Katie Anne's First Trip to the Optometrist

This morning, Katie Anne and I made a trip to EyeWorks for her first eye exam!  It was time for my yearly eye exam (I was on my last pair of contacts!), and I wanted KA to get her eyes checked before school started.  Her vision check before preK had been questionable, and we figured that she would need glasses at some point because Saunders and I both wear them. So, getting her vision checked officially this summer was on our to-do list - and she was excited about it!  Katie Anne was very ready to get her eyes checked, and she was really really really hoping she would be able to get glasses today.

The first step was getting her eyes checked by all the machines.  This part of the exam made me nervous because I didn't know how she'd handle it when they blew the puff of air into her eyes, but I was totally wrong!  She handled all the machine checks like a pro, even the eye puff!

Then, it was time to head to the exam room and get her eyes checked!  Katie Anne was excited, but also nervous.  Luckily, she brought some friends with her to keep her company.

The doctor did a great job checking KA's eyes, and she tried really hard to do her best at reading all the letters on the charts.

After the exam, Katie Anne got the big news... she does need glasses!  Her vision was 20/75 without glasses, and she has significant astigmatism that requires correction.  So, she was able to pick out a pair of glasses today!

Her final choice was these lovely light brown glasses - she calls them her "caramels"!  I think they are a fabulous choice, and she looks totally cute in them!

She won't need to wear the glasses all the time right now.  For sports, playing, running around outside- she won't need them.  She really just needs to wear them now for reading, writing, drawing, watching tv, etc - and she's very excited about it!

Katie Anne's Four Year Check-up

A few days ago, Katie Anne had her annual check-up at Dr. Ryan's office.  As usual, it was all good news for KA!

 

 *She was in a very silly mood while we waited on Dr. Ryan, so all the pictures in this post are of her being goofy!

Katie Anne is the picture of four-year-old health.  She weighs 40 pounds and is 44.5 inches tall ... that's 90% in weight and 95% in height for her age.  She's on the same growth track she's been on since birth (she's almost always 90% in both areas).  If she keeps growing at this rate, the chart predicts that she'll be 5'10" as an adult!  We are so lucky that Katie Anne is so incredibly healthy - she almost never goes to the doctor unless it's a well visit!  Knock on wood, but this kid's only had one sick visit in her entire life.  She's just healthy as a horse, and we certainly hope that trend continues for her!  

 

We got all our information and paperwork ready for pre-k, and Katie Anne passed her hearing, vision, and dental check on the first try.  Katie Anne met or surpassed all her developmental milestones, especially her counting - they finally told her to stop counting at 34!  She loved showing off her skipping skills, too - which made me proud, since skipping was a developmental milestone that I had to work on back when I was four!  (Hey, it's easy to confuse skipping with galloping, people.)  Dr. Ryan was very happy about several of her habits, including her self-reporting about always washing her hands, brushing her teeth, drinking lots of milk, and eating lots of different foods.  Her only areas to work on are using warm water to wash her hands (she told Dr. Ryan that she only uses cold water) and drinking too much apple juice.  Even though we cut it with water, she drinks way more than the suggested 6-8 oz per day.  So, she promised to cut back to one cup in the morning and one cup in the afternoon.  So far, she's keeping her promise and only drinking 8 oz of apple juice a day.

She got three shots at this appointment - which she did not enjoy at all.  She didn't cry too much at the time, but she complained and whined for days about her legs being sore.   A Hello Kitty bandaid seemed to reduce the pain tremendously, though ... so she was rocking the Hello Kitties for about four days after her visit!  The good news is that she won't need any more shots for about six years, so we've got a long time before we have to go through all that drama again!

SJ's 6 Month Well Check

SJ had his six-month well visit with Dr. Ryan today!

Everything went well.  SJ is right on track with all his milestones - he's sitting up unsupported, rolling over both ways, transferring objects from hand to hand, etc.  In fact, he sat up during the whole examination this time!

