5 Months, 12 Days

Brr, today was our first day of real Chicago fall weather. I believe the high was right around 60 but it was also quite windy-- clear but a bit chilly. Of course this allowed us to exploit and new snuggly outfit and hat combo which Henry sported when we went to meet JT at the train at the end of the day.

Henry also played in his teetertot for the first time today. As you can tell i did a fair amount of padding to make it comfortable and "safe" for him although as only a 1950s toy could, the exposed springs require it to be a highly supervised toy.

We have our first neighborhood play group meeting tomorrow afternoon. Henry will get to meet several of the recent arrivals on the block.

5 Months, 11 Days

It was absolutely lovely weather for a good part of today-- sunny but cool-- i think the high was right around 70. We continued to marvel at how long Henry's getting-- fitting into clothes that just awhile ago swallowed him. When we got home he impressively sat up on his own for long enough for me to click quite a few photographs before tumbling over.

He enjoyed playing with a simple toy i made him over the weekend (you can see a tiny bit of it in the photo). I filled an empty plastic bottle with glass beads, glitter, and water and then glued the cap on. Right now he primarily liked to watch me swish all the glitter back and forth but when i put it in front of him while he was on his stomach, he went nuts-- kicking his feet up and down and squealing.

I found a number of good ideas for homemade toys online the other day. It's not so much that we're trying to cut down on expenses (although with my craigslist.org addiction, it doesn't hurt), but it just seems silly to spend a lot of money when he's completely happy to play with a large plastic spoon. If you ever come across reasonable ideas for homemade toys, let me know.

5 Months, 10 Days

Today after Brenda's we went over to the park. It was cool enough that i was able to put Henry into the fleece sling which i haven't used since he was a tiny thing. It was nice because now i can sling him on my hip which is how i tend to carry him anyway. We played on the swings and watched all the other kiddos. Henry didn't really smile much but his eyes were gigantic as he followed all the action around. The playground is just a few blocks from our house which should definitely come in handy as he gets older.

We came home and played a little bit and then he got tired in about 15 seconds while in the bath. Of course he had just spit up in the bath water, so it wasn't a bad time to get out. Last night he woke up at 9 pm and cried for quite awhile until i finally fed him and he went back to sleep. Hopefully we won't repeat that tonight.

5 Months, 9 Days

Today was the first official cool day of Autumn. I'm looking forward to being able to branch out into the warmer half of Henry's closet. I'll be sad when he starts to exert independence in his clothes choices, because it's fun picking out his wardrobe-- somehow more entertaining than picking out my own.

We rebooked our tickets for the New Orleans wedding we were planning on attending in mid-October. The wedding has been rescheduled for DC which works for us because 1) the tickets were a good deal cheaper, 2) we have plenty of places to stay while we're there and 3) we have built in babysitters so we can fully enjoy the evening wedding!

The picture is from Helen's visit this weekend. Helen might be able to take Henry on size alone-- but he's pretty wiley; clearly planning his escape moves in this photo.

23 Weeks

It was really nice to have run all the errands and gotten most of the chores done yesterday so that today was reserved for fun. We had friends over for brunch this morning while Henry took a 2 hour nap. Then i went to pick up the coolest new toy for Henry. Of course i found it on craigslist.org; he's going to have to grow into it, but i thought it was quite a find.



Later in the day another friend came and brought her baby daughter over. It was fun to watch Henry and Helen eyeing each other and entertaining to imagine them growing up friends.

Finally we spent some late afternoon time just playing and hanging out. Here he is modeling his new handmade baby sweater (thanks Karen!)

5 Months, 7 Days

As a friend pointed out recently, "having a baby means becoming obsessed with their sleep patterns." In a nutshell, yes! I realize that much of this blog has focused on the minutiae of Henry's sleeping patterns. I'm sure that there are plenty of other parents that don't agonize over their children's sleep, but for us, sleep and sleep problems became an overarching focus of our life with Henry. It makes sense if you think about it though; you crave sleep and miss it like you've never missed anything before. Also, babies need a lot of sleep, so if they're difficult to get to sleep or don't sleep well that's about 50%-60% of your day right there spent dealing with sleep problems.

I'm happy to report that as time continues to roll on i think my obsession with sleep has lessened, because i'm pretty well rested and Henry manages to get the sleep he needs without bringing us both to hysterics.

I spent the majority of the day running errands while JT kept the home fires burning with Henry. Right now while Henry's so little and naps somewhat unpredictably, it works out really well to have JT enjoying being a homebody and me eager to get out. That way i can tackle all the shopping and errands and JT can keep the boy on his routine while puttering around the house. It's a win-win really, except for the craziness one has to endure in the Trader Joe's Parking lot on a Saturday.

We enjoyed a bite out to eat at one of local restaurants and managed to eat later than 5:30 pm with Henry.

5 Months, 6 Days

I believe Henry was fussy last night because he has developed a mild cold. When he woke up this morning he was quite congested but it seemed to mostly clear on its own. By the time i used the saline spray and suctioned his nose out (such a fun task!) there really wasn't anything in there to bother him. Brenda said he did just fine and dandy during the day-- chattered almost the whole time.

We had a nice walk home in the fall cool, and Henry enjoyed playing in the bath for quite awhile tonight. He's starting to sit up and grab at his toys quite well. He was pretty stuffy again tonight and has woken up off and on after going to bed so we'll see how the night goes. I was in the process of trying to discontinue his 10 pm feeding but i think i'm going to postpone it a bit longer until he's over this cold.

5 Months, 5 Days

MUST... EAT... PAPER...

Today marked the return of Mr. Fussy-pants. Unfortunately many of the endearing names we have for Henry revolve around the word fussy because of his somewhat near-constant state for 3 months. Somewhere around 3.5 months Mr. Fussy-pants disappeared, rarely to be seen again. Alas, today he sailed back from his hiding-cove and left his mother bewildered.

So, what was the cause of the fussiness you ask, i just wish i knew. Brenda mentioned again that she was certain he was teething because he was gnawing on her shoulder today. I read somewhere that the symptoms of teething were "everything" because people blame all ailments on teething. I really couldn't say, he was running a very slight temperature, and expressed a feverish desire to suck. At one point he made a dive out of my arms towards his long-discarded pacifier and proceeded to suck fervently for quite awhile. He had a hard time settling down though and went through a few wailing fits when i tried to put him down to sleep. In the process of putting him down, picking him up, and trying to figure out what the dickens was wrong, i think i exhausted the contents of the baby medicine cabinet-- which thank goodness for Henry, is quite shallow.

Finally he nursed a few more minutes and fell asleep and went into his crib sucking his thumb. Hopefully he'll be able to stay asleep, but if anyone wants to make any guesses i'm all ears. I promise this is the last day i'll post another weekend picture. I've loaded all the 21 week pictures on yahoo if you'd like to see the rest.

5 Months, 4 Days

Today isn't a very newsy day. Henry took some long naps at Brenda's, put everything possible in his mouth, played some when he got home, and then went to bed promptly at 7. He was doing a bit better sitting up today and was showing more interest in sitting up too. We read a few books this evening and he's paying attention more to the pages-- mainly to eat them, but still, i consider that progress.

I'm milking the pictures from last weekend-- here's another where we pretended to give Henry his first taste of donut.

5 Months, 3 Days

Well, i'm a shrimp. Henry has grown a little bit, but i'm definitely still short. At his 5 month appointment Dr. G said that he looks great. He's up to 14 pounds and his height was still 25". I swear he's all legs though because his feet stick out past the infant carrier. Today was the first day in his new carseat and he seemed to do just fine-- thankfully it fit in the car okay too.

Henry seems to be trying to catch up on his sleep. He took 4 naps today and retired at 6:30 this evening. He's doing a few fun things that i wanted to catch everyone up on. For a few weeks now he's started "scritching" his fingers over almost every surface. It started by him scritching the mattress as he would try to fall asleep but now he seems to do it with all new surfaces to test them out. He loves to lay on his stomach on a big quilt we have that my grandmother made. Not only are the fabrics varied, but he loves to feel the different textures and the quilting.

