Doctor Visits and Milestones

We took the girls to their one year appointment last Monday. They only cried a little when they were jabbed! Shots are no fun! We are always so nervous about getting their weight checked. We work so hard at feeding them a lot and fattening them up, but they are always so small. Violet weighed in at 14 pounds and Lily at 14 lbs. 11 oz. We were sure Lily would weigh 15 pounds, but she's pretty close. They've pretty much tripled their birth weight, which is expected at a year. Dr. Cox wanted us to take them in to see a dietitian and wanted us to take Violet to physical therapy since she's not crawling. We also want to check her head shape. That's a lot for this mama to take in! 

We went to the physical therapist two days later, on Wednesday. She showed us a lot of ways we can help Violet strengthen her arms, many of which we were already doing. She also measured her head because it's a little flat on one side (only I notice, of course). She thinks it will round out as she grows so we don't need to worry. She wants us to go every week, but with insurance not covering until the deductible is met, we'll see how she progresses and then go from there. 

We worked on the play/exercises and so did Mary at daycare. By Friday, Violet was able to go from her tummy to sitting up! Woo hoo! She's been so close for so many days, and now she's finally done it! I'm so proud of her!

We started a food journal on Sunday because we had an upcoming appointment with a dietitian on Wednesday. It was hard to figure out how much food they actually ate! We had to subtract what was left on their face, in their bib, on their tray, and on the floor! Their appetites were a little smaller too, we think because they're both getting their top teeth in. Oh well! We took the girls to the dietitian on Wednesday, and she started by weighing and measuring them. Violet is still 14 lbs. and Lily is 15 lbs. 4 oz.! We think the old-school scale at Dr. Cox's office was wrong on Lily's measurement! Margaret, the dietitian, compared their weight to their height. I really liked this comparison because it doesn't take into account their age, just their weight and height. Lily is at 91% of her target weight (90-100 is the goal), and Violet is at 80% of her target weight. We knew she was a string bean! We always offer her the same, or even more food, as Lily. She eats slower and is a little pickier. Margaret made a lot of good suggestions to help them gain weight. We're already doing a lot of things we should! That's nice to hear. The biggest change for us will be to make sure they do not have any milk between meals and to wait 3-4 hours between meals so they're really hungry. I'm going to try to wean from nursing in the next month or so, too. They need to fill their bellies on high-calorie foods and drinks, and I don't think the milk I produce is very fatty. We're going to put some heavy cream in their cups of milk and butter on their crackers! We'll keep trying to fatten these girls up! We have a follow-up appointment in April, but Margaret said we can call her anytime we need to.

After school on Thursday, I went to Mary's to pick up the girls. Mary was thrilled to tell me that Violet crawled to a toy! I started jumping and screaming, I was so happy! All the kids stopped playing and looked at me a little scared. Haha! I'm just so proud of my little Vi-Vi! At home she showed off her crawling skills some more! She's pretty slow and careful, but she is definitely crawling. She'll go about two paces and then sit. That's a great start. She's also able to pull up to her knees, almost to standing! We're pretty sure we're going to cancel the other physical therapy appointments now. She's met most of her goals in 8 days! I'm not so worried any more! We're so lucky Mary and Val are on board with everything. They've been working with Violet on her arm strength and tummy time, and have always supported us with any diet changes we've needed to do for the girls. They always say how much they love Violet and Lily. They spend so much time with them each day, they're like family! 

I'm so proud of both my little girls! Today they were standing at the coffee table, playing side-by-side, and I couldn't help but think how lucky I am!