Thursday, January 17, 2008

Well Checkups & Webpage Updates





The kids had their well checkups this week, Madeline for turning 4 and James' 15 month. The appointment went well and I've updated the kid's webpages with their new stats and doctor's comments. James is right on track for a 15 month old. He's such a character right now! He's going through a phase of throwing tantrums (crying, rolling on the floor), it usually happens when we say "No!" or he's trying to communicate something to us that he wants and is frustrated that he can't. He's also been cutting his molars the past few weeks. So the poor guy has been going through a lot of changes. He's still our "Sweet Jimmy-James" as Madeline likes to call him. Our kids definitely are self soothers but completely attached to their blankets (aka "Homey") and Madeline sucks her thumb and James loves his binky! (As you can see in the above photos). We'd like to wean James from his pacifier soon, but really we're not pushing the issue with either right now. As long as they don't "need" these soothers when they're 18 LOL they'll be just fine.
Madeline is growing by leaps and bounds. She's such a good mommy's helper and a total Daddy's girl! Her vocabulary surprises me sometimes. Although there's certain things she says that I know right where she learned them from (uh um....clearing my throat...Daddy). Like today in the car Stephen had the radio on Classic Rock and a song he liked came on so he turned up the volume, Madeline proceeds to say "Ya baby! I love Rock & Roll!". 4 year old little girls aren't supposed to say that right? Madeline is also a VERY sensitive and emotional girl. For instance if we tell her what she is doing makes us mad, and she may get a time out or something. An hour after that time out, she'll come up to me practically in tears and say, "Mommy you're still not mad at me are you? I don't want you to be mad. I don't want God to be mad. I'm worried you're mad and that you don't love me anymore." Breaks your heart doesn't it? So I try to hold back my laughter inside and the tears too and remind her how much we love her and that God does too. My mom told me I used to be the same way, and to just wait until she gets old enough to write, that I'll be getting many emotional letters from her. :-) Madeline still needs to work on her sharing etiquette with both her brother and friends, and also her whining, although I have to say she's gotten better with both.
Lastly, we did find out at the appt. that Madeline has a heart murmur. Here's the info on that (got this from WebMD) A heart murmur is an extra sound that the blood makes as it flows through the heart. Your doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to your heartbeat. When you have a heart murmur, your doctor can hear an extra whooshing or swishing noise along with your heartbeat. It can be scary to learn that you or your child has a heart murmur. But heart murmurs are very common, especially in children, and are usually harmless. These normal murmurs are called "innocent" heart murmurs. There is nothing wrong with your heart when you have an innocent murmur. Up to half of all children have innocent murmurs. They usually go away as children grow. So we're not too concerned, but it was unexpected to hear she has one just like her Oma.

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