3!

The three  year well visit rocked :) no shots and Quinn is the highest she's ever been on the weight charts! And the doctor was totally impressed they can spell their names, and you know we eat that up. 

 For your amusement: 

Q: 37" (48th) & 26 lbs (6th)...still <1% bmi but whatever. 

A: 36" (24th) & 26 lbs (6th). 6th% bmi. Right about her normal curve, poor shorty. Q passed her a year ago and isn't looking back. 

It is shocking what an inch does. Avery FEELS so much more solid. 

Two Year Well Visit

 We had our two year old well visit last night, and it was kind of awesome.  We talked a bit before going about what the doctor would do, and they were apprehensive going in, but generally did really well.  They weren't that excited about sitting on the scale or being measured, but we counted to ten while the nurse did it, and they did ok! The only major tears were when the doctor looked in Quinn's ears.  They also got one shot (Hep A), and the doctor used numbing spray this time and there weren't even tears...

 After she went, Quinn did say "Avery turn!" I guess she wanted to make sure Avery suffered like she did ;)  And they both got Daffy Duck bandaids, which were pretty exciting, even the next morning!

 The other bonus of our well visit is the doctor was ok with their 24-32 oz average milk consumption (being honest, Quinn pretty much always gets 32 oz). She said there's some new research indicating high calcium and vitamin D intake as babies breeds taller children.  Our homework is to start multivitamins and get to the dentist.

 

percentiles from this site for actual age. I THINK it uses the CDC and not WHO charts, but whatever, good for scanning curves at least. It also reports anything under 5th percentile as 5th percentile, which is ridiculous...Quinn has never been ON the CDC chart.

Quinn
Birth: 3 lbs 8 oz & 16 inches
1 month (40w gestational): 5 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 19 inches (5th)
2 months: 7 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 20.5 inches (5th)
3 months: 9 lbs 9 oz (5th) & 22.5 inches (29th)
4 months: 10 lbs 9 oz (5th) and 23 inches (16th)
6 months: 12 lbs 0 oz (5th) and 24.75 inches (24th) 
9 months:  13 lbs 14 oz (5th) and 26 inches (38th)
12 months: 15 lbs 14oz (5th) and 28 inches (25th)
14 months: 17 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 28 inches (8th)
18 months: 19 lbs 5 oz (5th) and 31.25 inches (51st)
24 months: 21 lbs 7 oz (5th ) and 34 inches (66th)  (according to this site about 8th and 50th on WHO)

Avery
Birth: 5 lbs 0 oz (5th) & 17 3/4 inches (5th)
1 month (40w gestational): 7 lbs 13 oz (7th) and 20 inches (38th)
2 months: 8 lbs 14 oz (9th) and 22 inches (46th)
3 months: 10 lbs 4 oz (10th) and 24 inches (80th)
4 months: 11 lbs 13 oz (12th) and 24 1/4 inches (60th)  
6 months: 13 lbs 2 oz (6th) and 26 inches (71st)
9 months: 15 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 27 inches (47th)
12 months: 16 lbs 14 oz (5th)  and 28 inches (25th)
14 months:  18 lbs 4 oz (5th) and 28.5 inches (16th)
18 months: 20 lbs 4 oz (5th ) and 31.25 inches (51st)  
24 months: 22 lbs 5 oz (5th) and 33 inches (33rd) (around 13th and 21st on WHO)

After our poor weight gain months last year, it's super awesome to see their weight tick up a bit. Quinn's still way below the weight for length CDC chart and just below 2% on WHO, and I feel bad you can see her ribs, but is what it is. Avery is just over the 3rd percentile line now on CDC and a bit over 10th on WHO...they're just going to be skinny kids.  The pediatrician isn't worried anymore, so I am trying hard not to be. And it keeps them economical - they're still wearing some tees, skirts and dresses from last summer. You don't hear of a lot of 2 year olds doing that :)
And Quinn is offically taller - considering she started out almost 2 inches shorter, I am impressed!

