Carter's 4 Month well visit

Yesterday was Carter's 4 month birthday!  Oh, how time flies!  I think he must have known that we were allowed to sleep in until 7:30am because he was bright eyed and giggly at 5am.  SERIOUSLY???  I was beyond annoyed.  I am in some serious need of a 5 hr uninterrupted block of sleep. 

I got up and got hubby off to work, then packed the diaper bags for the day.  I dropped Rickybear off at Maw Maw's and then headed to the doctor with Carter.  He was so unsuspecting. 

Here he is in the waiting room:

Once he was taken back to the room, I waited until they had weighed him to give him a bottle.  At this point, he is still only drinking expressed breast milk, except on rare occasions.  My milk supply is starting to drop a little, so I will have to start pumping more and eat more oatmeal and lactation cookies.  My goal is 6 months of EBM only! 

His cradle cap is still there a little, but he checked out perfectly!  Here are his stats:

Weight: 13 lb 15 oz

Height: 25.75 in

Head Circ: 17

After his exam, I got him dressed again while we waited for the nurse to come in with his shots.  =(

I need to start him on vitamin D supplements.

I won't post the picture of him crying after his shots.  He had that sweet gunk that he had to swallow, followed by 3 shots.  He cried a lot longer than I anticipated.  It made me feel pretty bad.  Maw Maw said he didn't look like he felt good, but he slept a lot and also played a lot.  Last night he had a fever of 99.6 at 9:30 when I checked him, so he got his first ever dose of acetaminophen.  He was hot all night an restless and cried a lot.  I had to hold him to get him to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time.  At 2am, he was 99.7 so he got another small dose.  It doesn't help that the house was shaking last night due to the thunderstorms and that the bedroom was warmer than usual.  I hope he has a good day today!

We have had quite a few milestones in our household that I haven’t yet shared!

On Friday 3/23, Rickybear jumped up and down for the first time on the floor.  He has been jumping on the bed, but never actually lifted off the ground before.

On Friday 3/30, Rickybear another took on the bottom tooth.  By Sunday, he had but the matching tooth on the other side.  He now has all of his baby teeth except for his 2 yr molars.

On Saturday 3/31, Carter discovered he had FEET!!!  And also, Ricky snorted water up his nose during bath time.  He has taken to laying on his tummy some during bath time and I think he learned a lesson… Our other big achievement was Ricky COUNTING TO TEN!!  About a dozen times!!!  I was so proud.  I think that’s awesome for a 22 month old!



18 Month Doctor Appointment

Rickybear had his 18 month well visit on Monday.  He passed with flying colors.  His Maw Maw and Paw Paw met me at the doctor’s office with him, along with one of his cousins.  He played peekaboo with everybody in there, lol.  He was already a little fussy and suffering from a diaper rash, so when we got back to the room for the actual visit- he was a MESS!

We did the screening questions that would show some markers for autism, but he passed that with no problems.  He is on par or ahead of schedule with his milestones.  His ears and lungs looked great.  His teeth and gums looked good.  Aside from his raw tushie, he was perfect. 

As for the stats:

Weight: 22 lb 1 oz

Height: 30.5 inches

Head Circ: 17.5 inches

I was given the option for Rickybear to receive 4 shots that day, but since he doesn’t go to daycare, I didn’t find it necessary to have them all given at once.  We ended up agreeing to the flu shot and then also one more (which actually is 3 vaccines in 1).  He screamed bloody murder and ripped those bandaids off his thighs as soon as the nurse put them on there.  That boy was ANGRY. 

His grandparents were planning to take him and his cousin to IHOP right afterwards for lunch and I was so nervous that he would be trouble, but they said he was great once he got in there and entertained all of the waitresses.  When they went home, he took a 4 hour nap, the last two hours of which were spent laying on his Paw Paw.  Poor thing was recuperating from the shots.  He didn’t sleep too well that night for me, but I brought him to our bed around midnight and didn’t have a problem after that.

We are so fortunate that our little man is so happy and healthy and full of life!!

15 month update

Rickybear had his 15 month checkup this week.  That child couldn’t even sit still in the waiting room.  As soon as I set him down he took off running down the hall.  I was happy when we got into a room simply because he couldn’t escape!  The visit went great.  The doctor thought he looked really good and loved his personality.  When we went down the checklist, the first thing I marked “no” that he couldn’t do was wave bye-bye.  She turned to me and asked incredulously, “He can’t wave bye-bye?!?!” and Ricky shot her the meanest face… like “What’s it to you, lady?!?!?” ….  It was hysterical!

