Henry: 8 months

This update is a couple of weeks behind schedule due to being gone, (his monthly birthday is on the 22nd), but better late than never, right? This month has been the most fun as far as his growth and change, and it's like we watch him grow up a little more everyday. With all of this growing comes so many new, fun stages but also less of little baby Henry too. Bittersweet for sure.  As far as actual size, Henry has gotten so much bigger! Right now he's just getting out of 9 month clothing and into 12 month. He's tall and on the slim side, like another Henry I happen to know quite well!  I'm curious to see how long he is at his 9-month check up which is right around the corner.

As far as foods, Henry is a really, really good eater. He's still breastfeeding and going strong. Here's how our day usually goes:

6:45am: wake up, BF
7:30am: breakfast - usually a fruit and oatmeal concoction although this week we'll be venturing into the world of organic yogurt too.
11am: BF upon waking up from his nap
noon: a small lunch or snack - lately it's been a mashed up avocado or other veggie
2pm: BF before his nap.
5pm: BF a upon waking/before dinner
5:15pm (or so): dinner - some sort of pureed veggies
7pm: BF before bed.

Henry also has a sippy cup of water available to him and will drink whenever he's thirsty. We only do water and he's been doing the sippy cup thing since he was about 6.5 months old. He really got the hang out it around 7 months and knows how to hold it, tilt it, etc.  He never really used a bottle, so now if I have to be gone during a regular feeding he'll just drink my milk from the sippy. We use the Nuk Orthodontic Sippy and love them. I also make all of Henry's food, but while on vacation I couldn't do much outside of mashing up avocados and bananas, so to mix it up he also enjoyed some of the Earth's Best jarred food and a couple other types of organic baby food in pouches.

It's crazy what a difference a month makes- you can even see it in the 7 month to this month's photos. 8 months is the most fun yet (told you I'd say that everytime!).  But really, everyday is something new. A new sound, a new "trick," something else to make Hank and I just die from cuteness overload, laughter, or both.

This month Henry:

will wave hello and goodbye
says "mama" (his first word!)
still doesn't have any teeth
tries to stand with no hands - doesn't quite have the balance down yet
bounces and dances to music
laughs a lot
all smiles, all day
loves to be carried on my hip all the time
knows what "up" means and will raise his arms when he wants to be picked up
lots of squealing and funny noises
lots of babbling and "talking"
good at playing independently
loves Madeline so much
sleeps through the night every night

This upcoming weekend I'm leaving to go to California for a friend's bachelorette party and I'm a little nervous about being away from Henry for two nights, but I know Hank will do just fine.  I am so, so excited for some true "me" time though but I can't imagine how it is going to feel not seeing Henry everyday. My heart already hurts a little but I'm also really excited! I'm sure some of you mamas know what I mean. I've been pumping like crazy, getting Hank prepped on what to do, and I feel ready. So come Friday, this mama is getting on a plane and heading off to a fabulous girl's weekend in Manhattan Beach. Wish us luck!

So, happy 8 months sweet Henry. We love you so much. We're already halfway to 9, and I can't wait to see what it has in store for us.

p.s. note to self: for our next baby, take monthly photos SITTING UP. Even if I have to prop the baby up, it will much easier than trying to keep a rambunctious 8 month old on his back. Talk about baby-wrangling- I should film one of our photoshoots, I'm sure you'd get a laugh!

Henry: 7 months

7 months is so much fun! I love this age, and it's definitely my favorite month yet. Spoiler alert: I think I'm going to end up saying that every month! This past month though has been awesome. Henry's personality is shining through, and just like I thought, he's a funny, sweet, very independent little dude. And getting funnier and sweeter by the day.

This month went transitioned into solids, and started off with rice cereal (hated it), then oatmeal (also hated it), and a week later decided to start vegetables. Our friend Robyn got us the Baby Bullet as a gift and I LOVE it. I've been making batches of homemade baby food and it's just so easy to use. I'll blog more specifically about it sometime soon, but it's really a great tool. So far Henry has tried sweet potatoes (his first food), avocados, and yesterday he tried peas. We've been feeding him once at day around 4pm. Here's a little video from his first pea experience- don't mind my commentary!







Henry has also been moving and grooving like crazy. He has pulling up on anything he can get his hands on, and prefers to be standing. He's even starting to try and take steps while holding onto his crib. It's really weird to see him over by his toy basket, pulling himself up to pick out a toy to play with. I keep thinking back to just a few short months ago, when he was a non-mobile baby, and it's insane to think about what a difference those weeks have made. It's neat though, and I'm excited for him to start being able to get where he wants to go.

