Olivia: 6 Month Check-Up

We saw our pediatrician, Dr. Venuti, today for Olivia's 6 month well baby check-up.  Since Nate's supposed to be home from Kunsan next month on mid-tour (March), our family plans are up in the air, so Olivia is actually being seen at 5 months old, verses 6 months.

At any rate, I really look forward to these visits, as Dr. Venuti always makes myself and the girls feel so comfortable.  Having worked with AF Providers for nearly 8 years as an MSC, I truly appreciate the efforts Dr. Venuti makes in getting the girls to laugh and participate in the exam, as well as making a parent feel heard.  Bed side manner isn't always at the top of a providers priorities (especially when they are pressed to see more and more patients each day, as it is military wide); but he makes it his priority to make us feel like we matter and not just a number towards an RVU quota.  Just what this momma wants and needs right now...

He's even made a habit of coming into the exam room with a huge fake flower tucked behind his ear (the ones they tape to the end of pens so no one is tempted to leave the premises with them).  He does this because of the first time he met Lauren (3 weeks old I believe), I had her wearing a large flower on a nylon head band.  He made a comment to Nate about it being like a satellite orbiting her head, of which Nate quickly agreed with of course, as he had already harassed me that morning about the size of the flower.  (She was stinking adorable! What do these men know?!) 

So how is Olivia measuring up? Here are her statistics as of today:
Height: 27" (95th percentile),
Weight: 17.1 lbs (84th percentile),
Wearing size 9-12 month clothes,
And her cuteness is out of this world (100th percentile). Amazing right?!

So What Can Lauren Do @ 18 Months Old???

The last two weeks I've been asked four separate times about the capabilities that Baby Lauren currently possesses... So since I'm well versed on her abilities right now, I thought I'd share them with you all:

- Vocabulary of approx 18 words (to include: no, please, ball, SpongeBob, sissy, baby, bye, Papa, daddy, Mama, yeah...)
- Is a stair pro, thanks to our living room stairs
- Claps for herself
- Initiates dancing when she hears ANY music
- Gives high-fives!
- Scoots to/from on her tricycle
- Scribbles with pencils & crayons
- Empties/refills toy chest & backpack
- Can bring garbage to the trash when asked to :)
- Climbs in/out of the Tahoe
- Turns book pages one-by-one
- Grabs remote when she wants to watch a kid show verses mom's show
- Will pick-up toys when asked
- Drinks from water bottles, straws...not so great @ the open cup yet though :)
- Crouches to pick-up things
- Summons mom when Olivia/"sissy" is crying
- Climbs on table chairs & bar stools, in hopes to get on the table or kitchen island
- Can identify candy ;)
- Builds block towers & then knocks them down with a chuckle
- Loves her baby dolls--hugs them & pats their backs
- Pretends to use the toilet
- "Washes" her hair whenever she has water on her hands
- Pretends to blow her nose when handed a tissue
- Folds her arms to pray, then proceeds to babble through the prayer
- Climbs into/out of her highchair
- Actively seeks her shoes & jacket when I tell her we are going bye-bye
- Wipes up spills/crumbs...more like smears it all...
- Waves good-bye to anyone & everyone!
- Kicks balls & throws overhand
- Will do pretty much anything that you ask after hearing the magic word--TREAT!

...okay, that's all I have off the top of my head. At any rate, we are super proud of our sweet girl & pray she continues her progress in normalcy! ;0)

Christmas in South Korea

So Nate was in South Korea for the Holidays, & did what he could to keep busy. He did dinner & festivities with his squadron &/or friends for both Thanksgiving & Christmas...& Christmas festivities included him playing Santa Claus & rolling around in the base firetruck...sounds like he was a hit & enjoyed his time playing the part. But only in Korea would Nate get asked to play this part ;0P He's not really what you think of when you imagine Santa's "famous belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly!"

Lauren's 18 Month Check-ups

So we've had a whole slew of 18 month check-ups for Lauren last week & this week.  Last week she had three evaluations--OT, PT, & Neurology--& she passed all with flying colors!  She is walking, talking, and acting like an 18 month old infant. Which is exactly what we're aiming for--normal! Though there were some items during the PT evaluation that Beth noted sweet Lauren could work on: standing on one foot, walking backwards, and catching a ball...so we'll for sure be working on those. Anyone have any ideas on how to get an infant to walk backwards? ;0P

As for feedback from our neurologist, Dr. Smyser, he said that he couldn't be more happy with Lauren's progress. That she again had the best report card one could give an infant at this age and with her abilities. Woohoo! He did say that with patients who have frontal lobe issues, as Lauren did at birth, that there were concerns with their social behavior. So far there are no indicators that this should be a concern, but we'll definitely be eyeballing her conduct from here on out...

