Dirk Day

So I wrote this post a couple months ago and didn't get around to posting it until now. But here it is!

Costa Rica October 2010

Five years ago this February, my dad passed away. For those who do not know, he died at age 55 from adrenal cancer, from which he fought for about a year and a half ish.

A lot has happened in the last five years that I wish my dad had been here for. Meeting Cameron. Getting married. Graduating from BYU. Moving to Kansas. Having our first baby, Henry Dirk. And so much more.

To honor my father this week, Cameron and I (and Henry, of course) celebrated "Dirk Day!" We spent the entire day doing things that my dad loved to do. We started the day off with his favorite meal of the day: breakfast! We had scrambled eggs with cheese, fresh hashbrowns, sausage links, and juice. It was delicious. Growing up, my dad always made a big breakfast on Saturdays, just like this one. He would usually add hotdogs to the scrambled eggs, but Cameron says that's gross, so we forewent the hotdogs and stuck to cheesy scrambled eggs. :)

In the afternoon, we went on a "hike". Let's just say it was a Kansas hike. But the weather was incredible and it was the perfect hike for our family. Not too long or hard. It was just right. My dad was very outdoorsy and loved going on hikes. He also loved camping, rappelling, fishing, canoeing, and anything else outdoors. So a hike was fitting for Dirk Day.

After our hike, we picked up some ribs from Chili's for dinner. My mom said my dad always got ribs whenever they went out to eat, so we thought of him every delicious bite! I don't think I had ever ordered ribs before and I don't know why- They were fantastic! Messy, but so yummy. :)

Henry loved the ribs, too

Henry seemed to enjoy his first Dirk Day, where he got to eat like grandpa and hear stories about grandpa all day long. We look forward to teaching Henry more and more about who he was named after and what a great legacy he left behind.

My dad was the most spiritual man I have ever known. His testimony and example has been such a strength to me, even though he has moved onto the next life. He was such a caring, generous, upstanding, respectful, and kind soul. I look up to him every day and I am grateful for the time I had with him. I wish he were still here on this earth, but I know I will see him again and I cannot wait for that reunion. And I also can't wait to introduce Cameron and Henry to my dad.

I love you, Dad. God be with you until we meet again.
Anna

All About Henry- 7 months

I can't believe Henry is already 7 months old. It makes my mommy heart really sad to think about how fast he is growing. Why can't he stay little forever?!

Henry has been loving trying all sorts of new food. So far he loves: peas, green beans, carrots, apples, pears, peaches, and oatmeal. He has also enjoyed some ice cream, pineapple sherbet, ketchup, and dill pickle.

His very first attempt at solid food was with avocado. And it did not go well at all. I'm pretty sure it's because the avocado wasn't ripe yet, and therefore super bitter. Sorry buddy! He's pretty much loved everything else he has tried, so that's why we think it was a bad batch.

He loves drinking water out of his sippy straw cup. I'm not entirely sure how much he actually drinks... A lot of times I see him suck water up and then it dribbles pours right back out of his mouth and down his shirt. But he has a lot of fun trying and I know he gets some of it down.

Right now, he eats while in his bumbo with a little tray that clips on. I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to squeeze his chubby thighs into it though.. We might need to invest in a real highchair sooner than expected.

I always put a bib on him before we start, but it doesn't always last very long. He isn't used to a bib, so he is constantly looking down, chin to chest, to examine the bib and try to eat it, while simultaneously trying to pull it off.

His favorite toy is his purple teething hand. He also really likes his plastic keys.

No teeth yet. He chews on anything he can find with his mouth, but luckily (for me), nothing has cut through yet.

He loves story time and holding onto his books and putting them in his mouth.

He loves to talk and sing to us all day. It's very high pitched and extremely cute. I sing back to him and we have lots of singing/squealing conversations. I love my job.

He is still obsessed with Cameron's voice. If Cameron is within hearing distance, Henry is looking for him. And he just stares at Cam until he stops talking.

You know how if one baby cries, usually the other babies start to cry too? Well I don't know what kind of sick humor Henry has, but he has been known to laugh when another baby starts to cry. We're going to have to work on the whole empathy thing...

He can officially sit by himself! I strategically always have a pillow behind him since he has a tendency to tip over, but he can last a really long time. When he tips forward or to the side, he's really good at pulling his arms out and staying on his tummy. He usually doesn't get too upset, unless he lands on a hard toy or something. But he seems to love this new-found independence. He can sit forever and ever and just play with his toys on his own. It's great!