This month Henry:

is eating and loving solids
is still breastfeeding
takes 2 naps a day
can pull up on anything
loves to stand
laughs when you squeeze his thighs
loves swimming and being in the water
is starting to get very attached to mama
makes lots of babbling sounds
doesn't have any teeth yet
is wearing 9-12 month clothing
doesn't like to wear shoes or socks
loves being in one of our slings
really enjoys going on walks and jogs in the BOB jogger
lights up with Daddy get homes from work
is fascinated by remote controls, cell phone, and plastic cups
drinks water and breastmilk out of a sippy cup

As far as sleeping goes, he's been wanting to go to bed earlier, and likes to start his bedtime process around 6:30pm. That seems SO early to me, but it's naturally when he gets tired and no matter what we are doing or where we are, he'll curl up against me and start sucking his thumb. The thumb is ALWAYS an indicator of nap time, and during the day I can totally gauge when he needs a nap and when he will actually go down for a nap based on when that thumb gets popped into his mouth. It's almost like clockwork. For the past week Henry has been waking up in the middle of the night wanting to eat around 1am. He eats for about 5-10 minutes then goes back to sleep. I can't tell if it's because he's actually hungry or if he just wants to be comforted, but either way it's okay with me.

And speaking of eating, last week while at my parents', I left Henry for the evening to go to a show. He doesn't take a bottle anymore and hasn't for months, and our doctor advised me against using one this late in the game. So, we used a Born Free sippy cup my Mom got him. I pumped the night before, and my Mom filled the cup with a bottle's worth of breast milk, gave it to him before he went to bed in place of our usual feeding, and he drank the whole thing while sitting in her lap. He went right to bed and slept through the night. I was SO relieved, because I have three different weekends over the next couple of months that I'm going to be leaving him with Hank, and I was so, so nervous. It makes me happy to know that this worked well.

So, happy 7 months to our darling little man. He's the best thing in our life and it's only gets more and more fun everyday. I can't wait to see what this month has in store for us!  And if these photos are any indication, you can bet it's going to be a good time!

Henry: 6 months

Okay so THIS is my favorite age so far. Henry is turning into the biggest ham, the sweetest boy, and every single day his personality emerges a little more. It's just such a joy to wake up to him every morning- to go into his room and see him sitting up, waiting for us to pick him up. He raises his arms when we say "up?" and then give us the sweetest smile. I don't know if my heart could get any bigger. 

He's still exclusively breastfeeding and we haven't introduced anything else yet.  He doesn't use a bottle so it's been all me this entire time, with the exception of about four times. I think we are going to start with rice cereal next week, and go from there. We're definitely taking it slow though, and I'm still planning on breastfeeding until he's at least one.

Henry's reached a lot of milestones this month with the biggest being crawling!  I spoke about it in a previous post- he's been moving for quite some time now, but it's only been in the past couple of weeks he's gotten the crawling down pretty well. Now if I take my eyes off of him for a second he's across the room, it's pretty wild!

As far as sleeping, we went through a few nights last week that were a little difficult but now things are back to him sleeping from 7pm until about 7am.  Sometimes he'll wake up at 5am, and when he does that we'll usually go for an early morning walk and he'll fall back asleep. Henry's taking two naps a day- one anywhere between 9 and 10am and another around 2pm.  Sometimes he'll take three, but lately it's just been the two. And most recently he's been taking 2-3 hour naps at a time.

This month Henry:

has begun to crawl
can fully sit up on his own
can move from sitting to laying down to sitting again easily
can pull himself up to knees and almost to standing
will wake up, pull himself up in his crib and start chewing on the rail
can pick up multiple objects and move them from hand to hand
is "talking" a lot
loves to watch Madeline run and play
can't get enough of "The Isty Bitsy Spider"
rides in his stroller without the carseat
will put his arms up when we say "up"
is still sucking his thumb
self soothes himself back to sleep
is fascinated by clapping hands
loves when his papa tosses him up in the air
is very into "reading" and books
loves his rubber blocks and stacking rings
sleeps either on his side or on his stomach, with his butt in the air
loves to laugh and smile

Henry's 6 months check up is on June 2nd, so I'll share his height and weight changes next week. Right now he's wearing 9 month clothing, but his 9 month pjs are getting a little short on him so I'm thinking he's grown quite a bit!  This may sound silly, but I'm excited for him to get into 12 month sizing- boy clothes are so much cuter from that point on. And speaking of clothes, Henry's Grandma Cheryl got him the cutest outfit for Hawaii and the lake- boardshorts, a tee, and little surfer sandals. Next weekend Henry will be starting swim class at the Y too, and I'm really excited about getting in the water with him and getting him used to it. Hank pretty much grew up on the water every summer and I know once Henry gets a bit older it will be the same.

So, happy six months Henry! I can't believe our little guy is already half a year old. Everyday we fall more in love, and I can't wait to see what the next six months hold.

