Ring Ring!

Henry is getting pretty savvy with the phone ;) Although funny enough, he gets too shy to say anything during real phone calls. At least he's learning!

Henry is 20 months old

I'm a few days late writing this, but Henry is 20 months old now! Seriously still amazes me every time I think of how old he is, since two years seems to be approaching pretty quickly! This past month Henry has become extra helpful...he loves being able to help you do things, or accomplish little tasks himself. Which is really quite adorable, and makes me think that he's going to be an awesome big brother! He likes to throw trash away for you, close doors and cabinets, carry groceries for you, unload the dishwasher, etc etc. Every time he goes to one of my doctors appointments with me he will walk around the office and close all the doors.

I've also realized just how mechanically-minded he is this past month. I've always known he has been, but it's fun to see how fast he learns and how he loves to figure out new concepts. Lately he has been really into buckles, and likes to be able to buckle himself into his highchair/carseat (I usually let him do one strap and then help with the rest). He also thinks he knows how to operate the tv, and will often try to turn on Elmo himself. And yes, his obsession with Elmo (particularly Elmo the Musical) is still going strong. The other day we were walking around the store and found a small stuffed Elmo... it was the cutest thing ever!! He kept hugging him and kissing him for the entire rest of the morning.

We are still working on manners, and enforcing please and thank you, but it's coming along a bit slower than I'd like. Any advice? He has a pretty great vocabulary, and knows new words all the time. And I know that he knows what please and thank you mean... he's just a little stinker about actually using them.

Here's the usual picture explosion:

we finally got a baby pool. Henry loves it.

Henry tried chocolate milk for the first time. Huge success.

We got Henry his first coloring book: Elmo of course!

Henry and I checked out a local donut shop. It was delish.

we found some street art.

Henry gets entranced when watching Elmo...

we met a goat (our friends got one)

puzzles at the library

showing Scruffy the dog how to show off your muscles

We love you Henry! I am really trying to cherish the rest of the time I have with just Henry before another kiddo gets thrown into the mix. This boy is so cute though, and so sweet. I just know he'll be a great big brother (and if he isn't, we'll just make him sleep in the cat bed ;).

Henry's tricks

This morning while eating breakfast, Henry started clapping. I've never seen him start to clap just by himself, it's a more recent talent, and usually done after we clap for him. He was extremely proud of himself. So I just had to take a video :)
 
And then later on he was shaking his head a lot, which he also thinks is really funny. See for yourself :)

9 months old

Yesterday Henry turned nine months old!! I'm not positive on the math, but I'm pretty sure he's been alive now for longer than I was pregnant with him. Ahhhh! In the past month he's been a crawling champion, he loves climbing up the stairs, and he can pull himself up into a standing position. He's been drinking out of a straw (he loves his juice!). He got to sit in the grocery cart by himself. And he's gotten his first tooth (his bottom right tooth). So he's been doing a lot of growing up, and it's pretty crazy.

trying to help mommy

 Henry's getting into EVERYTHING and is so curious and mischievous. He's definitely been keeping us busy and entertained. He loves to laugh, and loves to make us laugh. He's the biggest cutie and I can't get enough of him!!! His 9 month doctors appointment is in just over a week, and we'll get to find out all his stats. And thankfully for him, it will be a shot-free appointment (yay!).

watch me stand up!

(and look cute, duh)

these are my legs

The past couple weeks Henry has been getting stronger and stronger. Just this past week he has been obsessed with standing. If you go to set him down on his bum, he just locks his knees so he's standing. He also recently discovered stairs (ah!). And on Monday (August 27) Henry climbed up FIVE stairs!! He hadn't really climbed up any before (maybe 1, with help), just hung out at the bottom and checked them out. So on Monday all of a sudden he just started climbing on up! And he made it up 5 steps before he got a little tired and just kept high-centering himself.

what are these things?

look mommy, i'm kind of standing!

Then yesterday, we saw Henry started pulling himself up into a standing position. I was shocked! I got so excited I texted Josh right away. And then he kept doing it all last night, and it was so cute.

i was doing some dishes, turned around, and saw this

what up now, mommy?!

It's both exciting and mildly terrifying that he is growing up so fast! I feel like he just started crawling like 2 days ago, and now he's already pulling himself up, and walking when we hold his hands. So basically...he's a genius ;)

future soccer player?

