My mom and dad and I took the girls to their 1 year pediatrician appointment today. The drive isn’t so bad from Oakville and I’m still not annoyed enough to get a local pediatrician. Dr Govan was the second person the girls ever met (before us even!!) and it’s very nice to walk into his office and have him call us by name without checking his file.

He is very pleased with the girls progress. He really had no concerns at all with them which was great. I’m very thankful we get to go to the NICU follow up clinic but I find they get caught up comparing the girls rather than evaluating their progress. Enough said - our appointment with them in July 13.

Some of you may know that I was a bit concerned with their weight. At their last appointment at the beginning of March Emma was 15lbs 12ozs and Leah was 14lbs 12ozs. Today Leah weighed in at 16lbs 8ozs and Emma is now only 1/2 a pound heavier at 17lbs. They are definitely small for even their corrected age but they are still following the all important growth curve so no need to worry. Dr Govan’s only suggestion was that I hold off switching them to milk until they were 1 year corrected and that I continue to give them their 2 bottles a day for the extra calories. They are doing very well lately with the straw cups and I might give them formula in them rather than a bottle but we’ll see. I have to get at least 16ozs in them daily - now is not the time to start aggressively trying to wean them off bottles.

They also got 2 shots each today. Leah went first. She screamed pretty good but calmed down pretty quickly. Emma started screaming the minute Dr Govan started measuring her and it intensified with the shots. She would not let me put her down. I can only imagine the scene it would have been if I hadn’t had my mom. I booked our 15 month appt for the Monday after we come back from Vegas so my mom and dad will be here again. I know I could do a shot appointment by myself - there would just be a lot more crying.

On to the update….

Teeth:
They still have 8 each. They both took a break from teething this month.

Hair:
A bit more. Emma’s is showing signs of being very curly like her dad’s. Leah has more hair and it’s got a wispy curl to it.

Sleep:
Leah is our little sleeper. I honestly don’t remember the last time she woke up in the night. Emma got much better this month. At the beginning of the month she was very hard to get to bed. As soon as you tried to put her in she would cling to you and then start to scream. We let her cry a couple of nights and it seems to have cured her of not wanting to go to bed. She’ll still fuss but she’ll go to bed on her own. No more rocking her to sleep! She only got up in the night a few times. We only go in and get her when it’s real crying. There are so many stages before real crying but it’s amazing how quickly they realize that it’s just easier to go to sleep when crying doesn’t automatically get mom or dad running in to soothe them. They are still napping twice a day.

Getting around:
This month Emma figured out how to climb stairs (yikes!). She now crawls properly all the time and is very, very quick at getting around. She cruises along the couch no problem and she has no problems balancing. Leah continues to get stronger. It’s hard to describe but she is just so much more agile than she was a month ago. She started crawling properly a few days ago and I don’t think it will be long before she completely gives up the commando.

Food:
We let them try pretty much everything these days. Whether or not they eat it is a whole different story. Their current favourites are cheese, cheerios, NutraGrain bars and of course yogurt. We still give them mushy veggies with tofu mixed in because of their weight. We pretty much try and get them to eat as much as possible at all meals. Meals can be very long! They get an afternoon bottle and a bedtime bottle of formula. They’re not big sippy cup fans. The whole having to tilt it up to drink is too much work for them when they have things to do (like climb stairs or chase the cat). We have had much better luck with the straw cups.

Talking:
They both babble all day long. I’m sure they have “words” for things that we haven’t even picked up on yet. They both love Jackson and as you all know Emma’s first word was cat. She can also say eeeeaaaaah (Leah) and mmmmmaaaa (Emma). I’ve also heard her say hi, dad, and mama but she’s not as consistent with that. Leah talks alot but we’re not too sure what she’s saying most of the time! If you ask her where Jackson is she’ll make the same noice everytime. She can say bye, mum mum and dad. When Leah gets really excited she makes this face and goes oh oh oh like a monkey. It’s so funny.

Cute stuff:
Leah can clap, give you five, play peekaboo, kiss, make funny noises with her mouth and repeat sounds. Emma won’t kiss but she does all the rest. They both will put their hands up when you ask them to and if you say up they’ll put their arms in the air. They are much more interactive and fun these days. If you show them a book they’ll climb into your lap and flip the pages while pointing at the pictures. They love to chase the cat and pet her. Emma tries to grab her whiskers and Leah always wants to kiss her. We are very lucky to have a patient, loving cat. They also like to race each other down the hall and they are never far apart. Both girls also love to look out the window when they’re in the crib.

Personalities:
Emma can be very clingy. She’ll wrap her arms around your neck and hold on tight. She is always on the go and she is still very determined. She’s starting to listen more - if she’s going for the buttons at the bottom of the tv and I say her name she’ll sit back down for 5 seconds then try again. If I keep on sternly saying Emma she won’t touch the buttons. She was much better with people this month. We have recently discovered that Emma likes to hoard toys. If you give them both a toy Emma will take Leah’s and sit on it to guard it while she plays with her own. She’s lucky Leah could care less. If you take away something Emma likes she’ll cry. We have no problem letting her cry til she gets over it and it never lasts more than 10 seconds.

Leah is extremely laid back. She will lie in her crib for a hour playing quietly and not complain. She eat much more than Emma and she is usually the one that lets you know it’s feeding time. Leah rarely cries but the odd time you’ll take away something she was really enjoying and she’ll pout out her bottom lip and start to cry the saddest tears. Again we don’t respond but the sad cry is definitely harder to take than Emma’s tears of rage. Leah still loves people and it’s very obvious she loves getting attention when we’re out and about.

They really are unique little girls. Although they both wave and play peekaboo they do it totally different. They are starting to interact more and more. We got some really great video on Saturday night of the two of them screaming with laughter at each other through the crib rails. It went on for 15 minutes and it was the sweetest sound. For the most part they still play side by side but everyonce in awhile you’ll catch them both sitting in front of a board book flipping the pages together. They are very lucky to have each other.