Kendall's First Birthday Party

This past Saturday we had Kendall's birthday party here at our house. Since the party was on Valentine's Day, I decided to do a heart-themed party. My parents, my sister, Scott's parents, and one of my nieces were all able to come celebrate with us. Just like her sister, Kendall was not too keen on the birthday hat (but it looked so cute!) and was not too sure about everyone staring at her and singing. But, unlike Avery she actually played around with her birthday cake some and even ate a few bites. Of course Avery felt the need to try to show her what to do and proceeded to scoop a huge blob of icing off the cake and then shovel it into her mouth as we all silently gagged in the background. It was cute to see her "help" Kendall though. Avery also added a little humor by attempting to sing the "Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo" version of the birthday song to her after we did the regular one. Kendall really liked her presents and was so busy playing with all of them that we had a hard time getting very many good pictures of that part. She got an Elmo phone that can be programmed with her name, a pink "Build a Bear" monkey w/ velcro arms , some sand toys, a See & Say, a unicorn backpack from the San Diego zoo, lots of books, gift cards to Children's Place and Baby Gap, and some shoes. I think she had a good time and it was a success overall.

Today I took her for her one year check-up. She weighed 20 lbs, 1 oz. (I can't believe she finally cracked the 20 lb. mark!) and was 28 in. long. So she is finally over the 25%ile in weight. Bad news, however, is that the reflux has made a return lately. When I first weaned her and put her on formula around Christmas she had a little trouble for a week or two, but then seemed to be doing fine until just the past couple of weeks. She's back to the gurguly burps, hiccups and even spitting up some too--ugh! So, the Dr. put her back on Zantac to see if that helps. I was not too thrilled about putting her back on meds, but I was also concerned about her. I don't want her hurting or developing any more food issues or aversions than she already has. Mealtime with Kendall can already be enough of a battle without her refluxing. So, I guess we'll try the Zantac again and see if that makes a difference. Other than that, she is completely healthy and reaching her milestones right on track. Speaking of milestones, she is getting a little braver and actually took two steps yesterday as opposed to her usual one and then lunging for you. And tonight she said "dog" very clearly and also "biba" (Bible) when she was patting her little Bible as I sang a church nursery song to her. Fun times ahead with all of that! The speech pathologist in me cannot wait!