Every Day with Eli: May 5

Today is my dad's birthday, but we opted not to celebrate today. Instead, it was more of Daisy's birthday.

First, Daisy had her 6-year well check at our doctor's office. Luckily, my mom was off work and offered to watch the other kids, so just Daisy and I could go.

We snuggled in the waiting room

We read in the exam room. The appointment before us had our doc running seriously late, so we had to wait about 45 minutes. Daisy read this whole book to me!

And then the exam. It was all great - Daisy is healthy and strong. When our doctor went to check Daisy's height and weight, she looked up at me in shock.

Daisy's weight? 50th percentile.

Daisy's height? 70th percentile.

That's my girl!

A reminder: we switched to this doctor when Daisy was just a month old because she wasn't gaining weight. It turned out she had a tongue tie, and our doc was able to address that and help us get breastfeeding going well. Still, Daisy has always been skinny. By the time she turned one, she was no longer on the growth charts, and we were concerned that she had some malabsorption issues. She was even tested for cystic fibrosis! Eventually we got on the GAPS diet, which helped Daisy gain weight. But she has always, always, ALWAYS been skinny.

To see her solidly at the 50th percentile? It was such a delightful surprise!

We left the doctor's office grinning, and went back to pick up the other kids from my mom. It has been flooding lately, so Mom and I decided to take the kids on a tour of the floodwater.

This is my mom's favorite place to go watch the river. Usually there is a dock she sits on, way out past the trees. Now it's all underwater.

Down on Main Street, the train tracks are underwater.

The kids were pretty impressed by the flooding.

We totally shouldn't look so cheerful when surveying floodwater, but it was a lovely day and we were all together.

Impressive, right?

Until you see this:

There is a plaque on the wall right by Lily's face - it looks like a black mark. It indicates the high-water mark during the flood of 1993. Now look on the left side of the picture, where today's floodwater is. It's a good perspective. I remember when my parents took me to see the flood water here in 1993. I was 12. My sisters and I sat on the yellow curb near this same spot and watched the floodwater lap up against it.

Lunch time! The children were wild and I was stressed, but it was still nice.

Once we got home and got the little ones down for naps, Daisy and I went outside to take her birthday pictures.

She chose to wear a birthday gift for her pictures. Gayle got her this dress, and a matching one for Anya, and Daisy is in love. This picture is at the entrance to Caleb and Daisy's "Secret Hideout".

(Not pictured: the 20 minutes I spent spraying Anya's hair with conditioner and water, trying to get all the tangles out so that it looks as nice as it does.)