6 Months

Last Friday Joey had his half birthday! It's hard to believe that he is already six months old!

This morning was his 6-month well baby visit and here are his stats:

21 pounds (95th percentile)
29 inches (100th percentile)
46 cm head circum. (100th percentile)

Yep, he is HUGE :)

Three Years Stats

Today was Amelia's three year well visit! As soon as nurse Emily wanted to check her blood pressure she got a little concerned:

So, instead of her getting her blood pressure checked her orange pony got his done by a highly qualified Dr. Amelia :)

What? A shot?

She had her Hep A shot. She did great.

Now for her stats and stuff:

• 35 pounds, 85th percentile
• 40 inches, 95th percentile
• Sleeping around10-12 hours a night with varying bedtimes between 8 and 9ish p.m. and wake times varying from 7 to 9 a.m.
• Favorite foods are mac 'n' cheese, cheese ravioli and tortellini, waffles, Uh-Ohs (spaghettios) and peas (they recently made a comeback!)
• Favorite snacks are cookies, fruit snacks and cheez-its
• Dora and Diego ("Go-ah and Gee-go") are major, major hits with this girl. We have started to have to limit her TV because she'd watch those guys 24/7 if we let her!
• My Little Ponies are a new interest. She loves to watch the original movie (from my childhood) before bed right now
  
• Her speech is improving with each passing week which has made life so, so much easier
• She is now attending an early childhood speech class two days a week at the local elementary school for an hour and a half each day
• Her favorite toys are animal figurines, anything Dora or Diego, cars, bubbles and her new Little People pirate ship she got for her birthday
• She is trying to dress and undress herself more and more but it is something I need to be better about encouraging her to try and do on her own
• She is mommy and daddy's little helper - even when we would just rather do things alone!

We have a healthy and happy three year old girl! We love her very much! She brings so much joy (and frustration) to our lives :)

First ER Visit

Saturday evening while we were at Jason's sister's house Amelia had a little accident. She was in the next room playing with the dog and we heard a crash and then a cry. All we could determine for sure was that she hit the back of her head on a side table. The result was this:


Coloring while waiting to be looked at a second time. The gauze had a numbing agent in it.


The end result...



5 staples :(

She is recovering well and will get her staples out at the end if this week/early next week. She is one tough cookie ;)

18-Month Appointment...

...almost three months late...

Yes, we finally took Amelia in for her "18-month" check-up yesterday even though she will be 21-months old in one week. She was almost 35 inches long and weighed a mere 26.6 pounds! She is long and lean :) She is now caught up on all of her vaccines and looks great! She isn't talking all that much (in English that is) but the doctor wasn't too worried and said that we'd see how things were at two years old and go from there. That was a huge relief to me!

After her appointment we went to luch at Buffalo Wild Wings:


Then we went to the bookstore:


(yes, she plopped herself down in front of the Bibles. What can I say?)

Then we dropped Daddy off to grocery shop for hunting with grandpa and the girls went to Target for a few things. Amelia was so silly while we were there!


She is also at a stage where she refuses to ride in a cart. There is no way she will sit in the seat so I let her walk and she sticks close most of the time!


We spent the evening at home. Jason made chili for the weekend, I attempted to help when I could, Amelia emptied her ball pit all over the living room. It was a pretty typical night for us!

15 Month Appointment

Amelia had her 15-month appointment yesterday afternoon! She is doing great. She is only 22 pounds but she is 31.5 inches long! She follows her height growth curve almost perfectly but she tends to fall off her weight growth curve every couple of visits. Nothing to be worried about!

She had her finger pricked to check her lead levels so that we will know it when we leave Milwaukee. She was pretty upset and then confused by the band-aid on her finger!


She got her booster shots and we were on our way! We went out for lunch and let Amelia feed herself like the big girl that she is:


Of course, we forgot a bib. Oh well!

Her next appointment (18-months) will be with a new doctor. Hopefully he/she is as great as Dr. Hing has been!

One Year Check-Up

This morning, bright and early, I took Amelia to her one year check-up! It is still hard to believe that a year has gone by already. Today she weighed in at 21 pounds and 2 ounces (50th percentile) and was 30.5 inches tall (75th percentile). She is following her growth curves perefctly, which is great!

