Liam's 4 year check up & other updates

First up, some stats:

Height: 41 inches (67th percentile)
Weight: 36 lbs (52nd percentile)

At his 3 year check up, he was 38.5 inches and 33 lbs so he's grown 2.5 inches taller and weighs 3 pounds more than he did a year ago.  And for another comparison, at Jake's 4 year check up, he was 38.75 inches tall and 33 lbs.  So basically, Liam was the same size at age 3 that Jake was at age 4 :)  Which explains why Liam is almost always a size ahead in clothing over where Jake was!  (in fact, I'm pretty sure that they will be able to share clothes sooner rather than later....) 

Everything else at the check up looked good for this happy kid; at his last visit, he still had 1 stubborn tube in his left ear, but that has since fallen out so we don't have to worry about getting it removed.  We are grateful that the tubes made such a huge difference for him while they were in and we are very happy that he never had to have them replaced.  Hopefully we're past most of his ear issues. 

He got his shots like a champ (last set until he's 10 or so), and was super cooperative, even though our pediatrician took for-e-ver to make it into the room (and he was actually examined twice, a physicians assistant in training did a "practice" exam on him first, then our actual pediatrician did one) 

My only concern going into the appointment was Liam's speech; he still says a lot of his letters incorrectly (most notably his Ls, so when he says his name it comes out as Yiam, and sometimes he says his Ls as Ws...he struggles with Rs, too, those tend to come out as Ws)  Thankfully, the doctor wasn't concerned yet and said there's a good chance he will outgrow it by kindergarten, and if not, they will evaluate him in school at that time if they feel it's necessary and we can go from there.  So at least we don't have to worry about it right now (and to be honest, I kind of like the way he says those things!!)

He's starting to wean himself off of naps (at home at least, he always naps at preschool); I knew the day would come, and even though I adore those afternoon naps when we're home, sometimes they do get in the way of trying to plan things in the afternoon.  So it's nice that if necessary, he can now power through the afternoon...although it's still a toss up, sometimes he's totally fine and just goes to bed early...other days, he falls apart in the late afternoon/early evening and it's miserable.  So, if we have something going on in that late afternoon/early evening time, I really push to try to get him to nap so that he's not a mess wherever we are.  Most of the time he will comply...if I let him sleep on his floor in his sleeping bag.  Fair enough.

And he is FINALLY getting to the point where, if we let him stay up late, he will actually make up for it by sleeping in the next day.  Hallelujah!!!  I really didn't think we were ever going to get to this point; for so long he would wake up at his usual time (a disturbingly early 5:30am) no matter what time he had gone to bed the night before.  So this new development is so exciting to us!! 

So that's what's going on in Liam's world right now...happy, healthy, and ready to take on year 2 of preschool next year! 

Happy 18 months, Liam!!

Oh, um...hello there, blog readers.  Sorry that it's been awhile.  I find myself completely wrapped up in holiday preparation, traveling, new appliance buying (dishwasher breaking = tragedy), new car buying (say what??  yeah, that will be another post), and just work stuff in general.

But...I'm here today!  Liam had his 18 month check up yesterday, and I shall now rename him "Chunkers".  Brian says that's mean and will cause him to be in therapy later in life, but whatever.  It's a compliment at this age. 

Height: 33.5 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 27 lbs (82nd percentile)
Head circumference: 49 cm (87th percentile)

So, yeah....Chunkers it is.  :)  To be honest, baby fat is one of the things I miss the most when they start to slim down more into the toddler years!  The little dimples, the rolls...I love it all.  I'm so glad he's still squishy. 

The appointment went well, he is right on track developmentally.  I've lost count of his words at this point, it seems like he had a major explosion a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden, can repeat nearly anything you say, and has new words that he's using on his own everyday.  He got 2 shots at the appointment, but now he's done with vaccines until he turns 4. 

It wouldn't be a post without some cute pictures!  Here is one of him, doing what he does best.....checking out his big brother, and doing the same thing!

2 of my handsome guys:

Oh hey, you didn't need these pumpkins, right?

It's been a fun 18 months, Liam!  We look forward to all of the rest.

Jake's 4 year check up

I'll be sure to do a post about Jake's party (it was a success!)  but I did want to post details about his 4 year check up today.  First up, the stats:

Weight: 33 lbs
Height :38.75 inches

Last year for his 3 year check up, he was 30 lbs and 37.5 inches.  So 3 lbs heavier and 1.25 inches taller...which is strange, because I really would have thought he had grown more than that (height-wise anyway)  It seems like he's hit at least 2 growth spurts in the past year that have caused me to have to suddenly change pants/short sizes for him because they were suddenly all like floods on him (or, in the case of shorts, suddenly looked like he had been teleported back to 1977).  but he's growing right on track, which is all that matters. 

The doctor said everything looked great physically and that he's right on track for his age developmentally.  He was very impressed with how social he was (he didn't stop talking the whole time once the doctor came in...he filled him in on school, his party, what kind of cake it was ,the presents he got, and the fact that he loves chicken nuggets).  He got 3 shots (which he was not thrilled with), but the good news is that we're DONE with vaccines (aside from the flu shot) for him until he's 11.  Finally, the end!  The shots must have taken a toll on him, he took a 3 hour nap this afternoon...I had both of the boys home with me today since it's MLK day, so score for mommy, I had a huge chunk of time to myself this afternoon since Liam took a nearly 2 hour nap in that same time period.

Speaking of Liam, we also had an appointment for him this morning to have his ears checked after the infection he had...fortunately, that had cleared up and all was well.  He received the 2nd half of his flu shot, so he's all up to date until his 9 month check up next month.

