11-month-old Henry

Henry is coming up on the year mark quickly, it seems. He continues to crawl faster although with some practice he might be able to start walking soon. We're not too anxious for that, though, and he doesn't seem eager to try yet. The past month or so he has been improving his skills with standing and can stand for brief moments on his own, so he has pretty good muscle and balance.

In recent weeks he added some sounds to his vocabulary - "gum", "gub", "bub". He also enjoys mimicking sounds his sister makes. They do "ah! AH!" screams/sounds back and forth and it's pretty cute until it gets really loud.

He just started growing in his upper lateral incisors. He has 3 teeth on the bottom although we suspect his first tooth may be a fused one(/two) since it's fairly wide but we'll see with time. We got some dentist-family-member opinions and one thinks it's fused and the other thinks it isn't. Ha. So by his first birthday he'll have at least 7 teeth in.

Henry is developing into a funny little boy who certainly loves to laugh with others. He has been sleeping about as long as his sister at night (11-12 hours) for the past few weeks (most nights) and that has been a huge blessing allowing my brain to be able to function normally again.

He loves to share what we're eating although he hasn't liked everything he tries. Things he does like he will pick up and eat in a flash when he wants to. Emma loves sharing small pieces of food with him and it's adorable seeing her generous heart in action. Her generosity doesn't often extend to the toys she plays with but she does okay sharing toys sometimes. And she'll get toys for him when he's upset if I ask her to.

We certainly love our two little ones and are so glad to have them in our home. It is often challenging and tiring but they are beautiful little people and I feel so lucky to have them.

Hopefully I'll get pictures of them posted soon.

Milestones

On Saturday Bry and I celebrated our 6-year anniversary by doing sealings at the temple and then lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Bellevue that was delicious.
Sunday was Bry's first Father's Day with 2 kids, as well as his first with a son.
Today Henry reaches 10 months old and today also marks 10 years since Bry entered the MTC.

So many good things. More of an update on Henry is to come. I will say he's a busy boy and he continues to be my happy little guy (except when teething is causing him pain).

Mother's Day 2018

I'm grateful for the little ones in my home that I get to call mine. They sure are cute and I learn so much from being their mom. 

First Mother's Day with my boy.

Ha. This is what Emma does when we ask her to get her hair out of her face so we can see her.
(Sometimes she wears hair clips.)

Standing boy

The closest we got to a perfect shot. Here's their faces!

Photo fail. 

Tickles from daddy are great.

Love that side look. 

Love for daddy.

Bubbles

My girl so loves to be outside.

My baby's 8 months old!

Henry is crawling around fast, sitting pretty solidly for a not-solid baby, and wanting to stand up as often as possible. He is still a somewhat snuggly boy and likes to be held when we're able to. He is eating well and hopefully gaining well. He's definitely growing and learning and he still thinks the world of his family. He has been able to say "dada" for several weeks and started saying "mom"/"mama" a couple weeks ago; overall he isn't very chatty but he does like to practice using his voice sometimes.

He's our happy little guy and I only wish he'd start sleeping better at night but we'll get there someday.

First picture I snapped of him today just before he got moving.

If one could die from cuteness overload... I would so be dead.

Loving standing... and you can see his one tooth coming in! I think the one next to it will make its way in within the next week but we'll see. Teeth take a painfully (for baby) long time to make an appearance.

Picture update

These first few pictures were taken in February. I tried uploading them over a week ago but they didn't want to so here they are. I can't get enough of these faces.

    
I love my fierce Emma girl and my smiley Henry boy.


We have had a few days of beautiful weather in the past few weeks, in March. One of these beautiful days I took the kids to the playground and we couldn't get enough of our time outside. Henry had his first ride on a swing! His reaction was pretty neutral; not thrilled but also didn't object. He mostly liked watching the kid in the swing next to him.

 


She volunteered to push him without me even talking about it. She wasn't as soft as I'd have preferred but she was pretty careful for a 3-year-old.

My baby is half a year old

Henry is still often a happy little boy, although he was sad when he was sick earlier this month. He still looks at each member of his family like they're the best mom, dad, sister. He's very alert and attentive to what's going on around him; Emma is probably his favorite person to watch and she receives especially big grins. He's a friendly soul who loves attention from others and will give anyone a smile.

He has been rolling onto his tummy since the day after his 4-month appointment, sometimes trying to do so during diaper changes and without fail after each change. He enjoys time on his tummy when he can reach for and grab toys or try to eat a colorful play mat. Since hitting the 6 month mark he has begun almost-crawling (toe pushing, body wiggling) and is getting faster by the day. He loves this new-found skill and I continue to be dumbstruck by it.

We got him a Jumperoo (second-hand) after visiting family in Oregon where he got to use theirs and LOVED it and has loved using one at home. I set it up next to Emma's small trampoline and they are too adorable when they jump simultaneously and enthusiastically. Emma usually shouts "we're jumping!" and will jump big or little depending on how Henry is jumping.

The 4-month sleep regression that came when Henry was 4.5 months old ruined nighttime sleep for a couple months. His naps became somewhat regular, though, and he usually takes 2-3. Just in the past week or so he has started sleeping better at night which is a huge relief. He must be wearing himself out with all the moving around he does.

We sure love our Henry boy. Emma has begun playing with him more lately and seeing them together melts my mommy heart.

Pictures to come. I want to get this posted while it's still February. Ha.