Evi's 9 Month Appointment

Yesterday, Evs had her 9 month appointment!  How in the world is that even possible!

At her 6 month appointment, she had fallen a bit on her growth curve.  All of my kids have had weight gain issues at some point so I really wasn't too surprised.  I tried to supplement with frozen breastmilk after every feeding, but she wasn't interested except at night before bed.  We started solids around then and she was much more excited about solid foods than she was a bottle so I just tried to plump her up with real food! Sure enough by the time we went in for her flu booster at 7 months, she was back on her growth curve.

Then at the beginning of January, she got RSV and dropped a pound and just as I was getting her back up on weight, she got another virus.  I seriously can't believe how many times she has gotten sick in her short 9 months!  So a couple of weeks ago, I bought some formula to supplement with since I was finding that she would take an ounce or two after I nursed her, but despite supplementing I knew she wasn't gaining weight so I was really ready to talk to her doctor!  Both Finley and Jude downed bottles of formula/breastmilk when they were having weight gain issues so I knew it was a milk supply issue on my end.  With Evi, she just plain isn't that interested!  It's so crazy!

As soon as Dr. K came in, he said "It's not as bad as you think!"  HA!  I started laughing!  He knows me so well.  Despite being in the 3rd percentile in weight, her other measurements were proportional and he thought her solid food intake was actually advanced.  Since she's meeting her milestones, he really isn't worried about her weight.  Obviously, we'll continue supplementing and keep an eye on her weight, but I was so glad that he didn't think there was any reason to be concerned.  I did mention that she has been throwing up a lot since I introduced formula so he gave me some soy to try.  Unfortunately she threw that up as well so I'm not sure what we are going to do now!

Regardless, I am THRILLED to have made it this long breastfeeding my sweet pea and I am so glad that she is developing on schedule!  She is such a happy little girl and I love it!  Both her nurse and Dr. K commented on how happy she was and asked if she is always that way and honestly, the majority of the time she is!  So thankful for my little (and I do mean little! HA!) one!

Jude's 4 Month Appointment

Right before we left for Chicago, I took Jude in for his 4 Month Well Check.... His appointments are still off by two weeks so he was actually 4.5 months old when we went in.  Because of his shots, we won't be able to get his appointments back on track for another couple of months.

Anyway, Jude weighed 12 pounds 5 ounces (3-5 percentile) and was 24 inches long (5-10 percentile).  I had measured him being close to 26 not too long ago so apparently, I need to work on measuring! =)

I am always excited to talk to Dr. K about how everything is going.  I'm very fortunate that both my OB/GYN and our pediatrician never make me feel rushed.  I love that they are always patient enough to answer my questions and give me thorough explanations.  Dr. K not only talked to me about Jude, but also started giving me restaurant advice for our trip!  Love it!  Unfortuantely, the main place he recommended has a 3 MONTH waiting list!  Ha!

Everything looked great with Jude and Dr. K wasn't too concerned about anything, but one of my concerns from the beginning has been my milk supply.  I listed it as one of my questions on the sheet I filled out before being called back to the exam room and when Dr. K came in, he said "Sooo tell me about your milk supply."  So I gave him a brief synopsis... mainly that Jude was doing great during the day... eating every 4 hours and taking 2 hour naps every 4 hours.  That he's alert and achieving milestones, etc.  But at night, after his 3.5 month growth spurt, he hadn't been able to sleep the 9-10 hours he had been sleeping.  I told him that I had started supplementing with breast milk at night, but that he still was waking up and though sometimes it just took a binky to get him back to sleep that I was missing the days prior to the growth spurt.

He kind of smiled and said "When I saw his weight, my main question was whether he was sleeping at night."  He said he's still on his growth curve and since I'm tiny, he said that there was nothing to be concerned about in relation to his weight or my supply unless he wasn't sleeping well.  He said his guess is that he's getting just enough.  That he's growing and developing and doing well with my milk supply, but that it isn't quite enough to get him through the night.  So he gave me several ideas on how to get him sleeping through the night again.

Look at these sad eyes!!!!!  It kills me!

