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- 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- 11 Months

HAPPY 11 MONTHS, HENRY!!!

Henry has become so active this month! He crawls all over the place and is very, very fast. He is very quick to get into anything and everything in his reach and has no problem destroying whatever he is touching.

Our apartment is far from baby-proof and we are constantly working on improving that, but Henry seems to be developing faster than we are adapting. The only safe places are: his crib, his jumperoo, his bumbo (with the tray attached or else he crawls out of that, too), and his carseat. Unless he is strapped in somewhere, he is on the move.

His favorite activity is pulling things out. This applies to anything. He loves to just sit and pull out every single item from his diaper bag. Or stand by the kitchen cabinet and pull out every single tupperware container and lid. Or simply sit by his toy shelves and pull every single toy off/out. Sometimes he actually plays with his toys, but I think he more enjoys just pulling his toys out than anything else. Oh and he also loves to pull out every article of clothing he owns from the laundry basket or his drawers. Basically, our home is disaster zone at all times now.

He has been really into waving things really fast and then letting go randomly AKA throwing things. This is not my favorite game. Especially at the grocery store when I'm the one fetching his sippy or binky or toy. It's already hard enough trying not to lose binkies, but when he is the one throwing them across the room... Not cool.

The past couple weeks, Henry has learned how to play peekaboo with his hands. It is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. He doesn't totally understand the concept of covering his eyes, as he usually only covers up one or neither eye and his hands are just on top of his head, but it is the BEST. He does it over and over again and just giggles up a storm. He thinks he is the bee's knees.

He also waved for the first time (at Dad of course) and has done it once or twice since (still only for Dad... it's fine. It's no secret who's the favorite around here). And he has also starting clapping! It's like, within 3 days he figured out that his hands can do things other than feed himself.

His sleeping is going a lot better. He typically sleeps from 7pm-8am and we are transitioning from 2 naps to 1 nap during the day. He still wakes up about once at night and I nurse him, but there were 2 nights this past week where he slept through the entire night and didn't wake to eat at all!! (But then he woke up in the 7s...) But I'll take what I can get!

I'm still breastfeeding and I'm counting down the days.... I just really miss wearing normal bras every day. Almost there!

Lastly, Henry is just such a joy to be around. He can make anyone smile and he smiles at everyone around him. He is such a little charmer and makes friends easily. We are so happy to have him in our family and we are so sad to think that in less than a month he turns 1 year old. I can't bear to think about how big he is.

Now, here are some pictures of our sweet boy:

Where I usually find him, inside the cabinet playing with baby food and tupperware

Morning snuggles

His hat kills me!

He's really good at selfies

I swear the hat adds on like 3 years

New favorite food: yogurt!

He could stare out the window all day long. He completely zones out and is startled if you speak

pop, lock & drop it

Such a deep thinker

Happy 11 months, big guy!

-Anna

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