Procrastination Station

I know, I know, I have much blog updating to do... including Henry's 8 month update and his 9 month update!  But right now I have a sick baby and sick husband on my hands which is not very fun at all!
Here is something to enjoy in the meantime:  =)

Holiday Card!

After much deliberation here it is...

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Apparently I am funny

... at least Henry thinks so!  I apologize for the shakiness of this video, I was simultaneously trying to tickle Henry and take a video, which is not an easy feat!  Also, I am aware that I look like a crazy person in this video.  My excuse is that I had just worked out and Henry was pulling my hair, so it was all over the place.  I don't look like that ALL the time, just most of the time.  ;)

Henry at 8 Months

Whoa baby!  Henry is 8 months (actually, as I write this he is already 9 months, but for the purposes of this post, lets pretend he's still 8 months!).  Henry at 8 months is tons of fun and growing like crazy!  Henry met 2 major milestones at 8 months!  Henry learned how to crawl and he sprouted his first two teeth!  Henry has been working on crawling for a while now.  He came up with all sorts of crazy variations for getting from one place to another which included rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, rolling, scooting on his belly, and crawling backwards.  Finally, on Thanksgiving day he figured out how to crawl forward and since then he has not stopped!  Henry has discovered the joys of exploring his world and is particularly interested in the toilet (ESPECIALLY the diaper sprayer that sprays poop off the cloth diapers), sticking his hands in the water in the Christmas tree stand, and pulling all of the DVDs off the shelf.  Henry has his own unique brand of crawling and is still crawling with one leg straight.  

11/8/12- Happy 8 months to ME!  

 11/8/12- I love this bear!  He is hilarious!   

11/8/12 - 8 months - I've given up on trying to get Henry to pose  next to  the bear.   As long as it's still in the picture, it counts for something, right?

At 8 months old Henry definitely went through the "8 month sleep regression".  Right around the time when he was figuring out how to crawl AND getting his first two teeth, he was sleeping horribly at night (and consequently also during the day).  I think it was a combination of many factors for Henry, but probably lots of cognitive development, some separation anxiety, getting overly tired, being uncomfortable because of his teeth, and wanting to practice his new skill that was keeping him up at night.  Prior to 8 months Henry never  fought going to bed at night (although naps are a different story).  However, during this sleep regression he did NOT want to go to bed at night unless I nursed him or rocked him to sleep.  We finally ended up going back to the the "Sleep Lady Shuffle" found in Kim West's book:  "Good Night, Sleep Tight", to help him remember that he knows how to fall asleep on his own at night.  The basic idea of the shuffle is that you put your baby in their bed drowsy but awake and remain with them until they fall asleep.  So you are supporting them, but not actually rocking or nursing them to sleep.  Every three nights you slowly move further away from your child so that they become more independent in falling asleep, but still understand that you are nearby and are responsive if they need you.  It's a very simple idea, and it works pretty well!  Henry is doing much better at bed-time now.  We put him down in his bed and usually wait outside of his door for a few minutes.  If he's having a hard time settling himself we say "shhhh" or tell him "its ok", and usually either mine or LJ's voice is enough to ease him to sleep.  

11/8/12 - Digging on a slice of pear in his mesh feeder.  He loves it!  

Love these two boys! 

As I mentioned, naps remain a different story, and for a while there they were pretty rough when we were experiencing bad night-time sleep.  Once we got the night-time sleep better, the naps began to fall into place.  On a good day Henry takes two naps that are 1.5 hrs - 2hrs.  Henry is still too busy during the day to really nurse much, so he usually nurses to sleep for his naps or nurses until he is very sleepy.  

11/8/12 - Happy little man in the tub! 

11/8/12- bath-time is one of my favorite times of day! 

Henry sprouted his first two teeth at the same time.  I could feel them sharp under his gums about a week and  a half before I could see them.  One day they starting poking through, but they still have not come very far up into his mouth, and only rest a tiny bit above the gum line.  They've been like this for a few weeks now, so hopefully we will start to see them come up more soon!

11/16/12 - Look at this sweet face!  

He has a cute butt. 

