Book Review: The New Perimenopause

Title: The New Perimenopause: An Evidence Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again

Author: Mary Claire Haver, MD

Publisher: Rodale Books (An imprint of Harmony/Rondale/Convergent books division of Penguin Random House)

Publication Date: April 7, 2026

I was one of the first to check this book out from the library. I don't know what the original book cover was like, but the one that the library put on it is nice and sturdy. This is a meaty book with lots of pages of information printed in moderately large text on heavy paper stock. The covers are sturdy chipboard. It is obvious that the binding is a combination of sewn and glued. Signatures were sewn together before being glued together and into the binding proper. The paper stock has a hand to it that makes me think that the paper has a high fiber content. I can't identify what typefonts were used, but they have moderately large text that is clear and easy to read. The sidebars and callouts in the text was a slightly smaller typefont from the main text, but equally easy to read. For readability on the basis of the physical characteristics of the book this is a 10/10.

A general overview of the book is a detailed discussion of the symptoms, treatments, and lifestyle options for anyone in perimenopause. There is a combination of anecdotal and statistical evidence presented to support the premises that doctor Haver puts forth. Every chapter covers what the current guidelines and knowledge base discuss on the titular topic, puts forth alternative arguments, and then lays out the evidence to support the alternatives before summarizing each chapter. This structure is well established in scientific writing and when definitions of terms are needed, they're given in sidebars that work to enhance the reading experience.

The really nice thing about this book is the affirmative tone and the approach that perimenopause is not the beginning of the end of life but rather a transition point where you can make decisions that improve your life long health on all fronts. The discussion of symptomology is nuanced and patient (reader) focused. It covers the stereotypical symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings as well as the more obscure symptoms like changes in appetite. Dr. Haver relates not only the stories of patients and participants in studies but also her own experience of perimenopause in plain English. Where technical terms come up, she breaks them down into simple definitions.

This is especially helpful in the chapters where she explains the biological and neurochemical processes of perimenopause, also in the chapter where she details what hormone therapy is and how it works. Dr. Haver comes back to the topic of hormone therapy as a main theme when the discussion of treatment is approached. She does not, however, state that hormone therapy is the only modality that can be used to treat perimenopausal symptoms. She gives detailed synopses of the role of nutrition, exercise, mental health treatment, and supplements in helping perimenopausal people through the chaotic transition period that is perimenopause.

There is some names called out in the field of medicine that Dr. Haver works in (women's health) who have published before her on topics adjacent to perimenopause for the general public and have published academic research that supports the arguments that Dr. Haver put forth in her work. Dr. Haver makes very clear that the traditional approach to perimenopause is woefully inadequate for clinicians and patients. She rightfully pins that lapse of a body of work for people to work with on the bias in medicine and sciences towards the male body as the default through out history. While this book is a guide book for patients and the general public, Dr. Haver doesn't shy away from inviting others in the medical community to the discussion with a repeatedly stated goal of improving women's health beyond their fertile years.

I found this book reassuring as I myself am in this transition period. I learned a lot about how my body works and the interplay between different hormones during this transition. I found validation where I was expecting a fairly dry text about hormone therapy and symptoms. Dr. Haver treats the subject with honesty, delicacy, and a refreshing look at the medical community's evolving approach to perimenopause. It gives me hope that women who are going through 'the change' will have their dignity and health at the forefront of the discussion. 

NaBloPoMo: Preemie Hat Pattern for Charity

For a few years now, I have been making preemie hats for the local hospitals. They work up about as quickly as a washcloth. I use acrylic, worsted weight yarn and a size 'h' hook. I don't knit them because I'm terrible at knitting in the round on double pointed needles. I am a slow knitter as well, which makes the project a source of frustration. 

Acrylic yarn is hypoallergenic, which is super important for preemies because their immature immune system. You don't want to use fuzzy or extra fluffy baby yarn for these hats. The basic yarn is what you want because the other yarns are overstimulating for their still developing nervous system. I don't use baby yarn because the holes in the hat are bigger given that the yarn is thinner than the sport/worsted weight yarn. We want to have the holes small to help the babies keep their heads warm. While you could use a smaller hook to make the hat with the thinner yarn, it makes the project just as annoying as knitting it for me.

Starting chain: Chain 30 stitches plus 1 to turn.

Rows 1-60: Work single crochet into every stitch.
Bind off at end of row 60 with a long tail.

