Anastasia Elise

Miracle Baby,

25 week preemie

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October 17, 2011

Today my little boy turns 3.

We chose a heavy equipment theme for his birthday, and for the first time, he was delighted with it all. I don't think it's incorrect to say he hated his first birthday. And he wasn't too sure about his second birthday, either. But this year, he was really excited. He dictated some of how he wanted the house decorated, thrilled while I blew up balloons, and screamed a little when I brought out the dump truck pinata.  He liked his cake - although he hasn't eaten any of the cake itself. He recognized the wheels as donuts and ate 3 1/2 of the 4. And watching him open presents was a blast. He dug right in and ripped up the wrapping paper (or, once, stuck his whole head into a gift bag to retrieve the gift at the bottom) and squealed with delight at every toy. He was less enthusiastic about the clothes - although he really loved his new rain boots.

He very cheerfully gave every gift giver a hug and a thank you, too.

Later in the day, showing off his quirky sense of humor, I said, "Hello, birthday boy!" And he replied, "I not birthday boy. I cowboy!"

He is finally starting to like the idea of being big. A few days ago, his Daddy said something about "the little people" and Zane replied, "I big!" However, Zane still won't admit he's 3. I'm quite certain this is because we've told him that when he's 3, he must use the potty.

This morning, I sat him on the potty with him kicking and screaming. Zane does not like change.

Anastasia made us proud at her brother's party, too. She tried to be her brother's helper, and only wistfully held on to one of his toys (some art supplies) for a few moments.

And all this brings me to an announcement: This is my last post on this website. As regular readers know, I've found it difficult to keep up with posts since Zane's birth and - even more so - since Anastasia began kindergarten. The time has come to stop posting. HOWEVER, I will keep this website up and running. I know many people who love preemies continue to discover this site and find hope and useful information here. I even want to find time to polish up the site - for example, to make the site easier to navigate, and perhaps add some more information on certain topics like sleep.

But it seems fitting to end posting now. I began this blog as a hopeful, first time mommy. And now I end it as the mommy of two beautiful children who provide us with so much hope for the future. Thank you for following us along this amazing journey.

October 6, 2011

It seems impossible to update you on everything that's happened since my last post. Suffice it to say, it's been an incredibly busy - and often difficult - time. At the drop of a hat, I flew out of state to see my brother, who had an acute form of leukemia, and was at his bedside while he died. I was gone for a week. My mother in law, thankfully, took both kids for that week. Anastasia was fine, but Zane had never been away from me for more than a few hours. He did okay, but when I returned home, he was clingy and cried if I even left the room.

Almost immediately upon my return, Anastasia started school. She is repeating kindergarten at the charter school (which I call "assisted home schooling," since most of the schoolwork is done at home) in our town. Her testing was fine at the end of last year, but working with her was a nightmare. I started this year with her by saying, "If you argue with me constantly and make everyone's life around you miserable while you do school work, we will take you out of this school." This, combined with added maturity, has - so far - made this school year far more pleasant. I think she's finally just ready to go to school.

We've also had to put a new roof on our house, have had two broken down vehicles, and I've been canning up a storm. Whew! Now it's nearly Zane's birthday. It's so hard to believe he's almost 3.

Anastasia is still struggling with sleep. She's now on Clonodine, which is used primarily as a blood pressure medication, but is also used for a wide variety of other problems. It sounds scary; I know. But the doctor assures me they've been using this drug for children for quite some time. We started her with just a quarter of a pill, but now she's on 1/2 a pill. It works better than taking nothing, but unfortunately not as good as the herbs that worked so well for her earlier in the year. Although Anastasia's body got used to those herbs and they stopped working, I still have hope that a few months down the line we can try them again and they will work.

Zane has proven he is capable of being potty trained. For example, when he was staying with his grandma, he held his poop for days because he didn't want anyone but mama changing his diaper. But he is very resistant. He will now sit on a potty seat with his clothes on, at least. I keep telling him that he must use the potty after he turns 3 - that this is the rule. But he keeps telling me, "No, no, not me!"

One positive from his visit with Grandma is that he's talking much more. In fact, he went from speaking a few words to us here and there to speaking 6 word sentences on a regular basis!

The girl loves cheese.

Enjoying the last of summer's berries.

Tid-Bits:

* Miss A. to me (talking about birds): "If they aren't married, how can they have a baby?"

* Miss A., as she tried to teach Zane colors: "I'm homeschooling Zane."

* Miss A. now has two girls that come to play at our house; they live just down the street. The youngest is not quite 5 - and Zane has a huge crush on her. She thinks he's cute (as in, "he's a cute baby") and says so, which makes Zane blush like crazy. He also rushes to help her with everything. Too cute, indeed.

* When Anastasia and Zane stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's, Anastasia played little mother. (Actually, she does that a lot at home, too.) She insisted on putting him to bed, but needed some of Grandma's help because "I can't lift him up into bed!"

* Little Zane likes order. He is frequently found sorting his toys into categories and putting them in neat lines. So it was no surprise when he looked at the kitchen floor the other day and said, "The floor is yucky!"

Left: Zane wet from playing in a mud puddle. Right: Anastasia's first day of school.

August 17, 2011

Have you noticed how I don't even apologize for my irregular entries anymore? I'm sure you're tired of reading it!

It's been a busy summer. First, my father visited from out of state. The kids had a wonderful time with him - although Zane was a little traumatized the first morning he got out of bed, ran into the living room, and discovered Grandpa sleeping on a mattress on the floor. He apparently turned his back to Grandpa, sucked his thumb for a long time, then ran into his room. When I got up, he was back in bed, asleep. Since that morning, he's never again let himself out of his room when he awakens!

With Grandpa.

Then Anastasia stayed with her cousins (about two hours away) for two weeks. I couldn't get her swimming lessons in town, but it was easy to get her lessons where my in-laws live. This also meant she took lessons with her cousins, which added to the fun. They ran her ragged; not only did she have a swimming lesson every weekday, but they roasted marshmallows, tromped through the woods, swam in my sis-in-law's pool, went to a rodeo, and went to a fair. When she came home, it was clear she'd had a marvelous time - but she was ready to come home to Mommy, Daddy, and "little Zane."

Swimming lessons.

With one of her cousins.

I don't normally thinkAnastasia looks much like me, but I do see a bit of a resemblance when she wears her hair like this. (That's me on the right.)

Being silly with her auntie at the rodeo.

Riding a Ferris wheel for the first time.

Every year, we attend a local celebration and Anastasia rides the ponies. Last year, Zane did not want to join her. This year, he couldn't wait. He was first in line, and actually let a stranger take his hand and put him up on the horse.

My dear little two year old boy.

Cuddling.

