Recent Happenings

Kate turned 2 on May 29th, but she just went for her 2 year appointment on Wednesday. She weighs 26 pounds, which puts her in the 40% for weight, and she is 33 1/2 inches tall, putting her in the 30% for height. When she was born, she was in the 95% for height, so she is falling off the curve a little bit! Kate had to have a finger prick to check her iron, which was low AGAIN, but she did not cry at all! I told her that she could get a sucker if she was a big girl, and it worked. Little did she know, she would get a sucker even if she had cried. I talked to Dr. Peters for a while about Kate's diet, since she would rather eat snacks and crackers all day than any solid meal. I am just trying to make her snacks healthy, rather than goldfish all day long. Evidently all kids do this at some point or another, so the doctor was fine with it, as long as we push the meals.
Kate has had a light heart murmur forever, but Dr. Peters said it was louder than she remembers it being, so we are going to see a cardiologist on July 29th. I am not that worried about it because she had a cardiac ultrasound when she was born and there were no structural problems. I also talked to Dr. Peters about Kate's nonstop repeating and strange OCD behavior. She will replay situations or conversations days after they happen, and she is constantly repeating things I tell her. For example, when we were at the beach, if the upstairs neighbor opened their glass patio door, it sounded like thunder in our condo. She would gasp and run to me every time, until I told her, "It is ok. It is not thunder, it is just the neighbor." Then, every time after that, she would say, "It's ok it's ok it's ok, it's not thunder, it's the neighbor." Repeating it so much that we were going crazy. If an older child displays this much repitition, it can point to autism, so it kind of freaked me out a little bit. She also does things with an OCD nature. I leave Blake's carseat in the car now, but when I used to bring it in, Kate would always have to buckle his seatbelt. Also, she has to have shoes on all the time, but she puts them on the wrong feet... EVERY TIME! When I asked Dr. Peters about it, she laughed in my face. She said that Kate seems like her mind is just running 90 miles a minute and that she is just excited about learning new things and wants to repeat them. She said that she was even a little ahead of the game and just not to worry about it. That made me feel better, and when I told Brandon, my sister, and my mom about it- they all said, "I can't believe you asked her if she thought something was wrong!" To set the record straight, I do not think Kate has learning problems, but I also do see her doing things that seem unusual. I guess I have a girl that marches to the beat of a different drum!
Another recent piece of information- I quit my job, for good. I haven't worked recently anyway, but I at least made it official. I feel like when I have worked since having kids, I have not been fully THERE, but just doing my job and going home. Which, in an NICU, is not good. Your heart really has to be in it or your head can't keep up! Brandon's schedule is also pretty rough right now and he just said that he didn't want to come home from working 36 hours to stay home while I go to work. I also heard that they were not hiring flexi positions because they didn't have anymore and it just made me feel guilty for hogging a position when I am really not working much. I handed in my resignation letter on Wednesday and I feel a real peace about it. I know that the Lord has provided and will continue to provide for us in any situation. That is about it for our house right now!