I can not remember a time I did not enjoy horses. They are my hobby, and I try to ride as much as I can. I have 2 riding horses, both of whom I trained under saddle. I rode from age 7 to 15, but quit when we moved to the USA. I had to leave my horse behind, and the move was kind of tough on me, so I kind of gave up but never lost the interest and desire to ride again at some point in my life. It was not until I was 30 that I went back to it (earlier in this blog I mentioned someone - my freidn EC- kind of 'dragged' me back into the horse world.)
On this day, it was kind of overcast. I rode my Standardbred mare Genie. She had not been ridden for about a year and a half, because before I became pregnant with Annelies I was too busy to ride 2 horses. I retired Genie from showing (she is 16) and casually trail ride her, and continued to ride my young horse to get him show-ready. I chose to ride Genie that day because I felt more comfortable with the idea of riding her at my Mom and Leif's place, they have some property in Lincoln. Genie gave me kind of a WTF??? look when I started brushing and tacking her up. When I got on, she kind of wanted to jump straight up but I got her going forward and we had a nice ride. It amazes me that you can put a horse away for a lonmg time, then get on and for the most part they still remember all the things they have been taught. I guess there are differences from horse to horse, and this mare just happens to be pretty smart. She was a joy to ride, very responsive. It felt good to be back in the saddle. I rode Genie 4 times before I rode the young horse (PG), he was fun to ride also. It was my goal to get on him new year's eve day, and I did.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Dec 23 Dinner Guests
Tonight, our friends D & M came over for dinner. D's parents, who live in So Cal, came with them. It was nice to see them again, I met them first in Florida (I met D via work, we worked in the same Department but in different groups. I knew D when he met M, and they moved to No Cal a couple of years back when D took another position with the same company. D's parents moved to So Cal around the same time, so I get to see them from time to time.)
It was nice to see them again, I like having guests over around the Holidays when we have our tree up. They brought dinner from Macaroni Grill, one of my favorite restaurants. Their Chicken Marsala is delicious. At the end of the evening, D shared with me that dinner had been paid for by someone who wished to stay anonymous. This was a very nice surprise to us, and one of the many kindnesses we have received in the past month. So many people have showed so much warmth and support, it is incredible. I will never be able to repay them all, but I will certainly try!
Dec 24th we had my Mom and Leif over for dinner. I made a standing rib roast, which came out beautifully. I have been enjoying cooking & baking since I am not working right now. It is fun to be domestic, I feel like I am "playing house". Once I go back to work cooking will be done less often, and I will freeze more. We have a deep freeze now, it will come in handy!
We celebrated Christmas evening at my Mom's, with Edgar (older Brother) and his wife Susan. This was the first time we took the kids somewhere, and it cracks me up: I have packed lighter to go to Holland then to take 2 kids 30 minutes down the road. I had heard parents complain in the past and really never gave it much thought. Now I am thinking a mini van is not an excessive luxury.
It was nice to see them again, I like having guests over around the Holidays when we have our tree up. They brought dinner from Macaroni Grill, one of my favorite restaurants. Their Chicken Marsala is delicious. At the end of the evening, D shared with me that dinner had been paid for by someone who wished to stay anonymous. This was a very nice surprise to us, and one of the many kindnesses we have received in the past month. So many people have showed so much warmth and support, it is incredible. I will never be able to repay them all, but I will certainly try!
Dec 24th we had my Mom and Leif over for dinner. I made a standing rib roast, which came out beautifully. I have been enjoying cooking & baking since I am not working right now. It is fun to be domestic, I feel like I am "playing house". Once I go back to work cooking will be done less often, and I will freeze more. We have a deep freeze now, it will come in handy!
We celebrated Christmas evening at my Mom's, with Edgar (older Brother) and his wife Susan. This was the first time we took the kids somewhere, and it cracks me up: I have packed lighter to go to Holland then to take 2 kids 30 minutes down the road. I had heard parents complain in the past and really never gave it much thought. Now I am thinking a mini van is not an excessive luxury.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Dec 17...2 Kids in Car Seats
On Wed Dec 17th, I had to bring Annelies along to pick up Marco from day care. It is about a 30 minute drive from my house to the day care, since I choose daycare close to work. I am the one who will be bringing and picking up mostly because iof Aaron's schedule, so I choose day care close to work. I like the idea of sharing the car drive (I sing or talk to them) and also like the idea of being able to go over there & have lunch with them once in a while.
When I had strapped the kids in their seats and started the car, I felt like the richest woman alive. 2 beautiful kids in my back seat! Who would want more?!
15 minutes into the trip home, they both started crying...Oh well... ;)
When I had strapped the kids in their seats and started the car, I felt like the richest woman alive. 2 beautiful kids in my back seat! Who would want more?!
15 minutes into the trip home, they both started crying...Oh well... ;)
Dec 13: Marco is...Happy
On Dec 13, the day after Liselot left, I asked my Mom to watch Marco. I was sick, and wanted him to have some time with Oma whom he had not visited for a while. When they came home, Marco had learned a new word (so far, he has only said Mama, Dada, Papa, ja (yes) and nee (no). He does understand everything in both Dutch and English, so I was not worried about his speech development. At my Mom's that day, Marco learned to say: Happy!!! (My Mom would say: Marco is...and Marco would say: Happy!!!). So cute. He still does that, sometimes he just says "Happy" over and over. How fitting that was...
Dec 10-12, 2008; My Sister
Somewhere during my pregnancy, I had the brilliant idea to ask my sister to come & stay with me for a month around the birth of Annelies. A little background: My parents divorced when I was 14, and both of them remarried. My Mom married an American & we (older Brother, Mom and I) moved to the US. Dad found his wife, Kathleen, closer to where I grew up and they had 2 kids, 19 and 17. The 17 year old is my sister, Liselot, who graduated from high school last summer, and now has a year in between before going on to College. She has visited us in the past, and I thought she might enjoy coming out here for another month. I figured it would be good for Marco to have some extra attention around this time, since he is not big on change. It is also good for his Dutch (the kids are being raised bi-lingual).
Liselot was with us from Nov 12- Dec 12. She and Marco got along like a house on fire (may not be the best expression to use for a fire fighter's wife, but oh well). Liselot pretty much gets along with kids anyway, they really like her. She is a pretty popular baby sitter back at home from what I hear.
Little did we know how emotional and interesting and good this stay would be. For a 17 year old, she shows a lot of maturity. Initially, when the Ds diagnosis came, and I was rushing back & forth to the NICU, meeting with doctors and nurses and social workers and pumping, and basically trying to keep things together, I did not really share many of my feelings with her. I think I felt the need to not burden her. I felt bad enough about the whole situation [this was one of my problems- I felt the need to apologize to everyone for putting a (what might be conveived as) less-than-perfect child into the world.] But then I started thinking about how she must feel. Here she was, in a country far away from her home, with me not there a whole lot, and not sharing any information. This lasted only one day or 2, I decided to just go ahead and level with her, talk to her like I would to a good girlfriend. We went to lunch and had a good talk. It was good. We laughed and cried, and both felt good. She was such an awesome support for me throughout the time she was here, it was so nice. We also had good times, we invited friends over a couple of times and she fit right in. Funny, I sometimes forgot she is not even half my age. How cool to have a sister!
Liselot was with us from Nov 12- Dec 12. She and Marco got along like a house on fire (may not be the best expression to use for a fire fighter's wife, but oh well). Liselot pretty much gets along with kids anyway, they really like her. She is a pretty popular baby sitter back at home from what I hear.
Little did we know how emotional and interesting and good this stay would be. For a 17 year old, she shows a lot of maturity. Initially, when the Ds diagnosis came, and I was rushing back & forth to the NICU, meeting with doctors and nurses and social workers and pumping, and basically trying to keep things together, I did not really share many of my feelings with her. I think I felt the need to not burden her. I felt bad enough about the whole situation [this was one of my problems- I felt the need to apologize to everyone for putting a (what might be conveived as) less-than-perfect child into the world.] But then I started thinking about how she must feel. Here she was, in a country far away from her home, with me not there a whole lot, and not sharing any information. This lasted only one day or 2, I decided to just go ahead and level with her, talk to her like I would to a good girlfriend. We went to lunch and had a good talk. It was good. We laughed and cried, and both felt good. She was such an awesome support for me throughout the time she was here, it was so nice. We also had good times, we invited friends over a couple of times and she fit right in. Funny, I sometimes forgot she is not even half my age. How cool to have a sister!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Some background and some stuff I left out of earlier posts...
Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope this will be a good one for all of us.
It was pointed out to me that I left out some vital info about Annelies, mostly because I was so glad that her health is so good...
At birth she weighed 8 lbs. She was born at 40 5/7 weeks of gestation. She was 19 3/4 inches long.
At 4 weeks (on Dec 30), she weighed 9.6 lbs and was 21 3/4 inches long. These stats put her in the 80-90 percentile for baby girls. The Pediatrician suggested we can keep her on the regular charts until her growth changes, then we can use the ones generated especially for people with Ds. I am good with that, I know that she will not be expected to be as tall as I am, but maybe she will be tall for a person with Ds. Even with my son, I checked him on the charts really closely the first year or so, then I started to relax about it. As long as they eat healthy (Marco likes vegetables and fruit) and are active, I don't want to be too freaked out about their growth & weight.
