a great big sis! And she is learning so many fun new things. I love to watch her wonder at the world.

Twice in one day, I had occasion to see her new-found maturity. First, when her friend Margot was here playing, the two of them were disagreeing about how to play a particular game. The specifics are confusing, involving reenactment of movie scenes and the laws of physics, but the important part is HOW they handled it. Normally, there would be an explosion. Yelling. Tears. Maybe some pushing or whining or throwing of heavy-ish things. But this time, instead, they came to talk to me. Morgan calmly explained the difficulty. I suggested some compromise and some alternative solutions. She chose one of them, then ASKED Margot if it was ok with her. To Margot's credit, she waited all of this out with great patience, then agreed with the new idea. Off they walked to play again. I did a little dance.

Later, as I was cooking dinner, Morgan was playing with some beads she was threading onto a string. She decided she only wanted the circle-shaped beads, and volunteered to loan the hearts and stars to Athan. They played for a bit, then Athan reached over and picked up one of Morgan's circle beads. Again, this would be the normal high-volume melt-down point. But instead, she clearly and gently asked Athan if he would hand her back the circle bead, please. Athan said "o-tay," handed it over, and went back to his hearts and stars. I did another dance. :)

Yes, I can hear the warning voices from some of you kind readers who have been parents longer than I. Of course, tomorrow, there will be unnecessary screaming over conflicts with friends and siblings. I know. I'll be holding to the moments like these in moments like those. :)