18 month well visit

Last Thursday, we had our 18 month well visit.  It went really well. I have to admit, I was nervous - it was our first "real" visit with our new pediatrician. So far so good!  Our old doctor left the practice, and we loved her....we know where she is (thanks to the internet), but decided not to follow her because we're very very happy with the practice as a whole.  Sick visits any day of the year?  Well visits in the evening? Can't give that up.

The visit started off a bit awkwardly.  First of all, at 18 months, even my peanuts are a little big for the baby scale. Secondly, they basically flipped out.  After some screaming and thrashing, we went down the hall and tried to get Avery to stand on the big kid scale. Fail. We eventually coax her to sit on it for a hot second and got a weight of 21 lbs on it.  Then we tried Quinn. No go. Limp, screaming noodle.  We managed to weigh her on the baby scale though - she isn't as thrashy as Avery.  We did their heights and head circumferences with some baby pinning maneuvers, and after the nurse left the room, we weighed Avery ourselves on the baby scale for what I believe to be a more accurate number.

Once the doctor came in - and we updated the weight - it was actually pretty smooth sailing. She asked what they're doing now, and while I did ask "so what's normal" - because I need a leading question and to give right answers - she must have thought they were meeting all of their milestones because she stopped checking stuff off on the developmental chart in their files.  I do think we kind of failed the milk question - we disputed a bit if they average 20 or 24 oz a day, and looking back it is more like 24+...but I kind of know that is a "wrong" answer. Sigh. I wish they'd eat more, but we can't force it down their throats, and withholding milk doesn't make them eat more solids. It just makes them pissy.

At the end of the visit, they got one vaccine - polio? I'm not even sure - and a clean bill of health. And we booked their 2 year appointment for July. Kind of weird to be booking 6 months out now. I'm actually a little sad we have so long between visits now. I know development is slower and all, and they're mostly done with vaccines, but I kind of like getting the Parents' Gold Star ;)

percentiles from this site for actual age. I THINK it uses the CDC and not WHO charts, but whatever, good for scanning curves at least. It also reports anything under 5th percentile as 5th percentile, which is ridiculous...

Quinn

CHEESE!

 
Birth: 3 lbs 8 oz & 16 inches
1 month (40w gestational): 5 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 19 inches (5th)
2 months: 7 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 20.5 inches (5th)
3 months: 9 lbs 9 oz (5th) & 22.5 inches (29th)
4 months: 10 lbs 9 oz (5th) and 23 inches (16th)
6 months: 12 lbs 0 oz (5th) and 24.75 inches (24th) 
9 months:  13 lbs 14 oz (5th) and 26 inches (38th)
12 months: 15 lbs 14oz (5th) and 28 inches (25th)
14 months: 17 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 28 inches (8th)
18 months: 19 lbs 5 oz (5th) and 31.25 inches (51st)
 

On the WHO chart, Quinn is now about 10th percentile for weight and 30th for height. This is a big improvement for her weight, which had been below 2nd percentile for a while (in failure to thrive range) and it now estimated her at hitting 20 lbs around 21 months instead of 24 like we estimated at 9 months. WOOT. :)  Also, I am starting to think Quinn is going to end up taller than Avery. She has totally caught up to her sister now despite starting out almost 2 inches shorter!
 
Avery

I'm a daycare kid, yo. The floor at the pediatrician is less of a petri dish than my normal life.

 
Birth: 5 lbs 0 oz (5th) & 17 3/4 inches (5th)
1 month (40w gestational): 7 lbs 13 oz (7th) and 20 inches (38th)
2 months: 8 lbs 14 oz (9th) and 22 inches (46th)
3 months: 10 lbs 4 oz (10th) and 24 inches (80th)
4 months: 11 lbs 13 oz (12th) and 24 1/4 inches (60th)  
6 months: 13 lbs 2 oz (6th) and 26 inches (71st)
9 months: 15 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 27 inches (47th)
12 months: 16 lbs 14 oz (5th)  and 28 inches (25th)
14 months:  18 lbs 4 oz (5th) and 28.5 inches (16th)
18 months: 20 lbs 4 oz (5th ) and 31.25 inches (51st)

 On the WHO chart, Avery is between 10 and 25th percentile in weight now (18ish I'd estimate) and around 30th for height. She did manage to hit 20 lbs!! At 9 months we were estimating she'd get there around 20 months. Way to catch up babies!!

