We would also like to thank everyone for coming for his birthday party last week. Everyone here had a great time!

Bone growth was excellent, and he’s well on his way to full recovery. No second cast needed. All clear, he’s OK, and we can go home and be normal again!

Though his radius still looks crooked in the x-ray, we’re told that it will straighten back out fully on its own, growing and shedding bone as necessary to adjust to the correct positioning. At his age, we’re told that takes 3-4 months or so. The bone growth is very obvious in the x-ray; you can see a large mass of new growth covering the areas where the break occurred.

The skin on his arm is a little bit chapped and dry, but that will resolve itself in no time as well with a bath and some lotion.

One other thing we’ll be watching is whether he goes back to being a right-handed eater like he was before the cast; he’s gotten pretty used to eating as a lefty lately, with both his hands and with utensils.

We went out to eat after his cast removal, and he kept raising both arms and dancing to the music. I think he’s happy to have his arm back. He’s still being a little bit guarded with it, but it’s just become habit these last few weeks from not using it fully; he’ll get over that quickly. He was giving high-fives and scratching his head and ear at dinner… and quite pleased with himself. Yay!

Benjamin wrote his first-ever letter to Santa to put out with the cookies and milk last night on Christmas Eve. Or, rather, Dad asked Benjamin what he wanted to say to Santa, Benjamin told Dad, and Dad wrote most of it, except for a couple of bits Benjamin insisted he write himself; he focused so very hard writing the bits he did, and it was incredibly cute…

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas!

Hi. I’ve been a good boy this year. My brother Zachary was a good boy this year, too.

[Benjamin scribbles, saying each word out loud as he slowly, carefully writes...] (”It’s a good cookie.”)

Mommy has been a good girl, and Daddy was a good guy. Owen and Ollie and Laura and Lydia were good, too. Nana and Papa were good, too.

Merry Christmas.

[Benjamin scribbles, saying each word out loud as he slowly, carefully writes...] (”I was a good boy.”)

Santa, thank you for the presents.

We love you, Santa.

– Benjamin, Zachary, Mommy, Daddy and Yoda… (and [long list of cousins, aunts and uncles here])

Bye!

Awesome, right?  :)

We hope you had a great 2008…and we hope you have an even better 2009. Take care, everyone–we love you all.

Initially, in the early evening of December 16th, both he and Benjamin were sitting in the chair together. Benjamin got down to do something else. Zachary leaned over the side of the chair to see where his brother went, and boom, down he went.

He wasn’t acting like he’d broken anything. He rarely cries as it is, so it was hard to really determine if there was something seriously wrong or if he had just scared himself. Until the next morning, anyway, when we started to notice he wasn’t putting weight on his arm… He was climbing up the stairs, but using his right elbow instead of his entire arm. He was grabbing at things and picking things up, trying to use his arm and his hand, but heavy things (like a full sippy cup or a book) were things he couldn’t hold, and he was dropping them. Uh-oh.

The fall was less than a foot and a half to the floor. Really. He apparently landed Just Right™. He’s certainly had bigger, more dramatic falls before…

So we called our pediatrician, who normally offers appointments same-day for the serious stuff. We couldn’t get in; our doc was apparently on a half-day, and there just weren’t any slots open. Very disappointing (thanks, nurse!). Ended up with an appointment with him the following morning, got some x-rays, and confirmed a clean break of his right radius. Plain as day to see on the x-ray. After some calling around, he finally tracked down a orthopedic specialist who could see him and cast the arm.

Anyway, the arm is casted. The break, it turns out, is both bones in his right forearm, and not just the radius. The ulna is also fractured; it wasn’t as obvious on the x-ray, but the ortho doctor noticed it right away. No setting of the bones was required; straightforward, clean breaks. The cast is waterproof, and the lining under it is Gore-Tex, so he can take baths and even go swimming. He’s already had a couple of baths, and the water runs right out and it’s not been a problem at all.

You’ll notice he was casted up past his elbow; casts on kids can (and do) fall or slip off, or get pried/pulled off, so they go ahead and cast past the elbow to help hold the thing in place and prevent accidental removal/separation. Zachary would definitely try to pull it off, or at least play with it until it came off.

We were told bones heal at the rate of approximately 1week per year of age. So Zachary’s arm should be OK in about a week and a half. That’s… amazing.

We have an appointment again in three weeks to remove the cast, take another batch of x-rays to confirm it’s healed, and hopefully be done. Let’s hope so! It’s been a couple of days now since he got the cast, and he’s definitely felt frustrated. The red-PJ pic here is a great example from his first day with his cast: when he can’t reach something, or can’t put his right hand to his mouth to eat or touch his face at all, he gets a little upset. Can’t blame him… For the most part, though, he’s adjusting just fine. We knew he would; it’s just What He Does™.

Neither Mom nor Dad have been casted before, so we really were not directly familiar with the process. Turns out it’s quite simple and pretty quick. We’re trying hard not to feel like bad parents, of course. These things happen, and there’s really nothing you can do to stop them. We live, we learn, we keep on going, and growing as a result. :)

It’s worth noting (again) that Zachary is pulling really, really hard on Santa’s very real beard in this picture. Poor St. Nick… That look on his face? Pure pain. We apologized, of course, but it was pretty darn funny…

It’s strange looking at this picture, as both kids have grown up so much since it was taken. Zachary’s walking now. Benjamin’s in gymnastics classes, knows all his numbers and letters… Their growth this past year has been pretty amazing.

More holiday pictures on the way as we get them processed and uploaded. Those of you that end up with our photo Christmas card–going out Any Day Now™–we hope you enjoy that, too.  Happy Holidays!

It’s been a really interesting year this past year having a second child. Mostly, it’s been challenging, trying to wrangle two boys instead of one. It’s really not even close to twice the work… it’s more like four times the work. It’s important to understand, though, that it’s been totally, totally worth all of it.

