Henry's 9month wellness exam was yesterday at 3:20. Everything went well and everyone marveled at how big he is. The nurse said Henry is bigger than her 15month old, and he's probably bigger than Stephen was at 15months. According to the (highly suspect and most likely inaccurate) height measurement, Henry is only half an inch taller/longer than Stephen was at that age, but Henry is just big--big hands, broad shoulders.

The doctor also ordered an infant anemia test, which requires drawing blood. This was a disaster when Stephen had to go through it, but the Doctor witnessed his own child being butchered since then, so now he gets everyone to go to the hospital to get blood drawn from their nine-month-old. We have to do that some time soon.

Age: 9 months
Weight: 21lbs, 1oz
Height: 29"
Head Circumference: 18"

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Stephen's 9-month checkup stats.

Henry went to his six month wellness exam today. He is now off the charts in height and at the 95th percentile for weight. He is catching up to his brother in height and weight (and his brother is 22 months older than him). After we finish this case of diapers, we are just going to move him up to the size of diapers Stephen is wearing. So we'll have a 7 month old and a 30 month old wearing the same size of diapers.

Age: 6 months, 2 weeks
Length: 29 inches
Weight: 20lbs, 13oz
Head Circum: 17 inches

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Stephen's six-month checkup stats.

Jaime took Henry to his four-month wellness checkup last Friday. He is still a very big boy. By this time, Stephen had begun to thin out, but Henry is still clinging to that "97th plus" percentile.

Age: 4 months, 1 day
Length: 26 inches
Weight: 18lbs, 11oz
Head Circum: 17 inches

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He got several vaccinations and acted fussy through the rest of the day and night. The doctor said we can start giving him rice cereal and diluted apple juice. It seems earlier than last time. I think we gave Stephen some cereal just before his six-month appointment and didn't give him juice until he was over 6 months.

I took Stephen to his 2year wellness checkup yesterday. He is right at the 50th percentile in weight, height, and head size. So, despite the fact that he looks like a stringbean, he is right in line with where his age should be. The doctor asked a series of questions regarding Stephen's language development and said he's doing just fine. The fact that he understands everything we say and can mimic words we say is a better indication of language development than being able to speak, or so he claims. The doctor said speaking is more of a choice and comprehension develops on its own. He said that 30 months is basically a firm deadline for when children should begin speaking, but some people (Einstein being a famous example) start speaking as late as age 4 and end up perfectly normal.

Well well. We suspected Henry was a big baby, but it's hard to tell without the proper measurements. Jaime took him to his 2month checkup yesterday and he was 15lbs, 110z. He's closing in on doubling his birth weight at two months old (that usually happens between 4-6 months). That weight at his age (9.5weeks) puts him in the "97th plus percentile." Basically, he's off the charts.

Age: 9.5 weeks
Weight: 15lbs, 11oz
Height: 24"
Head Circum: 16"

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To put Henry's weight in perspective, Stephen weighed 16lb 11oz at his 6month checkup. Henry's visit to the doctor yesterday also meant that he got a lot of shots. He did not do too well with them, he had some major pain issues between 5-10pm. Overall, things seem to be going well. I can't believe our vacation is in nine days.

I was slightly nervous about Stephen's 18-month wellness checkup because he's still not saying much. Also, I think this was the first time that Stephen actually remembered the doctor's office. He was a little nervous/quiet in the lobby. We were called back almost immediately, though, and I quickly recognized my favorite nurse (chubby girl with emo glasses).

In short, the doctor was worrying me for nothing. I'll paraphrase what he said "It seems to me that Stephen is saying 2 or 3 words right now. Considering the fact that he knows his body parts and clearly understands a lot of speech, he's right on track. Even if I was concerned about his speech (which I am not), I couldn't recommend speech therapy until he was two years old."

Immediately after the doctor's appointment, Stephen began using many more sounds. Right on cue, right? He can suddenly say "hot" (minus the t) and imitate many sounds (like a "j" sound, "g" sound, "k" sound).

Another great result of this doctor's appointment: Stephen doesn't need any more shots until kindergarten. He's all vaccinated.

This is the last time I'm going to post his stats because they are less and less relevant with every visit. In a three-month period, he supposedly jumped from the 40th percentile to the 90th percentile in height. In the real world, that's probably not possible. The doctor said the measurement was probably to blame (since they didn't measure him while he was standing upright).

Age: 18months
Height: 34"
Weight: 24lbs, 3.5oz

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Went to the doctor today... everything checked out.. again. Little Stephen is still hugging that 25th percentile in all categories. 15 months old and still no words. The doctor also yelled at me for not brushing Stephen's teeth.

