Henry at 7 Months

We forgot that Henry turned 7 months today until late morning - usually we're anticipating it for days (especially those months that include a well-child visit to the doctor). I realized it during Henry's first nap and then went to Rob and said, "Guess what today is?" He didn't guess, so I said, "The second of December, what happens today?" Still didn't know. "Henry is 7 months old!" I feel like not a lot has changed since six months, including his picture - I don't think he looks that different from month-to-month in his pictures since, maybe, four month old. What do you think? I'll try to come up with some new developments for Henry in this past month...

• He is super talkative. Usually just at home with us, but tonight at our ward party he was talking to everyone (and stealing their hearts, I'm sure.)
• I miss the days of Henry lying still while we changed his diaper or his clothes. Not anymore - he is a major wiggle bug, HAS to turn over and gets really upset when we try to stop him. Is this just a stage or will it be like this forever?
• Sleep is the same as last month - still going pretty well. We got back to being able to put him down partly awake and he either doesn't cry or cries for about five minutes (feels like 20). I've gotten into a new routine for naps in that he wants to nurse for a few minutes before going down. I don't mind. I wonder if next month we'll report that he's napping in his crib. One of these days we're going to have to make the transition out of his swing for naps and I have a feeling we're not going to like it.
• He met Santa today! No crying. We actually met two - one at the mall and the other at our ward party. He was oblivious for the first and curious for the second.
• He is a champion sitter! He started sitting really close to the six month mark and now could sit up all day long. He is only starting to learn how to get down on his belly from a sitting position. It either makes him nervous, or he just doesn't remember how to do it most of the time.
• We're in a new stage called, "My family makes me cry." The last 4 times we've seen mine and Rob's family he has screamed - including once when we were talking to them over the computer. It's silly.
• Henry eats a lot (amount), or at least more than I thought a little baby would eat. He's pretty good about all the new food we give him. He loves plain yogurt but for the last couple days we are not giving him any to see if it helps with his spitting up which has been back full force. We don't think he likes spicy food. He got mad at me the couple times I've tried to give it to him.
• He is scooting all over the house, well, he tries. If he were quicker he would be all over. 
• Nursing is not the most interesting thing anymore for him, so where I used to have him on a consistent (not strict, but consistent) eat-play-sleep schedule, I now have to be fine with him just snacking throughout the day. If I can catch him when he's just woken up, before he wants to see what's going on around him, he'll usually nurse for about 10 minutes still.
• He's generally happy and laughing. Our home teacher commented that he can't picture Henry crying. It's true, he doesn't cry much. But he can be pretty squirrely with nothing making him happy when he's in a bad mood.
  

That's all for this month!

100 Things I'm Grateful For

Thanksgiving has passed and I failed to really emphasize the gratitude part of the season. I think the night of Thanksgiving, right before we fell asleep, Rob and I talked about a few things we were grateful for, but that's it. I listened to this message today and thought, "it's not too late to think about and share what I'm grateful for." So, here are 100 things I'm most grateful for, listed here in the format suggested at the end of the link to the message. 1. Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for. - the ability to provide nourishment to my little baby boy - a capable mind - knees that do all I require of them to do - the ability to climb a flight of stairs or a steep hill - a healthy body that is rarely sick - I quickly recover from those times that I am sick - cooking (I do it with my body) - ability to grow a baby - ability to give birth to a baby - ability to (once upon a time) run in a race 2. Write 10 material possessions you are grateful for. - an apartment that is more than we need it to be - a computer - two cars (even the one that makes me angry) - baby swing - jeggings - artwork - money in the bank - wedding ring - food - food storage 3. Write 10 living people (or groups of people - I added that) you are grateful for. - Jesus Christ - my husband, who is my best friend - my little baby boy - all my family - police officers - Young Women presidency - friends - Julie Beck - safe drivers - ward family 4. Write 10 deceased people (or groups) you are grateful for. - Joseph Smith - Papa - Grandpa Bill - Abraham Lincoln - Gordon B. Hinckley - Georgette - ancestors - Rob's ancestors - Mormon pioneers - Founding Fathers 5. Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for. - The view outside my window - the colors of Fall - Springtime, when all the world turns a bright green - rain (yes, rain. but not snow) - no natural disasters - the trees because my son likes to look at them - beauty of Hawaii - Provo Canyon - summer - the Food Chain 6. Write 10 things about today you are grateful for. - time spent serving at Deseret Industries - my husband be willing and capable to be with the baby while I was gone - finding a pair of socks in the dryer because my feet were freezing but a baby was asleep in my room (even though they were Rob's socks) - spending time with Alicia at Costco - Costco samples - husband putting the duvet cover back on (I hate that job) - my baby sleeping in my arms - taking care of Xander - the ability to buy the things we need and even things we just want - the holiday season! 7. Write 10 places on earth you are grateful for. - my home - the temple - Silverdale, our little "get-away" - my parent's home - Provo, Utah - the Pacific Northwest - my bed - Group Health/hospital (strange, but I really am grateful for them) - my walk-in closet - my ward (is that a place?) 8. Write 10 modern inventions you are grateful for. - the www. - my phone - my husband's phone - pinterest - skype - plumbing - baby swing - IVF (is that an "invention?") - cars - blu-ray streaming 9. Write 10 foods you are grateful for life experiences you are grateful for. (that was a strange category, so I changed it.) - meeting and marrying Rob - struggling to have a baby - having a baby - my mission in Pittsburgh, PA - teaching English in Russia - attending BYU - attending UW - attending Rick's College - being a member of the 191st ward - watching all my siblings get sealed to their spouses 10. Write 10 things about the gospel you are grateful for. - the Atonement - my testimony - temple covenants - modern revelation - personal revelation - a living prophet - the scriptures - missions - eternal families - repentance Happy (belated) Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Halloween