It's been two weeks since his appointment and in the last two nights, we finally seem to have had a breakthrough.  Jude still isn't sleeping as well as he was, but he's now able to go from 7:30 p.m. until 5:00 or 5:30 a.m. with a dream feed at 11:00 p.m.  SOOOO much better and I'm hoping that he will soon be able to make it until 7:00 a.m. again!

Jude did get some immunizations before we left and he handled them pretty well.  He had his initial cry, but then was fine.  When Finley saw his two bandaids (His nurse apologized that she only had girly purple ones!), she was really upset and kept saying "Jude fell down and got two boo-boos on his legs!!!!"  I tried to explain that he had gotten shots, but I don't think she really ever understood.  She was really concerned about him though which was super-cute!

18 Months and Counting...

Today was Finley's 18 month well-check... even though it's a bit past due...  Oh, how I LOVE going to see the pediatrician!  It is the one place that reassures me of my parenting skills and the one place that I can trust the advice to be constructive.  I get so tired of hearing "Sure doesn't look like she's missed a meal" or "Wow, she is pretty petite" and yes, oddly, I hear both phrases about my gorgeous daughter! (I've never understood why people feel the need to voice their opinions on a child that isn't theirs, but that is a whole other topic!!!!!)  So going to see Dr. K and hearing from a medical standpoint how she is developing physically, socially, emotionally, etc. is always so comforting!

Here's the latest report:

Height: 32 3/4 inches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I kid you not when I tell you that she has grown almost 2 inches in the past two weeks!  I was able to get a pretty good measure of her on her 18 month birthday and I felt like 31 inches was a bit generous! =)  I can tell by the way her clothes are fitting that she really has gotten quite a bit taller!

Weight: 23 pounds 7 ounces though that was fully clothed with shoes.  Apparently, they don't care about the exact weight so much at 18 months and older!  Before they were so adamant about stripping her down to a clean, dry diaper that it was a bit of a shock to weigh her so completely clothed! =)  Regardless, she is now a complete percentile higher in height versus weight after being pretty even for much of her life.

Head Circumference: 46.5 cm

The Good News: 

He said her growth curve showed a real growth spurt from her 15 month appointment and that she is absolutely perfect!  He said she was really developing well both socially and emotionally as well as physically and that she is doing just great! =)

The Bad News: 

He said that she doesn't have allergies like we thought, but instead suffers from sinus infections which are pretty much UNHEARD of in children as young as Finley.... so he said that she will probably have a continual battle with sinus infections and that because the signs are so similar to other illnesses present in children, we're really going to need to take note of how long she suffers with the symptoms and bring her in when she has been battling them for 2 weeks.  Hopefully, we'll be able to better identify the sinus infections and get her treatment sooner and sooner so she won't have to suffer.

The Tough Love Portion:

No more binkies except in bed.  For the most part, Finley doesn't have a binky except for bed and car, but he said he'd like it to be gone by 2 so we need to start cutting out taking it with us places.  This will be difficult for me since it's often how I occupy her during errands, but we'll find other ways now that she's getting a bit older and able to play with toys, etc.

The Food Advice:

We recently discovered that Finley is totally a sucker for peer pressure... she will eat completely different stuff when she is around other kids who are eating with her.  She also ate a bite of hamburger and a ton of baked beans the other night at Devin's parents' house... so we've started giving her a plate full of choices and more "real" food which has paid off.  I talked with Dr. K about it because Finley has always seemed so picky and his advice was that there isn't anything she can't eat now so we should make the switch to "real" food.  He also said not get frustrated, but not to give in either.  So pray for me!  I am sure it will be fine, but it does mean a little more work for me to get her meals together since Devin doesn't get home until right before her bedtime and therefore, our dinner isn't ready until she's already in bed.  I may just have to specifically start making her a plate of our dinner and give it to her the next day which won't be a big deal if that works out.  I'm excited to see how it goes!  I'm tired of feeding her the same 5 foods every day... it'll be nice to see her eating big girl food! =)

Our next appointment isn't for 6 more months... the longest we've ever been between visits!  My little girl is becoming such a BIG girl, but I love it!