Still no rolling over yet. But that's fine by me. When he is on his tummy, he can pivot all the way around in a circle, like the hands of a clock. It's really fun to watch. Usually I'll put him down facing one direction, and when I turn around a few minutes later, he's facing the opposite wall. So, he gets around, even without rolling over.

Some friends of ours recently brought over a jumperoo, which Henry has LOVED. It sings and lights up when he jumps (which is a lot), and he is surrounded by bright, fun toys that are new and so fun to him. He spends lots of time jumping and sucking on the butterfly. He is very good at the spinning toys, as well. He is such a curious little guy.

He gets very focused on things. For example, he will be wiggling and squacking like normal and then all of a sudden finds something interesting to focus on (usually his hands) and then he just zooms in. Doesn't notice or care about what else is around him. Then he just dives in and quickly puts whatever said object is into his mouth to devour. This makes for very fast mom-eyes and hands, as some of these objects are inedible/too small/not for Henry's mouth.

We have recently been transitioning from 3 to 2 naps a day. Our typical day looks like this: wake up around 8:30/9 and take Dad to school. Come back and nurse. Eat oatmeal/applesauce. Play. Nap from 10:30-12. Wake up and nurse. Eat/Play/Errands/Etc. Nap 2-3:30. Wake up and nurse. Eat/Play/pick Dad up from school/Etc. Nurse around 6:30 and down for bed by 7. Sometimes he falls asleep nursing, but if not, he falls asleep as soon as he's swaddled and alone in his crib.

Recently, we have been putting a stuffed animal in his crib with him to keep him company. We rotate between Mickey Mouse, Elephant, Polar Bear, Giraffe, to name a few. He still loves talking to his quilt when he wakes up, but sometimes he wants something different to stare at as he falls asleep. Mickey usually does the trick :)

I have been off of dairy for about 3 weeks now and Henry has been sleeping through the night more often than not. Which is great! Except it sucks. I never realized how much dairy is in my everyday foods until I started reading labels and realized that I can't eat anything. I live off of soy milk now and steer clear of any cheesy or creamy foods (which are the most delicious). Mac N Cheese anyone? Pizza? :'( It's only for a few more months. It's only for a few more months. It's only for... I can do this. Or maybe we'll switch to formula?... Haha. We'll see how long I last.

Basically, Henry is such a joy to be around. He is such a happy kid. As long as he is sleeping well and pooping well, he is content as can be!

Now here are some pics (the real reason you clicked on our blog):

Henry's first flight 9.1.15

I forgot to mention our trip to Texas! Cameron had a conference in Austin over Labor Day weekend, so Henry and I decided to tag along and make a trip out of it. My in-laws live in San Antonio, so Henry got to spend some much needed quality time with Granby and Papa while Daddy went to his conference. My in-laws are in the process of moving, so there was a lot of renovations going on while we were there (bad timing on our part- Sorry!), but Henry was finally able to meet his Aunt Krista, Uncle Paul, and cousins Paul, Michael, and Asher. We had a lot of fun with all the Brown Boys together. We had a really great time hanging out with our Texas family and can't wait to visit again.

Our trip to Texas marks Henry's first flight! I was really, really nervous about timing and air pressure and nursing and sleeping and carseat versus lap and all the things a new mother stresses about for baby's first flight. Well, to our luck, there was extra seats in 3 out of our total 4 flights, so Henry was able to sleep in his carseat just fine for almost all the flights. Our last flight on the way home was full, so he had be be in our lap (and if you don't know, he is NOT a snuggly/cuddly baby. Translation: He Will Not Sleep In Our Arms). Or should I say, MY arms. Cameron, on the other hand, must be a baby-whisperer, because he somehow settled the crying, over-tired Henry and got him to fall asleep and stay asleep the rest of the flight. Which reminds me... Right before he got real tired, he had a poopsplosion, which Cameron also dealt with.

