playing doctor

otto and greta got a great new doctor kit from megan as a gift for when selma arrived. (thanks megan). here they are, playing doctor on their baby dolls.

otto weighs in

i took otto to see dr. bird this week for his 18 month check up. at his 15 month checkup, we were told to "bulk up" our little otto boy after seeing that his weight was off the bottom of the growth chart. well, he gained 2 pounds in 2 and a half months, which puts him not quite on the chart, but much closer. way to go otto!! the boy really does love to eat, he's just so darn active!

not only is he active physically, but his verbal skills have really exploded in the past 2 months or so. it is AMAZING the words he can say and remember. the video above is a short one we took while waiting for the doctor. the nurse "miss ida" had said, "hey there fella" to otto when she came in the room, and he must have repeated "fella" 30 or so times while we were there. it was hilarious. even dr. bird got a kick out of it. around this age we made a list of words that greta could say because we were so amazed....we need to do the same for otto. it's awesome. my favorite is when he picks something up and says, "heavy!" while grunting and straining. and he's putting words together, like, "move please greta" or "otto walk please". he doesn't do much babbling or nonsense words....when he talks it's usually pretty clear what he's trying to say.
happy 18 months to our otto boy!

paging dr. hansbauer

this picture makes me laugh out loud literally everytime i look at it. here is otto, prepped and ready for surgery....or something like that. this is at joe's parents house, but the kids love the doctor kit at our house too. otto loves to get the stethoscope and say, "bum bum, bum bum" for the sound of a heartbeat. and he likes to give you a shot with the syringe so that you will fake cry so he can laugh. greta likes to play too. she has to use the tools in a particular order (heaven forbid you would take my temperature BEFORE my blood pressure), and she likes to look for monkeys in your ears like their pediatrician, dr. bird, does.

and sorry for the lack of blog posts....after being reprimanded by several people who shall remain nameless, i have vowed to try to update some new posts soon. coming soon are (hopefully) more pictures from our trip to south haven, as well as trips from outings to totter otterville and coney island. stay tuned!

conversation

this video is for brent and janet. while on our vacation in michigan, they discovered (much to their delight) that greta has a bit of a southern accent. (i guess we do live in kentucky). words such as "cake" and "baby" sound pretty awesome when greta says them. in this video, she showcases more of her drawl with the word "bandaid". i think it's currently my favorite word that she says, so i tried to get her to say it as many times as possible. anyway, enjoy!

weigh in

for those of you following along on your growth charts, greta had her 15 month checkup yesterday. this visit was a bit less traumatic than the last few visits, and i am convinced it's because greta got to be stripped down to her diaper for most of the time. she loves to be naked...she just keeps patting her belly over and over as if to remind herself that she doesn't have any clothes on. she did cry each time she had to lay on the table, but she was able to compose herself this time. she even did some dancing on the crinkly paper on the table once the nurse left the room.

anyway, she now weighs 23 pounds, which means her weight has literally plateaued on the growth chart. this puts her in about the 50th percentile for weight. dr. bird said a plateau like this was extremely normal, and asked if she was, "always on the go". uh, you think?

she is 31 and a half inches tall, which puts her height around the 75th percentile.

her head circumference, you ask? well, dr. bird commented that, "the biggest part of her is still her head". her head circumference is in the 95th percentile, which means that only 5 percent of girls her age have a head larger than hers. joe blames it on her hair....that other babies this age have less hair and therefore a smaller head. doubtful.
all in all, our girl is happy and healthy and thriving.

Greta the Giant

So... Greta went to her first Doc visit 3 days after we got home.. she was 7 lbs 3.5 oz and was in the 25% in weight... fast forward 2 months, and Greta has been packing it on.... she is now a little over 13 lbs 4 oz. She's now in the 95% in weight, which seemed surprising for Dr. Bird.. I guess kids don't usually move from the 25% to 95% in 2 months...

But hey we'll take it... she's definitely a good eater and she's also starting to sleep a bit better... just last night she went 5.5 hours of sleep... might not sound like a lot, but it's great.

Greta also got 4 shots today... and afterwards she told me that she's not going back to the doctor anymore.... she's had enough of the poking/proding/sticking...

Fat and Happy

Went to our second trip to the doctor today. It was a little over a week ago that we went to the doctor and got some good news... Greta left the hospital at just under 7 lbs, and several days later she was 7 lb 3.5 oz. That good news has continued... in the last 8 days she's added almost 10 more oz and is now just under 7 lbs 13oz, which is 3 oz over her birthweight...

So she's fat, healthy and happy... she was in the 25 percentile for weight at her first visit and now she is at 35%. We also got the good news that now that she is putting on weight we don't need to wake her (during the day or over night) for feedings... we can wait for her to tell us she's hungry... also very good news!

First Doctor Visit and New Friend

So, we went to our first doctor's visit today, for a physical and to get Greta's mild jaundice checked out. It was a pretty uneventful visit. THings like pretty well in line and she put on 0.7 ounces... not a lot, but a step up from losing weight that she had been since being born. That was great news.

But even more fun is that we ran into Brent, Janet and Ella. Ella was in to get her tongue clipped, which sounds like no fun at all to me, but she seemed to be in pretty good spirits. Greta got to meet her new friend for the first time, and of course first time parents that we are, we had to get a picture of it.