He still loves to stand, but he's been more interested in sitting lately. He still doesn't do very well sitting unassisted, but it seems to be lack of interest more than lack of ability. He usually wants to eat his feet as soon as he sits down which causes him to double over at the waist and then immediately fall over. A few times recently though he's actually held himself up with his hands. The first time we really noticed it was at the airport last night while we were waiting for our luggage, and then he did it a few more times this evening. So, maybe in the not too distant future, he'll be sitting for longer periods.

The last thing of note is that supposedly you can tell very early if a baby exhibits handedness-- as in, left-handedness. Henry has displayed a predisposition for his left side from the very early days (turning his head to the left, rolling onto his left side, sucking his left hand, etc.) Dr. G said that most likely he'll be left-handed, especially since JT is. JT was supremely pleased to hear this prediction!

5 Months, 2 Days

Thankfully, we're all sleeping in our own beds tonight. We had a lovely visit to Vermont and a nice time at the wedding. It was a quite beautiful wedding even though the weather wasn't particularly cooperative-- rainy and overcast the whole time. It was fun to catch up with people from high school that we haven't seen since graduation and a good escape for JT and i. All that said, Henry's a bit tired of this traveling bit. He did okay at night but his naps fell apart and he spent decent amounts of each day just miserably tired-- rubbing his eyes and head, sucking his thumb only to jerk it out, fussing and just plain tired and cranky.

Sometimes he would fall asleep without any problem but then only sleep for 30 minutes. Others, he would fall asleep with lots of problems and still only sleep for 30 minutes. Thankfully we got home this afternoon and while he cried through the nap we tried to get him to take he went to bed quite promptly after his bath and feeding and i haven't heard a peep since.

I'll fill you in on more details of our trip this week and what Henry's up to. I finally have some pictures of me with Henry but i feel like either he's getting really big or i'm a total shrimp-- maybe it's just the perspective of the photo?

4 Months, 29 Days

Henry took a third nap again today. Brenda said she rearranged his schedule to try to get all three in. It's really helping because he's happier longer and can stay up all the way until 7. 6:30 is a really early bedtime and it's nice when he can stretch it out a little longer without exhausting himself.

We leave tomorrow for a long weekend in Vermont. We're going to a wedding of a highschool friend and are looking forward to the trip. I'm not particularly excited to be traveling again so soon, but i think September in Vermont is going to be lovely. We're staying on an island in the middle of Lake Champlain which should be quite pretty. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to post when we're back. We won't be home until Monday though so i'm warning you in advance i'll be post-less for a few days.

Henry's new car seat arrived today. He's nowhere near the weight limit on his infant car seat, but his little feet stick off the end. Back at 4 months he was 25" and the height limit is 26". I'm guessing that at his 5 month appointment on Tuesday we'll find out he's grown a bit more. We haven't installed it yet, but i think Henry looks pretty comfortable in his new seat.

4 Months, 28 Days

Henry is obsessed with putting things in his mouth. This is what led Brenda to think he was teething but we haven't really seen any action yet. I also found out that i didn't get teeth until i was 1 so it's possible Henry's choppers will be a long time in coming. Regardless of the reason, he's like a little man on a mission to put whatever is in his line of vision into his mouth. When i was changing him this morning he grabbed my arm and pulled it to his mouth. In his bath seat tonight he just sat there straining towards his bath toys with his mouth wide open. It's like he just can't bear to see something and not test it out with his mouth.

He took the elusive third nap today and was therefore quite chipper this evening. We tried out his new stroller on the walk home from Brenda's and even though it says it's okay from 3 months on, i think he could stand to grow into a bit more before it becomes our go to stroller.

4 Months, 28 Days

Not terribly much to report today. Henry had a fun day at daycare-- as always although he seems to have pretty much decided to stop taking his third nap now. We'll see what happens this weekend but it may be about time to transition him to just two naps.