It was great to have a little break while she was gone, and have extra time to spend with Zane, but poor Zane mourned her. At one point, I said, "I can't wait for sissy to be home." He replied, "Me toooooo!" When I asked him what he was going to do when sissy came home, he said, "Big hug. Group hug." When she came home, he said his longest sentence ever: "I'm glad you're home!"

Then it was time for Anastasia's birthday party. Unbelievably, she is now six years old. The day after her party last year, she decided she wanted a princess and knight party where they would play "pin the tail on the dragon" and eat a castle cake. She also wanted the girls dressed like princesses and the boys dressed like knights. She stuck by that vision, and that's exactly the party we put together.

The princess at her birthday party. My mother painted the awesome dragon for "pin the tail on the dragon." I found the dragon piñata online.

Knights and princesses everywhere!

Zane had fun, but didn't want to be involved in the costumes and games.

The girl loves her cake.

Somewhere in-between all this, Anastasia met some girls, six and four, who just moved in down the street. They became fast friends, and now visit our house nearly every day. It's a great thing for my oh-so-social girl.

Left: Anastasia and me. Right: Zane in one of his infamous costumes.

Tid-bits:

* This summer, when the tiger lilies started blooming, Anastasia called them "leopard lilies." I told her that her name made more sense, since the flowers are orange with black spots, not stripes. (This reminds me of when she was perhaps two or three and she called yellow jackets "yellow coats." )

* Zane seems to have mixed feelings about Anastasia's friends. Some days, when they walk in the door, he cheerfully waves and says "Hi, girls!" and joins in their games. But other days, he seems to think there's too much estrogen in the house, and he complains to me.

* Anastasia continues to struggle with picking up toys. (Although currently the following helps: She wouldn't pick up, so I put her toys in a trash bag. I told her every day she picks up promptly and without complaint, she can have one toy back. If she doesn't pick up, or she dilly-dallies or complains about picking up, I get to do whatever I want with one of her toys.) The day of her birthday party, her grandma walked into her room and said, "Anastasia, you need to pick up your room!" Anastasia replied, "Let's not talk about that."

* Both grandmas brought Zane a present to open at Anastasia's birthday party. I'm proud to say he would have been content just to watch Anastasia open things - but he was extremely delighted to have a present of his own, just the same. I think it was the first time he's opened a present by himself, and he squealed and cried in delight, "Oh yes! Wow! Wow! WOW!"

* Anastasia: "You know the signs that tell you not to drink wine when you have a baby in your tummy?"  Me: "Who told you about that?"  Anastasia: "I saw the signs in the store. I know what a circle with a line through it means!"  Me: "Well, what about the signs?" Anastasia: "Babies can't drink wine!"

* One day, Anastasia and Zane emptied a box and sat in it, as if it were a ship. They had their pirate hats on and Anastasia kept saying, "Are we there yet?" And when the ship/box toppled over because Zane got out, she shouted, "Oh no! Shipwreck!"

* Anastasia recently informed me she's going to name one of her children Persimmon - "because she'll like eating cinnamony things." (She plans on having two sons and two daughters. The boys will be named after her Daddy and her brother. She's not sure what the second daughter's name will be.)

* When Grandpa visited, Anastasia rode her bike (or tried to ride it, anyway) quite a bit. At one point, we were at a park, and being the competitive child she is, she wanted to race Grandpa. Several times, he jogged off the pathway and took "shortcuts." When we were done, Anastasia said, "I'm really disappointed in Grandpa. He cheated."

* Did I mention that Zane decided to start using a pillow all on his own? And he counts to five now, too. He's still not very interested in using the potty, and when someone says, "What a big boy you are!" he counters, "No. Baby!"

* We went to two parades this summer. At both, Zane had the whole catching the tossed candy thing down pat. He made everyone around him laugh as he shouted "Yum! Yum!" and ran all over the place collecting the candy. At one point, a lady next to us picked up a piece and tried to hand it to him. His thumb went in his mouth and he opened and closed his other hand. He clearly wanted the candy, but didn't want to take it from a stranger. I finally took it from her and he shouted "Yum!" as he took it from me.

* One of Zane's favorite things is to have his sister sing him a lullaby. She clasps her hands and closes her eyes as she makes up a gentle tune, and he closes his eyes blissfully as he listens.

Our family portrait. Ahem.
 

June 18, 2011

Playing pirate ship.

It's been an exhausting month for the whole family - especially Anastasia and me. The school year is almost wrapped up (just some testing left to do), and with the end of the school year came special projects and performances.

First was Anastasia's ballet recital. She's been very excited to (in her words) "perform on a stage." I was a little worried for her, because she seemed to have a hard time getting her dance down. I talked a lot about the hard work that goes into performing, and finally she said, "Way more than I thought!"

The day of the recital started with a dress rehearsal that was hours long, and by the time of the performance, the Miss was really worn out. I got her dressed, put on her make up ("I guess I need to borrow your makeup," she said) then told her I was going out into the audience with her Daddy, brother, and grandma. "But someone has to look after me!" she said. (Very funny from such an independent girl.) I'd already told her about the other mom who would watch out for her, but apparently she'd been too tired to hear.

I needn't have worried about Anastasia on stage, though. She did very well, remembering many aspects of the dance her classmates did not. And let's face it: Few things are cuter than a bunch of little girls in tutus thumping across the stage like elephants :) The audience really laughed, though, when, at the end of the dance, Anastasia blew kisses to the audience. It was actually part of the choreography, but because none of the other girls remembered to do it, it made her look like a real ham. Which she is.

After the recital, the Miss declared, "I love performing!"

Always the dramatic one!

The last day of school was filled with fun activities, including dressing up as a favorite American, (we chose Betsy Ross), tie dying, and a party. This was followed by a long dress rehearsal for the end of the year school performance.

During the rehearsal, one of Anastasia's classmates said, "We have to go on a stage?! I've never been on a stage..." To which the Miss replied, proudly, "I have. I've performed on a stage!"

It was a long night for both kids. I sent hubby home with Zane shortly after Anastasia performed. I hear he crawled into bed and fell asleep with his clothes and shoes on. Anastasia also had a hard time staying awake, but when one little girl got up and played the piano, she said at the top of her lungs, "She's really good!" And, slightly more quietly,  "She's  better than I am!" (No, Anastasia does not know how to play the piano - although she thinks she does.)

The performance was followed by a project fair, and Anastasia was proud to earn her first participation ribbon.

Little Zane continues being a sweet little boy who is mostly laid back - except when he's not. He sings beautifully on pitch, and he recently discovered Anastasia's Frosty the Snowman toy - the one that plays the song "Frosty the Snowman." He plays it over and over, trying to learn the words, and hums and sings with it often. Of course, every time I try to catch it on film, he stops.