We were excited for Henry's first Halloween but knew that, like all the holidays for his first year or so, he'll enjoy it even more when he's a little older. I've been waiting to have kids to enjoy Halloween - I've never big a big fan, but I always thought that it must be a lot more fun when you can see how much fun your kids have with it. Henry was pretty cute in his monkey costume, though, so that did make the day more fun for me. I was asked a few times what Henry was going to be and I just had to brag each time I answered that he's a monkey because we got the costume 75% off the year before, back before Rob and I told anyone we were pregnant (the first people we told were Rob's family - on Halloween. Rob and I dressed as a Baker and an oven with a bun in it, respectively.)

 Grandma's porch is always decorated for the holidays with lights and other beautiful decorations. I love this picture even though Henry isn't looking and Linda is hidden because Henry is loving the decorations.

 Isn't it beautiful?

Family costumes: Monkey, Monkey Tree and Jungle Explorer. Even our trunk got into the theme for our ward's Trunk-or-Treat.

 Henry thought it was pretty cool that he got to be outside for a little over an hour during the Trunk-or-Treat. I'm going to try to be a little picky about my kids' costumes, one requirement is that they are warm. Henry's costume was warm fleece, it was perfect!

 Henry and Grandpa

 We spent Halloween night with these two witches. Leah was the Black Witch and Clara was the White Witch. Natalie, their mom, said that calling them the good and evil witch made Leah feel bad. :)

 Rob's second costume of the holiday.

 I like this one.

Henry's first solid food

The Farm

Our favorite (perhaps only) Halloween/Fall tradition is going to The Farm. It's a pumpkin patch + petting zoo + hay ride + perfect place for a photo session. We were excited for Henry's first visit to The Farm, even though he didn't really know what was going on. It meant a couple hours of being outside, which is his favorite thing to do, so he was pretty happy. This year it became more apparent how much of a yuppie activity this is - families dressing up in the requisite boots, scarves and knit hats. Carrying their children in their baby carriers or wagons, taking pictures with pumpkins. I like to think we're different from all of them because we've been going for so many years, prior to it being as busy as it has become... but maybe we're not.  Here are some pictures from the day.

 cider donuts

 petting zoo - next year Henry will enjoy this more

 my boys

 We missed Natalie & Monica - only two Farrar sisters went this year

 It's impossible to get two babies to look at the camera

Oh pumpkin, Henry loves you

 Mmm.

 Henry & Xander

faces

About 6 mo old

Henry is 6 months old

I just noticed that the last time we posted anything was Henry's five month post. Oops - not doing very well at this blog thing these days!