Fold hat in half and whip stitch to the corner where the fold is. Bind off and break yarn.
With another length of yarn, whip stitch from where the end of row 60 and starting chain meet to the corner where the fold is. Bind off and break yarn.

This size hat will fit a 3 - 5 lb preemie. You want your hat long enough to cover the preemie's eyes when they're under the bilirubin lights in their incubator. This will protect their vision from the effects of the lights. 

NaBloPoMo: Ideas evaporate.

I had insomnia last night. As I laid in bed trying desperately to sleep, I had all of these grand ideas for my serial stories and how to resolve a quandary in the book I'm currently stalled on. I then fell asleep and woke up with only vague memories of the over arching theme of it. It was most vexing. I consoled myself with cuddling next to Beloved and taking a morning nap after my youngest son was out the door and off to school.

I would keep a notebook beside the bed but the last time I did that, my insomnia got worse because I sat up writing. If I were in my 20s, I would bounce back from losing a few hours of sleep writing in the middle of the night. At 47, that doesn't work so well.

NaBloPoMo: My brain hates me.

I woke up today at 0630 and thought I was going to have a productive day. It is currently 2034 (8:34 pm) and I have just begun my writing for the day. I spent most of my day just staring blankly at the computer, the snow falling outside, or my coffee cup. I just had my brain go blank. Did a few errands, so the day was not a complete waste. I wasn't happy with the situation. Beloved tells me to be patient with myself and the process. He tells me to keep in mind that I'm out of practice at doing this stuff. I get grumpy at that fact. But, it is a fact that I can't avoid. It's why I have nothing written at all for NaNoWriMo. 

NaNoWriMo & NaBloPoMo: The wind's shifted.

NaNoWriMo word count: still 0 (it's hard to find time to work on a manuscript right now.)

This morning, I had to step out to run an errand. The first thing that struck me as I stepped out the front door was I could smell snow on the wind. The lower atmosphere is too warm for snow to fall but those clouds are billowing up above. The low tonight is supposed to be 33 deg F. That's just above freezing but I think it might dip into the freezing zone. I don't think we'll wake up to everything blanketed in snow (or ice). But that raw, bitter cold is on it's way in the immediate future.

In some ways this is reassuring. Before climate change kicked into high gear, we'd typically get our first snowfall somewhere between the last week of October and Thanksgiving. The last several years of unusually warm Novembers has had me concerned. I'm a farmer's daughter and I tend to look at the weather patterns from the perspective of how it is going to influence the growing season. It's just something I grew up doing and never really stopped.

We're currently in a serious drought. Whatever precipitation we get would be helpful. Last winter we ended in a drought. It doesn't make sense to say that we were in a drought in winter, but we were. The growing season started late this year because of the flooding and lots of mud that we had in the early spring when planting usually goes on. The summer left us shy of rain and a lot of fields were stunted because of it. When the corn being grown barely comes to your shoulder and in a good year it's taller than you are, it's a rough season.

Surprisingly, there was enough of a harvest that the next town over was still able to hold their annual corn festival like there was no problem. I'm hoping the farmers around were able to get a decent profit off of their corn. It seems like more of that stunted corn was chopped up for silage to be fed to the dairy cattle during the winter than was brought to market to be sold for human consumption. There's a bigger problem than my region's drought, however.

The western and midwestern US have been in extraordinary drought conditions for a couple of years. This is making it hard to grow enough produce, grains, and feed for livestock. As a result, we're operating on a beef shortage for at least the last year. I think the reason why the president is sinking money into the Argentinian economy is because their major export is beef. That's the only logical reason I can come up with.

All these tariffs are hurting the economy here. With bad growing seasons and a major drought spreading slowing across the country, only a fool who is disconnected from where their food comes from would be making these policies. I can only hope and pray for rain or snow. The rest of it falls out where ever the dice land. I'm frustrated that I wasn't well enough to keep a garden this year or do any food preservation. The victory gardens of old are starting to make a comeback as people are doing their best to learn how to preserve their food. People can smell trouble on the wind. It's going to be more than a bad snow storm.

NaNoWriMo &NaBloPoMo: The rules are all made up!

 NaNoWriMo Word Count: 0

 I had a minor freak out yesterday over all of this. It didn't help my migraine any. I panicked that I wasn't going to be able to write again. It had been so long since I had a productive streak on any front that I was afraid that I lost my voice and my ability to tell a story. It wasn't pretty. I ugly cried in the bathroom where no one could hear me for a bit.