Oh, and one cute little story about Zane: One day last month, he accidentally bit his tongue. He ran up to me and stuck it out. He wanted me to kiss it :)

May 25, 2011

We've been sick so much the past couple of months; I'm only just now beginning to feel a little bit caught up. Yet again, this will have to be a highlights post:

* We got chicks! The kids absolutely adored having them inside and did a good job helping to care for them. Anastasia did everything except handle their litter; even Zane tried to help by handing us stuff we needed when we cleaned the brooder. Now they are outside, and the kids love feeding and holding them. Anastasia must do an end-of-the-year poster board project for school, and she chose caring for chickens :)

* At one point, one of the chicks was badly pecking the others. Anastasia decided we should name her Miss Sweets, to inspire her to be more kind.

The kids spent hours watching the chicks in the brooder.

* Zane (to chick feather that fell off naturally): "Uh OHHH!" (Tries to put it back on the chick.)

* Anastasia loves watching an evening movie, cuddled up to her daddy. Daddy, remembering the days of Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom, turned on a National Geographic nature show for to watch. He was a little uncomfortable when they began talking about female hyenas and their false penises (who knew?!), but he thought the mention went quickly and Anastasia didn't notice. Wrong! A few days later, she presented me with a picture of a monster: "Look," she said, "it has a bottom like Zane's, even though it's a girl. It's like a hyena!"

* In the evenings, we often watch something on Netflix as a family. One night, when we were watching a kids' show, Netflix suddenly stopped working. Anastasia said, with a rather guilty look, "It's probably because it's a kids' program and kids aren't supposed to watch stuff at night. Adults watch tv at night."

* Sometimes I let tv time be a Daddy and kids thing. But when I first started doing this, Anastasia expressed concern over her Daddy's choices. When Daddy picked a show, she'd call to me, "Mommy, is this show kid-friendly?"

* When I was a kid, we celebrated each holiday once. But my kids often celebrate it twice: Once at our house with my mom, and once at my in-law's. So this Easter, when I was sick with a fever and we only held one celebration (at our own house), Anastasia asked at bed time: "And the next Easter is tomorrow, Mommy?"

* The Miss, thinking deeply: "You wanted a husband so you got Daddy. Then you wanted a kid, so you got me. Then you thought I might want a baby brother, so you got Zane. Now we've all got each other!"

* Zane is a boy of few words, but the other night, when he thought Daddy was picking him up to put him to bed, an entire sentence flew from his mouth: "Put me down!"

* Actually, since then Zane's been talking considerably more and trying out lots of new words. This makes life easier for me - and often gives us a laugh. A few weeks back, Anastasia had gas and I told her she had stinky toots. Zane piped up: "No! Me! Me!" and pointed to himself. Like any self-respecting boy, he wanted to take credit for the stinkiest gas.

* Anastasia, out of the blue: "Soon I'll need a new bed."

Me: "Why will you need a new bed soon?"

Anastasia: "Because I'll get married and I'll need a bed my husband and I both fit in."

 

* Anastasia often sings out of tune, much as she loves singing. But Zane? He sings perfectly on pitch and I often catch him humming Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while he builds with Legos.

* Zane - at long last! - will finally sit on the potty. One day he started telling me when he had a poopy diaper, and the next day when he thought he had to go, he asked to use the potty. So we all trotted into the bathroom and he sat there. And sat there. And sat there. Nothing happened, but Anastasia loved playing little mother. She read to him and encouraged him the whole time. He now periodically sits on the potty chair, but so far hasn't gone in it.

* Zane is always my good eater. The boy appreciates food. Here's a video of a typical eating session for him. He often says "Mmmm!" or "Yum!" after every bite. (Here, he's eating the melted remains of home made ice cream.) Click here for the video.

March 30, 2011

Has it really been this long since I posted an update? Sorry, readers. I just seem to have so little free time these days.

First, let me update you on Anastasia's sleep. She's been taking Valerian and Lemon Balm for more than a month now. We're using a dose of 320 mg Valerian and 160 Lemon Balm (up from her starting dose of 160 and 80 mg), which we found in a small pill from Nature's Way. It works! It's not a silver bullet; she occasionally still has a tougher time sleeping. But at least 95 percent of the time, she's now getting enough sleep that she's rested during the day. Like the medical studies done on kids, we've seen a huge improvement. And, as I told the sleep doctor long ago, once Anastasia gets enough rest, she's like another kid. A much easier-to-live with kid.

This makes me a bit angry at the sleep specialist. This combination of herbs has been studied on children and shown repeatedly to work. Why wasn't this the first thing he gave us to try? Thank goodness he sent us to a behaviorist who has knowledge about sleep issues in children.

Her teacher has also seen improvements at school, which is a relief for us all.

Zane plugs along as our sweet, shy, smart little guy. I wish he would talk more, but occasionally something big comes out of his mouth. For example, last weekend he said at breakfast, "Love bacon!"

He hasn't had a bout with hives since being diagnosed with an egg allergy...until today. I have no idea why he broke out. He didn't eat or touch eggs. I chose not to call the doctor, because the hives weren't severe. And I know sometimes people have hives for no obvious reason. But if they occur again, I have a list of what he ate before breaking out.

Tid-Bits:

* Anastasia recently discovered Dora The Explorer (which Zane calls "DohDoh"). The other day, Miss A. said: "Zane's counting in Spanish - in baby talk!"

* The kids recently got new shoes. It's not surprising to me that Anastasia loves getting new shoes; she's such a girl that way. But Zane loves it just as much. He was thrilled to get shoes and when his Daddy tried to take him to do something "more interesting" while Anastasia tried on shoes, he insisted on staying and watching. Then when we got the shoes home and the kids opened the boxes, you would have thought it was Christmas morning.

* Miss A. to me, after rambling a long time about something: "Mommy, you tell Daddy that for me."

Me: "Why don't you tell Daddy yourself?"

Miss A.: "I don't want to talk that much."

(This made some elderly ladies who were walking past us laugh. They laughed even harder when I replied, "Since when?!")

* Miss A.: "How big is heaven? Is it as big as a mouse? Is it as big as a house? That's just a little poem I made. Just call me Anastasia Seuss."

* Miss A. is learning to sew! She's been begging for a long time, so I thought perhaps she could try a little hand sewing. She does pretty well!

* Miss A. loves her ballet class. Zane enjoys watching her. The last time we went to class, Zane sat down on the floor and mimicked the stretches he saw the girls doing.

* Zane is quite something with the blocks. He plays with them several times a day, and often yells in frustration while doing so. (I'm certain he's swearing in baby talk.) He's very precise in his creations and seems to know exactly what he wants to build. Here's an example. Notice the blocks that look like they've fallen over? He did that on purpose. Sometimes he manages to balance blocks in a way I'm certain I could not.

February 18, 2011

I finally heard back from the behavioral specialist. She had lots of good news. Anastasia's blood test showed good things. Her kidney and thyroid are fine, she's well hydrated, and her iron levels are good. Her protein level was slightly low. Normal is 6.2 and she measured 6.1. Her vitamin D levels were also in the normal range, although on the lower end.

