Piper is 6 Months Old!

Yay Piper!! I can't believe she is already 6 Months Old! She is such a sweetie-pie...rolling all over the place and sitting better by herself every day. Here are her "birthday" shots from Saturday morning...

A sly look

Watching her big sister

A common "surprised Piper" face

Token open mouth photo

Shy smile

And the "eat the birthday sign" out-take

And now a word from the Pediatrician

I heard from our Pediatrician yesterday. I was impressed that he called me himself. He asked questions about what the Early Intervention (EI) teacher had recommended. Then he told me he doesn't recommend evaluations with a psychologist until kids are three years old. There is so much development that happens before age three as well as the fact that it is difficult to get a clear diagnosis for children this young. I did ask that he talk with the teacher about her thoughts on Morgan and he responded that he would call her early next week.

So, I'm torn on what to do. We'll see what the Dr. says when he calls back next. One side tells me to get an evaluation as early as possible so we can tackle any problems if necessary. The other side agrees with the Dr. that why go through the trouble (and apparently expense) of doing the evaluation when she's too young to be properly diagnosed.

That's all for now. I'll post new info when I have it. Oh, Piper is Six Months Old TODAY. I'll post pictures soon!

My Sweet Morgan

I had a disconcerting conversation with Morgan's "teacher" yesterday. As I've mentioned, she's been participating in some speech therapy and "special instruction" with a teacher. It had been a few weeks since we'd seen her with Morgan and Piper's colds. During our session yesterday I asked the teacher about whether she thought Morgan would catch up with the other kids her age. I hoped she would say yes, but instead she recommended that we have Morgan evaluated by a child psychologist. Huh?!

She explained that she was concerned about the gap in development levels Morgan has. She shows high levels (3-4 years old) in the fact that she can recognize all letters and numbers, but she functions at levels lower than her age in language and cognitive/emotional areas. She said it was "subtle", but there were some concerns.

I asked her what she though the problem was and she said she "didn't know," but it may have something to do with the way she "processes" information. This frustrated me because someone with her experience must have an idea...I think she didn't want to scare me with putting a name to it.

Truthfully, I.am.terrified. When you have a child, you want the absolute best for them...of what you can give them as well as hoping they can live the best, most full life. I am so scared that my Morgan will not be able to be fully independent or won't be able to develop friendships, relationships or...my mind goes to the worst places. My poor baby. I just want to fix this for her.

So sad right now. I'm waiting to hear back from the Pediatrican for a referral. Will post more as we learn what might be going on.

Piper's 6 Month Dr. Appt.

Piper had her 6 Month Well Baby Check a few days early. She did so well! No crying or fussing until the shots came, poor thing. Here are her stats:

Length: 26 inches (65 %)
Weight: 17 lbs (75%)
Head Circ.: 16.8 in (57%)

Yes, she had a HUGE weight gain and percentile jump from her 5 month appt. (51 %). The Dr. said he was not concerned. It wasn't too much of a gain and she is still proportional height to weight. Poor thing is two whole inches SHORTER than Morgan was at this point (weight was similar), so she looks a lot chubbier than Morgan did. She's so darn cute though.

She seemed to get every immunization they had, the DPT, HEP B, HIB, Pneumococcal, Polio, Rotavirus and Seasonal Flu. It was interesting that the Dr. did not recommend the H1N1. He said they had not seen a case since December so he thought it wasn't necessary. He did think the seasonal flu could still show up, so we went ahead and did that. So, our sweet baby had to get 4 shots and one oral vaccine (rotavirus). She dealt with it well and calmed pretty quickly once I picked her up.

We'll have 6 Month photos come Saturday. Stay tuned!!!

Valentine Girls

We didn't do much for Valentine's Day last weekend. I made some yummy crepes with Nutella, bananas and strawberries. Morgan especially liked the "(whipped) cream" and kept asking for more. Aunt Ali bought the girls cute shirts to wear and cards. Here they are opening their cards...

Morgan's has a caterpillar on it

Here's Piper with her kitty card

Morgan really liked the kitty on Piper's card. Piper had to fight to get it back.

Heard around our house

No, she's not a baby anymore, but Morgan is saying such funny things lately. She is working hard with her speech therapist to move along with her verbal expression. She is saying more and more words and starting to show more comprehension as well. Here are a few funny things she has said/done lately, some without any prompting.

At dinner last night:

David (singing a song from one of her toys): "Hello, the phone is ringing so I say..."

Morgan: "Hello"

David: "Bye bye, when I'm done talking then I say..."

Morgan: "Bye bye"....(not in the song) "Bye, see ya!"


This morning before breakfast:

Meg: "Morgan, it's time for breakfast!!"

Morgan: "Breakfast... doffee (coffee)?"

Meg (not thinking...wanting coffee): "Mmmm, coffee, yes, coffee"

Morgan (stops in her tracks and backs up): "All Done?"

Meg (realizing she's checking to make sure I don't use the coffee grinder...she hates the loud noise): "Oh no, Morgan. No coffee. All done!"

Morgan (happily heading towards the stairs): "All done!"

Meg (kinda bummed I can't make coffee... oh well)

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Blowfish

Silly Daddy

I've heard that as children are learning to talk parents should agree upon the words that will be acceptable for certain body parts. For example, using the word "bottom" for what I usually call a "butt."

Unfortunately we have not had that discussion and instead of "bottom" David just taught Morgan how to say "booty"...and even worse it is pronounced "boo-tay."

She pronounces it quite well. Sigh.

I never win things...

...until now!!! Yipppeeee!

We used an AMAZING local photographer to take some family photos when Morgan was about 7 months old. We got some beautiful shots and bought way too many of them, of course.

This past week she ran a contest for a $500 Gift Certificate and I WON!!! I can't believe it! When we did the photos last time I was still working and she's pretty expensive so we haven't been able to use her since. Now we can!

I'm going to talk to her this week to get an idea of dates. She does incredible outdoor photos, so we will probably wait a while until it's warmer. It will be good to wait until Piper is at least sitting on her own too, so we have some time. I can't wait to get some pictures of our newly expanded family!

Here's a link to her website www.amywaddington.com. Check out her beautiful portfolio and also see the "blog" link where she announces the winner, ME!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

Sister Weekend

My sister Ali posted some cute pics of the girls from our "sister" weekend on her blog. Check it out here.

I've got two sickies at home right now. Morgan's nose started running on Tuesday and Piper's started last night. Morgan now has a nasty cough. She's not coughing a lot, but when she does it sounds terrible. We're waiting it out at home the next few days. Hopefully we'll be on the mend soon and Mommy and Daddy won't get it too. We had a good run with no illnesses for a few months, so I'd say it's been a good winter so far in that regard.

Wordless Wednesday: Our Smooth Criminal

Wall Art

We have our first "piece" of Morgan's artwork...on our walls! She colored it nicely with multiple shades. I couldn't bring myself to tell her to stop this time. Thank goodness for washable crayons and the magic eraser!

Will be back soon...

Aunt Ali came for a visit so we were pretty busy and not blogging for a while. We had a great time hanging with the kiddos and indulging in some Old Navy shopping, snacks and sweets. Good times...updates will be coming soon!

Here's a "gem" for you to hold you over...

Last week David went to use the bathroom right before bath time. He didn't completely close the door and Morgan decided to follow him in. She carefully watched what he was doing and then announced "Juice!!"

OK, kind of gross, but really funny!