She had two shots, chicken pox and MMR, in her arms. This was the first time she has had shots in her arms and I was a wreck. It was the first time that I cried when she was getting shots (usually I laugh, because she is so mad for such a short time and then is fine). Today she was a wreck. They drew blood to check for lead exposure and to re-check her iron levels so she was already screaming when it came time for the shots. Then the shots came. It was awful. I felt so terrible for her. I had to bribr her with yogurt melts to stop crying and as soon as the flow of food stopped, the crying started again. We took forever to get ready to leave the room!

On to other news...


What is Amelia so excited about? This:


(he hates when I take cheesy pictures of him and usually refuses to smile)

Her daddy is on the front page of the Bay View Compass from the Winter Blast two weekends ago! Here is a link to the online version of the story.

Jason's Bad Night

We'll start with a picture:


Now for the explanation...

See the little red cup in his hand? That little red cup is what we have to thank for our terrible, horrible, awful night.

Around 9:30 I got a text from Jason that he stepped on one of Amelia's toys and hurt his ankle. I didn't think much of it. The texts kept coming though, about how much his ankle hurt. I ended up rushing out of work 30 minutes early to get home and take him to the emergency room. Our neighbor's downstairs were still up and were kind enough to "watch" Amelia for us (ie- we gave them the baby monitor).

After an hour and a half at the hospital, Jason was on crutches and we were on our way home. He has a severe sprain. There is bruising going up his leg even. An x-ray technician is looking over his x-rays tomorrow to check for small fractures. He was hoping for some of the "good stuff" for the pain but was told, just Tylenol and ibuprofin.

He realized on our way to the ER that he didn't have his phone and assumed he left it upstairs. We got home, I called his phone so he could find it and call his boss about not being able to work in the morning and some guy answered. He had found Jason's phone on the sidewalk and was outside of the Cactus Club (next door, literally). I asked him to please wait and I would be right down to get the phone and he said he'd leave it.

Guess what?! He didn't. He was nowhere to be found and neither was the phone. I went into the bar (my first time being in a bar in about a year and a half, by the way) to ask about it. Nothing. Thanks a lot guy. Happy Holidays.

So, not only is Jason on crutches but he has no phone. We had to call T-Mobile and suspend his and get a new one on it's way. It won't be here for 3 business days. That was the fastest they could do. Great.

He had to find a way to get ahold of his boss about tomorrow. His shift starts at 6 a.m. -- a few short hours from now. We poured over Facebook, trying to find the number of anyone who might have this phone number we needed. We were about to give up when I realized that Comet, the other restaurant the guy co-owns, was still open! We called there, got the number and all is set. That number is safely in my phone, just in case. As is Comet's number.

To top it off, the live music next door tonight was some guys Jason really likes and he couldn't go. Don't ask me to recall who, I couldn't tell ya if my life depended on it. Something like Dose-one and Gel? He went next door (to the owner's house) to see if he could get a couple of records signed but Eric (the owner) wasn't home. As he was standing there the guys he wanted to see got out of their van and Jason went over and they signed his records AND gave him an additional one they had in their van. I guess the whole night wasn't terrible for him :)


(see the drawings? Those are their "signatures"...)

9 Month Well Check-Up and more...

This morning we went to Amelia's 9 month check-up and all is well! She is still long and thin :) She is 28.5 inches long and still right around 19 pounds (which I think was off because when we were there a month ago for a flu shot and I had them weigh her she was 19 lb, 10 oz. Oh well). She is following her growth curve nicely, she is still in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight! There are no routine vaccinations at the nine month visit so we thought we were off the hook! Nope. We decided to have her H1N1 vaccine done and she will go back in one month to get the second one.

While we were at the doctor we made a recieving blanket into a "toga" for her, so she would be warm:


Jason thought of doing it and I made it a reality. The doctor got a kick out of it too!

