What's Up, Doc? {4 Months}

Rory - 4 Months 

Our baby boy is four months old, already?  Wow that's gone by too fast!  We had our 4-month checkup with Dr. Joe on Friday and everything went great :)  He's growing wonderfully, as it's obvious he doesn't miss many meals, and he's hitting his developmental milestones as expected.  What more could anyone ask for?  Healthy, check.  Happy, check.  Eats well, check.  Sleeps well, check.  

Growth Stats:

Height: 26.5" (94% percentile)

Weight: 16lbs 13oz (74% percentile)

HC: 41.75cm (54% percentile)

Eating:

Nurses every few hours during the day... finally getting better taking a bottle. 

Solids: Eats cereal once a day... only every few days so far, we're still working on this.  

Sleeping:

Takes 2-3 long naps during the day. 

Sleeps about 12 hours at night, but has a newfound desire to wake up once to eat.

Favorite Activities: 

Jumperoo fun and blowing raspberries

Photo Credit: Grandpop

Everyday is something new and so much fun :)

15 Months Already??

Erase that evidence... a lady never tells her weight!

Well, if we're being technical, Reagan was 15 months back on February 8th but due to scheduling we just had our 15 month checkup at the pediatrician today.  Besides the fact Reagan's now old enough to throw a fit or know when something's coming that she won't like, it was a great appointment!  It took a little squirming and screaming but her height came out to be OFF THE CHARTS and her weight was right on track with the curve she started when she was born.

Length at 15 Months: 34.5 inches (literally off the chart)
Weight at 15 Months: 25 pounds, 8 ounces (approximately 80th percentile)

Reagan started talking the doctors ear off as soon as she entered the room, which prompted the doctor to say "obviously she's pretty chatty"... um, I think that's an understatement, the doctor should be happy that she didn't receive the hand talking that usually accompanies Reagan's talking points.  After we discussed her development and abilities at this age, the doctor was impressed and said she's doing everything she should be and then some!!!!  Score ;)

Downside to this appointment?!?!

The "Quit the Bottle" discussion and 2 shots that "are going to sting her unfortunately" according to the nurse.  As if being 9 months pregnant taking care of an extremely active toddler isn't enough, now I need to rock the boat and cut the bottle at bedtime cold turkey.  Warm milk in a bottle is the only way this child drinks milk and going to bed with a bottle is just as comfortable to her as her beloved giraffe.  Now before you judge me for letting her go to bed with a bottle at this age and bottle rot and all... let me tell you that we are diligent with brushing Reagan's teeth and she herself will walk around brushing her teeth because she thinks it's fun.

Back to cutting the bottle cold turkey... naptime was pretty easy without a bottle but bedtime was a whole different story.  We did our night time routine as usual, except cut out the bottle, and after 2 hours of screaming, crying, and me going in to rock her, I finally gave in and let her lay in my bed until Ryan was due home a few minutes later.  Part of me thinks she was just trying to wait for him to get home because after a few minutes of snuggle time with her Daddy, Reagan went down without a bottle and finally WENT TO SLEEP... granted it was close to 10pm, but I'll take the win that she fell asleep without a bottle.

Next checkup 3 months, although obviously they'll be seeing us before that since we have to take Baby Boy in within a week of his birth.

On a side note, we stopped by the Malvern School today to collect Reagan's belongings she had there and to say goodbye to her teachers and friends.  At first I felt bad that we took her out because she enjoyed playing with all the toys and get ups they had out for the kids... but as soon as we went into her  former classroom to get her stuff, the meltdown started and she made sure to be attached to me.  She was doing everything in her power to make sure I was not leaving her there.  And with that, my conscience was assured that bringing her home was a great decision!

4 Months Old!

Reagan is 4 months old today! 

There have been lots of developments over the past month for our little princess......

• She gave up her beloved pacifer by her own free will and now will not take it under any circumstance.  If we even try to offer it she pushes it out of her mouth and makes this face as if we just put poison down her throat.  However, her thumb, either hand.. she doesn't descriminate... is her new bff.  Greeeeeaaaaaaattttt (please read the sarcastic tone).
• She has become an east coast traveler, and surprisingly quite amazing on these long car rides we have tortured her with.  So far the longest trip was 7.5 hours down to Apex, NC.  She really just chills and sleeps most of the time, but if she's awake she stares into her mirror trying to figure out who is looking back at her.   
• She will reach her toys as opposed to needing to be handed them.  We'll place a toy on her tray when she's in her high chair, then turn away and once we're not looking she goes for it.  Her current favorite toy is the Sassy Ring O' Links, best $2.99 I ever spent. 
• She's loving sitting up in the bumbo seat like a big girl, especially since we all make a huge fuss over her when she does so.  



I bet they're fighting over which one is higher on the food chain. 

• She has learned to laugh out loud, and will do so whether it be prompted or not.  When we want her to laugh, she turns into a mute and stares at us like we're absolute lunatics.  If I lay her down to get her dressed for the day and simply turn my head to grab the clothes, she starts laughing hysterically.  Honestly, it's quite adorable. 
• Reagan has a newfound love of turning herself around 180 degrees in her crib.  She gets put down to sleep one way and I find her 7am cracking up because she's completely the opposite way of how she was put down.  We also find this quite humorous and decided to watch how she does this on our lovely stalker-esque video monitor.  While laying in the crib and working herself into la la land, she lifts her legs and throws them against the crib mattress (and yes, we can hear this happening when we're downstairs) and she keeps doing this until she has rotated herself 180 degrees in her crib. 