He's also growing like a champion!  In fact, SJ is the size of the average one-year-old!  He weighed in at a whopping 20 lb, 7 oz and measuring a gigantic 28 inches long!  Considering that the average one-year-old is 21 lbs and 28 inches long, SJ is quite the man.

Big boys need love, too!

 "Mom, did you just put my weight online for public ridicule?"

In all seriousness, Dr. Ryan is not worried about SJ's weight because most babies triple their birth weight by age 1, and that would be 27 lbs for SJ.  He was a big baby to begin with, so he's not going to reverse it and be tiny now.  Also, Dr. Ryan said that SJ is proportional - it would be different if he were 20 lbs and the "regular" 6 month length, but since he's super tall it all kind of balances out. 

So, SJ laughs at all the haters out there.

SJ got three shots, and he took them like a total man.  He only cried for a few seconds, and then he gave a teary-eyed smile at the nurse!  She couldn't believe it and said it made her feel so bad that he was smiling with his little eyes filled with tears!  That was all the crying he did about the shots, although he did his new skill - a fake cry/laugh that's kind of like "ah - ah - ah" (very George McFly-like) for a few minutes after the shots to show his displeasure.  

Here he is in full George McFly mode:

Dr. Ryan did give SJ his first antibiotic today - his ears were a little red and had some fluid in them, and he's had a cold since December, so SJ needed a little antibiotic help to kick the sinus infection and stop his ears from getting too infected as well.  Dr. Ryan also said that SJ isn't getting enough sleep and should be sleeping 10-12 hours straight through the night at this point.  Hey, I agree with that!  Unfortunately, it just isn't happening.  His sinuses and ears may be waking him up, so the antibiotic will alleviate that cause.  Also, Dr. Ryan gave me a plan for slowly cutting his nighttime bottle of formula with water over the next month to try to eliminate that middle of the night feeding.  Fingers crossed that it works!

Little Sick Boy

Our poor little SJ is one sick little boy!  Today, SJ was supposed to visit the pediatrician for his four month well visit and vaccinations.  Unfortunately, on Monday evening and through the night, his cold turned into a really nasty cough with wheezing when he breathed.  He also acted like he felt horrible and sounded very hoarse and weak when he cried.  So, instead of his well check, he had his first sick visit to the doctor's office!

He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis, and he got his first breathing treatment in the doctor's office.  He felt terrible, and Mommy strapping this mask to his face and forcing him to breathe the medicine did not make him feel any better at all!  After about twenty minutes, he finally gave up fighting the mask and just accepted that he was going to have to keep it on his face.  Here's his little pitiful self during the last few minutes of his treatment in the office:

Because he was not running a fever and was still eating/drinking well, he was not tested (and not diagnosed) with RSV.  We bought our own nebulizer to take home with us and, armed with over $100 in vials full of medicine, we were told to do at-home nebulizer treatments every four hours for the next ten days!

If you have to use this crazy machine to give your kid medicine, at least it can be a cute machine, right?

The little man taking his home breathing treatments:

 Still smiling despite his sickness!

Update: Despite his breathing treatments, SJ felt absolutely horrible for the next week.  After two days on the nebulizer treatments, he developed a very high fever (it stayed between 100-103 degrees for almost 3 days over the Christmas weekend).  Although he had been eating and taking his bottles well at first, he stopped eating and would only drink an ounce or two at each feeding for several days.  He was not sleeping well and was very lethargic, and everyone was very worried about him!  Luckily, he started to recover and feel a little better a few days after Christmas.  By the end of his ten-day treatment, he was back to his old self and feeling great.

Because of lots of drama that occurred during this whole sick time (mostly based on the fact that SJ's pediatrician didn't feel the need to see him at all for a recheck during this period despite his high fever, listlessness, and reduction in feeding or during a subsequent case of pink eye), we decided to switch pediatricians.  The new pediatrician thinks there was a good chance that SJ actually had the flu (or even RSV) and not bronchiolitis.  Either way, we were all totally happy when he completely recovered by early January and was back to his happy, cheerful self!