I had just very uncomfortably nursed Henry in a middle seat, squished between Cameron and a very tall man who took up every square inch of his allotted space by the window. And as I was burping him (and trying to block Henry's very persistent attempts at grabbing my neighbor's sleeve), I felt an explosive rumble. I peeked through the top of his onesie and saw the slime creeping up to the brim of the diaper. I elbowed Cam and told him we needed to change him NOW, before it seeped out and got all over. Cam's like, Well, he's just going to have to wait until we land. Approximately 4 seconds later, I peeked into his onesie again to see that it had spilled over the top and it was game over. I handed Cameron the baby, the changing pad, and a new outfit and said, Good luck! It was a good long while before they came out of that tiny lavatory. Apparently it was a sight to see. Let's just say, there was poop inside the diaper, on the backside of the diaper, all up his back, and everywhere else it could go as Cam changed him in this tiny bathroom, where everything is within grabbing distance for a 6 month old. He was royally grossed out and I was put on diaper duty for the next month. Hahaha Oh the joys of parenthood :)

First Carrots 9.2.15

Cam doing his thang at AAMFT

Henry's first trip to the zoo

9.11.15

Jumperoo in his adorable plaid flannel shirt 9.13.15

First time sitting in the shopping cart. He loved it! 9.19.15

6 months 8.31.15

7 months 10.4.15

Now that I'm all caught up, I hope to be more on top of this blog. Maybe I'll even write fun posts, not just boring month to month posts. That's the plan! Stick around and you might see who has the best Oreo Churros in town...

Henry- 6 months

Henry is 6 months old! Can you believe it?!

We are officially allowed to start introducing solid foods to Henry, which is awesome! We are so excited to let him explore a variety of different veggies/fruits, and cross our fingers that he is not a picky eater...!

We went to Utah for a week and a half (plus 2 days driving there and back), and we had so much fun. It was jam-packed with family time and we were pooped when we got home, but we are so glad we were able to introduce Henry to so many family members and spend time with them. We spent the first few days up in Park City with my side, where my mom had rented a cabin. We played lots of games (the Christensen love language), ate yummy food, rode the Alpine slides, went on hikes, swimming, hot tubbing, and just hanging out and talking. It was a blast.

For the next week, we spent time with the Brown side of the family, which was also a lot of fun. We were also able to squeeze in some friend time with a few college friends, and tried to see everyone we could in such a short amount of time. We enjoyed time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and made sure we stopped by sodalicious enough times to fill out an entire punch card... :) We even made it up to Salt Lake for an afternoon and strolled around City Creek, and after we left, we realized we forgot to walk around Temple Square, which was a major bummer. How did we forget to walk across the street and see Temple Square? I'm not sure, but I think Henry's poopsplosion  at the mall had something to do with it...

All in all, we had a great vacation and are glad we made the 14 (or maybe 16..17..18?) hour there-and-back road trip. We will hopefully be able to make another trip next summer, but I want you to know that you are very welcome to come visit us in Kansas in the meantime!

At 6 months old:

Henry is 28 inches tall (95%), 18 lbs 15 oz (76%), and head circumference is 80%. We are so happy that he is back on track with his weight! When he got sick at 3 months old, he dropped from 80% to 39% and the doctor thought he might stay on the skinny side, but he has plumped right back up and is at 76%, so we are very happy to have those thunder thighs back :)

He cannot roll over yet. Or sit up. The doctor (we had a substitute since ours is on maternity leave right now) seemed concerned and gave me a packet with a bunch of questions I'm supposed to test Henry with. Blah blah blah

He's just fine.

He's happy and content and just doesn't want to roll over yet. Thank you very much. He's not interested. He spends all day on his tummy and plays with his toys. Why would he roll over? Plus is rolling over really an important life skill? Pretty sure adults don't roll around at work all day. Anyway...

His favorite toy is the new toy he got for the road trip. It has four balls that are different sizes and textures and connected by little ropes. He sucks on it and swings it around and sometimes his himself in the face with it. Which is hilarious.

He did really great while on vacation. He didn't get very many naps throughout the trip because we were going nonstop the whole time, but he was a trooper! He let everyone hold him and gave them lots of smiles. And at night time, he would sleep through the whole night without a peep since he was so exhausted! A lot of times we would actually have to wake him up after he was asleep for 14+ hours since we needed to get going. Poor guy just wanted some sleep.

He is still swaddled during naps and nighttime. I dread the day we stop swaddling him. He has a strong tendency to gouge his eyes out during his sleep and/or pull his binky out and then cry because it's out. Pretty sure he's going to be swaddling until we potty train...

He is really good at grabbing things, really anything within reaching distance he will grab. Especially hair.

He loves to try to drink out of my water bottle (which has a straw). It's very cute.

We are still breastfeeding and that's going well. We're excited to officially start solid foods!

He wears some 3-6 mo and other 6-9 mo clothes and size 3 diapers.