We spent a good chunk of time talking with the doctor about Amelia's rice "allergy". Since rice is not commonly an allergen, the doctor was confused as to why Amelia's skin reacts the way it does when she has rice, rice cereal in particular. I mentioned that she had the same reaction to baby oatmeal, which started a whole 'nother conversation regarding a gluten allergy (eek!). Long story short, we are going to be holding off of most grains for a bit. In a couple weeks we will have her try some regular, adult oatmeal because the doctor seems to think that she could be reacting to something that they add to the baby version and not to the oats themselves. We will eventually try rice again and if the same issues arise, we will have to have her tested for food allergies :(

This afternoon, after the doctor, we went to Wal-Mart to finally get camera cards put onto CD. I avoided it the past 2 months because I have such terrible experiences with Wal-Mart;s machines here but today it went great! They had some new computers that were much better than the old ones. I am finally able to clear off my cards...500 pictures (October and November)!

We also got Amelia a pet net today at Toys 'R' Us because she has "found" her friends that have lined the top of her crib the last 9 months. Jason will have to get that up tomorrow!

Lastly, Jason got his hair cut today, which I wrote about, here.

Oh yes, the SNOW has finally come to Milwaukee:


By the time some had accumulated it was already dark, so the picture isn't the greatest. I made it black and white, which made it better though! I am not convinced that this snow will be with us in the morning...it always seems to disappear when we don't get tons of it. I will know tomorrow morning!

6 Month Well Visit

This morning was Amelia's 6-month well check up. First things first though, we discovered that Amelia and her cats share an interest...strings. We dug out the cat's favorite toy (an old string with a fish toy tied to one end) and threw it on the floor. Here is a picture of Amelia and Lucky from this morning:


She would wave it back and forth and when I took this Lucky was actually batting at it a little. Maybe this will help them be better friends in the future? (the cats pretty much always walk/run away from the poor little thing at this point)

Amelia is still growing well! She is 14 pounds 10 ounces (which is just barely above the average for a 6 month old), 26.75 inches long (still a tall girl, 75% percentile) and her head measured in at 43 cm/17 inches around (75% percentile, a big head for all of those brains she has). Amelia was VERY busy at the doctor. She kept pulling and grabbing at the stethoscope when Dr. Hing was trying to hear her heart among other things :)

We mentioned her diaper rash from last week and the doctor gave us a few things to try in order to prevent it. She will be getting one diluted bottle a day, so that she gets some extra water in her to prevent constipation (she won't drink just water, she spits it out and makes a disgusted face). We will also be starting her on some fruits next week, likely prunes or blueberries (the doctor said these will likely help loosen her stools).

We have planned all along to make our own baby food but for when we are introducing a new food we will use a store bought jar, in case she ends up being allergic or it just doesn't sit well with her. No sense in making a whole bunch and then having to throw it out! I am hoping to start running again tomorrow and will try and make it to the store to get her some fruits :) (I haven't been running this week due to congestion from allergies when I was up north. Even when I ran up north, I went a short distance and I was so plugged up I was out of breath, no fun! I am feeling MUCH better today and can breath almost 100% out of my nose again, so I feel more up to running)

And the shots...we had a couple today :( And we were the parents that took pictures of the shots...so here is one:


She was not a happy girl at all!

Amelia also had to have her hemoglobin tested, which they do from a finger prick. She actually did really well with this one, not a peep out of her and she was pricked twice! (there are 2 sized of things to prick with and the nurse tried the smaller one first, to minimize pain I guess, and it wasn't big enough, so she had to use the larger one on a different finger)

I think she was more curious about what was going on than anything:


See her little finger with it's bandage?:


I got a call this afternoon from the nurse and Amelia is mildly anemic. Jason went to the pharmacy to pick up "ferinsol" (available OTC) and they were out. Starting Monday (when it comes in because they were out) she will get 2 drops a day, in her bottles and her levels will be re-checked in December at her 9-month visit.

Time to relax now! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

*I must add, I am wearing so many layers because I was headed to work pretty much right after the appointment. At work I typically wear a sweater to protect my white shirt and also my ties. So, that is why Amelia is in summer clothes and I am wearing a sweater and pants... (my mom commented on our conflicting outfits, so I am clearing it up for any others who might have wondered.