So the doctor wants to try a safe, natural way to help Anastasia sleep. Lots of studies have been done on Valerian and Lemon Balm. In the largest study, the doc says, over 1,000 kids took it and 97% had "good" to "very good" results. This sounds so promising! But the problem is, the doctor is having a tough time finding anything with the right (low) dosage of the herbs. She promised to look around town this weekend, and I promised to scour the web. So far, no luck. We're aiming for about 160 mg of Valerian and 80 mg of Lemon Balm...and not much else in the pill or liquid.

Overall, Anastasia's been doing better. I've been feeding her a protein bar before school. She loves them (they are like candy bars) and it seems to make a real difference in her behavior at school. Last week, however, she was having more trouble sleeping and was coming down with a nasty cold and she actually got kicked out the classroom for several minutes because she was defiant with the teacher.

A few tid-bits:

* Miss A. to her Daddy: "I would stick my tongue out at you, but I don't want to mess up my lipstick." (i.e., lip balm)

* Zane is communicating better. He still likes to use sounds more than words, though. Last week, our neighbors had roofers working on their house and they were using a forklift crane. I discovered this when Zane said "Gook, Mama! RrrrrrRrrrr!" (engine noises)

* It's fun to see Anastasia and Zane's relationship developing. He tells her in his garbled way that "I uv u" and they are starting to have a lot of fun playing together now. The only trouble is he's a rough and tumble boy - and he weighs as much as the Miss. So sometimes I have to intervene when he starts accidentally hurting Anastasia. The other day I heard Anastasia scream and turned around to find her on her hands and knees. Her brother had a bunch of her hair in his hand and he was pulling her across the floor! Yikes!

* The Miss had a grand time at the Kindergarten Valentine's Day party. It was very simple: Just food, Valentine cards, and one game, but she said it was "the best day ever at school!"

* Anastasia has learned so much at school! She knows all her lower case letters in cursive, is adding, and has a special talent for her recitations. Not only are they a breeze for her to memorize, but she has an actress' flair for getting up in front of the class, speaking clearly, and standing still as she recites them.

February 1, 2011

When asked why she drew on herself with permanent marker, Anastasia replied: "I'm an Indian!"

Last week, we took Anastasia to a behavioral specialist. Miss A's sleep doc (the only one who will treat children in our area) refused to do more for her - even a sleep study - until she went to this doctor. I wasn't really excited about this because I knew that when Anastasia gets enough rest - rare though that may be - she's like any other kid. No true behavioral problems. Nonetheless, I do know there are some actual medical conditions where defiance and strong willed behavior are a symptom, so I didn't mind ruling out such stuff.

The behavioral specialist is a pediatrician with extra training in such things as ADHD. She seems like a nice enough lady; she's a mom herself and only works when her kids are in school. We spent an hour and a half with her, mostly just talking. We looked at Anastasia's medical and behavioral history from the time of her birth, and the doctor listened sympathetically and with apparent understanding. This was quite different from the sleep specialist; I don't believe he has children, and I never really felt he understood the difficulties we were going through in our family.

The doctor also did a routine medical exam. She was the first doctor to ever tell me Anastasia is hyper-flexible, which often accompanies poor gross motor skills. As she described it, the Miss doesn't get enough resistance, and that's why she's clumsy.

LEFT: Some day, we'll have lots of blackmail material for Zane. He's a boy's boy, but sometimes I discover him wearing the strangest things. RIGHT: Zane is nearly as tall as Anastasia and feels like he weighs more. It's hard to believe, just looking at him, that's he only 2.

Almost instantly, she also wanted to do a blood test for iron. She thought Anastasia's eyes showed signs of a deficiency. Indeed, that's how she's starting her approach: With a blood test to look at vitamin D and iron levels, blood sugar, and the thyroid. "Given that her diet isn't ideal," the doc said, "I think this is a good place to start."

It's true Anastasia's diet isn't well balanced. While I try to steer clear of processed foods and offer her balanced meals, more often than not, what she'll eat is high carb food and not much else. I'd also wondered about her D levels, since I know a deficiency can cause fatigue. We go in for the blood test tomorrow.

The doc also recommended staying away from red dyes in processed food because some people seem to have very negative reactions to it. I told her I didn't think Anastasia ate any, but then I came home and checked our fridge and discovered the GoGurt (yogurt in a tube; literally, I'd squeeze it into her mouth so all she had to do was swallow. It was the only way I could get her to eat before school.) that I fed her every school morning has red dye. When I threw out the box of GoGurt, Anastasia asked why. "Because there's something in it that could make you not feel well," I answered. "Then why did you give it to me???" was her reply. I couldn't have felt worse, but thankfully she understood when I said, "Because I didn't know it was in there."

The doc also said there are medications we may eventually try as sleep aids, which they've used on kids for years. (So much for the sleep doc insisting there was nothing else to try.) However, she says it's hard to tell if sleep is causing Anastasia's problems or if something else is causing her sleep issues.

Her method seems logical and she's not big on passing out prescriptions. So we'll see how it goes.

The week following this visit was a tough one. Anastasia was having extra trouble sleeping. Yesterday she was so exhausted, she told me all day she wanted to go to bed. (This from a girl who normally says she never wants to sleep.) I couldn't let her, because then she wouldn't sleep at night. She was also very pale and sickly looking, and couldn't eat much. Thankfully, she slept much better last night and did okay at school.

Zane has also been up repeatedly each night. Ever since we moved him into his toddler bed, he won't nap (which is typical for his age) and he's waking up in the wee hours. He does stay in bed, but he makes lots of noise. Enough to wake the whole household. At first, we didn't go into his room because we didn't want him to think he could get special attention from us at that hour. But after a week and a half, we'd had enough. A firm talk seems to help. Thank goodness Zane is such a typical, healthy kid.

ABOVE: We put Zane's new bed in the living room so he could get used to it before he slept in it. For a moment or two, he was scared of it. Then he hoped in and started making engine noises :) BELOW: How we often find Zane when we go into his room to check on him at night.  

Here's hoping this week we all get more rest!

January 8, 2011

Many of you have written to complain I'm not updating frequently enough. I do apologize. It takes an average of 45 minutes to an hour for me to post on this site and it's so hard for me to find time to do it. To top it off, I had a list going of all the cute things the kids were saying and doing - and now I can't find it. So I'll do the best I can off the top of my head.

We had Christmas Eve with my mom, and Anastasia was ready to go this year. Her big gift was a bike, which she'd been lobbying for and which we'd convinced her she would have to buy herself. We even went so far as to have her open up a helmet and matching bike bell. Her Daddy said, "Now when you buy your bike, you'll have a helmet to go with it." Dear girl; I could see the disappointment on her face, but she said, "Oh. Well, for now I can use this with my tricycle." When at last she opened the bike (still in the box), she didn't believe it was really a bike!