Zachary is an amazing, expressive boy. Smiles and laughs all the time. Really easy-going and mellow. He’s not yet walking (which Benjamin had been doing for a couple months or so at this point in his life), but he’s cruising, standing a lot, and definitely wants to walk. He’s getting there, and it likely won’t be long at all.

Not much else to say, really. Zachary’s a great kid, and we’re really happy we have him. Benjamin loves him to death, and Zachary certainly loves his big brother. We couldn’t be happier or more proud of them both.

Party on Saturday Sunday!

Update: The party was a great success! Thanks everyone for coming, sending cards, calling, etc. We really appreciate it!

Eventually, he stopped doing it, and we were relieved.

Zachary, on the other hand, is a regular thumbsucker…but only when he wants something. He doesn’t suck his thumb unless he is hungry or tired…or, well, both.

He sucks his thumb while he eats his cereal or whatever, too, but we think this falls under the “hungry” category. With each new spoonful of food, he follows it in with his thumb and sucks, and it appears to help him ingest the food. And yeah, it sometimes makes things a bit messy. But it also seems to help him get the food in and down, and he pulls his thumb out when he’s ready to take in more spoonfuls of food, so we just don’t worry about it.

The net result of basically letting the thumb sucking while eating thing go is that it’s less hassle than it was before when we were constantly trying to control it with Benjamin. It’s proven to be one of those choose-your-battles things that we’ve decided to just let go.

We’re not experts of any sort, so do whatever you want with your own children…but from our perspective, if your infant can’t stop sticking their thumb back in their mouth after every spoonful of food, well, just let him or her do it. Engage with your baby–talking, smiling, etc–and you’ll find that all that thumb-related hassle was mostly created by you and not your little eater.

For us, everyone–everyone–is soooo much happier in the end.

And of course, you still need to watch your baby and see if they’re engaging in extreme sucking of thumb or pacifier that might affect their development of new teeth or jaw, etc. Zachary isn’t strong or frequent with his sucking, so we’re not worried…and like Benjamin, we anticipate the thumb need will eventually just vanish on its own.

Where does the time go?

Mom held him still, but he was pretty well-behaved, really, most of the time. Remember, he’s not quite 9 months old yet.;)

Thanks to his great-aunt Diane for doing the work!

UPDATE:  We thought you might enjoy a ‘before’ picture (from the week prior to his cut):

and an ‘after’ picture from right after the cut:

Awesome!

We’ve been really busy. New job, new house soon (!), lots of packing, and just getting a lot of Big Stuff(tm) taken care of lately.

Sure, it sounds like a line, but it’s really true. And we’re really, really sorry.

Benjamin’s super-excited about the new house. He’s stoked to have a new room, and a new house, with a new yard, a giant wooden play set in the yard with a slide and swings, and lots and lots of room. He’s also pretty excited about our decision to get a kitten once we’re in the house, and to befriend some new neighbor kids to play with.

Zachary continues to grow and smile and laugh. He’s almost crawling, but not being able to crawl doesn’t stop him from moving across 25 feet of floor in just a couple seconds, rolling and twisting his way from Point A to Point B. He eats well and plays well. We’re very pleased with his growth and his demeanor. It’s so strange to see him in Benjamin’s not-really-all-that-old clothes…

So that’s a quickie update. More soon after we move and get unpacked and settled in. The next few weeks are going to be busy!

It went really well; he really enjoyed the peas, happily smacking his lips with each spoonful. His reaction to the first taste was more like “hey, what IS that, I don’t know that!”, but he had already recovered by his very next bite.

We’ll do peas for a few more days (4 days per food starting out, according to the pediatrician, to stay on top of any possible allergic reactions), and then switch it up a bit with some sweet potatoes or something.

And in case you’ve forgotten or are trying to remember, Benjamin’s first real food was peas, too…

And yes, Zachary is six months old today, too. Where does the time go?

It wasn’t much earlier tonight, but it was enough. About a tablespoon of dry rice cereal, mixed with breastmilk, fairly thinly. For his first time, it probably seemed like a lot to him! He wasn’t quite as adept as Benjamin was at taking it in his first time, but he did a pretty good job for his first time.

Benjamin started rice cereal right around five months, too. And yeah, our pediatrician told us at four months to start, with both kids, but we waited both times because we’ve read solids shouldn’t start until at least six months, or later. Both were (and Zachary continues to be) breastfed, so we feel fine with it all.

Anyway, we’re pretty excited to be moving into Zachary’s next big phase of existence.

Croup for Benjamin for sure, and a cold for Zachary as well (along with Zachary’s ‘mystery rash’). They both seem pretty miserable, and Dad’s not much better. Not much the pediatrician could do for them, either.

We had planned to get some pictures done this week, but that’s been rescheduled for now.

If the party date/time changes, we’ll certainly let you know, but for now, that, at least, is still on schedule. Hopefully they’ll be cleared up by then.

He’s looking and doing great! He is still looking older than he really is–probably around 6 months old in appearance due to his size. He’s not at all fat, he’s just… more developed. People can’t believe he’s as young as he is for the size he is…and of course given his headstart being so big at birth, it’s not really that surprising!

He’s doing a lot more looking around, babbling, recognizing voices and faces, and in the last couple of days, he seems to have noticed that he has feet. Very cool. He’s such a mellow, easy-going baby… He found his thumb a couple of weeks ago now, so he self-soothes as necessary, and puts himself to sleep. He’s ticklish, and giggles. He can relax on his own for incredible lengths of time compared to his older brother at the same age. He can also roll over to his side already… and from the looks of things, it won’t be too much longer before he’s all the way over. Wow!

Yes, pictures (and more…!) are coming!