Here's Jake getting ready to ski in our backyard yesterday...yes, in our backyard.

18 month check-up

The latest stats are in:

Weight: 24.5 lbs (30th percentile)
Height: 32 1/4 inches (40th percentile)

Everything looked great, right on track and only 1 shot this time, so that was a bonus.

In other news, we've decided to keep sending Jake into daycare once a week to keep him familiar with everything there. He hadn't been there in over a week, so I was nervous when I went to drop him off yesterday about how he would react. Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about! He recognized the school as soon as we pulled up and practically drug me into his classroom. Once we entered, he immediately ran over to his favorite teacher and gave her a huge hug. While that was happening, his partner-in-crime, Dom The Bomb, was saying "Jake! Jake's back! Hi Jake!" and the two of them had a joyous reunion that involved a man hug. I wish I had my camera!

His teachers told me that they had been devastated when they heard the news that Jake wouldn't be there everyday. They said that one day last week, they were really missing him and during snack time, his seat at the table was empty, so they pulled out his sippy cup & dishes & set a little ceremonial place setting in his honor.

Pour one out for Jake, yo.

Pouring of sippy cup is a reenactment....not our actual home or sippy cup. Photo courtesy of google image search.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was full of flowers, good food and...rashes. Wait, what?? Let's start with the good stuff.

We had a great Mother's Day...after sleeping in (is it sad that 8am is now "sleeping in" to me??) I was spoiled rotten with a beautiful Clementis plant and a gift certificate to a day of pampering at the spa (I can't wait to use this!) Jake made me this beautiful card at school:



As well as this lovely surprise treat bag that was contained a muffin and orange juice for breakfast in bed :)



Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the day was also full of rashes. On Wednesday night, Jake started running a fever and after a visit to the pediatrician the next day, it was determined that it was a reaction to the MMR shot he had the week before. She also warned us that the fever is also sometimes followed by a rash...ok, no biggie, we've dealt with rashes before. We were not prepared for what we were about to see starting on Saturday!



So....the poor little guy has been really itchy and uncomfortable for two days now. After calling the pediatrician today to see if I could give him some Benydryl or something, she told me to go ahead and try that to see if we can ease the itchiness for now and call the office in the morning. That's where we stand for now, keep your fingers crossed that he gets better soon!!

12 month appointment

Jake had his 12 month check up earlier in the week...I could tell he was nervous for the big weigh in. Did he gain a lot from all the icing at his party earlier in the week? Was he maintaining his slim physique from all the running around he's doing?? Here are the results:

Weight: 21.5 lbs (30th percentile)
Height: 30 inches (55th percentile)

He had dropped in the whole percentile thing, which of course concerned me, but the doctor assured me that it's completely normal at this age for that to happen...they stop growing so rapidly and he's working off a bunch of calories from walking all the time. he said as long as he's eating fine (if anyone has ever seen him put away a 3 course meal, you know this isn't a problem) then there's no reason to worry about what the "average" size is. Good to hear!

He got 3 shots, blah. It was terrible because I was by myself this time & he screamed worse than ever before...he ran a fever yesterday & was pretty miserable, but seemed to be back to his happy baby self this morning, so I was grateful for that. I can't stand to see him so uncomfortable!!

Hopefully we won't be returning to the dr's office until his 15 month check up in April....

6 month check up

Jake had his 6 month check up last night, everything went well! The doctor gave him an A+ overall, we're so proud. Here were his stats:

Weight: 17 lbs, 9 oz (50th percentile)

Height: 27 inches (75th percentile)

So our suspicions were confirmed...he's a tall baby! (taking after his daddy, no doubt) He had dropped 10% for weight, but the dr wasn't concerned at all and said that he did gain weight and that's really all they look for. He screamed during the shots of course (and mommy sobbed) but once they were over, he returned to happy baby.

And don't worry...we got the most important information of all during the visit...Brian and the dr began discussing skiing and the doctor happily informed Brian that he can start taking Jake when he turns 3 (which happens to be during ski season, lucky us!) I guess I have 2.5 years to learn to suck it up being in the cold so that I can see my baby hit the slopes!!

4 month appointment

Can you believe my baby is 4 months old already?? Here are the stats from the pediatrician appointment last night:

15 lbs, 3 oz (60th percentile)

25 1/4 inches long (65th percentile)

He's well on his way to being a tall boy! He was in perfect health and took his shots like a champ with just a bit of screaming (once again, I think it was harder on me than him) The dr. gave us the green light to start solids anytime we'd like, but I think we're going to hold off until closer to 6 months, we're in no hurry---he has the rest of his life to make a mess out of himself at mealtimes :)

first round of shots-OUCH!

What a day! Mom got me all bundled up & took me to the doctor...I'm 10 weeks old and I weigh 12.5 pounds and I was 24 inches long! the doctor said that I'm a long, lean baby. Everything was going great at the visit, the doctor was tickling me and said that I looked perfect! well, that's what we came to hear, so time to go right? wrong! Next, a nurse came in and first she gave me this yummy stuff in my mouth that mom said was cherry flavored tylenol...mmm....I like this nurse lady! then, out of nowhere, she turned on me & poked me with 3 needles!! Traitor. I was NOT a happy camper! the weird thing was, when I calmed down, I looked over & mom was crying. um....mom, did YOU just get stuck with needles? Pull yourself together, woman!

Anyway---I slept for a long time when we got home, then ate dinner and turned into the ultimate Senor Pissy Pantalones (that's spanish for Mr. Pissy Pants)...I was just so uncomfortable, I didn't know what else to do :( but then I noticed that mom looked like she was going to cry again, so I decided to go back to sleep & give her a break. The whole thing was so stressful, I needed a drink to calm down!