Clare 6 Month Wellness

Clare had her 6 month appointment a week after she turned 6 months. She had some moral support at the appointment too! See below.

Squad

Ready for my check up!

But first, let's rip up this paper...

She loved the paper on the table. I had to hold her because she wanted to tear that sheet apart and eat it. Once the doc appeared it was pretty uneventful because she checked out great. They were impressed that she was crawling and pulling up before turning 6 months.

Here are the stats! Still long and lean.

Weight: 14.35 / 13%

Length: 27" / 85%

She's meeting all those milestones fast and furious. The doc saw her top two teeth are right there under the skin. Sure enough a couple days the top left came through with the top right about to pop too. Couple shots and she didn't cry but a few seconds. 

Knock on wood... but we haven't made any visit to the doctor yet outside of wellness check ups. As I say that she will probably get a terrible rash or catch a bug... Assuming that doesn't happen though then our next check up is 9 months -- in October! 

William's 4 year check up

William had his 4 year wellness on February 16th. He has been to the doctor's office a couple times over the last year, but a pretty healthy year. Stomach bug a couple times, colds here and there, but nothing is popping into my head that was too awful. 

He took a vision and hearing test, which he passed. Then we waited for Dr. Middleton for his general check up. William and Dr. Middleton chatted and made sure we didn't have any questions or concerns. Then the dreaded shots. He had FOUR shots, which didn't sit too well. It's much easier to give a baby a shot than a 4 year old that knows exactly what is coming. We had to hold him down because he was screaming. It was the anticipation of the shot that hurt more than the actual shot. He stopped crying when the nurse said he could go pick out candy and a sticker. 

The week after the shots he wasn't acting his usual self at all. He was very grumpy and was testing us. I called the office because I thought it was so unusual and they said two of the shots are live viruses, so he was likely feeling poorly - thus acting out. The following week was much better.  

Hearing test

Waiting for Dr. Middleton 

And of course the stats. Here are his 4 year old stats:

Weight: 44 lbs / 94%

Height: 44" / 98%

Year of the 4's! Growing fast, William! Hopefully we don't see Dr. Middleton until his 5 year wellness visit :)  

Clare's 2 Month Wellness

We had our 2 month wellness visit on March 1. Fun fact - it is a leap year this year, so Clare got to celebrate her actual 2 month birthday on February 29. I waited for Tuesday, March 1 to schedule her appointment while the kids were in school to have her wellness visit :) 

Another pretty uneventful wellness visit. There were many shots involved with this visit. 

Waiting for the doc

Her stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 4.5 oz. / 22%

Height: 24" / 97%

She must have really shot up in length because she is now 99% in that category, but she is a little peanut in the weight category. 22% there. Doc said her scale is going up so everything looked good. She's definitely long and lean like her big brother. 

We don't go back until she is 4 months old. So far, so good. Still no illness, no rashes, nothing to report to the doc. Thumbs up, Clare! 

She had her slew of shots and we were off.

Uh-oh... shot time - leave those legs out for the shots

Clare's 1 Month Wellness

We had Clare's 1 month wellness visit on January 29 - her 1 month birthday to the date! She had a great check up.

It gets cold waiting for the doc!

She has plugged eye ducts on both eyes, but nothing terrible. I remember William had one plugged eye duct that sometimes would cause his eye to be closed shut. Both of Clare's eyes get goopy, but don't close shut. So we rub with a washcloth inside her eye along her nose at bath time to help open up those tear ducts. Nothing to do unless she continued to have them beyond her first birthday. 

And the poor thing has survived the month of illness at our home. Matt had the worst cold for weeks - starting a few days before her birth day. We had the stomach bug as well. I was worried she would catch it, but the doctor said to keep nursing and even if she did catch it then it wouldn't be nearly as bad as we had it. Sure enough, she didn't catch a thing! It was pretty much torture having the stomach bug and taking care of a newborn though. She couldn't have been better and thankfully fell into deep sleeps after each feeding, which let me rest. Matt had to stay home (he had it as well) and take rests with the other two. Quite the adventure. 

The rest of her visit was great. No other questions I can recall. Here are the stats!

Weight: 8 lbs 14 oz / 40%

Height: 21.75" / 79%

Next visit is 2 months! 

Clare's First Doctor Appointment

We had Clare's first doctor appointment on New Year's Eve. I love going to these first doctor appointments to see how she's doing. She had not been eating constantly and so I was also interested to see what her weight would be. I mentioned in her birth day post that she had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid and was still trying to get it all up. She was eating better, but not as often as I would have liked. Loving some of the rest time for me, but still - we need to pack on these pounds!

