They're Three!

Last week, a mere 2 months after-the-fact, the girls had their three-year visit to the doctor. (ahem.)

Elaine

36 1/2 inches tall

A whopping 27 1/2 pounds

A healthy girl.

Alida

36 1/2 inches tall

29 pounds

A healthy girl.

Amazing to think that we are done with visits-by-the-every-couple-of-months for check-ups.

The Four Year Stats

Ben: 34 1/2 pounds, 39 inches

Wound up at the four-year appointment. Wouldn't take his coat off; then he wouldn't put his pants back on. A normal boy I'm told.

Nicholas: 33 pounds, 38 inches

The boss of who would go first every step of the way. A normal boy I'm told.

Eczema flare up is bad right now; the castor oil I'm giving him internally has been given a nod, along with the suggestion of flax seed oil. As well as the addition of a little more good fat in the boys' diet. And while we're at it, there is a tar paste/lotion/concoction we can get at the store to try. "He'll smell like asphalt, but it seems to work."

Four short and long years ago on our first day out in the big world from the hospital.

The Friday Outing: Well Visits for Everyone

The one, singular moment of calm during our let's-go-ahead-and-take-four-kids-to-the-doctor-at-once afternoon.

After that Nicholas slammed his finger in the door and screamed. Alida just screamed. Elaine played in the trash. Everyone needed suddenly and with great urgency to wash their hands. And Benjamin suddenly needed to go potty five different times. Five times because each time he got there he had a bout of performance anxiety and refused to actually go potty.

Thank you Dr. Snapp for agreeing to do this. We will never, ever do it again. The nurse came in and started handing out stickers about 10 minutes into our appointment in an effort to shut everyone up because I'm sure we were scaring every poor child in the city with our fits.

She smiled the entire time as we discussed eczema, spotty skin, weird forehead marks, whether or not we were all drinking 32 ounces of milk a day. 32 ounces?!

The stats

Benjamin

31 pounds

37 1/2 inches

Nicholas

28 pounds

37 inches

Alida

22 pounds 7 ounces

31 inches

Elaine

22 pounds

32 inches

For The Record

You were 2 and 1 when our nation elected it's first black President. Hopefully, you will stare blankly at me in the future and not understand why that was anything to talk about. Hopefully.

On election day ladies, you went to the doctor for your 15-month appointment!

Elaine

20 pounds 10 ounces

30 1/2 inches long

You had an ear infection. You have weird de-pigmented spots on your skin that the doctor has cleared us to ignore. This is good because it comes in handy after bath time.

You got two shots and you hated both of them equally.

Alida

21 pounds 10 ounces

30 inches long

You also had an ear infection that the doctor found after cleaning out some wax. (Sorry, I think you get that from me...) Otherwise, you were clear after two shots that you also didn't think too much fun.

After, we went to the pharmacy to get your antibiotic, and--as usual--our insurance refuses to believe that we have twins that may need medicine at the same time. The pharmacist gave us enough in one prescription to treat both of you. Bless her.

The 12 Month Stats Are In

Elaine: Trying to Break Free

31 inches

19 pounds 3 ounces

4 shots

And other than having her feelings hurt at that, doing lovely

Alida: Did Break Free

30 inches

19 pounds 10 ounces

4 shots

Annoyed at getting her finger pricked for a blood draw, mad at all the shots, and doing lovely

The Six Month Stats Are In

Elaine
15 pounds and 11 ounces
25 inches tall
3 shots, one oral immunization
No screaming fit until the needles, but who can blame her?
Smiles and pulling the nurse's hair was applauded by all.
Alida
16 pounds
26 1/2 inches tall
3 shots, one oral immunizationGirl was a bit more serious and none too happy about the physical examination, but who can blame her?
Pushing up and standing tall with assistance was applauded by all. The one infected ear earned her her first round of antibiotic.
Riddle of the day.
You have: 4 babies--2 in the car, 2 at home. You are due to relieve the nanny in 10 minutes. Your husband is out of town for the evening. You have one prescription to fill. How do you do it?