His carseat is starting to get snug, so we'll be looking into getting a bigger one pretty soon.

Basically, he is growing up so stinking fast and it makes my mommy heart so sad. Where did my baby go?

Happy half-birthday Henry bug!

Now for some pictures:

7.11.15

Tandem Bikes are hard...

7.14.15 ChickfilA Day!

Henry got a little sleepy..

The carnival came to town! We ate a delicious funnel cake. 

Baby Mohawk 

First time in stroller without carseat 7.25.15

Oh hello there, cousin Ollie

First time meeting cousin Oliver, Aunt Christine, and Uncle Logan

Snuggles with Aunt Ali

Dinner with Aunt Jody and family

Henry loved spending time with his Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

8.9.15

Grandma Brown could not get enough of Henry! She spent most of the time on the floor playing with him.

Rita's with Uncle Dave

We sure miss living close to these fun guys! Cousins 8.11.15

On the way back to Kansas, Henry got a hotel bed all to himself. 

8.27.15- 6 Months Old!

8.31.15 First Food= Ice Cream :)

For some reason I cannot find a single picture from our Park City trip with my family... I'm hoping someone took some pictures? And maybe could share them with me..?!

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Henry 1 Month

At one month old, Henry is one big boy!

He is in the 97th percentile in height (23 inches), 97th percentile in Head Circumference, and 74th percentile in weight (10 lb 12 oz). Can you believe that?!

NINETY-SEVENTH percentile!!! I don't know where these tall genes are coming from, but it certainly isn't us. We can however pin down his big head as coming from his father... :) No wonder he couldn't fit through the birth canal!

At One Month Old-
Henry likes to stare at bold, contrasting colors.

He can track things with his eyes, although no conscious eye contact yet.

He looks towards sounds, like our voices.

He has smiled towards us a few times, but again, it's not conscious yet.

He has rolled over from his tummy to his back a few times, although not on purpose. (Twice in a row when he was like a week old. A couple more times when he was 3 weeks old.)

In regard to tummy time, sometimes he loves it and other times he hates it. He will definitely let you know if he is in the mood or not.

He is consistently gaining about 2 ounces a day (Which is a lot).

Since day 1, he has been eating about every 3-4 hours, usually closer to 4 hours. And at night, he will usually have one 6 hour stretch and another 5 hour stretch. Sometimes more (7-8 hours) and other times less (every 3 hours).

He loves bath time with Dad, as long as he doesn't get cold.

He has peed all over the nursery so far. (Hasn't happened in a couple weeks- knock on wood!)

He is awake 6-8 hours a day, which includes eating, playing, sleeping, repeat.

He puts himself to sleep, swaddled in his crib. I lay him down when he has tired eyes, or I know it's about nap time, and he just lays there calmly until he falls asleep. Sometimes I have to put his pacifier back in his mouth a few times, but that's about it.

He is basically a perfect baby. He doesn't really cry, only when he is starving, cold, or in pain (gas or a limb gets accidentally smushed in a weird position). He sleeps well, eats well, and 99% of the time is perfectly content. He doesn't require much work, really at all. We could not have asked for a more docile and calm baby.

He is kind, smart, very strong, loving, and such a joy to be around. This motherhood thing is much easier than I anticipated. (Don't worry- I know it won't last forever). I expected to be up every 2 hours with a screaming baby, who wouldn't fall back asleep and would just cry lots. And then I was blessed with this sweet angel who loves sleep as much as I do.

Here is an overload of pictures for you!

Leaving the Hospital

Going Home Outfit

First time in his crib

At 4 days old, newborn hats were too small for his huge head...

First Play Date at 5 days old

5 days old

Henry and I's first outing- 5 days old

6 days old

Baby poo!

1st Bath at home

1 week

Hangin' out with Dad

Hey look, he's smashing his face in spit up! Let's take a pic instead of cleaning him up. 

2 weeks

Blessing Day at church 3.15.15



Don't know why this is so grainy, but here's the fam!

Grandma

Aunt Holly

Uncle Eric

Papa

3.17.15 Olive Garden- I love his little fingers holding on to the table

St. Patrick's Day- He likes to wiggle for pictures

just hanging out with mom and dad



3.20.15 Hanging out with Dad

Daddy time

3am pee on mom time

"This is what handsome looks like" -1 Month

Henry doesn't like looking at the camera. Thanks Dad!

Happy 1 Month, Henry! We love you lots!

-Mom and Dad