My little boy grew!  He now weighs 20lb 4 oz (up ½ a pound in 3 months), is 30 inches tall (up 1 ¼ inches in 3 months!!) and his head circumference is 18 ½ (no change).

He is still in size 3 diapers.  He mainly sleeps through the night, except when he is teething.  He is a wild sleeper, tossing and flinging and sleeping in all corners of the crib before the night is over. 

He babbles constantly.

He still takes usually 2 naps during the week, but I can barely get him to take one when he is home with me on the weekends.

Eating out is impossible now.  He can’t sit still for more than 10 minutes at a time before he wants to get up and explore.

He tried to color for the first time over the weekend.  He ate part of the crayon, but he also seemed to really like trying to color.  I read an article about how great coloring is for his development just this morning, so I will start working on him with it more often.  One suggestion was to tape some paper onto his high chair and let him go at it.  That way he can’t color where he shouldn’t and the paper won’t get away from him.

He likes to put toys in boxes and take them back out.  He likes the stacking rings a lot, even if he can’t put them on in the correct orders.  He likes to flip the pages in books and will bring then to me to read.

He likes to use me as a step to crawl up onto the couch, only to wiggle back down and then crawl up again.

He can easily run FULL SPEED.

On Saturday we went to his cousin’s soccer games.  His little 4 year old cousin let him play with her soccer ball.  He loved it.  He wanted to play with the bigger kids, but he grabbed her ball and took off.  He looked so sporty- I loved it.  I wish it hadn’t been so hot, though.  The poor thing got so overheated, even while drinking tons of water.  I don’t know how those kids and play out there!

On Sunday we went over to Nana’s house to go swimming.  Although he still loves the pool, Ricky would much rather be splashing around himself and gets bored quickly in the floatie.  It was still a fun time.  We let him run around the backyard after that and he found a water hose.  Grandpa turned on the water and Ricky ran around with the hose for at least 20 minutes before I made him stop.  He turned the backyard into a muddy mess, lol. 

He napped when we got home, but afterwards daddy took him outside while he set up the sprinklers to water the yard.  I never should have let that child go outside.  As soon as daddy started the water, the kid made a bee line to the sprinkler.  He had a blast.  I am surprised that kid doesn’t have gills.  But yeah, this confirms that he is no longer scared of the sprinkler… at all!  Then of course I had to drag him inside and give him a bath.  *sigh*

Ricky has rediscovered Scout.  Scout is possessed.  He starts randomly without being touched and I think he has a short in him because he will play the same few notes over and over about 50 times and I can’t get him to stop.  I need to see if he needs new batteries or if I just need to hook him up to the computer and reprogram him.  Ever since Ricky found him in a tote in the spare room, they have been inseparable.  The good news is that when my baby woke up at 4am crying, he ended up playing with Scout for a few minutes and went right back to sleep.  Score! 

9 month doctor visit

Rickybear had his 9 month appointment on Tuesday.  I really like our pedi and I appreciate how much individual time she gives us.  She really listens to my concerns and I am so glad that we switched to her (even though we had no problems whatsoever with the other pedi we had). 

She confirmed that my baby is probably going to be a little guy.  He was 26.25 inches (around 1 or 2%), 17 lbs 6 oz (also under 5%), and his head was 17.75 inches (10%).  She had me run through how much I feed him and how much formula and she said he was a fantastic eater, but he might just be small.  Since developmentally (his skill level) he was at 12 months, she wasn't too concerned and thinks he might have a growth spurt coming.  She said he won't be a 6 foot tall man, though.  Once he hits 2 yrs old she might be able to predict how tall he will be based on the charts she has.  She likes how strong he was.  [By the way, I didn't realize until I updated the stats page that he weighed exactly the same at nine months as he was at eight months... but he wasn't mobile a month ago so he is burning up calories like crazy now.]

The doctor thought he was too cute.  Breathing and belly were great.  She felt around his mouth and said his second front bottom tooth also cut through (probably Mon night or Tues morning) since it was just barely there).  He doesn't have to go back for another appointment until 12 months.  There will be a lot of shots at that appointment, so I changed it from May 27 to May 31 since I don't want him to have a good time on his birthday party day.  We didn't think we had any shots at this appointment, but once we were almost all the way back home, I received a phone call saying there was an error and he actually did need one.  *sigh*  I am glad they called, though, because I would rather have turned around and gone back to get it than have to take more time off of work.  By the time I got back there, Rickybear was asleep so we gave it to him while he was sleeping.  What a terrible way to wake up!  But after it was over, he let out two cries, grabbed the bottle, and fell back asleep.