Headed to Dr. Middleton's office

Laying on the table waiting for Dr. Middleton

Selfie time!

Sweet Clare

So she lost more weight and was weighing 7 lbs 2.5 oz. Since I had no problem feeding the other two, Dr. Middleton wasn't too worried and said he'd check up on us that weekend. Everything else checked out perfectly. 

Weight: 7 lbs. 2.5 oz / 46%

Height: 20.5" / 92%

Sure enough later that afternoon she started to eat a lot. Her tummy was now empty and she could feel the hunger. When Dr. Middleton called two days later she had been pooping yellow several times a day meaning she was eating and everything was moving as it should. I went into the doctor's later that week to check on a wart on William's leg. I asked to weigh her to see how it was going and sure enough she surpassed her birth weight. She was 7 lbs 15 oz a week after being born. Great job, Clare!

We would go back when Clare turns 2 weeks for her next wellness visit.

The cherry on top was coming home from the appointment to these cupcakes from my friend Dana! 

Baby girl cupcakes sent from D.C.!

Grace's 2 year wellness

Grace's 2 year wellness appointment was a few days after turning 2. Knock on wood, but Grace has been quite illness-free since birth. She's had a cold or two, but that has been the worst of it. I attribute it to the fact that she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth - still to this day. Building up that immune system! So, everything checked out great. Her tubes are still in her ears. They should fall out sometime in the next few months, so that will be interesting to see if her ears clog again. No shots this year and we left with a happy girl (because she got a lollipop and sticker)!

Checking the pulse? I believe.

Marker into mouth (see drawing on cheek) while
waiting for the doctor.

Waiting fun.

And her results are in! She grew 5" in the past year. Little beanstalk like her big brother. 

Weight: 29 lbs. / 78%

Height: 35.5" / 93%

I looked back at the time to see what William's 2 year appointment looked like and he beat Grace by just a smidge in both categories. But really, they're both pretty identical in stats.

The usual other questions popped up like sleeping, eating and development. She's a great eater, she's a great sleeper and we didn't even need to touch on development because Grace was talking in phrases to the doctor. The doctor said girls usually develop more quickly on the word front, while boys usually develop more quickly on the physical. The talking time she gets with William is definitely a plus though.

Stats for the wellness appointment

Great appointment! Hopefully we aren't back until next birthday. Actually, we go back next month for our flu shot :)

Lollipop for the patient

Grace's 18 Month Wellness

Grace had her 18 month wellness visit the first week of March. I filled out a sort of "progress" report on all the different things she can do and what her personality is like at 18 months. She had one shot, which she forgot about as soon as she found a ball in the room. I didn't have any questions for the doctor because everything has been great, so it was a quick and easy appointment. The doctor did see a little dry blood in her one ear (she had tubes put in her ears in December) and so she got drops for a few days. We'll need to check on those in a few weeks to make sure it cleared up. He didn't want the dry blood to get infected. Other than that, Grace won't have another wellness visit until she is 2 years old.

The stats:

Weight: 26 lbs / 87%
Height: 34.5" / 98%

What shot?

The funny thing is her and William's stats for 15 and 18 months are nearly identical. She actually weighs a smidge more than him and he was a smidge taller than her at this point.

Playground fun after her appointment

That girl is growing fast!

William's 3 Year Wellness

We had William's 3 year wellness visit this past week with Dr. Middleton. He had a great check-up! And lucky duck didn't need any shots. This visit was the first time William did most of the talking. Dr. Middleton asked him how old he was and what he did for his birthday. What type of cake he had for his birthday. William told him about his Lightning McQueen car that he brought along for the visit and that he likes Buzz Lightyear. He also talked about the car show he saw at Disney last weekend with Daddy where the car split in two and there were fireworks. It was very sweet to watch. 

Photos from the visit: drawing a snowman
and then a lollipop for a good visit!

Dr. Middleton said it's time for him to see a dentist for the first time and that he's reminding all parents of 3 year old kids that even though a 3 year old seems more "responsible" because they talk more, that we need to remember to watch him at all times. Accidents still happen and because they talk a lot more doesn't necessarily mean their judgment is dramatically better. He said he can tell William is not necessarily an impulsive type and was impressed that William was sitting nicely on one of the chairs before he came into the room. 

The stats were impressive. William grew 5" over the past year! That is definitely the reason I feel like he's always getting new clothing. Dr. Middleton said he hopes kids grow 2.5" over the year and so William surpassed that mark. He's in the 99% for height. His weight is pretty high too. 