 Henry continues to love eating solid foods.  He added a few new foods to his repertoire over the past month including:  whole grain cereal (oats, spelt and barley),  quinoa, garbanzo beans, black beans, turkey (on Thanksgiving - he did NOT like it!), kale (he is a fan, like his mama and papa -yay!),  potatoes and yams.  I'm proud to say that the vast majority of his food is either home-made or breast milk, so I feel good about him being a healthy eater!

11/16/12 - Just chillaxing. 

11/16/12 - man on the move

 This little boy keeps getting sweeter and sweeter by the day... and he keeps moving farther and farther away from being a "baby" and closer to being a "little boy".  Even though I know he will always be my baby, it seems that he is growing up so fast!  I am enjoying watching him unfold and create himself before my eyes!

Just doing some light reading.

  

11/ 16/12 -Chuckles.

The Stinker Face!

12/1/12

Fine and Fair: 25 Lessons For My Children

A great article from a friend, Joella, who watches Henry once a week.  For me many of these lessons are good reminders on making conscious choices for Henry and conscious choices about how LJ and I parent Henry.  Even though it is always my intent to make the best choices for him, it is hard to continuously be modeling the behaviors you want your child to learn (especially when you are super tired!).  These are a collection of valuable lessons that I hope Henry is learning through his family.

Fine and Fair: 25 Lessons For My Children: As I expected I would, I got a bit of constructive (and some not-so-constructive) criticism over 20 Things This Mother Will Probably Never ...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving feast at the Horth house this year!  This Thanksgiving was pretty mellow and relaxing because we didn't have to travel anywhere.  What a nice change.  LJ's parents and Aunt Susu came over and visited for the afternoon before heading over to my folks house for a feast fit for a king.  There were about 25 guests and I ended up cooking an additional turkey breast because my mom was worried there would not be enough turkey for everyone (even with a 20 lb bird!).  (The reviews came back that my turkey was even more delicious than the house turkey... YES!)  Henry even tried a small taste of turkey and was not impressed.  That's ok.  He can be a vegetarian if he wants too.  Henry also met a major milestone and CRAWLED FORWARD for the first time on Thanksgiving see Interpretive Crawling part 2 video for proof!  We also had a family sleepover at my parents house so that LJ and I could participate in the fun festivities past Henry's bedtime, and it surprisingly worked out really well (read:  Henry slept until 4:30am without waking up!).  It was a great family celebration that we were lucky to spend with both sides of our family.  I am in awe of all the many blessings we have to be thankful for! 

Henry's first Thanksgiving 

Papa and Henry

Henry meeting my Aunt Beth

Henry and my cousin Josh

Dudes  photo

Henry and Grandma Yak 

Family photo try #1 

Family photo try #2 

Family photo try # 3 ... success!  (Also, I have a crazy smile.)

Jingle Bell Brunch

Grandma Horth is perpetually spoiling Henry (what are Grandma's for, right?), and the Jingle Bell brunch was no exception.  November 18th, we had a great time at the Waterfront restaurant's Cargill room and enjoyed a delicious brunch while feeling great about supporting the Tiny Tim Gala.  This year's events raised money for charities including the St Claire Health Mission, Boys and Girls Club, and the YWCA Casa for Kids.
The brunch was beautiful and delicious.  Henry enjoyed seeing all of the Christmas decorations, and he even got to meet Santa and Ms Clause!  We hope to make the brunch a tradition for years to come!

Mama and Henry

Don't look so excited Henry!

Enjoying his time with his two favorite ladies

With Santa and Ms. Clause...
AND Henry could care less

Crawling! (Sort of)

Well Henry is officially on the move!  Henry has been in the process of learning how to crawl for a few weeks now, probably close to a month.  For the past month Henry has been sitting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  He figured out how to push himself backwards and so for a while he was doing that.  He also has been rolling to get around and scooting on his bottom.  On Thanksgiving Henry finally made some progress forward!
Henry is doing what I like to call "interpretive crawling"... his own unique way of getting around!


Henry doing some interpretive crawling on 11/16/12.


Finally moving forward on Thanksgiving!  11/22/12

The first snow!

