Look Who is 6M.....And a Lost Hamburger...

please pretend you don't see how terribly stained the arm of the couch is!

I CAN.NOT.BELIEVE that Beatrice is 6M already. Time has just flown by and she has grown and grown an grown!!

She had her well check Wednesday and after quite a slow start in the growth department she is doing great now.  She is 13lbs now.  Definitely small, but steady growth.  And we just assume small kids at this point.  Good head growth and length...the numbers of which I don't recall.

There is no doubt she is doing fantastic in terms of motor skills.  She has a whole bevy of new tricks.  She can sit unassisted for a small amount of time.  And she actually sits herself up in this weird lounging position.  She gets herself up on her hands and feet.  And she is just moments away from crawling.  She is always up on her knees, but just can't get the coordination down.  So instead she does this hysterical thing where she just throws herself forward.  Both Ben and Anna spent a good amount of time doing the army crawl.  Using their arms primarily.  Beatrice definitely favors the legs when it comes to moving around.

look, she can almost pass as chubby!

 The lost hamburger is poor Annabella *sigh* She had a weight check the same day as Beatrice's well check and the news was not what we expected.  She lost 4oz, a quarter of a pound (hence the hamburger reference...quarter pounder...get it?).  We really thought we were in the homestretch....just in the maintenance mode.  So we are back to fighting with her over every bite.  Part of the issue is that she just does not prefer fatty or calorically dense foods.  Conversations go like this often:

Me: Anna want some chocolate milk or chocolate pudding??
Anna: No I just want water and a granola bar

Me: Anna want some ice cream???
Anna: I will have an ice pop

Me: Anna want some ranch dressing to dip that carrot in??
Anna:  No, just plain.

She will go out into our garden and forage for blueberries and cherry tomatos and gobble them all up, but she is not eating enough calories to maintain (let alone gain) weight.  So, I beg you for prayers that she will eat what she needs, gain weight, and we will be back on track to keep her appt on September 10th to get her tube out.

Mommy Instinct - And Why You Should Never Ignore It!

My little Beatrice, my Bea Bug, my Buggy lovie girl. 

I could write a book about following mommy instincts when it comes to the health of your children.  I am an expert.  Just a quick browsing of my archives will tell the tale.  Anna's story or Ben's.  I definitely deserve and honorary MD, but the medical industry seems to frown upon that sort of thing ;)

 I can't remember what I have shared here already about this little ray of sunshine (and she really is a ray of sunshine...don't let that serious face up there confuse you.  She is just deeply concentrating on trying to crawl).  Beatrice early on showed issues with dairy formula and at about a month old, due to symptoms and her inability to gain weight, was switched to Alimentum, a hypoallergenic formula and sent to CHOP to see a pediatric GI.  The GI instructed us to concentrate her formula for a boost of calories.  This did help her to gain some extra weight.  Got her onto the growth chart.

She is a basically easy going and a happy little midgie of a baby.  But some things just kept nagging at me.  She started to get rashy and then broke out in eczema.  She was always drippy and she started scratching her face until she was bleeding and lacerated.  Just to name a few.  I decided to just go ahead and take her to an allergist at CHOP.  Even though she was on Alimentum it is still technically a dairy based formula and super sensitive babies can still react to it.  It was a long shot and I hemmed and hawed about cancelling the appointment.

So I chatted with the doctor about the symptoms and he was a bit skeptical.  His feeling was that her symptoms sounded more like a GI issue than anything else, but he agreed to do a scratch test for dairy.  He said he doubted it would come back positive.  I agreed....I already have one kid off dairy and I know a protein sensitivity is not going to show up on a scratch test...and I assumed that was her issue.

But we were both wrong.  She had a big reaction with an 8mL wheal.  So she has scored herself her very own epipen and a switch to an amino acid called Elecare, truly hypoallergenic formula as well as an appointment for further allergy testing in a few weeks.

She was reacting to even the tiny bit of completely broken down dairy that is in the Alimentum.  So glad I went with my instincts that something was not right rather then wait until she had a full blown, dangerous reaction before anything was done.

Hopefully she is on the right track now.  And seriously mommas if you have an inkling that something just seems off with your kiddies pursue it.  Don't let a doctor tell you no, don't be intimidated, be fierce!

Everyday is a Greek Tragedy

Medusa anyone??

Why My Kids Don't Watch TV.....

Or very little...

Because it is not unusual...it is everyday for hours a day...that I find Ben and Anna deeply engaged in a game together.  Creating together.  They seek each other out for companionship. 

They are never bored.  They don't expect to be entertained.


They truly play with all of their toys.  Constantly recreating.  A nursery rhyme music box Ben got at 9M, that I put away for Beatrice, finally resurfaced and the kids have really been have a blast playing dance party to the songs it plays, showing Beatrice how it works, and enjoying it all over again.  Never outgrowing the simple pleasures.

They have time for each other and to build relationships.

They have time imagine and take comfort.

Time to be silly.  Time to be kids.  Time to be themselves.