Zadie's 4-Year Checkup

The results are in.  Zadie is 42.25 inches tall (94th percentile) and 41 pounds (80th percentile).  She says she likes to be tall, but doesn't want to be too tall.  For her sake, hopefully my relatively short genes will help.

And she's fit as a fiddle and I am so thankful for her good health!

Charlie One-Year Appointment

Because I try to use this blog as a baby book, I try to always enter the info for the kids' appointments.  You may have noticed that Charlie is a tad chunky, but actually his weight was only in the 85th percentile (25 lbs, 12 oz), his height was the 55th percentile (30 inches) and of course his enormous head was in the 97th percentile (19.25 somethings).  He and Zadie are two peas in a pod when it comes to big heads!

He's on track with everything developmentally, though he doesn't seem to be in any rush to take steps.  He's pretty content crawling around (he finally crawls the "real" way now).  Unfortunately he still has to take lots of medication for his childhood asthma, but all in all he's doing great.

His favorite thing in the world watching his siblings romp around.  A close second is feeding himself...that always seems to entertain him for long periods of time.

MY very favorite thing about Charlie is his great belly laugh.  It's almost husky and it makes me happy every time I hear it.

Charlie's 9 Month Appointment

Chubby Charlie had his nine-month doctor appointment last week and weighed in at 24 lbs, 2 oz (93rd percentile). He was 28 and 3/4 inches long (72nd percentile) and his head circumference was 18 and 3/4 somethings (95th percentile).

Charlie is a very lazy baby who rolls over about once a month and still doesn't crawl. Skip was almost walking at this age! But I think the fact that he's so hefty make it hard for him to be too mobile. The doctor said that he may just skip the crawling phase and go directly to walking.

Either way, Charlie is a sweet and wonderful baby. He brings me so much joy with his random giggle fits and his sweet and chubby face. I love him!

Zadie's Three-Year Check-up

Since I also use this as the kids' official baby book, I wanted to report that Zadie had her three-year checkup and is 37 inches tall (80th percentile) and weighs 35 lbs (50th percentile). She's very healthy and developmentally doing great. As most people know, one of her most impressive talents is her ability to do complex puzzles, which she most definitely didn't get from my gene pool! She's actually quite mechanical and really enjoys putting things together.

Skip's 9-Month Checkup

Skip had his 9-month checkup on Monday. Unfortunately, for as long as we can recall he's had a runny nose, a cough, and congestion. People often ask us if he has a cold, but it doesn't feel like we can say yes because he's always been this way -- that's just Skip. So then recently people started suggesting maybe he has allergies and that's why he's always like this. But the doctor told us she doesn't think that's what it is since he was this way prior to starting solids (but couldn't he be allergic to the formula?). Poor Skip! Zadie never had to tell with any colds or sicknesses like this and it can't be fun, but he still continues to have an amazing personality. Hopefully the congestion will go away with the start of the warm weather.

Skip was 29 and 3/4 inches long in length (93rd percentile), which really surprised me. I don't think of him as taller/longer than other kids his age. He weighed 19 lbs and 13 oz (45th percentile). His head circumference was 17 and 1/4 whatevers (10th percentile). I'm a little concerned about the head circumference because of the whole flathead issue, but the doctor told Tori that his head is definitely growing and everything is fine.

Two-Year Checkup -- She's a Big One!

Tori took Zadie to her two-year checkup this past week and she is rather large. She's 31 inches long (100th percentile), 28 lbs and 14 ounces (75th percentile), and her head is 20 whatevers (100th percentile). People always comment on Zadie's big belly, which is funny to us since we struggle every day to get her to eat. She can gorge on fruit and snacks, but it's challenging to get her to eat any kind of meat or protein. Sometimes we succeed with tofu if we put enough hummus or ketchup on it.

p.s. The above photo was actually taken 3-4 months ago, but I never had a chance to post it. It makes me happy to see how much fun Zadie has playing with a cardboard box!

Skip Turns 6 Months...and Eats Solids!