Later that day, she and her daddy put the bike together and Anastasia tried it out. She got frustrated immedietly and said, "I thought this would be easier." Our sidewalks are in really bad shape, which was part of her problem, so we walked down a few blocks to where they are putting in a new park and the wide pathways were freshly paved. At first, she really struggled just to peddle in the right direction, but she kept saying, "I'm determined! I'm determined out of my mind!" And after some work (and some topples), she started to get the hang of it. She still needed help going even up a slight incline or bump; she just doesn't have the strength to do it on her own. And she doesn't have the sense yet to go anything but full speed downhill. (The little thrill seeker!) I hovered beside her, helping as needed until she said, "Mommy, let go. It's time to let go, Mommy."

So proud.

Little Zane wasn't nearly so enthusiastic about Christmas. He wanted the gifts (especially the cars and trucks), but he refused to open them himself. He spent a lot of time sucking his thumb, too.

Zane finally helped to open one of his gifts - his very last gift on Christmas.

On Christmas day, we went to my in-laws, which was fun. But by the end of two days of Christmas, Zane was a grumpy boy. The day after Christmas, Anastasia and hubby had their first father-daughter date. They saw a local, shortened production of The Nutcracker; it was Anastasia's first time seeing any ballet and she was enthralled.

Loving the Christmas tree.

Throwing snowballs is Anastasia's new thing.

We trekked up to the mountains to find a little snow.

Zane didn't freak out in the snow this time, although he sucked his thumb the entire time. He walked around in it and even called it "pretty."

Anastasia graduated from her "creative movement" dance class to "pre-ballet" this January. She is so very proud. In the past, a friend of mine who also had kids in the "creative movement" class took Anastasia to the dance studio, but now I'm taking her. So last week I got to see her dance for the first time. If you can call it dancing! She mostly ran when the other girls were awkwardly skipping, sashay-ing, and so on. But she followed directions pretty well, and clearly enjoyed herself.

Working hard.

Other stuff:

* Zane knows some colors! He has a ladybug that casts stars onto the ceiling at night time, and for a while we've been asking him if he wanted the stars red, blue, or green. He'd answer, but I wasn't sure he really knew what he was asking for. But a few weeks back, Anastasia asked him for a red block and he correctly gave it to her. Later, I asked him to pick up a blue book, and he did so. It's interesting how he picked this up without having it taught to him.

* Anastasia is quite the storyteller. She'll play with her toys, narrating stories for them. If she gets interrupted and must stop right away, she'll wrap up the story first. And the other day, when her brother was crying for one of his toys (that Anastasia was playing with), she had the toy leave the story before passing off the toy to her brother.

December 15, 2010

Zane is going through a really grumpy phase; he seems to do this when he's in a growth spurt. The first word out of his mouth every morning is "no" and I often hear him saying "No. No. No. No. No." when he's waiting for me to get him out of his crib. He's even cranky about food - demanding it one moment then refusing it the next.

This wouldn't be so bad if Anastasia weren't so negative, too, turning everything into a war. I'm a tired mama.

Today we took Anastasia to the sleep specialist again. He said he isn't willing to put her on any other medications and doesn't even want to do a sleep study on her right now. He wants us to take Anastasia to a behavioral specialist first. At first, this was upsetting, frustrating, and disappointing news. But if we can cross one more thing off the list, I suppose that's a good thing.

Anastasia's been having some trouble in school. When the kids sit on the floor, she pops up and jumps up and down, making it hard for others to see the teacher. Her teacher is really patient and understanding and feels it's just a maturity thing. When asked why she does it ("Are you uncomfortable? Can you not see?" etc.), Anastasia says she does it for fun.

Once, after asking Anastasia to sit back down several times, the teacher had her sit in a chair while the other kids sat on the floor. Another time, she took Anastasia outside to let her know she loved her, but that if she couldn't cooperate, she'd end up in the chair again. This week, after patiently asking her to sit on her bottom many times, the teacher told her to sit in the chair again. (Her tone is not at all mean or reproachful - just kind and matter-of-fact.) Anastasia told her "no," and even tried to push the chair away. The teacher said, "Then you need to go outside now." Anastasia continued to verbally say "no," but she did sit in the chair. The teacher even got her to say, "Yes, Mrs. P" - although she said it in a sassy way.

Oddly, once Anastasia's in the chair, she doesn't wiggle and jump around.

A few tid-bits:

* Zane is a pretty sharing little guy. He even offers us his thumb from time to time.

* Me: "Go to your room, Anastasia."

Miss A: "You're the worstest!" (Door slam.)

Me: "I love you, anyway."

Miss A (opening the door): "I love you, too." (SLAM!)

* Anastasia loves learning recitations in school and loves to stand in front of the class and speak. This week, she sang in front of the class. Here's a video I took at home of her performing the Preamble to the Constitution. I wish I'd filmed it at school instead - because there she was quite the performer.

* A video of the kids "caroling" me. Anastasia is holding a piece of sheet music. Zane found a piece of paper to hold, too, though he had no idea what it was for.

November 27, 2010

Earlier this week, Zane experienced his first snow. He liked the look of it through the window, but when we bundled up and got outside, he cried. Then he wouldn't walk in it. After about an hour, he'd walk in it, but he had no interest in playing in it. Poor Anastasia; she was so excited to show him all the fun stuff to do with snow, and she was disappointed (and amazed!) by his disinterest.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Zane spent most of the time playing alone with a collection of Matchbox cars and trucks that stays at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Anastasia is always thrilled to get time with her cousins. I wasn't feeling great, and I couldn't shake a feeling of being cold, but I didn't think too much of it, since I've been sick. But the next morning, I woke with a fever hovering between 102 and 103. Finally got myself to the doc (on hubby's insistence) and got scolded for not coming sooner. The doctor says I have a "raging sinus infection" that will be hard to get rid of. The good news is, after starting heavy duty antibiotics, my fever hasn't reappeared. I'm still far from 100% though.

November 20, 2010

I apologize for not posting in so long a time. It's been a crazy, stressful month. In addition to Zane's party and school stuff and similar activities, I've been sick all this time. The kids have been sick for several weeks. My hard drive crashed and is still in the shop. And my online backup service (Mozy.com) failed to back up all my most important files, resulting in both family photo loss and the loss of vitally important business files. Ugh!

Zane enjoyed his birthday party much more this year than last. At first, he wasn't sure about all the guests (just family), and he didn't think he liked the whole present thing. Then I began opening his first package. Inside was a toy tractor from his sister. He gave a high pitched squeal and his hands began to shake. From them on, he was excited about his gifts - although I never could get him to try opening any. He would begin to reach for one as if he was going to open it, then stick his thumb in his mouth and back away. Every time one of the presents was something with wheels, he squealed with delight.

Zane at his second birthday party, playing with the Matchbox cars we gave him.

