Reese's 18 month check up

First of all, I can't believe she is already 18 months old. Nothing could have prepared us for life with a little girl in the house. It's amazing to me how early some of the girly things start, like her love for shoes, purses and dresses. I am fairly certain it's nature and not nurture in that area. Her love for all things trash related though definitely comes for nurture since Mason was the original trash lover in our house. She had her 18 month check-up today and her were her stats for anyone interested...

Height: 31 inches (27th %ile)

Head: 18.75 inches (78th %ile)

Weight: 19 lbs, 7.9 ounces (1st %ile)

At her 15 month check-up she weighed 20 lbs, 2.1 ounces. So she is still on her downward trend of losing a few ounces here and there instead of gaining weight. Right now honestly we don't know what to do. Allergy testing has been put on the back burner since she doesn't really show any other signs of food sensitivity (vomiting). The pediatrician suggested sending her to an endocrinologist if she continued with this trend even though the previous two thyroid blood panels have come back normal. So for now, I am re-referring her to ECI for another dietician evaluation to see if we can up her calorie take anywhere and will weigh her again in 2 months. If she continues with this trend then it's on to the endocrinologist unless our team comes up with another suggestion.

I have to keep reminding myself that she looks healthy, she's happy, and so much fun. But still my instinct tells me this is more than her just being petite.

On a side note, Mason apparently decided he needed to read books at 3 am this morning. Gary thought he heard something so went to check on him and found him sitting in his bed with his lamp on reading books. So we were surprised again when he came downstairs into our room at 5 am. This time he told us there was a spider behind his door in his room and it scared him. So we let him get in bed with us and asked him how he saw it if his light was off and he would just say " I don't know, but it's there". We asked if it was big or little and he said "little", and of course we just humored him and said he could sleep with us. Daddy even told him he killed it earlier but that didn't work. So later that morning, Mason, Reese and I went upstairs to get everyone dressed and what did I find? A little spider on the baseboard behind the door in his room. I totally had to laugh out loud. He was telling the truth.

What a beautiful day!

I haven't done this in a while, but a friend reminded me that I needed to do it again. A while back I did a post on things that I love...so here's some of my new loves.

I love this picture. I love that Reese and Mason both love to play outside and a simple bottle of bubbles makes their day.

I love that my mom came all the way up to Dallas just because I said I wanted my mom and she didn't even think twice about it.

I love that Mason says thank you to things that don't even require a thank you, but I'm not going to tell him otherwise.

I love Braum's chocolate mix with Reese's Peanut Butter cups, the new Reese's dark chocolate peanut butter cups, and Kashi's raspberry chocolate granola bars. I should probably stop there in my favorite food lists because I could go on and on, and on....

I love the Watters Creek commons area with the bronze ducks and buffalo statues. The kids are so excited just to go there and run around to play tag and sit on the buffalo. Did I mention it's free?

I love that Mason has a sticker collection on the inside of his passenger window in my car. It's a great conversation starter and I will never mistake someone else's car for mine (yes, that has happened before prior to the stickers).

I've said it before...I love our quesadilla maker. It makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches and it's so much faster and easier than the old fashioned stove top way. Exciting information, I know.

I love Mason's imagination and the ease at which he can entertain himself sometimes, I said sometimes, not all the time...

Most of all, I love that I have so much to be thankful for. Have a Blessed day!

Good news!

Good news! Reese's endoscopy and biopsy results came back normal. So the big things have been ruled out and we have a plan in place for the next couple of months. Next week she has her 18 month check-up and we will get some allergy testing done to see if it may be some simple food allergies keeping her from growing.

Mason is doing awesome with his speech therapy and we are starting to see some carryover at home. They love doing flashcards every night either in the bath tub or sitting on the floor in their pj's. And by they, I mean Reese too. She plops down right next to him and points to the cards or makes some sounds for each one. Cracks me up!

We have some new games around the house now. Some favorites are duck, duck, goose; Candy land; hide and seek; and ring around the rosies. I have to admit, Gary does much better with just playing with the kids than I do and he's a professional at these by now. I just constantly think about what needs to be done around the house instead of just sitting down and playing. So I am working on that.

Some ring around the tree action.

Reese even sounds like she's singing something when she does it.

There's not much more entertaining in our house than an empty box. You may remember the man cave days.

Mason has been really into painting lately and he took some time to teach Reese some basic art techniques.

We have a climber here. She has found she can climb the outside of the stairs and Mason makes sure to tell me if she does.

As always...monkey see monkey do, all the way down to matching bowls.


Have a Blessed day!

Catching up

Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything of much importance. Here's the latest:

Reese goes in early Wednesday morning for an endoscopy to take a biopsy of her intestines and to check for any other signs of something going on in her GI system. Most of you know, I have been saying since she was 7 months old that I really think something is going on in her tiny little body. Maybe now we will get some answers with this procedure. What really spurred it on recently was the fact that she hasn't gained any weight in the last 3 months. In fact, she saw the GI doctor on June 15 and weighed 20 lbs, 2 ounces and when we went on Friday (a few days shy of 3 months since our last visit) she actually weighed less, 19 lbs 8 ounces. She has not been sick and she actually eats a lot of regular food and drinks a lot of whole milk. She has managed to grow about half an inch taller, but that certainly wouldn't account for a growth spurt. So please keep her in your prayers on Wednesday, and me too so that I don't lose it if there aren't any answers.

On a much brighter note, it's college football time. And that means there is a lot of red and black around our house. Reese is working on her "guns up" and Mason finally has his down.