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 valerie -- October 6th, 2009At our 12-month checkup last month, Dr. Rose expressed some concern that Elise was standing and Stella was not. She casually mentioned that if Stella wasn’t up on her feet we might want to consider some physical therapy. Enter Mommy panic mode. But after thinking about Stella and her general physical milestone attainment, John and I thought it best to wait it out. Stella is on her own schedule. She loves to be held, picked up, and is not very motivated to try new things unless she initiates it. We find she does hit gross motor milestones about a month to six weeks after Elise does. And when she hits them she masters them fairly quickly. So the other morning when Stella was just yelling her head off and we went to her room to investigate we shouldn’t have been surprised to see her standing in her crib complaining she couldn’t get down. That’s so Stella. And yesterday she pulled right up on our friends ottoman and just beamed with pride. And this morning she finally took to the kitchen step stool I keep out just so the girls can play on it, grabbing hold and lifting herself on to her feet with no fuss. Until she tried to get down and just, you know, let go. The dismount learning will be quicker than the pull-up learning was, I imagine. Welcome to the vertical world Stella dear. We are so glad to see you. valerie -- September 24th, 2009Stella is a snuggle baby and I love love love to kiss kiss kiss her. I love to kiss her under her chubby chin and on her sweet neck. And because I’m the mom I always make a big production out of it: making “muah” lip smack noises before I go in for the snuzzle kiss. This morning as I pulled a happy Stella from her crib she looked at me, went “muah” and hit me with a big lip-smacking-wet-baby-mouth kiss. Swoon. I love that happy girl. john -- September 8th, 2009A whole year old today, Stella! A milestone for both parents and children alike. You’re mommy made you a most delicious pumpkin spice cupcake for you to do with as you pleased after dinner. And, while you were very happy smashing it up at first, you quickly realized that the sticky gooey frosting did not, in fact, come off of your hands; at all. To which, you sat there and made the milk sign repeatedly with that frosting covered hand. Not that you were thirsty, no; I’d imagine that sticky sensation was something entirely new to experiment with and you had the most quizzical look on your face while doing so. And then, it was fun no longer. It made a lovely moose in your hair as you tried desperately to get some of the frosting off and wailed insistently with displeasure in that way that only you, dear Stella, know how to communicate to others your unhappiness. Props to ya kiddo — your mess required serious detergent to clean up all that butter cream. You have a future as a grease monkey helping your dear ole Da in the garage. Happy birthday, Stella! valerie -- September 7th, 2009Happy Birthday Stella! You are about to reach the first and arguably the biggest milestone of your life thus far. Tomorrow you turn one. I was thinking of when you were born and the nurse held you up and I saw that red red hair of yours and I knew, right at that moment, that you were my Stella. My little star girl. You were such a tiny peanut and now you are a Viking child, rolly-polie and oh so curious. You just fit in my arm last year and now you hold on to my hip and ride arms slung around my shoulders for comfort. You are a snuggle girl and a child of amusement. You don’t laugh often but when you do, I know it’s a good joke. You are a blessing and you light up my day like a star-baby should. I love how you smile when you see me in the morning and how you search me out in the house. It can be trying when you only need me, but oh. Your kisses and hugs make up for that small inconvenience. Stella. May you always find joy in the absurd. And continue to love a good funny bit of writing and a silly smile. I hope you always make your opinion known and find a way to just be yourself. I love you with all my heart, little star. love, your mommy valerie -- August 16th, 2009Ladies and Gentlemen we have a new runner. Miss Stella Madeline is up on her knees and crawling. She’s giving her sister a run for the money and running through the house end to end. Also. She might be a greyhound and not a racehorse. She loves to pick up toys, flotsam, jetsam, anything, put it in her mouth and crawl away. Keep the rabbits away from this one! valerie -- July 10th, 2009Stella has just completed a three-month stint in a correctional helmet for plagiocephaly, or flat head syndrome. Yup. Our little daughter was developing one funky shaped head. If you’d like a little more detailed information on plagiocephaly, feel free to check out this article from Baby Center. Plagiocephaly, we came to find out, is very common with multiple births and especially common with Twin A–which Stella is. Stella was also the smaller of the girls at birth so she had her nice and chunky sister sitting on her head. Ouch. This leads to the shortening of the neck muscles that caused her to always want to look to the right.  Looking to her right at ~7 weeks
