pediatric update

the 6-month stats:

• 16 lbs. 8 oz (+1 lb. 3 oz)
• 26" long (+1/2")
• 44 cm (+1 cm)

she got great marks for her healthy looking body and meeting her developmental milestones. she is bearing weight on her legs and "jumping" ...

she is sitting up (relatively) unassisted, and she is reaching for things with both hands and bringing them to her mouth ...

and, because a true blog that aims to capture memories should be "warts and all" a little story about today ...

in our rush to get out of the house, we nearly forgot the diaper bag ... daddy ran back into the house to get it and threw it in the back of the car. unfortunately, neither mommy nor daddy had remembered to put a bottle and a packet of formula in there.

so we arrive to the doctor's office with a baby who has last been fed at 4:15 a.m. and realize ... we have no bottle!!

annie is usually not terribly hungry when she first wakes up. in fact, if fed immediately upon waking, she will only take a few ounces. so, we thought, we'll probably be okay with our 9 a.m. appointment and then we'll race home and feed her a bottle.

well, we would have been if the doctor had run on time.

and this practice is very good, usually, about short wait times. but today they must have sensed that we were on borrowed time. doctor dana was forty-five achingly long minutes behind.

about 2/3 of the way through her checkup, annie began to protest. loudly.

the nurses scrambled and found some ready-to-feed similac nursettes. sadly, no nipples. so, we started by trying to let annie sip from the bottle.

that didn't work out so well.

so we tried feeding her with a syringe, as if she was a newborn.

that helped somewhat ... until the other kind of syringe came out ... that's right ... *shots*!

she got three vaccines -- dtap, hib and prevnar -- and by the third was screaming so hard that she was actually crying silently. poor lamb.

we quickly slipped her dress back on, buckled her into her car seat and beat a hasty retreat. she fell asleep in the car before we hit the beltway and mommy called ahead to ensure mamaxana had a bottle at the ready.

second child syndrome ... your parents forget to feed you. but, no matter how happy and docile she usually is, annie will never be mistaken for a shrinking violet.

and we will never forget a bottle again!