This month definitely seems more significant than other months - half a year old! I think the main reason why it feels significant is that I always figured by six months I'd have this baby thing figured out. Ha. I'm happy to report that a lot of things, most things even, are a lot easier - but we're not out of the woods yet. And now I'm starting to see the possibility that it's not ever going to be "all figured out." He's almost a new baby all the time in so many ways. Here's a picture of the kind of baby he is at six months:

• We always start out these posts talking about sleep (our lives revolve around how to get him to sleep better) - he is doing really well going to sleep at night. For a little while we were putting him down awake, and these days we're putting him down pretty much asleep, which feels like a step-back. I don't even know how that happened. He sleeps until 4am-ish when he wakes for his only feeding at night. We worked hard to get him from waking up every four or three hours. Working hard = a night or two of letting him cry. All three of us hate those nights.
• Henry is a nap champ! I backed off on trying to get him weened from the swing and the swaddle. He rarely cries when he's put down. We'll tackle getting rid of those things in the future. The third nap of the day only happens on occasion and depends on how the first two naps go.
• The kid is mobile - he makes his way all around the living room floor. He either grips the carpet or blanket with his hands and pulls himself forward or uses his arms and ab muscles to move forward. I don't know how to describe it - but it's not really his legs at this point. It's fun to see him get everywhere and he's pretty happy when he's playing on the ground. The only problem is that he still spits up, but since he's able to leave the blanket we put him on we're using a lot of carpet cleaner these days!
• Not only is he moving his whole body, but each little limb is always going. He prefers to be on his stomach, and he just kick, kick, kicks his little legs all day long. At night when he wakes up we now hear his legs kicking along with his waking cry. When he's nursing he waves his arms back and forth and he's always "scratching" with his fingers - either scratching me or whatever is near him that has an interesting texture. It is so clear that his developmental "job" at this age is to learn about the world around him!
• Henry is talking all the time. A couple of weeks ago he started some CVCV or reduplicated babbling. That's speech-pathology terms for saying that he goes "ba ba ba." It's really fun to hear his voice but the first time I heard it I didn't know what baby was in the car with me - it was so strange to hear him in this way!
• We started solid foods about a week and a half ago. His reaction was a little anti-climatic - not surprised, disgusted or excited. A little, "yeah, I've been wondering when you guys were going to give me some of this stuff." We started with rice cereal and he has now had zucchini, pear and carrot. With the onset of eating solids, I now have to deal with cloth diaper messes that can't just be thrown in the washing machine. Yuck.
• Henry is currently battling a cold. His first time being sick, the poor baby. He's a trooper, though. After the first night of refusing to nurse and screaming, causing Dad to do a late-night Sabbath Day run to the store for medicine and to my sister's for a humidifier (we were not prepared for this), he has been happy and smiling despite the goopy eyes and stuffed nose.
• I reported in the last post that Henry was out of his 3-month clothes. The next few days after that I realize that I was too early with that announcement. But now I think he really is just wearing 3-6 months. We go to his 6 mo check-up in a couple days to find out if he has "moved up" on the growth percentile charts. He was in the 6th %ile for weight and the 11th for height at 4 months. Last night during his bath we noticed that his legs actually might have some chub on them! update: After Henry's 6 month checkup - 14lbs 13oz (7th%ile), 2'11'' (3rd %ile)

We love our little baby boy. Yesterday I watched him scoot himself across the living room floor after a ball that kept rolling off just as he would reach for it. That scene, with recent scenes of him eat food that doesn't come from me, plus feeling a little sad for him with being so sick - all made me a little weepy. We're proud parents of our big six month old but do miss our tiny baby boy.

You can imagine the small bit of tears that came when viewing this latest video by Rob. It's snippets from all of the footage of our boy thus far and a document of him growing up:

Henry at 5 months

It's Conference Sunday and I've been reminiscing all weekend about how, during the last Conference, Rob and I were getting the baby's room ready in anticipation of his arrival. At that time it was hard to imagine that by the time we had conference again, we'd have a 5 month old. And now here it is, six months later, and all of the sudden we have a 5 month old.