Two Month Checkup

 

Yesterday, I took SJ for his two month checkup.  He got a great report from Dr. Colon!  He's meeting all his milestones, is very healthy, and is - of course - growing like a little weed.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 15 lbs, 1 oz  - 95th percentile

Length: 23.25 in - 90th percentil

Head Circumference: 16 in - 50th percentile

He's the little big man!

My only big concern was his terrible ingrown toenail...

but Dr. Colon said that's still considered "normal" and, since it wasn't infected, to just keep rolling the skin back and letting the nail grow out on its own.  Hopefully it will clear up soon!  It looks so painful, but it doesn't appear to bother him in the least, so that's good.

SJ also got his first big round of immunizations at this appointment.  I started him on the infant Tylenol in the waiting room and kept it going for 12 hours afterwards, and he seemed to do fine.  He barely cried when they gave him the shots, but he did act like his thighs were sore when I massaged them later.  The soreness was his only real side effect, though.

SJ4's One Month Checkup

Last Friday, we took Baby Saunders to his one month checkup!  He got a great report from Dr. Colon.  He's growing like a weed - he's already grown two inches in one month!  He's 22.5 inches long, which is 95% in height.  He's also put on almost three pounds since he was born!  He weighs 11 lbs, 10 oz - also 95%.  

 Baby Giant!

He's doing great in terms of development, too.  I told the nurse that he was almost rolling over already, and I don't think she really believed me ... she kind of gave me the um, okay, Mom face.  Then I laid him on the table and he started showing off!  He can roll almost all the way over - it's just that down-facing shoulder/arm that trips him up.  He can't figure out how to get it out from under him and flip that shoulder all the way down.  The nurse couldn't believe how close he was to doing it!  Dr. Colon was stunned by how solid and strong he is - he was holding his head and upper body up off her shoulder and looking around when she was holding him.  Dr. Colon is a tiny woman, and she joked that he'd have to start walking in a month or two if he were her child because she wouldn't be able to hold him anymore!  Seriously, she said he looks more like a four-month-old than a one-month-old.

He got his second round of the Hep B vaccine, and he took that like a champ - barely cried at all.  On the other hand, Katie Anne did not like him getting a shot at all.  Like a good big sister, she felt his pain and had to cover her eyes while they gave him shot!  She got a vaccine while we were there, too.  Luckily for her, it was just the flu vaccine - and she got to use the nasal spray, so hers was no big deal.

Recovering post-shot...

Little Miss Flu Mist!

SJ4's First Doctor Visit

On Friday morning, SJ4 took his first trip to the pediatrician for his one week checkup ... at only 3 days old!  He's an overachiever already.  :)  Seriously, the doctor wanted to check him that quickly because we'd gone home sooner than she expected when she'd examined him on Wednesday.  She was worried about him developing jaundice.  Katie Anne developed a bit of jaundice after she was born, and Dr. Colon wanted to check him again on Friday to be sure SJ4 hadn't done the same thing.  So, it was off to the doctor we went!  Getting everyone fed, showered, dressed, and out the door by 9:00 am on our first day home was a bit of a challenge, but we did it!

The little-big man is ready to roll...

Katie Anne had already made plans with my dad to go to the movies on Friday morning since we all thought we'd still be in the hospital, so it worked out well.  She went to see the original Alvin and the Chipmunks movie (the "Sqeakquel" is one of her favorites, but she'd never seen the first one) at a free showing for kids with Granddad while we went to the doctor's office.  However, we wanted her to feel special and like she was still a part of things, so we made a big deal out of her picking out a special outfit for SJ4 to wear to the doctor.  She had a hard time deciding between 2 or 3 choices, but she finally settled on a little striped dinosaur outfit.  Then, we took some big sister-little brother pictures before we left.

Goodbye kisses for SJ4 before she heads out to the movies...