My train cake was a bit of a disappointment to me. (I used poor instructions.) But Zane recognized the M&M decorations, and was enthused!

Eating his cake.

He also enjoyed eating cake for the first time. On his first birthday, he wanted nothing to do with the cake. And at the birthday parties we've been to since then, he was always napping or too tired to eat by the time the cake was cut. But for his second birthday, he ate a nice big chunk.

Halloween came next. Anastasia wanted to be a pirate, and I bought Zane a cute little train engineer costume (which he also wore to his train-themed birthday party). But I couldn't get Zane to wear the cap or red kerchief, so it was sort of hard to tell what his costume was. We only stopped at grandma's house and grandma's neighbor/tenant's house, but Zane really didn't like trick-or-treating, anyway. That is, until he realized his sister got chocolate by knocking on the door. Then he was all over it :)

Other stuff:

* I took Zane to the dentist office when Anastasia had her last appointment. She actually enjoys going to the dentist and she was proud to show him how it's done. He was both apprehensive and fascinated. He carefully watched as his sister had her teeth cleaned, opening his mouth wide, as if he were practicing. He also rode the dentist chair up and down a few times.

* We rarely go to restaurants and we've never taken the kids to one in the evening. But a few weeks ago, as a special treat, we went to a nice - but family friendly - restaurant. Anastasia loves going to restaurants, and she'd been asking to go to this one for quite some time. (It has a beautiful exterior, so I think this was the main attraction for her.) Its a Mexican restaurant, so they served chips and dip as an appetizer. Turned out, this was all Zane would eat. (We realized the next day he was sick, so this probably accounts for his poor appetite.) In the meantime, Anastasia was saying (at the top of her voice), "I love this place!" When we left the restaurant, several passers-by giggled as the Miss exclaimed: "This is best night ever!" Before we went back into our house, we took a good look at the stars. The Miss is rarely outside after dark, and often there are too many clouds for her to see the stars. She was fascinated.

* A friend gave me two potty-related picture books for boys. A few weeks ago, I removed them from storage and put them with Zane's books. The very same day, Zane came toting them over for me to read. However, once the little boy in the first book starting using the potty, Zane shook his head, said "UH-uh," and threw the book down. He knows propaganda when he sees it.

The kids examining a lady bug. Zane will sit for a half hour at a time watching spiders and other insects.

* In an effort to at least get Zane interested in using the potty, my hubby asked Zane if he wanted a new matchbox car. (His favorite toy ever.) Zane nodded his head yes. Hubby said, "If you'll try using the potty, Zane, I'll buy you a new car." We could see Zane carefully weighing this in his mind, then he hesitated before he said, "UH-uh" (i.e., "No."). Still, he keeps looking at the potty chair in the bathroom, approaching it, then backing off saying, "UH-uh."

* Zane appreciated the decorating I did for his birthday party. He pointed to the balloons and said, "Bubbles!"

* We recently got a new (to us) couch. Unfortunately, we had to bring it inside when Zane was napping. When he awoke, he stopped short upon entering the living room He cried and began sucking his thumb. It took several days before he would sit on the couch.

* I'm proud to say that for at least 6 months, Zane routinely says "thank you." Now if Anastasia could just learn to say "please."

* Anastasia is doing pretty well in school, despite her continued fatigue due to poor sleeping. When asked what her favorite part of school is, she says "snack time." If pressed for another answer, she says, "doing crafts." However, one of her other favorite parts of school is beginning the day with all the students, from Kindergarten through grade 12. They all go into a single room and have a class on developing good character. Sometimes they also recite phonograms together. Since phonograms are still new to most of the Kindergarteners, the older kids say the phonograms first and the Kindergarteners echo them. But each time the older kids giggle because there's my little Anastasia (the smallest girl in the class), jumping up and down, enthusiastically shouting her phonograms louder than anyone else.

* The other day, Anastasia said, "Mommy, I have a secret to tell you." She whispered in my ear: "I love you more than a peanut." She was serious, but it made me laugh so hard, it's now become a standard saying in our household.

* Zane's daily vocabulary is still somewhat small. He still won't tell me he's hungry, or poopy, or thirsty - anything practical. But he does repeat words constantly, and his new thing is to point to something and say, "Look! Look!"

* I pulled out Zane's footed blanket sleeper a few days ago. He was positively delighted with it, laughing and pointing at his feet. This made Anastasia wistful. "I remember when I had footed sleepers," she said. (We stopped using them when she learned to use the potty because I didn't want her having accidents because she couldn't get out of her jammies.) Anastasia needed some new PJs, anyway, so I surprised her with a pair of footed sleepers. The first night she wore them, she got out of bed to use the bathroom while my hubby and I were still up. Suddenly, she ran into the family room and shouted, "I couldn't get my PJs back on, but I just tried and tried again. And it worked!"

* A few days ago, Anastasia's school held a colonial-theme party. Costumes were encouraged. After looking at cheap costumes online, I decided to sew something. (I actually really wanted to make us matching costumes, but the fabric store didn't have enough of the fabric I wanted to use.) Anastasia was truly appreciative of my efforts. This was her first costume party, her first school event, and the first time she had curlers put in her hair :) The party itself was quite an event for her, too. We ate colonial food, did colonial crafts, and listened to a Native American man tell traditional stories and sing traditional songs.

* Anastasia and I have been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie and she's enjoying learning about the "olden days." At one point in the story, Ma talks about mailing a letter, and Anastasia said, quite seriously, "Did they just have to let the letter travel on the wind?" She was shocked to learn there was postal delivery in those days :)

Left: Anastasia, exhausted after school. Right: Zane's first time playing in a leaf pile.

October 17, 2010

My baby boy is 2 today.

Left: October 17, 2008. Right: October 17, 2010.

To make it possible for local family to celebrate with us, we're having his party, cake, and presents next Saturday. Still, we celebrated in a small way today by having breakfast at a restaurant (we almost never do that), then going to the pumpkin patch. We were pretty disappointed the pumpkin patch we've gone to since Anastasia was a toddler is now out of business. But we found a small local place that, while not a real pumpkin patch, had pumpkins, a hay maze, and other fun stuff for the kids. They both really enjoyed it.

Here we are in October 2008, just before Zane was born. I remember it was an uncomfortable trip for me because I was so big, my pants kept falling down...And look how little Anastasia was!

The kids looking for pumpkins - and pretending to be a cow - today.

Zane thought these blow up ghosts were the neatest thing ever.

Anastasia liked them pretty well, too, and together, the kids pretended to be ghosts.

Picking a pumpkin. Zane wasn't the least bit interested in choosing one for himself.

More fun.

Left: Zane, so proud of his new trick. Right: Anastasia in her first dance class.

Zane loves to climb up into the swing set fort. He throws things like chalk down the slide, then zooms down the slide himself.

Zane, playing in his first pile of leaves.