Henry is getting to be a busy little boy, which is the biggest change. He's still our sweet, happy baby boy, but not quite as docile. There have been a few other changes for our little baby boy:

• Henry is able to fall asleep on his own at night pretty consistently. Nap times are not as consistent but still okay. Henry goes to sleep around 8pm and wakes up twice each night - at about 2am and 5am. We wake him up between 7-7:30am to start the day.
• He has finally noticed some animals - meeting his first dog and a group of ducks in the last month, all of whom wanted to eat Henry's toes.
• He learned to turn over! This is his first big movement-milestone. It makes things a little more inconvenient for his parents, but it sure is fun to watch. Henry can't seem to help turning over when he's on his back and then gets frustrated soon after. Along with the turning over seems to have come an awareness that his toys are just barely out of reach which is the source of some of that frustration.
• In the last couple of days Henry is constantly sucking on his lower lip. This and some other seemingly signs of getting his first teeth have increased in the last month, but still none have appeared.
• Henry still isn't eating anything other than breast milk. However, he really likes to watch Big Cousin Xander (9 months old) eat - so I wouldn't be surprised if he knows just what to do when we finally start on solids closer to 6 months.
• It is so fun for us to show Henry off to friends and family because he is such a smiley boy!
• Henry enjoys car rides - what a change from just a couple of months ago! We have a mirror in our car now that lets us watch him, so we are enjoying car rides more now too! He is so funny, he looks out the windows with curiosity, sucks on his Sophie giraffe or other toys, and babbles to himself.
• He has managed to pee on our sheets and blankets multiple times. You'd think we learn to not leave him without a diaper on too long - but he's just too quick! Plus, it's so fun to let him play sans diaper - but we have to pay for it with a lot of laundry.
• Henry is quite enamored with his daddy. This is especially apparent during our bedtime routine when it's time for him to nurse and, instead, he has to watch Rob as he's reading a book out loud or follow him with his eyes as Rob comes in and out of room. It's so cute, but most of the time I wish he'd stop smiling at his dad and get on with eating!
• Henry is a skinny little guy but I think he's finally outgrowing his 0-3 and 3 month clothing. We might strictly be in 3-6 month now.

We still spend much of our time with him just amazed at how adorable he is. We feel so blessed that he's our sweet little baby boy.

4 months

3 months

2 months

1 month

Hawaiian baby

Here is how Henry spent most of his time in Hawaii... he is staring at the palm trees. This kid loves to watch the trees and sky. I think that Henry was so happy in Hawaii because we spent so much time outdoors! Even many of the places we ate were outside (this is our first day in Maui, eating at the 808 Deli -yum!)

Not so much of a beach-bum baby. This picture is of the only time we took him swimming in the ocean. He was okay with it, seemed to enjoy the waves on his feet a little, but it's hard to tell. His parents just didn't like it very much - too much sand to deal with if he wasn't going to even enjoy it that much! He did swim at the condo most mornings.

He wore this hat everywhere we went. It was perfect for keeping the sun rays off his head (which we liked) and the sun shine out of his eyes (which he liked). Thanks Lismarie! He has a shirt to match (in pictures below) and the one day he wore them both he got a lot of attention.

This restaurant didn't have space for him other than on the floor. He was not happy about being put in the corner (insert quote from Dirty Dancing here).

And here is another time he wasn't happy. Henry took a lot of naps in the car, and this is right before one of those naps....

... he was made at me for laughing and taking pictures while he was crying...

... starting to be interested in the noise the camera is making...

...All better.

I just love this picture. Henry with his Maui shirt.

Henry says he wants to go back to Hawaii. We're thinking about it.

Maui Top 3

Oh, Maui, you are as wonderful as everyone said you would be.

Last month Rob's parents took us on a trip to Maui with them - we were there for 10-ish days! (10-ish due to the nasty 14 hour flight delay leaving Seattle). It was a trip of a lifetime.

It was all so so wonderful. The island. The food. The beach. The sun. The adventures. The doing-nothing. The company - having grandparents adore my baby as much as I adore him... I loved that.

Here is MY Maui Top 3, in descending order.

 #1 the Wailea Coastal Walk.
I had to look up the name because it's kind of hidden/unnamed (at least that I could tell). It's basically a pathway on the water - between fancy resorts and beaches. The above picture doesn't do the view from the pathway justice (can any photo do any Maui scene justice?). We walked the path two separate evenings - as the sun was setting. It just felt so... relaxing. Warm, but breezy. It was also a lot of fun to walk around the pools and in the lobby of the Grand Wailea and the Four Seasons. Super fancy. We joked about how our time-share condo wasn't much different than the hotels. In reality, I would have felt super out of place there anyway. Wailea is one of the many beautiful places on Maui - but it was one of my favorites because I think it's what I had always pictured Hawaii being like.