On Monday of this week we had our first sprinkling of snow! Not much stuck to the ground, but all throughout the day flurries filled the sky.
I always get excited for the first snow of the season, even if it happens in October (as it did many years in Colorado), but this year was special, because it was the first time Henry's ever seen snow! Even though he was born at the beginning of March, we had an unusually warm and early spring, so there was no snow to be found when he made his arrival!
This week the white stuff falling from the sky made him stare in wonder. I can only imagine what he was thinking! Hopefully he likes snow, because I have a feeling there will be a lot more of that coming as we head into winter!

Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween.  I've always loved Halloween, ever since I was a little girl.  As an adult I still love Halloween, and I think one of the things I love about being a teacher is celebrating Halloween at school with the kiddos and seeing all of their excitement and enthusiasm about the holiday.
Needless to say I was VERY excited for Halloween this year because I could share it with Henry!  I'm not sure that Henry really understood the holiday, or really even knew that it was a holiday, but he enjoyed looking at all of the strange and colorfully costumed children that showed up at our house and he loved exploring with our pumpkins!
This year we carved pumpkins outside and Henry "helped" (tried to eat the pumpkins and pumpkin seeds).  The Saturday before Halloween LJ and I went to a fun (adults only) costume party, and took Henry trick or treating for a bit downtown.  The weekend before Halloween we went to a Halloween- fun event called Spooktacular with Henry.  Henry got to sport his costume on several occasions and we all got into the spirit of the holiday!
The actual day of Halloween for me was somewhat anti-climatic, which was a little disappointing for me.  I'm used to being in the classroom on Halloween, which meant it was always chaotic and fun.  In my classroom we would always have a Halloween party and the kids would parade around the school in their costumes.  Parents would come to watch and take pictures!  This year Henry and I were just at home, and it was a day like every other day, that is, until trick or treating started!  I have never lived someplace where we got more than 25-50 trick or treaters, but this Halloween we probably had close to 300 trick or treaters!  It was crazy!  I was so glad that I made dinner ahead of time, and that my parents were over to help answer the door and pass out candy, because it was pretty much non-stop from 5-8pm.  Even though the amount of kids was a little insane, it was really fun and festive.  Henry even did a little "trick or treating" himself to our next door neighbors and a friend's house a few blocks away.

The Scare-crow, Cowardly lion, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz!  

There's no place like home! 

10/28/12 -Carving pumpkins with Henry

Henry is pleased with his jack-o-lantern! 

Papa and Henry

Mama and Henry 

Happy, happy boy on the eve of Halloween! 

Getting ready to trick or treat with Grandma on Halloween night.  

Happy Halloween!
Love,
the La Crosse Sustar gang

Happy 8 months Henry!

Henry is 8 months old today! He is loving swinging on the swings at the park and playing "blanket party" with mama. He is rolling all over the place and sort of army crawling to get from place to place. Another month has flown by!

Henry at 7 Months

Well hello there!  Another month has flown by, and now that Henry is 8 months old I am just getting around to updating the blog for his seventh month update.  I think I'm now going to call these posts the "month in review" because they truly are an overview of the previous month.

10.17.12

10.11.12

October was a good month for Henry.  As a seven month old Henry became even more fun (and funny!).  As I mentioned in his 6 month post Henry is very curious the enthralled with the world around him.  This became even more apparent once he was seven months, and he is even more determined to discover and explore the world around him.  Henry is not crawling yet, but he is getting close!  Henry uses rolling to get around these days and he is busy trying to pull up on objects and stand with minimal support.  Henry rocks back and forth on his knees in the crawling position, but up until recently he could not move anywhere.  Now he moves, but he can only scoot backwards so far!

Thinking about crawling...

Henry is very animated and continues to love to mimic faces and sounds that LJ and I make.  Henry's favorite face at seven months is what I like to call the "stinker face".  (And I like to think that I taught it to him.)  It's when he scrunches up his nose and kind of snorts.  It's pretty hilarious!

