He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Patrick and Molly had check-ups with the pediatrician today (one of the benefits of having birthdays close together, they can go in at the same time). For some reason Patrick was super excited about seeing the doctor, even though his last visit to the pediatrician involved 5 shots so we could register for kindergarten. Patrick has a little bit of a problem with the vision test, it was hard to tell if he was having a hard time seeing or if he was just bored with answering the nurses questions. We get to go back in in 3 months for another check. I'm really hoping he doesn't need glasses. Patrick weighed in at a petite 37 pounds and 41.5 inches, which puts his around the 20th percentile. I guess I hadn't realized that he was on thew small side, but it was confirmed today when I tried to put a pair of size 5, elastic waist shorts on him and them slid right down to his ankles. Molly weighed in at 26 pounds and 32 inches, which puts her in the 90th percentile. Go figure! She took her 3 shots like a champ, no tears at all. Not like a certain drama prone boy whose name rhymes with Batrick.

Now that the whole swine flu thing seems to have died down, and Tom is not longer slammed by it at work, we are going on a little road trip. Yeay! We're planning on seeing Mickey, Legos and Shamu. Please, oh please let the kids be angels in the car. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I'm begging.

Birthday Girl

Good golly, Miss Molly is 1 today!

It's so hard to believe she's already one. The last year has just zipped on by, it seems like yesterday I was anxiously awaiting our sweet baby girl. It still amazes me to think that we have a girl, I was so comfortable in my role as a boy mom. I still get a little squee inside when I take pretty little pink dresses out of the laundry and put bows in her hair. In the picture above, Molly is wearing a dress I bought long before I was ever pregnant with her. I thought it was so pretty, wand worth putting away just in case I ever had a baby girl. So I thought it was fitting that she wear it today.

Molly has just been a precious joy in our lives. She's so similar to Patrick in so many ways (inability to sleep through the night being at the top of that list!), and so different in others. Molly absolutely adores Patrick, she is never far from his side and he doesn't seem to mind one bit. When he plays with his Playmobil men of Legos at the dining room table she will sit on the sidelines and watch, content to just be near him. Just in the last week she has started saying "dada" and "mama" in the right context. She's definitely attached to us and wary of strangers. When Tom leaves for work in the mornings she cries. And when he comes home at night she crawls as fast as she can to the door, stopping to lift her arms up for a snuggle. She doesn't seem that interested in walking yet. It's OK, I'm enjoying every minute of babyness.

Molly has her 1 year visit at the pediatrician yesterday. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile) and 30 inches long (85 or 90th percentile). Her head is finally measuring in close to Patrick's in the 90th percentile! The doctor declared her nice and healthy, and wasn't concerned about her weight. We started her on a little cows milk this week, she hasn't taken to it as quickly as Patrick did but it is nice to know that she has an option other than mom! We also got the green light to start her on a few more foods like eggs.

So a very happy birthday to my sweet baby girl! You are the icing on our cake, and we all love you very, very much.

Time Keeps Slipping Away

My little miss is now 9 months old. It hardly seems possible she's been in this world as long as it took for her to prepare to enter it. Molly had her 9 month well baby visit with the pediatrician today. She's measuring in at 18 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile) and 28.5 inches (90th percentile). Her height has stayed consistent since birth which continues to blow me away. Her weight dropped a bit int he last 6 months but the doctor didn't seem too concerned since Molly really only started eating solids a month ago. She's not too keen on pureed baby food but she loves self feeding and is a much better eater than her brother. Tonight for dinner she ate a half of a zucchini followed by a chaser of pureed peaches. She loves Cheerios and gets bouncy and excited when she sees that familiar yellow box. It took a lot of practice but she's crawling with determination (and speed!) which has freaked Patrick out just a bit. And she's far more interested in things like cords and plugs than her brother was (or maybe just more than I remember). I definitely need to keep my eye on her. She has 6 teeth now, and seems ready to pop 2 more through int he next week or so. Her hair is getting long enough to get in her eyes so I need to keep it clipped back (with a bow of course!). She continues to be an absolute joy for all of us.

