A day of firsts!

Yesterday was a big day in the world of Henry.  He has his first swim class and did so well!  It's a 6-week class at our local YMCA, and it basically teaches them the basics, and what to do if they happen to fall into a pool or body of water. The instructor's baby was a little older then Henry, and when her Mom put her in the water she knew to flip on her back and float. It was pretty amazing, and even when she was put into the water face down so flipped right over. Henry just started and has a long way to go, but it makes me so happy that we're starting his early. We spend a lot of time on the water, whether it be in the ocean, on the houseboat, or in the pool, so it's really important to us that he's comfortable.  It was also really fun and I think he really liked the songs and games. I can't wait until next week.
















Henry also tried his first food, and we gave him the Earth's Best brown rice cereal mixed with breast milk. We gave it to him before his last feeding before bed, and he was a little fussy to begin with, so I think tonight if we time it better it should go a little more smoothly. He took about three bites but then wasn't too into it.  This was the very first food he's ever had, and it was pretty adorable to see him try and figure out what the heck it was.  In the video below you'll see that he doesn't really know whether to laugh or cry. Adorable. We are planning on doing the cereal for a couple of weeks, then transitioning into single vegetables. Yay Henry!
 

Henry's 6 month check-up

Thursday was Henry's 6 month check-up (a couple of weeks late- he turned 6 months on the 22nd), and  I was so excited to see what kind of progress he's made since last time.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 16 pounds, 8 ounces
Height: 27.5 inches

He's in the 50th percentile for both height and weight, although people always comment on how big he looks. I think that may be because he's right in the middle for both so he just overall looks pretty proportionately solid. Either way he's thriving and growing, and doing so well.

We are so proud of our little guy, and today was actually a couple different firsts: his first swim class and his first "food" aka brown rice cereal!  And yes Mom, I'll be posting a video of Henry eating the cereal tomorrow. ;)

As for now, I'm off to go curl up on the couch with Hank, and a huge glass of ice water.  We're still obsessed with Sons of Anarchy and are on Season Two. And in other television related news, just this week I started watching Glee!  I've always admired Emma's outfits from photos, but I just assumed I wouldn't like the show since I'm not much of a musical fan. Silly me, because I LOVE it. It's been my nap-time go-to this past week.

Alright, Hank's giving me the "okay wrap it up look," so I'm signing off for the night- have a great Sunday tomorrow!

Henry: 6 months

Okay so THIS is my favorite age so far. Henry is turning into the biggest ham, the sweetest boy, and every single day his personality emerges a little more. It's just such a joy to wake up to him every morning- to go into his room and see him sitting up, waiting for us to pick him up. He raises his arms when we say "up?" and then give us the sweetest smile. I don't know if my heart could get any bigger. 

He's still exclusively breastfeeding and we haven't introduced anything else yet.  He doesn't use a bottle so it's been all me this entire time, with the exception of about four times. I think we are going to start with rice cereal next week, and go from there. We're definitely taking it slow though, and I'm still planning on breastfeeding until he's at least one.

Henry's reached a lot of milestones this month with the biggest being crawling!  I spoke about it in a previous post- he's been moving for quite some time now, but it's only been in the past couple of weeks he's gotten the crawling down pretty well. Now if I take my eyes off of him for a second he's across the room, it's pretty wild!

As far as sleeping, we went through a few nights last week that were a little difficult but now things are back to him sleeping from 7pm until about 7am.  Sometimes he'll wake up at 5am, and when he does that we'll usually go for an early morning walk and he'll fall back asleep. Henry's taking two naps a day- one anywhere between 9 and 10am and another around 2pm.  Sometimes he'll take three, but lately it's just been the two. And most recently he's been taking 2-3 hour naps at a time.

This month Henry:

has begun to crawl
can fully sit up on his own
can move from sitting to laying down to sitting again easily
can pull himself up to knees and almost to standing
will wake up, pull himself up in his crib and start chewing on the rail
can pick up multiple objects and move them from hand to hand
is "talking" a lot
loves to watch Madeline run and play
can't get enough of "The Isty Bitsy Spider"
rides in his stroller without the carseat
will put his arms up when we say "up"
is still sucking his thumb
self soothes himself back to sleep
is fascinated by clapping hands
loves when his papa tosses him up in the air
is very into "reading" and books
loves his rubber blocks and stacking rings
sleeps either on his side or on his stomach, with his butt in the air
loves to laugh and smile

Henry's 6 months check up is on June 2nd, so I'll share his height and weight changes next week. Right now he's wearing 9 month clothing, but his 9 month pjs are getting a little short on him so I'm thinking he's grown quite a bit!  This may sound silly, but I'm excited for him to get into 12 month sizing- boy clothes are so much cuter from that point on. And speaking of clothes, Henry's Grandma Cheryl got him the cutest outfit for Hawaii and the lake- boardshorts, a tee, and little surfer sandals. Next weekend Henry will be starting swim class at the Y too, and I'm really excited about getting in the water with him and getting him used to it. Hank pretty much grew up on the water every summer and I know once Henry gets a bit older it will be the same.