Age: 15months
Height: 30"
Weight: 22lbs, 9oz
Head Circum: 18.25"

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Went to the doctor today... everything checked out. He said Stephen seems to be small but proportional. Once I told him that Stephen eats a large variety of foods and showed him that Stephen could walk, he said "He's right on track." He also said I could feed the boy anything except peanut products, and that I should complete the switch from formula to cow's milk.

Age: 12months
Height: 29"
Weight: 20lbs, 6oz
Head Circum: 18"

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Stephen had his nine month checkup today. He has fallen to the tenth percentile in weight. Doctor said it's not a big deal and that it doesn't mean he's not getting enough to eat, but he also said "We'll have to keep an eye on his weight next time." Yeah, really? You mean you're going to weigh him next time? Wow. He got one shot and got blood drawn to test for Anemia. He was a champ for the shot, didn't even make a move. Then I had to take him down to the lab, still unclothed, to get blood drawn for a standard 9month Anemia test.

This is where things went south. We got our name called quickly, the nurse got Stephen's ticket and went back to the back area where the "boss man" was, and asked how they should proceed, etc. I could see and hear them through a little open area and they couldn't figure out how old he was for like three minutes. Then they had every nurse in there... "you hold his hand, I'll hold his head, we'll put this bar down over his legs.. ok, ready?"

So, they tied the tourniquet on his upper left arm and proceeded to stick him inside his left elbow about 20 times without finding the vein. Stephen never even moved or cried or looked like he felt it at all. Then they switched to the right arm. After about 20 more pricks (no exaggeration), they found a vein. Stephen felt this and was a little upset. Since they had all given up hope on this working, everyone had abandoned their stations, so Stephen's hand and foot were unrestrained (he was sitting in my lap this whole time, but there's only so much I can do). He began wiggling around and crying a little bit, and the guy was like "we lost it."

So THEN, with gauze taped to the inside of both of Stephen's elbows, they pricked his thumb and collected a whole vial of blood drop by drop. They let some drip on my pants.. ugh.. it was quite clear that I thought they were inept. They kept marveling at how good Stephen was being, and apologizing to me. Their (approximately one dozen) apologies were met with cold, silent stares, but other than that I was polite, patient, and understanding.

Things like this are the disadvantage of not going to a Pediatrician. We take Stephen to a general practitioner, because he is my doctor and I like him. I don't have a problem with the doctor at all, but when it comes to performing procedures on a tiny human body, some of the people are not very experienced. All in all, it was much worse for me than it was for Stephen. He cried for a total of three minutes, which is probably what would have happened if everything had gone as planned.

The reason they do not typically prick the thumbs of babies quickly became evident as the guy put three band aids on Stephen's thumb, all while Stephen was trying to stick his thumb in his mouth. The whole time I was checking out, we were battling over what Stephen put in his mouth. I would put the pacifier in; he would spit it out and stick his thumb in there. Then, back in the waiting room on my way out, I got Stephen dressed again. I kept his whole right arm inside the outfit so he couldn't suck his thumb. By the time I got home, I pulled his arm through the sleeve and took the band aids off. The bleeding had stopped. We managed to not ruin anything with blood stains (my pants are dark grey so they should be fine). He was extremely tired after his HIB shot, but now he's happy as a clam and standing next to the shelves where we keep his toys, destroying everything in sight.

Age: 9months
Height: 28.5"
Weight: 17lbs, 10oz
Head Circum: 17.5"

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As of this previous Sunday, Stephen is six months old. That means the dreaded doctor's appointment and all the "necessary" shots were today. It was supposed to be five shots, but they had one shot that was a combination of three, so it was reduced to three shots and an oral vaccination.

Age: 6 months
Weight: 16lbs, 11.5oz
Height: 27"
Head Circum: 17"

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He is above the median height, but below the median weight. So far, not a fat baby at all--taller and lighter than the average (his dad was a fat baby). Also, the doctor said he is far ahead of the normal schedule for development. He didn't even ask me if Stephen was crawling yet (which he is). He asked a battery of questions pertaining to development, but it was all stuff Stephen could do two months ago. "Can he grab things? Can he sit up for a second if you put him that position? Can he roll over both directions?" He can sit up from lying down in a matter of seconds and stay there for 20 minutes.

The shots generally make him take a good, long nap, which he has hopefully just started. Now I am doing laundry and starting to pack for our trip. I may not be able to bring my guitar because of space constraints (we will have both dogs in the car for the first leg of the trip), which wouldn't make me happy. We shall see.

Today is my parents' 31year wedding anniversary. Congrats, guys.

EDIT: He woke up and resumed screaming at 11, just an hour after going down.