Stats:
Weight- still in the 20 lb range
Height-?? probably won't have another measurement until his 12 month dr visit
Size 4 diapers
Size 12 to 18 mo clothes--loving summer clothes!! (p.s. any recommendations for his first real walking shoes?)
Milestones:
Crusing!- Henry has become the master cruiser. He can cruise down our couch and any furniture in record time. It has been a new challenge for me to find places for things now that he can get into EVERYTHING!!
Speed Crawler- Henry is still continuing to crawl incredibly fast without letting his knees touch the ground. Everyone laughs when they see him crawl because it is a pretty funny sight. It is always fun to see what animal they are going to compare him to...
Baby Signs- This month Henry added "all done" and "fan" to his small but fun baby sign vocab. He gets so excited when he does the sign for all done, and I respond, "all done??" And he gets very happy when I ask him if he is all done...he almost always immediately responds with the sign. I think he is getting close to doing the sign for bird and bath so it will be fun to see if he does those this month. One little cute baby sign story is that we were out in the parking lot of wa.lmart the other day and a helicopter flew by. Henry was making the sign for fan, and it didn't even click with me until I told Shaun later that he thought it was a flying fan lol. He also made a sound that sounded like a helicopter and when I told Shaun that we saw a helicopter..he made the sound again!!
Words- no new words this month...:(...just mama and dada and a lot of cute baby talk. Except for maybe yum and baby, but I can't say for sure as I've only thought I've heard him say both several times.
Mimicking- Henry is really getting into the stage where he loves to mimic any sound that we make or facial expression. It is so funny to me when he does this! The other day we were reading a book with animals, and I made the sound that horses make, and he made it back! so cute!!
Diaper Changes/Getting Dressed- Henry HATES it. He rolls over...screams...tries to crawl away...it is actually pretty funny. I'm starting to use the safety straps on the changing pad cover so that I can actually get the boy changed!! I have the coolest, neatest household items like remotes for him to play with and he still is not having it at all.
Dance with me Henry--(y'all do know that is a song right?? I need to learn all of the lyrics!!) Henry has started to dance and bounce his little booty when he hears music. I've been waiting for this day for so long because I absolutely adore baby booty dancing :). He has also started to sing with us sometimes. I have a song that I made up that he loves called "my hen hen henry," and he will try to hum the same rhythm with me at the hen hen henry part.
Peekaboo- It took me forever to figure out that Henry was trying to play peekaboo with us. He kept leaning his head over to one side in his high chair, and I just thought he was doing it to be silly. I finally figured out one day that he was "hiding." I always play peek a boo with him by hiding under his tray so that was what he was trying to do :).
Outside- Henry goes nuts if I ask him if he wants to go bye byes or go outside. He loves it!! He just oozes with delight when I open the garage door. Even just a simple trip to the mailbox is pure heaven for him.
Favorite toys- Anything and everything he can get into! And a vtec helicopter and tool box shape sorter.
Favorite books- Can't even pick one! His favs are touch and feel books! His Aunt Vicki just gave us a ton of his cousin Samuel's baby books (thanks vicki!!), and he is having the best time with his new books. He makes me read to him before every nap and after every feeding!! I absolutely adore this time because it is the only time during the day that he will actually lay on me and be still. He also figured out how to turn the page of the books this month so it has been fun to let him turn the page.
Breastfeeding- Breastfeeding is going really well, and I don't feel like quiting any time soon. The biting thing was only for a day or two until he figured out he was hurting mommy. The only thing that is different this month is that he has a strong preference on when to switch sides. Feeling a little conflicted because I know some people start to think it is strange after 12 months and also wondering (and this really is a post that needs to be by itself but I don't have time right now so I will mention...) if I need to quit to give us more time to get pregnant on our own. Doctors seem to not count breastfeeding months as "fertile" (and I use that term lightly around here) months, and I would like to give it some time before I have to start that process again. Feeling like my clock is ticking....weird feeling to have at 26.
Self-feeding- Henry is about 90% feeding himself now. I will feed him yogurt or oatmeal but other than that...he feeds himself. I was really not sure about this stage but now that we are in it...I love it! Henry is still at the stage where he loves everything which makes me job a lot easier! For those of you who have a little one around the same age, here is what we are eating these days (just a typical day...this does vary!). (Just a few Cheerios are always at the beginning of every meal while mom gets things ready!)
Breakfast- Banana (about 3/4), Strawberries (2 to 3) and Wheat Oatmeal mixed with whole milk
Lunch- Turkey, 1 sandwich sliced cheddar cheese, whole wheat bread, green veggie, fruit (blueberries etc)
Afternoon snack- fruit and cheerios or cheese or yogurt
Dinner- Meat of what we are having for dinner, green veggie, fruit, wheat bread
Nighttime sleep/naps--yikes. I don't even know if I can talk about this right now. Henry is sooo cute (if I say so myself), soooo sweet, sooo funny, such a great eater and crawler....but he is NOT a good sleeper. Never has been from about night two from the hospital. We are in the middle of sleep training because I had a moment where I realized that the night waking wasn't working for him, and it wasn't working for me. In fact, I realized that he cries so much every night to get me to come to his room that by sleep training him...I was actually saving him from crying in the future. Night one- was off and on crying for a hour (I didn't go in at all...just set a timer and checked on him via video monitor because I knew I would pick him up if I went in there and just make him madder or give in!!). Night two- two little whimpers at 4 am and 5 am...up for good at 5:30 am (not so bad for the second night!!). And now he sleeps until five and then the poor booger will not go back to sleep. 5 AM is sooooo early! It is still dark. So I've decided that I will go get him at 6 AM but not before 6. I'm thinking that within a week or two of doing this that he will hopefully sleep past 5 AM. Morning nap is actually pretty good right now, but he wants to go down early because he is so tired from getting up at 5. A big shout out to my friend Alison for helping me via email with the sleep training!! She encouraged me to keep him up closer to his normal nap time, and he took a nice 2 hr nap, and we were on schedule the rest of the day!!
One note that I do want to make about all of this is that I've never seen Henry so happy. He is already reaping the rewards of having uninterrupted nighttime sleep, and it makes me feel good as a parent that I did what was right for him. If you are reading this and thinking that you could never do that...well that was me too. But I had to do what was best for Henry and for me and although it was hard (like many decisions we have to make as parents)..I'm so happy I did it. I did have Henry's doctor check his ears and to do a complete look over on him to clear us for sleep training. He was completely on board and said we better do it now, or we were going to have trouble on our hands when he is a toddler.
Mommy update- The sleep deprivation has been tough, but I'm loving this summer with Henry. We are having the best time together, and I'm just soaking up these golden baby days as I know they are going way too fast.
Now for some pics if you have made it this far!! I'm going to start with a few cell phone pics sorry for the low quality.
I love this picture!!
Shaun built this upholstered cover for our fireplace so that Henry can have a safe play area!!
And yes he is wearing Christmas pjs in june :)
Cheerio/Food problem from post below...solved! I just shake the rug out every couple of days, and it has a rubber back so it washes great! For some reason...it looks so much better when the cheerios are on a rug lol.
Matching! Right before we hit the beach!
He LOVED the beach.
Family pic!
In an effort to be real on this blog...here is a pic from the weekend we will never forget...Henry's first ear infection. If he wasn't sleeping in his carseat (the only place he would sleep), he was screaming.
Clap, Clap, Clap
Also have some post on www.prayingforalittleone.blogspot.com...give me some comment love over there because I'm feeling a little down about lack of comments. Wondering if anyone is still reading?!