Since I was 37 when I became pregnant, I did the first trimester triple screen. I was well aware of the stats for Ds, because I went through the testing with Marco. (Marco will be 2 on Jan 21st). The triple screen came back with 1 in 470 odds for Ds, and 1 in 7000 for T18. (With Marco they had been similar). Odds at my age alone would be 1 in 130, so I felt really good about the new numbers (they had been similar for Marco). These numbers gave me no reason to do an amnio (besides, I heard that an amnio carries risks with it in itself). The 20 week echo revealed nothing wrong, all the measurements were normal. I had 2 heart echo's also, this is due to a heart issue my Dad has that I disclosed on my medical information. Annelies had no heart problems (At that time I had no idea that heart problems happen to such a large percentage of kids with Ds).
Back in the fall, I was watching election coverage on TV (there was nothing else on) and I remember seeing Sarah Palin with her little guy. I remember wondering how in the world she could be so upbeat and positive, and thought: "If I had a baby with Ds I would NOT be able to handle it". The next thought was (as I looked at my stomach): "What if you DO have a baby with Ds?" Then: " Nah...the tests came back so well...one never gets dealt more in life than one can handle, so I REALLY don't have to worry about it." Now I look back and think that this was some kind of gut feeling. Really weird and interesting.
I guess no matter how you vote, it was nice to see Ds be brought to the mainstream public vision a little bit more, and I hope to see more of it (and will find ways to work on that).
With the tests the way they were, I just know Annelies is meant to be here. Had the test results been squirrely, we would have had such a difficult time, especially because neither Aaron nor I knew a thing about Ds. If I allow myself to think about it, it freaks me out that I might have let myself be swayed towards a decision I could have regretted for the rest of my life. The way she 'squeeked' under the wire with all the tests just shows that she was not only meant to be here, but determined to be here.
It was pointed out to me that I left out some vital info about Annelies, mostly because I was so glad that her health is so good...
At birth she weighed 8 lbs. She was born at 40 5/7 weeks of gestation. She was 19 3/4 inches long.
At 4 weeks (on Dec 30), she weighed 9.6 lbs and was 21 3/4 inches long. These stats put her in the 80-90 percentile for baby girls. The Pediatrician suggested we can keep her on the regular charts until her growth changes, then we can use the ones generated especially for people with Ds. I am good with that, I know that she will not be expected to be as tall as I am, but maybe she will be tall for a person with Ds. Even with my son, I checked him on the charts really closely the first year or so, then I started to relax about it. As long as they eat healthy (Marco likes vegetables and fruit) and are active, I don't want to be too freaked out about their growth & weight.
Since I was 37 when I became pregnant, I did the first trimester triple screen. I was well aware of the stats for Ds, because I went through the testing with Marco. (Marco will be 2 on Jan 21st). The triple screen came back with 1 in 470 odds for Ds, and 1 in 7000 for T18. (With Marco they had been similar). Odds at my age alone would be 1 in 130, so I felt really good about the new numbers (they had been similar for Marco). These numbers gave me no reason to do an amnio (besides, I heard that an amnio carries risks with it in itself). The 20 week echo revealed nothing wrong, all the measurements were normal. I had 2 heart echo's also, this is due to a heart issue my Dad has that I disclosed on my medical information. Annelies had no heart problems (At that time I had no idea that heart problems happen to such a large percentage of kids with Ds).
Back in the fall, I was watching election coverage on TV (there was nothing else on) and I remember seeing Sarah Palin with her little guy. I remember wondering how in the world she could be so upbeat and positive, and thought: "If I had a baby with Ds I would NOT be able to handle it". The next thought was (as I looked at my stomach): "What if you DO have a baby with Ds?" Then: " Nah...the tests came back so well...one never gets dealt more in life than one can handle, so I REALLY don't have to worry about it." Now I look back and think that this was some kind of gut feeling. Really weird and interesting.
I guess no matter how you vote, it was nice to see Ds be brought to the mainstream public vision a little bit more, and I hope to see more of it (and will find ways to work on that).
With the tests the way they were, I just know Annelies is meant to be here. Had the test results been squirrely, we would have had such a difficult time, especially because neither Aaron nor I knew a thing about Ds. If I allow myself to think about it, it freaks me out that I might have let myself be swayed towards a decision I could have regretted for the rest of my life. The way she 'squeeked' under the wire with all the tests just shows that she was not only meant to be here, but determined to be here.
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