Screeching Sisters

Just after Easter dinner on Sunday, this is how the girls decided to entertain each other.
This went on for about five minutes before I started filming and at least five minutes after I stopped.

Easter

The girls enjoyed two Easter celebrations this year--one a weekend early with the Bailey Grandparents and the Gabriels, and a second at home.

Double Stroller

A few weeks ago I decided that life would be easier with a double stroller. Until now I've been driving the girls to the parks in our area instead of walking--my only other options were to take Reese in the stroller and strap Paige to my chest (which can make for a sweaty momma once we finally arrive), or put Paige in the stroller and hope Reese can walk or ride her tricycle to the park (currently the distances are a little too long for that). So, I began searching for a used stroller.

When I perused Craigslist I was in total shock. $200-300+ for a used double stroller?!? Granted I was looking for a jogger , but who were they kidding? Disgusted, I looked up how much new double joggers were selling for--I about had a heart attack. I conceded slightly and pushed up my initial budget estimate for the purchase.

I contacted sellers on craigslist with my "best offers" and even made some bids on eBay. Many disappointing emails later, and lots of cursing at eBay bidders, I found a stroller in Round Rock. It's definitely been well loved, and it doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles, but it was under $100 and the kids love it. On our first trip to the park they made googly eyes at each other and held hands the whole time.

Heart Update

Paige had her appointment with the cardiologist yesterday at Pediatric Cardiology of Austin. In short, everything is fine. She had an EKG followed by an echo cardiogram. The EKG lasted less than a minute and didn't seem to bother her at all. I was amazed that the technician was able to fit all the stickers on her tiny body, though. The echo was a little more involved--twenty minutes more involved to be exact. Poor Paige, she had to lay as still as possible for twenty minutes while they took pictures of her heart from every angle. Luckily the people at PCA are amazing! They are set up perfectly to deal with infants and their facility is great. They lowered the lights while she was having the echo performed and had me lay on the table with her. Between the array of sparkly mobiles on the ceiling, the soft colored lights on the walls, and the flat screen playing Baby Einstein, Paige hardly moved a muscle during the exam. After all the tests Dr Wong saw us and reassured us that while Paige does have a murmur there's nothing mechanically wrong with her heart. The sound he heard from her heart during the exam is higher pitch than "textbook murmurs," but all her tests looked great. The murmur could go away on its own tomorrow or be around until she's a teenager. Either way, everything should be fine. It's just the news we were hoping for!

Specialist Number 2

Today was Paige's official six month check up with our pediatrician. Having just seen the GI last week I took for granted that this appointment would go smoothly. I knew it would end with a couple shots and the possibility for a cranky/fevery day, but that was all I was ready for.

After remarking on how good her growth curves were looking (she actually gained another half pound in the last week!) and checking all the boxes on her developmental milestones her physical exam began. He checked her all over and then did a double check of her chest. "Well," he said, "Paige has a heart murmur." All I could think was, "Shit, here we go again. Just when I thought things were getting normal." I should know by now that there's no "normal" in parenthood.

The pediatrician went on to tell me that "it's probably nothing, but I want you to see a cardiologist just in case." So...next Monday we will be attending our first office visit with a pediatric cardiologist. We'll likely watch them stick tiny monitors on Paige's chest for an EKG and maybe even have an echo cardiogram. The appointment falls right at Paige's nap time so I'm sure she'll be a gem during this experience. Who knows, though, she's already breezed through an ultrasound and a upper GI. This kid sure knows how to get the most out of our health care.

April Updates

* Paige is starting to sit independently! I snapped a few pictures of her during the last two weeks when she was mainly tripod sitting, but now she spends most of her sitting time upright and she is definitely getting stronger. She still falls over if she tries to grab something that's slightly out of reach, but she's been doing great. So far she's used her new sitting skill to ride the swings at the park and sit in the grocery cart at HEB. Since she's always gone to HEB strapped to my chest, it's fun to see her reaction to the store from the cart. For now she seems mesmerized by all the items, colors, and lights. She's absolutely silent during our trips so far and she would rather look around than play with her toys.


* Last night Paige slept through the night for the first time EVER! Now to clarify: to ME, sleeping through the night means 11-12 hours without waking and/or needing a feeding. Reese began sleeping through the night around 7 months old, but beginning around 3 or 4 months she would surprise us with a random quiet night here and there. We've had no such luck with Paige. It's hard to believe I've survived this long without a night of consolidated, uninterrupted sleep. I won't be holding my breath that she'll do it again tonight.

