18 Month Visit

18 month pediatrician appointment yesterday.  All went well.  Upon leaving we found out that we were apparently in a Tornado Warning during our visit, which we were not aware of at the time.  But luckily we are all safe & all in good health. 

While Dr. Harrison said that usually the 18 month visit is the hardest (in terms of crying tots, followed by month 15) this one seemed to daddy & me to be a little bit less traumatic for us than the last.  Still PLENTY of tears during their turn to get weighed, measured & examined.  And still for some reason they are terrified to walk into a small, doctors office type room (it was a problem at TIPS & the eye dr too).  BUT at least the screams of terror came to a hault in the between time this go-round.  I could actually conduct a conversation with people in the room.  They assured me that by 2 it is usually better, so hopefully the worst of crying well visits are behind us.  Yes, that means baring any illnesses, we won't be back there for 6 whole months.  Crazy!

Despite my feeling that my kids appitites are seemingly non-existant at times, we have grown from our 15 month visit & that's all that matters.  Weights of course differ from what we got at TIPS on Monday.  (And I'm starting to not believe those 16 month weights I got)  Those were both clothed, these are naked.... naked, squirming, screaming, not sitting still on the scale, and read as fast as possible before the scale had time to finish reading.  So just pick a number between these & those from Monday & go with that I'd say.  Percentiles are on their actual age growth chart.  I'm taking Logan's weight today with a grain of salt.  I have never, ever before heard that kid scream like he did today.  Terrified.  And this weight was read in about 0.5 seconds before he more or less jumped off the counter!

Hayden:  26 lbs 11 oz (62%), 32 in tall (43%), head 20 in (99%!)
Olivia:  22 lbs 15 oz (30%), 32 in tall (63%), head 18.5 in (65%)
Logan:  22 lbs 3 oz (8%), 31 in tall (16%), head 19 in (57%)

So I'm just saying Hayden is close to 27 lbs & Log & Liv are around 23 lbs.  Close enough.  What amazes me is there is 1 inch difference in height between the boys & that ONE inch is the difference between the 43 & 16 percentile!! 

In terms of development, its as if Dr. Harrison read my mind.  After our 15 month visit I was a little upset about always discussing developmental milestones in terms of their corrected age.  I know my kids were preemies & I'll give them leeway should they need it, but I'd like to push them & give them credit for catching up where credit is due.  I'd prefer to look ahead as opposed to looking back.  The nurses always go through the actual age milestones & this time we said YES to all of them.  And when Dr. Harrison went through milestones, he listed off both the 16 month & 18 month milestones.  And we were doing everything he listed for 18 months so he FINALLY said, "So I'd say we can pretty much say they are caught up right now."  I told him what Dr. Needleman had said in terms of speech from TIPS on Monday & that I knew to be closely watching.  And thats pretty much all that was said about that. 

Speaking of milestones, one of them on their list that really amazed me was that they should know 2-3 body parts.  Livi knows like 11!!

Nothing specific to report about Logan & Olivia.
Hayden is getting some steroid cream (better than the OTC stuff & Aquaphor we've been using) to hopefully, finally clear up this never ending, on & off, drool rash from teething (he has 2 more eye teeth almost through & I can see the whites through the gums of 1 of Logan's bottom molars).  AND we are scheduling Hayden a renal ultrasound.  Just as a precaution since he has that ear tag.  Something we have never discussed with Dr. Harrison before today I don't think.  I've thought about it before, but since Dr. Needleman suggested on Monday at TIPS that it wouldn't hurt to check it out, I brought it up to Dr. Harrison & he said sure.  If you don't know, ears & kidneys develop at the same time in the womb, so ear tags can indicate a renal issue.  He has no symptoms, so we aren't concerned, but just for our own knowledge, we are going to go ahead & make sure there isn't some abnormality we aren't aware of. 

We got the go ahead to start doing a gummy chewable multivitamin (since the baby liquid ones suck & we are so non compliant with them).  We did a little talking about meal portion sizes for kids (my question because of the extreme drop in their intake which I know is normal, I just wanted some specifics).  A portion size for them is the size of the palm of their hand.  A meal is 3 portions & snack is 2 portions.  Apparently a toddlers stomach is only the size of their fist!  He said to expect to get in 1.5 good meals a day average & the rest will be hit or miss.  (I think in general the recommendation is to aim for 3 meals & 2 snacks a day.)  And he said that it is a good idea to continue to encourage the kids to eat what we are eating & to limit offering an alternative meal choice.

