Kaylee's 1 year Dr. Appt

Yesterday I took Kaylee in for her 1-year doctor appt. Things went pretty well.

She is 20 lbs 15 oz - she did not triple her birth weight but is holding her own at the 50%.
She is 28 1/2" long and I believe this was in the 25-30% range.
Her head circumference is 47 cm which is in the 95%. (a "large head, but not abnormal") Big -brained :)

Developmentally, the doctor was incredibly pleased with her language development. She said most babies aren't quite saying as many words as Kaylee. Uusually they are saying 3-4, while Kaylee has been saying 10 or more. (Actually we are hearing more even in the last day, things that indicate to us she is understanding much of what we say, and it getting very close to talking - I thought I heard her say "I did it" a couple of times.) The doctor was happy she's pulling up, cruising and crawling well. On the down side, she is a bit concerned (as are we) with how she's still not eating real well and is on a mostly liquid diet. She is also concerned with her not sleeping through the night. She recommended that since she's on the bottle now, keep track of milk intake at night and then every couple of days bring it down 1 ounce so that we get into a range of 2-3 ounces. She said the baby will then decide it's not worth waking and will sleep (hopefully). Then the effect of that will hopefully be better interest in food and eating during the day. She wants to see Kaylee back in 6 weeks (instead of at 15 months old) to track her on this issue.

Kaylee received her Hep A and MMR shots yesterday. She was supposed to get her lead test, hemaglobin and chickenpox vaccine as well but we opted to do those when we meet in 6 weeks. I was rushing to the women's clinic to have my blood drawn and we didn't have enough time for the lead and hemaglobin tests. The doctor opted to not give her the chickenpox vaccine at this time because she said there's a risk for me, with a compromised immune system, of developing chicken pox (even though I've already had it once). Kaylee of course cried hard during the shots and I felt very bad for her. Poor thing. I guess the long term benefits outweigh the short-term pain.

Also she is referring us to an allergist to have Kaylee checked for a milk allergy - she said with the reactions we've seen she just doesn't want us to be guessing on what's okay and what's not. I asked her if this with be the scary back test with 50 tiny shots that I received when I was a kid. I don't want Kaylee going through that esp. at her age. She said they're not really doing that any more and that the tests won't be much for Kaylee. So I will set that up for her soon.

On the daycare front, Kaylee is getting more used to her new teacher and the teacher rated her day as "great" yesterday. Eric and I talked with the directors about getting another baby in there so Kaylee won't be lonely (she didn't want to play, only be held when William wasn't there). They will be moving 1-2 more babies up early from the infant room next Wednesday so we are very happy about this. She will be so happy to be with her friends again!

As far as being weaned from nursing, things get better everyday. Night before last she cried a mad, inconsolable cry while waiting the 5 min for the bottle to heat up. But the next time we fed her, she was patient and not crying. She is getting more used to just getting the bottle - I'm encouraged. I'm so happy that we have the breastmilk my friend donated, it helps me cope with what's going on a bit better and relieves the sadness I felt when throwing my milk down the drain.

I am so glad to have an amazing, supportive, helpful husband! Eric has been great, I love you Eric! My mom and mother-in-law have also been extremely great too! They're great helpers, advisors, listeners and consolers. My Dad and father-in-law are also helpful in their strong, gentle way. Also the 3 sisters I have, nobody could ask for more!!!

I got slammed hard with lots of deadline-type work on my project when I returned on Thursday. Thursday and Friday were crazy and I will have to continue working toward a deadline on Monday. I will be working from home this weekend to try to catch up. That is why I didn't have my blood drawn till late in the day and won't know how things are shaping up until Monday. But I think this is a blessing because if the numbers were still rising (which from what I've read they could be) I think that would only make me nervous. So it'll be better to see it Monday, along with the comparison to the blood draw I'll have on Monday. Then we will know more. The only new news is I'm starting to develop sores in my mouth from the treatment. They are not bad but I am rinsing with salt water and might have to use Vitamin E for it soon. I'll keep you posted on how things are going Monday.