#2 Road to Hana
If you've been to Maui, you know what this is. It's one of the most popular tourist activities. And now I know why - it's just what I wanted to see in Hawaii: tropical views. This picture is just one of the amazing vantage points, it's looking across to another part of the road and you can see the highway "snaking" along the mountainside. Each view of the ocean, waterfalls, valleys, pools of water, or crashing waves was better than the one previous. It was also a really fun adventure. We hiked down to a couple waterfalls, swam in large aqua-colored waves, jumped into a fresh-water cave, and ate food at roadside stands. We left the baby boy with his grandparents (so they had an adventure of their own!). Later, I'll dedicate a post to the Road to Hana's Top 3.

#3 Watching the waves at Big Beach.

We were fortunate enough to experience a little of a South Swell - I don't really know what that is, just there were big waves coming from... somewhere that resulted in big surfs around the island, especially the south side where we stayed (we stayed in Kihea). Big Beach (the least interesting name on the island) usually has the biggest waves on the island anyway, so we decided to head there on our last evening to see how big they could get. Oh wow, I really got an idea of the power of the ocean. We heard the loud low crash of the waves from a couple hundred feet away as we walked down the path to the beach from the parking lot. You really had to be careful, not turn your back on the ocean. We stayed there until after the sun set (Rob took this picture of us) - it was hard to leave, we kept wanting to stay for just one more swell. When the island experiences a swell like that you are advised to either not swim in the ocean or, at least, use extreme caution. It was perfect timing for us - we were able to be in the water swimming and snorkeling for most of our stay but still got to see the wonder that the swell brought.

Honorable mention:

- walking around Lahaina - especially rounding this corner and seeing the aqua-colored water

- eating at Hali'imaile General Store (and every other place we ate, really)

- snorkeling. No pictures of that, unfortunately. Or fortunately.
- sitting around the air conditioned condo

- eating shave ice (our goal was one per day, but we missed a few days). The best was Ulalani in Lahaina - I did.not.know that shave ice could have the texture of a sorbet. So so good (the guy who gave us the shave ice said it was as big as Henry's head). And, yes, it's shave ice, not shaved ice. I didn't know that either.

- being super close to the beach. Walk out the door and cross the street-close. (here is Henry the ONE time we took him to the beach across the street. Too much sand. We went by ourselves after that.)

- Having extra someones around to hand Henry off to anytime I wanted. (this is Henry and Grandpa's favorite way to hang out)

 - Hearing Henry's laugh every time he played with Grandma.

- romantic location with my honey (and with my baby and my in-laws)

 

It's super hard to pick any favorites. I have no complaints about our trip, it was all so great. We feel so blessed to have been able to go and so grateful for our parents for making it happen and for sharing it with us! Rob made this video of our trip (yet another great video from my talented husband). More posts to follow too!

A Trip to Maui from rob nyland on Vimeo.

Henry at 4 months

Out little boy Henry just turned 4 months old.  We just got back from a great trip to Hawaii with my parents (pictures from that trip should appear on the blog one of these days) and we had a blast.  Henry was a trooper and allowed his parents to have a nice vacation.

We can definitely see that our little boy is growing.  He is even more curious about the world these days and we know that it's just a matter of time before we need to start chasing him around.  This is what has been going on in Henry's world:

• Henry's sleep schedule has kind of fallen apart during this month.  While he has been getting better about going down for naps, his nights have been harder.  We started sleep training before we went to Hawaii and it worked for a few days, then fell apart during the end of our trip.  We've started again since we got home and he is doing better.  Now he's waking up twice during the night for feedings -- but we would love for him to sleep through the night.
• He has discovered TV, and while we do our best to keep him from watching it, his eyes somehow always seem to drift towards it.
• His blonde hair is becoming more prominent and his once receding hairline seems to be back.
• He generally takes 3 naps during the day, each of which are 1-2 hours.
• He likes to interact with toys and is pretty good at grabbing things.
• He's finally showing interest in Xander -- Xander is still showing interest in eating and poking Henry.
• He likes to suck and chew on anything -- especially his hands.  He still won't take a pacifier though.
• We've cut down on giving him baths every night and will typically do it 1-2 times a week.

Other than that, I am realizing that not a lot has changed since last month.  We are still happy to have him around, despite the handful that he is.

Happy 4 months Henry!