2!

The morning began with a castle filled with toys. The last time we will likely ever see the castle built...
Because this is the first thing that happened when the toddlers arrived on the scene.
And then there was some climbing and knocking and learning to unwrap.
And then they found the chicken and the dog, and it was all over because naturally the loudest toys with the easiest-to-figure-out on/off switch were the favorites.
Later we watched a movie and had cake. Since the boys are used to being served too-hot food that must be blown on before inserting in your mouth by their mother who just wants them to sit down and eat already, it wasn't too hard to point out that the candles needed to be blown out. And yep, the boys didn't even get dressed on their birthday and stayed in their pajamas all day long and it was good.
Benjamin even allowed himself to get a little messy.
Nicholas, of course, needed no encouragement. They did get fresh pajamas before bed however.
And the two-year stats are as follows:
Nicholas:
26 pounds
34 1/2 inches
Benjamin:
27 pounds 12 ounces
34 1/4 inches
Both were incredibly well behaved and charming at their visit and got a good report from the doctor, who wouldn't stop complimenting their behaviour as she poked and prodded. Their tubes are still in their ears and as we all suspected, we're not worried about autism...

The Four Month Stats Are In

Growing nicely, thank you. Elaine is in pink and Alida in green.
Elaine
13 lbs and 8 ounces
24 1/2 inches tall
Alida
13 pounds 11 ounces
25 inches tall
She's really a happy baby except for those days she is yanked from the house and given a shot.
However, Elaine took the prize at the doctor's office. When dad called to give the update, he began the no-nonsense conversation with: "It's your turn next time. Elaine went crazy."
"Oh, poor thing didn't like her shots?"
"No, we walked in the door and she went crazy and DID NOT STOP until we were home."
"Did the nurses do that thing were they tell you the babies can sense that you're stressed and it stresses them implying that you're an uptight parent?"
"No. You're kidding? They do that? It's a good thing no one started in with that while I was there."
Apparently the girl was making such a racket, the doctor forgot to mention starting the girls on solid food; does that mean we can skip it? Oh yeah, it's fun with your first baby (even your first and second babies together), but the idea of four children's seats in the kitchen and the coordination of feeding times is not high on the to-do list. We're sorry Jenny, but it's on the way. We'll hold off as long as possible.

The Two Month Stats Are In

Elaine10 pounds 11 ounces22 3/4 inches longAlida11 pounds 1 ounce22 inches longSome things that mom and dad stocked up on that we are glad to report have not been nearly as useful this time around:Hospital-Grade Bulb Syringes (7). They actually wore one out to the point of breaking it in two last time they went through this infant thing. She had to go back to the hospital to beg more from the hospital black market at the time. Other than Ben getting hold of one and shoving it in our noses, we don’t even know what these things are for.Various forms of pain medication and fever reducers (The Sam's Club stock of Tylenol and Motrin in particular)Balmex (14 tubes)Kleenex (Again, the Sam's Club stock up)Burp Cloths (or vomit rags as they have been referred to in the past) Food allergies like Nicholas had make for all forms of vomiting from leaky to projectile; however, we have displayed such distasteful behavior from the ladies so far. Well okay, Elaine kind of let all of her bottle and the oral vaccine flow at the doctor's today, but who wouldn't?)Heating Pads: There was an effort to relieve Ben’s colic with the warmth of a heating pad. The Back to Sleep folks probably would have been horrified by the baby laying on the floor face down with a heating pad under his belly sleeping, finally.One thing that was not stocked up on that we at least haven’t missed really—baby scented wash and lotion. The threat of eczema has her scared to use anything other than Dove and Eucerin on her children.So far, girls are easier than boys. We will report back in approximately 15-16 years.

The Two Week Stats

Alida
Wired like daddy.
7 pounds
19 1/2 inches
Doing Lovely
Elaine
Tired like mommy
6 pounds 12 ounces
19 1/2 inches
Doing Lovely

18-Months (and feeling expressive, or is that just cranky?)

