Skinny Mini

We took Carina in for her 9 month check up and her stats are shown below.  I've been feeling guilty that she is in the 10th percentile for weight.  I've always loved a nice, chubby baby but as I've said here before, Carina can't sit still long enough to eat much and she's so active that I think she works it all off.  The doctor wasn't concerned about her weight and was once again impressed by how social she is.  


Height: 27 3/4 inches: 50th percentile
Weight: 16 lbs 9 ounces: 10th percentile
Head: 18 inches: 90th percentile 

Sammy's stats at 9 month check up were:
Height: 27.5 inches - 48th percentile
Weight: 18 lbs 9.5 ounces - 50th percentile
Head Circ: 18 inches - 90th percentile


Samantha was almost two pounds heavier! But, look at my smart ladies with giant heads! 

Professional Travelers

Cousins Presley, Sammy and Lola

We just got home from a wonderful visit with my extended family in Oklahoma and Texas.  We planned our trip so we could be there for to celebrate my Aunt Gina's 50th birthday. 

We had such a fun visit and the girls were exceptional travelers during our plane and car trips.  Samantha had a ball playing non-stop with all of her cousins and Carina won everyone over with her smiles and personality. 

Next stop is Florida in about a month as we are on the two week count down to Baby Auld's arrival!

Nursemaid Elbow

When Samantha was about 5 months old, she had the hiccups and my mom was lightly pulling her arms above her head when she heard a pop.  Samantha was immediately in pain and crying and after we took her to to the ER and to see her pediatrician we found out that she had nursemaid elbow.

Nursemaid's elbow or Pulled elbow is a dislocation of the elbow joint caused by a sudden pull on the extended pronated arm, such as by an adult tugging on an uncooperative child, or swinging the child by the arms during play. The technical term for the injury is radial head subluxation.

It is awful to watch your baby in terrible pain and while it is fairly easy to get popped back in by a doctor, we were warned that some children are more prone to this happening and we could expect it to happen again.

Since then, it has happened three more times.  Once, as she was just learning to stand, she was holding on to Dave's leg and as she slipped, he pulled her arm up to keep her standing and popped it out.  As we were walking to the pool this summer, my dad and I were walking and tried to swing her one time and  it popped out.  And while we were in Oklahoma last week, my dad pulled her up from laying down and it popped out again.

Samantha is very serious, thoughtful, young girl.  For about a week after it happened this summer, when I went to get Samantha up in the morning, she would look at me very solemnly and the first thing she would say was "I'm sorry you hurt my elbow Mommy, I know that it was an accident."  Way to lay on the guilt child!

Last week when we arrived at the ER in Oklahoma at 9 pm, we were told it would be a 2-4 hour wait.  Luckily my cousin's boyfriend has a sister who is a doctor and was nice enough to come meet us and pop her elbow back in.  It is amazing to me that moments after it is fixed, it is 100% better.  I guess we need a lesson in how to do it ourselves - after doing some more reading online it looks like after the age of 6 we should be in the clear.

Sleep Training: Take Two

For the past five days, we have been doing some sleep training at our house with Carina, otherwise known as "cry it out".  I have been putting this off for awhile and feeling like it was harder this time around because Carina is my baby.  Luckily this trusty blog serves as my memory and after looking back, we did sleep training for Samantha at this exact same time in her life and it turns out it was hard on me then too. 

I started sleeping in the basement on Saturday but I could still hear her cries and went to her after about 5-10 minutes the first few nights.  The third night as I was going to her, she stopped crying and went back to sleep and last night she slept through the night.  I tell you, as painful as it is to let her cry, it totally works and it works quickly.  

Carina has also for the most part weaned me.  Unlike Samantha who I nursed until she was 14 months old, this little lady is too busy to be bothered with breastfeeding.  I still nurse her in the mornings (and was in the middle of the night feedings) when she is sleepy.  But, if she has energy she has no interest in taking the time to eat.  With my pumping schedule and travel I've been doing with work, I should be relieved but I'm still not quite ready.  I am coming to terms with the idea that Carina is my last baby and it really makes all the transitions sad to me.  I think I'll try to keep it up for one more month.   

Mollina?

From the time Carina was born, my mom has been calling her Davina because of her striking resemblance to her Daddy.  When he is holding her, it is clear that she is his, especially when they are both smiling and you can take in their matching, adorable dimples.  But, it wasn't until my mother in law was digging up pictures of Molly for her baby shower that we saw how similar Carina looks to her Tia Molly.  You be the judge.