Now to today's appointment with Dr. Venuti, Lauren's pediatrician...
Statistics:
height-35" (95th percentile)
weight-29.5lbs (95th percentile)
head-18.1" (25th-50th percentile)

We saw a Physician's Assistant (PA) before Dr. Venuti today and he was just LOVING Lauren.  Before he left go grab Dr. Venuti, he turned to me and said, "This is the best 18 month old baby I've examined--ever! She's so cooperative and let me do all the checks that I needed to. And what a beautiful girl she is with those eyes..."  Needless to say, I was a very proud mother. :) Then Dr. Venuti came in and Lauren lite up as usual around him with his goofy antics... He said he was very excited to hear what Dr. Smyser said and would renew her OT and PT consults as requested by neurology. Then the PA came back in the room with some M&M's for Lauren, stating he just had to give her something for being so good...& you know our Lauren, she was all grins and ate the candy right up! Then Dr. Venuti did a quick weight check on Olivia per my request. I told him I just wanted to make sure we were on the right track since we missed her four month appointment. Olivia weighed in at 17lbs even, which is the 90-95th percentile for her age...not sure about her height yet, but we'll find out at our make-up appointment in the beginning of February. Good health news all around for the girls, which makes for a very happy Katy & Nathan!

Toy Chest Antics

So Baby Lauren loves to play in her toy chest...yes INSIDE her toy chest.  She'll empty out all the toys and then invite her friends to come inside and sit down so they can play "surprise" with whomever is in the room! This video looks like it gave both Baby Lauren and our friend Natalie Noorlander, a couple headaches...yet this video was taken by Ryan, Natalie's dad, who was sitting MAYBE a foot away. And if it's a decision between getting good video footage of little kids cold-clocking themselves with a toy chest lid, or stopping them to save some brain cells...well humor and headaches will win everytime! :)  I sure love this Baby Lauren and her shoulder touching "prise!" Or as we people with vocabularies larger than 19 words--"surprise!"

No Daddy?! Then a Sprotte-Holiday It Is!

With Nate on his short-tour in Korea for the 2011 Holiday Season, I decided to pack-up the girls and take them to visit my parents and sisters in Arizona for the holidays.  So with my dad, "Papa Bill", as my driving side-kick, we made the 22-hr drive from Belleville, IL, straight through to Pinetop, AZ! We were heros that trip--no really, we were.  It's a mind-blowing fact that we made that trip straight through, and the little girls only melted-down...I'd say, uh, thrice.  I'm not afraid to say it (while knocking on wood), that these little Irish Twins of mine are pretty good car-trip takers!
Side-note: can anyone tell that I've recently learned what the term Irish Twins means?! Yep, I've used it two blog posts in a row now, AND it's even in THIS year's Christmas card! I like to put my knowledge to use! Or in this case, into stories...
So when we got to AZ, the fall season was in full effect and park-playground time was the name of the game!  Luckily in my home town of Pinetop-Lakeside, we have a pretty nice park, Woodland Park, that's centrally located between Nana and Papa's houses.  So while we stayed with Nana Barbie (Grandma Barbara to some) while in AZ, we had morning park time very frequently with with Papa Bill.

I wish I could say she wasn't stopping the snot stream with that tongue :/



Lauren the Leaf Eater

Olivia-2 months old



Lauren's Park Playhouse...she needs to update!

Cross Country Traveling

Here's a quick look at us preparing for our cross country traveling... Shocker! My dad's asleep on the couch...and balancing Olivia on his belly without a support arm to keep her from flopping off no-less! No worries, I rearranged this sleeping arrangment post-photo op...



Papa Bill and Olivia pre-napping for the drive out to AZ



Lauren sleeping for the first 8 hrs of the cross country drive



The first official nose-picking photo...what a Charmer that Lauren is...

Trunk or Treat - Round 1!

The girls and I went to the Civil Engineering Squadron's trunk or treat a week before Halloween... The costume theme for us this year was large mammals. No specific reason for the theme, except costume availability from friends (I wasn't on my A-game, so costumes were not made/bought/etc). As you'll see, Lauren is the adorable elephant, and Olivia, the tiny cow :)  Lauren went from game to game slowly destructing it, while pillaging the candy supply :(  And Olivia was slowly overheating in her costume. BUT, overall, was a great time with friends...just wish Daddy was there to see his adorable girls.

The Cutest Elephant in the World!

Eating delicious fruit snacks

I've heard of a monkey on your back, but an elephant?!

Disrupting the first of many carnival-type games :/

Finding the gold coin in the rice for a prize-Lauren's FAV game this day

Still at the rice game...

...and more rice!

