Anna Update

Friday, May 15th, 2009 | Anna, Updates

I have been remiss about updates on Anna of late, so I hope to make up for that with this post. As I type this Anna is in the next room refusing to nap. I sort of expected this, since I’m trying for the first time to transition her out of fleece sleep wear with feet and into pjs. Change always is difficult with babies, and I expect it will take a few days to get her used to the new sleep duds. In the meantime, she’s talking loudly to her teddy bears about something very important…

First, the updates on her health – both her weight and the thing on the bridge of her nose. I say “the thing” because we’re still not sure what “it” is exactly. When we got the results back from the MRI in December we were told it was a “probably” dermoid cyst and to see the plastic surgeon at Children’s to have it removed. At the end of April we finally went to see the plastic surgeon and now we’re more confused… After reviewing the MRI the plastic surgeon said that he thinks the bump is not a dermoid cyst, but a vascular malformation. Further, he’s not willing to take it out unless we REALLY want it out. He thinks it will bleed a lot unless he does this really gory way of taking it out, the details of which I will save you from. Suffice to say Anna would have a curvy scar on the top of her head. So we have been advised to simply watch the bump, see if it gets larger and we can review again later whether we want it removed. At this point it’s apparently not necessary to do anything, and that’s fine.

Last week we had our monthly weight check with Anna’s doctor. Anna had an ear infection the week before which required a late night trip to an after hours pediatric care place, so the doctor was more focused on her ear than her weight. When I asked about Anna’s weight, the doctor, who was not the same doctor we saw at Anna’s 12 month check (there are two doctors in the office), said that she had not gained much. But, she said that Anna is “on her own weight curve” and was much more relaxed about the whole thing. She wants us to come back in a month and do another weight check and in the meantime continue on with the fatty diet. More butter and cream please! “If” Anna’s weight continues not to be okay there is the chance that they will want to do blood tests to see if her kidneys and electrolytes are okay, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…

Anna is not walking yet, but I expect that to come very soon. Several times in the past few days she has been taking a few (two or three) steps on her own before plopping down to crawl. She does love to walk holding onto our hands and with her walker toys.

Otherwise, Anna has been liking playing outside and especially playing in the dirt. It’s hard to see here, but she has dirt all over herself, including around her mouth, since she tried eating some dirt:

Covered in dirt

Since it’s summer I’ve been trying to get Anna to wear sunglasses, but she’ll only wear them for a few seconds before taking them off. I had to be quick to get this photo:

So Cool

Anna has been going through my cabinets and playing with pans and bowls and enjoying all the noise that entails:

Making Noise

And she’s been playing on the little playset we have in the backyard a lot, even getting into it all by herself:

Playset

For my birthday we went to Hudson Gardens and hung out in the grass where Anna played and looked cute:

Playing in the grass

And then Anna helped Mike set up his camera for those tulip shots he took at the gardens:

Photographer's Assistant

Wednesday we got Anna’s new car seat and as soon as I unpacked it she wanted to try it out. Not necessarily the right way, but still, she’s in it:

Car Seat - first try

Later we went out on our maiden voyage with the new car seat and she seemed to like being up a little higher:

New car seat

Yesterday I was unloading the dishwasher and I had some “help”. I say “help” because I turned away to put the silverware away and turned back to find the helper had gotten in the dishwasher:

Dishwasher

Mike is always disgusted by the fact that I lick my ice cream bowl. I swear I haven’t done it in front of Anna, but yesterday I let her play with the mac and cheese bowl after lunch and this happened. This means she’s definitely related to me: