Eating and such...

Congratulations Henry! You've grown to like solid food! Henry has had a couple of days now of eating his rice cereal like a big boy without any terrible faces or shudders. I even made him seconds a couple of times! It took him two weeks, but he finally got it figured out. Now we venture into making solid food, and trying different tastes. We're very proud of him and we've entered a new phase. He even got it figured out in the midst of a cold and ear infection, which has left him stuffy and with lots of congestion, and a runny nose. It's hard to see him sick, but thankfully we think that he is on the upswing and seems to be in a better mood.

In other news, Henry and I have been hanging out and trying to beat the winter blues, all the while looking forward to spring and summer and some new activities. Lately, we've been taking walks at the mall, running errands, attending a lapsit program at the library, and playgroup. We can't wait for the snow to melt and the sun to shine. I have been keeping a mental list of fun things to do in the summer, and I really can't wait since Henry will be a little older and we can do some different things. Hurray for walks outside and swings and swimming!

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Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Henry celebrated his six month birthday on Valentine's Day, and did so in style. His Grandma Barbara and Granddad Jay were here to help celebrate, and they happily babysat Henry while Gabe and I were able to go out to dinner and a movie. Quite a treat! Henry saved up a few new tricks to show the grandparents while they were here. He tried his first bites of rice cereal, which make him shudder and make funny faces. It's pretty cute to watch. He still doesn't think it is all that wonderful, so we'll move on to try some other foods. He does like rice puffs though - banana flavored, and he likes to lick bananas from Granddad! Henry also lunges forward a little bit on his tummy starting an army crawl, and he learned how to say "ba ba ba!" He's a talented little boy. We had his six month check up today and he is still a string bean, measuring 29 inches (98 %tile) and 15 pounds (20%tile).

Happy Six Months Henry! :)

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Under the Weather

We've all been feeling sick these past weeks here at the Brown house. Gabe and I have each had a nasty virus with high fevers and tons of symptoms that knocked us each out for a week (fortunately, different weeks - I don't know what we would have done if we had both been sick at the same time). Gabe's turned into pneumonia, and neither of us remember ever being this sick.

Henry fortunately has only had a little cough, but has been extremely fussy because of the appearance of ---- TEETH! He has two little teeth poking through on the bottom. They are really sharp and I feel bad for him, they must hurt as they move up through the gums. Poor little guy. We've tried lots of things to bring him relief, but what seems to work the best are wet washcloths for him to suck on. They are pretty cute and will be even cuter when he smiles when they are fully up. When he laughs or grins you can see them pretty well now. I'm enjoying those last days of goofy gummy grins. In other milestones, Henry is sitting up on his own really well now! It's been a big week for him. He sits and reaches for toys and reaches forwards. Each one of Henry's milestones are bittersweet for me; of course I am joyful that he is meeting his milestones, but each one brings the realization that he is growing up so fast and not such a little baby anymore. I know that growing up is what we want to happen, and it is a good thing, and if he weren't meeting his milestones, then we'd be worried. But it still always brings a little tear to my eye each time he grows up a bit. Sleeping through the night was a big one (of course I'm happy to have a full night's rest but it was hard to hear him cry at night as we were working on it), teething is a big one, and I've been worried about him turning six months for almost two months! We'll be starting solids next week, so I'm definitely excited about that, but that is another hard transition for me to face. I enjoy being his sole source of nutrition. I struggle with letting go of his babyhood, and probably always will struggle with letting him go. Even thinking about kindergarten makes me weapy already! Sheesh! Luckily Gabe is strong (and also surprised by my reaction, someting he says he was not expecting) so that helps.

Sitting up like a big boy

Trying to get a shot of little teeth

We've also experienced the weekend weather warm up that many other places in the country experienced - 50 degrees - Heat Wave! Gabe bundled Henry up as it was still windy and they went for a short walk around the block. It was nice to get some fresh air for them. Much of the snow melted, and Saturday at four o'clock in the morning, we woke up to not Henry, but a dripping light fixture in the bedroom. Gabe fixed the drip, and when we woke up the next morning, our ceiling paint had developed a HUGE bubble and leak! Which spread to another! Finally, the bubbles burst and the water was caught in a bucket, but we're left with hanging paint. At least it's a rental house.



Thankfully everyone is on the upswing now though, and we're looking forward to Grandma and Grandad coming to visit this week!

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