 Then a realization hit me. The only one putting pressure on me was myself. It was a rather silly feeling to realize that. I wasn't on a deadline. There wasn't a paycheck waiting for me to meet one. We're not dependent on my writing to pay the bills, keep the lights on, or get groceries. There wasn't anyone stomping their foot and throwing a temper tantrum. It was just my anxiety running riot. It has been doing that a lot over the last year.

I can do my NaBloPoMo posts and work on my NaNoWriMo word count at separate times. I don't need to sit down for 4 hours and write. (Your butt goes numb at about hour 2.5, ask me how I know.) I can write a bit here and there. I just have to schedule and stick to it. There's lots of random downtime in a week that I can use to write a whole lot of words. No need to panic.

NaBloPoMo meme edition with cats!

 I have been stalled on everything. It doesn't help that I've had a migraine for the last 4 freaking days. I blame the weather.

NaNoWriMo & NaBloPoMo meme edition

 

AW: Morning Pgs. 2025: Day 30

 So, I get mad. I resolve to write more. And then life throws stuff like having to get the apartment sprayed for bugs by an exterminator in my way. I am more than a little annoyed. I want to write but it is proving difficult with all these appointments and situations getting in the way. All of this, on top of the existing exhaustion side effects problem. I have completely reshuffled my schedule so I can be awake longer during the day but I am still pretty tired. I also am going to bed at around 2000 (8pm) which is somewhat insulting. I am officially the first person in my household to go to bed. But I am sleeping through the night and waking up with my alarm.

Have I mentioned that I have a CPAP? I don't like the thing very much. It's uncomfortable and awkward to wear at night. I am managing 5 hours wearing it at night. I guess that is progress. I'm not waking up in the night feeling like I'm about to have an asthma attack. I was thinking that was because of my allergies being hellish right now. It turns out that was my sleep apnea. When I sleep, I stop breathing 11 times per minute. I kinda wonder how long this has been going on because there are family stories about my having problems breathing as an infant. There seems to be a correlation between being born preemie and having sleep apnea. Who knows. Enough ranting, time for me to get going on my first task of the day. I'm glad I was able to sneak in a little writing this morning.

AW:Morning Pgs 2025: Day 29

 Hello dear Reader,

Part of my silence has been because I've been busy off line with a ton of stuff. More of it has been fear. I was afraid that my blogs would be shut down because the content wasn't inline with the christo-facist bullshit being peddled by the government. When I realized that was the root of my silence, I got mad. I was almost angry enough to throw things. I took an Xanax and did some deep breathing to calm myself down. My anxiety medication is a blessing and works very well. (Have I mentioned that my anxiety has been just about off the chart for months now?)

I am not going to let fear of being deplatformed stop me. I have always spoken out against villainy and oppressive bullshit. I am going to become a bit more political in my posting here. Look for that content in my morning pages. I may lose readership over this. Honestly, it can't be too many more than how much readership I lost by not joining X after Elon Musk took over Twitter. Or the readership that I lost by just not writing for a little over a year. I don't care much, either way, to be frank.

I am quite likely going to cross post this entry on my other blogs. It's a bit lazy but it saves me from typing out the same message several times. I am going to attempt to resume daily themed posts starting tomorrow. I've been pushing myself to be up and moving in the morning around the time my youngest child heads off to school. My anxiety medication kicks me in the teeth and I often take a nap after he gets on the bus, but if I'm lucky, it'll only be a short one and I'll be moving around and doing stuff at 9am. 

AW:Morning Pgs 2025: Day 28

Hello everyone. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in months. Life has been challenging and my brain has not been cooperative. Since June, I've been having a lot of problems with my anxiety. I realized that part of the problem was the fact that I was reading the news. I have spent the last week abstaining from reading the news and my anxiety has improved somewhat. I am not sure how to feel about that.

I know that it is important to keep an eye on what the government is doing. I can feel the weight of that on me as both a student of history and the person who was groomed to be the family historian. It is a headache to try to reconcile those things with my mental health issues. Some days, literally. But in the face of everything, I have been stalled out in all of my writing efforts. I feel guilty about that.

I don't know if it is because I'm in my late 40s and my brain isn't quite as quick as it was when I was younger or if it is because I've reached the stress level that my brain won't function properly. I'm in therapy. I'm taking my medications. I'm doing what I can for my physical health. I guess I'm doing about 80% of the things I should be doing right. But the brain just doesn't want to cooperate with cranking out fiction, fact, or random rants. 

