18 month check up

Rebecca had her 18 month appointment this morning, which has come closer to being 19 month, seeing as we're nearly at the end of May. She's growing 'perfectly' according to her doctor, development is great, he was surprised to hear that she will string words together on occasion to communicate her message to us. :)

She weighed in at 21.5lbs, so she's FINALLY gained some weight-- she'd maintained 19.5lbs for 4 or so months, so at least she's gained something. It was a 3lb gain from her 12m appointment. Her weight places her in the 7th percentile. She's also 30ins tall, which I believe is a 1.5 or 2in gain over her 12m appointment. So, she's in the 4th percentile for that... And then, she has an 18.5in head. That's the 55th percentile! My child has a big head (compared to her body), lol!

Anyway, other than the normal measuring and such, the only thing of note is that she has a very slight heart murmur, which I was almost expecting-- there's a family history of those, I believe on both sides, so to have a child with a slight murmur was no surprise, and I figured that she had one when he wanted to listen to her heart a second time. It's not significant enough for him to be overly concerned at all-- he said she'll probably outgrow it by the time she's 6-8yrs old, but even if she doesn't it's not enough for him to suggest she see a cardiologist at this time. If it grows worse over time then he might, but for now things are good. :)

We talked with him about food allergy testing for her, and he said he'd probably suggest holding off on any testing until she's two. He agreed that with the family history we've got in the way of allergies it was probably a better idea not to introduce things like nuts, peanuts, and shellfish, without ruling out the possibility of a major reaction first, so I think we'll get a referral from him around the end of the year.

So... there's the 'health' update on Rebecca. :)

Computer Troubles

Well... the biggest reason I've not posted much on here in the last month or so is that my computer is having troubles. This means that all the pictures I have on my camera haven't been transferred to my computer, and that I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and write a 'newsy' post either (not that I can think of any news anyway)! Every time I try to do anything with my computer it either shuts down completely, or restarts without being told to. Justin says it isn't an issue with the CPU overheating, and it isn't an issue with a half dozen other things, so he's pretty sure the motherboard is cracked... and we're not sure how that happened exactly, but it's not worth the time and money to attempt to repair the machine. Soooo... this means I need a new computer so that Justin can keep his 'toys' for his own purposes... which means I get to use one of his until we can afford a new one. I think this is going to mean I'm adopting the desktop computer in the FROG which we rescued from the trash pile. We priced laptops and netbooks yesterday (found one netbook I would be *okay* with, the rest I do not want), and we've got a lot of savings ahead of us to replace the computer... maybe Christmas... or my birthday next year(?), I suppose!

Anyway, something we have been saving and watching for is an inexpensive propane grill/BBQ, which I happened to find... yesterday! It was posted on Craigslist, just a few years old, everything on it works, and so now I'm looking forward to a grilled hamburger for supper this evening! Justin happened to have a 3/4 full propane tank, while it is a little rusted on the exterior, it holds the gas just fine, so I guess it just needs sanding and a new paint job. :) However, we do have a new tank in case they refuse to refill that one, as we're not sure anyone will be okay filling it.

Rebecca is now talking a steady stream to us, though we only understand about half of what she says. She seems quite certain she is communicating a message though, lol! Pretty well every sign she knows is accompanied by it's verbal word now, and we're working to teach her even more signs, so we'll be able to more clearly understand what she thinks she's communicating to us!

We had a week of sickies this past week, which started out with me not feeling too great, and then Rebecca started running a fairly high fever early Wednesday morning, continued through the full day, was fine Thursday until late afternoon at which point her temperature spiked up again, and then she's been fine ever since. I guess it's just going to remain a mystery as to what caused it, as the only other 'symptom' she has is an incredibly runny nose. Perhaps it was the flu.

Rebecca's current all time favourite thing to do is get her hands on any crayons or markers she can, and any paper she can find, and just COVER the paper with colour. She'll sit for 15 minutes or more at a time just colouring on a sheet of paper, and the thing literally has colour on it from one edge to the other when she's done. The results make me rather thankful that I purchase washable crayons for her! She actually is always fascinated by anything that is 'art' orriented any time we are in the stores-- she is always attracted to the Crayola kits on the shelves, and all the colouring/painting supplies they have, and it seems we essentially have to drag her away from them. And... speaking of colouring and such, we discovered something in the last couple of weeks we never thought we would need to know-- they use soy based inks print on many commercial cards (particularly ones made with recycled materials or other 'green' companies), and they use soy to make some brands of crayons! I never thought I was going to have to be careful what sorts of inks or crayons I got for my child!!

And, with that I should be off, we've got church this morning, and then hopefully a prenatal appointment this afternoon-- with all the sickies at our house, and then my midwife having 4 births this past week, we haven't had the opportunity to do the appointment that was supposed to happen this past week yet!