1 Year, 2 Weeks

Although i learned in the poll that i conducted recently that people like pictures hands-down the best, i have nothing new to show you. We've just been so busy in the evenings (tonight's exploits included getting a new lawnmower in the front seat of our Tercel,) that we keep forgetting to take new pictures. I do have an idea for pictures of both Henry and the house and hope to implement that next week.

Henry had PT today and it was not his most successful session. He supposedly slept quite a while this afternoon but was CRANKY for the entire hour. He seems to be getting at least 2 and possibly 3 teeth on the top though, and you can tell that it is just not feeling very good. He practically leaps towards the teething gel although when he tries to lick it off my fingers i'm not sure it's doing what it's intended.

We had a few contractors in today to give us estimates for the kitchen and some other work we're entertaining. Right now we're in dreamland, when the estimates actually come in in a few days, we'll have to start really prioritizing.

I promise, pictures tomorrow...

1 Year, 1 Week, 6 Days

Henry enjoyed being back at Brenda's and supposedly had quite a day of pulling up all by himself. JT said he did the most extensive army crawling yet this evening while i was grocery shopping. Army, or commando, crawling involves dragging your body across the floor without lifting your belly. It's called army crawling because the position looks like the little army figures.

We have contractors coming out to look at our kitchen tomorrow and give us an estimate on the work. I talked to two people today and both were optimistic about getting the work started within 4-6 weeks once we accept a bid. I was pleasantly surprised, but know it obviously takes some time to finish once they start.

We'll see what we find out tomorrow.

1 Year, 1 Week, 5 Days

Whew, Part A of our big life change is over. We successfully moved into our new house yesterday morning and through the very, very generous elbow grease of our friend Corey, we were able to get all of the "main" house unpacked. For the first time we have a basement which is why i distinguish the main house from the basement. A basement is a truly wonderful thing. All those boxes and bins and bags that were stuffed in the closet, under the bed, tucked in the garage, etc. are all clustered together neatly in the glorious basement.

I did put together the shelving units we picked up on craigslist for the basement and started stacking the boxes that are labeled. Unfortunately most of the boxes packed by the movers just say basement, so they're remaining a mystery for now.

The kitchen has taken some doing. We're planning on gutting the kitchen as quickly as we can sell our condo and line up contractors. The current kitchen is terrible, small, and kinda gross so we didn't want to get too involved in making things really perfect. But, it's likely that with spring already well upon us, it will be awhile before we can get in a contractors schedule. So, we did spend a lot of time sorting out what to keep in the kitchen and what to banish to the basement.

Henry has done pretty darn well through all of this. His naps yesterday left a little to be desired and we didn't make his swimming class after all. We hadn't been at the house very long by the time we would have needed to head out and i decided he was better off getting some sleep. He was very clingy yesterday but slept through the night just fine in his new room and has taken some stellar naps today. He's army crawling everywhere and gotten to where he can pull up on low things completely on his own. He's also getting very good and cruising around the coffee table on his own. We're looking forward to starting the week tomorrow and getting into a routine in our new house.

1 Year, 1 Week, 2 Days

Tonight will probably be my last post in Henry's first home. The packers come tomorrow, and after closing on the new house on Friday, we move in on Saturday. We're doing lots of last minute preparations so that hopefully things go smoothly with the packers, and that includes disassembling the computer. So, likely i won't post again until Monday. We had good news that the sale of our place is moving forward so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Poor Henry had a bit of a trying day. I forgot until about 5 minutes before his appointment that in addition to his usual PT, he had an appointment with the developmental therapist. I ran to the car and called Brenda while i raced up to get him. Of course he had just gotten to sleep so he started off a bit cranky. He actually did pretty well with the developmental therapist and she gave us lots of great feedback. He is still a little held back by his delayed mobility, and she emphasized a few more exercises we need to do with him to strengthen his shoulders, but she said that he's one bright little guy and doing great in terms of his play skills and communication ability.

