It's a GIRL!

My guess was right! (in India, you can't find out ahead of time)  Our newest niece was born yesterday, well actually today in India.  The name thing there is a long drawn out saga, so we are just celebrating that all are happy, healthy, and here (and on her due date no less!)  Still awaiting pictures...

Congrats to Vishal and Vrushali!

Adventures in pediatric orthopaedics

Based on our pediatrician's recommendation, we took Alistair to a pediatric orthopaedist with Lurie Children's Hospital last week.  It was a very uneventful visit, as we'd hoped and expected.  He checked out fine and the physician noted that he thought Alistair's laid back temperament and extreme joint flexibility (likely inherited from me, insert joke here) are likely why he is just lately putting together the final pieces and getting around to walking.  He's made a lot of progress lately and he may even be on his own by our much anticipated beach vacation next month.

I asked about therapy and while the doctor said Alistair would likely qualify for physical EI through the state, for a therapist to come to our home to work with him, he also thought given where Alistair was already, that it would not necessarily get him walking independently any faster than if we just skipped it.  So that is what we are planning to do. 

I'm all for intervention when needed, obviously, but I'm also well aware that there is a wide range of "normal" and given that I am able to be home with them  (we had looked at child care programs where they need to be walking to move to the toddler program, forcing them to be separated) there is really no rush to getting him to meet arbitrary milestones.  He is making good progress and the physician's only concern was if he were to regress.

18 months (& 500th post)

The kids are 18 months old as of Thursday, and it is finally Summer (officially). Yay!

We went to the pediatrician for their check-up on Saturday and all is well, though he suggested getting some physical therapy exercises from an orthopaedist to help try to speed up Alistair's walking progress (while he is aggressively pulling up, climbing and cruising, he is not yet walking independently).  They are both in the exact same percentiles for height and weight for their gender, which is kind of wild.  85% for height and 44% for weight, which is a little bit of a leveling off from their more recent extremes.

Alistair
18 months: 23 lbs. 12 ozs., 33.5", head: 49.25 cm.
15 months: 21 lbs. 12 ozs., 32.75", head: 48.5 cm.
12 months: 20 lbs. 10 ozs., 31"
Nine months: 19 lbs. 5 ozs., 29 1/2", head: 46.1 cm.
Six months: 16 lbs. 15.5 ozs, 27 3/4", head: 44.7 cm.
Four months: 14 lbs., 25", head: 42.2 cm.
Two months: 10 lbs. 2 ozs., 22 1/2", head: 39.5 cm
Three weeks: 6 lbs. 9 ozs.
Two weeks: 5 lbs. 15 ozs. (he surpasses her for the 1st time)
One week: 5 lbs. 6 ozs.
Four days/hospital release: 5 lbs. 2 ozs.
Birth @ 36w4d (breech/IUGR?): 5 lbs. 7 ozs. (5%), 18.25" (10%)

Marielle
18 months: 22 lbs. 2 ozs., 33", head: 49 cm.
15 months: 20 lbs. 1 oz., 32", head: 49 cm.
12 months: 18 lbs. 8 ozs., 29 1/2"
Nine months: 16 lbs. 11 ozs., 28", head: 44.9 cm.
Six months: 14 lbs. 10 ozs.,26 1/4", head: 43 cm.
Four months: 12 lbs. 7 ozs., 24 1/2", head: 41.2 cm.
Two months: 9 lbs. 9 ozs., 21 3/4", head: 38.7 cm.
Three weeks: 6 lbs. 7 ozs. (finally surpasses BW)
Two weeks: 5 lbs. 12 ozs.
One week: 5 lbs. 7 ozs.
Four days/hospital release: 5 lbs. 3 ozs. (unexplained 14% weight loss, day one)
Birth @ 36w4d: 6 lbs. 1 oz., 19" (25%)

I lost the post that I had put together for my update, so that'll be it for now.  Happy Summer to you! (and don't forget to check out the super moon, biggest/brightest of the year, tonight!)

Honestly...

...I should start selling this stuff out of the back of my car. I promise (to try) not to have too many more posts on Honest products, but I just thought I'd give a quick update. As I mentioned, Costco just starting carrying their awesome shampoo/body wash and given their low mark-up rule, they are selling it for half as much as when purchased in an Honest "bundle" ($7 by mail bundle ($10 retail) vs. $15, for 4x as much). Run, don't walk people! Because if you know Costco like I do, as soon as you completely fall for something they carry, they will stop carrying it. :)

Swimsuit shopping

Two words to strike fear in most any woman.  Well that was the mission that I took on recently.