October 14, 2010

One of the few foods Anastasia can always be counted on to eat:black olives.

Left: Admiring ride on toys in a catalog. Right: The kiddos cuddling on the couch.

In three days, Zane will be two years old. He's really made some leaps and bounds over the past month. Most notably, he's adjusted to our new school schedule - and he's talking much more. And is proud of it! One of his favorite phrases right now is "Bee boy!" ("big boy"). He especially says this when he climbs into his crib every night. (Thankfully it hasn't occurred to him to climb out of the crib...yet.)

Almost time to move to a toddler bed!

He sometimes says "I peek-boo!" (i.e., "I peek-a-boo") and he names most of his favorite foods. He's also taken a huge liking to tidying up. He even picks up Anastasia's room. (His own idea!) And without my asking him to, he picks up the toys in his room each night before bed.

Zane's also going through a huge shyness phase. He melds into Mommy or Daddy when he's around strangers, clinging fiercely, hiding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

Anastasia is still doing well in school, although she's really struggling with fatigue. She just can't seem to get enough sleep. Sadly, this makes school so much more difficult. For example, last week she couldn't write a "d" in cursive during school. Even though the teacher gave her lots of one-on-one time, Anastasia was just too "out of it" to get the job done. The next time we tried, at home, she was better rested, and writing a "d" was as easy as could be. It makes me sad that she's not reaching her full potential because she's so sleep deprived.

Worse, her fatigue makes her act out. She disobeys and back talks. She even back talks me in the classroom. (Parents are encouraged to stay during classes.) It brings me to tears - not so much because she hurts my feelings, but because it makes me feel like a failure as a parent. What am I doing wrong that my kid is the only one in the classroom acting this way? As a family, we really struggle with this. Most days, I'm totally drained by evening; the constant fighting with Anastasia (to get her to do what she should, to discipline her, etc.) is exhausting. If only we could figure out how to get Anastasia more rested.

Left: Excited for her first dance class. Right: Ride 'em!

Yet despite the sleep deprivation, Anastasia is a bright girl. She's made so much progress in school already, and has learned so much. (How many 5 year olds know all the oceans and continents, the original 13 colonies, and what a noun and verb are?) And today, she had her first dance class. As you can see from the photo, taken just before class, she was thrilled to have a "real ballerina outfit." The class is really more about following directions and moving in a basic way, but I think Anastasia thought she was going to be en point right away. She came home saying, "We didn't really dance much." But she loved the class anyway.

September 29, 2010

Zane hadn't been tested for allergies for about a year, so today it was time to see if he's outgrown his egg allergy. Poor little guy. He sure knows how to stick his whole body to me like glue. I couldn't have peeled him off if I tried! The good news was he's no longer allergic to egg yolk. He is, however, still allergic to egg white. This, the allergy doc says, is typical of a child who's outgrowing his egg allergy. Perhaps next year he'll have allergies at all.

Earlier in the week, we took the kids on a little chore adventure. We took them into the mall - and realized this was a first when Anastasia said, "Mommy, what is this place?" When I explained what a mall was, she said, "The mall is beautiful!" Zane was less enthusiastic.

We also took the kids to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Anastasia loves going to restaurants (even though she claims she hates eating), and we think Zane took "all-you-can-eat" to mean "you-must-eat-everything." He kept eating and eating and eating until we finally pulled him away from the table. He even ate the rinds off his orange wedges!

Zane loves doing anything Anastasia is doing. School work time is finally a bit more bearable because I give Zane a coloring book and crayons and tell him to do his "homework," for example. And the other day, after I painted Anastasia's toe nails with light blue nail polish, he grabbed the polish, sat on the floor, and pointed to his toes. Dear boy!

Zane is also already starting to create gadgets. I turned around the other day and he'd connected two vacuum attachments to a USB cable. Don't know what it was supposed to be, but it was definitely purposeful!

Anastasia is doing well with her school work. She did her first recitation in class, and spoke clearly and loudly, and without a qualm. She also presented her first "speech." We made a small poster about her, and she had to stand in front of class and explain it. She could hardly wait until it was time to give her speech, and again, she showed no sign of nerves. She presented the information very clearly.

She's also really working to be a better behaved girl. She's even trying harder to pick up after herself. However, one day when I tried to vacuum her room, but couldn't because there were toys and such all over the floor, she said, "I''m sorry my room is so messy, Mama. But life is hard."
 

September 18, 2010

School is going well, though certainly taking some getting used to. The first week, Zane was a little stinker. I'd set him up at the kitchen table with something to scribble on, or a puzzle to do, and that would keep him occupied for a few minutes. Then all he wanted to do was grab his sister's books and pencils. Last week was better.

It's also tough for Anastasia to concentrate for more than an hour at a time, even with wiggle breaks. Last week at school, she had her head on her desk for the last hour. Fortunately, she's not the only child struggling to stay awake and focused :) 

Anastasia's sleep habits continue to be about the same. The first week of school, she slept pretty soundly, but last week, she was up a lot during the night. As I've said before, what she does during the day - including lots of physical or mental activity - has no bearing on how well she sleeps.

By Fridays, she's pretty wiped out, so I'm experimenting with ways to get us through that day's school work without tears. Chocolate chip cookies help!

What is Anastasia's favorite subject? She claims it's also the subject she has the most difficulty with: Cursive. She whizzes through her math book; it's no more advanced than what I taught her during home preschool. She whizzes through most of her phonics, too, although she's now learning some two-letter phonograms. Anything to do with reading she adores. She's not too keen on coloring, but now that coloring is part of her school work, she sometimes really takes her time and does an incredible job for her age. She's doing well in geography and recitation, and her character studies are a piece of cake.

I do think I see signs of her maturing, too. The other day she did a typical-Anastasia thing. After dinner, instead of changing into her PJs and coming out and spending time with the family, she chose to not change her clothes and to play alone in her room. When it was bedtime, she of course cried because she hadn't been able to play with us. I explained how that was a choice she made (as I've explained to her repeatedly). But this time, she cried, "I don't like the choice I made!" Maybe something is clicking there.

Today, she told me that when she grows up and has "four babies" she's going to make them all pick up their own toys, "even when they are little." I said, "Oh? Well since you feel that way, I guess I should make you always pick up your own toys without help." She didn't much like that idea :)

Last weekend, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for a cousin's birthday. Anastasia was thrilled because she thought she'd finally worked up the nerve to crawl through the big tube that travels along the ceiling. She climbed inside and lost her nerve, though - at least until her older cousin agreed to go through with her. Then she went through the tube over and over again.

Zane, being typically Zane and wanting to do every single thing his sister does, tried to climb in after Anastasia. But he was too short to climb up the stairs to the top of the tube. So one of his cousins helped him. Zane thought the tube was the coolest thing ever. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh so much.