Doing the "stinker face"

As I mentioned in Henry's 6 month update, he did NOT like solid foods at all in the beginning.  It was really a struggle to get him to even open his mouth to take a taste!  However, the day before his 7 month birthday we went over to my parents house for dinner.  Our good friends, Morgan and Kyle, were in town visiting us from Boulder for the weekend.  My mom prepared a great meal and we were all sitting around the dinning room table, conversing, eating, and enjoying each other's company.  Henry was very excited to be a guest at this dinner party and at that moment he decided that he would try to eat solid foods, and since then there has been no looking back!  Now Henry eats 3 meals of solid foods a day and sometimes has snacks!  Henry loves butternut squash, sweet potatoes, apples and pears to name a few, and has now tried zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and acorn squash, in addition to avocados, peas, green beans, oatmeal and bananas.  The only draw back to his excitement for eating solid foods is that now Henry has an even harder time nursing.

I love butternut squash! 

What does all this food have in common?
It's all been pureed for Henry to eat! 

Henry has been a distracted nurser ever since he was 3 or 4 months old, but it was always very manageable.  When he was younger he used to latch on and eat a little bit, then come off and want to look around, but he would never refuse the breast.  About a month or so ago he started becoming very particular about his nursing.  Initially he would only nurse for 3-5 minutes at a time, unless he was very hungry.  Then he only wanted to nurse on the left breast, and would not accept the right breast unless he was very tired.  Then he started refusing to nurse on either breast all together unless he was VERY hungry, (meaning he had gone for 3.5 - 4.5 hours without nursing) or very tired.  Now Henry pretty much refuses to nurse unless we are in his bedroom and it is dark in there, and he is getting sleepy.  This has lead to Henry only really nursing during the day before he goes down for naps, (and sometimes nursing himself to sleep for naps, a habit that I am chagrined he has formed, as we are working on trying to teach him to fall asleep by himself for naps).

His favorite way to eat his oatmeal!  Mr. Independent - I want to do it myself! 

YUM

I have been worried that Henry is going through a "nursing strike" (when the baby refuses the breast), which I guess is very common around 8 months old.  What I've read according to Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding and  Dr Jack Newman's book, most nursing strikes resolve on their own and get better within a matter of weeks, especially when they happen when the baby is older.  In Henry's case his particularity about nursing has not seemed to get better over the past month, in fact, it may have gotten worse.  I've come to the conclusion that this is just they way he is now.  He is too interested in the world around him to tune it out and focus on nursing during the day (this is perhaps why he nurses so much at night?).  For him nursing has become something that he does for comfort, when he is sleepy, but it's no longer the main way he gets his food.  While I guess this is a good thing, it makes me feel kind of sad that my baby is growing up and becoming more independent, and not as dependent upon me for his nourishment.

I've given up on trying to get a picture of Henry next to the bear... its just not going to happen!

Cracking up

Silly guy! 

While Henry is certainly nursing less than he did when he was younger, he still nurses about 5-6 times in a 24 hour period, which seems to be enough.  The only time that Henry nurses for more than 5-10 minutes at a time is when he wakes in the middle of the night (usually some time between 1-4 am) and even though I am exhausted, I have come to cherish those middle of the night feedings, because I know they are numbered.  It's our special time of the day when we get to have our close snugly time, cuddled up in bed, and we both usually end up falling asleep.  =) 

Morgan and Kyle came to visit!
Ready for a night on the town...
Henry stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa

Hiking in Hixon with Morgs and Kyle

 At the beginning of October we had the pleasure of hosting two of our very close friends from Boulder, Morgan and Kyle!  Morgan and I actually go way back, before Boulder, before teaching, even before LJ!  Morgan and I met in college while we were studying abroad in Costa Rica!  We have stayed in touch over the years and in 2010 Morgan moved to Boulder to start her masters!  The only bummer was that a few months before Morgan moved to Boulder, we moved to Denver because I was teaching at Good Shepherd, which is in the Cherry Creek neighborhood in Denver.  Boulder and Denver are not a far distance, so we got to see each other lots during that time.  It was hard to say good bye last December as we packed up for Wisconsin, but I knew we would see each other again soon.  I'm so glad they made the trek out to visit us!

The pumpkin man

Ready to go outside! 

Seven months has been one of my favorite months so far.  I know I always say this, but Henry keeps getting more fun, and our job as parents keeps getting more fun!  I know each stage has it's challenges, and this month we certainly had some, but its reassuring to see Henry's face light up when either LJ or I enter a room... it means we must be doing something right!