On November 3, Mirei went to the doctor for her 9 month wellness checkup. Her pediatrician asked me a bunch of questions, and it looks like she is doing great in terms of her growth, health, and is ahead of the game in hitting a lot of milestones!
Dan and I had thought that based on her past measurements and how heavy she has been feeling, Mirei would for sure be over 23 pounds by now, but we were wrong! It looks like her growth in weight is slowing down a little, as the nurse weighed her at 22 lbs 9 oz! That puts her in the 96th percentile for weight-for-age.
She measured 29.5 inches tall, putting her in the 96th percentile again for height-for-age.
Her head size is now 18 inches around, which is in the 91st growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
We are so fortunate that Mirei has been growing so well and is so healthy. I can’t believe she’s only 3 months away from her first birthday. Time sure does fly, especially with the second child!
On Wednesday, I took Mirei to the doctor for her 6 month wellness exam. She was her usual cheery self, beaming and smiling at the nurse and doctor and charming the socks off of everyone! She got her routine immunizations and just let out some whiney cries before quickly calming when getting her shots.
Mirei’s been growing so much over the first few months of her life that I thought that surely she would have tapered off a little in the pace of her growth since her four month visit two months ago, but nope! She wowed both me and the nurse with her off-the-charts growth stats!
Mirei now weighs an impressive 21 lbs 6 oz, which pushes her off the charts in weight compared to other 6 month olds. No wonder my arms feel sore!
She measured 28.5 inches tall, putting her off the charts in height-for-age as well.
Her head size is now 17.5 inches, which is in the 95th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
I can’t believe that Mirei has gained a whole three pounds and grown two inches in the last couple months! I wonder when her growth is going to start tapering off… I don’t know if our arms can handle her getting much heavier so quickly! The other night, we measured the circumference of her thighs and compared it against her head circumference… and the difference was only about 1.5 inches. Hers are the definition of thunder thighs! But we love how chubby and healthy she is — makes her all the more squeezable!
Here are some photos and videos of Mirei from this past month.
Mirei taking a bath a few weeks ago
As of a couple weeks ago, she’s been sitting up in the bathtub!
She loves bathtime.
Mirei in her chubby naked glory
Finally got a photo of her first teeth!
Mirei teething
Look at all that drool…
Recently Mirei has discovered how to blow raspberries, and she’s been doing it a lot this week!
Today, Mirei went in for her 4 month wellness exam. (She’s technically more like four and a half months old now, but since her 2 month visit was so late and was more like a 3 month visit, the doctor pushed back this exam as well.) The nurse and doctor were amazed at how big she is for her age, and doted over her wide-eyed smiles during the checkup. She of course cried during the immunization shots, but calmed pretty quickly afterwards.
Here are Mirei’s latest growth measurements.
Mirei now weighs 18 lbs 6 oz, which pushes her up in the 97th growth percentile based on weight-for-age.
She measured 26.5 inches tall, putting her in the 97th percentile for height-for-age as well.
Her head size is now 17 inches, which is in the 95th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
I had felt like Mirei had gotten a lot heavier recently (she is now moving up to size 4 diapers!), but was still kind of stunned when they told me she was over 18 lbs! I looked back at Mio’s stats and found that Mio was 16 lbs at 4 months old, which at the time we thought was so heavy! lol. Turns out Mirei is even more of a chunker than her big sister was! We feel really lucky, though, that she is such a healthy and happy baby girl — we wouldn’t change a thing about our precious not-so-little Mirei!
Mirei is 13 days old today, and she had her 2 week doctor’s visit yesterday. The doctor said she’s perfectly healthy! As is the case with most newborns, she lost some weight in the first few days after birth (she was 7 lbs 6.5 oz when we took her to the doctor Wednesday of last week), but she’s gained it back and is now heavier than her birth weight. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz at yesterday’s appointment, putting her in the 61st growth percentile based on weight-for-age.
She measured 22 inches long, putting her off the charts for height-for-age (though I’m feeling dubious as to how accurate the nurse’s measurements were, especially with how much Mirei was moving during the measurement).
Mirei’s head size was 14 inches (up a half inch since birth), which is in the 70th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
The doctor said she’s “perfect” in terms of health and growth. I’m so glad that Mirei is off to a great start — she didn’t even have any issues with jaundice! (What a relief!) She nurses a lot without any problems, and sleeps surprisingly well for a newborn, too. The first couple nights home from the hospital were a little rough because she’d be wide awake from 1am to 4 or 5am straight, but we were able to successfully shift her more awake time by keeping her stimulated and awake in the evenings, before we go to bed. She now only wakes to nurse a couple times in the middle of the night and promptly goes back to sleep afterwards, making sleep a whole lot better for Mama and Daddy! 🙂
Here are some photos of Mirei in these first two weeks at home…
Mirei’s first sponge bath at home, when she was 3 days old.
3 day old Mirei in her bassinet
Mirei being held by her auntie Miwa, as Mio looks up at the camera.
A very much posed picture of Mio and Mirei together… Mio looks like she doesn’t know what to do with crying Mirei.
5 days old. She always looks so alarmed when awake!
My girls taking a nap together. Much sweeter than my forcibly posed photo above. Candid, natural shots are best!
6 day old Mirei hanging out next to Daddy. She loves being cuddled and just feeling us nearby. It calms her immediately.
Wittle feet!
Mio peeking on her baby sister napping… 🙂
Sleeping angel… 9 days old.
Lovin’ on mama. Love these late night cuddles. ♥
Love that little fist… too cute! (Newborns sure do sleep a lot, as I’ve been rediscovering…)
We went to the doctor today for Mio’s 6-month checkup. Her pediatrician, upon examining her, said that she is “the picture of health, and just perfect.” Just the words a mama likes to hear! 🙂 I had been a little concerned about a dry cough Mio has exhibited occasionally over the past week… but she only coughs once or twice a day, has no fever, and is her regular happy self…. Her doctor said that it’s nothing to worry about, so that’s a relief!
As for the latest growth stats for Mio, today she weighed 19lbs 5oz, which is in the 92nd growth percentile based on weight-for-age. Our chubster is getting quite heavy! No wonder our arms are sore these days….
For her height, she measured 26.75 inches long, in the 76th growth percentile based on length-for-age. (The pediatrician said, “She’s going to take after her dad, and will beat you in height. You’ll be the shrimp in the family!” Thanks…? hahaha*)
Mio’s head circumference was 17.52 inches, which is in the 90th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age. I’m tellin’ ya, the girl’s got a huge head!
Mio got her third round of vaccination shots administered today, along with the flu shot. (That’s a lot of needles! 🙁 It still pains me to watch her getting shots, and as they say, it’s probably rougher on the parents than on the baby.) She cried bloody murder, but calmed as soon as I picked her up afterwards. It still amazes me how much comfort she finds in my arms… I’m still so clueless and new at this whole mothering business, but it’s sweet reassurance that I must be doing something right! Mio will have to go in for her second dose of the flu shot in about a month, but after that, she won’t have to worry about needles for a while! Good news for both Mio and for Mama!
(Photos above are from last Sunday at the grandparents’ house.)
Something cute Mio has been doing lately: when I hold out my hand towards her, she’ll army crawl towards it to reach for it and put her little hand in mine. Here it is on video!
If I make her do it too many times without picking her up, though, she starts to get cranky, as is the case below:
Alright, alright… for all that hard work, I will smother you in huggles! 🙂