Skip turned six months old on January 3rd and he's hit some big milestones lately. He's been sitting up for about three weeks now and a few days ago he had his first try at solid foods.

We recorded Zadie's first meal way back in July of 2008 and it was pretty funny because Tori gave her zucchini and she definitely didn't like it. But I guess Tori is softening up because she gave Skip sweet potatoes for his first solid foods. He is FAR more interested in his first meal than Zadie was. He struggles to get the hang of the whole swallowing thing, but he's pretty enthusiastic about trying it. I'm hoping this means he is going to be a less picky eater than Zadie.

Skip had his six-month appointment a few days ago and things are mostly good. He's doing really well developmentally and with his height and weight, but he still has flathead. We're looking into helmets and have a consultation next week for it. The doctor says it isn't affecting his brain growth, but it's still not fun to have a misshapen head!

His exact specs were 27.25 inches long (76th percentile), 17lbs, 5 oz (50th percentile), and 16.75 something head circumference (24th percentile). I was surprised that when I compared this to Zadie's 6 month numbers Skip was actually slightly ahead of her in height and weight. I always think of Zadie as so much bigger.

15 month checkup

Zadie had her 15-month checkup last week and she’s defying the odds. It amazes me how much she continues to grow despite very stubbornly refusing to eat much of anything besides fruit. This child goes bonkers for all fruits, but particularly loves apples and berries. It’s very challenging to convince her to eat anything else and we do worry about her getting any protein. Tori tries every trick in the book to sneak some protein in (berries mixed w/chicken?), but Zadie always outsmarts us. The doctor said to just let it be and not to fight her too much. I guess it could be worse and she could refuse to eat anything but junk food.

Anyway, Zadie leapt up on all the growth charts. She weighed 23 lbs and 13 oz, which is the 70th percentile (up from the 50th percentile last time around). She measured 32 inches, which is the 90th percentile, and her head circumference was 19 inches (that must be centimeters, not inches, right?). Her head circumference is now in the 100th percentile, so the poor child definitely has my genes in that department.

One-Year Check-up

We took Zadie to her one-year check-up today and she got very positive reviews from the doctor. Despite the fact that she is not yet walking, she is very active and inquisitive and has a great personality (that's what the doctor said).

I'm nursing Zadie once a day (at night) and she has started whole milk for the rest of the time. She's generally a very good eater, but while she was sick the past two weeks she became very picky. We're hoping this will change as she begins to feel better. Her appetite is definitely back. Her favorite food BY FAR is any and all kinds of fruit. But I think bananas take the cake. She likes them so much that we hate to feed them to her because she goes a bit, well, bananas. Haha.

Zadie weighed 20 lbs and 2 oz, which is in the 46th percentile. She was 30" inches long, which is in the 76th percentile. And her head remains enormous at 18.5 inches in circumference -- a whopping 93rd percentile.

9 Month Checkup

Zadie had her nine-month checkup today and all was well. She weighed 17 lbs, 13 oz (25th percentile), she was 28.5 inches long (75th percentile) and I can't remember how enormous her head was, but it was 91st percentile. I was a little disturbed that she had dropped to the 25th percentile in weight, but the doctor said it was completely normal and not too worry. I feel like she eats a TON and is somewhat pudgy, so I'd like to see the other 75 percent!

I also asked the doctor about why Zadie's right ear is sometimes horribly smelly, but that remains a mystery. Her ear canal is fine and normal and everything looked okay. Still, when she gets water in her ear (after swimming or sometimes after a bath), that ear smells really rank!

Six Month Checkup

Zadie had her six month checkup last Friday. She weighed 15 lbs, 8 oz, which is less than I reported about a month ago, but that time I didn't take her diaper off. The doctor said her weight is fine (47th percentile), but I feel like I haven't been able to give her all the milk that she wants, so I may have to start supplementing with a little bit of formula. She was 26 and one quarter inches (73rd percentile) and her head was in the 95th percentile. So she's really slowed down in all the growth areas except for that enormous head!

She's finally started liking rice cereal and a few other vegetables like peas and squash, so that's been a new experience.