So, happy six months Henry! I can't believe our little guy is already half a year old. Everyday we fall more in love, and I can't wait to see what the next six months hold.

Today...

smiling back at THAT KID right up there. I mean, look at that grin? How can you not smile?!

shopping around online for ellipticals. Have any of you bought a Precor machine? I think we're leaning that way, but I was curious if any of you had any input.

nursing Hank back to heath after he gets his wisdom teeth out later today. I swear I'm more freaked out than he is. I have a strange phobia with teeth and mouth things, and the idea of them pulling four teeth out of his mouth makes me want to throw up. edit: using the term "nursing back to health" when referring to your husband is kind of weird when you're breastfeeding. haha! Thanks Jess for pointing that out! Totally made me laugh out loud. :)

but, on a happier note, today is also for wishing one of my dear friends Shirley a happy birthday! Every year on Shirley's birthday I recall her 21st and vividly remember that wild and crazy night up in Flagstaff at NAU, and it makes me smile. It's so funny to think back to that evening and think of how much (but also so little!) has changed. We've celebrated a million birthday since then, we've all grown up, and even though we're all very different, we continually make new memories and move forward. I feel so lucky to have had such amazing times with such great girls. Happiest day Shirl girl, I love you! I can't wait to celebrate the big 2-9!

So, that's my day, how about yours?

an afternoon at Joe's Farm Grill

Yesterday was such a fun day!  Henry and I spent the afternoon with my bestie Sarah (I know that term is silly but I just kind of love it), and our friend Natalie and her daughter Scarlet. Little baby S. is only 8 weeks old and the sweetest thing. It was so good to meet her, and so good to spend time with girlfriends. I feel lucky that I have so many positive women in my life, and after lunch I felt just so thankful. Love those girls. We also have a girl's night out in Tempe planned for this Friday night and I can't wait!

But back to yesterday, we had lunch at Joe's Farm Grill, which is one of my favorite restaurants in the valley. Every single time I've been back the food has been consistently great- I highly recommend it!  This visit was no different, and we each got a cheeseburger (delicious) and various sides, from the on-site garden fresh salads to their to-die-for sweet potato fries.  We sat outside at the picnic tables and ate, girl talked about this and that, and just had the best time.  The weather was gorgeous too- warm but not too warm, with just a hint of a spring time breeze.

Here are some photos from our afternoon:










































p.s. I know this is annoying, but if you have a moment, would you mind clicking this link and then clicking the thumbs up? Voting ends in four days and I'm close to the top and would like to stay there. I love all the fun moms I've met via these sites (and the new blogs I've discovered) so I don't feel too bad when I occasionally ask for votes. ;) I will probably bother you once more before the 16th when voting ends, and then again about the Samsung NYC trip. But that's it, I swear! haha.

a May Day picnic

Yesterday my little family went on a wonderful picnic downtown. We got salad and pizza from Bill's, some lemonade (it was National Lemonade Day, after all!) and enjoyed a slightly cool afternoon in the grass. This weekend was the Whiskey Off-Road bicycle race, so there were things going on each day, from the day-before activities/booths, to the pre and post events, to the actual race itself.  On Friday my friend Lisa and I walked downtown and checked out the vendors, sampled some new Clif bar products, and enjoyed seeing all the fancy bikes. Today we managed to catch the tail-end of the event, and there were still some cyclists pulling in as we walked around.

Have I mentioned how much I love our little town? It's one of my favorite places in the world, and I adore the fact that we have so many weekend events throughout the entire summer. It's perfect here in during the warmer months- it never gets too hot, and the crisp mountain air is always refreshing.

Today we definitely felt some of that "crisp" air, and it was almost borderline too cold for a picnic, but we managed to find a spot with tree-filtered sunlight and the afternoon worked out perfectly.  We enjoyed our salad and pesto/tomato pizza, talked and talked, and really soaked in a wonderful Sunday.

Here's a video from our day today, and some pictures below too! If you're curious, the song is "Step Outside" by The Finches.  Happy Monday!