All About Henry- 1 year!

You guys, I have a one year old. How did this happen?

But seriously.

Henry is transitioning from babyhood to toddlerhood and I have very mixed feelings about this. He is very independent and has quite the personality. He is very good at listening.... but is terrible at following directions. I hear you Mom, but I have to disagree. Toilet paper IS for playing with.

His favorite game right now is turning everything into a walker of some sort. So, walking while pushing something, whether it be a chair or his huge dump truck or a cardboard box. You get the point. However, his aim isn't very good. So he goes straight until he runs into something (which is like every 5 feet in our tiny apartment) and then he cries because he's frustrated that the wall won't get out of his way.

He loves playing with his cars. He has little hotwheels, medium size cars, and a huge dumptruck; he loves them all. He pushes them around and hands them to me constantly to drive up and down my arms and legs. Sometimes we set up slides and watch them zip down. He is so stinking cute.

His favorite place in the whole apartment is standing by the big window in the living room. He literally stands there 80% of the day. Just looking out at the road/ into the sky/ at the trees. I don't know what he looks at, but he just gazes off for hours each day. No joke. He also really likes to repeatedly tap/HIT the window with whatever object is in his hand (car, wooden puzzle pieces, lego blocks, etc.). You could say, we're just a little excited for the weather to be warm enough to actually go outside and play. Not just dream of such days :)

He LOVES to give me and Cam kisses! Every morning, we each get bombarded with dozens of kisses. They may be super slobbery and snotty, but they are the best.

He has also gotten really good at waving to people, which his fans adore. He makes all sorts of friends wherever we go- the grocery store, Cold Stone, you name it, he has made a friend there. He gives a HUGE smile to just about anyone who looks at him. I'm so happy he's a social baby. It makes life in public pretty easy.

He has been really big into pointing recently. Within the last couple weeks he has learned to point, so now he points at everything. He points to his/your nose whenever we say, "Where's your nose?" And he also points to his nose when we ask for any other body part. The other day I was reading a book to him and one of the lines was "I like my eyes, my ears, my nose" and as we're reading, Henry puts his finger to his nose right when I said it :) He's learning!!

He's a bit behind in his language development, so I get really excited when I can tell he understands what I'm saying. Just today, I pointed across the room and said, "Henry, there's your bink bink; go get it!" and he promptly started crawling to it and put it in his mouth! Just because he isn't saying words doesn't mean he can't understand my words.

The day before his birthday he said "mama" for the first time. I'm not sure if he knows what he is saying, but it's a start! He teased Cameron with Dada one time, but hasn't said it since. Sad day.

1 year old means that the end is near for breastfeeding!!! I thought I would be really sad about it, but I'm starting to get really excited for it. What I am nervous for is the transition to cow's milk.. With all our dairy issues, I'm not looking forward to it at all. The hope is that he has grown out of it and that his stomach is mature enough to handle it now... I'll be the judge of that.

Now for some pictures:

I can't figure out how to flip this-- 13 months

Happy Birthday bug!

All About Henry- 10 Months

At 10 months old, Henry is a hoot!

He has a huge head, a torso the size of a 2 year old, and legs the size of an 9 month old.

A few of his favorite things are: Bath time (He splashes so much the whole bathroom floor looks flooded when he's done), reading books (He literally could read books all day long), emptying things (AKA pulling everything out of anything), his alone time in his carseat (taking Dad to work and picking him up), his sippy cup, loud noises, and his new trick of standing up.

Henry's Christmas gift to us this year was learning how to crawl on Christmas day! He has been so, so close for many weeks and on Christmas morning, he opened a gift (a ball that electronically rolls itself and makes noise) and immediately started crawling towards it. No encouragement needed. It was a Christmas miracle! Cam and I were stunned when he started moving. We were like, WHAT THE WHAT?! Is this really happening? He has been on the move since then and is getting VERY fast. Nothing is safe anymore. He gets into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. We are constantly rearranging things and very quickly learning that nothing in our home is baby-proof. We're working on that.

Since he started crawling, he also has started to pull himself up to a stand. He does this near furniture, and anyone's legs and anything that appears to him like it will hold his weight (although his judgement is a bit off), and especially his crib. His go-to leverage point is using Daddy's leg hair to get a good grip and climb up.

Remember how last month his issue was pushing himself into a sitting position in his sleep and then crying? Well, now he pulls himself up to standing in his crib and just cries. It's a serious problem.

Henry eats a ton of food. He continues to love all puree baby food and is now exploring into real table food and is in heaven. He loves any and all meats- chicken, beef, ham, any lunch meat, salmon, you name it, he loves it. He is a pro at picking up food with his pointer finger and thumb and can get the tiniest of crumbs that we can't even manage to get with our adult fingers.

Breastfeeding is still trucking along. Although I'm pretty sure I have almost no milk left. When he does nurse, he's done in like 3 minutes flat. Which is nice and fast, but I'm pretty sure he's not getting anything. Oh well, he's almost a year anyway so I'm not too concerned. Plus he drinks lots of water from his sippy cup throughout the day, so I know he's not dehydrated.

As for his sleeping...... where do I even begin..... Some days, he is an angel- takes two good naps (1+ hour each), and sleeps 13+ hours at night, waking once around 6am to feed. And then other days he is a little monster- refuses to nap altogether or takes over an hour to convince him to fall asleep and then wakes 30 minutes later (for both morning and afternoon nap) and then wakes every 1-2 hours during the night crying. So there's that.

The sleeping thing is really frustrating because some days he sleeps great! But it's all those other days that leave us pulling our hair out. We've tried a lot of different things and have yet to figure out how to help him sleep through the night. My most recent hypothesis is that he's hungry because I don't produce enough milk. But who knows.

