6 Months and 18 Months

My baby doll is now 6 months old (and a few days...) and handsome Bubba is 18 months old (and then some...).  I'm a little late in updating, as it has been a CRAZY few weeks.  But finally, I am getting around to a brief update and some sweet pictures.  :)

One of the great things about these two being 12 months apart is that their wellness check-ups fall at the same time.  And anytime we can work out one less visit to the doctor is a plus for me!  So this week we loaded everybody up and headed to the doctor at 8 in the morning.  Whew!  That made for some very tired kids (and Momma), but it was nice to be done and back by 9:30 am!

This sweet little girl is now 14.5 pounds, and 24 3/4 inches long.  She's growing steadily along the growth curve exactly the way she's supposed to.

And although she's not that big, as far as 6 month olds go, she is one pound bigger than her sister at 6 months, and two pounds bigger than her brother at 6 months.  So to us, she's preciously chunky!

She's rolling pretty well, and loves to play.  She reaches out for toys, brings anything and everything to her mouth, and babbles and squeals whenever anyone talks to her.

She's working on sitting up (but not quite there), and is seriously the happiest baby I have ever, EVER seen.  :)

Her brother's check-up was not quite as good.  His blood pressure was high, so we are continuing to watch it.  We don't want to have to up his medication, but we'll see.  We now have to find a nephrologist who can monitor it and make some decisions about his meds.

My husband took him recently to a cardiologist (4.5 hours away), who told us that he should see a nephrologist.  This was frustrating news, but we'll get it straight eventually.

He is also having trouble gaining weight still, and only weighs 19 pounds.  Considering he eats well, and consumes plenty of calories, we now have to see a specialist for this too.

The doctor is concerned that perhaps he is having absorption problems, so we need to have his kidneys checked out, and whatever else that might entail.

But other than that, he is perfectly healthy, and developing well.  He sees a developmental specialist twice a month to help monitor his fine motor and speech development (this is where he struggles the most).  He tries very hard to communicate though.  He signs 3 or 4 words, and can say probably 6-8 words, but he still mostly points and grunts.  His favorite word is "uh-oh," and sometimes it simply means he dropped his toy, while other times it means, "Oops, I poured your coke on the floor!"

And he is so sweet.  He will still cuddle on my shoulder when he's tired, and he has the sweetest melt-your-heart smile I have EVER seen!  He's definitely mommy's little boy!!