Katie's Growth Update/ Weaning Update

A little late, but as promised, here is what we found out at Katie's one year well check. She is in the lowest possible percentile, less than 3%. She weighed 16 pounds 5 ounces, which was an increase of about 3 pounds in 3 months. She also grew in her height and head circumference. The doctor asked me try to increase her milk intake during the day to at least 18 ounces and to put either ovaltine or carnation instant breakfast in her milk, both of which I have done.

I was holding on to her last breastfeeding session, which was the middle of the night one. I was afraid that if I cut this out that she would lose out on some much needed fat and calories. I figured if she was still waking for it, she must need it. I was wrong. The doctor told me that she was perfectly capable of sleeping up to 12 hours at night and was most likely just using the night feeding for comfort. I swear, she heard and understood him. For the next two nights, she slept 11 hours straight and skipped the night feeding. Night 3 was a different story. She woke around 3 AM. At first I tried to let her cry it out(CIO). She did, but woke a few minutes later. Then I tried picking her up and rocking her for a bit and laying her back down. She would have none of that. I tried walking around the house with her, which kept her quiet, but I was exhausted. I was fully committed to cutting out her middle of the night feeding, but by 5:30 AM I couldn't take it anymore. I made her a cup of milk and sat down to let her drink it. By this time, everyone else in the house was up too. We put in a movie and put some blankets on the floor to lay down. Katie and I laid on the couch and she finally went back to sleep at 6:30. It was NOT fun, especially when I had to get up a couple hours later and go serve in the nursery at church. Needless to say, I skipped the shower that morning and opted for a little extra sleep.

This has happened two times since then, but most nights she will sleep 11 hours. The first time it happened I tried CIO first, then went straight to the milk. After drinking about 4 ounces, I went through our lay down routine and she went back to sleep for the rest of the night. Last night I let her CIO and she made it through the rest of the night. So, Katie is fully weaned from breastfeeding and if it weren't for the puppy that I talked my husband into getting, I would be sleeping through the night most nights.

As for Katie's growth, her doctor and I are happy with her progress for now and will continue to keep an eye on her. As long as she is eating good and grows proportionally, there really are no real concerns.

Mourning the loss of a friend

Bummer of a title, I know, but that's what I feel like. Last night, Brayden informed us that Guido, his imaginary friend for as long as I can remember, is not real. Here is how our conversation went:

Steph: Get Guido to whistle.

Brayden: Guido isn't real.

Me: What?!?

Brayden: Guido isn't real.

Me: Then what have I been picking up off the ground, giving a bath to, and putting lotion on all this time?

Brayden: Uh, the air.

Ohhh, my heart was broken. Really not for losing Guido, which really could be a pain to play along with sometimes, but for another step in the loss of Brayden's youth. Most of the time this happens in baby steps, like preferring Batman to Elmo or suddenly realizing that he can button up his pajamas all by himself. Losing Guido felt like a leap to me. A sure sign that he isn't a little boy anymore, but a kid.

Ironically, at this same time, I find myself wishing that Katie would just learn to walk and get it over with. For one thing, she is ruining the knees in her pants and the tops of her socks. Mostly though, I'm ready to be done with crawling. She's been doing it since she was 6 months old and I'm ready for the next milestone.

If only we could pick and choose the things our kids let go of as they were getting older. A great wish, but surely one that would never work. Soon, I'll get over myself and the sweet little boy I wish I could hold onto forever and embrace the awesome kid he is becoming.

A quick related story: Today after lunch the kids and I were dancing in the kitchen when a fun song came on the radio. I put Katie down and went over to scoop Brayden up to dance with him. He said, "I'm too big to hold you me." We'll just see if that's the case the next time he falls down and gets hurt. I'm betting not!

Slow Growing Children

I jokingly call my two younger kids "non-growing" children, but decided that a better title to this post would be slow growing children. With both Brayden and Katie I have been told that they are too little and that testing may be necessary since they are not growing enough. Here is a little bit about each kid:

Brayden- started off huge. He was just shy of 10 pounds when he was born and nursed every 2 hours for about the first 6 months of his life. At each of his check ups he was in the 90th percentile. Then he started eating solid foods earnestly and cut down on his nursing and eventually stopped around one year. He slowly began dropping down in his percentiles until at his two year check up he was in the 5th or lower percentile for his weight and 5 to 10th percentile for his height. I will tell you that he was in the 95th percentile for his head growth. That kid has a big ol' melon. That is when the doctor first talked about testing for causes of his size. I was not really concerned and actually slightly offended that someone thought there was something wrong with my kid. Jake and I are both on the smaller side, so to us it only made sense that Brayden would be small. I am 5'3" and Jake is only 5'7". I quickly got over being offended, but I still wanted to make sure that if we put Brayden through any serious testing that there really be a reason. We agreed with his doctor to keep tracking his growth and set milestones that we wanted him to reach. He slowly but surely put on some weight and some height and I'm happy to say that at his 4 year check up this week he was in the 75th percentile for his weight and 25th percentile for his height(they don't check the head at this age, but its still big!). I will add that I was aware that Brayden had a pretty serious growth spurt over the summer. He began the summer wearing 18 month shorts and 2T tops and now wears 4T tops and 3T pants. He didn't change his eating habits at all, except there were a couple days I remember thinking that he at a lot that day.

Katie-started off small. When I was 36 weeks pregnant, I went in for a sonogram because she had been breach. When they measured her legs and head and whatever else they measure they noticed that she was pretty small for how far along I was. It was a bit of a shock to me since my first two kids had weighed over 9 pounds when born. The doctor was actually going to induce me a week early before we noticed the issue with her size. The process to complete my pregnancy and ensure her health was not too bad. I went in every week for a non-stress test and everything turned out great. I was induced on my due date and Katie was 6 pounds 14 ounces. I loved the experience of having a small baby after the first two! Katie has continued to be small. She was in the 5 to 10th percentile for her first few check ups, but at her 9 month check up she wasn't even on the charts anymore. She weighed only 13 pounds and I honestly can't remember her height. She had gained no weight since her 6 month check up. The doctor said this could be because she had been crawling since she was 6 months old and could also be contributed to nursing less and eating more solid food. We will go in for her 1 year check up in a few weeks, so I will be sure to add an update to this post. Katie is a great eater. She has been self feeding exclusively since she was 7 months old and really loves most foods, especially vegetables. She is proportionate and developmentally right on track. I think I just have small children.

I will be sure to update this subject as each kid grows and gets older. For now, I'm happy with the way things are going with both my "little" kids and our communication with our doctor.