Reading Away

Henry has finally discovered that reading books (ie. sitting still) can be fun. He loves his soft books that have reading activities like lifting flaps or things he can grab onto. He even remembers what to do on each page from one reading to the next. Before bed we read through his stack of books and then put each one on the floor. As soon as a book is done he looks over to the stack for another, and when I have read the last one he attempts to get up since there are none left. He is becoming one smart cookie!

King Henry the 1st

Henry doesn't always like to sit on your lap in his chair. We discovered the other day that he prefers to sit in it on his own! We think that he was practicing for his royal throne by looking down on his loyal subjects...yes, mom and dad were sitting on the floor. Long live King Henry!

Playing Catch-up

So much for posting everyday...time for ketchup...I mean catch-up.

Wednesday:

Henry still loves his Einstein gym! Now instead of just watching the star, he likes to roll all over it and off it. Nothing gets in his way. When he wraps his legs around it, it may even fall over on him, but I think that is half the fun.

Thursday:

Henry "helped" me clean my closet by playing in the doorway. He giggled a lot...I'm not sure if it was the word JUMP or the fact that I jumped when I said it, but either way, Henry thought it was hilarious. I realized at that moment that jumping isn't something I do very often, I cannot even remember the last time I did it. I can now though - 2.22.07 3:14 pm.

Friday:

Bath time again. Henry watches Scott fill the tub and can't wait to get in. I can hardly hold onto him at times. Tonight we did the bath without toys, which caused lots of splashing! Henry had water dripping down his face, but he loved every minute. Even though this picture doesn't capture the water that ended up all over the bathroom, I still think he is adorable!

Bath Time

Tonight was bath night for Henry. He has out grown the little tub and is too wet for the kitchen sink. Instead, Henry takes a bath with daddy in the big tub. He just loves splashing and kicking.

Henry can be in the worst mood, but as soon as he hears the water running I can't get his clothes off fast enough. He arches his back and will not stop squirming until he is in the water!

Flu Shot part II

Yesterday Henry went to the doctor for the second portion of his flu shot. He seemed to do well getting the shot and on the ride home. The rest of the day was a different story though. He avoided he afternoon nap until 5 pm, and was then basically in bed for the night. Scott and I thought that this picture summed up the evening quite well!

Happy Birthday

Today we celebrated my dad's birthday (it's tomorrow). We had a fabulous lunch at their house and the boys spent the afternoon playing. Henry practiced his scootching across the floor, and both boys took turns riding in the truck.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Picture of the Day

With the world of digital cameras it is so easy to take a lot of pictures. Whether I ever print them or not is another story. I still find though that there are days where I take tons of pictures, and then days will go by before I take any more.

I have decided to add a picture of Henry everyday, or close to it so that it prompts me to keep the camera out and ready. I'm going to label them so you can click on the side bar link to view them later if you miss them on the day they are posted.

Get ready to see a lot of Henry and we'll try to vary them so that you see what our days are like or what we and Henry are up to!

Henry's New Cousin

We just got home from visiting Tom, Sarah and Lauren. They were all doing well. Lauren is adorable and so small. Well, she seems small to us, but that is probably because Henry is so big!

Henry wasn't too sure about Lauren at first, but it didn't take long for him to reach for her. We had to put him on the other side so that he wouldn't touch her and wake her up. Henry did like the curtain though. When we weren't looking he would grab it and pull it behind him. It was weird to be back in the hospital, Sarah was in the room right across from the room we were in when Henry was born. He didn't remember though...we didn't expect him to!

Our New Niece!

On Valentine's Day our family was blessed with a new niece! Scott's brother and his wife had a baby girl last night. Her name is Lauren Joanne, she was 9 lbs 1oz and 21 inches long. We are going to visit them tonight. Henry and I can't wait for Scott to get home so that we can go to the hospital! We will post pictures when we get home.

My Valentine's

Photo courtesy of David Chandler Photography

I always see pictures like this in magazines...but this time it is mine!

This is definitely my favorite picture of Scott and Henry!

Naps are for the Birds!

When I look at this face, I can't help but smile! Today we have been smiling a lot. Henry decided that napping is for the birds. A couple of napping attempts were made, but none very successful. The best one was when Henry feel asleep on the way home from the store and I was able to move him to his crib without any peeking. I thought that we had a success (it was his normal napping time, and things were looking good). Scott came home for lunch about 5 minutes after the transfer, and of course Henry must have known! The babbling began, and Scott couldn't wait to get him up. That was the beginning of the end. I'm not sure how many times I tried Henry in his crib since then before he FINALLY fell asleep, but he has been out for almost 20 minutes now so here's to hoping!

*This is one of Henry's 6 month pictures. Our friend is a photographer, and we love having him take Henry's pictures. He does a great job everytime, so we brag about him as much as we can! If anyone is interested we would be happy to recommend David Chandler Photography!

Sleeping Soundly...or Wide Awake?

I always wonder after Henry has gone to bed for the night and his jabbering trails off...is he asleep or awake? I can never just leave him alone, I am too curious so I go to check every time.

I attempt to lay him facing away from the door so that my peeking will go unnoticed by his little eyes. However, it is hard to see in his darkened room. I often have to look in a little further. Usually this still goes unnoticed, but there have been a few times that the creaking door has given me away or as I get close enough to see him, I see that he is looking right back at me! It is amazing how much more quickly Henry can turn his head around to find me than I can jump out of the doorway.

Tonight I did not go unnoticed! I went in to check on him, again peeking through the crack in the door. My eyes would not adjust to the nite-lite lit room, so I had to go closer. I could not figure out where or how he was laying. I think this was all part of his plan. Just as my eyes focused, the light caught his eyes and he lets me know that he is indeed awake by blowing a juicy raspberry into the air. At this point I am laughing and had to see him better by turning on the light. There he was doing a push up as high as he could!

Henry's cunning grin told me that his plan had worked to perfection. Of course he was not asleep, there were shadows to watch and imaginary things to kick at. And the day was not over, so there was still attention to be had! I will always wonder what goes through his little head at night (or anytime for that matter), but I can only guess as I pick him up, kiss him good night and lay him down on his back again.

We will repeat this routine a few more times before he is soundly sleeping...but I will keep sneaking in to check on him, and smile everytime!

It took a blizzard...

Many use the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child," for me, it took a blizzard.

I have constantly been trying to find a balance between home, self and child. I always feel like the days I am home come and go without any accomplishment. I try to 'make changes' in what I do or in my mind set of what I should be doing, but it consistently ends the same. I feel like I'm right where I started, or even further behind.

This weekend's blizzard was the change that I needed for my chaotic life though. After a weekend of leaving the house only once, I did not think I could handle one more day. However, today it was just me and Henry and we had a good day, wait, we had a great day!

I think that when you find the right balance in life, you suddenly have time to get to everything that is important, and maybe even a few things that aren't. Not only did I clean and do laundry (the never ending chores), I also slept in and took a nap with Henry. We played for hours and even had time to just sit on the sofa and look at each other (my favorite part of today). I think that Henry noticed the difference too. By the end of the day he looked more relaxed than normal and basically content. We both were.

God knew that I couldn't take one more day of cabin fever! Instead of going stir crazy, Henry and I went stir HAPPY! Hopefully the snow will fade, but the balance we have uncovered will stick around forever!