BUT, and this is a big one, she has become a terrible sleeper. We thought we hit the jackpot when she slept around the clock as a newborn. She never had that night and day confusion. From day 1 she gave us great stretches at night. At only a few months old she started sleeping through the night occasionally. And then the teething started. One tooth was ready to pop through, and then another, and another, and before we knew it she was regularly getting up to nurse 3 times a night. You could set a watch by it, she was up at 11, 3 and 6. Mommy and Daddy started to get exhausted, naps were getting wonky, no one was happy and we decided we needed to get hard core. So tonight we tried the Ferber sleep method, which is a gentle method of crying it out but it break my heart nonetheless. The pediatrician was the one who suggested it today, so I know it is considered "ok" to do but I still feel like a crappy mom. I feel like we've broken her little spirit, like she's now learned that no one is going to really respond to her so don't even bother. It makes my heart hurt. I never could do it with Patrick, left on his own in the crib he would hysterically cry until he vomited. Every...single...time. After reading several sleep books that didn't work we ended up rocking him to sleep for naps and bedtime until he turned 1 and finally started sleeping through the night. He sleeps fine now, so no harm, no foul, right? So here I sit, typing away, as my (broken spirited?) little baby sleeps in her crib and I pray that this works because I don't think I have the heart to repeat this scene every night. This too shall pass. Until then I may just move to Australia.

Every Breath You Take

My little guy is still having a tough time breathing. We were back in the pediatrician's office today for check-ups, but it turned into a 2 hour visit with oxygen saturation measurements and a breathing treatment by nebulizer. We came home with our very own nebulizer for breathing treatments for the next 2 days and then it's back to the doctor on Friday to check in. At least Patrick is pretty good about taking the treatments, I was never good at doing them.



Today our little Miss Molly is 6 months old. It's bittersweet (like so much of motherhood). I thought the time flew by when Patrick was a baby but now I know what it really feels like to fly through the months. Molly continues to be a sweet and dreamy baby. She absolutely adores her big brother, and he will do anything for a laugh from her including dancing like a monkey. Molly is a pro at rolling (but only from back to tummy), is starting to sit unassisted, and is thisclose to getting some teeth (note to self: take more gummy grin pictures before they are gone). We tried rice cereal this week, and while Molly was thrilled at the spoon the idea of it but the cereal made her completely gag and her first reaction is to spit it out. We got the same reaction on another try with butternut squash, I guess I'll just keep trying. She's still measuring in at the upper end of the charts, today she weighed 16 pounds, 14 ounces (75th percentile), measured 26 3/4 inches long (90th percentile) and those Murphy genes must have kicked in because her head has jumped up to the 90th percentile (44 cm).

Patrick weighed in at 33 pounds (fully clothed) and 38 inches. No clue what the percentiles are on that. He had his first vision test today, instead of letters they used symbols. There was a heart, a star, a circle and other easily recognized shapes. There was also a + sign, and I wasn't sure if he knew what it was called. When the nurse asked him what it was he said "A band aid!" and he repeated it again with the other eye. We both kind of laughed and I wondered where he got that from. One of the doctors was near the nurse's station when this happened and she overheard the exchange. She laughed about it but then realized that there is a red cross on boxes of band aids, and he was associating the cross with the band aids. Isn't that strange and cool? Almost every day I am amazed at how his little mind is working overtime and soaking everything up.

Oh, and I spent another $120 on copays today. That brings our total out of pocket costs this week to $208. And we still have another appointment on Friday. I need a rolling eyes smiley.

Young And Growing

Miss Molly is 5 months old today! She's starting doing so much in the last month, changing from a relatively quiet baby into an active one. New tricks include working out in the Jumperoo, reaching for objects (and trying to grab food out of our hands), swinging at the park, standing on laps (with support), playing with her dolly, and blowing raspberries. Official stats: 16 pounds, 10 ounces (which is actually about a pound less than I thought, maybe she had an empty stomach when we weighed her) and about 26 inches (I think that whole baby measuring thing is pretty much a guesstimate). Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks. Molly is the bestest baby (and not just because she lets me put silly shoes, bows and sunglasses on her), she's mostly (knock on wood) sleeping through the night, she very rarely cries (except at dinner last night), and she's generally pretty happy go lucky (as long as her schedule stays the same).

And I'm actually starting to think she looks a little like me, I'll have to scan in some more baby pictures sometime soon.











Wow, rereading this it is quite apparent that I am a fan of the parenthesis (oops!). ;)

Keep On Growing

Little Molly is already 4 months old! Well, technically she turned 4 months last Friday but she had her 4 month visit with the pediatrician today. Molly is continuing along her stellar growth curve. Here's the official stats...