Disclaimer: i was so focused on Henry's proximity to the fireplace that I sort of forgot about the coffee table... he didn't seem too phased though (thankfully!). Enjoy:

wannabe crawler

april so far

Henry's been getting so big! Time has seriously been FLYING! The nice thing about him getting bigger is that his personality has been coming out more and more, and he's become a much happier little baby. (Or maybe we just know what we're doing a little more now? haha). Regardless, he is such a cutie, and I am so grateful for him every single day ♥ Here's what's been going on in April so far:

We've been working a lot (boo!)
But it makes seeing Henry's sweet face after work that much better :)

We went to Arizona. See the blog about that HERE.

Henry's smiles are still crazy big and happy.
He is such a good baby!

We went to Sarah's wedding this past weekend.
Thankfully Henry was very well behaved. He also enjoyed eating Daddy's hand.

Henry turned 4 months old!!

Our friends Jeff & Darci let us borrow their jumper/exersaucer thing.
Henry's had a lot of fun in it so far, although he hasn't quite discovered its jumping aspect yet.

Henry's still having tons of fun hanging out with his cousins all day, and they all adore him (it's so sweet to see how they love him so much!)
His Aunt Sarah is nice and sends me cute pictures like this to brighten my work day :)

On Monday (April 16) Henry rolled over from his back to his front for the first time.
He's so talented ;) Here he is showing off his bad self!

It's been so fun seeing this little baby grow up! We feel so privileged to be his parents :) Lately he's discovered how to blow raspberries with his mouth. That is freakishly adorable. He's also been growling a lot lately, which is hilarious. He's super strong, as usual. He doesn't even really do tummy time anymore, because he'll automatically just roll right over. The last picture above was a rare moment when he felt complacent enough on his stomach to just hang out for a few moments.

Tomorrow is his 4 month appointment, so stay tuned for all his stats and whatnot!

sitting up? what!?

So I was texting Sarah yesterday about how Henry was doing, and she told me he could sit up on his own. Whaaaaaat!?!?! After having a brief meltdown over missing this monumental (to me) moment [and having to work, blah blah blah], I was super excited and so proud of my little stud! Thank you Sarah for taking pictures for me:

(Smiling at his cousin Griffin. They're BFF)

Keep in mind Henry is only 12 weeks old. Basically....he's a genius. My baby can totally beat up your baby!!

then and now

then (december 27):



now (february 23):

2 months old

Today Henry is two months old! Where has all the time gone?? I took these pictures this morning, on the fabulous quilt my mom made for Henry. Isn't he adorable? Or is it just me? ;)



Henry has grown a lot in the past two months. He's been smiling [on purpose] for about a month now. He can roll over from his stomach to his back. He's been able to hold his head up since the day he was born, and has only gotten stronger since then. Basically...he's a genius.

Tomorrow we have his two-month appointment, so I'll update you with all his stats then. He's getting to be a bit of a chunk though, and it will be interesting to see how much he weighs! Hopefully he'll be ok after getting all his shots... I'm sure it won't be a pleasant experience for either of us :/

henry rolled over!

Today I decided to do tummy time with Henry, and grabbed a toy. Now, I have to be honest-- I'm not really good about tummy time. I think it has a funny name ("tummy" isn't a regular word in my vocabulary), Henry has been super strong since the day he was born (I'm not exaggerating because I think I'm an awesome mom, he was lifting his head up and trying to dive bomb out of our arms starting the day he was born), and Henry's head is still round. Oh, and he isn't always very fond of the activity...

Anyways, back to today: it was the first time I had tried using a toy so I was proud of myself for making such an effort. I laid him down on his stomach and tried to mesmerize him with said toy octopus. He rolled over. Umm...he's six and a half WEEKS old!! I basically flipped out! I yelled to Josh that he had rolled over and to get the Flip camera and come see. Josh said, "oh, so we're gonna be those type of parents, huh?" to which I promptly replied "yes!". I have no shame, people.. So josh got the Flip and came back upstairs to view the amazing feat. I hit record, put Henry on his stomach, anddddd proceeded to record a video of my child crying. Attempt 1 of documenting Henry's new trick: fail. Attempt 2: semi-success [there may have been some foul play.. I wanted Josh to see it so I might have sort of propped one of Henry's elbows up]. Attempt 3: semi-success [he rolled over so fast I only caught the end of it on video]. Attempt 4: success! Although at this point Henry was so fed up with showing off (he's so humble!) that he was crying the entire time.

Here is our advanced, genius child so you can see his skills for yourself: