Look At ‘Em Grow!!

I took Banana and Mr. H to the doctor this past week for their checkups. One of my favorite things about taking my kids to the doctor is finding out their weight and height. Not only is it exciting to watch them grow; to me those numbers represent progress.

I went in thinking that Mr. H was probably going to weigh too much to stay in his infant carrier. It has a 22 pound limit, and I was sure he was getting there. It turns out that he didn’t even hit the 20 pound mark. But he was close – 19 pounds, 14 ounces. This weight puts him only in the 50th percentile; surprising because we are always being told what a big boys he is. He is still the biggest baby we’ve had. None of the other kids weighed this much at one year, and he is only nine months. He measured 29 inches long, which is in the 75th percentile. I have my suspicions that he will end up being a pretty tall kid.

I was wondering about the Banana’s weight because she has been on a dinner strike for about a week now. It doesn’t seem to matter what we have for dinner, it just isn’t what she wants. She weighed in at 32 pounds, which is about the 50th percentile for her age. Her height was almost 40 inches, putting her in the 90th percentile. She is definitely going to be a tall beauty someday. She is almost the same height as her big brother C.B. Granted, he’s on the smaller side for his age. They make quite a pair, though!

It is such a rewarding experience for a mother to know that her children are healthy. For me it is reassurance that I must be doing something right!

Down in the Cabbage Patch

I grew up in the 80’s. I had a typical childhood, similar to other people my age who grew up in the Midwest. In fact, those e-mails that come around saying, “You know you grew up in the 80‘s if…” are usually a pretty accurate representation of my childhood. However, I never owned a Cabbage Patch Kid. I honestly can’t remember if it was because I truly didn’t want one, or if my parents just didn’t get me one. Either way, I don’t stay awake at night feeling like something was missing in my childhood because of it.

The reason I am bringing up Cabbage Patch Kids is because I recently discovered one living in our house. He shows up mostly at mealtime, but we have caught glimpses of him at other times too. He has the same big, round eyes and sweet, puffy cheeks as the 1980’s models…

…but we think our Cabbage Patch Kid is more adorable than any of those plastic faced dollies in the store.

And this one doesn’t have some guy’s name sewn onto his butt.

A Pictorial Review

In trying to write my first post since the beginning of November I decided to look through my pictures for inspiration. Although I didn’t have my camera with me for all of the events of the past two months, these are some of the highlights.

Thanksgiving was at our house again this year. We were joined by relatives from both IN-town and OUT-of-town. The dinner spread was quite impressive.

We put up our Christmas tree the week after Thanksgiving. The tree was on its thirteenth year of service to our family and we decided this was to be its last Christmas. The kids still enjoyed hanging our ever-growing collection of ornaments on its branches.

Banana was worn out after only a few ornaments.

While Mr. H played in the box that we use to store the decorations.

My grandma came from Texas for a long visit. I love that my kids are able to spend time with their great-grandmother. We had so much fun celebrating Christmas with her a little early.

We went caroling at a local nursing home with the Reddy family.

And this year there were a few special performances added to the usual lineup.

Mr. H and his baby cousin wore matching outfits to the caroling event.

The kids made a wonderful gingerbread house with their cousins.

I made chocolate covered pretzels for gifts this year.

We also made six different kinds of cookies. I wish I had gotten a picture of those. We had some especially delicious varieties this year. In fact, we gave some to our mailman who wrote us a thank you note saying they were the best cookies he’s ever eaten!

Mr. H learned to crawl about a week before Christmas. Now that he’s on the move, he really keeps us hoppin’!

Christmas Eve was spent with the whole Reddy family. Even Uncle Dan was there this year! Grandma and Grandpa made each of the grandkids a t-shirt with their number on it - in the order that they were born into the family. That’s 21 t-shirts!

Christmas morning is always an adventure here.

Mr. H was pretty sleepy and didn’t quite know what to do.

The aftermath was awesome.

We spent the rest of the day eating and playing at Gramma and Grampa’s house.

Grandma and Grandpa Reddy took the whole family to Pump It Up to play again this year. What a fabulous gift for everyone!!

We spent New Years Eve with friends. It was lots of fun. We ate too much and stayed up way past our bedtime.

Which brings us up to date. Holiday vacation is over and it’s back to reality. Resolutions are in place and my list of things I’d like to do in 2009 is growing. Thank goodness I have all year to work on it!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!

After a long and much needed blogging break, I hope to be back this new year with some regularity (whatever that means.) As for today's post, I am simply placing a video here because it is the kids' current favorite.




Best wishes to you and to your loved ones in 2009 from all of us at the Reddy Zoo.