Weight: 15 pounds, 12 ounces (90th percentile)
Height: 25.25 inches (90th percentile)
Head: 42 cm (75th percentile)

And just for comparison, Patrick was 13 lbs, 14 oz at 4 months and the exact same height. But he was somewhere in the 25-50th percentiles (I forget which one was which). She continues to be a completely delightful baby, sleeping well at night and rarely crying, but only as long as she has the same routine and is at home. So it makes it a little hard because Patrick prefers to be out and about and has school and playdates to attend. She's just not one of those babies that will nap anywhere. Oh well, I still think she's pretty cool ;)



Patrick starts school on Thursday, he's at the same school this year. Apparently 3 years on the wait list at Bing is not long enough :P But honestly, I would have been a little torn if he had gotten into Bing because he's really happy at his current school and it's much closer to home. Cute school pictures to come!

Baby Baby

Our little Molly is 3 months old today! The time has just zoomed by, it's hard to believe she's 1/4 of the way through her first year. Molly's been such a sweet baby. She started sleeping through the night but I got cocky about it and mentioned it to a few people, you know what that means, right? Last night she was up at 2! But she's such a happy baby, she doesn't even cry when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she just coos and kicks. And she always offers plenty of smiles as payment for those middle of the night feedings. She weighed in today at 14 pounds even, and measured at just over 24 inches. It seems her growth is slowing down which is a good thing because mommy likes to buy clothes ahead and I would have been bummed out if nothing fit. Molly's developing her little personality and even has definite likes and dislikes. Likes include: having her diaper changed; playing with her brother; having her feet smooched; looking at herself in mirror; watching her crib mobile; and being held all day. Dislikes include; loud noises; the sound of sneezes; having her fingernails trimmed; having to wait more than 2 hours between feedings; and getting the sun in her eyes. Molly's losing her hair a little bit, partyly because she sleeps on her back and partly because she likes to tug at her hair when she is nursing (mommy's losing her hair too but that is another story). Patrick continues to be good with her, he loves coming in with me to get her up from his nap, he hands me diapers when I change her, and he talks about all the things he will do with Molly when she gets bigger. At the top of his list is a trip to the zoo.

And me? I'm getting to be more confident as the mom of 2 kids. We get out of the house more often than I expected, even if it is just to the grocery store or Target. I find that I am so much more relaxed with Molly than I was with Patrick and I wonder if that is part of the reason she is so easy. I just feel blessed :)

I'm A Big Girl Now

Molly had her 2 month visit with the pediatrician today. She weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds, 11 ounces. That puts her at the 95th percentile for weight (and she was 95th for height too). At 2 months Patrick was 10 pounds, 2 ounces, so Molly is about 25 percent bigger. Her head measurement was only in the 75th percentile, so Patrick is kicking her butt on that front (the lowest he has even been was 95th). Poor Molly had to have 4 shots, she screamed harder than I've ever heard her scream, it broke my heart. She recovered within a few minutes and seems no worse for the wear. She's a healthy girl!

Baby Doll

Little Miss Molly is one month old today! She had an appointment with her pediatrician yesterday and she weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds! She never really had that tiny, frail newborn look that Patrick did (Patrick didn't hit 10 pounds until he was 2 months old). We sang "Happy Monthday" to her today and Patrick blew out the imaginary candles :)

Measure By Measure

Molly had her 2 week appointment today with her pediatrician and I was rather shocked at her stats...

Weight: 8 pounds, 14 ounces (75th percentile)
Height: 21.75 inches (95th percentile!!!)
Head: 37 cm (75th percentile)

Since Patrick's head was always around the 100th percentile Molly's head seems small in comparison. But the length is really what surprises me. Maybe my horizontally challenged genes didn't make it into her DNA (fingers crossed!). Molly was declared mostly healthy, she has a case of thrush (and I have it too, ouch!) so we're both on medication to try and clear it up.

