A World to Explore

I mentioned in the previous blog entry that Hannah was just starting to crawl, but didn't appear to be going anywhere deliberately. Well, that seems so long ago, now. The day after I posted that entry, she learned that she could get to point B from point A by coordinating those leg things with those arm things in a particular sequence (click here for a video of those first crawls). She now has red marks on her knees from scooting around all day. We've had to start using the dog gates to keep her from wandering too far, and can't look away for more than a few seconds if she's on the floor. I suppose it's fitting that Hannah figured out her transmission the day we got the Odyssey back with its new $4000 transmission (so much for Honda reliability).


We've had to put rubber bands around the coffee table doorknobs, because she learned that they open and there's a lot of stuff to taste in there. Now she just pulls the knobs and lets the rubber band slam it back, delighted with the cool wooden bass drum we inadvertently created for her.


Now that she's getting around in two dimensions, she's starting to notice that there are things going on above floor level that she might need to get involved in. So she's trying to climb legs and pillows and anything else low enough to provide a boost up off the floor into that third dimension (click here for a video).


Hannah had several visitors this weekend. My friend Don and his wife Kelly and son Danny stopped by. Don and I started at Texas Instruments at the same time in 1989 and have more or less worked together ever since. They brought Hannah some very cool toys (lots of buttons, levers, knobs, lights, and sounds) but somehow managed to sneak off before we got a picture of them for the blog.

Kenji and Yukiko traveled all the way from Japan to visit Hannah (OK, maybe Kenji is here on business, but Hannah doesn't need to know that). I met Kenji and Yukiko about 8 years ago when they showed me all around Japan while I was there on business. They brought Hannah a tiny Kimono that I'm sure you'll see here on the blog as soon as she grows into it.


Please don't get the impression that you have to bring gifts to visit Hannah. I now know how fun it can be to shop for toys and baby clothes, but I assure you we don't expect anything, and neither does Hannah. We love having visitors because we enjoy your company, and we're stuck at home these days anyway. :-) And Hannah appreciates anyone that will make faces at her and make her stuffed animals dance around. We don't need much advance notice if you're in the area and would like to drop by, as long as you don't care if the house is clean. Just call or email to make sure we're at home and decent. We're introverts, but Hannah needs to be socialized, so we're more than happy to emerge from our shells for her benefit.

Next weekend is the NICU reunion at Medical Center of Plano, when all the past graduates of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are invited to meet at the hospital and catch up with all the doctors, nurses, and fellow patients and parents. While we were still at the hospital, this reunion was one of the goals we hardly dared hope for. Back then, just being able to bring Hannah back to the reunion at all was not a sure thing, and we didn't know what disabilities would be uncovered by all the testing yet to come. July 15th will be Hannah's first birthday, and the fact that we no longer even think of her as preemie is a remarkable and miraculous thing. She started life at 1.5 pounds, with lungs and digestive system that couldn't function without help from doctors and machines. She's now a 17-pound perfectly beautiful little girl, crawling and babbling and demanding to explore her new world, and I look forward to thanking the doctors and nurses that made that possible.

Babbling and Scooting

I wouldn't quite call it crawling yet, but Hannah has learned to scoot sideways and occasionally forward, so her world has just gotten a lot wider and more interesting. She can now roll over from back to tummy and vice versa, and can get herself into a sitting position. None of these seem particularly deliberate at this point, but she's got all the time in the world, and nothing better to do with it, so she looks quite proud when she finds that she has changed her position and view of the world all by herself. Just smiles up at me as if to say "Look what I did!"

And she's starting to tell us all about it. Started babbling up a storm a couple nights ago, out of the blue. The night before, I had suggested to her that vowels alone were getting old and that a few consonants and syllables would spice up our conversations. I guess she was just waiting for me to give her the go-ahead. You can see a short video (5MB) of Hannah babbling by clicking here.



I was trying to get a picture of Hannah's profile while she was staring up at one of her favorite toys (the ceiling fan), but every time she heard the whir of the camera auto-focusing, she'd look over at me with a "OK, take the picture already!" look. After about 10 shots identical to the one above, I gave up. I'll try focusing manually next time . . . no distracting whir. Nothing wrong with that girl's hearing.


She spends most of her time sitting or scooting on the floor now, no longer content to sit in the bouncy chair with its limited entertainment options. She likes the high chair now (used to hate it) because she can sit up straight by herself and we can lay out a bunch of toys on the tray. But the floor is still the fascinating frontier, so I had to stop by Lowes tonight for my first batch of baby-proofing supplies . . . foam bumpers for the hearth and coffee table corners.

I'm pretty sure children still survived childhood back before we had foam bumpers for every sharp corner in the house. But I don't want to be the first parent to go to jail for letting my kid split her head on the coffee table corner. I know there's a lawyer somewhere out there already working on the case file, just in case, ready to fill in the blanks and rocket to stardom on CNN.



Here's a picture with Aunt Rena, when she and Rosemary drove in to pick up Mom after I got back from East Asia. We all had a great time, and were sorry to see them drive off.



Hannah's playpen is near a window, and I noticed her pulling herself up to peek over the edge to see out into the back yard. So I helped her stand up (she can't pull herself to standing quite yet) and she hung on the the side and stared out the window for a while.



Here's a frog chair and crab footstool that Uncle Bruce (my older brother) made for Hannah. He's a data center manager by day and freelance carpenter/handyman on nights/weekends. And then, in his spare time, he builds stuff like this. And yes, this is the kind of overachievement I had to live up to while growing up.


Hannah's quick with a smile or laugh these days. But she gets real serious whenever she encounters something new, and you can almost see her little brain trying to wrap itself around stuff.


