Swimming

I think we've got a future swimmer on our hands! This weekend Gabe and I took Henry swimming at the Rock for the first time. He's been swimming in the hot tub at my house at 2 months and 4 months, but never in a big pool. He was interested in the bubbles, and was fine, but otherwise not that active. But yesterday at the Rock, he was having a ball! Henry splashed his arms, kicked his legs, tried out a kickboard, and chased after some floaty toys. But the most fun was when daddy "tossed" him in the air! (Hands always on the baby though of course). We will definitely be taking him back for more adventures in the pool - and some pictures too. I know everyone is rooting for something different for Henry's future activities - soccer, piano, baseball, running - but I definitely hope he's a swimmer.

Read more...

Henry, what does the sheep say?

Today Gabe had to work so Henry and I went to the 4H Fairground for Agricultural Days, where they had exhibits set up for kids and animals as well. Henry got to see all kinds of animals: baby lambs, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, roosters, baby ducks, horses, cows, alpacas, bees, bunnies. He even got to pet the baby lambs, baby bunnies, alpacas, cows and horses! It was pretty cute, he would touch the animal and open/close open/close with his hand, and then smile at the person holding the animal. Actually, he was way more interested in smiling at and studying the person holding the animal! Ahh, that's our social little boy! I couldn't get any pictures of Henry touching the animals since I didn't have an extra set of hands, but we did take many pictures of Henry parked in front of the animal cages. Another part of the exhibit included many different stations for the kids, where they picked up a basket at the beginning and then went around completing different activities. They could pick an apple, pick cotton, make the stages of a butterfly with pasta (I'm keeping that one in mind for a future elementary science lesson!), pick a carrot, pick an egg, and plant seeds. It was pretty well done and I'm excited for Henry to go back next year and future years to participate in those activities as well.

These pigs eat as much as I do

Had to take a picture with the John Deere for Dad

Can you say ALPACA?

Mom, do you see the cow?

These bunnies sure are interesting (yes, the brown blobs are bunnies)

Read more...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This past week my mom came to visit and spend some time with us - mostly Henry. Henry loved spending time with his Grandma too. He enjoyed having someone dote all over him. The weather was beautiful so we were able to spend some time walking around campus and eating outside, which was a treat. We stayed super busy as it was nice for me to get some projects that I'd been wanting to accomplish completed while I had an extra set of hands. We painted an easel that we picked up at a garage sale, complete with a chalkboard and a white board. It came out so cute! Henry can't wait to use it. And I can't wait to see him use it.

Henry has been eating all kinds of veggies lately! Last weekend I went on a baby food making marathon; if you look in the bottom of my freezer, you'll find baby food for a month! Henry loves sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and green beans. Well, we're still working on green beans, they're not quite his favorite yet. We think the waxy texture doesn't appeal too much. If I mix it with another veggie, then he'll eat them....sometimes.






Henry's got big hands for a baby, I must say. I've been wanting to make a mold of his little baby hands for awhile now, so we bought some material at the craft store. First mistake - trying to take an imprint of a seven month old. What is the first thing he's going to do? Grab for the impression material! So we attempted to outsmart Henry and take the mold while he slept. Theoretically, a wonderful idea. Actually, couldn't have been a worse idea. Not only did he grab the stuff as we stuck his hand in, even in his sleep, but he also smeared it everywhere. Carefully, gingerly, so as not to wake the sleeping baby, we wiped his hand and tried again. And again. By this time, Henry woke up and was not a happy camper. Never wake a sleeping baby, right? We tried distracting him with toys, food, and with no success. He's covered in the stuff, I'm covered in the stuff, his clothes are covered. I'm trying to keep his hands out of the way of his mouth so he doesn't ingest plaster of paris. A bath is the only way to quickly clean him before the junk dries all over his hands. Meanwhile, the mold is setting up, so we turned to the sure-fire answer - his foot. Needless to say, I have a very cute mold of his foot, and I don't think I'll get a handprint for a year or two! If I only had a picture of the gunk.....

Trying out a sippie cup! Tip it back, Henry


I'm not crawling just yet, but I'm on my hands and elbows!


With St. Patrick's Day comes a celebration of our anniversary. Two years went by so quickly - we've been busy! What a love-filled day to look back on and add so much meaning to a fun holiday. Our wedding song was "The Best is Yet To Come." Both Gabe and I loved the sentiment - our wedding was amazing, but we both look forward to every day together to come. And we both shared our positive outlook with the couples at the marriage retreat - that every day together gets better and better. We've added a joyous addition to our family, and life has never been the same. When I think back on our wedding day, I remember thinking that I loved Gabe so much, how could I love him any more. And yet, each day, we fall more in love and I am over come at seeing him become a father. Happy Anniversary!

And last but not least, Happy 1st St. Patrick's Day Little O' Cutie Pie!

Read more...

Thanks for Babysitting, Uncle Andrew!

Last weekend Henry got to hang out with Uncle Andrew, on midterm break from college. It was nice for him to spend some uncle/godfather bonding time with Henry. He was a great babysitter - gave Henry his bath and bottle and put him to bed. Henry was one happy little guy to have some extra attention.

Gabe and I were busy also that same weekend with leading a marriage prep retreat. We gave two talks on the topics of Communication and The First Years of Marriage. We had gone on the same retreat two and a half years earlier before we were married. It was crazy to think that now we were going to be the ones sitting on the stage, sharing the stories and giving advice. It was fun to sit down together and reflect on these topics as we prepared for our talk, especially since we probably wouldn't have had those kinds of discussions about our marriage unless we were giving the retreat. We really enjoyed the experience, and we think they went pretty well. We were happier with the communication talk and felt like we shared some better stories, but all in all we were excited. Hopefully, we'll be able to lead another in a couple of years.

Henry is a man on the move lately! He's got the army crawl down, and he's rolling and scooting all over the place. We are babyproofing everything this weekend in preparation for the motor man to come! It is exciting to watch him learn to crawl, and he gets better every day. Both Gabe and I were surprised how suddenly things can happen with him and how he can go from one day not being able to do something to suddenly executing like a pro. For example, Henry surprised us both one night when he rolled over. Neither of us were expecting it, and while he had practiced a little, it wasn't gradual in the least. Same thing happened with teeth. One night, I felt the first sharp one poking up whenHenry was in the tub, while even earlier that morning I hadn't felt any thing. It's almost like one day he wakes up and decides this is the day he's going to try something knew. But with crawling, we are seeing the progress more and more each day, so that has been a little different. Life is about to become radically different in a few days!

I'm so lucky to have a crazy Uncle Andrew!



Last Day in the baby tub........................................First day in the big boy tub!


Henry's doing this funny thing when he smiles
where he scrunches up his face. It's really cute!

These diapers look interesting!!

Read more...

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!

Read more...

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! :)

Read more...

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!

Read more...