She began developing her flat area almost from the start. It was fairly noticeable at her two month check up and Dr. Rose asked us to try and reposition her head as much as possible to help her even out. We did. We fed her to the left, turned her to the left but she kept on looking right. It didn’t help that she was our better sleeper and when you have one baby fussing all night and one baby who sleeps pretty well you don’t mess with the sleeper if you can help it. At her four month check up, the pediatrician we saw (Dr. Rose was away) remarked upon her head shape. It was taking on an oblong look. Not flat directly in the back but sloped to the side so that her forehead was pushing out somewhat. He suggested we look into getting a cranial helmet for her but felt it was more of a cosmetic decision. I didn’t want to helmet my daughter for cosmetic reasons–we’d keep trying to reposition her. Then Stella grew. She went from a peanut to a coconut in the blink of an eye and by the time her six month check-up was due we knew we had to take steps to correct the head that wasn’t getting better on it’s own. On to the Internet and reading what we could about plagiocephaly. It turned out to be more serious than I had thought, especially because Stella was developing an alarming asymmetry that could lead to jaw problems, ear problems–including chronic ear infections and even vision problems. Not to mention an out of whack forehead isn’t exactly hidden by hair as commonly suggested for flat spots in the back of the head. I found some blogs that chronicled other children and their helmets. I even posed the question of whether or not to go forward with the cranial therapy to our Parents of Multiples club, to see if the might be any wisdom to draw from. The responses I received from the group were overwhelmingly positive. The kids had no trouble wearing the helmets and the therapy had greatly improved their heads. John and I were convinced. At Stella’s next appointment we’d go ahead and ask about the next steps.  Cleary, she's very concerned about the shape of her noggin... We were slated to see Dr. Don at the girls’ six month appointment. I really like Dr. Don (next to Dr. Rose, of course) and felt he’d be able to give us some really good advice. As it turned out, little Stella had gone from the 25th percentile head circumference to a 75th percentile head circumference in two months. Yes, her head was growing fast and not rounding out on it’s own. Dr. Don agreed that we should go see a specialist and get an opinion on how to best proceed. He wrote out a prescription to help with insurance and we were off to Hanger Prosthetics.  6 Months Old -- just prior to our appointment at Hanger
 6 Months Old -- This wasn't just a case of crazy parents wanting their kid to be perfect!
valerie -- July 5th, 2009Stella did what babies are supposed to do and last month (gulp–bad late posting mom) she turned 9 months old. She saw her regular doctor, Dr. Rose, who hadn’t seen Stella since her 2-month check-up. What a difference six months make! She’s hardly the same teeny thing she was at birth. Stella’s Stats: Weight: 19#1oz puts her into the 52 percentile Height: 28 3/4″ puts her into the 90 percentile Head Circumference: 17 1/2″ puts her into the 55 percentile Stella is doing great…I like to call her my Viking baby with her *still* red hair and her height. She’s not a huge baby by any means, but she is so solid and chubby. Her thighs are so folded and dimpled. I love them. She is also such a snuggler–with me at least. When I pick her up, she folds her legs around my waist and snuggles into my shoulder. I could carry her for hours, except for her almost 20#! It’s hip-hammock time for sure. Stella has been going through some very normal “stranger anxiety” or more to the point, “You’re not my mother!” anxiety. She gets kind of agitated if I leave her alone in the company of others, especially if she’s tired or hungry. If she’s feeling fine she will last a few minutes, at least, without me being in sight. While she’s not so much about the mamama and the dadada, she does growl and roar. Which is so very funny. She’ll respond in kind if you growl at her so we can go for minutes making each other laugh and growl. Her laugh is the sweetest hic-up giggle I’ve ever heard. The very baby ideal of a laugh. She likes to have her feet and tummy tickled and loves to be hugged and snuzzled in any way. Such a chunk of baby love I just can’t get enough of. Next appointment is at the one year mark! I can’t believe it’s almost here. valerie -- July 5th, 2009While I was sure Stella was on the verge of crawling, she hasn’t yet started with the traditional hands and knee locomotion. She does, however, move with a very nice combination of “commando crawl” and rolling. I think wearing her helmet had gotten her used to a certain level of recklessness concerning her head whick she will have to unlearn, quickly, now that her head is no longer protected by a hard plastic shell. I also think her less top-heavy self is going to lead to her beginning a traditional crawl fairly soon. What she really needs to do is figure out that she can, indeed, move from a sitting position to a crawling position–or any floor position–on her own. I’m pretty sure she was “stuck” in bed last night for an hour or so after she somehow managed to sit up in bed and couldn’t figure out how to get down again. valerie -- July 5th, 2009That second little tooth is visible now. Sweet, sweet two-toothed grin. She is working on popping some more….at least I think she is as it’s drool city around here. And yes. Each tooth shall have a post. I am teething obsessed. valerie -- June 16th, 2009Stella popped her bottom tooth. At first it looked as though both bottom teeth had come in, but then the swelling went crazy and only one tooth remained. The front right. But oh glory! Now, both her little teeth are visible. I really hope the teeth just come in smooth sailing after these two otherwise, I might not make to #20. |
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