4 Month Well Visit

Today was Amelia's 4 month well check-up. Things are good! She is 14 lb. 2 oz. and 25.5" long (70th and 75th percentiles). Her head circumference is 41 cm, which I think the doctor said is the 50th percentile. She had more shots :( We also have to go back soon for a final shot that the doctor was out of, so we have to watch her cry all over again, which makes me feel terrible! When we were waiting for the nurse to come back to give her her shots, Amelia discovered the paper that they put down on the table... She then proceeded to play with it. Even when we tried giving her a toy she just threw it aside because this paper was much more interesting. I uploaded some pictures from my camera phone, so they aren't the greatest quality, but here they are:



We have once again messed up her sleep schedule...by seeing a midnight movie. There was an employee screening of Public Enemies last night for us, and the Downer employees. We decided to risk it because it would be our only real chance to see it together (this way Amelia only would have to be in the theatre once for it, vs twice, once with each of us) and since it would be all employees there would be no one getting upset with us if she woke up and cried. Well, she woke up alright, but we managed to see the entire movie. She fell back asleep with some rocking of her stroller though. We felt pretty bad and the lesson has been learned, only 9 or 10 o'clock movies with her, because we can keep her up until it is time to leave and then she sleeps through the entire film.

Last night at work also marked the first time I have had to change the exterior marquee, ever. I never worked on days when it needed changing and then since I was pregnant, I never had to get up on the ladder! I am really glad that it was a cool night out and the spiders that live up there were not out in full force! I hate spiders!

Jason and I have been getting things done around here. Yesterday was a very productive day for us! I am hoping that tonight I am just as productive.

Tonight Amelia is wearing pajamas that were the first thing Jason and I picked out together for her. The backside is pretty cute:

Good News!

Amelia is continuing to gain weight and grow! She is now 23.25 inches long and 11 lb, 6 oz. As the doctor said, she is a tall and skinny girl :)
She had to get some more shots today and was NOT happy about that at all. When the nurse came in, Amelia was having a bottle so they started out with the oral vaccine for rotovirus. We ended up having to try and trick her into it because she kept turning her head with her mouth open so the yucky medicine would ooze out. I'd give her the bottle, pull it out and the nurse would squirt some vaccine in and this was repeated until she had ingested the whole vaccine. Her shots were awful. She was screaming and all around not a happy baby, until we gave her her bottle back, then all was fine in the world.


A picture of one of her cool yellow bandaids she got after her shots!

Doctor Today

Well, here I am up at almost 4 in the morning. I have been feeling pretty sick since yesterday (Wednesday) morning and it woke me up tonight. I really hope that I feel better SOON. Jason had to leave work a little early yesterday to come home because I was feeling so terrible I could barely take care of Amelia on my own. I always have good hand washing technique etc, I try and avoid stuff like this, but I know Tuesday night I was pretty guilty of not washing my hands enough for how many people I interacted with :( We had a Star Trek promo at work that night and it was BUSY. Free movies like that usually are busy! It made it really hard to wash your hands when you had 2 lines, with 20+ people each, waiting for you to get them snacks. Ugh.

Amelia has a doctor appointment this morning and I am hoping that we hear some good news, like her weight being way up! We are pretty sure that she is heavier, we know she is longer for sure (some of her clothes are getting pretty sung in the feet area).

I will do my best to update on her weight and length later today! (no promises, I might just want to crawl into bed)

A Busy Week!

I don't know where this week went! I cannot believe that it is already Saturday and almost April. We had Amelia's one month appointment on Thursday and got some not so great news...she had lost a few ounces instead of gaining a couple pounds! So, today we had to go in and meet with a lactation specialist at the hospital to see what is going on. We have good technique during our feedings so what is the problem? It seems that she is not getting enough of the "hind" milk (similar to whole milk), which is what helps her gain weight. She is likely only getting "fore" milk, which is the millk that collects near the front and therefore the first stuff she gets when feeding. I have some new things to try during our feedings from now on that will hopefully help move the "hind" milk forward and help her gain weight. We go back in on Friday to have her weight re-checked.

My parents decided last night, spur of the moment, to drive to Milwaukee to see us. So, tonight we will have company...maybe I will the house cleaned with an extra set of hands?!

We also bought the rights to Amelia's hospital newborn photos and the CD arrived today, here is a favorite photo:


I will try and post some more pictures in the next couple of days!