* Paige's nap time sleep was doing great a few weeks ago. I felt like we had finally fallen into a routine...then two weeks ago everything went out the window. Since Paige began sleeping on her tummy and sucking her thumb she's had no problems falling asleep. Two weeks ago, though, she turned into a rolly-polly during nap time and at night. Instead of staying on her tummy and snoozing, twenty or thirty minutes into her naps, she'd roll over onto her back and wake up. (She's a pro at rolling from belly to back, but she can't quite get all the way from back to belly yet--she ends up on her side.) What do we do? Leave her there and see if she can sleep on her back? Go in and roll her back over? A combination of both ideas didn't help matters and it wasn't until yesterday when she gave up the rolling that things may (?) be getting back to "normal."

* Paige had her 6 month follow up with the GI on Monday. He said she's looking great. She's gaining weight great and is even somewhere between the 10th-25th percentiles for her weight and height! She's still on medicine, but the doctor and I made a "weaning plan" for how to VERY slowly wean her from the reflux meds. He also said that "given her history with dairy" that we should avoid any foods with dairy for awhile. He said that if everything's going well and we want to be "aggressive" we could try giving her yogurt around 9 months, but that it may be better if we wait until she's closer to a year.

* Reese got a pair of sunglasses recently. Can you tell she picked them out? So stylish...

* Reese is developing a southern twang, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Yes, Kim and I sounded like little Brits after spending our youth in England, so maybe I'm being hypocritical...but it's driving me a little nuts. Everything has extra syllables and the letter a gets drug out forever. Favorite words that showcase Reese's twang include: that, spilled, and ouch. I'm not sure where it's coming from, school maybe? A true native Texan, I guess.

Paige Babble

Here's some footage I took of Paige's babbling today. This is just a short segment, so imagine it multiplied for hours on end over the course of a day. I've said it before, but man is our house going to be loud for the next few years...You can even hear Reese baby talking with Paige during part of the video. It's hard to remember that there was a time when Reese wasn't talking, and I really have no clue when she started babbling like Paige is now. It's so cute to hear Paige communicating in a happy way after all she's been through, I just can't get enough of it, and it makes me smile every time.

Goodbye March

I can't believe March is over already. With the temperatures already rising, it will be summer before we know it. Time is really flying, and I can't believe it's almost been six months since Paige was born.

Here are just a few tidbits I want to remember from March:

Paige:
1. She's our little thumb sucker. When you put her down for a nap, she quickly finds her right thumb and soothes herself right to sleep. It's a million times better than a pacifier since she can't loose it. Our only issue has been that some of the sleeves on her pajamas are still a little long and if they fall down over her hands at night she's lost.

2. Paige is babbling away. She coos, loves to say "boo" and will talk and screech with Reese for extended periods of time.

3. While she isn't drooling, Paige's constant need to have something in her mouth may signal the beginning of her teething. Time will tell.

4. She can successfully tripod-sit for a few minutes at a time.

5. When she's done eating her solids she spits them back at you. Reese just used to turn her head to say "no more," this spitting thing is new to me and I've had to start wearing an apron when I feed her--it's one thing to treat baby food stains on baby clothing, it's another to explain why I have sweet potato stains on mine.

6. I didn't have many clothing items in the 3-6 month range that are appropriate for our warm weather lately. Luckily, Aunt Kate stepped up and donated a TON of super cute outfits for Paige. Today she's sporting a ducky onesie complete with a tail--one of my favs.

Reese:
1. I don't think there's any way Reese will be napping when she's 3. The last month was terribly hit or miss with naps. While she can manage without one, on days when she doesn't nap she's more testy and hard to keep happy--and her bedtime is super early. We instituted some "sleep rules" (1. Stay in bed 2. Stay quiet 3. Close your eyes 4. Go to sleep) and have offered her the privilege of choosing a special afternoon snack if she takes a nap. We're also weaning her off her lullaby habit since it had become nap time entertainment to play with the CD player instead of sleep. So far the combination is working well and she's asleep right now.

2. Reese is very into playing with words lately--she is constantly trying to create rhyming words (whether real or not) and point out opposites.

3. Her vocabulary continues to bloom. Highlights from this month include:
* necessary, as in, "Mommy it's not necessary to push me, I'm a big girl."
* pharmacy, as in "We have to go to the pharmacy to get my medicine."
* syringe, as in, "Mommy I need a syringe to give my babies their medicine."

4. Reese got her second hair cut. While her long hair enabled us to try some new hairstyles (including a braid), it was constantly a rat's nest that she refused to let me comb. Her new shorter do is more manageable. She went to a kids' salon near our house this time and was thrilled to receive a lollipop afterward.

5. Reese is obsessed with her grocery cart lately. She piles what seems like all her worldly possessions inside of it and pushes it around the house.