I have been given a few ideas to work with. Hopefully they'll lead to my coming back to my blogs with more work soon. I am so desperate for something to work and help me get my mojo back. I know I'm not depressed. I'm damn tired because of medication side effects and anxious as hell, which has been kicking the hornet's nest known as my C-PTSD. Hence my not reading the news for the last week. I'll figure something, please don't give up on me. I'm trying really hard, it's just not working yet.

AW:Morning Pages 2025: Day 27?

I don't know about all y'all but my life has been bananas. First there was the business of going to the doctor back in May and finding out that my heart rate had jumped to near 130. So, he put me on a beta-blocker which has had me feeling exhausted, spaced out, and struggling to concentrate. Writing has become a major challenge/accomplishment(?). 

Then there was the matter of challenging my disability claim's denial. I had a ton of paperwork to fill out and my anxiety was all over the map on that one. The fine folks at LawNY are helping me out. I'm nervous about all this stuff but my anxiety over this isn't half as bad as my anxiety over getting paperwork done for the kids to get them on Medicaid so they can work with OPWDD.

And on top of all of this, my eldest child, my Cuddle Bear graduated high school. He has been in vacation mode for the last month. It's driving me batty. He talks about wanting to get his learner's permit but has made no move in that direction. He talks about wanting to start a business mowing lawns or getting a job with a landscaping company, but, again, has made no movement in that direction. If you're curious about what Cuddle Bear looks like, here's a pic:

And yes, all that curl in the previously straight hair is natural. I had curly hair when I was a little kid, then it straightened out. In his case, the opposite happened. Who knows if Snuggle Bug inherited the curly hair gene or not.

AW: Morning Pgs. 2025: Day 26

For the first time in ages, I'm actually organized enough to get this written. Things are getting hectic as we approach June and Cuddle Bear's upcoming graduation. There's only six tickets that can be used to get in to see him graduate in the auditorium. That means that there's going to be some pissed off relatives. I don't really care about that. I'm just glad that he decided he wanted to go through with walking across the stage and receiving his diploma that way instead of through the mail.

Driver's education classes are looking like they're not going to happen this year. We simply have run out of time to get him his learner's permit. Cuddle Bear will not want to cuddle after hearing that news. I am just tired of running to make things happen for the kids. So, I'm not going to feel guilt over this because I was doing most of the work for him to make it happen. Beloved made a great point, Cuddle Bear has to decide if he is going to be an adult about this and make it happen.

Snuggle Bug has made no noises about learning to drive yet. He's mentioned some cars that he wants to have because he thinks they look cool. I can get behind this. I have cars that I think look really nifty. But he isn't interested in driving yet. So, before any conversations about owning a vehicle happens, he has to learn how to operate one safely. Cuddle Bear knows exactly what vehicle he wants, his late grandfather's truck. Getting him to do the legwork for this driver's ed. class has been like pulling hen's teeth. This is why there's been zero discussion about the truck. 

AW: Morning (somewhere) pgs. 2025: Day 25?

 I did not drop off the face of the earth. My doctor put me on a beta blocker with some side effects that mimic the symptoms of depression for me. It's been hard for me to find energy to write, do housework, or even just read a book. My ability to focus is pretty much shot. I just sit and stare trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing.

Now is not the time for that sort of thing. My eldest son has things coming up to get ready for graduation. We also have to get him his learner's permit so that he can take the driver's education class this summer. I have a ton of paperwork to do for myself and the kids to get things sorted out for supports that they need. When I should be working on all of this stuff, I am sleeping on the couch or sitting infront of the computer spaced out. I am, to say the least, frustrated with the situation.

I don't fully understand why my resting heart rate is now high enough to require this. It could be stress or anxiety. I have more than my share of that. I am making dietary changes to make my diet more heart friendly. Because the requirements for a heart healthy diet are not too different from a diabetic healthy diet, it is not requiring too many changes. But all of this is fairly vexing and I just don't have time for one more chronic condition to get in my way. I have too much to do.

AW: Morning Pgs. 2025: Day 24

I desperately hope I can brain up something decent to write. I feel uninspired and rather hopeless. Looking at the situation my country is in and the course it is moving along, I can't help but feel like there's nothing I can do. It's a train wreck and I can't look away. I just don't know, folks, what any of us can do right now with these insane people in charge right now. I see people taking to the streets and protesting. I know there are letter writing campaigns going on. I know that people are lighting up the switchboard at Congress with their calls. But nothing is changing. We're still going along at full bore into hell.