They're also about 5th and 10th percentile weight for height on the WHO chart now, which I am also impressed with, given that at 9 months (half a lifetime ago, wow!) they were at the 5th. Of course, this means they're not on the CDC weight for height chart, but whatever. The GI doctor has conceded Quinn is just fine and just a small person and no longer wants to follow her, so I call that a win.

The long version of the EI story

Hopefully my browser won't ditch it like my phone did (ok, I probably did, but I am blaming my phone).

The girls are in daycare and have had colds on and off since fall started. Sad, the summer was nice (coxsackie aside) but expected. Quinn had an ear infection a couple of weeks ago. Fast forward to last Sunday (8 days ago now). The girls were just....off. Hacky. Snotty. Whiny. Warm (100-101ish). Just off. We took them to the doctor, and sure enough, were sent home with instructions to keep them hydrated and use the nebulizer as needed.

They were sent home from daycare with fevers on Monday (101.5 is the cutoff).
Tuesday they were ok-ish, but whiny, slightly warm and continued to be off.

Wednesday they returned to daycare and were sent home at 9:30 am after Quinn spiked to 102.5. (Well, Quinn was sent home so Chris just got them both).
At 10:15, they were both diagnosed with double ear infections. AWESOME.

So Avery is on omnicef ('s generic) again and Quinn is on (or was I guess, since it was a  5 day course) Zithromax's generic (the stuff in the adult z-packs that should kill anything though overprescribing is doing wonders for mutations....). Wednesday night Quinn was still hitting 103 fevers when the motrin wore off...by Thursday morning, just 101, and by afternoon nothing. They had a nice Thanksgiving and were generally happy (if somewhat overstimulated).

By Saturday, all was right with the world, exept Quinn wouldn't eat (hence the pudding of my last post. better than nothing right?). All was well by Sunday (well, mostly. they're still drippy and Chris and I have colds now and are chugging Mucinex which by the way is awesome). Thank heavens for antibiotics. And Motrin.

Of course, now I am worried in advance about the last three weeks of so-so eating and Quinn's weight gain (especially seeing as she barely touched food for 5 days this week) :( Poor peanut.

14 months

Where does the time go!

Looking at the ducks! Duk-duk-duk. We must say duck a LOT in the bathtub because it was their first obvious word besides mama.

13 months today

Starting to enjoy the slide.

And dirty things. Avery especially loves to stick her hands in dirty things. Potplants. Gravel. Mulch. It is all fun.


This weekend we tried to do a 14 month "photo shoot" before going to the pumpkin patch.

 Clearly it is not as simple as putting two babies on a step.

they're more or less looking at the camera. and sorta kinda smiling.

I think the moral of this month is TODDLERHOOD is starting. They're developing opinions (eg, Avery MUST wear her hooded towel after bath until she decides it is ok to take it off). They fight. Quinn has bitten someone. They SQUEAL with joy when they see you. They're starting to express themselves - they sign more, please, milk, food and all done. They're making noises that might be other words (I think more and please) but I don't really speak toddler yet so I am not sure... They're walking off in different directions...

For those interested in stats and stuff....

percentiles from this site for actual age. It uses the CDC and not WHO charts, but whatever, good for scanning curves at least. It also reports anything under 5th percentile as 5th percentile, which is ridiculous...They're barely on the WHO chart in weight, so needless to say, they're not on the CDC chart.

