The McEwans: Halfway to a Year!

(Prepare yourself, this is a lengthy post! You can always just skip to the pictures, like my husband does, or read if you're so inclined)

How in the world did my two teeny-tiny babies turn into two not-so-teeny-tiny 6 month olds? I remember being sad when they turned 3 months because that felt like "old" to me but now...6 months? I just don't know how to handle it! Luckily, January ended up being another month of marathon doctor's appointments so that has helped to keep me busy and focused on something other than the fact that my girls are not going to be babies forever. January has been a hectic month for us: birthday parties, doctor's appointments, and my endless production of baby food (you'd think I'm stocking up a bomb shelter or something!). At the start of January we celebrated cousin Jack's birthday in Ventura where the girls witnessed their first bouncy house--both were intrigued but Emma cried when we took her in so that ended that experiment. Olivia spent the party cruising Lolo's hardwood floors in her walker--dinging up as much of her furniture as she could :-) Our next big event was an important one: Reaghan's 1st Birthday! All three of these girls have a fascination with Mickey's Clubouse (tv show) so Reaghan's birthday was Minnie-themed. The girls had a great time and kept trying to make off with a Minnie doll of Reaghan's even though we have 4 at home! The nice thing about this party was when the girls started getting cranky we just walked across the street to put them to bed haha!

After two fun events it was time to switch into "medical mode" as I like to call it. Having two babies brings about longer doctor's appointments but add to it Olivia's Facial and Cranial doctor and hemangioma doctor and....well...we are experts at navigating hospitals, copays, parking structures, and manuerving our big 'ol double stroller in microscopic waiting rooms and elevators. We started off by checking in with the girls' pediatrician for their 6-month check-up. The girls received their vaccinations and flu shots. After being measured and weighed we learned that Emma is officially off the charts for height and our Little Lu Lu has finally made it ON the chart for weight--before this they called her weight "below the 5th percentile" now she is on the line at 5% hehe! We go back in one month to get the other half of the flu shot and to have Lu's weight checked again.

The very next day we headed out to the Woodland Hills Kaiser to see Olivia's Facial and Cranial specialist. This was a make it or break appointment--the final say in whether Lu would wear a helmet. I had to take her to this appointment on my own so I was a mess! While I talked out loud the whole drive (about how she would be beautiful no matter what) Lu sat completely quiet in the back, not making a peep. In typical fashion Lu was a ham at her appointment. She smiled and giggled when the doctors touched her and tried to rip stethoscopes off two different doctors. The final decision: whatever I wanted!! What?? Well, it appears Lu is now only "mildly flat-headed" and that a helmet will only improve things so much. In addition, the doctors worried that her hemangioma would cause so many problems with the helmet fitting well and potentially cause issues with the big H itself that they felt it should be my decision (this is where I silently cursed Alex for making me come by myself). As I sat there with Lu bouncing all over my lap (and unbuttoning my top might I add--thanks Lu!) I pondered everything. I said to one doctor "Is it so terrible that I don't want to add one more thing that will draw attention to her head? I don't want to selfishly make this decision and miss the only opportunity we have to fix this." Again the doctor said "Your call." (more mental cursing) This doctor then stepped out of the room and the one left said, "Listen, my daughter is 3 now and finally growing hair. Her head was about the same and we opted for no helmet. Now that her hair is coming in thicker you can't tell at all that her head still has a flat spot." Sold. That's all I needed. I thanked them and high-tailed it out of there with Lu before I wavered in my decision. I called Alex and told him I had to make an executive decision but he seemed to agree with me. This kid will never know all the discussions that went on (and sleepless nights) because of her dang noggin-but now we can check one thing off her noggin list :-)

Lastly, two days after the Cranial specialist we headed out to Los Angeles to have an impromptu check-in with Olivia's hemangioma team. Now, we weren't suppose to see them unless we noticed any changes with her big H so as you might have already guessed, that means we noticed a change. Alex had mentioned months ago he thought her eye looked a little closed but it was nothing significant so we forgot about it. But as I've been filling in photo albums and staring at lots of pictures I too began to notice her eye appears slightly more closed. I called her team of specialists and they asked us to bring her in so off we went (to the world's most complicated hospital and parking structure). Dad came to this one because there was no way I was doing this one on my own too! After checking her out Dr. S did notice the slight closing of her eye and directed us to have her seen by a pediatric ophthalmologist the hemangioma team works with. So we will take her back to LA February 9th to see that doctor and then go down two floors back to her hemangioma team to discuss what the ophthalmologist says. The fear with it impacting her globe (of her eye) is that it can cause astigmatism and/or lazy eye (a lazy eye can eventually, in severe cases, cause blindness) so we definitely are going to take this seriously--this is her eyesight for goodness sake! It's not just a vanity thing about the big H now but a life-long sight issue so we want this looked at. As I always say though...we were in LA for a couple hours, with Olivia not taking a single nap, and she was such a doll. She was cracking herself up for a half hour in the waiting room and then unrolling the whole tissue paper roll once we were in the room :-)

Andddd there you have it! Another month down!

6 Month Stats

(and apparently our scale at home is quite off because we were predicting them both a little heavier!)

Emma: 28 inches long & 16 lbs 7 oz (off the line & 55% for weight)

Olivia: 26.5 inches long & 12 lbs 14 oz (75% height & 5% for weight)

Olivia: she is officially a sitter now! All of a sudden one day she just stopped holding onto me and was sitting and playing by herself. She is so hyper and crazy that even though she can sit, she prefers to be in her walker or jumper because she can move wildly. She cruises the house in her walker--sometimes she likes to push an empty box around with her or she goes into the kitchen and pulls all my dish towels off the oven or she goes over to Emma in her swing and tries to close Emma's tray on her, or she tries to open cabinets, or she chases Dozer...do you see a pattern emerging? This child is wild. She also thinks she is quite capable of walking. She edges along the couch and when you hold her arms she actually takes walking steps. However, she prefers to be bouncing so you always have to hold onto her because at any moment while "walking" she'll just start hopping and lose her balance. She is also the world's least picky eater--she has literally eaten everything I've given her with a smile on her face--she still eats like a bird but at least she's a bird with a very diverse palate hehe.

Emma: our Emma Bear is getting so big! She is no longer on the charts for height and Dad is already doing college recruiting for Volleyball! She is such a cuddler and I hope that she continues to be one because I absolutely love it. When she gets up before Olivia she will just lay in bed with me, constantly holding me like I'm her stuffed animal. She will just sit next to you on the couch and with her one hand she will touch your arm, your leg, reach up and touch your face (all while never taking her eyes off the TV). Which brings us to her fascination with the TV. That kid could watch Mickey all day and be as happy as can be. When she does take a break from Mickey she likes to crawl! She has gotten quite mobile this way and prefers it over the walker. She will spend a few minutes here and there in the jumper but mostly she likes to be on her tummy. She is an endless pit when it comes to eating but she has developed a more picky palate than Olivia. She will occasionally gag on a food or make faces but then her hunger always wins over and she devours it all!