Happy Valentine's Day!

...a week late :)

Here are a few pictures of my sweet Valentine before we went to chuch on Valentine's day. I never thought I would/could love him as much as I do! He is wearing a shirt I appliqued for him that I am very proud of! It was the first one that I've actually let him wear (others I have messed up on and they've gone into the "practice pile").

family, trains, and fish

The day after our big blizzard dusting of snow, we packed up what seemed like enough stuff for three days for Henry and headed out to Chattanooga for the day. We met my dad, and my brother Joe, his wife Kiersten and their three kids. (You can see their family's adventures here) As soon as we pulled up Grandpa Doug had us hop on a train, can we say perfect timing?? Henry took his first train ride and he really seemed to enjoy it. I know the big cousins did! We took a quick little trip to a nearby station, turned around and came right back. When we got back, we watched the conductor turn the train on the roundabout and took a quick tour of the workshop.

Then... it was off to the aquarium! Let me just tell you the walk from the parking deck to the aquarium was cold and windy!! Before we got our tickets, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat because we knew we were going to have a big dinner a few hours later. We first stopped at a burger place but they had 30 minute wait so someone had the bright idea to go next door to the hotdog stand. The hotdog stand that was basically a window you walk up to and order and stand and wait....did I mention how COLD and WINDY it was?? Needless to say that part was the least fun of the whole trip. We scarfed down our food while we jogged in place to stay warm and then took off to the aquarium. It was a lot of fun! Henry LOVED to watch the big fish, turtles, and sea creatures/animals swim in front of him. He would get so excited and bounce and "talk" and reach out and touch the glass when something swam in front of him. The pictures don't quite capture the excitement.

After lots of walking and seeing lots of water and sea life, we went back to Joe and Kiersten's hotel for a delicious spaghetti dinner and to hang out with the family for a little bit. While Kiersten worked her magic in the kitchen, Joe took the kids to the indoor swimming pool. If you have ever seen Henry in the bath you would know that he LOVES water. I mean this kid gets excited when you turn the kitchen sink on so we couldn't miss out on the opportunity to see what he'd do in a swimming pool. To say he enjoyed himself is saying the least. That boy splashed until I thought his skinny little arms were going to fall off. He loved it. We didn't bring our swim suits to get into the water with him so I rolled up my jeans and let him sit on the first step and splash his little heart out! He was so cute! I can't wait to see how he'll do in the pool and ocean this summer!

After dinner and a little Olympic watching, we packed up and headed home. We had such a great time visiting with the family and can't wait to do it again soon!

Henry's first snow day

I heard on the news this weekend that every state in the US (except Hawaii) has snow in it somewhere....how crazy is that!? This past Friday was Henry's first snow day! We had a few inches on the ground which around here is apparently enough for them to call a "winter storm" and enough snow for them to cancel school sooo... that meant for us a day off and an early start to our weekend AND Henry's first snow day!

It snowed here earlier this winter but it was just a dusting so we didn't count that ;) Henry's first snow was actually here almost exactly a year ago but he was snug as a bug in my belly and didn't get to actually play in it :) This year was much more fun...for all three of us. Henry LOVED the snow. He was amazed by it. Before we went out in it, he stood at the door just staring at it all. When we went outside he bounced and flailed his arms in excitement. He would look up and watch it fall and then look down at the ground, it was so cute. He wanted to get down but when I put him down he wanted to be held. He could quite figure what all the white stuff was all about. Lee built us a snowman and Henry loved it! He wanted to touch it but was a little unsure about it being so cold.

8 months!

**OK Sorry this is such a long post! I didn't expect it to be so long. I blog to keep a record of where we are in our lives and what he's doing so I can one day look back and remember (in addition to keep others up on our life) so feel free to skip this read**


I know I say this every month about whatever age he is, but it's hard to believe my Valentine is 8 months old! I just cannot get over how fast time is flying by. I mean one day he goes from being this helpless, little, pink blob on a blue blanket to this independent, busy, little personality that I have to literally run after to catch up to! He is no longer and infant, he is a baby, and on his way to being a toddler....how the heck did that happen?? He's been on this earth almost as long as he was growing inside me, weird huh?

Henry is such a happy and fun baby! He loves to play with his toys and crawl around the house. Lee and I love to watch him play by himself and "talk" as he's doing so. His new favorite spot to play is under the kitchen table. He pulls up on the chairs and drums away on the seat and weaves in and out from under the legs of the chairs. While trying to cook dinner one night, I found my little explorer constantly under my feet. Out of desperation, I pulled out a box of his old 4 oz plastic bottles hoping to entertain him for a few minutes so I could move freely about in the kitchen. He LOVED it! He must have played with those bottles and lids for a good 45 minutes- pulling them out, tasting each one before pulling out another along with a lid. He loved banging them on the floor or against each other...well really banging them against anything he could find, including the dog. Sophie is such a good dog, she puts up will all kinds of abuse from him. We now leave the box out full time to occupy him while we're in the kitchen. Tonight he was a little fussy and nothing seemed to make him happy. I pulled the box of bottles in the den and we played with them on the rug. I started stacking them up and when they fell and crashed Henry let out the BIGGEST belly laugh! For whatever reason he thought that was hilarious. His laugh was contagious! We stacked and crashed bottles until we both had tears in our eyes we laughed so hard. I of course was laughing at him laughing. It made my night.

We are all trying to get over colds in our house. I think that's why he hasn't been himself lately. I took him to the doctor last week because he has a terrible cough and he ended up having a double ear infection. Poor fella! I felt so bad because I had no clue, he hadn't run a fever or tugged at his ears or anything! I have a feeling tubes are in our near future. We went after hours so they didn't weigh him so I am anxious to see how much he weighs at his 9 month well-visit.