We each got 1 shot, Hep A.  Got dressed & out the door we went.  Hayden even waved bye-bye!

Then, since we were already traumatized, it was raining & they were in need.... we headed over to Family Fun Cutz & got the boys their 2nd hair cut!  Either they have grown up a lot in the past 2 months, or they were just plain tired of crying, but they did AWESOME!  Jeff & I stood there in awe repeating to eachother, I can't believe this.  After warning the haircut girls that they were most likely in for lots of screaming & squirming, we popped in an Elmo DVD, recruted a 3rd helper to blow some bubbles, got some suckers & shead probably a total of 10 tears... then they proceeded to sit still like perfect angels for their entire cuts!  Shocked the pants right off of me. Lately they just seem to be growing up so fast!

Cutie

Yes Olivia is a cutie, I think we all agree.  But now it is even "written" right on her face for all to see.

So right now I'm sure you are all wondering what in the world I am talking about?!  This mama has apparently lost her marbles.  Today was Olivia's follow up appointment with Dr. Troia, the eye doctor.  And today he agreed with Jeff & I that despite a prescription change, her left eye is still turning in more frequently than the right.  Less frequently with the new glasses than the old.  But still turning & its dominately the left to the point where its time to worry about a lazy eye & worry about that left eye's vision suffering.  And we of course want to do whatever we need to do to preserve her vision.

Our options were either a patch on the right eye to force the left eye to the work.  Or eye drops in right eye to dilate the pupil making vision blurry & again force the left eye to do the work.  And as the sun today was beating down with record breaking temperatures for May.... I thought, how miserable would it be to have a dilated eye out in the bright sun all summer long?  Horrible.  So the the patch is the better choice for us. 

So..... Miss Livi officially has an eye patch.  I'm not nearly as bummed as I anticipated.  And way less depressed than I was going into all of this 10 months ago.  I have seen it coming for quite some time & I'd rather be doing this earlier than later.  It was time.  The one we chose actually fits onto her glasses as opposed to sticking to her face.  I told Jeff is she needs to wear it for a longer period of time, I am buying another so we can coordinate with her outfits :)

She is to wear it during all waking hours, except 2.  She can have 2 hours of a break each day.  And we will follow up with Dr. Troia in 2 weeks.  And not sure where it goes from there.  There really is no telling how long this patch will be part of our lives.  We'll just have to wait & see.  There is still the possibility down the road of her needing surgery to straighten her eyes.  But Dr. Troia said (& I have also read) that the surgery itself does nothing to actually IMPROVE vision.  So treatments like glasses, patches, etc. need to always be done first. 

It doesn't seem to have phased her.  I think her depth perception is a little off.  But I can't imagine going all afternoon with 1 eye covered!  She was giggly & cheerful as ever tonight.  She is SUCH a good girl!!

Logan's turn

Logan's turn for molars!  Finally.  Did a quick check today to discover his top right 1 year molar is in!  If he's getting his 1 year molars at 18 months maybe we'll have his 2 year molars in & be done teething by 3?!  We'll have to see what comes first, done teething or potty training?

Little Runaways

Livi & me were working on a grocery list. Jeff was doing yardwork. The boys were playing in the basement. I heard the front door open & started talking to what I assumed was Jeff. No answer. And again, no answer. After the 3rd time I took off running towards the door to discover 2 little boys, juice cups in hand, who had made it out the front door & halfway down the sidewalk to the driveway.  They were standing there waving bye-bye.  Lovely!  Guess they can officially open a pull down door handle!!

TIPS

Preemie developmental follow-up was today.  I'm awaiting in the mail a more detailed "score" of how they did, but in chatting after we left, Jeff & I are pretty darn proud of our trio.  They (of course) still test & evaluate them based on their corrected gestational age (15.5 months).  And Jeff & I felt like every task they would present to the kids, they would say or act like... this is an emerging skill at this age so don't be surprised if they can't do it.... and our kids would do it & we'd think to ourselves, yep they mastered this 2 months ago.  Therefore, putting them right on par for being caught up for their age.  Again, just our assessment as TIPS does not tell us "Yes your kid is caught up developmentally" which is what I'd like to hear.  Instead they evaluate to watch for delays even for corrected age, which preemies are at risk for. 

Except for being scared of people (seriously tired of the stranger danger thing) it went well.  Scared as in I would guess Logan cried 65% of the time we were there.  Kind of hard to get an accurate display of abilities like that wouldn't you say?  I know we don't get out much having 3 & all, but come on kids, you are not THAT sheltered.  Actually, to be more fair, on top of strangers, they are more terrified of small closed rooms that resemble a Dr. office.  So take that & throw in a room full of strangers. I can see how that would be scary I guess.