Needless to say, she is going to grow up to be a trouble maker but only when no one's watching and then look up and smile when approached and simply say, "who me?".  That's our little angel!

• SHE HAS FINALLY CONQUERED TUMMY TIME!  I officially feel validated as a parent. 

Up until Saturday, she would scream bloody murder if she was on her stomach for more than say, 1 second?  But the past two weeks I've been playing "tuck and roll" with her... we start on her back, tuck her arm in, and rollllll over to her tummy and then we begin laughing out loud before she has time to think about the misery of being on her tummy.  A few seconds would turn into minutes, and voila within a few days she could hold her up 90 degrees when on her tummy (thank God, because anxiety was starting to set in, worrying about will she ever learn to crawl if she can't even be on her stomach without screaming for someone, anyone, to roll her back over).  Now with that said, she's learning that this is something she should be doing and when she's on her back she rolls all the way over to side, but we're working on that final push and then landing on the belly.  When she's on her belly, she eventually turns into a weeble-wobble trying to roll to her back.  We shall see.... more to come!

We visited the pediatrician today for a check up and yet another round of vaccines.  The doctor was thoroughly impressed with her and all of her developments, wonderfully concluding that "she is perfect!"  Um, lady, I already know that....she's my child!  She was most impressed with her sleeping 12 hours at night and the almost-roll over (as Reagan was doing it on the exam table).  She said most babies don't roll over nowadays until they're just about sitting up because of inadequate tummy time (see above paragraph re: my validation as a parent). 

There has been a lot of speculation as to how the "princess" (eh hem, beastly eater) is growing, and here are the stats we've all been waiting for......

• Weight.... 14lbs 9oz, 75th percentile
• Height....  26in, 100th percentile

Since her eating habits are so impressive, the doctor recommended we try our hand at rice cereal and see how she likes it.  So the bowls and spoons are purchased and washed, the Earth's Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal is in the pantry.... it's go time! 

 

2 Months Old Already

Reagan is two months old already.... very hard for us to believe.  She had a pediatrician appointment on Friday and she's growing like a weed.  She weighed in at 12 pounds even, putting her in the 90th percentile, and was 24" long, which puts her in the 97th percentile.  Hopefully she's going to be nice and tall like her Daddy!  Unfortunately, she also received 6 vaccinations, which made for a very unhappy Reagan that afternoon :(

Waiting for the doctor to check her out

So tired from the crankiness of the vaccines

On a happier note, Reagan is developing her own little personality and loves to laugh at her silly Mommy and Daddy.  I attached a video message we made to send to Ryan one day at work.  She's not impressed with the camera so I have to work harder to make her smile, but if you make it to 1m30s she throws a big smile out there.  She's starting to "coo" and make her talking noises at us, so we have plenty of conversations throughout the day!

Happy snowfall :)

Reagan's First Thanksgiving


Our first family Thanksgiving was very quiet and we enjoyed the entire day!  We spent most of the day at Ryan's Dad & Mary Ann's house, not far from where we live, and got to hang out just the five of us.  A perfect setup since Reagan is still too small to be around too many people, and we were able to bring Roxie along for the day :)

Family Photo



Sleeping with GrandMom

Hanging with GrandPop



Still our favorite pup :)

 Of course Reagan slept most of the day, but woke up just in time to head home (aka go to sleep).

Bright eyed just in time to go home

Yet Another Pediatrician Appointment... and visits with the Grandmother's!

Our second pediatrician appointment went just as well as the first one and Reagan is gaining weight like a champ... 7 pounds 5 ounces at 11 days old... won't be long until she's out of those newborn clothes.  We're not due back at the doctor for two more months!

It's exhausting getting up so early to go see the doctor.

I left Reagan for the first time today to go get my hair done so I could feel like a human being again.  Luckily she was home with her Daddy so I knew she was in the safest arms possible :)

Reagan was lucky enough to get visits today from both of our Mom's...
 

Mom-Mom (my mom)



Grammy (Ryan's mom)

First Pediatrician Appointment

Reagan had her first pediatrician appointment this morning with Dr. Katie at DelGiorno Pediatrics... the same place Ryan went when he still saw a pediatrician.  He used to see Dr. DelGiorno, who surprisingly still practices but on a much more limited schedule.  Dr. Katie seems really thorough and even has young children of her own so she understands our perspective as new parents.  Reagan did great and came out weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces, up from 6lbs 10oz when we left the hospital just two days ago.  It's safe to say we have a very a very active eater!

Grammy came up to spend the afternoon with her first granddaughter - she already has four grandsons from her husband's children and one more on the way from Lori.  This allowed Mommy to get some much needed rest and Daddy to run some errands for things we needed here at the house. 

Lazy Friday with Grammy :) 

No pictures, please! 

 Hanging with Mommy while she fills out FMLA forms so she can stay home with me longer!

It's so exhausting being this beautiful!