Quinn
Birth: 3 lbs 8 oz & 16 inches
1 month (40w gestational): 5 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 19 inches (5th)
2 months: 7 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 20.5 inches (5th)
3 months: 9 lbs 9 oz (5th) & 22.5 inches (29th)
4 months: 10 lbs 9 oz (5th) and 23 inches (16th)
6 months: 12 lbs 0 oz (5th) and 24.75 inches (24th) 
9 months:  13 lbs 14 oz (5th) and 26 inches (38th)
12 months: 15 lbs 14oz (5th) and 28 inches (25th)
14 months: 17 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 28 inches (8th)
On the WHO chart, Quinn is now just over 5th percentile for weight and 2nd for height. This is a big improvement for her weight, which had been below 2nd percentile for a while (in failure to thrive range) and it now estimated her at hitting 20 lbs around 21 months instead of 24 :)

Avery
Birth: 5 lbs 0 oz (5th) & 17 3/4 inches (5th)
1 month (40w gestational): 7 lbs 13 oz (7th) and 20 inches (38th)
2 months: 8 lbs 14 oz (9th) and 22 inches (46th)
3 months: 10 lbs 4 oz (10th) and 24 inches (80th)
4 months: 11 lbs 13 oz (12th) and 24 1/4 inches (60th)  
6 months: 13 lbs 2 oz (6th) and 26 inches (71st)
9 months: 15 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 27 inches (47th)
12 months: 16 lbs 14 oz (5th)  and 28 inches (25th)
14 months:  18 lbs 4 oz (5th) and 28.5 inches (16th)

On the WHO chart, Avery is a bit over 10 percentile in weight now (15ish I'd estimate) and around 5th for height. Looks like she might hit 20 lbs around 18 months!

One Year Old

So the girls are one.

and getting really hard to take joint photos of

Our 12 month well visit was last night, and it went quite well (especially compared to our 9 month visit when all hell sort of broke loose and we came home with a nebulizer and an inhaler).  The girls' pediatrician is pleased with their development, and they handled their shots just fine (you know, with lots of pathetic screaming). Afterwards we ran by Target for diapers (since they have - sigh - yeast rashes and we'll need to keep them in disposables for a bit to clear that up) and the drug store for their (associated) scripts. No antibiotics this visit. Score.

So, stats:

bitty babies/11 mo

So I totally missed their 11 mo update. Oh well. Sorry kids.

The biggest thing around that time was the latest bout of ear infections (which won us a bunch on omficef, since neither is tolerating the normal stuff...). And a lot of crappy sleep from the ear infections, the sleep, then who knows what. Bad habits on our part I guess. We need to work on that. Another post, another day.


At our 11 month appointment (a checkback on the ears + a weight check), Avery tipped the scales at 16lbs 4oz and Quinn hit 15 lbs on the nose. We'll see how they look on Wednesday. I'm hoping they're creeping back onto the CDC chart, but am going to bring my WHO chart anyway. They do eat and drink, but they're just not garbage disposal babies, which  I admit makes me nervous. Aren't 1 year olds supposed to eat everything in sight?? How did we skip that stage and go right to picky toddlers? 

9 months

We had our 9 month well visit last Wednesday, and it went...well. It was ok. They're developmentally on track. But Quinn is way off her weight curve, and we're now supplementing with extra calories in a couple of bottles, and Avery won a nebulizer for her cough (that is a JOY...).

percentiles from this site for actual age. It uses the CDC and not WHO charts, but whatever, good for scanning curves at least. It also reports anything at 5% or under as 5, which is ridiculous...Quinn is more like 3rd, if that, in weight when you look at the chart.
Quinn
Birth: 3 lbs 8 oz & 16 inches
1 month (40w gestational): 5 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 19 inches (5th)
2 months: 7 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 20.5 inches (5th)
3 months: 9 lbs 9 oz (5th) & 22.5 inches (29th)
4 months: 10 lbs 9 oz (5th) and 23 inches (16th)
6 months: 12 lbs 0 oz (5th) and 24.75 inches (24th) 
9 months:  13 lbs 14 oz (5th) and 26 inches (38th)


Quinn is a talking machine and babbles all days. She loves music and dances by shaking her head (you'd think she was saying no). She still can't quite push to sitting but zooms around army crawl style. Quinn is the independent one - she prefers to go to sleep alone in her crib, and prefers to feed herself thankyouverymuch.





