Deja Vu.....

Yesterday, I had Keelyn's 6 month appointment. It was eerily similar to a 6 month visit about 2 years ago..... Yes, folks, my sweet girl is off the charts. Teeny. TINY. For the most part, I'm much less stressed about it this go around. I'm pretty sure a decent part of this is genetics. I just don't have big babies. Not even average babies. In fact not even small babies. I grow itsy bitsy teeny weeny babes!

Keelyn weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs 4 oz. That would be less than 1% on the charts. (Way less, if you're counting). She was 25 inches tall. And as usual, I don't remember the head size. Those two measurements were actually still fine. She actually even smaller than her sister was....

I like our new doctor (we switched since we moved) a lot better and she didn't freak out about it. Actually, I've been prepping her for what happened last time, so neither of us were too shocked. She said that she knows I'm not going to have big babies. She wants me to try and increase her solids, and even focus only on those that are higher in calories. She also said I can add olive oil to her jarred baby foods! And I could add formula to her applesauce! I swear, she's such a peanut!

The difference this time is that I really can't just put her on formula since she won't take a bottle from me. Even if I was ready to wean her, I think she'd go quite some time before really taking a bottle and we can't afford a milk strike with her current weight. We'll go back in a month for a weight check to see if she's doing any better with solids. Thing is, all I've read says they get the most calories from milk, so it's weird to me to push the solids. But I guess solids with olive oil have a good bit of calories too......

So, here we go again. Extra weight checks & the fun of hoping to get back on the charts.

4 Month Doctor's Visit

Last week, Keelyn turned 4 months old. It is just crazy how fast it flying by this time. In ways I am so happy (because I just love when they get older, can play with toys, be more content w/o mommy holding her 24/7) and in other ways I'm sad that she is growing up so quickly. And it's just crazy because when you are cooking dinner with a fussy baby attached to you and a toddler hanging on your feet, time cannot move fast enough and then all of sudden you look back and say, where'd the time go???

Anyways, I digress..... Since Keelyn turned 4 months old, we had her regular doctor's visit last week. And once again, I just seem to grow small babies..... I really wish I could chub them up a little to make sure they weren't so small on the charts, but this time I'm not nearly as worried about it. She weighed in at 10 lbs, 13 oz (just 1 oz shy of her sister at this juncture!) which is the 5%. Her height was 24 inches, or about 50%. So, she's growing nice and skinny :)

The doctor wasn't too concerned about the weight. She said she's happy and healthy and fine on all other points she looked at, including an impressively strong head/neck control :) That's my girl! She said she wished they didn't focus on the percentiles sometimes (and noted that as an adult, I might be in the 5% myself, HA!). She's gaining weight and that's what is important. It's just always hard when you have a 100% breastfed baby, I'd like to know exactly what she's getting, but she seems content after feedings, so we'll assume it's okay.

She also reassured me that Keelyn's sleeping habits were quite normal and told me we were just lucky with Mackenzie (I pretty much knew this!). She said I should start putting her down sleepy but not asleep to let her learn to soothe herself, especially since she won't take a paci. And if I wanted/needed to, she might need to cry it out at night if she's wanting to eat every 3 hours or so. I had been worried b/c being on the small side, I didn't want her to really need to eat if she was crying. Ironically, since that visit, literally that night.....Keelyn has been sleeping better/longer at night. Guess she heard what her option was, and didn't want to cry it out either! So, for the last week, she goes down around 9pm (last feeding around 8:30) and I wake her back up a bit by putting her sleep sack on her and lay her in the crib with eyes open. She nods off easily (that goodness!). I then wake her around 11pm for a little extra food before I go to bed! And she's slept til at least 5am, and sometimes 6 or 7am. This morning was a 7am'er and it felt GREAT! Please keep it up baby girl! I really don't want to do the cry it out in the middle of the night thing. Of course, I also don't want to be your personal pacifier for the next year!

Although due to the low weight, we did decide to go ahead and start her on solid foods right at 4 months. So far, she's not impressed, but with Mackenzie we started around 4 1/2 months and by 5 months she was eating, so I'm counting on a few weeks of spitting it out & crying before she'll actually eat anything! Here's a video of her response to the first feeding:

1 Month Check up

Wow. Keelyn was one month old yesterday. It has FLOWN by. Funny how each exhausting minute seems like an eternity, but then all of a sudden a month is gone. Life is crazy like that. I told Brannon that it is the ultimate irony in life that we anxiously await for this newborn/terrible two phase to get better/more manageable, but then when it's passed we miss it.

Anywhoo, due to turning 1 month yesterday, Keelyn went for her 1 month check up today. Dr said she was looking great & getting chubby :) She has continued to gain weight very well since her last weight check - continuing to gain an ounce a day. So, here's her stats:

• Weight - 8 lbs, 10 oz (40%)
• Height - 21 inches (70% WOW for our short family.....)
• Head was 35% but never remember this measurement

I got home and promptly (well, after getting one down for a nap, feeding one, feeding myself.....) checked out Mackenzie's 1 month stats. She was 8 lbs, 4 oz (25%) & 21 1/4 inches. So, they are fairly similar. Keelyn started 8 oz bigger, so she's staying a little ahead on that front although they are closing the gap since she is now only 6 oz bigger at the same juncture.

The other weird thing is the height percentiles. We are now going to a different pediatrician since we've moved. Mackenzie's height percentile was given to me from the old pediatrician as

50% for height. Okay, but Keelyn is actually shorter and they said she was 70% for height. Huh? Then, of course I googled an online percentile calculator & the two I tried said that her height is in the 25%. I've heard there are different charts that doctors can use, but these seem WAY different. Who knows..... She is healthy & growing, that's the important thing!