SJ4 got a great report at the pediatrician's office.  He'd regained some of the weight he'd lost in the hospital and was back up to 8 lbs, 9.5 oz.  Of course, his length hadn't changed - still 20.5 inches.  He demonstrated his eating, peeing, and pooping abilities by doing all 3 in quick succession while in the examination room!  His circumcision is healing up nicely, and he showed no signs of jaundice.  Overall, he is the picture of health!  

Here he is with Daddy while we wait on Dr. Colon...

SJ4 looks a little like a mini Pope here in his tall white hat, but he's still super cute.

A Doctor Visit with Mommy

This summer, as my OBGYN visits have gotten more and more frequent, Katie Anne has had to accompany me to a few appointments with Dr. Pitcher.  Today, we headed to her office for our last joint visit - KA will be back in school by the time I got back in 2 weeks.  When we got there at 11:00, the office staff said they had my appointment time down as 2:15 ... even though I had the paper where they'd written 11:15 as the time when I made the appointment last time!  So, they said they'd try to work me in - which meant a long wait for me and Katie Anne.  I was very stressed about how I was going to keep her busy during that time.  Luckily, we'd brought a bag full of books and small toys for entertainment.  Katie Anne was spectacular during the wait and while I saw Dr. Pitcher.  All together, we were at the office for right at two hours - and she was so good the whole time!  I was so proud of her!

The appointment went well, too.  Baby SJ4 is still measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule, and his heartbeat sounded good.  He's in the head-down position and ready to go!  My blood pressure and everything else looked great.  The best news of all was that I'd only gained 1 lb in the last two weeks, even though we'd been on vacation during that time!  Everyone at the office was very proud of me. Hooray!

Ready to roll:

Here she is, playing quietly while we wait on Dr. Pitcher:

Since she was so patient, I let her pick our lunch location.  She gave me two choices - Sweet Tomatoes or Cracker Barrel.  Since I wasn't sure how I'd navigate the whole Sweet Tomatoes set up with the two of us, I chose Cracker Barrel.  We had a great girls' lunch out together!  We played with Polly Pocket until it was time to eat. 

Then, we finally headed home for much-needed naps for both of us!

Katie Anne's Three Year Checkup

Yesterday, Katie Anne had a big day!  She was scheduled for her three-year-old checkup at 1:30 in the afternoon, and that threw a little kink in the childcare plans - her school strongly discourages parents from picking kids up during naptime to avoid disturbing the other kids.  Granddad could watch her in the morning after 7:45, but Saunders had to be at an early meeting.  I had planned to work a half day so I can save as much sick leave time as possible for my maternity leave.  What to do???

Well, my bosses were nice enough to bend the rules a little bit and let Katie Anne come to school with me for a few minutes until Granddad could pick her up.  Katie Anne was beyond thrilled to ride to work with Mommy...

 and go to "the big kid school"!  

She had a great time while she was there!  My kids were excited to see her, too.  She got to help me sign in, check my mailbox, pick up my kids, and pass out morning work.  Katie Anne cannot wait to come to the big kid school!

After she spent the morning with Granddad, I picked Katie Anne up and we headed for her pediatrician's office.  She got a great report!  She's right on track for all her benchmarks and is the picture of good health.  She's 39.5 inches tall and 38 pounds.  That's 95th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight.  It had been one year to the day since Katie Anne had been to the doctor - her pediatrician literally gave her three cheers for a very healthy year!  We've been very lucky - she's only had one 24 hour virus and a few not-too-serious colds since her two-year-check up!  The best news about the whole visit was - NO shots!

Since she did such a great job at the doctor's office, she got to pick out a treat at the bookstore on the way home.  She chose a Little Mermaid watercolor book, and she spent some time painting when we got home.

We capped off the day with a big family dinner at a great Mexican restaurant - La Parilla - with Gigi, Granddad, Greg, Jillian, and Mamaw!  It was a fun, busy, great day!