Taylor's 1 year dr. appt.

Phew....who knew starting kindergarten was so exciting and exhausting? We've had lots of orientation/meet-and-greet/activities leading up to the big first day (yesterday) and I'm happy to report that Lauren greeted her first official school day with chin held high. This is a pic of Lauren and her cousin, Griffin, who is in her class. She looks so cute in her uniform (if only it were pink) and so far, so good. She has short days the first two weeks to get adjusted and I think she thinks kindergarten is a piece of cake (their day ends at noon right now and the focus has been on fun, so we'll see how long that lasts). In any case, Julie has been a trooper and worked extra time with Taylor while we've gotten Lauren situated at school and Jacob prepared for his pre-school (which start next week).

Taylor had her first year doctor appointment today and it's left us scratching our heads. She officially fell off the growth chart (to -3 for height, weight, and head circumference) from the hefty 5% she had maintained. This would be cause for concern anyway, but given her potential to develop hormonal deficiencies, it's raised an additional red flag. Dr. Dudas said it's not terribly uncommon for kids to fall below the curve in weight, but typically not in all three areas. Bummer. So, she's going back to Children's tomorrow to give more blood (poor thing) to run a whole host of endocrine tests. If her results are normal (which we really hope), then we're off to another speciality clinic at Children's (the infant growth division). We're not overly concerned (it's all relative, right?) because if it's hormonal, we can likely fix it with a pill or shot; and if it's not, the growth experts can hopefully help us develop a feeding plan for her to help her bulk up. We ran through the typical updates on Taylor's various specialists and that was pretty much it. The topper - three immunization shots in her legs - with blood draws from her arms tomorrow. Poor kid is going to be one tough cookie when all is said and done.

Anyway, enough about that. We're trying to savor the joy of sending Lauren on her way to kindergarten - we're so proud of her. She's good to cuddle Taylor and play with her in the morning and when she gets home - Taylor just lights up when she sees her. We're so blessed to have such sweet kids in our family.