The kiddos got weighed & measured.  Let me start by saying I am VERY interested to see what they get for weights at our 18 month pediatrician visit on Weds.  (Yep more Dr. on Wednesday... more crying I assume)  Because according to this Livi & Logan have actually LOST a few oz over the past 2 months?!  Which I guess wouldn't be totally weird.  Lots more mobile.  Playing outside.  Up & down stairs.  PICKY eating.  Plus Liv had a bout of about 5 days of a fever about a week ago during which she ate NOTHING, literally nothing for 4-5 days.  (And yes we took her to the DR & found nothing wrong.)  Logan had the same fever & same refusal to eat, only for about 36 hours though.  Who knows what bug that was?  But that could account for some weight loss?  Oh & I just realized, both of these times they were weighed in clothes... now its warm, then it was cold, so that could account for some variation too.  But for the 1st time, I think I'd have to agree with the heights.  Still shorties.  And even if they are not completely accurate, I'd have to at least agree with the height differences they got between the kids.  Yes they kick & scream & buck & try to get away, so weighing & measuring is NOT fun & there is plenty of room for error.  Guess we'll see what Wednesday brings.

Hayden:  27lbs 8oz, 31.8 inches
Olivia:  23lbs 5oz, 31.4 inches
Logan:  23lbs 6.5oz, 30.9 inches

They seperated the kids into 2 rooms (which I also think added to the "we are scared" problem).  Hayden & Livi were together with Jeff & overall I think did better than Logan, who was in the other room with me.  For the evaluation, they play with different toys & objects.  Test the kids in figuring out different things.  Cognitive skills & gross & motor skills.  And I can see how it would be way too overwhelming to have all 3 in one room.  They tested them on looking for hidden objects.  Problem solving to get an object out of a clear box with just 1 open side.  Picking up the correct object when asked to.  Stacking blocks (which they all shocked me & did!  Something we have not worked on, so they learned that one on the spot.).  Putting pegs in a peg board.  (They were impressed with this one.  This is apparently an emerging skill at this age & they didn't think the kids would do it... but they dazzled & did the whole thing!  Just like their favorite nails on our tool bench.)  A puzzle with circle & squares.  Hayden & Livi put in a few & Logan of course did the whole thing, and then did it again.  Putting things in & out of a cup.  Putting cheerios in a little small mouth bottle (which they did great at, explaination of why I'll explain later).  Colored.  Hayden & Livi even replicated a vertical stroke on the paper that the lady told them to do.  Wow!  Pointed to named objects in a book.  We were discussing the kids following simple instructions.  And they were glad to hear we could tell them, "Go get your sippy cup."  Meaning they were almost floored when we said we could say (to any of them, just substitute name) "Go in the living room & get Olivia's pink sippy cup & give it to her."  And they will go get sippy cup (not always the correct color but I always try to incorporate that in to try to teach something on a daily basis) & procede to give it to the correct sibling.  They differentiate eachother better almost better than they differentiate mom vs dad.  And while playing, they stopped to respond to familiar names (ie.  Hayden, Olivia, Logan, mommy) and did not stop playing to acknowledge other names (ie. George, Betty, Lucy.)  One thing that they did not do was pretend play.  As in, take a cup or spoon & feed a baby doll.  But they do like to give us drinks of their milk & they said that sitting & driving toy cars saying "vroom" is the start of the pretend play, so we should be ont he brink.  Like I said, I'm awating a more official "score" of the kids' "performance" but I do know that for cognitive skills & fine & gross motor skills they all tested as competent.  They score them as Competent, Emerging (meaning they are still on track, just still working on it), or Delayed.

