My two girls

Today Bronwyn and Aubrey had appointments with our doctor. Bronwyn's 4-year well-care visit was about 2 weeks late; Aubrey's 1-year well-care visit was about 2 weeks early. (Works well for me that we could do both on the same day.)

It was just the girls with me when we went, thanks to Nanz, who stayed home with the boys so that Jackson could take his afternoon nap. As I got them in and out of the van and walked into the office, I found myself trying to imagine if it were just them, or if my kids were more like 3 years apart in age instead of the 18 months they are. Life would definitely be simpler in many ways were that the case. There would be a lot less squabbles (at least for now), that's for sure! But I can't imagine Bronwyn without her brother-playmates. God sure knows what's best for each of us.

I was only embarrassed a couple times by Bronwyn. Like when she confidently answered the doctor's question regarding whether or not she sits in a carseat with, "Nope." You can be sure I was the recipient of a rather shocked expression and had to quickly explain that she's very excited about no longer being in a carseat but in a booster seat that she received from Grandma and Pap-Pap as a birthday gift.

Bronwyn continues to be at the top of the charts growth-wise. Her 42lbs puts her in the 85% and her 40.75" put her in the 71%. She and Gabriel are regularly neck-and-neck size-wise until he pulls ahead every so often with a bit of a growth spurt.

Aubrey, on the other hand, took a bit of a nose-dive percentile-wise, though I got many comments about how healthy she's looking and acting. She's 16lbs4oz and 28" long, and her head circumference is 17.75"-- less than the 3%, the 15%, and the 40%. I think the her increased mobility is the reason for such minimal growth these past couple months (a little over 1lb). No big deal except it means that we're still quite a ways off from being able to turn her forward-facing in the vehicle, which usually makes babies happier it seems.

[Warning: bunny trail]

Sometimes I just want to throw percentiles out the window anyway. I mean, I understand that there needs to be some frame of reference, but I also think our culture too highly esteems averages when it comes to our children, particularly their health and academic abilities. Ugh.

[End bunny trail]

It was just a brief 1.5 hours of time spent in a less-than-exciting fashion, but it was fun nonetheless. We talked about dresses and pink and dolls and Aubrey's upcoming birthday and clogs and braids and our vegetable garden. We swung our clasped hands as we walked through the parking lot. We hugged a lot and shared "secrets."

I'm so thankful they're healthy (Bronwyn's incision looks great and Aubrey is all-around looking wonderful!).

I love my girls.