Here, she noticed the trees for the first time while we were outside taking pictures. Big green things moving around like Daddy does when he's trying to get Hannah to smile. Must be great to have so many new sights, sounds, and experiences every day. Makes me want to clobber myself over the head with a brick to cause amnesia, so I can experience everything anew, too. I can almost hear the line forming, of people wanting to help me with that.

In other news, Carter is recovering well after his multi-organ transplant. He's moving off IV feeds and on to formula, and is off the ventilator and onto a nasal cannula (like Hannah had for the first three months home from the hospital). These are all very encouraging developments and we're looking forward to seeing him put the hospital environment behind him and come home to Texas. Check out his blog for more details and updates.

Home Sweet Hannah

I'm back from overseas, and Hannah is a different girl than when I left her three weeks ago. She laughs and smiles more, is eating with gusto ("More squash, please!"), and sits upright by herself to play with her toys (although we usually leave the boppy around her, because when something gets her attention and she looks up quickly, she falls flat backwards and then looks up at us, asking "Why did you do that?"). She gained a pound while I was gone, up to over 17 pounds.



She's no longer content to lie on her back and play with dangling toys, and doesn't even like being confined to the bouncy. She prefers to sit up, so she can reach more toys. Last night, I put her to bed on her back and came back a few minutes later to find her rolled over, propped up on her arms, examining the layout and fabrics of the crib, with one foot sticking out through the slats.


She'll be crawling forward soon, though at the moment she still only has a reverse gear, and very little steering.

Carla's parents were here yesterday, stopping by on their way to Alaska for a month of one-week cruises, where Carla's dad lectures on the local culture and geography in return for free room and board (not too shabby a deal, on a cruise ship). So Jon and Cat took us all out for a birthday dinner at Brio's (my birthday was the 30th, Mom's was the 29th).

Hannah's NICU-mate Carter is recovering nicely from his multi-visceral transplant (stomach, intestines, spleen, pancreas, and liver). His parents will be walking next weekend in a benefit for other children needing transplants. If you'd like to donate, please check out the link at Carter's website.

I have so many great pictures of Hannah worth posting, it was hard to pick just a few. And Mom would kill me if I didn't include some that she took of me and Hannah. So look for a few more in the next few days, as well as a link to the rest of my travel photos.

Dispatch from Malaysia

Been here in Malaysia a couple days. My friend Tay and his sons took me out for a marathon day of sight-seeing around Kuala Lumpur (Malay for "Lumpy Koala Bear" . . . not) today. Tomorrow we head out to the historic city of Melaka, where the western world first intruded upon Malaysia 500 years ago. I've posted some photos out on Webshots, if you're interested.

I hear Hannah is quite fond of squash (the vegetable, not the game) and has three teeth on their way out. And it sounds like she's getting pretty loud and rambunctious while I've been away, and thinks paper fans and shaken bottles are uproariously funny. Here are few pictures that Carla and Mom have taken and sent my way:

News Flash on Carter!

I just learned that Carter has received his multivisceral transplant, and is doing well! Check out his web page for updates and details. This is great news, and hopefully the turning point toward a healthy future for Hannah's birthday twin. Carter was born the same day as Hannah and Steven and they were NICU-mates for 105 days. Please keep him and his parents, and the donor and family, in your prayers as they go through the long recovery process.

Greetings From Taiwan!

Yesterday was our 18th wedding anniversary, and Carla celebrated with Hannah, Mom, Jon, and Cat while I hung out here at the Taipei Sheraton. It's a very nice hotel, but it doesn't have a Hannah, so I'd rather be home. That said, I really do enjoy travelling and visiting my overseas colleagues, so in the moments between missing Hannah and Carla, I'm having a good time. I could have done without the bones in my $27 pizza tonight, but when there are people starving around the world, I can't muster much indignation.

The Hannah deficit is made more bearable by the flow of snapshots from Mom and Carla . . . so many adorable photos of Hannah that I have a hard time deciding which ones to post. She's taken to sticking her bottom lip out a lot, which unfortunately reminds me of my old friend Neal when he's contemplating a challenging billiards shot. I think he drooled a little less, though.





On an unrelated note . . . in case you've ever wondered what you get when you pay $150 for a single load of laundry:


They actually packaged up all my shirts so I could sell them as new on the street corner if I wanted to, with little cardboard collars and cellophane wrappers. This was not an option, by the way; this was the cheapest laundry service they offer. I would guess the next level of service includes delivery of the finished garments to your room on mannequins.

One final note: today is my father's birthday. He would have been 80. We miss you, Dad.

Carrots!

I'm here in Baguio, Philippines, wondering what the hell I was thinking when I agreed to 2 and 1/2 weeks away from Hannah. Every little girl I see is Hannah at some point in the future (though with slightly darker hair, on average) , and it's fun to look forward to.

It's a world of difference from the last time I was here, four years ago, right after we had noticed Carla's MMD symptoms but months before we got the diagnosis. My Googling of symptoms led me to believe that ALS was one of the likely causes, so I was a nervous wreck the whole time I was here.


I've been getting a steady stream of reports and photos from Carla and Mom, and it seems that Hannah is going to town on veggies and rice cereal, but is not too keen on fruits yet. And I talked to Hannah on the phone a couple times . . . thank goodness for the 9-cents-a-minute international calling card.


Hannah's also putting in a lot of the time at the office . . . her activity center equipped with a toy laptop from Uncle Neal.


Carla's parents sent the pictures above of the new memorial garden at their church (Noel United Methodist in Shreveport). Steven has a plaque there, and it looks like a beautiful place to keep his memory.

One more note . . . please pray for Hannah's NICU friend Carter. He's recently been placed on the liver transplant list. Hopefully, he'll bounce back enough to be taken off the list, but until then, it's the best route to bringing him back to health.