Your buds will fatten up! Trust me, they will! I see a lot of white hairs/pistils still sticking out of your girl and she looks lovely and I bet she is super sticky!
The defoliation looks good. I wouldn't worry too much about those bottom buds. You can remove if you like. I personally remove them within the first 2 weeks of flower. Sometimes i even get a long branch with no growth on it other than the top, and I snip those too.
One thing you can do to increase yield of the smaller ones is try to introduce light in that area, add side lighting if you are able to. One thing that makes a huge difference to me is Light & Airflow.
Now, this tip I can give ya really works well for me. During your feeding add molasses. Buds LOVE LOVE LOVE molasses during flower. Just a teaspoon or tablespoon, I dont measure, I just pour the molasses in the water, then PH, then feed!