Fun day, beautiful weather, and great company!

Today was a great day! We have had beautiful weather this week and fall is in the air!! I love fall, it's my favorite season.

We had a friend stop and stay with us last night as he was passing through so Lee took the day off. We all got up and went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel (where Chris had grits, sawmill gravy, and okra for the first time ever-obviously he's not from the south) and then took Chris on a tour of the city. After we dropped him off to be on his way, we still had some time to kill so Lee and I decided to tour Vulcan. I have lived here my whole life and don't remember ever going out there. The weather was great and the view was incredible...the company wasn't too bad either! :) I put Henry in the baby bjorn and he hung out and enjoyed the scenery and the sun. We boarded the elevator and headed up to get a close-up of the largest iron cast sculpture in the world. Lee does not do heights but we've been to the Seattle Space Needle so we figured it would be about the same....NOT! We rode up in a glass elevator and stepped out onto a steel bridge/walkway THAT YOU COULD SEE THROUGH! It was quite scary to look down and see the ground below....way below! Needless to say we did a quick trip around the statue and quickly headed down. On the way home we stopped for ice cream. It was a perfect end to a perfect afternoon.

nice view!

Not too sure about this!!

The sacrifices we make for family photo ops! Notice the metal grate the floor the overlook has!

Don't look down, don't look down!!

Save of solid ground! Note H's new trick: holding his arm up and out, he started that last night :)





Now we are waiting for Henry's cousin Summer to be born! Amanda Lee's sister went in tonight to be induced so hopefully Henry and the rest of us can meet her tomorrow. We are all very excited!! Please say a prayer for Amanda and Summer have a safe and easy delivery!

Look what we have here...

As you can see from the picture above, Henry has discovered his feet this week! Boy is he having fun with them! He hasn't quite got the coordination to get them to his mouth yet but I'm sure it's only a matter of time :)

Along with discovering his feet he has also found his voice, and judging on how much he "talks", he loves it!! He babbled all the way home from Target today and practiced all kinds of different pitches and sounds. He loves for us to talk back to him and gets a kick out of us repeating the sounds he makes. We are loving every minute of it! His little voice is the sweetest sound. I will try to catch it on video and post soon.

29 days...

that's all I have left at home with my sweet boy. Then, it's back to work for me!! I had a little breakdown at the calendar this morning. I guess I didn't realize it was so soon. I know it will be good for all of us to go back (especially for the checking account! 12 weeks no pay is no fun but we have managed) I feel so blessed to have had this extra time at home with Henry. I have loved every minute of it! I'm going to miss days where we stayed in our pjs until 4 in the afternoon and took naps together. No more going to the grocery store in the middle of the day or meeting Lee for lunch. Those things make me sad and I don't even want to think about what I'm going to miss Henry discover while I am at work. However,I think me going back to work will be good for all of us. Henry is quite the "momma's boy" so it will be good for him to be around other people and I know he is in good great hands! It will be good to get on a set schedule and routine again. I have a feeling the first couple of weeks are going to be rough but we will make it. I keep telling myself when I go back I have Thanksgiving and Christmas break to look forward to, then Spring break and after that it will be summer again!! For now, I think I will enjoy the next 29 days and cherish what I have.

music to my ears

Long overdue

Well we FINALLY got Henry in his own room at night. *Remind me next go around to start the baby out in there. It wasn't him-it was us that had such a hard time with it!* When we brought Henry home almost four months ago (i know like i said it's overdue) we set up a mini pack~n~play next to our bed. It was great having him so close and it was super easy at night. When he got up I would get him out, nurse him and put him right back down. I didn't even have to leave the room-practically didn't have to get out of my bed! We said as soon as he sleeps through the night we'll put him in his own room. Well... at 6 weeks he was sleeping through the night and I wasn't emotionally ready for him to leave my side. Not that his room is forever away or anything, it's all of 15 steps from our room! So then we said when he was 3 months. Well... then we planned a beach trip and I was worried vacation would interrupt his sleeping pattern already so I said the day we got back.Well... I forgot (Lee would use the air quotes on forgot but I really did!!) So last Monday I packed up the little bed in our room so I'd have no excuses.

Monday night we hardly slept I was so worried and paranoid something was going to happen or I wouldn't hear him. I must have checked on him 10 times! Henry woke up once and cried but I think it was just because he wasn't sure where he was. After that it's been smooth sailing. Until... Now that he's in his own room I've been trying to get him to go down on his own. Meaning, without being rocked or nursed to sleep. I want him to be able to go down easily and him to have a good routine. SO...with that being said does anyone have any advice??? I've tried the "cry it out method" and it wasn't so successful. I'm not sure if it was me or Henry but I just don't know how long is an appropriate time to let a 3...almost 4 month old to cry it out. I am open to any and all comments! :)

Henry and Daddy reading books before bed:

Three Months!!

Already!? My sweet boy is three months old and growing and changing so much! He had his three month appointment Tuesday and he weighs 13.2lbs and 25.5 inches long! He's my little sting bean!! Babies don't usually have a three month appointment but we opted to have him on the alternative immunization schedule so he goes every month for the first 9 months and gets a shot or two rather than every other month to get multiple shots. Dr. W said he looked great and commented on how strong he was.

He still loves his bouncy seat and really enjoys tummy time. He's now pushing up on his arms when on his tummy to sit up better and working on rolling over. He did it once a few nights ago but I think it was luck because he hasn't done it again. He is very alert and attentive. I love to watch him look around and check things out. I think his vision must be getting stronger because he has recently discovered pictures hanging on the walls and will stare at them for long periods of time. He also turns to sounds he hears and listens intently to people talking or the television. He also has a new "trick" I'm not so proud of... when he gets mad or upset he throws his head back, arches his back, and gets really stiff. At first Lee and I thought it was SO funny..that wore off quickly lol. All is all Henry is really a sweet boy. He loves to snuggle and talk and coo before bedtime, which is my favorite time with him. Below are some pictures of his 3 month photo shoot :)

First Beach Trip

Last Friday we loaded up and headed out for our first beach trip with our friends Catherine, Peyton & Ken, Jonathon & Rachel and their 10 month old, Lily. We practically needed to rent a u-haul to carry all of the "stuff" we had to take! Henry was a wonderful traveler, despite the two "blowouts" he had on the way there and on the way home! I was so worried how he would do since he hasn't enjoyed his carseat lately but he did great! He slept most of the time in the car but when he was awake I rode in the back and kept him entertained :)


The beach was beautiful!! We had great weather and the company was tons of fun! We stayed right on the beach so when Henry took naps we were able to take the monitor out and get some chill time on the beach. I can't wait to go back next year and see what Henry thinks about the sand and water. This year he didn't really know where he was and could really care less! lol



Henry & Lily

terrible but our only famiy pic

Stingy...

Henry has a great laugh. However, he is very stingy with them :) He started laughing a few weeks ago but it's hard to get a really good giggle out of him. Usually he has to be really sleepy and if i tickle him in just the right spot, he'll laugh. But... last night I was getting him ready for bed and I zipped up his pajamas and he let out the biggest belly laugh I have ever heard out of him! Lee heard him and ran in the room and we must have zipped and unzipped those pjs 50 times just to hear him laugh. It was hilarious! By the time I thought about getting it on camera, he still laughed but not quite as big.