He was in a super-good mood when we got home so he laid on his playmat while i put all the groceries away and then sat in his booster seat while i made and ate dinner (JT's getting home late tonight). He did okay in the bath but was definitely starting to get tired by then so we hurried along, ate, and he's safely tucked in bed.

Friends are coming over tonight so i thought i would try to get this up early.

4 Months, 27 Days

A good day back into our routine. Henry had a fun day with Ms. Brenda, came home, played a bit and took a bath using his new bath seat. The seat is fairly gigantic on him but he's able to lean forward against the front rim and be upright and play a bit more with his toys. It allowed bath time to go a bit longer which is nice because otherwise he goes to sleep super early. We're trying to push his bedtime back a little bit, but i think it's only going to work if he a) sleeps longer in the morning and b) takes consistently good naps. We did let him wake up on his own this morning and he slept until 6:45, so that's a good start.

Henry is just about to outgrow his infant car seat. Not by weight but by length. We have a Dr. appt next week to check his growth, but we went ahead and ordered the new car seat and stroller to replace our newborn model. I can't believe we're already at this point!

21 Weeks

I think Henry caught up on his sleep today-- he took a series of long naps and headed to bed early. The cost of his sleep was quite high tonight however. After his evening feeding i left him with JT while i headed out to Costco and to do the grocery shopping. Our micro died the other night so i picked up a new one at Costco-- my first stop. I was working on getting the gargantuan box into our tiny car and pushed the door shut to make sure it would fit only to realize that i had just locked my keys and bag in the car. Of course JT had an extra set of keys at home but Henry was finally asleep and we couldn't get a hold of any neighbors. We decided just to bite the bullet and pay for a guy to come out and unlock the door for us-- once he finally got there it took all of 90 seconds to unlock but i was about the last car left in the costco parking lot by the time it was all over and didn't make it to the other grocery stores.

Luckily i did get some pictures of Henry today so i've beefed up my supply for the daily posting. I'm trying to figure out ways to incorporate reading and books into Henry's day. He doesn't like to sit on my lap and look at them but seemed fairly interested in a few of his books when they were in front of him while he was on his stomach. I have been reading him some of his bigger books and holding them so he can see the pictures and he seems to like that pretty well.

Home Again, Home Again

Finally, we're home. Long story, but we missed our flight yesterday evening and wound up spending an extra night with JT's folks. It was certainly nice for them to have an extra bit of time with Henry, but we were both glad to get back home today.

Henry did pretty well traveling. He slept the whole way to DC and pretty much charmed the pants of the grandfolk who took care of him while i was in meetings. He did pretty well napping and didn't stray too far from his routine. He did have a much more difficult time sleeping on the days we were at the airport. He wasn't particularly fussy, but there was just too much to look around at to let sleep overtake him. When we got home i immediately put him to bed and he took an almost 2 hour nap. He was pretty fussy in the late afternoon so we sat outside for awhile on our stoop and watched all the cars drive by, and then he went to bed quite early.

Since i last posted, Henry has really gotten into blowing spit bubbles. He also learned to pull his sock off and continues to put anything and everything in his mouth (including the co-pilot's finger today). He smiles and coos most of the day and is generally very charming. Sorry not to have a picture with this update, but i hope to build up my supply again starting tomorrow.

Wanted to note that the picture from a few days ago showed JT playing "civilization," which i consider the bane of my existence (no offence Bane family!)

4 Months, 18 Days

I just have to finish packing and we'll be all ready for our early-morning departure tomorrow. Hopefully the trip goes okay for Henry. I know that the grandparents will be excited to see and take care of Henry and he certainly won't lack for love. Brenda was so sad to hear that he was going to be out the rest of the week. She said that she needed to get a weeks worth of kisses in all in one day! It's awesome to see her with him because he just lights up when she talks to him and kisses him-- he's really loved and well taken care of, which is about all a mom could ask for.

Not sure that i'll be able to post while i'm away, so you might just have to wait until i'm back on Saturday.

