Henry 10 month letter

My funny little guy,
You turned a whopping ten months old 2 days ago. I can't believe how quickly the time is going by. You are doing all sorts of things and I love every minute (almost).

You are so close to walking. You pop up into standing all over the place and take a couple little steps before you bend back down and decide to crawl. You are a speed crawler. You chase your big brother and sister which can be quite a challenge as they tend to run back and forth all over the house. You are just happy to be in the same room as them.

You want to find out what the toilets are all about, so I have to remember to keep bathroom doors shut. I've also found you a couple of times in our walk-in shower, that must have seemed like a cool place to play. Another thing you've discovered is your privates, which are a big hit. :)
You chase my feet everywhere and pull on my legs asking to be held. When the other kids run to Daddy, shouting his name when he gets home from work, you are never far behind waiting for your turn for a hug and kiss. Trent seems to adore and enjoy you more each day.

It is hard to feed you. You do not want to be fed baby food anymore. You are much to mature for that stuff. You still do great with formula, but I still trying to find more finger foods for you to enjoy. You will not eat avocado or fresh banana or canned pears or mandarin oranges. Since you are allergic to milk, wheat, and eggs my task is even more difficult. You will eat small amounts of beans, chicken, vienna sausage, and green beans. I am still trying to find more options for you. You fight whenever I try to place you in your high chair. You have to be strapped in now that you've discovered how to stand up in there, even with the tray on. Sometimes once in the chair, you will repeatedly throw your head back into the seat back to show your displeasure. I will give you a handful of corn Chex to snack on while you are playing on the floor sometimes. You will either pick them up with your cute little fingers or sometimes you will promptly lower your head and eat them right off the floor, puppy style. You crack me up!
You have a new grown up look now that you have 4 top teeth and 2 bottom. You are as beautiful as ever and I love seeing you grow and develop. It is hard to capture many pictures of you, because as soon as you see the camera in my hand you head straight toward it and try to swipe it. Why?
Well, I love you little boy! I am sorry you will have to share the limelight with a little sister so soon, but I know you can handle it. You are used to sharing everything already. I hope you will have a great friend in her and enjoy being an awesome big brother. I love you with all my heart and can't imagine my life without you. I know you are very special and that you have so much to offer this big world. I am so excited to see what an amazing man you will become and hope to always keep you close.
Love,
Mama

It's bed time

Well, it's time for Charlotte to get a big girl bed, that is. Hopefully I can score a cute twin headboard at a garage sale or thrift store this month. Wish me luck.

Memorial Day Weekend

Friday night we went out with Blake, Andrea, Ashlyn, Abbie, Jake, and Sophie for dinner at Fuddruckers. We enjoyed ourselves, but were ready to go home and get Henry to bed right after. Saturday Trent did much cleaning of the yard and garage and finished Charlotte's cupboard shelf thingy (picture later when her room is done). The morning we had light rain (wonderful, as well as the 2 other days of rain we had, which I loved). I mostly hung out inside with the kids and tried to get a few things done. Sunday after church and the kids' naps we had dinner with Trent's family. Perfect day for an outdoor BBQ, the weather won't be that nice again for a long time! Luckily Trent's dad and brothers planned a fun day at the lake for Monday or Trent would have spent the whole day working in the yard again.
So Monday was spent enjoying family at the lake. We four wheeled up the back way which we haven't done for ages. It was fun doing it with the whole family in the suburban. Than we played in the sand on the beach and enjoyed some time on the boat. Trent enjoyed showing off on the air chair and Tucker and Charlotte even had a tube ride with Daddy behind the boat (I'll have to get pictures from Grandpa). It was a great day and we all had lots of fun! Andrea has more pictures on her blog here.

Not so shrimpy

Henry has already gained 1/2 a lb. since his last appointment and that was even with the pukies. And guess what else. He took 4 steps all by himself last night! Go Hanky!

P.S. Congrats to my sis Emily on a perfect little baby girl. When I talked to her this morning she had not finalized a name yet, but was exhausted and said that everything went well. Baby Girl is 6lbs. 10 oz. (tiny compared to Jonah) and Nana says she has thick black hair and feminine cuteness! Can't wait for pics.

Ebates

I signed up for a website called Ebates a couple of months ago. It is a cool website that gives you cash back for purchases you make online. Different sites have different percentages that they pay you back for your purchases. For instance I think if you shop Target.com through Ebates, you get 4% of your purchase back in a check in the mail. They also have all the store special listed for you to easily view. I like it because I can shop at all the places I would buy stuff online at anyway( Children's Place, Old Navy, WalMart, Target, etc.) and I get some money back for it! If that sounds good to any of you go sign up, it is free and right now you can get a $10 sign up bonus. Tell them I referred you and I can get 10 bucks too. Not bad. One of the things I like to get on there are restaurant gift certificates. You go to Ebates and type in restaurant.com and put in your area code to find deals. They have $25 gift certificates for $10 all the time because they are usually for use only mon-fri and you have to spend a certain amount like $35 -$60, so check the details before you buy. They do 50% off specials all the time. I have gotten several $25 gift certificates to Charleston's for $5 each. I think it is a good way to pay my friends back for babysitting or for a little gift or to get Trent to take me out. Check it out.

I promise not to do anymore promotional posts. I just actually happen to think joining this site makes good sense!

Our little graduate

Yesterday was Tucker's preschool graduation. It was cute and funny. They performed their "zoo phonics" song and The Bumblebee song. Tucker was the kid crossing his arms and sulking. I still enjoyed his grumpy little face. Trent's mom said he did that same thing at every performance he ever participated in which made it even funnier to me. He warmed up a little when they counted to twenty and then backwards from ten and yelled "Blast Off!" Then it was time for the diplomas. This picture is about the greatest thing ever. They presented each kid with this little "diploma" along with a smartie award. The Smartie Award was a little paper they read aloud that the child had filled in the blanks. When Tucker had been asked why he was a smartie, he said " because my mom makes me." and when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied, " A visiting home teacher." That got a pretty good laugh from about half the parents there and the other ones were left a bit confused I think.
After the "ceremony" we headed to Chuck E. Cheese. Thankfully my great MIL took Henry so he could nap and I could focus on playing with Tucker and Charlotte. We had a great time.

After we got home we had even more fun. Jill, Jordyn, Macey, and Kiley came over and we took a dip in our pool. It was a great day for it.

Henry was fevering on and off yesterday and last night it spiked to 102.2, he had a rough time falling asleep. Luckily he seems to be feeling well this morning and I am feeling very grateful and happy for my healthy, hilarious, darling kids and am feeling excited to have another one. I seem to fluctuate between excitement, gratitude, and complete fear of having my fourth baby.

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

My good friend Bonnie, from my pole-vaulting days at MCC, just launched a line of baby announcements at www.inventingmatilda.com . These are the cutest, coolest things I've ever seen. Check them out. And also, feel free to tell everyone you know about them and link to it from your blog.:)

Mother's Day Weekend

Friday we had a nice little trip to Costco. All was well until Henry emitted huge amounts of vomit all over the shampoo aisle. The rest of the day he couldn't keep down even an ounce of formula.

Later that afternoon we went to pick up Claire ( my 9 year old sister) to spend the night because my parents were at a hotel in Scottsdale for their anniversary. In the short amount of time that we spent there waiting for Trent to call and tell us he was ready for us to come pick him up Tucker managed to drop one of the baby kittens on it's head and hurt it. Henry was covered in puke and then it was time to get Trent at a coworkers house, since he had just gotten back from 2 days of real estate meetings in Texas.

We went and grabbed take out from Panda Express and Pedialite from Fry's. I was exhausted.

Saturday Henry spent a lot of time sleeping and the other kids spent a lot of time ( at least 3 hours) going back and forth between the hot tub and the pool. Trent even got to jump in for a while between doing projects in the yard. After dinner I was still without mother's day presents for my moms and headed to the dreaded mall. I could have spent hours in Borders. I hadn't been to a bookstore in a really long time. I got home at 9 o'clock to a snoozing husband.

Early Sunday morning I got a call from my lil brother Mark from his mission in Mexico! What a fun treat. Sunday seemed to be going quite well. Trent made waffles which is absolutely unheard of and I had roses and cute cards to wake up to. We were 15 minutes late for church, but that isn't unusual anymore at our 8:00 meeting time. Trent and I napped while the kids did, which was great. We enjoyed all of Trent's family at a big Mother's day dinner until Henry vomited all over his lovely Aunt Kim and everything in the nearby vicinity.

Henry's allergies

Got a call from the doctor yesterday. Apparently Henry is allergic to cow's milk, egg whites, and wheat. All to varying degrees. Cow's milk being the worst allergy he has. Now we need to make an appointment with the allergist so they can prick my baby's skin.

What a little shrimp

Henry had his 9 month well-check on Friday. He only ways 16 lbs. and 2 oz. (only a couple more ounces than his check up 3 months ago). The doctor was concerned about his overall height, weight and head growth. The problem is more than likely that he wasn't getting enough calories and nutrients before we got him on the formula. They had to draw some blood for a couple tests :( and we have to take him back to re-weigh him in a couple weeks. He has me thickening Henry's formula with extra formula or rice cereal and Henry is eating great, so I think he'll be beefing up soon! None of my kids inherited my fat baby gene. I was a huge chunk.

Henry's newest trick: standing on his own! I mean with no assistance at all. He's been doing this for almost a week. He will stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anythig for support. It is pretty amazing. He goes from sitting into this little squat and just stands right up. I know our other kids didn't do that until they had started walking, I remember because they would walk a few steps and then have to crawl over to something to pull themselves back up before they could walk again. Way to go Henry!

Trent took Tucker for Father and Sons campout on Friday and after I got the other 2 kids to bed I was joined by Lauren, my soon to be SIL. She bought me Pei Wei and we just sat around and talked. It was great.

Tonight I am joining my friend Lindy to go to the Diamondbacks game. It is so exciting. Only 2 weeks ago I couldn't go anywhere before Henry was in bed since I was his only source of food. Wow, I feel so free! I wish I could still give him his bedtime feeding, but my body has decided that I am all the way done. That's okay, I am glad Henry doesn't seem to mind.