Simply Sustar

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Henry is walking! (For real.)

Henry took his first real steps by himself on his 14 month birthday, May 8, 2013. Each day since then he has been slowly working on perfecting his new skill and becoming more adventurous and confident in walking! It won't be long before I am chasing after him! It's amazing to watch him as the he discovers what he is capable of!
Here is a look at the progression in the past ten days!

1. first steps - May 8, 2013

2. practicing in the park - May 15, 2013

3. walking to the park - May 18, 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Spring has (finally) Sprung!

We have had a very cold wintery spring here in the upper Midwest, but now it seems that in mid- May spring is finally here to stay! Since the weather has been warm we have been spending most of our days outside. Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to lately!

4.25.13 - Starting our seeds for the garden.

4.25.13 - Henry helping me to start seeds for the garden.
We planted tomatoes, zucchini and peas.

4.25.13 - sweet boy so happy to be outside!

4.25.13 - big boy standing all by himself!

4.27.13 - on our first family bike adventure!

4.28.13 - getting ready to play T-ball at a Henry's friend Harper's first birthday party

4.29.13 - Henry and Annabelle swinging at the park right by our house

4.29.13 - Henry loves to swing!

5.6.13- Early morning swing-time fun!

5.7.13 - Henry and his buddy Henry W. getting ready to go for a bike ride!

5.7.13 - Henry and Henry in the Burley! It was much harder to pull two babies!

Easter 2013!

We went to Downer's Grove this year for Easter, which was a blast because nearly the entire Sustar gang was there for Easter! We were so thankful that we got to spend lots of time with Henry's cousin's Siena, Libby, and Margaret, and his Aunt and Uncle (and God-parents) Joe and Megan as well as Mary, Patrick and Liam who hosted us!

Henry and Libby!
The last time they took a picture in this chair was about a year ago... boy what a difference a year makes!

Henry and Aunt Megan

Bathing cuties

Henry discovers his Easter basket!
3/31/13

The littlest Easter bunnies

Margaret bunny.

Four little bunnies!

Easter 2013!
3.31.13

Happy Easter!

The littlest Sustar cousins on Easter Sunday.

Henry enjoying his lunch with Grandpa Yak.

The egg hunt! Go Libby go!

Siena collecting her eggs.

Grandma Yak and Margaret.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Forgotten vacation videos

I know I don't have to post EVERY video I take of Henry, but here are two sweet videos that I neglected to put in my post about our trip to Captiva, FL.

Awesomeness

So this happened last week before LJ left for work one morning and of course I forgot to post it. LJ was playing guitar and Henry started "dancing" (shaking his head and bouncing up and down). Then Henry decided he wanted to make some music too and went over to the piano and started playing. What a smart little guy! I'm so impressed that he realized that he could make music too by playing the piano and it was so cute that he wanted to be a part of what LJ was doing.

I love my boys. =)

April 17, 2013

Walking! (with help)

This is a video of Henry with his new push toy that he got for his birthday. This video was taken March 17th, but as I post this Henry is still not walking by himself, although he is getting a lot closer! Henry is now standing up by himself for a few seconds, but then sitting back down when he realizes that he is standing on his own. He's also walking a lot holding on to our hands, but doesn't want to let go of our hands and walk by himself. Henry is a cautious guy and I think he's still a little too scared to take those first steps by himself. He is getting more and more confident in his skills everyday though, so I think it will happen SOON!

Henry's Celebration of Life Party

For Henry's first birthday we decided to have a party with our friends the weekend after his birthday since we were in Florida for his actual birthday. Henry's party was March 16th, so well over a month ago... but I'm working on catching up on the blog! =)
Both LJ and I like the tradition of Montessori celebrations of life that are typically done in the classroom for each child's birthday, so we decided to do one at home for Henry's birthday party.

Henry getting ready for his journey around the sun

Holding the globe and walking around the sun!

A Montessori celebration of life is typically done for each child in the classroom. On their birthday the parents will come in to the classroom to help celebrate. The class gathers in a circle and a candle and sometimes a replica of the sun is placed in the center. The twelve months of the year are placed around the candle. The child will then hold the globe and walk around the sun for each year of life, representing the Earth's journey around the sun that takes a year to complete. As the child walks the parents talk about them during each year of life and share different photos or milestones from each year. It is a really sweet tradition. =)

Walking and singing:
"The Earth goes round the sun
The Earth goes round the sun
The Earth goes round the sun
and now Henry is ONE!"

Getting ready to blow out his candle!

Since we were celebrating Henry's first birthday, he walked around the sun once, and LJ shared a poster of photos of Henry that I had made around the room for everyone to see. I helped Henry to hold the globe and walk around the sun as he is still not walking by himself.

LJ sharing a poster of photos of Henry at each month in his first year.

Yay Henry! Happy Celebration of Life!

In addition to having a celebration of life for Henry we also wanted to have a birthday party too, so after the celebration there was cake, and cupcakes for all! LJ made special baby-friendly banana muffins that did not have any added sugar for Henry and other babies at the party. We did use cream cheese frosting that had plenty of sugar in it, so that might have negated making a no sugar cupcake. =) There was also plenty of other delicious food thanks to both Grandma's and chocolate cake too!