9 months!

The Schlegel boys celebrated their 9 month birthday in style last week.  I think some pureed pears and sweet potatoes were on the menu, pretty standard party fare.

I wanted to wait to post this until our doctor's appointment yesterday to get the most up to date stats.  Unfortunately, I could have used the numbers from last month because the boys just haven't grown a whole lot.  Carter weighs 13lbs, 9 oz (1st percentile) and is 24.9 inches (3rd percentile).  His head is 44cm (50%).  Anderson didn't do much better; he weighs 15lbs, 8 oz (11th percentile) and is 25.3 inches (8th percentile).  His head is 44.9 cm (75th percentile).  Needless to say, we are still struggling with getting the tiny outfits that fit their bodies over their giant heads.

The doctor is pleased to see how well they are doing developmentally, but is pretty concerned about their lack of weight gain.  We have a goal of getting Carter to drink 25+ oz of milk per day and Anderson to drink 30+ oz.  It's frustrating for Ty and I because we don't feel like there's much else we can do.  We have tried feeding them larger amounts at one time, smaller amounts throughout the day, etc., but they are pretty much taking in as much milk as they want to and short of sticking a tube in their mouth, we can't really think of any other way to get it done.  They are also eating 2 solid meals per day, which is going very well, but Carter seems to think he doesn't need to drink milk anymore because he gets solids.  Sometimes he gets a third solid food feeding, just to get more calories in him.  We are now adding olive oil to their food in order to boost the calories.  So far no complaints, but I am going to buy some cheaper olive oil to use for them, and we'll see how refined their little palates are. We will keep trying and hopefully they'll be able to gain some weight.

Carter went to see the gastroenterologist last week and his liver still looks good.  He did have some concerns about Carter's blood work though, so we are going to go see an immunologist.  They are concerned that Carter is maybe not producing enough antibodies, so they just want to check him out.  Poor little guy; it means more blood being taken (perhaps related to his lack of weight gain....) and another doctor.  He handles it like a champ though.

One piece of good news on the medical front is that the OT is now only coming once per month!  She is not concerned about their development and just wants to check in periodically to make sure they are still on track.

At 9 months, the boys are:
-Rolling all over the place and scooting backwards; no crawling yet, but they are rocking more and seem to be pretty close
- Eating a fair amount of solid foods: Sweet potatoes are the favorite, followed closely by pears and avocados, bananas are still not loved, but they did really enjoy zucchini and summer squash.  Their OT also suggested giving them puffs or cheerios to work on their grasping and putting foods in their mouth.
- Very interactive, but only once they have checked you out.  Stranger anxiety seems to be becoming a greater issue for them, but they warm up quickly.
- Fighting over toys - they each hold one end and scream
- Yelling when you take a "toy (like Mommy's phone)" away from them
- Really enjoying bath time and splashing
- Saying a few consonant sounds like "ba" "ma" and "da", in a completely nonsensical way

Here are a few pics:

Play it cool. Do not make direct eye contact with Mom and if you do, act like an angry teenager

Oh, you've got foot problems, let me take a closer look (Side note: Does every parent of children this age worry that their kids will have a foot fetish later in life?  I am honestly worried).

Let's just smile and get it over with

Carter was working those baby blues

This was the best smile I could get from him