Avery
Birth: 5 lbs 0 oz (5th) & 17 3/4 inches (5th)

the big FF

So far our formula experience has been a total failure (hence FF).

Over the course of the week, Quinn has spit up no fewer than 4 entire feedings (two of which were at day care and were breastmilk, not formula). 3 of those were on me. Awesome. The poor baby also had loose stool all last weekend and dehydrated pasty stools Monday and Tuesday (when the spitting up started).  Its really the result of the powerful antibiotic she was on for an unresolved ear infection, but now I'm wary about giving her formula. What if it WAS the formula and not the meds? Unlikely, but thanks to my latest Mother of the Year application - see above re poop and puke...I didn't call the pedi and have her discontinue the meds until she'd been on them for 8 days, 4.5 days after the disagreement with her bowels started - I am a little paranoid. The little bitty peanut lost 1/2 a pound according to our scale. This is not weight she can afford to drop.

The other failure was totally my fault. I'm a researcher, and probably over-read on the baby front. I know lots of things about complications we don't/didn't have (I do follow a couple of Multiples message boards and blogs, so that is a big source of my information).
Formula is simple.
Lots of people, a majority of people, and certainly a majority of Moms of Multiples, formula feed.

I fucked up the formula.

The package clearly says 1 scoop per two ounces, not one scoop per one ounce. No wonder it was so damn thick.  Avery had two bottles like this before I realized it. Oops. (Note the "Recipe" in Try 3 of my original post)

6 mo well visit/peanuts

Our 6 month well visit was sort of a failure, given how the babies have been sick for a week now. Quinn got an official croup diagnosis (and it's likely Avery had it, we just didn't know since she had lost her voice. Most pathetic thing ever, a 6 mo old who can't make noise crying).  So we got weighed and measured and generally checked out, chatted about sleep and solids (more on this later), and sent on our merry way with a script for new vitamins and steriods for the croup.

Our last well visit was at 4 months, and they're more or less managed to grow on their curve. Both dropped a smidge in weight percentiles, but in all honesty, I think it is from The Sickness, as they'd both been eating around 60-70% of their norm for a few days. 

percentiles from this site for actual age. It uses the CDC and not WHO charts, but whatever, good for scanning curves at least. It also reports anything at 5% or under as 5, which is ridiculous...Quinn is more like 3rd, if that, in weight when you look at the chart.
Quinn

Who's excited to start solids?

Birth: 3 lbs 8 oz & 16 inches
1 month (40w gestational): 5 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 19 inches (5th)
2 months: 7 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 20.5 inches (5th)
3 months: 9 lbs 9 oz (5th) & 22.5 inches (29th)
4 months: 10 lbs 9 oz (5th) and 23 inches (16th)
6 months: 12 lbs 0 oz (5th) and 24.75 inches (24th)


Avery

but today, we're watching Baby Einstein

Birth: 5 lbs 0 oz (5th) & 17 3/4 inches (5th)

1 month (40w gestational): 7 lbs 13 oz (7th) and 20 inches (38th)
2 months: 8 lbs 14 oz (9th) and 22 inches (46th)
3 months: 10 lbs 4 oz (10th) and 24 inches (80th)
4 months: 11 lbs 13 oz (12th) and 24 1/4 inches (60th)  
6 months: 13 lbs 2 oz (6th) and 26 inches (71st)

I hope they'll do a weight check when we go back for their shots in two weeks, since  Avery dropped off her curve for weight for length and that's apparently more concerning than being tiny :)  They're both about 3rd percentile on weight-for-length on the WHO charts now (they're way below on the CDC chart. I guess American babies tend to be chubby?)