18 month check up

23 lbs. 15.5 oz. (lets just call her an even 24 lbs, shall we!)

50% weight (same %)
50-75% height (gone up from 50%) maybe she will get my above average height!
50-75% head circ. (same %)

surprising news: she can have peanut butter, just not peanuts. Doc says they are a choking hazard but no longer an allergic issue.

reassuring news: Doc asked if I was planning on going back to work any time soon. I said, "No".
Doc then said that I was doing a great job with her (she sees a big difference in her development since last visit) and that I should keep up the good work. I always felt that it would be harder for Ella to catch up if she was in a daycare, now I guess I get a bit of reassurance on that front.

All in all, it was a good visit. She only had to get one vaccination and stopped crying immediately after I picked her up. Horray Ella!

photographs

OK, one of our favorite new games is to roll these balls up and down the hallway and chasing after them. I just thought that it was time to post another picture and this one seemed really cute.

On the subject of pictures: I finally got her into a studio today to get professional shots taken. She hasn't had any done since she was 9 months old. That was half her life ago!

To anyone who doesn't like to get professional shots taken because of the price: learn to work the system! I got 5 sheets of pictures in 3 different poses for less than $13 today. That is a hard one to beat. Here are some rules to follow:

-Don't get roped into their special combinations. They are never worth it.

-Don't get any special borders. They can double the price of a sheet of photos.

-Always bring coupons.

-Buy into the portrait club if you plan on going at least 2 times during the duration of the membership (2 years @ JC Penny). It will pay for itself that fast.

So how did I save so much money today? Well, I belong to the club so I didn't have to pay a sitting fee. I brought a coupon that got me a free 8x10 and I used an extra on my membership to get another sheet of photos for free. That takes me down to 3 sheets of photos left to pay for. My coupon also allowed me to get them for $4 a piece.

Now, if I had gotten the special borders on even one of the sheets of photos then I couldn't have used the coupon the way I did. They tried to talk me into a "package" where the special borders are included but I would have gotten 6 sheets (just one more than I actually got today) for around $60!

By the way, the best deal is to only choose one pose and get the $7.99 package deal where you get about 5 or 6 sheets of pics. But who can chose only one pose when they are so cute!