Operation: Fatten her up.

First, I have to say that I'm sick. My throat is scratchy and my head feels like it might explode. Let me tell you that it was SO much fun this morning getting the 4 of us dressed and out the door by 10.

As we drove to Kaitlyn's (late) 9 month old check up (in Holladay) we had the heat blasting and rocked out to a Miley Cyrus CD per the boys request. They head banged and played air guitar and drums all while singing (even Carson). Kaitlyn shakes her head back and forth. I was singing as well only my voice was a little more muffled. Why, you ask? Because I was holding a tissue to my nose. Not just any tissue.. but the most wonderful tissue in the world.

http://www.puffs.com/en_US/pages/products_plus_with_vicks.shtml

My addiction started because of Misty. Back when we worked together she brought a box in and said "SMELL THIS". I did, and yowzers, life was good. We spent many days sniffing tissues. However, as time passed, I had to move on (meaning, I couldn't find any in the stores). And then a year ago as I was checking out at Walmart my mouth dropped open. The heavens parted and light showered down and I'm pretty sure I heard singing (think Sword in the Stone at the end where he touches the sword). There, right in front of me, was mini-travel packages! On CLEARANCE! I shoved as many as I could in my arms and unloaded them onto the check stand. The check out lady's questioning eyes said exactly what she thought. I gave her a huge cheesy smile (full teeth) and said, "I'm in love. I can't help it."

Back to this morning, I was singing as Miley Cyrus' backup singer all while smashing the enchanted tissue against my face. I was hoping that if i inhaled it enough that maybe it would allow me to be able to breath in normal fashion while talking with the Pediatrition (mental note: it did work). Such bliss.

We arrived and I unloaded my crew and hearded Carson up the huge ramp and we entered the waiting room. Oh my. They had decorated for Halloween. There was a HUGE spider, pumpkins galore, witch hats and more. You should have heard Carson. Joyce.. you live near by.. could you hear him? ;o) "Ooooohhh, Mom, a SPIIIIDDEEEEERRR! Pumpkin! Pumpkin Pie (no pie, just pumpkin)! A witch, a witch!" At that point, every single nurse took their turn poking their head out to laugh at Carson's 'excitment'. Even the Dr's had to come and look (he was seriously that loud). And the entire time he jumped up and down in place, a la Tigger. I proudly proclaimed, "He's my loud child." :-D

After about 10 minutes of the above, our Nurse took us back to the room. The Dr. wasn't quite ready for us so maybe it was because Carson was a little distracting? Who knows. Luckily there was pictures of 4 pumpkins, 1 witch, 1 skeleton and 1 black kitty-kitty-meow on our door. Maybe they didn't think that part through so well as Carson told us ALL about it. hehehe

I undressed Kaitlyn so we could get down to buisness. She grew just over an inch and is now 25.5" (3rd %). Her noggin is still growing and dropped a little in percentage but is at 9%. Her weight.. it was less than I expected. :o( That was my main concern.. she's still so small! She still wears 3-6 month clothes but I've moved her up to some 6-9 month things because that's what the warm clothes are in.. I have to roll the waist on those and she usually crawls right out of them (need to figure out to make some Baby Legs!). She only weighed 12 pounds 14 ounces.. just under a pound of growing in the past 3 months. Ugh. She has totally dropped off the growth chart in that department.

The Dr. said that little of gain can be considered Failure to Thrive but didn't want to give her that specific diagnosis yet. We're going back next month (we'll do Hade's 5 year old check up then) for another weight check and consultation. He would like to see her gain at least a half of a pound. I'm going to attempt to feed her baby food 3 times a day plus snacks (she's been iffy on the baby food). She's starting to like more table foods (she's rockin' the pincer grasp to eat Gerber Puffs) in the past 3-4 days so I'll try to do more of that as well. Maybe some meat or something will fatten her up. I'm still nursing her (on demand) and the Dr. suggested I use formula. I don't even own a bottle.. (she uses Nuby sippy cups for water). I'm not sure how I feel about that (I'm not anti-formula or anything.. Aubrey used it.. just... I don't know). So he said we'll wait until next month to see how she does on increased feedings. At that point we would also start talking metabolic disorders and start blood work on that if she didn't gain anything. *sigh*

As for her milestones, she's doing great.. she crawls all over. She crawls over things. She can pull herself to a standing position. She can hold on with one hand and bend down to pick something up and she has finally figured out how to get back down on the floor. She says Mama (FINALLY!), Dada and babbles bababa all of the time.. still says Hiiii while waving. She's been sleeping between 6-10 hours before waking up to nurse and going back to sleep. She is totally in love with her siblings. Her face lights up and she actually tries to play with them now.. and she's very smart. She has figured out that if she takes something from Carson that he has been playing with, to crawl away as fast as she can while shrieking. It's hilarious. It might be a little Karma for all the many times he's laid on her.

Kaitlyn had her first flu shot and the boys were more than thrilled to walk away with a sucker and sticker. We stopped at Wendy's to grab lunch (hey, I AM sick..) and made it just in time to drop Hayden off at school. I didn't get to see Aubrey but her friend was kind enough to relay that she was the door monitor (to let kids in to use the bathroom) and a big HI from her. :o)

Ok, off to change Carson.. I wonder how well my tissues can block that smell...

(p.s. I'm totally aware that there was not even ONE picture.. I promise I'll make up for that.. you know I will. )