He was just so overtired by end of her visit that he fell straight to sleep but only slept about 30 minutes. I tried off and on to see if he would take another nap or at least have some quiet time before PT started with no luck. He did manage to hold it together and then we promptly went out for a walk with JT to get some "stroller coma" action. He obliged and took a decent nap in the stroller. He went to sleep immediately after his dinner, and now we're just hoping he makes it through the night since we have a very busy few days ahead of us.

1 Year, 1 Week, 1 Day

Henry is on the all full-fat diet. It's crazy. I made him scrambled eggs with 2 TBS of butter and whole cream the other day. For meals we mix whole cream into his baby food and slather butter on his veggies. His favorite snack is now a hard biscuit slathered with obscene amounts of cream cheese. If he doesn't gain more weight on this diet then his curve would predict, i going to have to tell the Pediatrician that Henry is just taking after his tall skinny Dad.

When i picked Henry up from daycare he couldn't wait to point out all the colors they have on their wall. It's pretty amazing. He's not just excited, he's desperate to point them out and talk to you, clearly explaining that each color has it's own animal and shape (the green turtle has a circle). Of course we can't understand him exactly but he's pretty clear he's telling us everything we need to know.

1 Year, 1 Week

Over the weekend Henry crashed his first swim class. I signed Henry up for the "Shrimp and Kippers, 6-12 months" class at the Y. The registration slip i was given said the class started on 4/22. We showed up (running a bit late) and i said i was here for a swim class. The woman at the desk just pointed towards a hallway and i went on in, found the locker room, got us squared-away as quickly as possible and headed out to the pool.

5 minutes late, all the other parents and babies were in the water already in a big circle. The water was cool, the pool was noisy, and i Henry got a bit freaked out from the sudden transition. They were just jumping up and down with their babies which Henry was starting to get used to. Suddenly the instructor says "okay let's blow bubbles!" There was no way Henry was going to blow bubbles and i was getting a bit confused-- this was Henry's first class after all.

After a few more advanced moves, i asked if this was indeed the 6-12 month class which the instructor confirmed.

There are two other people taking the class with us and they showed up a little later. Turns out OUR class didn't start until next week. The class we crashed was the last class of the previous session. The instructor was a substitute though, so she didn't realize we were in the wrong class.

It was actually kind of nice to have a dry run. We figured out not to put the swim diaper on until just before class, where the locker rooms are, and what time to leave the house. Henry might even be up for some bubbles by the end of next week.

Of course the class will be about 4 hours after the movers arrive so tune in next week to see if i warrant a Mommy Oscar or not.

1 Year, 6 Days

Thank you so much to everyone that took my survey. I'll summarize my findings soon...

Last Saturday i went to see one of my favorite punk bands from college. I stumbled across a mention of their show and talked a friend that's up for musical exploration into going. For those of you with a music background, we saw Avail. Man did i have a great time. I forgot how much i love going to small live shows where people are absorbed by the music, willing to move, and heating the air to indoor pool levels. I forgot all my rules for dressing (light layers are important, leave the jacket in the car, and bring something to tie your hair back), but made it through just fine.

One thing that was markedly different was that i couldn't just be there, dancing, singing along, and pumping my fist in the air. I found myself thinking constantly about how old the band members are. When i was 18 or 20 i wasn't exactly relating to the band members. They were clearly older than I was and although music gave me freedom, i didn't have any personal musical or artistic aspirations, always easily imagining myself in a professional career.

It was interesting thinking about what these late 30-year old guys are like, what they do for day jobs, and if these simple punk songs that don't sound like they've evolved much over the last 10 years are enough to keep them going. I had forgotten that one band member "BeauBeau" is a cheerleader. That's his official band title. It's like having someone out to warm the crowd up, but he stays for the music and plays air guitar, sings along, dances, and reacts to the crowd.

The stranger thing is that now, 10 years from the last time i saw them, i wondered these things at the show and as i'm writing this i can toodle on over to google and find out all kinds of stuff about each of the band members, what they do for day jobs, and their individual musical side projects. Somehow takes the ooph out of mindless conjecture...