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: