How big is Baby? Sooooooo big!

Well, okay, she's not so big. Today LM had her one year check-up. (Sniff, sniff!) This is the first time I've taken the two mice at the same time to the Dr's office and it was nothing short of an adventure.

I heart our pediatrician, really, I do- but I have one little teeny mild complaint. I have to wait for 42 years to see him. I understand, really, I do- I always ask for the first appointment of the day but he has to check on all the newborn babies at the hospital in the mornings so he doesn't always get there on time. (Okay, he never gets there on time. Or if he does, it's certainly not on the days when we have appointments. And please don't suggest I try the first appointment after lunch- 1. the sick kids have had their chance to infect the waiting room air by then- don't think I let my kids touch ANYTHING there and 2. that is smack dab in the middle of quiet time.) Today, we only had to wait for 45 minutes in our exam room, which was plenty of time for BigM to eat her gummy snack, drink her juice, read the book I brought (four times), play with the toy I brought for her, play with the toy I brought for LM, go potty, wash her hands with the green soap, pretend it was purple soap, point to everything in the entire room, and eat LM's snack.

While all of that was going on, LM got her finger pricked for the first time. (Apparently, our state officials are very concerned about the lead levels of our children, so they are now sticking them and having the kids tested. They are either going to say, "Your child has been exposed to too much lead," or "Your child has not been exposed to too much lead." Thank you very much for that diagnosis.) She was not happy about it one bit. Even better, she started sucking on the band-aid on her bleeding finger and it got all soggy and started slipping off- so I decided to take it off for her. Big mistake. Blood started running down her hand and all over me. Luckily, there was an unending supply of cotton balls in the exam room so I helped myself while BigM was shouting, "What are you doing, MM? Why are you getting all those white things?" Then LM tried to eat the cotton balls. I finally asked the nurse for another band-aid, which LM managed to almost suck off again, but by that time, the bleeding had stopped. My life is one embarassing moment after another. People would think we were in a slasher movie if they had seen all the blood.

Dr. Nesbit finally came in and BigM jumped all over the chance to talk with him. I had to remind him that "this is LM's turn" and her turn would come later. (See the other post from today- it was a big day in the Mouse House!) That didn't stop her from giving a running commentary, "Wass he doing, MM? Is he wooking in her nose? Is he going to put dat stepascope on her tummy? Or her back? Wass dat wight for? Is he wooking at her eyes? Tan I watch? Why is he sticking that thing in her ear? Wass dat for?" Poor Dr. Nesbit did not realize he was actually running a teaching hospital.

So. The moment you've all been waiting for. She's totally normal. She's meeting all her milestones right on schedule. She weighs 18 lbs, 13 oz (15th percentile) and she's only 29 1/2 inches long (around 50th percentile). Because we all know that the percentiles are the most important part of the check ups. LM is still a shrimp, but that's okay, because she's cute as pie.