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.

Hair Club for Babies

A mother’s confession…

“I was embarrassed by my son’s baldness. I used to work for hours arranging the few long pieces of hair he had so it would cover the rest of his head.”

Does this sound familiar? It was the story with me for several months. I have to admit that I am guilty. Yes, my own baby, Mr. H, has been the victim of the baby comb-over.

It was getting to the point where it was obvious. I could see it in the faces of other mothers. I wasn’t fooling anyone. My baby was bald…and something had to be done about it.

I made an appointment at the Hair Club for Babies. They were so sweet and understanding there. They helped us choose the right solution for our son’s embarrassing baldness issue. It was quick and relatively painless. And, thankfully, his hair plugs seem to be coming along quite nicely.

Hope you are having a good hair day!

Halloween Recap

As a mother I feel obligated to post pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes. So here goes…

There was the Incredible Hulk,

Black Spiderman,

A beautiful butterfly,

My adorable little pumpkin,

And Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile

It was a spooktacular night!!

Election Day 2008

A Birthday for Big D

Every year on our middle kids' birthdays, we write letters to their birthmothers highlighting that child's activities and development. We also include a dozen or so pictures of the child for her to see. The adoption agency keeps these letters in a file and passes them along if the birthmother asks about them. We have letters for all three kids from each year of their lives saved for them to read someday. They are also fun for keeping family and friends up to date about how much each child has grown and what they are doing.

Today is Big D’s birthday, and here is this year’s letter…

Dear Birthmother,

We can hardly believe another year has passed so quickly. Big D is seven years old already and is a big first grader. He reads very well and is learning basic math skills easily. He takes weekly spelling tests and usually gets them all right PLUS the bonus word. He does very careful work and his handwriting is excellent. He works very hard in school and we are very proud of him.

Big D has grown quite a bit since we last wrote. He now weighs 50 pounds and is over 4 feet tall. He went to Six Flags over the summer and was tall enough for almost every ride there. He is a good athlete, playing baseball, soccer and basketball. He also loves to run and to swim. It is fun to watch how enthusiastic he is about whatever sport or game he is playing.

Big D is a natural leader. Not only have his teachers told us that, but we have seen the way he interacts with other kids. He can get a rowdy group of boys to play an organized game of freeze tag in no time at all. We have also called him “the enforcer” on occasion. He is very good at reminding others about the rules.

Our family has grown since our last letter. Big D has a 6-month-old baby brother named Mr. H. By now Big D is a pro at being a big brother, but he’s even older and stronger this time around. He loves to pick up the baby, feed him his baby food, and he’s even changed a diaper or two. Big D also has even more cousins this year. He currently has 16 cousins, and the number won’t stop there. We sure love that our kids have their cousins to grow up with.

Big D is still a picky eater, but he is eating more and more all the time. When it comes to pizza, he can eat just about as much as we can! He asked to eat out at Applebee’s for his birthday dinner this year. He’s still interested in all the superheroes, too. He got an Incredible Hulk costume and giant foam Hulk fists for his birthday. I’m pretty sure that both Big D and C.B. still think there are real superheroes out there somewhere…and that their uncle is probably one of them.

As we have mentioned, adoption is a pretty common subject in our household. Big D is aware that he was adopted into our family and we talk about it with him continually. We want him to know as much about his birth family as possible and about the process of his adoption. Any information you could share with us would only help him understand more about you and your selfless act of love. We invite you to write us a letter back, or to write something to Big D for him to read when he is old enough.

We hope that all is well with you. You are in our thoughts and prayers in thanksgiving for your generous gift to us. We can’t thank you enough for filling our lives and our hearts with a little boy to love. May God bless you.

Sincerely,
Big D’s Mom and Dad

Early Trick-or-Treating

I took a couple of not-so-scary little monsters to a Halloween party today. Banana's preschool class celebrated a little early because they don't have school next week. I can't get over the amount of candy that came home with us, especially since the class only has eleven kids in it. Banana went as a beautiful butterfly.

And Mr. H was a perfect little pumpkin.

The rest of the kids are still making up their minds about costumes. Of course you can expect more pictures when the final decisions have been made.

A 3-year-old Banana

Every year on our middle kids' birthdays, we write letters to their birthmothers highlighting that child's activities and development. We also include a dozen or so pictures of the child for her to see. The adoption agency keeps these letters in a file and passes them along if the birthmother asks about them. We have letters for all three kids from each year of their lives saved for them to read someday. They are also fun for keeping family and friends up to date about how much each child has grown and what they are doing. Since today is Banana's third birthday, I decided to post her letter here, along with some of our favorite pictures.

Dear Birthmother,

We hope this letter finds you in good health and good spirits. It’s hard to believe another year has passed, and that Banana is already three years old. The “diva” of the family has been growing up fast, both physically and mentally. She is very tall for her age – about 3 feet and 3 inches – and she weighs 32 pounds. She has a head full of dark curly hair, which she can't stand having combed. It is darling when she lets us take our time with it. She already has strong opinions about her shoes and clothing, and she can get dressed almost all by herself too.

Banana started going to preschool this fall. She is enjoying the days she is at school and asks about going even on the days she isn’t scheduled to go. She already knows a lot of her letters and some numbers too. She loves the singing and dancing they do at school and always brings home at least three art projects that she has made for us.

We would no longer describe Banana as a good eater. While she eats a huge breakfast and has healthy snacks and lunches, she rarely eats dinner with the rest of us. She will sit and say the dinner prayer with us, but she will be “all done” before much of anything is actually missing from her plate. This might explain why she has such big breakfasts!

Banana recently moved into a “big bed”. She still takes a nap most every afternoon and she sleeps very well at night. She is always up early enough to see the three older kids off to school. She loves waving to them from the front door as they drive off with Dad. She always says, “They’re funny!” as they wave to her from the car.

We mentioned in our last letter that Banana would be a big sister. Well, her little brother Mr. H arrived in April and things haven‘t been the same since. We were wondering if there would be any jealousy issues. Fortunately, since the new baby turned out to be a boy, Banana maintained her “diva” status in the family. She is a good big sister. She holds him, gives him his favorite toys, and makes him laugh all the time. Then she tells him, “You’re funny, Mr. H!” She thinks everyone is funny.

Since three of our five children joined the family through adoption, it is something we talk about a lot in our house. We want Banana to know about her adoption as well as her birth family. Any information you could give us about yourself or your family would help us to share more of the “Story of Banana” with her.

We hope that you recognize what a special gift Banana is to us. Because you have touched our hearts with your gift, you are continually in our thoughts and prayers. We hope that you are both happy and healthy. We will be keeping in touch as our little diva continues to grow.

Sincerely,
Banana’s Mom and Dad