I'd been wearing a black CK swim dress (kinda like this one) for pregnancy and postpartum (the last two summers), which I'd gotten a million years decade ago in Boston for $30 for just that purpose, and have now clearly gotten my money's worth out of it.  I have a closet full of bikinis, thanks to my long torso, and though I didn't have any trouble losing the baby weight, thanks to breastfeeding and an insane metabolism, my bikini wearing days are (happily) over given my stretch marks are so large and severe I look like I got into a fight with a bear. 

I would have to wear one that looked like this to cover below the navel. 

And though it is cute, I just couldn't.

This is why one pieces were invented and honestly who wants to be that mom at the pool that looks like she is trying way too hard to cling to a meaningless vestige of her previous life.  Not this one.

I've been looking at suits online, since who has time or the sanity for trying them on in store with kids, which narrowed my focus significantly.  Places like Garnet Hill had lovely options and others like Land's End were very practical, but I ended up going with J.Crew swim yet again, since I had to finally decide, just like I have for most of the last 20 years (and hate if you must, I wear the same size I did then).

Ruched femme tank

(in long torso)

I got this recently (in dark blue) and am very happy with it.  My only critique (besides not having more long torso choices) is it has wider straps, which I don't usually go for given one of my least favorite things are strap lines, but I like the way it is cut and hangs.  Their swim sale is over, but the entire site is 25-30% off now w/code "SUMMER".

Two of my favorites come together

Costco has announced it is going to start carrying some Honest Company products.  Yay!!  First up, huge sized bottles of their shampoo and body wash, which our whole family now uses.  I haven't been to the store to see if they are in yet or how much they are, but if you have, let me know! 

Have you checked out their new products?  We love their swim diapers, now out in new designs which I had to have, though I had already gotten their old ones, which I loved too. 

Speaking of new designs, they mix up their diaper designs every once in awhile, we are loving their new strawberries and hippos.  They sent me their new lip balm for Mother's Day and it is nice.  I am trying their new sunscreen as soon as it warms up again enough that we can head to the pool and beach.

Happy June!


(I've received no compensation , including free products, from Honest for my posts on them, I/we just love their products.)

The baby names we didn't choose

Since our family is complete, I figured it's safe to finally put out there some of the names we didn't choose for our kids...

If we'd had another girl...
I love the name Genevieve (Francophile much?) and since I have a sister (unabashedly my fave) named Jennifer, it would have been kind of an homage.

And even though it seems ubiquitous now, my great grandmother's (and mother to my namesake great aunt Catherine) name was Grace, which I've always loved, though she was gone before I came along. We actually had a running fight between my sisters and I growing up as to who would have a daughter first and name her Grace. When my elder sister married when I was 17 (and she was 21), we figured she'd win. But then that didn't work out, and when she married again, it was her married name, so she was out and I was back in the running. Then my younger sister got married at 23, and she was in it, but then that didn't work out, and she is now happily unmarried, cohabitating, with no plans for kids. By the time I got married and was expecting a daughter (a million years later), we went a different direction, so ironically there will be no little Grace in our family after all.

We would have called Genevieve Grace, "Gigi", which is what my really cool (step) great grandmother (GG) went by to us, though her real name was Edith. She lived to be a very feisty 100, long enough to meet DH, before passing suddenly a few months after our wedding.

If we'd had another boy...
There are several boy names I like, though I think we would have needed a decent amount of time to agree on a second pair. Charles (Charlie/Chase) is another family name of mine and I've always adored Samuel (Sam), though DH would never have agreed to giving his son an alliterative name like he has, which is why Surya (Hindi for sun) also didn't make the first cut. Indian names are another post entirely...

I think names are so interesting... I love classic names, but even with classic given names both the kids and I (before and after marriage) are the only ones that have our full names, since our last names are not common. And for you history buffs the SSA has compiled a best of the century list. Did your name make the cut? If you count all the spellings/forms for mine, it actually comes in #2 (just ahead of my mom's). My dad is also #2 (#1 counting other forms) and my sisters (Jennifer, Emily and Sara) made it high on the list too.