Height: 41" (99%)

Weight: 36 lbs (86%)

Health wise it's been a good year. Some temperatures here and there, colds here and there, but overall nothing too bad. We don't go back until he's 4 years old.

Keep on growing, William! Great check-up!

Grace's 15 Month Wellness

Grace is now 16 months, but she did have her 15 month wellness visit last month! 

Waiting for our time with the doctor

I remember William picking up this same dinosaur book (above that she's holding) with the googily eyes while we waited for one of his wellness visits and he was scared of it at first! I am pretty sure Grace just growled at it like she does! Funny girl! Fearless as usual.  

Then we waited for the doctor and Grace ran around the room trying to discover as much as possible.

Up the chair, down the chair, up the chair...

Grab markers and GO!

The appointment was quick and uneventful. Her ears were still clogged (this appointment was right before her tubes surgery), so guess we were glad we had the surgery scheduled for the following week. She's right on track with everything. Starting to feed herself with a spoon, only drinking whole milk a couple times a day, talking and saying some words. She's very still while the doctor checks her ears and other body parts. A very good patient. A few shots that of course she doesn't like and we were on our way.

And the stats were:

Weight - 23 lbs 6 oz / 78th%
Height - 32" / 91st%
Head - 48cm / 96th% (which I don't usually mention, but Grace still has a big noggin ha!)

We will go back at 18 months for another wellness visit.

1 Year Wellness

Grace had her 12 month wellness visit to the doctor a couple days after her first birthday. She was running all over the place waiting for the doctor. There was a turtle in the room that was VERY life-like and she did not want that thing near her. It was hysterical. She was running circles around it then she discovered the stool under the table. Perfect for climbing. 

Wellness visit

Her visit went very well. Everything checked out great. The one thing noticed was a little fluid in her right ear. The doctor asked if she had been sick lately, which she hasn't and he didn't seem too worried about it - but the last two visits the other doctor and NP had also mentioned the fluid in her ear. The thing is she actually did have a cold during that those visits, so I didn't think too much of it. It never seemed to bother her. So the doctor asked us to return in 4-5 weeks to double check it and if he still saw fluid then we will go see an ENT doctor. He still didn't seem too worried, but just wants to keep track of it. 

He checked to see that she's babbling (yes) and clearly she's quite mobile and let us know to start brushing her teeth, and switch her to whole milk. Check, check. We got it! 

Here were her 1 year stats! 

Weight: 20 14.5 oz. - 68%

Height: 30.75" - 94%

I already checked - she weighs a tad more than William and is 1/4" shorter from his 12 month wellness visit! So they're pretty dead on with one another! 

She had three shots and she screamed, but wasn't upset after a couple minutes. They must have made her tired because she took a very long nap that afternoon. When I got her out of bed, she had ripped her band-aids off! I always feel bad taking them off myself because those band-aids really stick and I know it hurts. But that's Grace for you! Ripping it off through the pain! Haha!

We go back at 15 months!

Grace is 9 Months Old!

I'm 9 months!

Grace is now 9 months old! Time flies even more quickly with the second child and looking back at pictures from 9 months ago when she was born, I feel like it was only a couple days ago. Now, we're looking at ideas for her 1st birthday party! She is incredibly active and busy. Last week she even stood up from a sitting position. Since that time she's done it a couple more times. We're having fun putting her into a standing position and letting her balance herself too. She's getting pretty good at it! She's walking with the walker cart all the time, walks along furniture constantly, and with the help of a hand can takes steps. I can't imagine it will be too long before she's walking right next to William!

This past week standing and balancing alone

Loves the playground

Standing up a few weeks ago with the help of the chair

Grace eats 2-3 times a day and loves food. William is always sneaking her something. I have to watch out because she will gladly take anything - a large carrot that William is snacking on for example! She likes peas, bits of cheese, blueberries, anything! Dropping bottles will be extremely easy for her. She loves bottles, but seems to LOVE food even more. She's still at 4 bottles a day - around 28 oz total.

Loves to watch the action

Scrunches her nose up a lot

Wrestle mania with these two

Big laughs with big brother

Napping twice a day and sometimes a 3rd time if her 2nd nap doesn't go later in the afternoon. 9a and 12:30p are the two nap times. If she does a 3rd then it's around 5/5:30p for a very short amount of time. She gets so cranky at dinner time if she didn't get a late 2nd nap. Same issue from last month... I should probably push the 2nd nap back, but it's nice to bring her and William upstairs for nap time at the same time.

