As I sit
down to reflect on the past month for Henry’s 5 month update, I marvel at the
fact that this Saturday (9/8/12) we will be celebrating Henry’s 6 month
birthday. It is hard for me to wrap my
head around the fact that Henry has been in our lives for half a YEAR now. He’s actually been in our lives for even
longer than that, because even before he was born, even before we knew that he
was our little Henry Simon, he was with us; changing our lives. It has been the best and most amazing change
I’ve witnessed in my life, and such an incredible blessing and privilege. Watching Henry grow and change just keeps
getting better and better. But before I
get too far ahead of myself musing about Henry being 6 months old, I need to
commemorate Henry at 5 months old!
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| I'm 5 months old! 8/8/12 |
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| 5 months old! 8/8/12 |
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| Snuggling with blue-bear 8/8/12 |
The
month of August was a good month for us.
We were able to slow down a little bit and hang out in La Crosse and
enjoy all of the fun things that summer in La Crosse has to offer. We kept busy with going for hikes, to yoga,
the farmer’s market, play-dates, and runs through the marsh. We celebrated LJ’s 28th birthday
and visited the Domes to see Grandma and Grandpa Yak. We even went to the Great River Folk Festival
on the UW-L campus, which was a great event!
Over Labor Day weekend we took a big trip to Belleville, IL to visit the
Sustar cousins and meet the newest addition to the clan, Margaret Rose. We all survived the 8 hour car ride, and
Henry even slept for maybe half of it.
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| 5 months old! 8/8/12
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| 5 months old! 8/8/12
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| 5 months old! 8/8/12
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Henry
did a lot of growing and changing over the course of the month, but his most
exciting feat is that he started sitting up on his own just a few days after
his 5 month birthday! Since then he
loves to sit up and take in his world from a higher position. Henry loves to play sitting up and is great
at reaching for toys and bringing them to him.
Henry is very observant, and his new perch gives him more perspective on
the world around him! Henry also
continues to roll from his back to his tummy, but not very often from his tummy
to his back, although he CAN do it (and has done it a few times to prove himself!)!
Henry
continues to grow, and grow, and grow!
At the beginning of August he was about 16 lbs. This past weekend we visited his cousins in
Belleville, IL and weighed Henry on the baby scale at their house. According to the scale he was 16lbs 10 oz.! I predict that by the time we visit the
pediatrician for his 6 month checkup he will be 17 lbs (or at least very
close!).
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| Henry sits up for the first time all by himself! -8/11/12 |
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| Hiking with papa 8/11/12 |
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| 8/11/12 - Going for a hike in Hixon |
Thankfully,
sleep has gotten better. We have been
working very hard on creating good sleep habits with Henry. Since returning from Door County at the end
of July we’ve been making an effort to put Henry to bed at an earlier and
consistent time, usually around 7:30 or 8pm, and have been helping him to learn
how to take longer naps. We have been
getting sleep advice from a book called “Good Night, Sleep Tight”. It offers gentle sleep solutions as opposed
to the “cry it out” method. Instead of
nursing Henry to sleep at night, we now put him down drowsy but awake. When he wakes in the middle of the night, we
soothe him without putting him to sleep ourselves, but reassure him that he can
fall back to sleep by himself.
On a good
night Henry will be asleep by 8pm and will sleep 8 hours until 4am when he
wakes up to nurse. After he nurses he
goes back to sleep until 7:30 or 8am.
Henry usually sleeps between 6-8 hours straight. Maybe a handful of times he has gone longer
than 8 hours without eating. In the nap
department we have made slower progress, but progress is progress, so I’ll take
it! Henry is now taking 1- 2 hour naps
in his crib! Sometimes he will still
wake up after 30 or 45 min, so I usually wait a few minutes to see if he will
go back to sleep by himself. If he doesn’t
seem to be drifting off again, I go in and try to soothe him and let him know
that it’s still nap time. When I first
started trying this it used to take an hour before he would fall back asleep,
now it only takes between 15-30 min most of the time.
Henry continues to love to sleep on his belly. I always put him down on his back, but he almost ALWAYS rolls over to his belly. I guess he just wants to be like his Dad, who also loves to sleep on his belly.
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| Must eat camera! 8/12/12 |
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| Celebrating Dad's birthday - 8/12/12 |
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| What a guy! He even does his own diaper laundry! 8/15/12 |
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| Swimming with his buddy Henry W. 8/30/12 |
Henry
has been busy learning and exploring this month. He continues to make new sounds every day,
and is consistently getting stronger and more balanced when sitting up. Henry is all out laughing again, which is so
great to hear. Henry loves to make very
high-pitched screeching noises, and he loves it even more when I mimic the
sounds he makes. Henry and I have little
conversations with each other that consist solely of high pitched noises. =) In
the evening when LJ comes home from work Henry is super excited to see
him. Henry always has a big smile on his
face when LJ walks through the door.
Henry
continues to get more and more fun. He
is an awesome little man who never ceases to amaze me.