Henry: 5 months

5 months, almost half a year! I can't believe it. This month has been the biggest month for Henry so far, as far as growth and learning new things!  It seems like his mind grows and grows more and more everyday, and his personality is emerging at the same rate. If what he's like now is any indication of what he'll be like as he gets older, I foresee our little man being quite the ham. But also quiet at times, extremely sweet, and a total mama's boy. Henry is just starting to like to cuddle, and his favorite way to sleep is on his side, facing me, one thumb in his mouth and the other holding on to me. It melts my heart every single day. He's now sleeping in his crib every night and has recently gone back to sleeping through the night. Last month he started waking up 2-3 times, and we couldn't figure out what the problem was. Eventually we realized that he was just too big for the co-sleeper we had him in in our bed, and once we moved him into his crib (and got through the adjustment period), he was back to sleeping almost 12 solid hours. Henry loves to sleep completely stretched out, arms and legs wide open most of the time, and no wonder he kept waking up- every time he went to stretch he found himself confined. Now he is absolutely loving his crib, and although it's a little sad to not wake up and see his smiling face, Hank brings him in every morning for his first feeding and we cuddle for a long time to make up for it!

 

So here's Henry's current schedule:

6:30am wake up, Hank brings him into our bed before he gets in the shower
7-7:30am feed Henry, cuddle in bed, etc.
8am eat breakfast while Henry plays
8:30am get us ready for the day- either the gym/bootcamp, errands, meet a friend for brunch, or hanging out at home
9:00am leave the house or stay at home, but either way H. takes a nap during this time. He'll sleep through my bootcamp class (falls asleep in the car on the way there), or he'll sleep in his crib
10:30/11am wake up, feed Henry, hang out and read, play, etc. for the next couple of hours
2pm nap #2- this nap lasts anywhere from one and a half hours to two hours or so
3:30/4pm wake up, feed Henry, sometimes we'll go on a walk during this time
5:30pm Hank gets home and they have father/son time while we cook dinner
6:30pm start winding H. down for bed, give him a bath
7:00pm (on the dot) bring Henry into his room, read a book, feed him again. He usually falls right asleep around 7:30 or so.

When he wasn't sleeping through the night he would wake up at the same times almost every night- 11pm and 4am! Now that he's back to being a great sleeper I'm counting my lucky stars and enjoying every second. I think they say though that the minute you mention what a "great sleeper" your baby is, you're destined for a sleepless night, so we'll see about that! 

In other Henry news, all he wants to do lately is pull himself up into sitting position, and once he's there he wants to stand. He's such a mover and is on the verge of being able to crawl, once he figures it all out. He loves to flip belly to back, back to belly, and push up with his legs so his butt's in the air.  I'll post a video later this week from the other day and you'll see what I mean! It's just beyond neat because we'll go to bed one night, having just started to attempt something, and then the next day he'll master it! He's so smart and it's amazing seeing all of the connections being made day to day.

Henry is also quite the babbler and lately has taken to screaming and squealing when he's happy. He loves to take walks in his Baby Bjorn, and we've found that he likes that a lot more than his Ergo or Moby wrap because he can comfortably face out and take in so much action. He's so observant so unless he's super tired he prefers to face out.

This month Henry:

went on his second hike- he loves the outdoors
started making more distinct vowel sounds
is teething- I can see a little white bit of a tooth on his lower front/left gum
can almost sit up on his own
can almost push/pull himself into a seated position on his own
loves to stand with assistance as much as possible
started using a jumperoo and loves to bounce
likes to lie on his back and clap his feet together over and over
is highly amused by clapping and likes to "clap" with us by holding our hands
has mastered picking things up/reaching for things
has gotten to the stage where we have to push things away from him when out to dinner- he will lunge and grab at everything
is still breastfeeding
is getting more and more light brown hair
loves to have his head rubbed while falling asleep
still doesn't really live him Bumbo chair- is too active to want to sit still in it
had his first Easter
started to enjoy playing with blocks- he especially likes light blue and yellow
smiles every time Madeline comes near him
laughs very easily/smiles very easily

It's funny because every new stage has been the "best one yet," and I can only imagine how much more fun this is going to get as he gets older and is able to communicate with us more and more. My heart just grows and grows every single day, and I cannot even begin to describe the job that I feel being this little guy's mama.

So here's to you Henry, and here's to 5 months! We love you so much.

Henry: 4 months

This post is a bit belated, as Henry turned 4 months old last week, on the 22nd! He didn't have his checkup until yesterday though, so I wanted to wait to publish this post until then. He is doing very well and his appointment was wonderful...our tough guy didn't even cry during his shot. ;) Henry currently weighs 14 pounds, 14 oz. (50th percentile) and is 26 inches long (70th percentile).  This month it seems like H. is really coming into his own- his personality shines through a little more everyday, and it's so amazing to watch him figure things out on his own. He's been love love loving his Sophie the Giraffe and is happiest when she's in his hands...or his mouth! He also has been liking his Glowworm at nap time.