Zane continues to thrive. He's such a sweet little guy. One of his favorite things to do is stand in front of our digital photo frame and watch the pictures of his loved ones. He points and smiles and laughs.

He's also hugely into trains an blocks of all types. He builds stacks of blocks so high he can't reach the top; he hands me blocks one by one and indicates he wants me to put them on top. When they finally topple over, he gets a frustrated look (and sometimes makes frustrated noises), but then he usually grins and says "BOOM!"

Although Zane is gradually saying more and more words, he rarely says them in a useful way. For example, he doesn't tell me he's hungry, or tired, or that he wants a toy. If I ask him "Are you poopy?" he will sometimes repeat "poopy" to tell me he needs a diaper change. Once in a while, he'll say "apple" when he wants to eat one.

And he still says "hap-PY!" or "hap-PY boy!" when he's content.

September 7, 2010

Today was Anastasia's first day of school. I waited until I woke her up in the morning to tell her this, because she gets so high strung about these things she can't sleep. She was both thrilled and slightly apprehensive. (But when I asked if she was nervous, she frowned and said, "I'm NOT nervous, Mom!")

The Miss did an excellent job introducing herself to everyone (even the "big kids") and was quite the eager beaver in class. She wanted to be called on to answer most of the questions, and couldn't wait to do any hands on stuff the teacher requested. She did get pretty tired toward the end, but shortly after I noticed signs of fatigue in her, other kids started showing it, too. The teacher is a sweetie, and I think Anastasia is going to thrive at this school.

September 1, 2010

The big new is: Anastasia starts kindergarten next week! She's going to a publically funded charter school with impressive academics. It is basically assisted home schooling. We attended orientation last night. Anastasia adores her teacher, but left the school saying, "Why didn't Mrs. P. teach me? Why didn't she teach me math?"

This morning, the first thing out of Anastasia's mouth was, "Can I go to school today?"

She instantly made friends with one of the other little kindergarten girls. Anastasia started by telling her knock-knock jokes. She only knows two real ones, but the little girl seemed to think even her made-up, nonsensical ones were hysterical. The teacher asked, "Are they friends?" It was hard to believe they'd just met.

Quotes & Tid-bits:

Miss A.: "But I'm too tired to go to bed!" (She continues to have problems staying asleep at night.)

Zane: "HAP-py boy! HAP-py boy!" (Said mostly when food's involved.)

Miss A., holding up a picture she just drew: "Mommy, can we save this and when we die someone can put it in a museum???"

Miss A., to me when she discovered her pediatrician appointment would involve two vaccinations: "I came prepared for ONE shot."

The Miss also saw the ophthalmologist last week, in prep for school. The doc was stunned by her. Anastasia had 20/25 vision in both eyes, but he said that for her age, using a letter chart (not a symbols chart), that's outstanding. The exam on her eyes showed no after-affects from ROP. The doc declared her eyes perfect.

August 12, 2010

Five years ago today, Anastasia was born 3 1/2 months early. My husband and all our family were sick with worry, but God gave me supernatural peace. And now look at our girl!

Today Anastasia had her 5 year checkup. Overall, she's doing just fine. She weighs 36 1/2 lbs. and is 3 feet 6 inches tall. That puts her in the 25th percentile in weight and height, but when you look at her growth curve overall, you see only a slight flattening off in height (which may be temporary). She whizzed through her hearing and eye exams, wrote her name for the doc, and copied shapes onto a piece of paper. The only really negative news is that Anastasia was also diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma.

The past couple of months, whenever the Miss runs around, she stops and coughs. It doesn't seem to make her uncomfortable, but the pediatrician says I should give her a puff on an inhaler if she coughs more than a couple of times. If she ends up using the inhaler two or more times a week, then we need to discuss medications that do a better job of controlling the asthma.

Given Anastasia's background - notably, her lung problems caused by her extreme prematurity - it's not surprising she has asthma. (Her daddy has asthma, too, and the disease is often hereditary.) What's surprising, really, is that it didn't show up sooner.

Anastasia and Zane playing in a box.

Zane, incidentally, is nearly as tall as Anastasia and must weigh as much or more than she does. He is climbing everything and he now sits through some long books, especially The Little Engine That Could. He is already playing make-believe - I'm sure because he's copying his sister. (He does get a bit confused when Anastasia offers him pretend food to eat. He grins and laughs, but then tries to really eat it. He'll then usually offer me the food, and he watches closely while I pretend to eat it.)

And have I mentioned Zane is super-neat? He often pulls out the toy vacuum or the real mop if the floor is dirty. And the other day, I could hardly believe my eyes when he carefully carried a bowl of banana slices into the family room (where his daddy was), ate, then got up and took his empty bowl into the kitchen--and put it in the sink!

August 8, 2010

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated you all. Things have been hectic!

Zane has discovered he can wheel his sister around in the dollie stroller. Both kids get a big kick out of this. And both kids are bookworms, much to my delight.

Zane pulled this book off my bookshelf and starting looking at it, pointing to the letters and babbling about them.

We've had a round of birthday parties that won't quit! The first was for one of her cousins, and we all visited a wildlife center/zoo. To see most of the large animals, we drove through the "sanctuary" part. I think Anastasia's favorites were the giraffes. Zane - ever the observer - even clued us in to some of the better hidden animals by pointing and babbling.

Delighted, watching animals in the wildlife center. We had to get up early to get there in a timely fashion, and when Anastasia saw the sky outside, she said, "Mommy! Why is it still dark outside??"

A few small animals were in more zoo-like enclosures. Look at Zane's expression. Both kids loved this place!

The missy at the flamingo display and pretending to be a sheep in the petting zoo. Anastasia said, "This place is awesome!"

A huge highlight: Riding a camel.

After a couple more parties, it was time for Anastasia's 5th birthday party. My girlie girl chose to have a pirate party, and it was a huge hit. Anastasia declared it the "wonderfulest party ever," and said her favorite part was the treasure hunt. I was really proud of her. She was so polite and thankful for everything.

Left: The Miss decorating "Pirate Pops" (Rice Crispie treats) for her birthday party. Right: Walking the plank.

Blowing out five candles!

Lessons from her uncle, using her new guitar.

Zane spent a lot of time perched up in the fort of the swing set, just observing.

A few other tib-bits:

* Zane doesn't say much. No "hungry," "down," or "now" for him. He only says the really important things, like "backhoe" and "pickup."

* I dug out the kids' GeoTrax train set this month. They both still love it. Zane so much so, he can often be found kissing the train.

*  Zane recently learned to say "happy." A few weeks ago, I said, "The pizza's ready!" and he replied, "HAP-py! HAP-py! HAP-py!"

* Anastasia: "I'm a pirate and I found this gold coin can I keep it?"

Me: "Well, can you find the person who lost it? If you can, you should give it back."

Anastasia: "No, Mom! I'm a pirate and pirates steal things!"

C. S. Lewis