Jacobe's Six Month Well Baby!!

Today I took Jacobe in for his six month well baby appointment. I guessed that he would tip the scales at 20 lbs and I was right! They didn't tell me how long he was, unfortunately, even though I asked several times. They just kept giving me his placement on the growth chart. According to the Dr he is 90% for his weight and just under 80% for his height and 90% for weight-to-height ratio. The nurses adore him and seem so excited to see him every time we come in. I know they probably do that for every baby but it seems like there are always more nurses cooing at Jacobe than most of the other babies I've seen come in. It could be his charming personality, his adorable chubbiness, his infectious smile, or all of the above. Whatever it is, it usually takes a good 10 minutes to even start triage because the nurses want to take their turn holding Chunk, ha ha. I love those nurses.

The Dr's/PA's on the other hand, I'm not so in love with. I guess you could consider me as one of those moms who goes against a lot of mainstream parenting. I've purposefully delayed introducing solids to Jacobe until he was six months. Well actually, I did feed him butternut squash a week and a half before he turned six months and I gave him a cantaloupe in a mesh feeder a week before his half birthday. However, I decided that I would wait until after this hectic Easter weekend before I truly started him on solids. And yes, I did skip cereal, I don't believe that introducing cereal first is necessary. The PA who saw Jacobe today seemed to almost chide me for not consistently feeding Jacobe solids yet. She said I could have started him at four months and to try feeding him mashed potatoes because babies love mashed potatoes (though I don't like the idea of the milk and butter that usually goes into it). Jaycie hated them anyway, she still does (though she devoured her twice-baked potato tonight and ate half of mine before I realized, go figure). She also told me to start him on juices and baby cookies. I really don't think he needs juices right now and certainly not baby cookies. Like I said, I'm not real mainstream. I do, however, base my decisions on a ton of research and my own motherly instinct. As Josh tells me, obviously I'm doing something right because Jaycie is such a great eater. I realize every kid is different and Jacobe could still become a picky eater, but at least I did my part to prevent that. I'm certainly not the type to look down on other people's decisions on when they start their kids on what. I just want to be left alone concerning my own decisions. Although, I do catch myself cringing at the young babies sucking down cola from their bottles to wash down the cookie their parents gave them. I still dilute my toddler's juice and she thinks water with a splash of pop is "Coke", and she thinks I'm the best mommy ever for giving it to her. That's not to say that she doesn't ever get an undiluted juice box or the very occasional small cup of undiluted pop. Heck, I even give her sips of my caramel macchiato and if I want to give her a super special treat I buy her own kid sized white chocolate steamed milk over ice from Starbucks. She loves that, and I love to take advantage of my Mommy privileges and override my usual strict rules.

There were two Dr's training during Jacobe's appt. They were learning the system and procedures. The female Dr seemed to be the one to spear head his appt. She did seem really nice and told me at one point, "Well, you already know what to do so I won't go over that." I really appreciated that. I'm always being treated like an inexperienced mother who seems the type to let her baby play with forks and electrical outlets. So it was nice to be acknowledged as a mother who kind of knows what she's doing. She's also the one who took notice of Jacobe's wheezing and didn't push it off like the Dr at his four month well baby did. We talked about his potential allergies and/or upper respiratory infections and/or asthma and/or acid reflux. She really seems to care enough to get to the bottom of it all and help make him better. She put him back on albuterol treatments via the nebulizer and we see her again on Monday. I think if this appointment goes well on Monday then I'll start asking to see her specifically.

There you have it. My boy is now 20 lbs and forcing me to make a decision on which car seat I'll buy for Jaycie (Jacobe will inherit her Marathon). I'm torn between the Britax Marathon or the Britax Frontier. The Frontier just seems way too grown up for Jaycie so I'm extremely hesitant to buy it, even if it will last her longer than the Marathon. Any thoughts? Josh calls me the "Car Seat Nazi". I didn't turn Jaycie around to forward-facing until two months after her second birthday. I'm a huge proponent of extended rear-facing and actually didn't want to turn Jaycie around until she turned three. And that's my recent conundrum. Anyway, here are some pictures of Jacobe dating back to his first taste of butternut squash.