He has started babbling a LOT more this past month. So far he does: B, G, D, M (his newest sound), and maybe more that I can't think of. His favorite trick is spitting, which is really cute except when he is eating pureed food and spits a mouthful of food all over you.

We sure love our little monster. He gets cuter everyday as his personality shines through more and more. Here are some pictures!

Photoshoots have gotten a bit more difficult these days... More pics from his 10 month shoot at the end

First visit with Santa

FHE with William

Selfies are hard

After months of teaching him NOT to rip paper, we reversed everything by encouraging him to rip open his presents. 

1st Bloody nose. Blast the dry weather this winter!

Rollin in the do-flow of 2 dollar bills

Brown Family Christmas 2015

Happy New Year! from Henry

10 months!

Most of the shots I got look like this

Or this

Or this.... you get the point. 

Until next time,

Anna

All About Henry- 9 Months

9 months in, 9 months out. You could say that he was a tad easier to take care of when he was in... :)

At 9 months old:

Henry weighs 21 lbs 12 oz (82 percentile), is 30 1/4 inches tall (98th percentile) and has a head circumference at 82 percentile.

AKA He is a big boy.

Henry now primarily sleeps on his tummy, which is very cute. He rolls all over the place and is generally pretty good at putting himself back to sleep (which took a lot of effort on Cameron and my part). He seems to really like to sleep on his side, but tends to end up on his tummy.

He usually sleeps from 7pm-8am, getting up around 5/6 to nurse. On a good day, he takes a morning and afternoon nap, both lasting 1 hour and a half. And then we went on vacation for Thanksgiving and he is seriously struggling to get  back to our normal routine...

He loves to sit and play with his wooden blocks and dump truck. He also can sit and read eat his books for hours.

On his tummy, he can slide around from side to side and scoot backwards really well. The only problem is that he thinks he is moving forward haha

At times, he gets up on his knees and starts to rock a little bit, but he still has a little ways to go before the crawling takes off.

He has recently starting to try to pull himself up on furniture. Just this morning he was able to pull himself up onto his knees at the coffee table! He doesn't really like to put much weight on his legs. When I try to get him to stand, he keeps his legs parallel to the floor and won't put them down.

Henry has 2 very sharp teeth. I'm about to throw in the towel on nursing because this little kid BITES me just about every single time he eats. The struggle is real, folks.

Henry wears mostly 12 and 18 month clothes (and occasionally 24 month :'( ). At this rate, he's going to be in like size 8yo clothes (is that even a size?) by the time he turns 2.

As for my dairy intake: I've been eating cheesy delicious things for awhile now (in moderation) and so I thought Henry might be over the dairy thing. So, a couple days ago I boldly had my first cup of milk in 3 months. Well, that was a mistake. He was up about every hour and a half all night long just crying/screaming/pushing-like he had to poop or had a tummy ache. So... no more milk for mommy. Which is a major bummer.

He is a really good eater with solid foods. He eats almost anything you give him. He also loves his water bottle/sippy cup. He is getting better and better at picking up food (cheerios mostly) and putting them in his mouth. But a lot of times, he is lazy and just puts his mouth to the table to get the cheerio, no hands involved. It's hilarious to watch. It's like he is a bird pecking his food.

I think that about covers it! Now for some pictures:

This was my best attempt at 9 month photos....

Are we done yet, mom?

Granby time 

K-State campus is beautiful during fall

Papa

Papa

Happy Thanksgiving!

My beanie fits my 9 month old's head

Tractor time with Granbob or PaBob or Grandpa Bob 

Twinsies

-Anna

Struck by Lightening- Halloween 2015

So, as many of you may know, Cameron's birthday is on Halloween, so it's a major holiday in our household.

This year, we celebrated the big 2-8 all week long. On Tuesday, we got blizzards from Dairy Queen (Birthday BOGO of course). On Wednesday, we got All-You-Can-Eat Sushi at our local grocery store, HyVee.. Seriously, who requests sushi from the grocery store for their birthday? :p On Thursday, we got a babysitter and went to El Tapatio's for their chips and salsa and then off to Hastings for book browsing. Friday, we had the ward trunk or treat, where we were "Struck by lightening" and got to mooch off of all of Henry's candy. And then on Saturday, we drove to Salina (an hour drive) where we had Stake Conference (a big church meeting), where the new apostle Elder Stevenson spoke! After Stake Conference, we went to a pumpkin patch, where we were literally the only people there (because apparently everyone else picks out their pumpkins before Halloween, not the day of Halloween)(and because it was literally in the middle of nowhere). And when we got home, we watched a scary movie, which is always fun.

At the pumpkin patch, we got lots of cute pictures of Henry and had fun getting lost in the corn maze. All in all, we had a great time. We totally messed Henry up with naps and such and with Daylight Savings being that same night... Sunday was a bit rough.

But for the pictures, it was worth it!

Camp Counselors 10.23.15 Check out those SHORTS!

Struck by Lightening 10.30.15

Let me just add here that if you are burning clothing for any reason, maybe try doing it outside, not inside your apartment building. Both of our shirts were wet the whole night from me having to put out (multiple) flames earlier in the day. Also, I recommend making costumes before the day you actually plan to wear them. 

I also do not recommend having paper near your baby's face that is vital to the costume. He was supposed to have a lightening bolt in the front and one on the back, but he ate the first one (note his right hand), so we had to move the other one to the front. 

Many lessons learned this year. Brought to you by yours truly. :)

He's not the best bus driver :P but he sure is the cutest one!

Sunnyside Pumpkin Patch 2015

Salina, KS

Happy Halloween!

-Anna