Growing Up

Patrick had his 27 month visit witht he pediatrician yesterday. He was declared healthy and perfectly normal in terms of weight and height (50th percentile on each, he weighed 28.5 pounds and is just about 36 inches tall). Someone once told me that if you double the height at age 2 you could predict a child's adult height. So that would put Patrick at about 5'10", the same as Tom (and pretty tall considering my puny height). I also found this online height predictor which spits out a predicted height of 6'2" for Patrick (or, more than a foot taller than his mother). So I have no idea how accurate these things are but I thought it was pretty interesting! And I realized I never posted Patrick's "official" 2 year portrait. We gave it to the grandmas for Mother's Day so I didn't post it when I first got them. The session went horrible, Patrick cried most of the time and refused to let go of a box of raisins he was holding. I was beyond thrilled that a nice picture turned out from it!

The Daily Grind

We're getting settled into the house and still unpacking. It scares me that we still have an entire storage unit to unload. Yikes. Patrick is having a ball exploring every nook and cranny of the house. His new favorite activities include tormenting the pugs (and slipping them Cheerios) and emptying the cabinets (who knew I had so many ice trays?).





And I have to mention that I swear Patrick normally wears pants!

In other news Patrick has his 19 month well baby visit yesterday. My little baby is getting so big! The official stats...

• Weight - 23 pounds, 14 ounces (20th percentile)
• Height - 33 inches (70th percentile!!!!)
• Head - 55 cm (97th percentile)

Patrick has been steady on the height chart at 50% so the jump to 70% is interesting. Especially since I am 5'2'.....

....in a slight heel.

Where There's Smoke There's Fire

A little background information, we moved out of the house during the heavy work of the remodel. We rented a condo in Mountain View until the end of August. So at about 10 pm tonight the fire alarm went off. We're on the 3rd floor of the building so I close the laptop (I was checking my e-mail!) grabbed Patrick out of his crib and we headed downstairs just in time to see the two firetrucks pulling up, with lights and sirens and everything. The firsts floor is filled with smoke and some idiot is telling the firemen "False alarm, it's OK, you can go" while smoke is pouring out of the building. They insist on checking it out and run into the building with all of their fire gear and masks on. Turns out the fire was in the idiot's unit, he locked his door before he went outside so they had to break down his door. Turns out he left a pot on the stove and went out tonight, coming home just in time to catch the fire, lock his door, and run out to meet the trucks. The firemen stay and set up huge fans to blow out all of the smoke. We get to meet a few neighbors including a very sweet French bulldog, Patrick enjoyed watching the trucks. Now we're back upstairs and our place smells a little like smoke. Too bad I didn't have my camera to take pictures.

In other news, the little man is now 15 months old and we celebrated by going to the doctor's office for a few more shots! Poor little guy. Patrick's official 15 month stats:

• Height - 31.25 inches (50th percentile)
• Weight - 21 pounds, 10 ounces (10th percentile)
• Head - 49 centimeters (95th percentile)

He got two shots and cried for a while. Patrick's been working on perfecting his scowl and he made sure he showed it to the nurse after the shots.

It's been really hot this week. Our condo has air conditioning. We haven't left the condo much to go out. I love A/C. A lot.

More house pics to come this weekend!

Doctor! Doctor!

Patrick had his official one year well baby visit yesterday and took his 3 shots like a little champ. Here are the official stats:

Height - 30 inches (50th percentile)
Weight - 19 pounds, 2 ounces (5th percentile!)
Head - 48.8 centimeters (above 100th percentile)

Patrick's drop in weight is most likely due to him having that stomach bug for a week (his weight had been holding steady at the 25th percentile since birth). I need to fatten him up a little before his 15 month check-up.

In other news, Patrick is now officially walking. I'm not even really sure when it happened, he's been taking tiny little steps for a while now and slowly building up the number of steps he can take at once. Yesterday he hit 38, it's like all of a sudden he can walk and I'm not even sure when it happened. Sniff, sniff :(

Hello

Patrick had his first spontaneous wave today! He started waving to people in the mall as we were strolling by, a few people were kind enough to wave back. Patrick's other new trick is shaking his head back and forth when I say "no". Now I think he thinks "no" is a command to shake his head and not to stop what he is doing. Oops.

In other news, Patrick had his 9 month well baby appointment yesterday. He weighed in at 18 pounds, 6 ounces (25th percentile), measured 28 inches (50th percentile) and his head was something crazy like 48 centimeters (95th percentile). All of his percentiles have remained the same since birth, he's a consistent little bugger! I'm hoping he doesn't end up a skinny, average height adult with a ginourmous head!