Her favorite stuffed animal is a colorful flowery bear that was a gift. She sleeps with a white blanket like big brother's (I wonder if she'll grow as attached as he is to his blanket). She's always chewing on William's die cast cars. A rolling ball that makes noises and sings songs is another fun toy recently. She even picked it up and stood up with it this past week! Matt watched the whole thing. She loves to bounce up and down and shake her booty - too funny! She's waving "hi!", shakes her head "no!" and clapping her hands together. She will play peek-a-boo with a blanket and pulls it up over her face... too cute. She thinks it's hysterical if you pretend to chase her. She turns the other way and tries to crawl super fast. Climbing the stairs is a piece of cake. The other day when I turned my eye away for a minute, she climbed up to the landing... eesh. We pulled out the baby gate to block the way from now on. Miss Independent even likes to crawl back to the playroom by herself. She knows where the good stuff is!

She loves her flower bear!

Her hair is getting longer and gets messy if you don't brush it!

Sipping water from the baby pool

Animal watching at the Animal Kingdom

We had her 9 months wellness visit as well. She did great and nothing big to report. Right on track with growth and all her milestones. She had one shot.

Weight: 18 lbs. 14.5 oz. / 63%
Height: 29" / 92%

She plateaued at 6 months a little, but apparently spiked up at 9 months to where she's been all along. Must be all the food she's stealing from William!

Oh and she has a big noggin! 95% for her head circumference.

She's clear to eat everything, but honey and whole milk. And we won't be going back until 1 year! Knock on wood, but we haven't had any fevers or big sickness from her yet. Pretty wild considering William has caught a few bugs this past year and he's constantly exposing to her to germs. If his cup is laying around then she's going after it. Only runny noses and a cough for Grace so far. Nothing we would need to see a doctor.

Always smiley and always happy, Miss Grace! Looking forward to the next month!

6 Month Wellness for Grace

We went to the pediatrician today for Grace's 6 month wellness visit. It's been awhile! Last visit was 3 months. 

She had a very good visit. Exceeding the milestones and impressing the doctor with her sitting up skills. We talked about baby proofing because she's starting to get mobile, giving her solids, brushing her teeth (which is new to me because I don't think they mentioned that one with William till he was 1), getting the flu shot and also her new growth curve. 

William joined us on this visit - hence us playing with the iPhone camera montage above! He was so well behaved that the doctor let him pick out a sticker. Good job William! 

Back to the new growth curve - Grace's stats are forming a new curve. Also new to me because William was a straight curve ticking up from birth - especially in the height department. This isn't unusual though and usually when babies go from nursing to bottles and solids at this time in the first year, they start to lean out or form a new growth curve. Here are her stats: 

Weight: 15.14 lbs - 44% percentile

Height: 26.75" - 81% percentile 

So she's still a tall little lady, but she's leaning out. 

3 shots today - 1 being the flu shot. She met the age requirement for the flu shot and we are at the tail end of the flu season. If she gets both parts of the shot (we have to go back in one month for part 2) then she will only need one shot next season. Stay away flu!

A great 1/2 year visit. We go back at 9 months!

William worried about her "boo boos" on our walk that afternoon. 

William's 2 Year Wellness

William's 2 year wellness visit was on Monday after his birthday. We saw Dr. Middleton this time and had a great check-up. Here are the stats, which is my favorite part of the visit!

Weight: 30 lbs 8 oz - 79% percentile

Height: 36" (or 3' tall! funny to say) - 92% percentile

People ask all the time how old he is and when they hear his age are surprised because he's tall for being 2. He's the second youngest in his nursery school class and he's the tallest out of the group. Maybe he will be like Matt and grow completely by 8th grade! So in addition to growing, the doctor asked about a few other milestones...

Talking: we didn't need to touch on the subject too much because as soon as Dr. M walked in William informed him "Balloon sky! Up!" The question was going to be does he speak in two and sometimes three word sentences yet? Ha! Yes, the balloons went up into the sky on his birthday and the memory is seared in William's memory :)

Teeth: Time to see the dentist before he turns 3! I think I will likely wait until he's much closer to 3 though. Dr. M asked if he brushes each night and I told him yes, we do and if we were to ever forget William would certainly remind us! William loves to brush his teeth - mostly because the toothpaste tastes fruity :) He holds the brush to his teeth and sucks the toothpaste off and says "Mmmm!" Then he actually gives a few good brushes! Sometimes he demands to brush his teeth before nap time too.