For language (which is what I was really interested in) Hayden & Olivia tested as competent.  Logan tested as emerging (which I think is partially just due to the situation he was in being seperated from Hayd & Liv).  But even so, I would have to agree that Logan is a little less competent in communicating that the other 2.    Since the kids were scared, they didn't say much for them so it was mostly based on parent report.  And mostly I just discussed with Dr. Needleman what we need to watch for & at what point (if ever) we should talk about early intervention (EI) IF there comes up a problem (I REALLY wanted his opinion since my pediatrician is a little bit of an EI pusher).  He verfied what I thought about things, so it was nice to hear that I'm thinking on the right track.  I asked specifically what the range is in terms of language development at this age.  He said "It is just that, a range.  A HUGE range."  And that as long as they have a few words (meaning even 2 or 3) & as long as they are showing you that they understand the link that is communication, at this age they are fine.  So yes, even that annoying, continual, pointing & grunting is a communication milestone.  He said he doesn't usually recommend EI for speech before age 2 anyways, because the range you find in kids is so large.  They only time he would recommend it at this age is if they are not communicating at all, they do not understand a simple command, or their behavior is getting too out of control because they are frustrated with their inability to communicate.  (Which struck a nerve with me because sometimes I think this is part of Hayden's tantrums, part of, definately not all of it.  So we'll have to keep that in the back of our minds.)  But he reiterated that he would be surprised if we had 3 30 week preemies, none of which at some point required EI of some sort.  And that most of the time, yes it is speech.  Because following a family history of speech delays, prematurity, multiple birth & being a boy are the next 3 risk factors for a speech delay.  So just to continue to be vigilant in monitoring their develoment, talk to them as adults (ie. no baby talk), and don't hesitate to call EI or them if we have concerns over the next few months.  But for now... there are no concerns from me or the experts. 

They don't "recommend" a 3rd TIPS follow up unless a baby was born at less than 1200 grams.  (We weighed approximately 1280-1390grams)  But said we were welcome to come back again if we so choose.  To which I of course replied, yes.  I'm not about missing the opportunity to have some experts evaluate my preemies development!  So we will go again at 2 years corrected age, so that should be next January. 

But for now... we are in tip, top shape!

Vacation!

So Kearney, Nebraska, not exactly the top 10 hottest vacation destinations.  But pretty nice spot for 3 toddlers to visit.  And close enough to home that if all goes to hell, we could jump ship & its not that far of a drive back home.  All, I mean almost ALL of Jeffs friends are there.  High school & college friends.  We have been meaning to get out there to visit for years, literally, years.  So we finally made the trip & turned it into our 1st Family Vacation.  Complete with museums, hotels & all.

I was extremely nervous going in.  Three almost 18 months old.  Hotel.  2 nights.  2.5 hour drive.  Sight seeing.  But it all went extremely well.  We drove during nap time.  Lived on junk food.  But we had a great time.

We got all packed up & headed out Friday morning around 10.  The kids helped pack the cooler. 

 We stopped in Minden on our way into Kearney to visit Pioneer Village.  To my surprise, the kids actually enjoyed riding around & looking at stuff more than I thought.  There were fingers pointing CONSTANTLY!  And Hayden was saying "dis?" "dis?" for hours on end!  Here we are with a really old "vroom!"

 Sitting on an old Trolley Car

 Daddy in the choo-choo

 The girls driving the train

 A sod house

 The church.  I had to take a picture because this looks exactly like Jeff's church back home & our current church! 

 An iron lung... can you imagine??

 Jeff in the gift shop.  He got lost in this gift shop as a kid & had to get help finding his parents.  And yes, the gift shop really is only about 15 feet x 15 feet.  Oh Jeff....

 Tractor.  Hayden was repeating "at tuh" all afternoon but he hasn't said it since.

After Pioneer Village, we checked into our hotel room.  Got all unpacked.  And put on swimming suits to go swimming.... but discovered the pool's heater was broken & the water was freezing :(

So instead we grabbed some Happy Meals & went to the park for a picnic.  They did VERY well sitting nice at the picnic table & eating.  Long enough for mommy & daddy to scarf down their food before heading off to play.  I was absolutely amazed at how grown up they behaved!!

Logan

Such a big girl!

Then we played for a LONG time at an awesome park.  Perfect play equipment for our size.  The park even has a little splash pool, but it won't be on until after Memorial Weekend. 

Logan was a slide maniac!  This time he is sitting down, but most of the time when they went down they slid on their bellies, feet first, the way they would go down stairs.

This little boy LOVED Logan.  He kept holding his hand saying, Logan lets race on the slide again.  Logan, come with me.  Logan....

The rickety bridge was a huge hit after they got it figured out.  Notice Livi's excitement!

We headed back to our room.  Finished up our Happy Meals & played around a little bit.

They enjoyed spinning eachother around on this chair.  Logan flew off once.

 And Hayden enjoyed dragging daddys bag around the room like an oxen.  Maybe he learned something at the museum today?

