Life's a Beech...

Stella's 4 month check up:
Weight - 14 lbs 2 oz (75th percentile)
Height - 24.5 inches (75th percentile)
Head - ? (75th percentile)

I was surprised that my little Stella was in the 75th percentile. She seems so tiny to me... I guess it's just a change from my previous experience. I am loving that she can wear her clothes for more than 2 weeks though. She is still in some 3 month clothes, some 6 month, and she is also wearing a few tiny 9 month outfits. It's awesome. Lennox only wore 3 month for about a month (maybe).

Stella is still not turning over from her back to her belly, not consistently anyway. Part of the problem is that she never really has a chance to lay on the floor. I am always holding her... partly for her safety but also because I like it. This past weekend I did try to put her on the floor to play a good bit (she pretty much just spins around her own head). The problem is that Lennox likes to run and leap over her head. If you are familiar with 2 year olds, you know they don't leap very far! If I tell him not to jump over her, he jumps around her. If I tell him not to jump around her, he runs around her... on and on. So I pick her up. She may never roll over. :(

Last week, both Lennox and Stella had mild fevers, snotty noses, crunchy coughs... the standard. I wasn't too worried about Lennox because he can usually tell me if something is wrong that needs medical attention (ex. an ear ache). However, I was worried about Stella because she had been pulling on her right ear, crying a lot, and not eating normally. If you recall (which I am sure you don't), Lennox was pulling on his ear at 4 months and I thought, how cute... he found his ear! Yeah, he had a double ear infection. So, I didn't want to be a stupid mom again. Plus, if you are a parent, you know how stressful having a sick baby is because you just don't know what is wrong with them!! Stella had a well baby visit scheduled for Monday but this was Friday. My only hesitation in taking her to the doctor was that the last time I took her, just to see, nothing was wrong with her and it cost me $250. Yes, that’s correct. $250 big ones. So, I called to see if I could change her well baby appointment (that insurance covers) to Friday and that way, if she had an ear infection, I would know. For whatever reason, I guess because I actually PAY for insurance, they couldn’t schedule me a well baby for Friday but they would be glad to schedule a sick baby appointment and have me come in again on Monday for her well baby… even if she was a well baby at a sick baby appt. WHATEVER. I decided to take her in as a possibly sick baby but maybe a well baby to her sick baby appointment.

Anyway, before we went to the doctor, I noticed lint and one of my hairs (that is falling out like crazy) under Stella's toes. I pulled the hair and then noticed that it had wrapped around her toe… REALLY tightly. I tried to get said hair with tweezers but I couldn't grab anything... plus her little toe is so fat and gushy that I couldn't see in the crack. I started to panic because I just knew MY hair was wrapped around her toe so tight that her toe was going to fall off before I could get to the doctor's office. I threw the kids in the car and made a frantic call to my poor mom at work. She could hardly understand me because I was crying so hard about her toe falling off (***both kids had been sick and not sleeping for a few days so I was really sleep deprived***). Anyway, I rushed to the doctor's office (30 min away) and, to my great relief, I realized that her toe had not fallen off in her carseat... it was still attached and not even purple. Once we got back to see the doctor, she told me that her ears were clear and her lungs sounded fine so yes, I had spent $250 for nothing. Then she started checking out her toe, which I explained would likely fall off in just a few minutes because I’m a horrible mother and my hair was wrapped around it. She thought it looked like an amniotic band (which meant nothing to me without google) but I insisted that it was not there until I pulled out the lint/hair causing it to wrap around her toe. The doctor decided to use a needle to see if she could lift anything out of the crack… Meanwhile, Lennox is rolling around the room on the doctor’s stool, climbing on the table, sassing me when I tell him to sit still, trying to get his head between the doctor’s face and the needle in Stella’s foot. The nurse is holding Stella down while she screams and blood drips on the table. All of this went down for a good 10 minutes. Finally, the nurse decided to take Lennox out of the room so I could talk to the doctor. I don’t know what it is about someone taking charge of your child while you are standing there but it is totally defeating. I know the nurse thought she was helping but she only made me feel like a total failure as a parent… that on top of not knowing what was wrong with Stella AND knowing that her toe was going to fall off even though the doctor said it wouldn’t AND spending $250 for nothing… I just burst into tears. I told the doctor I was just tired and hadn’t slept and was embarrassed by the way Lennox was acting. Her response? “Oh… don’t worry. Don’t be embarrassed. We love Lenny. We know he is BAD! That’s what makes him so lovable! What do your parents say about him? (about how bad he is)” Ummm…. What?! So, my mind is spinning. Did she just tell me my kid is bad?! Yes. She did. Then I launched into my spill about how he’s bad at the doctor’s office but he’s really not bad. He’s not bad at school. He’s really good… all while I’m crying because he is bad!! Ha. It was a totally ridiculous scene. It was a ridiculous day. Anyway, I promptly called his teacher to see if he is actually bad and I don’t know it… But she assured me that all 2 year old are bad sometimes but she would not classify him as bad. So… there you have it. My super FUN Friday!

If you are wondering, I did go back to the well baby visit and we did dig around in her toe again. Her toe is still attached, it is not purple, and apparently, there is no hair wrapped around it. At the well baby visit, I took Lennox’s dvd player and he watched “Stoy Tory Tree” and acted like a perfect angel! VINDICATION! ;)

So, with all of that said, I hope that I do not portray my child as bad on my blog. I write things that I think are funny and are true to his little free spirited self. But… I forget that I write/read them through my perspective. I see all of the wonderfully loveable and cute, sweet things about him and not just his terrible two year old antics! So, just to be clear, I do not think Lennox is a bad kid. For the most part, he is really a joy to have around. I won’t go on and on about all the things I love about him because there are too many to list. He is just a little bit high maintenance and he is very strong willed… but I actually love that too!