Lauren's at the treat bag for the corn-hole game, while
harboring a stolen game piece from the ring toss!

Again with the game disrupting...

And at least another kid jumped up on the game to interrupt as well!

Ah, ring toss and suckers-what a life!

This way mom!

Stealing cones from the hockey slap-shop game

No hood mom, no hood!!!

Ahhhhh!

Beautiful baby Olivia

Overheating cow...

Finally PLAYING a game, verses raiding it!

Lauren playing with her plastic eyeball prize from a game...

Lauren embracing her costumes customs...yeah for all-fours :)

Lauren's Version of Food Storage

On Saturday I went to put on my tennis shoes for a walk with the girls--to get them out of the house. Grabbed my shoes, of which Lauren had spent an absorbent amount of time with that day...and found out why that was her preferred toy all day.  Two words: snack storage!

Needless to say, Lauren cleared that "storage unit" out once she saw that I had discovered it! She's got to have her snack caches--she's crafty like that!

Babe in a Basket

Here is Lauren playing IN one of her toy baskets, of which she's quite obviously too big for! :0P

First time she realized she could actually fit in the basket

Decided she would try head first, but got frustrated with that attempt

Back to trying feet first

Happily achieved feet-first for second time

Realizes that feet-first hurts!

Ah, sweet relief from captivity :)

She Speaks!

So Olivia has been grunting and squeaking more as of late. I was actually able to coax and capture some of her noises on "film" today.

She's also working on those neck muscles, as well as learning to lock-out her legs to stand...so now it's just a matter of strength training to get her a bit more agile. :0P She's doing pretty well for her 7 weeks and 2 days on earth!

Lauren "MacGyver" Olsen

So I had my hands super full the other day with an exhausted, yet fighting it, Lil' Miss Olivia. And when this happens, Baby Lauren has a little bit freer reign of the household. Dangerous, yet true. So when things were just too quiet and she stopped her jabbering responses to my "Lauren, what are you doing" inquiries...I had to go searching. Not in the bathroom (a favorite, TP in he toilet-woohoo), not in the laundry rooms (she uses the laundry baskets as hauling carts), not in the family room (our coffee table now functions as her own personal chair, much to my dismay)...so where was she? I venture back into the kitchen, where I've already passed through twice in my search, and I see my diaper bag moving across the kitchen table--by itself?! What?! I walk over, and to my surprise, Lauren has MacGyver'd her way into the table highchair (via moving and climbing on an adult chair) and is quickly emptying the contents of our diaper bag... Start MacGyver theme music because it was that impressive! :0P

Notice how NOT close the adult chair is to the table highchair?! No doubt I would've interrupted this voyage had I actually been there to witness it--DANGEROUS! Like dismantling a bomb with a ball-point pen dangerous! ;) Go Lauren MacGyver Olsen!

Olivia's First Halloween Outfit

Here's our token Baby's First Halloween onesie photos. She was fine with it all at first, and then I took  too long, as seen in the sequence of photos. Sometimes I wonder if we parents are such suckers for buying the "First" type outfits. If they made Baby's Fifth Halloween onesies/outfits--would I buy it??? Maybe :0) If I didn't, well, Nate definitely would...PSYCH!!! He definitely wouldn't in a million years...I'm the sucker that would consider it. :(

Notice helper Lauren's leg in this picture.
She is always very concerned when Olivia cries.
This was no exception.

So much happier sans headband & flower.

"THE THINKER" Sleeper

No kidding, this is how I found Olivia asleep the other night. I did no posing of her limbs whatsoever, this is of her own doing. She has more funny sleep poses than any other child I've met and viewed sleeping time after time (i.e. Lauren). Gotta love this Olivia!

The Frustrated Pooper

This video speaks for itself...poor little Lauren has had a time lately having her BMs. We've recently put her on some Miralax to help out the issue, which it has--tremendously! I caught this on video earlier this month...it's not going to win me any Mother of the Year Awards--that's for sure. But I do have a reason for videoing this! I needed to capture one of the pooping episodes, so that Nathan could fully understand what's been going on with Lauren lately, and that no, I wasn't exaggerating...

The Secret Plummer

We've got a secret plummer in our house. I never know when she's going to strike, or when I'll discover that she's been around. She's a shifty one and I don't usually catch her in the act, but just witness the aftermath. Here's our latest documentation that she does exist! :0)

Teething Children are Like Dogs...

...because nothing is sacred and any household item is "on-limits" as a teething toy! Lauren's working on her molars so she will stick pretty much anything in her mouth these days and start gnawing and slobbering on it. This picture is just after she discarded my cell phone case as the latest chew toy and was on her way to working over this princess crown as her next victim...

Cell phone case-right side all slobbery!