We walked with neighbor and her 14 month old baby girl when we got home and then had a little play date.  While over there, he had another milestone.  He was playing with a toy when his playmate stepped in between him and the toy.  He leaned back out of her way and he stood for 16 seconds without support.  The neighbor and I both had our arms outstretched on all sides of him in case he crashed, lol.  It was too cute and I was very proud.  When we got home he went down for a nap, but woke up after 35 mins and didn't stop wailing after that.  He was SO UPSET and I couldn't get him to stop screaming, but it was the effects of the vaccine.  He was better when daddy got home and he had some Tylenol in him.  I put him to bed almost right after daddy got home and he slept like a rock all night.  All smiles the next morning.

After his 6 month well check-up appointment, Rickybear had no fever whatsoever, so I scheduled to take him back on Thursday to see the nurse. We were in and out within 10 minutes. He was such a champ. He cried when he actually got the shots, but as soon as we scooped him up, he began to smile. He ran a small fever after the shots, but he was trying to jump right away, so his lil legs couldn‘t have been too sore. Aside from taking a 3 hour nap that afternoon, he was just like his usual self!

Guess what? I sprained my wrist this week. At first I attributed my wrist pain to my flu shot, which had made my entire arm ache. By Thursday the pain was unbearable (since my job consists of typing on a keyboard for 8 hours day!), so after Rickybear’s shots I decided to stay home and rest it. I had NO CLUE as to what I did to hurt it… until Thursday night. I went to get Ricky bear a bottle at 4am and stumbled into a doorway in my zombie state and nearly hit the floor… then it came back to me. Yep, I think I fell the night before. Getting up from a dead sleep to tend to the baby can be dangerous!! I also took the next day off of work and now my wrist is feeling much better. Thank goodness! I can’t tell you how hard it is to diaper change and dress a squirmy baby with one hand!

As a reward for being such a good boy, I decided to take Rickybear to see Santa for the first time!! Bass Pro has free pictures, so the neighbor and I packed up our babies and headed out on Friday night. Alyce has a 13mo little girl named Avery, and she has another one on the way. The line was a bit long, but moved pretty quickly. My lil man was a pro up there! He even pulled on Santa’s beard just to make sure it was real (it was!). The picture is so stinkin cute! Boogie has been a very good boy this year so I think Santa will be very good to him!

6 month doctor visit

Rickybear had his 6 month appointment on Monday.  It was sooo hot in the waiting room and he was a bit hungry and fussy when finally made it to the exam room.  By the time they got around to taking his temperature he was a screaming, crying mess.  They did the forehead scan twice and it was 101.5 both times.  The pedi was concerned because it also looked like he had hives on his chest and face.  I had just thought that his eczema was acting up, but apparently his eczema had flared and he had hives in addition to that. 

Since it didn't happen right after we tried solids, the doctor said it wasn't a reaction from that.  She was worried it was the early stages of strep, so they swabbed him, but he was negative.  They took his temp again and it was 99.0 a few minutes later.  I think it had gotten high because it was so hot in there and he was also upset about the exam.  Either way, the doctor didn't feel comfortable giving him his shots if he wasn't feeling well, so I will have to come back after 3 days of no temperature.  Mommy ended up getting her flu shot there and baby got away with none!

I want to have them recheck his length when we go back because he is measuring so so tiny.  His weight is 15lb 10oz (16th %), his length is 24.5 in (2%), and his head circ is 17.25 in (49%).  I did several growth calculators online and each gave a slightly different percentage, but overall these percentages seem pretty accurate.  I can't believe he is that small, though.  I feed him nutritious formula and let him eat till his little heart is content.  We didn't really discuss his numbers since she was more concerned with him possibly being sick, but I want to make sure everything is on track.


Oh!  We discovered something when filling out the developmental checklist at the doctor's office as well.  We had to wave a napkin in front of the baby to get his attention and once he was looking at it we dropped it.  I thought he would just keep looking at my hand, but to my surprise he looked down to see where it went.  I didn't expect that at all!  He apparently developed a sense of object permanence when I wasn't looking!  Overall, she said he was advanced as far as development is concerned.  I am so proud of my lil man!


I was given a prescription for some medicated lotion for his skin and for baby vitamins.  I also got a new... um... tushie thermometer since it seems to be more accurate than the forehead scan ones.  I was supposed to monitor him closely last night but when I checked he was cool and his temp was 97.9 degrees.  I added the lotion and the vitamins to his nighttime routine and he did fine. He had some avocado, finished off a bottle, and passed out.  He woke at midnight but I turned on his seahorse and drifted right back off to sleep without a feeding.  Sweet boy.


I hope he feels better today!