I honestly believe that war is going to break out. The question is will it be civil war or will it be war with another nation. Either one is a possibility. I am apprehensive about the SAVE act. As a married woman, my right to vote is going to be stripped away because I took my husband's last name. They're claiming that it is to protect the country from voting fraud but that's not really the motivation here. The power players behind this bill believe that women should be in the home, barefoot and pregnant. They're working to strip away the rights that their grandmothers fought for. I don't think they even realize what they're doing.

I don't know. I really don't know anymore. I kept telling myself for years that this day was going to come even when people called me crazy for it. All that worrying, however, didn't yield much of a plan. Planting a garden and canning food is all I've got for ideas on how to handle this. Hunkering down and basically trying to weather the storm with old time skills and such. Because I think that's the only thing that's going to carry us through what's coming.

AW: Morning Pgs. 2025: Day 23

I haven't been well over the last few days. My arthritis has been acting up and I had a migraine yesterday. Throw on top of it all how the gloomy weather has made my depression act up and it's just been hard to have the motivation to do much of anything. The biggest problem, honestly, was the arthritis. My neck was hurting so badly I could barely turn my head. Sleep was challenging as a result.

I think the surreal nightmares that I had last night (for example, of filling out a job application) were due to a combination of the migraine medication wearing off, stress, and my body generally hating me. Every time I woke up, I was utterly confused as to why the dream was so terrifying. I mean, I am not the world's biggest fan of paperwork but a job application was evoking absolute terror in that dream. I don't think there's a deeper meaning to it. It'd be one thing if this was a recurring theme. It was just a strange night.

I forgot to use my CPAP last night. That may have contributed to the problem. I find the thing uncomfortable to wear. I truly dislike it. But when I don't use it, I have problems with my sleep. Apparently, when the sleep study was done last year, I stopped breathing 11 times per minute. Not as bad as some other people, but you're not supposed to stop breathing when you're sleeping at all. Breathing is supposed to continue, kinda like your heartbeat.

AW: Morning pgs. 2025: Day 22

 I have given up all hope of getting these pages done every morning. I will do the best I can but life keeps kicking me in the teeth. Theoretically, today I will have time to do some 'serious' writing. I am going to hope that I can manage it but I feel doubtful. My home is a mess. I have been trying to get cleaning done but as much as I finish, the kids come along and leave a mess. The sink is full of dishes that my eldest insists needs to soak before he can wash them. This includes all of the silverware except for about four spoons. If I don't wash it, it won't get done.

My youngest has been supposed to clean his room for a half hour every day. He takes the timer in there and shuts the door. To me there is no change in the state of chaos in there but he insists that it is cleaner when he comes out. I suspect he's in there reading comic books. Not that I was a child who would spend most of their assigned cleaning time reading. ;)

I am so worn out and I have no idea why. The grey weather hasn't done my mood any favors. I keep hoping for sunshine and warmth but it's not here yet. My brain functions better when the weather is fair and warm. 

AW: Morning Pgs. 2025: Day 21

 Well, I've set my timer into motion and I have music playing but no inspiration. My thoughts are jumbled up. I have some anxiety going on about political stuff. Well, some is a huge understatement but it's there. I also have my mind clicking away at the question of how to prepare for my next depressive episode so that it doesn't knock me down as badly as the last one did. And I am trying to figure out what I need to do so that I can make sure that all the supports I need for the kids are in place for next year. That IEP meeting last week was helpful but there needs to be more.

Aside from worrying about these things, I have a measure of dread regarding a phone call happening this afternoon. I will be talking with an attorney about challenging the denial of my social security claim. Last year and the months of being so out of it that I couldn't function tells me that I couldn't even handle a part time job. It makes me feel like the part of my brain that insists I am lazy is wrong. I have evidence that I can't shake a stick at which proves that I am disabled. It is a big pile of evidence but last year's depressive episode really hammered it home.

I want to be productive. I want to work. But I have to recognize my limits. If I push myself too hard, I'll slide right back into that pit of despair and be useless to anyone. The bare minimum just isn't enough. It is part of the reason why I wasn't cooking daily which lead to my kids losing weight. It made the doctors concerned and they literally ordered that the kids get desserts and snacks whenever they want them. The kids' friends are jealous. I'm just trying to figure out how to make it all work so that the kids have what they need the next time my brain goes haywire.

