Rule #163: Weight gain is a marathon, not a sprint

Graham and Rory both had doctors appointments today. Graham was really excited to have Aurora come with him.

He was darling in the waiting room. Pointing to the fish painted on the wall and matching their color to chairs. Then he cheerfully followed the nurse and got his height and weight measured. He was NOT a fan of getting his blood pressure taken. (His arm getting a "hug") He kept saying that he didn't want to do that, so I bribed him. I'm proud of it, and it worked. :) I told him if he sat really still he could have a sucker.

He played with the puzzles, showing off how smart he was the whole appointment. He knows his alphabet, numbers, colors. His counting leaves something to be desired, but he's working on it. He really is very smart and very pleasant. Dr. Burnett asked how I would describe his temperament. I told her he is willful and happy. :) He likes to be Master of his own domain.

We also talked about Graham's eating, or lack thereof. While he is still a thin kid, his weight is steady. He is starting to eat a little bit better. I'm sure it will keep getting better with time.

Graham is all boy, and very physical. He likes to wrestle with Alex and loves to pretend fight with...well, anything really. I love my little boy!

Weight: 28 lbs 2 oz - 15%

Height: 37 inches - 25%

Back in September Aurora had her 2 month check up...but she was almost three months old. Here are her numbers from that visit.

Weight: 9 lbs 5 oz - 5%

Length: 23.75 inches - 80%
OFC: 15.2 inches - 25%

For this visit she was legitimately 4 months old. She was due for a nap, but because she's such a good baby, she never fussed once. Well, until she got her immunizations, but that doesn't count. She was calm and pleasant. I wouldn't say she was HAPPY, because she was so tired. But she did give the nurse a couple of smiles here and there. Her current numbers are:

Weight: 10 lbs 8 oz - <5>Length: 24.75 inches - 75%
OFC: 15.75 inches - 25%

As you can see, she is quite petite. At four months of age both my boys were at least 13 lbs, so I was a little bit worried about what the doctor was going to say about her weight gain. I haven't been that concerned because she is so pleasant, and she sleeps well. But still, she only weighs 10 pounds! Turns out Dr. Burnett isn't worried about it either. Her growth is on a steady curve. Genetics play a big role. (Ahem...Alex's daughter) I told her that while I'm at work Rory eats between 4-6 oz of breast milk per bottle, and that's what I pump while I'm gone. She felt good about it all. She said I could come back in a month, just for a quick weight check to make sure she continues growing on the same curve.

I was relieved. I have been doing everything possible to make this breastfeeding experience last longer than my other two times. I'm taking a medication to help with milk production. I was worried that her weight would be too low and I would have to start supplementing a feed or two a day, and worried about what that would do to my supply. I'm a bit of a worry wort. :) Luckily I don't have to do any of that and we can continue on as we are.

She is still the best baby I've ever known. She is so happy, basically all of the time. When she wakes up in the morning I swear her face is stretched to the max with her giant grin! I love it! It makes me feel so special and loved. She rolled over for the first time today. Mostly she gets stuck on her arm on the way over. But she is improving. She can sit in her bumbo chair and is getting better with her hand eye coordination. On a typical night she will go to bed around 9 and not wake up until 4am, then fall right back to sleep and wake again at 8:30 or so. It's so great!

When I'm with Aurora my soul is happy. That's the best way I can describe it. She has a calming presence and is filled with pure love. I love my little girl!

Rule #162: You're never too young for a rescue party

We celebrated Graham's third birthday on Saturday. We were hoping for good weather, because we really wanted to have the party outside. Having an outside party in the middle of October is a little risky, but it worked out last year and we were lucky again. It was perfect weather!

The lemons are supposed to be gears. You know, for the tech element :)

Graham woke up to a note.

I should explain. Graham wanted a Skylanders birthday party. Skylanders is a video game. There are different figures that you buy to put on a special portal and then you play those characters on the screen. And Kaos had stolen them all!! I was nervous that Graham would be too young to understand that he would get all of his skylanders back at the party. I was afraid he would be too sad. But he was fine. Evan was super excited! He thought it was the greatest thing and read that note over and over again all morning long! Since he's learning to read (and getting really good at it) he would read each individual "ha" It was hysterical to listen to.  "Mwa. ha. ha. ha. ha."

There are 8 elements in Skylanders. We had games or food for each element in order to rescue Graham's skylanders. Alex dressed up as Kaos at the beginning of the party. Graham didn't really understand why Alex had a big black robe on, and because it was such a beautiful day Alex was sweating to death. So he wasn't Kaos for very long. :)

We had Pin the eye on Eyebrawl. Neither Graham or Evan wore the blindfold. But all the other kids did. :)

There was also Trigger Happy's shoot out. We put pictures of monsters from the video game on cans and jugs for the kids to shoot using Trigger Happy's guns. It was harder than we thought it would be. The cans would knock over, but the milk jugs required a lot of force. Sometimes if they hit it, I called it good enough and would knock it over with my hands. :) The little kids ended up getting REALLY close to the cans. But they had a good time.

All Graham really wanted was the candy. Since this was his party we jumped numbers and went to Crusher and Prism Brakes game. They were surrounded by pretzels and crushed candy. Graham had to eat them free. :) He thought it was a great game.

In the video game there are tiny monsters called Chompies. They are green with big mouths. We used Chompies for two games.

For air they had to keep the chompies in the air for 10 seconds to free the air skylanders.

For the life element, they had to smash the Chompies. For the record, Graham and Evan wanted me to make Infuego Chompies (red) and Frigid Chompies (blue) I made one of each, but ran out of time to color the mouths of the rest of the Chompies. But I think they turned out cute anyway.

To free the water Skylanders we had the kids do a water relay. They were pulled in the wagon on our bumpy grass to a bucket full of water. They had to fill their cups and try not to spill too much water on the bumpy ride home. In order to set the skylanders free they had to fill one of the containers with water.

Evan and Graham went first. They love being pulled for a bumpy ride, we do it all the time. But they were NOT fans of water splashing on them! They both burst into tears. Sigh. The rest of the kids seemed to enjoy the water relay. Even Nana wanted to get in on the fun!

And then she fell out of the wagon! I'm so glad that she landed on the grass and not the cement. She's a trooper and got back into the wagon to finish the relay.

We also had a magic potion station. We found most of these awesome bottles at the DI and filled them with different kinds of soda. The kids had to pick three different kinds to mix together. If they dared to drink it the magic skylanders would be rescued.

I promise it was pop and not alcohol, despite the drunken look on Sanders face!

The last element was fire. This was where we sang Happy Birthday to my newest three year old and watched him blow out the candles!

The singing wasn't THAT bad.....

After cupcakes and ice cream (They were supposed to be cloud cupcakes) we opened presents. Thank you to everyone who came out and loved on my little Graham Cracker!