Shilo's 1 Month Check-up

Our little Shilo is a month old. Can you believe it? I hardly can. I swear the first month of Shilo’s life went by faster than Kayley’s. I’ve been told this is probably because my hands are more full so I’m more busy than I was when I only had one little one to look after and nurture.  

Well, today Shilo had her one month check-up with Z. Here are her stats:

Weight: 10lbs 13oz (90-95 percentile)

Height: 22 inches (75-90 percentile)

Head circumference: 15 inches (75-90 percentile)

Shilo is sure growing and changing! She is starting to follow movement more. She has always been our little Stargazer, but now she’s turning her head more to look at what draws her interest. And she is starting to have some tiny smiles here and there that seem voluntary, which are pretty darn cute. Shilo is also getting really good at holding up her head. She actually started doing this a day after she was born, and seems to really enjoy holding up her head while she looks over someone’s shoulder. 

Kayley has gotten quite into mimicking her sister, or rather, what I do with her sister. She is constantly burping her baby Hannah doll, breastfeeding or bottle feeding her, laying her down to go night night, and more. She wasn’t really doing much of this until after we brought Shilo home. It’s really cute to watch. I am planning on making a pillow for baby Hannah in the next couple of days since Kayley keeps wanting to take the pillow I use to breastfeed Shilo with, so she can breastfeed Hannah (which is typically Kayley holding Hannah on her lap or making smacking noises while she holds Hannah to her tummy). We always have to have extra burp clothes out too since Kayley is very interested in those. And bibs! Kayley is basically getting interested in everything having to do with taking care of a baby or someone her age. 

Family Events

This past weekend we had an Open House Baby Celebration! Basically we threw a little party to make sure people had an opportunity to meet baby Shilo and congratulate Kayley on becoming a big sister. We felt so blessed by all the family and friends that stopped by to say hi and celebrate with us. I love seeing how those close to us care for our girls and love on them. It was super fun to see Kayley play with all her little friends who were able to stop by too. One day Shilo will join that high energy group and also laugh with delight while playing with toys and pulling books of the shelf. 

We dressed the girls up as twins for the party

I love our family and friends

So many people celebrating

Maimie and Tanta Gail making faces at Shilo

Shilo meeting new friends

Shilo was able to meet future friend and their parents

A cute diaper cake made by Sherry

Monday we had our first big family outing and took the girls to the zoo. Shilo slept during our whole visit, but I’m sure she enjoyed listening to everything while she dreamed. We actually had quite an eventful visit. Kayley got to be inches away from a gorilla, only divided by glass. At first she was mesmerized, but then the gorilla moved a little closer and was just watching her, and she kind of freaked out. When we went to see the lion, he wasn’t close to the glass, but we did get to hear him roar a few times as he walked around. We think he was hungry or saying he wanted his female friend to come out and play. Kayley also got to be close to two jaguars at the same time while the jaguars gave each other baths. Plus, while in the farm area, the donkey came right up to Kayley to say hello. So you can see why I say we had quite an eventful visit. 

Shilo slept the whole time

Super close to a gorilla

The lion roared for us!

Getting clean

Saying hi to a donkey

Andrew using the double stroller

K's 18 Month and S's 1 Week Check-Up

A week after Shilo was born, both girls had a doctor appointment; Kayley her 18 month check-up, and Shilo her one week. Andrew and I were both able to go to this appointment (the girls were combined to see Z). Interestingly, Kayley seemed excited to walk back to the room. Maybe because she was proud she knew where she was going without following someone, or for some other reason. She liked playing with the toys in the room, looking in the mirror, and crunching the paper. But as soon as the nurse came in to get height and weight (which clothes needed to be taken off for), Kayley started freaking out a little bit. I’m thinking that’s when she remembered she gets shots at this place when clothes are off. Kayley just had a flu shot this time, and here are her stats:

Weight: 22lbs 14oz (25-50 percentile)

Height: 33.5 inches (95 percentile)

Head circumference: 18.8 inches (75-90 percentile)

As for Shilo, she got a prick for her 2^nd PKU test, but no shots this visit. She did really well for the foot prick. I gave her her paci right before the prick, so she ended up just whining a bit and then sucking harder on the paci. Shilo’s stats were:

Weight: 8lbs 15oz (90 percentile) ~ Whooohooo! She’s back to her birth weight!

Height: 21.2 inches (95 percentile) ~ I really don’t think she grew a whole inch since she was born. But of course, at this age, the height is more guesswork than the actual height.

Head circumference: 14.2 inches (75 percentile)

I guess we make tall girls!

Along with Shilo’s 1 week check-up, she also had a special doctor appointment at Children’s Hospital to follow up on the leaky valve that was detected when she was in the womb. When they took us back to the room for her cardiovascular echo, the first thing they asked us is what we wanted to watch while we watched for the technician and during the echo since it could take a while. So, we watched the first half of Toy Story 3 before and during her appointment. 

Getting her cardiovascular echo done

Shilo also had an EKG done to check the electrical activity level of her heart. She did a great job for having to be so still for both tests. The end result? Looks like Shilo’s leaky valve became a lot less of an issue after she was born. This is due to her lungs expanding and everything else getting moved around a bit for life out of the womb. The doctor we saw would like to see Shilo again in a year just to make sure nothing has changed, but the doctor was pretty confident that Shilo’s very minor murmur would not be an issue, and that if we didn’t have that extra special ultrasound done, we probably would never have known she had a slight murmur. Z and the cardiovascular doctor both couldn’t really hear the murmur with their stethoscope. 

Shilo's EKG

And there you have it. Both girls are doing well and are healthy. Praise God!