At 8 months Henry is sleeping around ten hours a night. He goes to bed around 8:00/8:30 and wakes between 6:00 and 6:30. He occasionally will wake in the middle of the night, lately I've been letting him cry it out. The crying usually lasts about ten minutes and then he's back to sleep. We've been blessed with a good sleeper...I'm sure the next one will be the complete opposite. My mom says God gives you the good one first so you'll have more LOL! He still takes a morning and an afternoon nap. They last anywhere from 20 minutes to and hour depending on the day.

Not only is he a good sleeper but he's a good eater as well! He is still on stage 2 jar foods. I tried a stage 3 not too log ago and he didn't like it. I think is was the bigger chunks he didn't like. He gagged a few times then refused to open his mouth. We'll try it again in a few months. For now, he's perfectly happy with the puréed ones ;) He's had a few table food tastes (not sure If I remember them all) mashed potatoes, green beans, kidney beans, avocado, and he's sucked on a chunk of cantaloupe. Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. He still just has two bottom teeth, cute little white bunny teeth I might add! ;-) We recently gave him star puffs and it's so cute to watch him nibble it with his teeth and try to coordinate his tongue and jaws to chew it up. His facial expressions are priceless! The funniest part is watching him pick them up and try to get them in his mouth. At first he missed his mouth more than he rang it but he is a fast learner and has picked it up pretty fast. He is still not very interested in a sippy cup or apple juice. He'll drink a little but he does more playing and dropping of the cup more than anything.

He "jibber-jabbers" all of the time and loves it when you "talk" back to him. He thinks its hilarious if you pretend to sneeze and he loves to play "Where is Henry?" with a blanket...such a silly boy. He loves to play patty-cake (pat-a-cake??) and he's now trying to clap by himself-it's so cute! Henry has really become attached to Lamby, his stuffed lamb lately....I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. For now we think its super cute! Just incase it becomes a full-blown addiction, we have an extra one we switch in and out during washes. This way, if something happens to the first one, we'll have a backup that smells and looks just like the other one. We try to keep Lamby in his bed most of the time so it will just be a bed buddy but since he's been sick Lamby's made it all over the house.

Henry is still crawling every where, getting faster every day. When you come up behind him (especially when he knows he's headed for something he's not supposed to), he goes faster and squeals with excitement. I call him my little snail because where ever he goes he leaves a trail of slobber...yes that sounds gross but I love it. It means he has a growing interest in the world around him and he is learning by discovering the taste and texture of different objects. He pulls up and stands on his own until he realizes he's standing up all by himself without holding onto anything and he'll lower himself down, cautiously. He will walk while pushing his little walker toy or if someone stands him up and holds his hands, but I am in no hurry for him to walk on his own :)

Pictures to come soon. I am behind and have not made his onesie but it's on the agenda for tomorrow! As soon as I do, Ill take pictures and post them asap.

Movin' on Up

Well he's moving on up,

to the left side.

To a deluxe classroom in the school...

...okay so that was my cheesy attempt to be funny all while telling you, he's moving up! Our big boy has been promoted to a new classroom. It's bitter sweet. I am so proud of him for progressing but it just means he's growing up!

For those of you who didn't hear the long drama filled story, I'll do my best to sum it up... When I went back to work we had someone keeping Henry in their home. I was so happy about this because going back to work was hard enough on me and I felt so good about not having to put him in daycare. Well, after about a month she decided it was more than she could take on and wasn't sure if she could continue after Christmas. You can imagine the panic and heartbreak I felt! I called his new place to see if they still had Henry's name on their waiting list. By the grace of God they "just so happened" to have a spot open up and since we could fill it right away, they accepted! I was super worried and distraught about having to leave him in a "germ infested daycare where all they would do was sit him in a swing all day"

BOY WAS I WRONG!! We could not be happier about where he is and how they care for him. It is very clean and he does anything but sit in a swing all day! I love his teachers and the directors. They are so kind and caring and happy to talk to me and make me feel at ease. We're going to miss his teachers in the infant 1 room but I know he'll like it in his new classroom where he can crawl around and pull up on all of the fun things.

We're still here

Its been almost a month since my last post. I know I've been a little MIA, but we're still here! I have just been so covered up with work, Henry, trying to keep up this dirty house, and trying to teach myself how to use my new embroidery machine that I have put blogging on the back burner. I know, I know, I've just left all my "fans" and followers wondering what happened to us...who am I kidding! I don't even think I have many fans other than family that occasionally wonder over to our page to catch up on the latest with H man, but that's about it!

Anywhoo...for those of you who do keep up with us, I'll give you the run down: Henry is busier than ever!! He is crawling everywhere and pulls up on any and everything! Last Saturday, we spent the day with Mandy, Chris, and Summer. While getting his picture taken, Henry decided to show off and stand up and balance for about 10 seconds without holding onto anything. we were so excited, I don't even know if I got a picture of it! I have a feeling we're going to have a little walker in the house by the time he is 9 months old! Wow-where is time going!?

On another fun note, I gave Henry his first biter biscuit Sunday and he seemed to enjoy it. He washed it down with his first taste of apple juice!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Not real sure about it at first
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now what?
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Uh oh I dropped it...
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I think I like this thing!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mmm washing it down with juice in a big boy cup!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now I need a bath!

seven month pictures

Better late than never, right!

The older her gets, the harder it is for him to sit still long enough to get a good picture