Then mommy & the kids hit the hay while Daddy spent a few hours catching up with some old friends.  They went to sleep PERFECT.  Not a peep.  And besides a few normal squeeks throughout the night, everyone slept until 7:45 the next morning.  Up a little earlier than normal, but still I was very impressed. 

Saturday, we went down to the hotel restuarant for breakfast.  To discover, no high chairs.  So the kids had to sit on big chairs.  Not going to say they ate much of anything, but it wasn't a total disaster!!  Jeff & I actually got to eat, not in peace, but eat.  Then, since our pool wasn't working, we went next door to another hotel to try out their pool.  They didn't have a baby pool like our hotel did.  And the kids, to say the least, were NOT impressed.  We spent a little time standing & splashing in the hot tub.  Then headed back to our room for baths and a long morning nap. 

When the kids got up, we lunched on Amigos in the hotel room & spent the next part of Saturday afternoon walking around UNK campus where daddy graduated from college. 

It was 80+ degrees outside!  Finally summer has hit us I think!  So we got to wear our summer clothes & put on plenty of sun screen.  Hayden, of course, was scared of the spray sunscreen.  That boy... seriously!

We tried to go see some animals at a petting zoo, but it too doesn't open until Memorial Weekend (seriously never again taking a trip before Memorial Day!)  So since it was beautiful out we opted to hit up the park again. 

 "I LOVE this park!"

 We found a little sand beach by the little lake at the park.  So we went to check that out.  Logan had a BLAST!!  Ran & played.  Hayden & Livi, when their toes hit the sand.... let out blood curdling screams.  They were terrified.  And it didn't improve with time!  Why are my kids such chicken-shits?  Honestly!

 Logan having fun

 He even enjoyed walking in the cold water.  He would have just dove right in had we let him.

 Livi- grumpy face :(  She at least finally would walk in the sand, just pouted the whole time. 

 Hayden, there was NOOOO way.  Look at him curl those chubby feet up as far as they will go.

Saturday night we had friends over to our hotel room.  Since Jeff has friends in Kearney, one of his friend's friend hooked us up with a hotel room upgrade & we got a suite!  Nice & big!  So we had plenty of room for a little pizza party, a few drinks & some socialization!  The kids of course were people shy, but had warmed up pretty good by the end of the night. 

Needless to say, daddy & mommy were ready for bed at the end of the night!



Sunday morning, the kids were up and ready to go at 7:30, but again, besides the early morning, slept great.  This time we opted to just grab some things from the breakfast buffet & do breakfast in our room.  The kids ate some Trix & left over pizza.  And then Logan brought me a very sweet Mother's Day card signed by daddy & 3 cute tots!

Later that morning, we went to visit one of Jeff's friends & his wife & hang out with their almost 1 year old twins.  It was the 1st time we had gotten to meet them!  Then we met up with another friend of Jeff's (whose daughter was a flower girl in our wedding almost 5 years ago) & chatted briefly as they were finishing lunch at Pizza Hut... and before we sat down for a Mother's Day Pizza Hut buffet.  YUM!  The food was good.  The kids ate nicely.  Colored.  Hammed it up for other people.  And when we left, we discovered some nice man (whom we still are not completely sure who it was) had paid for our bill!!  Pretty much a perfect Mother's Day Lunch!

On the way out of town, we stopped to visit the Kearney Archway "museum." It actually spans across the interstate & its a historical site inside. Had we not had kids along, we could have spent a lot more time there. A lot of information & things to see. But the kiddos were getting tired, so we made it a pretty quick trip.

 "Ish?"

 The only family shot we got all weekend!

 The kids' favorite part of the archway was watching the "vrooms" drive by from above!

 Mama & her kiddos at the archway on Mother's Day!

Outside the Archway was an earth lodge, built by real Native Americans.  Once again, after Memorial Day, they have various Native American groups who set up stations out there & do activities during the day.  At least we got to see the lodge.

We stopped by to visit Great Grandma & Grandpa Siebert on our way home.  Played a little, snacked a little.  They kids were EXHAUSTED, and getting crabby.  So we headed home.  Unpacked the van.  Took a quick bath, and jumped into bed.

I am so proud of the kids!  They did SO well.  Slept.  Played.  Enjoyed.  Minimal tantrums, fussing, etc.  I'm so glad we went.  And so looking forward to embarking more & more into toddlerhood!!

HOT!!

The weather here has finally gotten warm.  As in 80 degrees warm.  Seemingly overnight.
Just in time for us to figure out that our air conditioner is NOT working.  Lovely!

Got to love an 82 degree house... and its not even the warm afternoon hours yet.