So we technically turned 18 months last week, but we just got to the doctor for our checkup yesterday. We were dressed pretty snazzy for the trip though.
The Stats:
Nicholas
23 1/2 pounds and 31 1/2 inches long
Benjamin
24 pounds 2 ounces and 30 1/2 inches long
The doctor gave us a good report. She said we need to watch for development of asthma in the future but that our noses are probably related to the weather right now. We're doing all the tricks we should, and we even let Dr. Snapp hold us for a few minutes--both at the same time! She's strong. She was also mad when she found out that the nurse had written positive answers to a questionnaire in both our charts and hadn't actually asked us the questions. Mom says we won't let her be our nurse anymore, if she's still there next time. And, yeah, we both got a shot. But Dr. Snap said all that's left this year is the flu shot this fall!
The day before our sisters were weighed too. They don't really weigh them as much as they measure them and guess. But mom said it was a darn good sounding guess. Baby A weighs 4 pounds and 2 ounces and Baby B weighs 4 pounds and 6 ounces now. Yep, that's 8 1/2 pounds of babies. Mom is 31 weeks pregnant and holding, even though she says she feels 42 weeks pregnant now.

18-Months (and feeling expressive, or is that just cranky?)

So we technically turned 18 months last week, but we just got to the doctor for our checkup yesterday. We were dressed pretty snazzy for the trip though.
The Stats:
Nicholas
23 1/2 pounds and 31 1/2 inches long
Benjamin
24 pounds 2 ounces and 30 1/2 inches long
The doctor gave us a good report. She said we need to watch for development of asthma in the future but that our noses are probably related to the weather right now. We're doing all the tricks we should, and we even let Dr. Snapp hold us for a few minutes--both at the same time! She's strong. She was also mad when she found out that the nurse had written positive answers to a questionnaire in both our charts and hadn't actually asked us the questions. Mom says we won't let her be our nurse anymore, if she's still there next time. And, yeah, we both got a shot. But Dr. Snap said all that's left this year is the flu shot this fall!
The day before our sisters were weighed too. They don't really weigh them as much as they measure them and guess. But mom said it was a darn good sounding guess. Baby A weighs 4 pounds and 2 ounces and Baby B weighs 4 pounds and 6 ounces now. Yep, that's 8 1/2 pounds of babies. Mom is 31 weeks pregnant and holding, even though she says she feels 42 weeks pregnant now.

The 9 Month Stats Are In

The 9 month stats are in:Benjamin:19 pounds and 8 ounces, 27.5 inchesNicholas:18 pounds 12 ounces, 27 inches (Yes, that’s 10th percentile.)They started talking about Nicholas at the appointment and his laundry list of complaints and congratulated him for doing do well. They looked at me, prescribed an antibiotic for an ear infection and gave me an albuterol breathing treatment for my cold. Those little masks come apart pretty quickly when you get your hands on them. Mom had to hold me down while I was strapped in the car seat. I calmed down though when the nice nurse came back in to help. The doctor said that since I responded to the treatment, I am more likely to develop asthma in the future. That doesn’t even make good sense.

Tongues Are Funny

Six months old today. Mom saw a woman with a 3-week old baby that was sooooo tiny at the doctor today. She almost fell over when the woman told her that the baby weighed more than I did when I was born. Mom can't remember having anything that tiny...The stats:Nicholas:14 lb and 8 oz, 26 1/2 inchesBenjamin:15 lb and 15 oz, 26 1/4 inchesFunny, last time they said I was 28 inches ... mom and dad said I was really only 25 1/4. I've gone from below the 5th percentile to the 25th perentile in weight in 6 months! Nicholas jumped from right at 5th to 10th pretty consistently.

Consistency is Key

, like my brother said, 10th percentile down-the-line ... Uncle Brian says I'll run a marathon some day. Of course I may stay skinny because I can't eat anything.
Posted by The Mighty Stuber Brood at 3:25 PM 0 comments
Labels: Medical, Nicholas, Stats