This month Henry:

rolls over, from back to front, and front to back
has taken to screaming and squealing
started teething
can fully move his head and hold it up
is starting to reach for things
can recognize people
knows his name (at least I think so)
smiles all the time
laughs a lot more often
drools constantly
loves putting his feet and hands into his mouth

Breastfeeding is going well as usual, and he is still sleeping with us in the cosleeper in our bed, but napping in his crib (or on me) during the day. He was sleeping through the night, 12 hours, but now he goes to sleep at 7pm and wakes up around 4 to eat, then sleeps a little more until 8 or so. Some nights recently have been more difficult, with him waking up every few hours, but the past couple of days have evened out and he's doing much better now that we are home and won't be traveling for some time.  We're probably going to move him fully into his crib at 6 months, and I think that transition is going to be a lot harder on me than him! We'll see.

So, yay for Henry and yay for 4 months! I am just starting to plan his first birthday party (crazy, I know) and I am REALLY excited about this little idea I've concocted. I think it's going to be amazing. And even more amazing? He's 1/3 of the way there. Bittersweet.

Here's to another wonderful month full of wet baby kisses and belly laughs. We love you so much Henry!

Henry: 3 months

3 months?! 1/4 of a year? Whoa, Henry. Slow down there. I am in total disbelief that it's been an entire 12 weeks since this little-big baby was in my belly, and I was only daydreaming of what these days would be like. Now that I'm smack dab in the middle of "these days," nothing in my wildest imagination could have prepared me for the amount my heart would grow in such a short time. To be a mother is an indescribable thing. This love I have for my son, the way I want to protect him, guide him, nurture him, it's amazing. I feel like he makes me a better person, and if this is how great it is at just 3 months, I can only imagine how much more this love with grow over our lifetime.

Our darling boy has been growing and growing, and something changes everyday- there's truly always something new. Hank and I were just remarking about how remarkable the speed of growth is. One day he wasn't able to reach up and grasp his toys, and now he is. One day it took a lot to get a smile out of him, now it's all he does. It's truly amazing.

This month Henry:

• is still breastfeeding. Hoping to go a year. 
• is a LOT more vocal. He's making some sort of noise all of the time- lots of vowel sounds and squeals.
• can reach above his head and grasp at the toys hanging from his playmat
• can hold objects in his hand and will try and move them to his mouth
• has become a thumb sucker and soothes himself this way. The sucking noise is so loud at night sometimes it makes me laugh.
• is all smiles, all the time
• first sort of real laugh (on Super Bowl Sunday while lying on our bed) but only does it once and awhile- I think the real thing is coming soon!
• loves his Sophie Giraffe. If he's crying all I have to do is squeeze it and he stops what he's doing and smiles and smiles.
• is liking tummy time more- can hold his head up, but still doesn't push all the way up on his arms- he can do a little mini one though.
• has a lot more head control 
• is starting to like sitting in his Bumbo.
• has been drooling like crazy
• has been trying to put things in his mouth- the head cushion on his swing, toys, etc.
• went on his first hike
• went downtown to the square for the first time

Our typical day is as follows:

6 or 6:30am- wake up and eats, goes back to sleep for a short while
8am-wakes up for the day
8-8:30 or 9am- lays in bed with mama and cuddles, listens to music
9am- plays on mat in the living while I make myself breakfast, then I go sit next to him on the floor and eat
10am- Henry eats again.
10:30am- nap time, usually sleeps for about 2 hours and during this time I'll blog, eat lunch, etc.
12:30ish- wakes up, we change it up over the next few hours- play on the floor, use the swing, read in the glider, dance around to music, go on a walk
4pm- eats again
4:30ish- takes another nap until about 6 or 6:30
6:30- wakes up, plays, hangs out with his papa
8:30pm- start winding him down for bed, bathtime if needed, quiet playtime
9:00 on the dot- feed him
9:30pm- asleep for the night...and start all over again!

We're really lucky because he's been sleeping through the night for quite awhile now. At first I got a little nervous about not feeding him during that time, but my milk kind of adjusted itself and I've had no problems. He still eats like a champ and feeling rested is definitely something I'm thanking my lucky stars about.  I've heard from a lot of people that he's an "easy baby," and I've also heard that the next one is always the opposite! ha! So we shall see. Not that we are into having another baby any time soon for goodness sakes...don't get any ideas MOM. ;)

So, happy 3 months Henry! You are amazing and we love you so.