You've come a long way, babies

Not wanting Trace and Alysse to get four shots each along with their birthday gifts, we held off on their one-year check-up visits to the pediatrician a week. Today was the day, which promised shots, crying and the typical "can he/she walk?" questions.

The visit lived up to our expectations, minus shots (the crying was delivered even sans shots). Given that each have had varying levels of fever over the last couple of days, Dr. Thind suggested we return some time in the next few weeks for the shot giving.

Trace tipped the scale at 21 pounds, seven ounces and Alysse weighed in at 22 pounds even. Hello, you little porkers, you've more than tripled your birth weight thanks to your voracious eating habits.

Their first visit to Dr. Thind's office was February 28, 2007. At that time Trace weighed five pounds, 12 ounces and Alysse weighed six pounds, four ounces. Plotting their stats on the growth chart, she informed us Trace was in the fifth percentile and Alysse was near the tenth percentile.

Over the course of the year they've obviously made strides. Moving from their original low percentiles steadily in the right direction. At their six month check-ups, the doctor reported they were no longer considered "premature babies" in comparison to their peers.

Today's visit taught us that Trace is now slightly above the 25^th percentile in weight and Alysse is around the 35^th percentile. While still not the 75^th percentile babies we had with Alena and Alivia's weights, considering our starting points, I'd say we've come a long way.

In other findings, we also learned both have head circumferences well above the 50^th percentile. As head circumference is directly related to brain growth, I suppose we should be less worried with waistlines and more pleased with our little bobblehead-sized brains.