I'm not half so clever as to have a better plan than using my planner religiously and attempting to be more stubborn than the depression. I'm trying to come up with a better plan than that but I'm not having much success. My mood is stable and ok. Even in the face of the wild anxiety going on. I just have to have a plan for when things go sideways because the guys are depending on me. That includes Beloved, who is super busy between work chaos and helping take care of his elderly mother.

I just don't know what is a good plan. It makes me nervous, to be honest.

AW: Morning Pgs. 2025: Day 20

 My week has been just bananas. A ton of appointments and work eating up my writing time. On the plus side, however, my eldest is making good progress at taking care of his braces and was taught a new technique for getting between tight teeth. He goes back in two weeks to get his wire put on again. In that time, I'm sure he will master the skill.

Housework has been exasperating. I am not sure which pile will topple over and bury me. There is another huge pile of dishes and there is a huge pile of laundry. Of the two, the laundry is taller and more worrisome. At least we managed to get some of the clothes that no longer fit out to the car to be transported to the thrift store and donated. I've been trying to convince the kids to go through their laundry and they have been staunchly resisting me. In some cases, going so far as to put clothes on their stuffed animals to say that they don't have to get rid of it because it fits the bear. This is not going to be an easy battle.

More birds are singing outside. The cardinals still sound like squeaky toys. The goldfinches still bicker over the sunflower chips. And the downy woodpecker still big foots it around and chases the other birds off from the sunflower feeder. We now have a thistle sock to hang up and suet blocks. Those will be going up this weekend. I think that the goldfinches will be mobbing the thistle sock as soon as they figure out it is up and that the woodpecker will be terrifying the squirrels that try to steal from the suet block. Either way, it will be amusing and noisy outside.

It's not warm enough to garden yet but planning is happening. Once the danger of frost is past, there's going to be a lot of work done at my mother-in-law's place and over here. The neighbors in the apartment across the hall are talking about putting in a vegetable garden. I told them where the last tenant in that apartment had their garden and their solution to deer trying to raid young plants. Apparently deer do not appreciate ghost chilies.

Flora & Fauna: Dragon wings?

Dear Reader,

If you have been following the paleontology blogs, I am sure you have heard about recent discoveries and exciting theories. It is sort of a hobby of mine that has been on the back burner. I enjoy collecting fossils. My area of the world is where you can find Devonian era fossils pretty easily. I was spoiled as a kid to go out walking through fields on the farm and finding all kinds of interesting rocks. The running joke in my parents' household was that my room was going to crash down into the one below if I found more rocks. To no one's surprise, I took my rock collection with me off to college and went fossil hunting while I was at college. I donated one of the best samples in my collection to the college's fossil exhibit.

Now, one may wonder what my love of fossils has to do with fantasy creatures like dragons. The old stories of dragons in Europe were based on the discovery of dinosaur fossils. These people tried to make sense of what was discovered and from here was the European dragon lore born. I have a love of mythology and folklore. It is part of the fuel for my fantasy series. The dragons of Evandar are heavily influenced by European dragon lore.

As I thought about it all, I realized pretty early on that my dragons were going to have some aerodynamics problems. While I could just say 'it is fiction and doesn't matter!' I really felt like I had to address them. It doesn't come up in the books at this time because it's all background material and there's no reason for it to be at the forefront of the storyline. This lead me to study birds, bats, and bugs to figure out how they managed to stay up in the air. While the fossil record indicated that many of the dinosaurs discovered in Europe had a heavy bone structure, I realized that my dragons needed a bone structure like birds. 

For a brief moment, I considered if they had feathers but I fell back to the old concept of webbed wings like what you see in bats. The dinosaur concept that I grew up with was that they had scales and they were more like lizards than birds. (More evidence is showing they were more like birds. It's really neat to read about.) I then had the question of how do they fly and how do they stay in the air? That piece of the puzzle didn't fall into place for a long while. Then I read about humming birds. The way they hover in the air is by flapping their wings in a figure 8 motion. This allows them to have greater ability to move in any direction. I knew this immediately was the answer to the question of how dragons fly.

I am planning on inserting a scene where the principle characters are dealing with a dragon in flight and the challenges of confronting one. All of this research and planning is going to make for a really awesome scene to write that I know I'm going to have fun working on.