All grown up, but too short to go!

As 2008 draws to a close, I thought I'd race the clock to try to get at least one more post up (so at least then I could say I got two new posts in for the month of December... which sounds only slightly less pathetic than just one!)

Let me start off by saying that Jeff and I are pleased to announce that we are in fact just raising two healthy babies, and not, in fact, a family of black holes (as some may have interpreted my last post as implying).

In fact, according to Tyler's and Austin's most recent trip to the pediatrician, they are moving up the baby growth charts quite smoothly and uneventfully. Whew!

First, let's take a peek at Tyler's new stats... At the tender young age of just 19 months (that's slightly over 1-1/2 years for those who don't like speaking in months), Tyler measured in as follows:

• Length (or should we be calling it height now??): 35" -- This means he's now taller than 97% of all the other toddlers his age. Although we're not growing black holes, it appears that we are raising at least one kid who's part weed.

• Weight: 28 lbs. -- Weighing at the 77th percentile of others his age seems rather respectable for little Ty since, as just stated, he's also quiet a bit taller than the average toddler-bear!

• Head: 47 cm, which puts him smack-dab in the 50% of his age group. Not bad considering he started life closer to the 10% range.

Now on to our gurgle-boy, Austin... We were a bit more concerned about how Austin would measure up considering he's developed quite the affinity for food - which almost borders on an obsession...

• Length: 25-3/4" -- Unlike his sprouting brother, Austin is not quite as gifted in the area of height. He's only taller than a mere 75% of his cohorts.
  

• Weight: 16.2 lbs. -- Not as scary as we were expecting, so he must be pooping more than we think. This also puts him in line with 75% of his peers - which sounds pretty good to us right now!
  

• Head: 42.5 cm. Just like his brother, Austin is smack-dab in the 50% of his age group.

Considering that at around Austin's age, Tyler was in the 97% for height, 50-75% for weight, and 25% for head, I'd say it's safe to assume that, at least until he starts working off some of his milk gut with baby push-ups and marathons, Austin is destined to be the slightly shorter, slightly rounder baby of the family.

But, chubby as he is right now, he sure is a cutie!

As for Austin's first Christmas, well... it's a bit of a blur for him. All he knows is that Tyler has now found more objects to toss in his lap when he's lounging in his swing or on his boppy. He really likes his new toys - like his musical snake, singing flowers, and stuffed Grover - but would probably prefer to play with them one at a time instead of all at once.

Tyler, on the other hand, is just starting to finally "get" Christmas. Or the toy/present part of it at least. He had a great time discovering all his new treasures. Some of them he still has to do a little growing into, unfortunately, like his new Big Wheel and Fisher-Price Smartcycle - but he still likes trying them out (just can't quite reach the pedals yet...)

Okay... on that note, I must quickly end my post for today or I'm going to miss my December window of opportunity!

How do you fill a black hole?

Okay, so earlier today while clearing my head from lots of stuff I've been working on at my day job, I decided to take a peak at the much more frequently updated blog of Austin's second cousin, Henry (although you might know him better as Barnabas Monkeypants).

In the blog, Henry's father laments the fact that Henry is a hoover - sucking up anywhere from 20-36 ounces of milk each day - and that Henry's doctor was none too pleased.

Henry is just shy of 4 months old. Austin is almost 5 months old. So, where am I going with this blog post? Well, if Henry is a hoover, then Austin is a black hole.

You see, when it comes to food, Austin could probably gulp and eat little Henry under the table - in fact, I'm starting to think he might just decide to eat little Henry instead! I guess this could explain why Austin's become a bit more rotund than Tyler was at this age.

For example, here's Austin's intake for today alone...

• Five 6-ounce bottles of formula (with a slow nipple, of course, because Austin prefers to savor his milk and gets really ticked off if you try to pull a "fast one" on him...)
• 1-2 tablespoons of baby cereal
• 1 container of Gerber bananas (level 1 foods) - divided between 2 feedings
• 1 container of Gerber sweet potatoes (level 1 foods)

At least Austin's cut out his last bottle of milk in the evenings preferring to sleep instead (he's out, on average, from about 7:30pm until we wake him up the next day at 6:30am - definitely inherited his mommy's desire for lots of sleep...)

Yes, as stated in a previous post, Austin doesn't just LIKE his baby food, he DEVOURS IT! Lunging for each spoonful like a vulture attacks its prey.

In fact, last night at dinner, Austin's bumbo seat was positioned about 6 inches from a container of carrots that only people with teeth could enjoy. By the end of the meal, Austin was leaning precariously close to the carrot container, had grasped the end of the spoon in his hand, and had opened his mouth as wide as possible in anticipation.

Fortunately, Jeff caught him before he could proceed any further and moved the carrots to a safer distance from the little toothless vulturette - but that just sent Austin into a raging bout of tears. So, I caved and gave him the rest of his baby bananas from the fridge. Then, he demanded more and proceeded to chase it with a full container of Gerber apples.

I'm really serious here... this kid knows what food is, wants it now, and thinks he knows all about how to get it!

Tyler still hasn't mastered the concept of using utensils... but was almost shown up by his 4.5 month old little brother. How sad is that??

So, needless to say, both Tyler and Austin are due for their checkups this Friday (Tyler @ 19 months; Austin @5 months). Should be interesting to see how the little guy measures out on the scale... But, I'm a little nervous about where the results will land!

Should we start taking bets now on what percentage range his weight will fall into?? Hmm....