4 Months, 17 Days

It's not easy, but so far we've rigged a system where we get to sleep in on weekends, even with a 4 month old. The past several weekends, it's been very straightforward. I feed Henry when he wakes up around 6 am and then JT gets up with him while i sleep in. Because JT's been under the weather, today i went ahead and got up with Henry once he was done eating. Because i'm a slave to sleep, i decided to go back to bed when Henry went down for his first nap. This worked like a charm because this morning he was ready to go back to sleep by about 7:30 am.

He spent the day at home with Dad while mom did a little shopping. He was fairly fussy again today, even with 4 naps, so we sat out on the front stoop for awhile this evening. He seems to enjoy watching the city go by and feeling the breeze in his hair. That calmed him right down so that he could enjoy sitting in his seat again while we ate dinner.

I'm off to pack our bags, as he is coming with me to DC on Wednesday. It will be a short trip, but nice to have him with me.

New pictures are up on the yahoo site-- 19 weeks.

20 Weeks

No picture today-- we spent much of it in the emergency room. JT was feeling worse today and his symptoms were stranger-- he had muscle pain and weakness in addition to a generally unwell feeling, a fever, and a raging headache. I made him call the on-call doctor and the Dr. told us to go to the ER. Unfortunately it's never quick there. He got seen pretty quickly, but Henry and i couldn't go back with him because of the possibility of Henry getting sick. What took forever was to get all the different tests back. We're still waiting on the malaria test (supposedly one strain that can lay dormant a very long time), but otherwise it just looks like an infection or virus made much worse by severe dehydration. They pumped tons of fluids into him and he finally got home tonight. We'll see how he continues to feel, but most likely i'm going to bring Henry with me when i travel to DC next week. Luckily we have two very eager grandmothers that will be able to care for him during the day while i'm in meetings.

Because of all the excitement Henry's schedule went haywire and we got to glimpse a little of the old fussy Henry. I actually drug out the old exercise ball and spent a good chunk of the evening bouncing H on it. Hopefully he'll sleep okay tonight, and then get back on track tomorrow.

4 Months, 16 Days

Not too much to report today. Henry took some champion naps today including the rare 3rd nap. He woke up from this nap at 5 and was therefore able to stay up all the way to 7:05 pm! The stars aligned such that we were eating dinner before he was in bed which allowed us all to share some time at the dinner table. JT and i ate pizza while Henry worked on eating his baby spoons and burp cloth.

4 Months, 15 Days

Henry seems to be putting up a good fight for Brenda regarding his third nap. I think he might be about ready to transition to two naps but he's not quite there yet so he's so very tired but the time he gets home. That said, it seems like he gets a new burst of energy for awhile and has such a fun time talking and rolling from side to side and exploring his world. But very quickly sleepiness catches up with him and it's all we can do to get his bath in and his last feeding and then he's off to sleep for the night.

The other day when i went to pick Henry up from Brenda's they were playing "Simon Says" and were marching in place. Henry was in his carseat and i swear he was marching along with them-- kicking his legs back and forth in his seat. She said he loves to follow along with all the other kiddos. They seem to enjoy him too they all come and say good morning and goodbye to him and he just smiles and kicks.

We're hoping to have a nice quiet weekend. JT's been plagued by what they think is an infection and we're hoping the antibiotics kick-in soon and start helping him feel a little better.

4 Months, 14 Days

Brenda thinks Henry is teething. He's been putting everything in his mouth for a few weeks now but he seems a little more aggressive about gnawing on whatever comes within 6 inches of his face. When you put your hands on him to steady him when sitting or standing, he just grabs your hand and sticks it into his mouth. I can't see any teeth and he doesn't seem any fussier than normal so i have a feeling it's a little ways off, but we'll see.

Brenda also reported yesterday that he had laughed. Of this i am a little jealous, at home he smiles big smiles and kind of looks like he's laughing a silent laugh but nothing comes out. Sometimes he squeals, but again no laughs. She said he's let out a couple really loud ones when being tickled. Hopefully he'll decide we're funny enough to share this new skill with us.