Safety: this is the time when certain accidents just can't happen. Dr. M remembered when we called him on Christmas Eve because William pulled up on a chair that fell backwards on top of his face. We got worried because he got a nose bleed an hour later and of course, I freaked out thinking he was bleeding internally or had a concussion (he was perfectly fine. The nose bleed was because the chair hit his nose and it stopped two minutes later). So Dr. M said those type of accidents are likely going to happen now and then and we do the best we can to avoid them, but BIG accidents like fire/hot objects, medicine cabinet, cleaning supplies, etc., can NEVER happen - clearly. William is at age when everything is a new discovery and he's able to get into anything he puts his mind to, so we need to be ultra careful. William is very attached to whoever he's with and very, very rarely will wander off, so we are lucky that we don't have to worry too much, but Miss Grace is growing quickly and we really need to better baby proof the new house. A funny story (but potentially could be hazardous) was our neighbor who is 6 months older than William just recently left his bedroom upstairs, climbed down the stairs of his house, out the back door, through the gate, crossed the street and ended up at the playground to play -- without his mom knowing! He has two older brothers and I'm sure he's learned the art of escape quickly, but I was amazed! I really don't see William being capable or even wanting to do that right now, but we shall see 6 months from now! Till then, eagle eyes on the little man!

One shot and we were on our way home. William knew what the shot was as it was coming, so the gift of a sticker is now a bargaining tool. I remember those days myself - vividly! A sticker helped out tremendously.

No wellness visits until he's 3, since it's now a yearly process...  big boy growing up fast... But we do hope we don't see the doctor any sooner!

Till next year!

18 Month Wellness Visit

This post is very late! I misplaced the card with William's stats, so I kept saving the post waiting till I found the card. My apologies for the tardiness!

William had a great 18 month wellness visit on July 25 - his actual 18 month birthday! Here are his stats:

Height: 34.75" / 99%
Weight: 25 lbs. 8 oz. / 69%

The doctor asked me how he's doing with words - he'd like 5 words, but William has gone well beyond that number. Then if he's interested in using utensils - William LOVES using a fork. He even prefers an "adult" fork over his spork. He wants to use the fork even with food that can't be "forked" - like a graham cracker. He'll hold the graham cracker to the top of the fork and bring his hand, fork and cracker to his mouth just so it's as if the fork is in use ha!

A few picture updates:

Marked William's height in the pantry on Move In Day at our new house!

He loves flipping through books by myself

Car and Ball - life is complete

I'd say his eyes are bigger than his stomach, but he takes the pancake down

The doctor gave me some advice for bringing baby #2 home with William and it was basically how I thought all along: don't act any different than normal. He said if you make it seem unusual or act differently then he's going to feel different. The biggest issue he could see is that William is clearly a very active little boy and wants to be on the go, go, go (which William actually tells himself as he runs! "Go! Go! Go!"), so if we're nursing or doing anything that takes up my time with the baby that William may get bored/antsy. That is what I've been thinking about lately and trying to think up different activities for him to blow off his energy... open gym, the park across the street from us, school begins in two weeks (he will go once a week for 3 hours).

Another impressive part of William's wellness visit was his throw. William's doctor was very impressed with the precision of his throw over and over and over. The entire time we were with the doctor William picked up the two balls and would throw them back and forth with the doctor. His accuracy is actually pretty amazing.

Another awesome visit! We won't go back until William is 2 years old, but with little sis on the way and the frequent newborn visits William certainly won't see less of the office. Kind of nice - any small question we have about William will be easily answered on our visits with Grace. Two for one deal :)

12 Month Wellness Visit

William had his one year / 12 month wellness visit this morning. Pretty uneventful. The biggest two changes:

1. Start brushing his teeth and
2. Make the transition to whole milk from formula.

William only has one bottle at night now, so I'm not too worried about the change. William has not been picky about any changes in the milk department - from nursing to formula to less bottles every few months. He really likes water too. He will chug a sippy cup of water. So maybe today is the day to start milk.

Then a few shots, which didn't make him very happy - but a couple minutes of crying and we were out of there. Did you know kids don't get chicken pox anymore?? He got the chicken pox vaccine today and a booster shot is given before kindergarten. Wow so itchy red spots in our future - hopefully. I never really had chicken pox, so I can't really speak from experience. They tested me at 16 because they were worried I'd get them as an adult and apparently it can get pretty nasty as an adult. Turns out I had a case of the chicken pox as some point in my life, but no one knew! I guess lucky for all of us. We won't be dealing with that childhood right of passage with William so it seems.

William's stats are still a steady growth. Lean and long.

Weight: 20.5 lbs (32nd percentile)
Height: 31.25" (92th percentile)

 

 

We go back at 15 months for his next wellness visit and hopefully not sooner! Good job, William!