12 Month Check-Up

This morning we had Aria's one year appointment. She was a brave little baby for her 3 shots. The doctor said that she is healthy and thriving. The is 30.5" long and 22.5 lbs. 90 percentile for height and 70 percentile for weight. My little lady is long and lean (she will appreciate this someday).

Dr Auh interacted with Aria and said she is a very good natured baby, called her my very own baby doll. She said that she can tell that Aria is also very smart. She said she can understand most everything we are saying. She said we are going to have to keep an eye on her because it's the smart ones that get into stuff. Example: she'll see us do something and she will know how to do it, like turning on the stove. 

Apparently she caught up on her milestone and is now advances, being dubbed an early walker. I think this is so funny, because she refused to roll over consistently until she was 6 months and didn't crawl until 10 months. I guess she was building up all her brain knowledge during that time and now she is implementing it.

Shots always make me nervous, Aria is sleeping in her car seat right now and I keep checking on her to make sure she is alive. I have shots! She got MMR, Pneumococcal Conjugate, and Hep A. I turned down the flu and chicken pox vaccines for now b/c I didn't want to bombard her little body. I told the doctor what I was okay with and she said sure and didn't question me. I really like Dr Auh.

I talked to the doctor about breastfeeding and she said it was perfectly okay to keep her feeding. I told her I want to cut back and she said to cut out a day feeding but keep feeding at night and before bed if she wants it because that's what she needs for brain development. Guess this is why my babe is so smart, she still BFs 2 times a night. She also said when I do decide to full on wean her that I should go away for the weekend. This will help the milk dry up and I won't be there for Aria to rag on when she wants it. She said it won't be as satisfying when I come back b/c there will be less milk to have. She suggested starting her on whole milk 16-20 ounces a day. She may like the taste better than 2% and that she needs the fats that whole milk has in it. 

All in all she is healthy and happy, smart and advanced. The doctor said this is in part to the fact that I stay home with her. She said she probably wouldn't be as healthy if she was in daycare and not BFing. This was nice to get some positive feedback about my choice to stay with her. I always feel like I am having to defend the decision, so it was a nice change.

In other news, Aria LOVES her Yaya. She now screams with joy when she sees her and ol mom is chopped liver. I think this is b/c Yaya has been reading books to her. She's reached the age where she totally adores books and being shown pictures. It's really awesome! We have so many great books too, I'm so glad she likes them.

Another new thing Aria has started is acting startled. She never used to be phased by anything before but now when the dogs bark, she jumps and turns. This just happened and I was down on the floor with her and she threw her arms around me. It was soooo cute. She also loves to be chased and they when you catch her she has that happy frantic almost-fun-to-be-afraid laughter going on. She's my funny girl :)

Until next time, xo Rosie