15 month check up - 17 months old

This picture is when she was about 15 months old, so it's relevant to this post :)

Took her to the doctor yesterday, she is 17 months old, so a bit behind on well checks due to a health insurance issue that took about a month to fix, now it's all squared away :)

Height: 32 inches  - 75%
Weight: 23 lbs. 7 oz. - 50 %
Head: 18 7/8cm - 90%

This is from my facebook:

"So after lots of time, I think we've pinpointed that Claire may have a VERY strong aversion to all milk products (don't think she's allergic, b/c no extreme reactions). Therefore, Dairy free peeps, I need your help! 

So grateful that Heavenly Father is looking out for me and her and I was able to have inspiration, mother's intuition, a "thought" whatever you might call it, answer my prayers and search for answers on this girl.

My evidence is 5 dairy free days and she was sleeping 11:30-6:30am uninterrupted!!!! Last night she managed to get Luke's sippy cup FULL of milk and downed at least half of it....the night was terrible with unending wake ups and crying.

Good news: I think I know now how to help her!"

Talked to the Doctor about dairy intolerance, said she was shocked that we found success b/c her symptoms didn't sound like a reason to remove dairy.  

Asked about her curved left foot....said just to watch and wait.  That nothing can be done, only would be put in a brace if it caused her to fall and she couldn't walk b/c it.

Still has a small herniated belly button.  Not to worry til she is 5.  Should go away on it's own.

I've noticed an improvement in her patchy eczema skin since removing dairy.  She still has dry skin but no patches.  Will keep watching this b/c it might have just been a way she was showing us her problem.

So grateful for all that we've learned in the past 2 weeks to help this girl! 

Measles, my thoughts.

Warning, stop reading if you are easily offended.

Did you know that children do not receive their first MMR (Measles Mumps Rubella) vaccine until they're 15 months old?  This means that Claire has been unprotected against these diseases until now.  This is not by choice, it is not allowed to be given earlier.

When the ebola scare was going on I thought, if one of us caught Ebola, we would all die, due to my children sharing their germs with one another constantly, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

I can and do choose to protect my children against other preventable diseases.  But, as I learned yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to protect her up until 15 months old.  There is no choice to babies and toddlers up until that age.

I felt like it was my duty to get a whooping cough vaccine before having Luke and Claire, they're too little to protect themselves and it's usually the adult that spreads it to them, before they have a chance to be immunized.

I'm sure I won't change anyone's mind about vaccines.

In Hawaii and Polynesia the first birthday is a HUGE celebration, bigger than some high school graduation celebrations I've seen on the Mainland, this is b/c to make it to the first birthday was a huge celebration and used to be rare.  Children would often die before one.

I know this was common in most other places in the world.  A huge factor was diseases killed these little ones.

We have the chance to protect our littles from these diseases now with vaccines and I feel strongly that we need to protect them and all others who have poor immune systems.

My dad had cancer and a bone marrow transplant.  He had a compromised immune system for YEARS after the bone marrow transplant.  He COULDN'T be protected if he encountered one of these diseases.  Claire COULDN'T have been protected up until 15 months.

Do we really want to put all of these people, babies and toddlers at risk of illness and death from diseases that don't need to be around anymore?

Just food for thought.